It was yet another warm, sunny day. As long as he had been here, there hadn't been a single rainy, or even overcast day. Not that he minded; bad weather would only mean miserable training conditions. Still, it made him wonder if Mount Myoboku could actually get rain. There were plants growing here, as well as clouds sometimes drifting through the sky, so surely it must be possible, right? And if it could rain, did that mean it could snow, too? Come to think of it, where even was Mount Myoboku? Was it somewhere where snow was common?

Naruto shook himself out of his drifting thoughts. He was supposed to be focusing on pulling in nature chakra, not daydreaming about the weather. It was just difficult for him to sit so still. Even with all that was on the line, old habits died hard. No time for excuses, though. He had to focus. To sense the nature chakra, and to pull it in… Slowly, not too much now… He felt his face stretch for a moment, followed by a heavy impact to the back of his head.

"Ow!" he shouted, his hands shooting to his head in an instant. He rubbed his head, turning to face the old toad sage. "Do you really have to whack me that hard with that stick, Geezer Sage?"

Fukasaku nodded, an overly serious look on his face, "Of course I do, Naruto-boy. Have to make sure to knock the nature chakra right out of you."

Only then did Naruto realize the noise around him again. With a waterfall crashing down right behind him, it was a wonder he could focus at all, but he supposed he must have just started tuning it out. Maybe he wasn't all that bad at this focus thing after all! He stopped rubbing his head, set his hands together again, and closed his eyes one more time. This time for sure. Before long, the sounds of the waterfall faded away again, and he was left with naught but the feeling of the world around him.

Gathering nature chakra was a strange feeling, like swimming while it was raining. So much water already, but then there's even more beyond that. Not to mention the training was exhausting. It was taxing not only physically, but spiritually as well. It took everything Naruto had to keep going all day, day after day. It was worth it for the results he was seeing, but it was tiring regardless.

This time, he felt the nature chakra coming in, and took care to balance it against his spiritual and physical energies. It was slow, it was tricky, and it was something he hadn't been able to get quite right even after days and days working at it. Every time he tried, his face would start growing warts or stretching out like a frogs would. It didn't take much to go over the threshold, even just a tiny bit too much and it'd happen. But with careful, careful trial and error, and a hell of a lot of practice, he was getting closer and closer, until finally…

Naruto's eyes shot open. The world seemed so much clearer, so much sharper. He could feel things around him that he couldn't before. The air seemed so crisp, the waterfall so much louder. Was this Sage Mode? Had he done it? He certainly felt a lot more… Well, he wasn't sure. Stronger, in a broad sense, but that wasn't exactly the right way to put it. No, it was more than just that, it was "more" in general.

"You did it Naruto-boy!" Fukasaku exclaimed, hopping in front of him, "You really did it!"

Naruto looked at his hands, like he couldn't believe he had them, before responding, "Yeah, I did!" He pumped his fist, stoked on his own success.

"Now that you've gone into Sage Mode, we can starting training in Frog Kata!"

Naruto beamed, about to respond excitedly, but faltered. He'd been going at this all day already, and the sun was dipping low. He was drained, and even if Sage Mode was making him feel incredible, he was still mentally at his limit. He stumbled, but caught himself, and let out a breath. "Let's do it, Geezer Sage!" he managed. There was too much at stake to stop so easily. But Fukasaku wasn't known as a sage for no reason, and he could plainly see the exhaustion in Naruto's eyes.

"Ma's probably already got the food all made for us," he reasoned. "So let's head back for tonight and we'll start that tomorrow." For a moment, he watched Naruto, gauging his reaction. To his credit, the ninja wasn't outwardly relieved, but his body slumped just slightly, and the orange tint left his eyes.

Naruto licked his lips, "That sounds great!" He rubbed his belly, beaming through his eyes. "Let's go eat!"

Fukasaku held back a small chuckle at the sudden resurgence of energy from his student. It seemed as though the long days really were taxing to Naruto, after all. He supposed that was to be expected. Sage Mode wasn't something just anyone could learn. For that matter, it took his last student weeks before he could even sense the natural energies, let alone pull it in. That Naruto had only been training for just over a week, and was already able to enter, from what Fukasaku could tell, a perfect sage transformation, was nothing short of astounding.

The pair made their way back up the mountain, heading for the modest shack that the toad called home. The sun finished its descent as they reached their destination, the rosy reds and brilliant pinks giving way to a magnificently starry sky. The moon high above, Naruto and Fukasaku entered the toad's home, to find his wife, another small toad, waiting there for them. With a stern expression, she complained, "Here I thought the food would go cold! Get in, eat up, eat up!" She hurried them inside, motioning for them to sit down. They did so happily, scarfing down the stew she had prepared for them tonight.

As they ate, Fukasaku regaled Shima, his wife, with the stories of training today. Though, truth be told, there wasn't much to say beyond that Naruto had finally pulled off a full transformation. Aside from that, it was largely the same as it had been, a lot of sitting and waiting for the toad.

