I do not own Naruto, Dragon Age (minor, not to a degree warranting a crossover status (in my opinion) nor any other element that may arise in this story. I'm fairly sure that has well been established at this point... In any case, this story is for entertainment purposes only. Why else would it be in FanFiction?

Answer me that, I dare you! (Supreme glare (OF DOOM)!)

Of consequences: From it an Empire

Chapter One: When it all began

Konoha, fifteen years ago

... He supposed he should've seen it coming, not that he would've guessed it even if he had an inkling of what would happen to begin with...

Konoha as it stood now was little more than a crater filled with rubble, courtesy of Pain, the leader of the Akatsuki. Though Konoha iself put up a valiant stand against him and his otherworldly jutsu, in the end however they were crushed, quite literally, underneath his assault... only those outside the range of his impact were able to survive and even then at best they amounted to one-eighteenth of Konoha's standing forces... needless to say the civilian casualties skyrocketed that day. And yet despite all that those who have been killed in action, both shinobi and civilian alike, were alive and well, all thanks to the determination, the conviction and hope of Naruto Uzumaki who made Pain yield in defeat. In his last moments he decided to put what faith he had into the younger man, despite his reservations and undo the damage done by forfeiting his own— those he had slain in Konoha once more walked the earth once more, all thanks to the very power he held to destroy Konoha.

While the fact those who had been slain had certainly turned heads, it was those who came back from the dead that had them gasping. Whether it was a form of last minute spite or perhaps something akin to a misfire, an act of overreaching, from the graveyard came those who had long since died, alive, anew, healthy and no less confused as they were... teams were sent out to the graveyard to determine the number of the deceased had been given new life. It took the senses of the Inuzuka clan however to figure out that at least some of them were unwittingly trapped underground... By the end of the day over half the graveyard had to be dug up in order to find and ensure that only two-hundred-and-twenty-six had been resurrected, no more, no less. Of the resurrected only a quarter of which were shinobi, and, to everyone's shock, only one of them was a legend...

Minato Namikaze, the Fourth Hokage, sealer of the Nine-Tailed Fox into his one and only son on the very night of his birth, lived once more despite all the odds, extensively confirmed in every way possible between surviving labs, memory tests and confidential secrets listened to only by certain ears; once it was determined Tsunade, the current Hokage, was in a coma he was sworn back into office; between foremen, quartermasters, council members, clan heads and veteran shinobi, not even Naruto had a chance to say anything to him, much less see him...

As much as he understood, if only in part at least, he couldn't keep the frown from leaving his lips from that day onward without help as the celebration of his victory, really more of a celebration of the unwitting rebirth of those who passed away beforehand, finally wound down, virtually every able body put to work in rebuilding the village, guarding it or undertake missions with a passion that hadn't been seen since the months after Orochimaru's failed assault over three years ago... in the end however he was left behind; no work, no one asking for help upon offering, no friends or mentors to keep him company in the coming days and nights. Were he suspicious he would've thought they, both those he cared about and the village in general, were deliberately avoiding him.

Before he knew it the only company he had his old detractors, most of whom risen from the grave, to keep him company in the form of distant glares as they did their damndest to keep both themselves and the "demon kid" away.

It was almost a complete week later when the Hokage finally called for him at long last. Bored, a bit grumpy, but most of all curious, he wasted no time in making a bee line for the tent he was using for an office considering the demolished tower had yet to even begin to be repaired. When he finally arrived he couldn't help but rethink his eagerness as he came to stand before his farther who sat behind a table laden with various scrolls and documents in barely organized chaos, his arms resting on the table by his elbows as his hands clapsed one another in a ball, hiding away his mouth and chin as he gave him a stern glare he hadn't seen since the Third Hokage when he was alive to address serious matters... grave matters even.

... It definitely did not help matters in the least when there was a shinobi guarding each corner of the 'room.' One was also at his side as well as a vaguely familiar woman with purple hair lightly leaning against the tent wall... Squinting at her he couldn't— a moment later it dawned on him that it was the crazy snake lady, Anko or something... the one from the interrogation and torture department... who didn't look happy in the least...

"Naruto Uzumaki," the Hokage spoke up in a grave, stern voice. "Do you know why I called you here?"

A slightly nervous frown adopted itself on Naruto's face. "No..."

