Uploaded: 29th June AD 2024
7:45 AEST - Australian Eastern Standard Time GMT+10
A Naruto and Elden Ring Crossover
Disclaimer: "Naruto" is a property of Masashi Kishimoto, Shueisha, and Studio Pierrot; "Elden" is a property of FromSoftware, Hidetaka Miyazaki and George R. R. Martin. I do not own any of them.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. Reader discretion is advised.
A/N: Please join Aizen the Goat's Discord Server; it's a great place: kyTaRuVpBW
Oh, I have nothing, but thanks to Miyazaki-san and FromSoftware, the DLC reinforced some of the things that I had planned ages ago. Speaking of the DLC, I love it.
Genres: Action, Adventure, Romance, Epic Fantasy, Drama, Supernatural
Warnings: Violence, Strong Language, Implied Sexual Content, SOME CHARACTERS WILL BE OOC
Tags: Whatever applies here applies here.
Universe: Animeverse/Gameverse
Series: The Chronicles of the Eternal Sage - Naruto Uzumaki
"Jutsus/Time change/ Place change"
"Gods/Goddesses/Heavenly Beings/Demons or Dragons Talking"
"Gods/Goddesses/Heavenly Beings/Demons or Dragons Thinking"
'Flashback'
"Talking"
"Thinking/Telepathy speaking/News/Messages/Videos/Different Languages"
Translation if using a different language.
"I sense something from you… something that goes beyond space and time."
- ?
Volume 2 - Grace-Filled
Chapter 7: Tarnished
Story Start.
With a gasp, grey eyes opened, the woman found herself in a familiar sight, surrounded by candles of white light and a steel door that awaited being lifted open. She looked down at her gloved hands and saw that she held her helmet in one hand and her sword in another.
"… Moonveil," she muttered, but before anything else, she sheathed the sword and wore her helmet. "Something doesn't add up; why am I standing here?"
She strode forward, but before she could raise the door, she noticed something in her right hand—or rather, the lack of something. "Torrent's whistle is missing. What is going on?"
A strange thought passed through her mind, and she hesitated to lift the door open as if fearing what lies beyond what she knew beforehand, all because some things seemed off from where she was at that time.
"Yuriko, this is the seventh time; get a hold of yourself," she said to herself before she strode with measured confidence and lifted the door open; before her was a familiar yet different sight.
Limgrave, she thought, and there was immediate confusion in her eyes as she stared over the lands before her. Some things have not changed, yet there are obvious things that did not appear as such. Her eyes peered at the Site of Grace nearby; it was still there, and there was still a guidance she could see pointing towards Stormveil.
"Stormveil…" she whispered; her grey eyes widened at the scenery before her.
The Erdtree was still there, as usual, towering above all the Lands Between, but the most immediate scene before her was the castle. It was different, far different from what it had been before, different from what she had traversed six times already.
It is as if the time was reversed, and all the marks of destruction and death vanished from its mighty walls; a castle in its pristine condition, and she noticed all of it from where she was. Given its strategic position, this new Stormveil would weather any storm, dividing Limgrave from Liurnia of the Lakes and serving as Limgrave's northwestern defence.
But before she could continue her thoughts on the tactical features of this new castle, a familiar voice interrupted her. "Oh, yes… Tarnished, are we? Come to the Lands Between for the Elden Ring, hmm? Of course, you have. No shame in it. Unfortunately for you, however, you are-!"
"Maidenless, I know, believe me. I heard it all before, White Mask Varré." Yuriko's interruption silenced the man, and her rather blasé attitude took him aback. The dismissal in her tone put off the man, not to mention that she called out his name, which created confusion within him.
Yuriko never saw his face, so she could not see his facial reactions. Still, she could almost hear the gears within Varré's mind at a halt, and she felt relief somehow, shutting up the man for the first time, remembering the last six times that she encountered this man in the same place and same situation.
"… have we met before?"
She ignored him, and she wanted to say yes, and that she had killed him six times already, but no, she held herself in silence and returned her eyes towards Stormveil, and Varré got the message, then changed his tune.
"Ah, yes. Castle Stormveil did not look with such grandeur a few days ago. Godrick the Grafted has been felled, you see; there is a new lord of Stormveil now, yet I know not of his name, but it appears that he is no Tarnished like you."
Varré sighed, and Yuriko raised an eyebrow; being a seasoned warrior prevented her from reacting openly, and she could scarcely believe what she just heard from the War Surgeon.
"Oh, that explains a lot, but it created further questions…" she thought to herself, then pulled out a telescope from her pouch to see Stormveil closer.