But while they ate and while the toads spoke, Naruto got to thinking. Sage Mode made him feel so much 'more' than he had before. If that was the case… was it possible he'd be able to improve in other ways? Maybe his other jutsu could… But he was getting ahead of himself for right now. First, he would need to train in Frog Kata, then he- But wait, wouldn't that take too long? What if… Naruto shook his head. Well, he could always train on his own, right? Maybe he'd go out tonight and start trying what he was thinking of. But where could he go? Maybe those rocky fields would be good. Somewhere out of the way where a bit of destruction wouldn't be too noticeable.

Finishing his food and thanking Shima for it, Naruto resolved himself to put in as much effort as it would take to perfect his Rasenshuriken.

That night was yet another warm one. Mount Myoboku had to be somewhere near the equator, Naruto decided. He found himself sneaking out late that evening, Fukasaku being so excited to properly start the training the next day. Apparently, this Frog Kata was a taijutsu that relied on Sage Mode to be effective. Naruto wasn't a slouch in taijutsu, at least he thought, but this new jutsu sounded way better than anything he knew, at least in the hand-to-hand aspect. Speaking of which…

Naruto was lost. He hadn't wandered around here much, and didn't really know his way around. He knew his way to the waterfall, but the stone fields were somewhere else entirely, weren't they? But that this point, he's gone so far from the trail that it didn't matter anyway; he was well and truly lost. He glanced around, seeing nothing but the trees all around him. Well, it wouldn't help anything to just wait around.

He kept walking, making his way through bushes and brush. He heard something nearby, a faint trickle- water, maybe? Well, it was the first lead he'd had yet, so, he figured, may as well pursue it. He pushed through the undergrowth around him, until he found himself standing before a small shrine, with what looked like a basin of water before it.

"What the heck is this?" he mumbled to himself. He leaned over the water, looking into it. That's weird… he had no reflection. He leaned in closer. This was probably the water he heard right? But the water was so still, so how did he hear that trickling sound? No way something could've just fallen into it, right? It only took him a few seconds to get here. He looked around for a moment, but couldn't spot any other puddles or sources of water. Of course, it wasn't raining either, as per usual, so yes, it had to have been this little basin.

Leaning in his closest yet, Naruto studied the strange water again. No reflection, no ripples, how strange it was. He reached out his finger, as if to poke the water. A part of him wondered if he should; its placement in front of the shrine might mark it as important. This didn't stop him for long, though, as his finger made contact with the surface, and every inch of his body immediately felt tightened and squeezed, like he was being pulled down into a whirlpool.

In an instant, the young ninja was ripped off the ground, and sucked into the surface of the water, a faint trickling sound ringing out as the water settled back down. The small grove returned to how it was, a small shrine with an innocent basin of water standing just before it, glowing in the moonlight.

But for Naruto, he felt a sensation of falling, but also of floating at the same time. He felt as though he was moving unbelievably fast, while also staying completely still. He couldn't see a thing, he couldn't feel a thing, and he couldn't hear a thing. For an instant he wondered if this was the end for him, if he had made some mistake that would cost him his life. For that instant, he was happy, because he'd get to see Jiraiya, his sensei, again.

But as quickly as it began, it stopped, and Naruto was thrown roughly across the ground, slamming into a tree. Red leaves tumbled down around him, falling from the tree he had impacted. It took him several moments to recover, his head in a daze after not only the hard impact, but the disorienting experience that had been touching that fountain.

He groaned, sitting up and leaning against the tree. This training idea was a terrible one, after all. Maybe he should just try to find his way back to the Geezer Sage's hut. He stood up, brushed himself off, and only then realized that the area around him was totally different.

The trees, a vibrant green a moment ago, were now a scarlet, bloody red. The trunks were much thicker as well, and almost seemed to be a faint purple color. But more than that, the shrine was missing, as was that bizarre water from before. Naruto rubbed his head, looking behind nearby trees, but couldn't find it anywhere. Then he noticed, the heavy underbrush was gone, as well. And on top of all of that, the light poking through the canopy, that was much too bright to be moonlight. Had that water transported him somewhere else? And if so, then where?

Naruto didn't know of anywhere that had red leaves on purple trees, did he? Not that he could think of. On top of that, to go from the dead of night to broad daylight would have to mean he travelled around the world, right? So maybe he was across the ocean from where he had been? Man, what was that fountain?

He was ripped out of his thoughts by a low growl from behind him. He froze, listening. One creature, probably a large animal from how it sounded. Growling like a wolf? But that wasn't quite right. He heard a crack of leaves nearby. A second animal. This was a bad time for this. He was exhausted still. If it was just two wolves, though, he should be just fine by jumping up one of these tall trees. For a moment, his mind was cast way back to his Chunin Exam. No, he had to focus.