The Hokage, without looking, reached over and pulled out a vanilla folder, opened it and let it plop onto the table. "When I had the time I looked over your record as a shinobi..."

"You didn't graduate from the academy; you were inducted into the shinobi corps by not only defeating a rogue chunin named Mizuki in a failed attempt to smuggle Forbidden Scroll out of the village but learning an A-rank technique the very scroll you stole in the first place. As a result of this scuffle one of your instructors from the academy had to be hospitalized."

Before Naruto could open his mouth to defend himself, Minato continued. "Barely even the day before that you proceeded to deface the Hokage monuments that compromise the cliff just behind the village. Even then you had a propensity to run amok in the village for equally disruptive "pranks" as you called them."

"And while your "pranks" declined since becoming a shinobi there has been cases of insubordination, destruction of property, assaulting teammates, and endangerment of the client or mission objectives, disrespecting authority... Need I go on?"

"H-hey! What are you—?"

With the flick of the hand the Hokage closed the folder with the severity of a judge's gavel banging against its sound block. "Though your achievements are as many as they are great, certain items cannot be overlooked." He gave the younger blond the hardest glare any leader could give their subordinate. "As of right now you are no longer a genin of Konoha as pending an evaluation. Turn in your headband."

Naruto gaped at him... "What?" he asked, his voice just above a horrified whisper.

"Turn in your headband," The Fourth Hokage reiterated in an even fashion. "You are no longer a genin of Konoha."

Naruto did nothing for a moment. All he did, all that he could do was stand there as the Hokage's order and its implication ran amok in his head like a broken record. When his hands finally moved it was with the grace of the dead moving more out of memory than instinct or conscious effort. His dulled hands fumbled with the tie that held the band and plate to his head only to eventually succeed. He took one dead step forward and planted the headband on the table with a pronounced 'clack!' before standing back where he originally stood.

"You are to return here tomorrow at noon. Am I understood?"

Lamely Naruto nodded, his eyes having long since glassed over in defeat.

"Good. You are dismissed then."

Woodenly he turned around and soon exited the tent where he soon staggered off, his ears deaf to everyone and everything around him that tried to call out to him, his eyes fixated on the road before him as dictated by his possessed feet that sought him a refuge, wherever that might be.

XVX

Tent

"You know, for all the crap he pulled over the years, he never did anything that was below the belt like this. If anything he just got you pissed and called it good before walking off."

The Hokage wearily sighed and sunk his head against his hands. "Perhaps I'm not as adept at this than my son." A grin split his lips a moment later as he raised his head. "Then again the finished product is what defines a master!"

He reached over and picked up the headband and smiled at the reflect of himself on its surface before handing it to one of his subordinates. "Can you please get someone to polish this? Get him a new headband even?"

"Yes sir." The man took it and soon left the tent altogether. Not long after Anko likewise made for the exit as well.

"I'm telling you, this is not going to end well," she sighed. "I can only imagine what he'll come up with to get even."

The blond Hokage rolled his eyes and shook his head. Taking out a scroll from the stacks surrounding him he opened it, undid the seal and marveled at the chunin vest with orange highlights that greeted him the second the smoke cleared.

"As I said, Naruto, you're no longer a genin!" he said aloud with a grin match by the remaining shinobi in the tent.

XVX

Forest, six hours later

When he looked up at long last he found the sun was starting to set in the west, the sky changing with it from a peaceful blue to a almost harsh mauve. He looked to the ground to find the grass between his feet as well as part of the stump he sat on for so long. Tentatively he reached up and touched his naked forehead to ensure he hadn't suffered some illusion, a nightmare in the waking world caused by a runaway daydream or, hopefully, he somehow fallen asleep on this very stump and had an actual nightmare.

His hand cringed the moment it felt only skin, not metal or cloth.

His head sagged into his other hand, a balled fist which supported him all this time... there was probably a indent in both his legs from where his elbows sat all this time, not that he could feel them.

With a grunt he got up, each joint, bend, curve popping in protest after hours of disuse. He even had to rub his stiff neck as he cracked it with a weary groan. One by one he stretched out his limbs, bent them eve, to work out the collective kinks that remained as he dully eyed the foliage before him, his one refuge now that most of the village was in the process of being rebuilt, laborers and contractors were being brought in and to save on expenditures they were salvaging what they could of the ruins as they cleared them. Even the monument was closed off for the time being, the forest, short of his tent, was the only place he had for any sense of the word "solitude."