Different banners flew high from its walls. She could tell that they were hewn from something mysterious, magical even, though the sigil depicted in those banners took her attention the most, for it was something that she was most unfamiliar with.
"They call him the Lord of Gold and Silver easily enough; his banners outright say it through their rather beautiful design. However, the question remains—why gold and silver?" Yuriko had almost forgotten that Varré was there, and he loved the sound of his voice, though she took note of what he said.
Indeed, why gold and silver? What does it represent, aside from the symbols of the sun and the moon, she could make off from where she stood? A thought came to her mind. "He is obviously against the Golden Order, but who is he? Where did he come from?"
Passively, she turned her telescope towards the landscape before her, and it finally clicked in her mind: the Tree Sentinel was missing.
"Oh, someone dealt with the Tree Sentinel?" she wondered, and thoughts continued to form within her mind, fresh off from another iteration of these lands. "Does he have Torrent with him and Melina too?"
Varré saw fit to answer what she said to herself, even if she did not ask for it. "The mysterious new lord of Stormveil took the Tree Sentinel into his service, though I know not how given that they are the ramparts of the Erdtree."
"That's… certainly a new development. Do they even talk? I never got a word from them since they immediately turned hostile." Yuriko straightened herself and began to walk down the hill, away from the man who called out to her.
"Tarnished, off to somewhere?"
She briefly turned her head back and replied, "Grace's guidance tells me to see this lord, War Surgeon."
Yuriko lied; yes, the guidance of grace still pointed towards Stormveil, but she actually went to the Church of Elleh to see if Kalé was there, and she was actually surprised to find him there, with his donkey and his wares, but he was packing up.
"Good day, merchant," she greeted, and he looked back to see her.
Kalé scrunched his face, and he knew that this woman was Tarnished immediately. Unlike that man, Naruto turned Lord of Stormveil in such a short time. "A Tarnished, and not after my throat. Greetings, I am Kalé, purveyor of fine goods."
Then he returned to packing his things up, though he continued speaking. "I'm afraid the shop is closed. I am off to find some of my brothers, then bring them to Stormveil."
"You see, a new lord took over, a good one. And I can see new opportunities for having a fixed trading spot, nomadic as we are, but perhaps my brothers wouldn't mind."
The samurai stood silent momentarily and thought of this obvious change from what she remembered. Yuriko surmised that this new lord had already gone through this and perhaps even met Ranni; it was as if she'd retraced the steps she once took, yet someone else had already taken them before her and took a very different path.
"Have you met this new lord?"
Kalé stopped and looked back. "His name is Naruto. I thought he came from the Land of Reeds, but no, he's from somewhere else entirely."
She halted her steps. "I wonder how he writes his name…. It might explain a lot if I see the characters he uses for his name."
Then Kalé finally noticed her armour and a brief thought came to mind. "I see that you come from the Land of Reeds, given your current arsenal, unless it's pilfered from somewhere."
"I am from that land." Her reply was immediate, but the merchant shrugged his shoulders and resumed packing his wares unto his steed, and once he was finished, he gave the Tarnished one more look.
"You should see him, a strange but a good man. Though, I feel he is far older and wiser than he seems. Eyes don't lie, you know, and they are windows to the soul. See you around, Tarnished." Kalé mounted himself on his donkey and rode away from the church, leaving Yuriko alone in her thoughts and the site of grace beside her.
Her eyes dimmed slightly, and she wondered why, if someone had already taken the path of becoming Elden Lord, was she here? Why was Grace still guiding her to go there? The more she thought about it, the more her head hurt; these thoughts made her mind spin, and on top of these, therein lies a big question - why has she experienced the same story, the same land, but different endings? But now, the story is not so simple anymore; something does not add up, and it all converges on that new lord, Naruto.
"I must meet this man," she muttered under her breath, and without her spectral steed, she began her walk through the woods.
When she set foot in the woods, she witnessed a drastic change—the absence of Godrick's soldiers. The path, once heavily guarded, lay eerily silent. The wind rustled the leaves, creating a serene symphony as she moved forward, her steps careful and deliberate.
"Where are they? Were they killed off?" she wondered aloud, her grey eyes scanning the area for any signs of human activity. The woods felt different, not just in the absence of soldiers hunting Tarnished warriors, but in the atmosphere.
As she continued down the path, she reached a clearing where the Gatefront Ruins should have been, yet there were no ruins there. Like Stormveil, rebuilt structures served as an outpost before the equally rebuilt Stormgate.
