Something I left out of the last chapter...
This is pre-Hobbit. Which means Sauron is nowhere near fully Awake. Thus, he's gonna get even stronger. And when I said the Ring wasn't his power source, what I meant was he knew that pouring almost all of himself into the Ring was a bad idea. So he only poured just enough to subjugate the other Rings, and then stopped. He will be severely weakened if he loses it, but he will still be pretty frikking strong.
Fallen-Ryu? Prepare your mind to be blown. The mithril katana isn't enchanted, but it will be razor sharp. Naruto is more rigid than Celebrimbor, but a Shinobi is required to be fluid. As both a shinobi and a Jinchuuriki, Naruto is extremely flexible. The kid could hide from ANBU in broad daylight in a bright orange jumpsuit. I think he'd HAVE to be some kind of contortionist. And I have a plan for Sauron that would make Tolkein think Naruto is screwed. Remember: Morgoth became the Juubi. The Kyuubi is part of the Juubi. Sauron is weaker than Morgoth, but makes up for it with his brilliance, but is still WAY stronger than Kyuubi. He could fight Gyuuki and Kurama at once, or every Bijuu from Shukaku to Chomei at the same time. Also, Naruto will be getting one major upgrade soon.
Jeebus ho118? That will be explained soon.
Kylevalheru? Something will happen soon.
Saucy Handles? Neither in the Naruto universe, nor the world of Arda, do the laws of Death WE follow apply. In Naruto, there's the Edo Tensei. In LotR, there's the Elves, Ghûls, skeletons. Saying he'd only bow as a corpse is another way of saying 'over my dead body'.
I know I fucked up the geography. Mordor is NOT to the north of Arda. I'm just too lazy to go back and fix everything... . so turn your maps of Arda once to the left, so that Mordor is North. That is now the map I am using..
Sorry for the long wait, so ONTO THE STORY!
Edit 12/23/14: Turns out the geography was fine. Naruto merely landed south of Barad-Dur, and makes everything okay!
Naruto crouched behind a boulder atop a mountain ledge, overlooking the Black Gate from inside Mordor. He silently swore as he looked at the nine horsemen guiding the massive army of Orcs into ranks, at the Black Gate.
A trio of massive, ugly beasts were held in shackles, and were pushing a massive wheel that seemed to lift the Black Gate.
It had been two months since his arrival. He'd taken refuge near the Black Gate, but had never managed to get this close before. The Wraiths had fortified the Gate themselves.
The gate suddenly opened, and Naruto ran for it, trying to escape.
The boy never noticed the almost invisible eyes of the Nazgûl following him. And when they appeared around him, in a circle, he ran straight into an armored black stallion that reeked of death. Considering it was a decaying corpse held together by shadows, it had a good reason to smell dead.
The Nine former kings raised their hands, and flames made of pure darkness blasted into Naruto's body.
The Dark Wraithfire did not touch his body. No, he remained mostly physically unharmed. But still he screamed, for the flames burned not his body, but his very soul. His chakra coils were invaded by the foreign fire, burning him on the inside.
But then, something unforeseen happened. Something that Minato, the Shinigami, nor even Sauron could have ever predicted.
The Shiki Fuin melted under the flame. A dark red chakra erupted out, like a volcano, and enveloped Naruto, and it reached out in the form of nine tails, and grabbed the Nine, before it took on a corrosive quality.
The shadows wailed, but death would not take them, nor would the tails leave them. One made the mistake of reaching it's hands to the corrosive tail, only to suddenly erupt into ash.
All that remained was a lump of gold that used to be golden ring, sitting among a pile of smoldering ashes.
Before anyone knew what was going on, the ashes began to crawl into themselves. Boots formed, and the ash kept crawling up. Impossibly, the ashes formed a body, but something was different. This new body was not that of the Wraith, but of somebody, something, else.
There, at the Black Gate of Mordor, stood the Dark Lord, dressed in his armor with his mace at the ready.
The Dragon-scale mace pounded into Naruto's chest, and the flow of Kurama's chakra suddenly stopped, freeing the Nazgûl from the corrosive tails. The Eight riders fell back, retreating so they could heal. The incorporeal warriors were teleporting as rapidly as they could.
Sauron's boot slammed into the Shinobi's jaw as he swung the mace into Naruto's stomach.
The sharp dragon scales dug into the melted seal, and a red flash blasted the dark lord away.
Sauron looked at Naruto's wounds in amazement as they almost immediately vanished in a cloud of steam. The once cerulean eyes were now as red as the blood of Men. There were six whisker-like marks that enlarged. And the malice that was oozing from Naruto...
Sauron was giddy. The Orcs had long since fled, and the massive beasts, which Sauron knew to be cave trolls, were making very loud noises of terror, trying to get away, tugging at the very ends of their chains.
