Legend of the Fox
Chapter 2
AN: It's alive! After years of sitting and collecting dust this story lives once more! Why you ask? Perhaps because I was feeling nostalgic, maybe I just wanted something different. Maybe it's because I never wanted this story to die. Whatever the case the answer is because I could. I dusted off a dead story that I put up for adoption years ago simply because I can! I write because I feel like, and I'll put out what I feel like putting out regardless of what it is and that's all there is to it damn it. With that said here's the chapter
Start Now:
He awoke with a groan with his body racked by a pain far worse than any he had ever experienced before and for someone who had once had a lightning covered hand plunged through a lung that said quite a lot. Still he pushed passed it long used to such situations and instead took the time to analyze his surroundings. He was in a nearly empty room lying within a futon and with the dampness on his forehead had a washcloth draped across it. Focusing outward with his senses he could detect a person hidden in the shadows of the upper left and lower right corners of the room. Focusing further out he could feel several other small, civilian level chakra signatures, perhaps fifty if his quick counting was correct. Moreover he could feel one as it moved at an unhurried pace in his direction.
Sure enough moments later the door to the room slid open to admit a young woman with long brown hair that fell down to her mid-back and deep brown eyes. She stood at perhaps 5'8" making her the tallest woman he'd ever met. She moved with a grace that one could see in any high level kunoichi with not a sound being produced from her footfalls.
"Oh you are awake." Said the woman upon leaning down to his level.
Naruto frowned, her words had sounded like gibberish to his ears. He tried to ask her what she said but his voice was incredibly hoarse and he stopped speaking after the first word, still it proved to be enough for the woman who spoke up once more only now he could understand her.
"It is surprising seeing you're awake with the amount of damage your body took; we were expecting you to be out a while longer." Said the woman.
"H-how long." Rasped out the blond before he was forced to stop speaking once more.
"You arrived here three days ago and have been unconscious ever since."
"Where?" questioned the blond
"We are currently in Egypt." Stated the woman not surprised by the confused look on his face.
"I figured you would not know where that was. You appeared in a flash of white light and judging by your condition it was not a voluntary journey." Said the woman as she went about replacing the towel on his head with a new one.
"Now then rest; there will be time to speak when you have recovered." Said the woman as she stood to her feet.
"W-wait who…?" questioned the blond
"I am Talia." Stated the woman.
"Naruto."
"Very well Naruto-san please rest for now we will have much to speak about soon enough." Said the woman before leaving the room.
As she did Naruto felt the two shadows in the corner ease up slightly and closed his eyes. Immediately he appeared in the dark world that made up his mindscape appearing no worse for wear. The place had changed over the years more specifically after his completion of the seal. First and foremost the cage which had once held the massive force of nature that was the Kyuubi no Kitsune was no longer there. Instead the fox was seemingly free to wonder as he saw fit though Naruto could lock the place down faster than an Akimichi at a buffet. The water that had once covered the floor was now gone as well having slowly vanished after he first completed the seal during his training at the Falls of Truth. Kyuubi or Kurama as he now knew him to be called was lying down on his stomach watching him as he approached. Looking the fox over he could see that it had managed to recover a bit as one of his tails had come back to life and a few patches of fur had filled in.
"Congrats brat we survived a jump through time/space." Said Kurama not bothering to change his position.
"That's what I was thinking too." Said Naruto with a grimace.
Despite his studies in fuinjutsu time/space techniques were out of his depths. Time/space techniques were considered the holy grail of the ninja arts and are what made the Nidaime, his father and Obito so much trouble to deal with.
"We'll have to figure out a different way back. That jump nearly killed you even with me actively covering you with a cloak." Informed the fox which Naruto agreed.
"When I can I'll summon Pa and see if we can use the mountain to send me back that way. If not I'll have to further my fuinjutsu studies." Said the blond.
"That's a start. For now do as the woman said and rest. We can discuss next steps once we've recovered from the jump."
For the next week that's what he did which considering his rather high rate of recovery said quite a lot about just how messed up he was. Talia came around every day to check up on him and after his third conscious day she had stopped changing the bandages as those level of injuries had already healed. Even still despite what she came to do they would spend time talking usually until someone came to get her. She told him of what her world was like, the various countries and people in those countries. She told him of things that blew his mind, things that had always seemed like ideas from an overactive imagination. Still he returned the favor telling her some of the things about his own world.