It was then that Yuriko finally saw who should have been Godrick's soldiers, but no, she saw fellow Tarnished, talking amongst themselves, seemingly drawn towards Stormveil like she was. Already, she saw familiar faces, Yura among them, with his unique iron Kasa, and she was surprised to see that he was supposed to be near Lake Agheel.
However, before she could move towards them, a sudden rustling from the nearby bushes caught her attention, and Moonveil's blade gleamed in the dim light. "Who's there?" she demanded, her voice steady.
From the shadows emerged an older man, cloaked in crimson and dressed in white robes, moving with an almost ethereal grace. "Greetings, Tarnished who crossed the fog… seven times."
Yuriko narrowed her eyes, her blade at ready. "Who are you?"
He stepped closer, his golden eyes glinting with amusement and curiosity. "A shadow, a stargazer from beyond the fog. I'm sure you have questions; after all, four times you were Elden Lord, once Ranni's consort, and finally, Lord of the Frenzied Flame."
"Which one was the last before you woke up again from the beginning?"
She gripped her sword tighter, but she did ponder his question, and her face became conflicted, which the Stargazer noticed immediately. "Ah, Lord of the Frenzied Flame… I see; your eyes speak volumes."
He released a sigh, which sounded almost disappointed. "At least you know now not to take that path again."
"You'll be an excellent guide to him, the Lord of Gold and Silver."
To say that Yuriko was extremely shocked is an understatement. She was walking up to Stormveil's entrance when she found the Tree Sentinel walking towards the portcullis. She remembered feeling this same Sentinel after a long fight, and to see this figure stand guard, unmounted, was a sight she had never expected to see.
"I heard this new lord unmounted the Sentinel in a duel and almost killed it, but he apparently healed and recruited it." Yuriko heard a twinblade-wielding warrior say to a familiar face, Knight Bernahl, who kept his Zweihänder on his back while the other drew their blades.
She noticed Bernahl's expression was sullen; his eyes hid a tinge of sadness behind them as he replied. "A Tree Sentinel taking up a new lord cements the collapse of the Golden Order, and this new lord is someone that will take up the fight… sheath your blades."
The warriors did not reply as they stood before the portcullis, and it was then that they finally laid their eyes on the new lord of Stormveil. Metallic footsteps echoed as he approached them, his blue eyes peering at them from where he stood. Yuriko held Moonveil at hand as she watched him strode with silent confidence, and beneath his armour, all could see the dim glow of Godrick's rune passing through the metal.
Yuriko stood on guard when Naruto looked straight towards her. "What brings you Tarnished here?"
Once they had been welcomed inside Stormveil, Yuriko noticed that the castle was manned by soldiers led by Castellan Edgar, who was supposed to be in Castle Morne. At this point, she should no longer be surprised, but the changes she has been witnessing are just too far off from what she has witnessed in the past. Then, she remembered something. "If Edgar is here, then Irina is alive!"
Sure enough, she spied on a window and saw Irina sitting down with Roderika, of all people, but what surprised her the most was Irina's lack of blindfold - she was not blind anymore. Feelings of joy welled within her chest, knowing what fate had befallen this sweet young girl, but tears threatened to fall out of her eyes, given what happened the last time.
Her thoughts about the past were halted when a hand touched her right shoulder, and she almost jumped from where she was until she saw who it was. It was Gostoc, the Gatekeeper, and he seemed much better than the last time she saw him, a shrivelled old man, but now, it was no longer.
"Lord Naruto calls for you," he said, and his voice was also less tired as if he had had a long and sound sleep. He appeared refreshed, old as he was.
She stood from her seat and quietly followed the man towards the inner keep. It was then that she continued to make silent observations of the changes in her physical surroundings. Nothing of old Stormveil remained, not even the pavement, which begs the question—who could possibly have done this?
"He killed all of Godrick's men with his bare hands." Gostoc suddenly said out of nowhere, and Yuriko could not fathom why he saw fit to mention that, but it did give her a glimpse of Naruto's power; however, without witnessing it, she could not fully understand it. "I followed him after I opened the gates, and it was then that I saw a bloodbath, yet not one stained his clothes."
Yuriko remained silent for a few moments as they slowly walked through the corridors of the castle. Then she spoke, wondering. "Why are you telling me this?"
"I don't know; just felt like it," said Gostoc, the old man shrugging as he did so. Eventually, they reached the inner keep, and she beheld how different it was from what she remembered so vividly.