'This Man has terrified my army with this Presence. My Nazgûl are barely able to stand. He DESTROYED one of them, summoning me with the destruction of my Ring,' Sauron thought.
His Ring...
The flames that were Sauron's eyes burst forth from behind his helmet as he spotted the once powerful object.
This Man had reduced his Ring to a useless lump of metal!
Sauron charged Naruto, and swung his mace at his head. He barely managed to teleport backwards as Naruto's hand went to his blade and drew it in less than a second. The blade cut through the steel of his helmet, and Sauron's respect grew for the Man.
Blood, for the first time since his rise to power and the fall of his master, bled from a wound that stretched just under Sauron's eyes from cheekbone to cheekbone.
The wound slowly began to close, far slower than Naruto's own healing, yet fast enough to be called unnatural. Sauron's weapon was swung at Naruto's throat, but the ninja leaned back to dodge it, and lunged under it with a fast stab.
His katana buried itself into Sauron's shoulder, and came out the other side, causing the Dark Lord of Mordor to freeze, and vanish as he teleported away. The Nazgûl vanished as well, only leaving behind the lump of gold that was once one of the Nine Rings of Men.
Naruto grabbed his sword and began to scale the left wall of the Black Gate with his chakra alone, the cloak of acidic energy slowly fading into his skin.
At the top, he stopped, and sat atop the Gate itself. He saw the Greenwood, and the Lonely Mountain in the distance. He was almost home free, and out of Mordor.
Yet, when he leapt from the gate, he was blasted back as a deep purple barrier made itself known.
Naruto growled, and rushed it again, only to be blasted back even further.
"Wonderful. I'm stuck here," he said as he dusted himself off. Then he noticed the massive cave trolls, cowering in fear, still chained to the wheel.
Naruto walked up the the gate's wheel, and raised a single hand to it. His face was blank as he stared at the trolls.
"Oodama Rasengan," he said. A ball of swirling energy the size of a boulder formed, and destroyed the wheel in an instant.
"Run. Run as far from this gate as you can, and crush your masters underfoot in terror," he said, causing the simple beasts to roar in terror and run away with a flare of his chakra.
"Now to wait. This barrier surely cannot last forever," Naruto said. His hand idly collected the remnant of the Ring he destroyed, and he chucked it into the barrier.
The gold disappeared on impact, and Naruto frowned.
Sauron had set protections up to protect his dark forces from bombardment from the other side. Meaning Naruto was trapped until the barrier fell.
So the Shinobi sat down in the dust, and closed his eyes, only for a sharp pain to flare into his stomach.
A fox's head began to form in front of him, and Naruto immediately forced his way into his Mindscape, where he was greeted with an odd sight.
The Kyuubi's cage was melted. The seal was a puddle of white hot metal floating in the waters of Naruto's mind.
"Ne, this is bad," Naruto said, scratching his head.
Kurama sweat-dropped, and sighed. A claw idly scratched his chin.
"Understatement of the year. Neither of us know how to fix the seal, and I really don't like the next way we can save ourselves from a fate worse than death," Kurama said.
Naruto cocked his head to the side, as if asking for an explanation.
"Those Wraiths melted the seal. This means we will both die a very painful death, and then be eaten by the Shinigami, and suffer in Death's Stomach. There are three outcomes to this. One, we fix the seal. This option is impossible. Seals have never melted before, and especially not the Uzumaki Divine Seals. Not to mention, you can make gravity seals, storage seals, and explosive tags only. This seal is far beyond your level. The second option I will not allow, as it means doing nothing about this. We merge, and become a single, mindless beast like my predecessor, ultimately allowing Sauron to possibly control us with his power. The third and final option is our only chance at survival. We merge, and you gain my last four tails. Your body will be remade, and I will become a voice in your head as you become me. But my form is my own, which means you will have to pick a form of your own."
Naruto blinked.
"So it's become a mindless being, die, or become a demon?" The Kyuubi nodded, and Naruto sighed.
"Option three, then. It benefits us both, as my becoming a demon could very well get us out of this place."
The Kyuubi grinned, and flooded Naruto's body with his last four tails. Naruto screamed as his cells were dissolved in acid, and his body was shredded from a molecular level.
Blood red chakra replaced his body, and slowly condensed into a human shape. The body was to be built for both speed and strength, as well as flexibility. Blonde hair grew longer, and cerulean eyes became a startling shade of violet, and they glowed with a power untapped. Bones formed from the chakra, and muscles grew over them. Tan skin covered the innards, and claws grew from the fingertips of Naruto's new hands. A number 9 appeared on his shoulder, as his armor reformed on his body from his super dense chakra. His katana, which had miraculously survived the ethereal maelstrom of power, was suddenly wreathed in a white-blue fire, and seemed to hum in excitement.