Wordlessly he turned in the direction of the camping grounds and took a step forth only to halt himself as he drearily looked through the scant openings through the forest at the vague sight of the few tents in clear view. His mind wondering on whether or not to go back...

His life as a shinobi was over, that much was for certain. On the same coin however he was trained for any other job... But considering how he was expelled without warning was it even possible he would get even a low paying job, let alone join the village militia if he was lucky.

Did the militia even pay their members though?

Regardless, if he was sacked despite all he had accomplished: Defeating Gaara when he released Shukaku, saved and brought back Granny Tsunade, brought the Kazekage, Gaara, back from the clutches of both the Akatsuki and death, with help of course for both, survived a priestess' proclamation of his own death, fought Pain even and managed to get him to stand down despite his overwhelming power... who was there to say others won't follow his example? The Hokage's example no less...

... How were his friends suppose to react to this?

With a groan he rubbed his hand along his face as he faced the other way, towards the depths of the forest. When he finally peered out his eye caught something glinting in the growing darkness of the forest, far off but no less brilliant.

Frowning to himself, he considered what to do. On one hand he could turn around and head 'home' for all the good that would do; he could sleep in for a change, especially now that he had nothing to do, suffer whatever the Hokage had in mind and suffer the slow, tedious death of his soul afterward trying to find a job in a vengeful world that is the village. On the other hand he had no obligation to go back, friends or no friends. He was no longer a shinobi and thus there was no sense of responsibility to tack onto him anymore, making him a free agent to do as he wants and as he pleases, for the most part at least. If worse comes to worse and his chakra was sealed as a precaution for the future, regardless of then he at least owed himself one last adventure, lame though it might be if in the end it was simply a lost locket or forgotten weapon that managed to emit one last brilliant shine before the day was out.

With a solemn smirk he waded through the brush to the depths of the forest where the light shined brilliantly.

For thirty minutes he journeyed into the veritable jungle that was Konoha's surrounding forest thanks to the underlying brush, all the while he had to sidestep bushes, the occasional fallen tree and even the random boulder that survived the ages. Just as it seemed the brilliant gleam maybe something conjured by his mind as perhaps some last vestige of hope he pushed his way past a tall bush when he came across a small grove amongst the forest where a locket indeed was precariously hanging from a low hanging branch.

"Huh..." He looked around for any evidence of a camp or else a traveler, explorer perhaps, that may have stopped in the grove rather recently. At most he found something carved into a tree to his side, earning not only a second look but a closer one as well. Upon reaching the trunk he knelt down and examined it to find an X shaped mark on it, wide and marked deeply into the wood to ensure it the passage of time didn't wear it away short of a century or complete annihilation. Frowning to himself he couldn't help but ponder what it meant for a moment before shrugging it off and sauntering his way to the locket with both hands behind his head. As he neared the locket his hand lazily reached out for the locket. It was only at the last second he yanked it back, his ear twitching at the sound of a branch snapping when he inadvertently saved his arm from a flying kunai aimed directly at it.

With a harsh, surprised gasp he armed himself with a kunai and stood at the ready in time to spy on a shadow falling down on him, a sword at the ready for a decapitating slash. He leapt back in time to avoid the blade and flung the kunai, equipping himself with another in record time as he gritted his teeth when his assailant, an Anbu, deflected the knife away and charged at him once more with one hand flashing through a set of hand seals.

"H-Hey! Why are you attacking me?! I'm not even a shinobi any more!"

As if in spite of Naruto's bid to quell the sudden hostility the Anbu brought his hand to his chest as he seemingly took a deep breath.

"CRAP!" He dodged to the side in time to avoid a fireball only to be caught within a veritable web of shinobi wire waiting just for him, binding him in place as his shocked body tangled itself further and further into the mess as he fought to regain both his footing and balance. A second later the wires seemingly came alive and bound him in place like snakes.

"It doesn't matter if you are an active or inactive shinobi," an Anbu spoke up from the shadows as the one from before slowly approached him, sword at the ready to pierce his skull. "Without extenuating circumstances anyone with a shinobi background cannot leave Konoha without permission, especially in the case of a jinchuriki; being dismissed certainly gave you no rights to try to leave."