As they approached the keep, Gostoc halted his steps, and Yuriko observed his emotions; despite never conversing for more than a few phrases, she could see the drastic change that this man had in a few days. By appearance, he was still lanky; not much changed there, but his eyes seemed bright, full of life even, despite being in his twilight years.
"He'll be waiting for you behind the door."
The old gatekeeper walked away without saying anything, leaving Yuriko alone in the inner courtyard. She took note of the greenery that was never there in her time.
"Well, I'll be… even the tombstones were neatly placed," she muttered. Eventually, she walked into the keep, and within, she saw that Godfrey's statue was still where it was, just like the throne before it. However, she found no sight of Naruto and only the same old man that she met outside of Stormveil.
"You…" she muttered, but the Stargazer merely smiled at her.
"He's in the study, on your right, up the stairs."
Yuriko watched as he walked out of the keep and vanished into the courtyard. Her mind tried to make sense of everything so far, yet she found herself unable to do so. She concluded that perhaps there had been too many changes already that her mind failed to comprehend anything.
But before anything else, she finally let out a loud sigh. "Oh, Marika, what is up with this world?"
"I can guarantee you; she had nothing to do with this… "
Yuriko beheld a lady in white, apparently the Lord's wife. She only met her briefly when Naruto welcomed them into Stormveil, and then she vanished into the aether, but once again, she was here, hovering above the floor.
"I sense something from you…" said Kaguya, her pale eyes peering down at her grey ones, and Yuriko stood firm against the pressure she was beginning to feel emanating from this being before her. Only her experiences prevented her from being overcome by Kaguya's presence. "Something that goes beyond space and time."
The Tarnished eyes widened slightly, but the ancient Ōtsutsuki paid no attention to it. However, a voice from beyond the room called out to them before anything else.
"Kaguya-hime, please don't traumatise her."
Yuriko heard Naruto's voice. When she turned towards the doorway, Kaguya was no longer blocking it, and she vanished just as she had earlier. With a release of breath, she walked through the doorway and up some stairs, finally towards the study.
At the first inspection, she could feel the power from this man, pure and radiant, which is when suspicion came in because it was like one demigod, or rather, a god in particular. Was this another Empyrean? Is the Greater Will actually taking action now? If so, why now? Why not in the second instance that she found herself at the start? Where did he come from? Questions continue to form within her mind.
"Sit, please." He motioned her to sit on one of the wooden chairs in front of his desk, and silently, she took a seat. There was an awkward silence on her part as she watched him browse through parchment after parchment, reports of some kind.
"Yuriko, right?" Naruto questioned without looking at her, and she nodded in affirmative. "From the Land of Reeds, I hear. Is that also correct?"
"Yes, it is correct; why do you ask?"
Blue eyes met steely grey eyes, and unperturbed, Yuriko stared back at him. "Because there is something about you, and Kaguya already mentioned it. Out of all the Tarnished that I've talked to, you're the only one that feels like that. Why?"
Yuriko opened her mouth, but no words came out as she tried to seek the right words. "… I do not know."
That was a lie, of course. She knew exactly how she ended up here, being her seventh time already, but the question was why she ended up at the beginning multiple times, and she had no answer. The Lord of Stormveil, however, quickly saw through her lie.
Naruto thought that they would go nowhere with his line of questioning, not with this Tarnished, so he decided to be honest on his part.
"Are you sure that would be wise?" Kurama voiced his thoughts, and there was a round of agreement with the others.
"Well, Melina is not exactly helpful at the moment, and I don't trust any of those Tarnished yet." Naruto sighed as he put down the parchments.
"And you trust this one?" Matatabi's voice echoed in his mind.
Naruto stood up from his desk and walked up to a window overlooking the courtyard while Yuriko's eyes watched him. "Not necessarily, but she's our best way to make sense of this world… but only if we are correct about her."
"I am a stranger to these lands." His voice echoed in the study, and Yuriko found herself staring at him, or rather, the patterns of his cloak, the same that flew atop the ramparts of Stormveil. "One day, my eyes opened and beheld Limgrave, a broken land, with broken people."
She remained silent as she pondered those words, and they answered a question— that he was not from the Lands Between or even her own home; hence, Kalé was actually telling her the truth.
"Me becoming the lord of this castle is nothing short of a convenience, given that I killed Godrick and the fact that I am not in a hurry." He continued without facing the Tarnished, who remained in her seat. Though, Yuriko was now curious.
"I am old, Tarnished, yet my youthful façade is no illusion," stated Naruto, with peaceful acceptance in his voice. Then, his gaze turned towards the Erdtree afar. "I have faced countless battles, won many wars, and brought peace to my land; countless were my years now, yet here I am, in another place, in another time, far away from home."