All of this took place in nine hours. Darkness covered the lands now, and rumor had spread in Mordor of the Red Cloaked Man and his deeds.
Naruto now stood at an intimidating 6'4" tall, and was built like a Featherweight MMA fighter. He was clothes in all black. His shirt was a matte black silk material under a leather cover, and was missing it's sleeves. Over that, his armor had become a glossy black color, with a red depiction of the Kyuubi on the front. It resembled a half-inch thick Jounin vest, but without the pockets, and made of metal. A red fur lined the inside, providing warmth and comfort normal armor lacked. Between the plate and the fur was a chainmail shirt, providing extra protection to him. He also wore a similar pair of gauntlets.
His pants were also black, and were also made of leather with a silk layer inside them. He wore a swordsman belt in the loops, and placed his fiery katana inside the sheath, and placed it in the belt. His thighs and shins had a plate of armor with red fur and chainmail under them, and he wore a pair of black leather boots, with a silk lining inside them. They had a plate of steel on the toes, and the soles were made of thick rubber.
Naruto's face was still adorned with his whiskers, and look the same for the most part, except for the thickness of aforementioned whiskers and the vulpine teeth in his mouth.
He raised a hand, and a red but otherwise normal Rasengan formed. Then the chakra construct bubbled, and Naruto quickly increased it's size, only for it to blow up in his face.
The Shinobi tried again, but the larger Rasengan bubbled again, and Naruto quickly threw it. The ball left his hand, and exploded against the barrier blocking him from the outside world.
It dimmed, and Naruto grinned.
This would be fun, he internally said while preparing another Rasengan.
(Timeskip to the Hobbit, Before the meeting of the Company and after the meeting of Thorin and Gandalf)
Naruto stared at the old man that sat in front of him, as he sipped the last of his ale from the mug.
"Are you Naruto, the Shadow of the North," the old man asked. Naruto took another bite of the stag stew he'd ordered.
Bless Gwendolyn and her amazing food, the Shinobi thought as he savored the taste.
"Who's asking, old man," he said.
The elderly man leaned forward, and whispered.
"Gandalf the Grey, acting as emissary of Thorin Oakenshield, King under the Lonely Mountain." Naruto mentally bugged out, but his face was schooled into an expressionless mask. He spotted Gwen at the counter, and smiled and shook his head softly at her when she moved to come to his table.
"Why do you seek me," he asked, eating his stew at a sedate pace.
"The King wishes to reclaim the home of his forefathers from the darkness."
Naruto nodded once.
"A noble task. My payment," he asked. Gandalf nodded.
Naruto was a mercenary. He could be found once a week at The Rider's Stable, an inn with a pub he was fond of. The cook was a half-elf named Gwendolyn that lived with her mother, a human woman that owned the pub and inn.
Rumor had it that Naruto was sweet on her, which is why he travelled from a cave he'd claimed from Goblins that was set not too far from the Black Gate, all the way to Linhir, a settlement that was close to The Mouths of Anduin near South Gondor. A very long way that took him mere hours, if the rumors were to be believed. It did seem that the rumors of their courtship were true, though.
"Fifty thousand gold pieces, and a second blade, enchanted by the last Dwarven Enchanter, with my assistance." Naruto held a gloved hand out to Gandalf, who noted that Naruto had cut the finger tips of the gloves off to make way for his wicked looking claws.
"When and where do I meet up with this party," he asked. Fifty thousand gold pieces was a drop in the veritable ocean of the Dwarven Wealth, but the second sword, enchanted by a Dwarf with the help of THE Gandalf the Grey? Such a weapon would be priceless when he returned to Mordor to destroy Sauron.
"In a week, in Hobbiton, Shire. You'll know the door when you see it," the old wizard said. Naruto nodded, and finished his stew, before he took the bowl and his mug and vanished through a door that led to the kitchens.
Naruto set the last plate into the case, and then carried the case of dishes to the cupboards to be used again.
A few feet away, Gwendolyn was smiling and humming a merry tune as she cooked up another pot of her stag stew. Her blonde hair was tied behind her and into a ponytail, revealing her short, pointed but still rounded ears. She was just shy of 6 feet tall, and was a skilled hunter and cook. Her eyes were a striking green color, and she wore a simple green huntress' outfit with an earthy brown vest, under a blue apron.
Naruto would hunt for the half-elf and her mother when he came to visit, and often left them more gold than necessary when he ate. He hunted rarer game, such as the Stag and the Iron Bears.
This made him famous enough, but he was also a mercenary, and had once fought a Graug bare-handed because he was bored. He was legendary for that feat alone, because the fight ended with Naruto dragging the Graug's carcass behind him, all the way to the nearest shop, where the Graug was sold and harvested for useful parts.