"Leave?! I wasn't leaving!" he argued as he jerked his head away to the branch. "I was—..." To his horror the locket was gone. His would-be executioner erred in his march only to glance in the general direction of Naruto's stressed gaze as if giving him the benefit of the doubt.

Without any hint of proof for Naruto's mild claim the Anbu resumed his approach, his palm resting on the pommel of his ninjato to support the coming deathblow as Naruto struggled all the more before him. "I wasn't leaving! You got to believe me!"

As he got closer he raised the blade even higher.

"Damn it!" His teeth gnashed together as he considered only one option to save himself. The only option he had left really considering he could neither use his hands to use a seal, much less an incomplete rasengan which would only eat up dirt or his leg at worst, or muster enough concentration to use sage mode... He slammed his eyes shut, gritted his teeth till they threatened to break and burrowed within his own mind just as the Anbu came to a halt and thrust the tip downward, its aim being his forehead.

Just as the sword's tip threatened to pierce the thin amount of flesh which protected his forehead his eyes flew open, slitted irises a hateful red that bore into the Anbu and a red-orange coat bubbled into existence, stopping the blade in its tracts and engulfing the wire binding the blond. The man let go of his sword with an audible snarl and leapt back as a precaution just as the metal corroded away like burnt paper, the wire faring no better despite its collective thickness. In a matter of moments the sword's tip and the wiring were flayed away, effectively freeing Naruto and allowing him to stand up as a tail composed of the cloak angrily waved behind him, his hand clenched into a fistas both an act of anger and self control.

"Look," he growled out. "I am not abandoning the village! I came out here because there was something shining , got curious and came to investigate it!" The Anbu in plain view drew out a kunai already tied to a tag with a thick black outline, Naruto in turn gave an involuntarily growl in frustration as he held a hand up in a stopping motion as a tail of chakra slowly but angrily waved behind him.

"Say what you will, monster, but it is still an act of desertion; we have our orders."

Naruto's ears twitched thanks to his heightened senses at the sound of something whirling in the air. Before he realized what it was a bola wrapped around his protected neck, its weights smashing together in perfect unison and exploding on impact in a brilliant flash of light and shrapnel that barely scratched his face thanks to the cloak but nevertheless blinded him all the same, the resulting scream of pain and his hands clutching at his eyes in pure instinct serving as proof of which. With Naruto distracted the Anbu before him lunged, driving the kunai in as deeply and forcibly as he could, successfully driving it into flesh before he retreated to a safe distance, a casual glance at his gloves to inspect the damage as bits and pieces fell off or flayed away completely.

KA-BOOM!

Three times more powerful than the average tag, everyone both hidden and in the open were knocked back or, in Naruto's case, blown completely away as a hurting mass of flesh as more tails sprouted from his cloak, his flesh rapidly healing in the process to the point of pristine. With an animalistic growl Naruto reached down with one hand and calwed the ground in order to halt himself, his tails waving frantically in the air as he fought to control the underlying rage within. His eyes snapped to the canopy above as another anbu, his hands a blur.

XVX

"Lord Danzo." An elderly man of brown hair turned to the speaker, half of his aged face covered in bandages. The moment his lone eyed peered upon the kneeling blank masked shinobi who ducked his head down. "Team A has engaged the jinchuriki. As of right now they hadn't suffered any loses and the resulting battle in drawing the attention of the Anbu patrolling the vicinity... After activating the cloak, other patrols and even some of the regular forces are coming to investigate. As it stands right now, sir, it is likely he would flee as opposed to die as a 'traitor' to the Leaf."

"I see. Ensure the contingency is carried out then."

"As you wish, my lord."

XVX

"Damn it!"

By some luck he managed to reign in enough of his emotions enough to will away his cloak but not enough to banish his altered features completely as he delved deeper into the forest as more as more anbu literally came out of the woodwork, no questions were asked, weapons drawn and at the ready as they took swipes at him at worst. Though his flesh had long since healed thanks to the fox residing within him, what remained of his jacket and shirt from the explosion was now in tatters from the numerous kunai and sword swings. Short of fighting them the only sensible option he could think to buy himself time to calm down and think was to create one army of shadow clones after another so as to escape. Before he realized it he ended up at the shore of the lake belonging to the Valley of the End. With an irritable sigh he considered his options... his limited options of either returning and by some miracle sorting this all out, provided of course he hadn't accidentally killed someone, even he knew that was a dampener towards negotiations, or do the one thing he had never even once considered since becoming a shinobi: Run away and never look back.