Yuriko uttered no word; it was not what she expected.
Naruto noticed the shift in her emotions and turned to face her again. "Not what you expected to hear, did you? Given how quickly the word spread, no doubt influenced by the Stargazer."
"… no, not at all," she replied quietly, looking down at her lap, avoiding his eyes as he looked at her inquisitively.
"You, however, know more than you let on, my fellow traveller from beyond the Fog." Yuriko reacted more visibly to this. She rapidly looked towards him, shocked. It was then that their eyes met again, and she saw him smile kindly at her.
"Surprise, are we? Melina said those words to me, and if I'm correct, those words were uttered to you before."
Her eyes widened further, which explained one more thing. Melina did find him and welcomed him the way she had to her six times in the past.
"I sensed a connection between you and her," he said, leaning back on a windowsill, and he looked outside, where he could spot Melina, standing on the battlements of Stormveil's inner wall, looking towards the Erdtree, as she often did after Godrick's death. "When you first walked into Stormveil, you froze when you saw her up the battlements."
"… what do you mean?"
Naruto waved his hands dismissively. "Let's move on from the secrecy, shall we? I can sense emotions; lies will do you or anyone else no good."
Yuriko glared at him. In a sudden burst of hostility, she stood up and shouted at him, "What do you know?"
"Regrets, anger, and sadness," he spelled out calmly, unperturbed by her outburst. "That's what I can glean from you."
Silence fell upon them, and Yuriko felt anxious at how easily Naruto read her. Worry quenched her outburst, yet Naruto did not care and continued. "Do you know how she felt when she saw you?"
"Nostalgia, underlined by discontent, dislike, and anger, but she doesn't know why." Yuriko felt guilt when she heard those words, which could be seen on her face.
"But I know that you know. The question is, why? I only desire to help, which is why I accepted lordship in the first place, so tell me why?" His tone was commanding yet calm, and it reminded Yuriko of a commander, of an actual leader; his presence and tone reminded her of what Kale said, that this man was far older than he seemed, wiser even.
Yuriko did not know where to start. Her emotions overflowed, and she couldn't find a way to explain her situation immediately.
"Just a few days being a lord, and you're already dressing down someone, Lord Seventh." The Stargazer entered the study; amusement could be heard in his voice, and the old man was smiling.
Naruto lazily turned his eyes to him, and he chuckled. "It comes from experience, Holy Father."
"Ah, this is too troublesome," he muttered before looking towards Yuriko. "Lady Yuriko, we'll talk again when you're ready… take all the time that you need; you are in a place of respite, after all."
The way Naruto addressed her flew past her head. She only understood that she was being dismissed, and she was silently thankful for it because she could think about how she would explain anything to him; thus, she walked out of the study to return to the quarters provided to her.
Once she was out of the inner keep, Naruto turned to Aurelius. "Was she really Elden Lord before?"
"You could sense the power of runes within her, and yes, four times Elden Lord, and if I'm right, once Lord of Night, and once Lord of Frenzied Flame, but she was always sent back right at the start." Aurelius looked back to where Yuriko had walked out and then back to Naruto. "This iteration of the Lands Between is most likely her seventh time around."
"I wonder how her mental state is; I mean, getting sent back at the beginning multiple times even after succeeding; what's up with that?" Kokuo wondered. Soon, the rest of the tailed beasts convened with one another, though Naruto ignored them in favour of the Stargazer and then Kaguya, who materialised on a chair.
"The burden of knowledge weighs on her heavily… it is a wonder she has not gone mad." Kaguya's words made Naruto ponder his own experiences in the last, but Aurelius halted that.
"Oh, she did."
The Lord of Stormveil looked to the old man with raised eyebrows; Kaguya was less reactive, which was to be expected, though one could see that she, too, was surprised if they looked close enough.
"That's what happens when one seeks the Three Fingers - imbued by the curse of the Frenzied Flame, but don't think about it for now; you still need to pacify Limgrave."
A/N: I reiterate - the Shadow of the Erdtree is a great DLC, easily 10/10, and the story and its lore implications are already mixed in the plans forward on this story.
If you have any questions, or if you want to play some video games with me, contact me on any of these accounts:
Discord: #9066 | Join my private Discord server if you want: caVBu2K
(Aizen the Goat's server: kyTaRuVpBW)
Email: Ex-Durandal24 (*insert symbol for "at" here) protonmail . com