That day was also when he met Gwendolyn. They'd crossed paths as Naruto returned from the Graug's cave, and she was returning from her hunting trip.
Gwendolyn taught Naruto how to use the bow and arrow, and Naruto taught her how to use knives in combat.
Naruto heard a voice call out to him, and he blinked as he came out of his reverie.
"Come on, Naruto. My shift's over, and you promised you'd take me to a special place today," Gwendolyn said. Naruto perked up, and put his gloves back on, before smiling at the girl, and leading her out of the inn.
The duo walked to the nearby grove of trees, before Naruto picked his companion up.
"We'll get there faster this way," he said. Suddenly, he shot off, going speeds only Naruto could go.
Gwendolyn watched as the landscape blurred past them as they sped towards Naruto's cave.
It took a little less than three hours, before Naruto stopped running, and slowed down enough to walk into the cave. He carried Gwendolyn deep into the cave system, overcoming impossible obstacles in an inhuman manner before he stopped.
"We're almost there. Close your eyes," he said. Gwendolyn nodded, and shut her eyes.
Naruto suddenly jumped forward, and then up. He set his companion down and smiled softly at the room he'd found on accident.
"Open your eyes, Gwen," he said. The half-elf girl did, and gasped at what she saw. Man-sized crystals were everywhere. Amethysts, sapphires, diamonds, and even veins of silver were in a circular room, a cavity of riches in the side of a mountain.
A hole in the top of the circular room let sunlight in, and the light reflected off of the crystals and metals in ways she'd never seen before.
Naruto broke a chunk of the closest diamond off, and pulled a silver necklace from his pouch on his back. The diamond was set into the silver, where Naruto's chakra made the gemstone meld with it, before he handed it to her.
Gwendolyn gasped, as Naruto put the very valuable item in her hands.
"I have a job to do. Thorin Oakenshield has hired me to help him retake his father's kingdom from the dragon, Smaug. I accepted. So I wanted to give you this now, because it'll be a few weeks before I return, if not a season... I care for you, Gwendolyn. Deeply, and truly, from the deepest recesses of my heart. And I want you to stay with me, and I want to stay with you, forever. I asked your mother, and she told me it was ultimately your choice. Marry me," the Shinobi asked.
His half-elf friend smiled at him, and nodded vigorously. He unclasped the necklace, and Naruto placed it on her neck, a bright smile on his face.
Gwendolyn was ecstatic. She'd known he liked her, and she liked him back. They were often found subtly courting the other, with small gifts, and him taking her to places she normally couldn't go. She didn't know he was this serious about her, though, and it made her day.
But he would leave soon, to be a hero, and reclaim a Dwarven kingdom. So Gwen did something brazen.
She kissed Naruto, long and hard. She poured her emotions into the kiss, and a silent message was conveyed.
Naruto and Gwen sat atop the Black Gate, looking out into the lands of Mordor. A basket was sat between them, and a deerskin blanket was under them.
"Your path will likely take you through the Greenwood," Gwen said as a sandwich touched her lips.
She took a bite as Naruto replied.
"You wish me to ask about Gawon," he asked, holding the sandwich for her.
Gwen nodded, and leaned onto Naruto's shoulder as they watched the red lightning and ash clouds of Mordor create a dark and beautiful spectacle above them.
(Four days later)
Naruto sighed as he laid Gwendolyn in her bed in Linhir. Hobbiton was a long ways away, even for him. He would be leaving in a few minutes, because he needed to get on the road before nightfall.
He had chosen a direct path, which was not at all safe. The mountains were supposedly infested with Goblins, and there were more than a few possible Graug sightings.
But it was quicker. No doubt, the rest of the party would beat him there.
So Naruto kissed the forehead of his bride-to-be, and set a note on the bedside table.
"I'll see you soon, Gwen-chan," Naruto said as he dashed towards Hobbiton, a smile on his lips, but a frown in his eyes.
And CUT!
Sorry for the long wait!
I can hear you now: "Naruto's engaged to an OC!? Betrayal! Death to the traitor!"
I have a habit of doing things my way. Which means, this story is like a river. It flows and you cannot stop it.
So you can all review and rant there.
And REMEMBER! Naruto is no longer human. He is, for the most part, a demon. Thus, he can do some pretty epic shit, which you will be seeing.
Such as fighting Graug, pissing of Dragons, fighting the most underplayed villain ever, and living up to his namesake.
... Maelstrom, you idjits. How the hell would he live up to a fishcake!?
The events of Shadow of Mordor have yet to happen. I intend to go over them, because they happen BETWEEN The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings.
This is Vinna, SIGNING OFF!