By the end of the week his strength had begun to return to him, his muscles being mostly repaired. By that point he had stopped having guards within the room and as such had surprised her when she had come in one day to see him doing a small workout of 200 sit-ups. Upon witnessing the feat for the first time he was allowed to venture out of the room, after of course some clothes were provided for him which was a simple pair of grey sweatpants and a white t-shirt. The halls were dark reminding him absently of the corridors that had made up Orochimaru's bases. Eventually she led him to a larger room where a single figure sat apparently waiting for them.
He was a slim figure with a darker tan skin yet not like those he'd met from Kumo. He had intense green eyes and short black hair that was graying at the sides and exuded an aura of confidence that could rival Hyuga Hiashi himself. He looked to be in his later forties perhaps early fifties and not too far behind him stood a man that stood at a staggering 6'10 and looked like a literal wall of muscle. Despite this however Naruto could tell he wasn't a threat and rather easily dismissed him from his mind doing his best not to laugh at the 'intimidating' stance he stood in. Instead he took a seat in the empty chair the seated man gestured to at his left, with Talia seating herself across from him putting her on the man's right. .
"So you are the one who has captured so much of my daughter's attention, Naruto correct." Said the man causing the blond to nod.
"You're younger than I expected." Said the man though Naruto said nothing in an effort to keep the witty retort on his tongue from being said.
"My name is Ra's, Ra's al Ghul."
"Namikaze Naruto." Returned the blond in kind.
While this meeting was happening the members of the now famous Konoha twelve, Sai having taken Sasuke's former place, had gathered together within the home of their lost member. Along with them was Katsuyu who was looking over the seal that had taken a member of their own. At first it had been gone but it had been quite simple for the slug summon to bring it back into a visible form, like most invisible seals once you channeled chakra into a part of it the array became visible. Tsunade was at the back burning a trail through the floor as she paced her section of the room while Shizune was sitting and watching it all until finally Katsuyu sighed and turned away from the seal.
"Well the good news is Naruto-kun shouldn't have died, if my guess is correct." Said the slug immediately causing everyone to release the breath they'd been holding in.
"However I'm not the best at time/space seals. Your best bet is getting one of the toads to check this out, outside of finding a member of the Uzumaki clan" Revealed the slug causing several people to frown.
Tsunade herself grimaced at these words, Naruto was currently the only toad summoner on contract and they couldn't have anyone else sign it because he kept the contract with him at all times now after someone had tried to steal it after the war. The second option was a tall order as even though they had the girl Karin in the village she knew nothing about fuinjutsu. This meant they would have to look outside of Konoha and for an older member of that clan. They had always theorized that there had been more than a handful of survivors of the clan, however no definitive proof had come in. With that thought in mind Tsunade realized that the best bet at the moment was indeed to try and get a message to the toads.
Thankfully that may be easier than what others may initially think. She knew that for the last sixteen years the toads had been watching over Konoha, well truthfully they had watched over Naruto the first fourteen and had only recently taken up a guardianship over the village. Not many people knew it but for the first few years of his life the toads had kept a strict guard on the boy so tight that most people still believed Jiraiya had been living in the village at that point. Naruto never realized it but any time it looked as if things would turn out bad and a mob would form the toads would spring on the unsuspecting villagers with a vengeance as soon as the boy himself was out of sight. That was the real reason Naruto unlike many of his fellow jinchuriki had never been on the wrong end of a mob lynching.
When Naruto had left on his training trip with Jiraiya the only way the sage had been able to convince the boy was to leave the toad clan to watch over the village.
"Can you at least tell us what he was trying to do?" questioned Neji after a few moments.
"From what I can tell he was trying to create a link between the real world and his mindscape." Said Katsuyu.
"That's not possible." Said Ino sitting up and now looking at the seal attentively.
"Naruto appears to have found a way. From what I can see here it was meant to translate everything he sees and create a replication within his mindscape. This means that for each place he traveled his eyes would record and create a version of it within his mindscape. It would have given him a realistic map of every place he travelled to. Before anymore conversation could be had however there was a plume of smoke which suddenly erupted which cleared to show an old green toad.