His hands bawled into fists as memories of the dwindling number of clones came rushing into his head; by now at least half of the anbu were now hunting him down with the intent to kill. If he had to guess then perhaps only a third of his clones were now left and dwindling.

His ear twitched as a distant shout of "there he is" reached his ears despite the distance thanks to his heightened hearing. Again his hand tightened in irritation yet he only deigned to turn around as the abrupt earth of rumbling earth drew his attention to the square end of an impromptu spear lurching forth from the earth as something burst forth from the lake. In less than a second he found himself painfully pinned against a wooden wall by his chest, his wrists bound by wooden wall behind him as none other than Yamato landed near the base of the 'spear' in the company of two anbu, one of whom whipping out a tag and madly dashing up the rampart the 'spear' provided. As he ran towards Naruto the anbu made no effort to hide it what was a bomb tag resting in the palm of his hand, in turn causing Naruto to struggle against his bonds as he called on more of the Fox's chakra.

"You're already in enough trouble as it is, Naruto!" Yamato stated as he held a hand up which he supported, a series of square foo dog pillars erupted from the ground around him. "Just come quietly and we can sort this all out!"

Crack! BOOM!

In a heave that would be impossible for anyone else Naruto heave both arms forth, once more cloaked in the power of his tailed-beast, destroying the restraints through brute strength alone, in turn creating a crater within the wall that was deep enough for him to bring his legs to his chest and kick out against the platform holding him in place. Though made of chakra enhanced wood the assault was too create, Naruto destroyed the wall in an explosion of splinters and came to a skidding halt on the lake's surface, six tales of chakra energy madly waving about and his body tensed as if he were afraid of moving altogether lest he destroyed something in a fit of rage.

"I don't know what they told you but if can't see that they're trying to kill me then how am I suppose to trust you in what you say?!" he bit out in an animalistic growl. Yamato only frowned in turn.

"They're only attacking you because you attacked one of their patrols," he sternly explained as he critically appraised Naruto's current state as his hand grasped itself tightly enough to audibly pop the joints in his hand. A deeper frown engraved itself on his face. "From the looks of it the Nine-Tails has affected your mind..." The totems around him twitched. "This is for your own good, Naruto!" As one the 'dogs,' like living snakes, stretched out and barreled towards the once genin who stayed still till he snapped his head up to balefully glare at the onrushing pillars. Rather than charge them or attack in any direct manner, Naruto cocked back his fist and punched the surface of the lake, the sheer power behind it in turn gave rise to a massive geyser of water that the 'dogs' rushed into. A second later the crest of the pillar of water exploded in the direction of the monument. As the pillar fell Yamato came to squint as he searched for Naruto only to look up as evidence would dictate an escape. To his dismay a figure, most likely the blond, was flying towards and past the cliff bearing monuments of both the First Hokage and Madara Uchiha in what must've been a empowered leap from the geyser.

"Above the cliff!"

Already the three darted toward the cliff face, all three of whom unaware of another anbu in the canopy of the tree line behind them. He took out a tanto and unsheathed it till only two inches of the blade was visible and, using the dying sun, he flashed the light off the blade to another section of the forest where another individual responded in kind. The man in the tree sheathed his blade and waited for only under a minute when a hawk far off cried out and took flight from within the forest, in the direction of the corresponding flash.

XVX

At the cry of a hawk a man in Konoha's uniform looked up and spied on a hawk perching itself on a nearby wall. Pushing himself off against the wall of an outpost he nonchalantly walked over to the hawk, carefully eyeing his surroundings as he did so, and took a small scroll fastened to the bird of prey's leg. As the bird flew off the second it was free of its burden he opened it and perused its contents before rolling it back up and stowing away in his flak jacket for added protection. Though he walked casually to the front door of the outpost with both hands behind his head, he walked in an urgency to ensure he didn't waste more time than he would've liked. In short order he passed the door, weaved past a kunoichi on her way out and made it to the desk where an elderly man attended.

"How may I help you young man?"

The shinobi pulled out the scroll and double checked its contents before handing him the scroll.

"On behalf of Konoha I would like to place Naruto Uzumaki into the free lance bingo book."