A little over an hour after their initial meeting the two males stood looking out over the vast desert that spread out around them, the sight reminding Naruto of Kaze no Kuni, though nowhere near as windy. As for their conversation they had spent much of it sharing the details of their worlds, though Naruto made sure to only give a basic rundown, things that were pretty much common knowledge. The differences between their two worlds were quite noticeable and would require further discussion. Still the man himself reminded the blond of Onoki in the way he spoke and saw the world He was a man who had witnessed and experienced his fair share and it had left him jaded. The fact that both of them were shinobi gave them a bit of common ground.
"Beautiful isn't it." Questioned the elder man as he beheld the sight
"It is quite the view, but it's not why you brought me up here." Remarked the blond.
"True enough, tell me what are your plans for the future?" questioned the elder.
"I need to figure out a way back home. As you know my trip here was accidental and what brought me here was never meant to do so. As such I'll have to find another means to go back." Said the blond
"Perhaps we can help each other then." Stated Ra's catching the teens attention.
"As you told me earlier your world is occupied by shinobi whom are the sole super powered populous and all of them aligned to a specific country." Stated Ra's getting a nod from the blond.
"While my forces do not possess these greater abilities we are not unlike the traditional ninja of this world with focuses on stealth, weapons handling, martial arts, and so forth." Continued the man.
"What are you getting at?" questioned the teen never one for patience though he was learning slowly.
"For some time now I have been searching for a successor. Someone worthy enough to take control of the League so that I may finally pass on. At one point in time I had considered another but he is too close minded and stuck in his world of black and white. Should you agree to become my successor then the resources of the League shall be at your disposal and I shall also offer you my daughters hand. Of course you would have to prove you are up to such a thing." Stated the man.
Naruto actually had to think on that one. Before all the craziness with the seal happened he had planned on proposing to Hinata, and as the last known heir of the Uzumaki clan and the sole living heir of the Namikaze clan it was his responsibility to ensure that the clans thrived. This was done through repopulation and as such he was allowed a maximum of four wives. This was something he'd saw no need for but the Daimyo had insisted on it and as such he really had no choice. Sure he already had two daughters whom he loved dearly but his eldest was now Spring Countries princess and his youngest daughter would be taking over for Shion as high priestess of Oni no Kuni.
"Take the offer brat"
'You sure about this Kurama?' questioned the blond
"From what I can tell the man has been around for well over one hundred years it is long past his time to end. Furthermore he is offering to let you take his forces back with you to Konoha and your forces could use the boost." Explained the fox.
Naruto could agree on that point. During the war all of the villages had been hit hard but considering all the damage that had befallen Konoha since the combined Sound/Sand invasion the leaf had never really had time to recover. The war itself had nearly decimated their forces and just from what he had seen walking around the forces he was offering could really help the village now even without having any training in chakra usage.
'I'm blaming you if baa-chan get's mad.' Stated the blond.
"Good thing I'm safely locked in here then." Retorted the fox and Naruto could just picture the grin across his muzzle before he focused himself back on the outside world.
"I suppose I can take you up on your offer. At the very least I can get back into shape and get some decent training time in." stated the teen.
"Very well I will send someone to collect you in an hour. Talia will lead you back to your quarters." Said the man before he turned and walked back into the base. As the blond turned he was surprised to find that Talia was indeed standing behind them and quickly fell in step with her as she turned to walk away
"Are you okay with all of this?" questioned the blond.
"It is my duty to lead the League. My father however would rather I do not do it alone. It is because of this he keeps reviving himself. Perhaps he believes that if I were by your side he could then rest without worry. From my own understanding I can guess that things would be much easier for us in your world. While not possessing many of our technological advancements the state of your world from your descriptions is much better than the state this world is in."
The rest of the walk was made in silence with the blond using the time to think over her words. Finally they arrived to his quarters and after seeing him inside Thalia made her own exit. Taking a look around the room Naruto was pleased to find there was no one present made quick work of biting his right thumb before flashing through a familiar chain of seals. As he slammed his hand to the ground there was the customary plume of smoke which cleared to show Fukasaku.
"Naru-boy you're alive."
AN: That's it chapters done. I know it took forever to update but I finally got some motivation. I've also seen a few people who have had my permission to write their own version using my first chapter as a basis. Anyway I've been reading a lot of Naruto/DC crossovers lately and it inspired me to give this fic another try. Hopefully it doesn't take years for me to update the next chapter. Till next time, LATER.