Reaching down to his leg, he looped his finger through a kunai, then whipped around to hurl it at where the first sound at come from. As he did, he froze for just a moment, not out of fear, but out of shock. He wasn't facing a wolf, but some massive hulking monster. It was some black animal covered in boney plates, standing on all fours. In truth, it did resemble a wolf, but barely. He finished his motion, aiming for one of the uncovered parts of the body.

The creature squealed in pain, but it didn't go down. It clawed at where it had been hit, and the kunai clattered to the ground. The monster charged at Naruto, who just had time to see two others stalking him from different angles before he simply jumped upwards. The creature clearly wasn't expecting that, as it stopped suddenly, almost like it was trying to start guarding itself. What a smart animal it had to be, to realize that its prey might be about to attack it.

Naruto quickly made two clones, one for each of the animals that had yet to approach. They were simply watching, seemingly waiting. At the appearance of the clones, the strange beast recoiled slightly, as if hesitating or making distance. Fair, Naruto thought, to react that way to your prey multiplying. His clones split off from him, getting closer to each of their targets.

He watched for a moment longer, and noticed that the beast had no wound where his kunai had hit. Some sort of natural healing? Or maybe some case where he hadn't actually hit it, like that strange masked man from the Akatsuki. Or maybe it just had some sort of natural armor. Being that that was the simplest explanation, Naruto decided to assume that that was the case. In that case, he would just need to hit it harder. A Rasengan would probably work for that. Hell, a melee blow might work, given his lost power from freezing for a moment when he threw the kunai before. Better safe than sorry, though.

Each of his clones, and he himself, produced another clone. Holding his hand out and pumping chakra into his palm, his clone shaped it into the familiar jutsu. The beast, which had been pacing, leaned back, as if to pounce, or possibly out of caution. But it didn't flee, so it was too late for it. In sync, Naruto and his clones jumped down from their trees, aiming their three Rasengan at each of their targets. With a heavy impact, and a cloud of dirt and stones kicked up, Naruto felt a breaking feeling from the animal, and he jumped away as his jutsu finished its impact.

He landed a short distance away, his clones at his back. The three watched for a moment, but the animals didn't move. He dispelled his clones, and cautiously began to move towards to small crater he had made. As he got closer, he could see that the creature, whatever it was, was turning to dust and blowing away. What on earth was that thing? He crouched down next to it, just watching as it fell apart. Before long, it was completely gone.

Naruto stood back up, more confused than ever. Maybe it had been a summon of some kind? Did that mean that someone was watching him? He glanced around, but couldn't immediately see anyone. He could maybe try Sage Mode to see if he could sense anyone, but that seemed excessive for this, especially when he had only just managed to perfect it early today. Not to mention, he wasn't really mentally up for it. No, it would be much easier to just look around. That way he could get his bearings, as well.

Jumping up into the trees again, Naruto climbed to the top of a sizeable one to have an easy vantage point. Unfortunately, he didn't recognize a single thing around him. All he could see was a crimson red forest. The leaves were blowing in the midday breeze, and he could just faintly hear the sounds of life out in the woods. The sun was just overhead, but seemed to be on its descent. At least he knew what direction east was in, then. But there were no signs of anyone else around. No smoke from fires, no roads snaking through the tree line, nothing.

A three hundred and sixty survey of his surroundings left him with no hints. He had no idea what in the world he was. It was a completely different time that it should have been. All of these things put together, Naruto had no idea what he could do. Maybe he could try summoning? That would let him get a message back to the toads, and maybe they could summon him back. Worth a shot, maybe.

Naruto dropped back down to the forest floor, biting into his thumb as he did. Weaving the few hand signs and molding his chakra, he slammed his hand down, calling out, "Summoning Jutsu!" And… Nothing. Naruto stared for a moment, his brow furrowed. He weaved the signs again, trying to cast the jutsu once more. But once again, nothing happened. Was he screwing up the jutsu? But he had been using it for years by now, and he was doing it the same way as always. Maybe he was just too far from the mountain? He didn't even know that that could happen, but it was all he could think of.

With, as far as he could think of, all his other options exhausted, all he could do was just… wander? Pick a direction and go? May as well, he guessed. Not like it would be worse than just waiting around here. North? East? It didn't really matter. He set off, ultimately just picking a random direction without thinking about it.

It had been 4 days. Naruto was grateful for the time he'd spent practicing foraging back when he was training with Jiraiya. Traveling through the woods, with a canopy so thick he couldn't see the sky, food was abundant, as long as you knew what to look for. After all this time, though, he had finally found anything that wasn't just woodlands and those strange beasts. It wasn't just the wolves either, but also something not unlike a bear. For a time, he wondered if these woods could be endless, if he was maybe trapped in some kind of genjutsu. But finally, he had found… ruins?

He had found a tall, rocky plateau, on top of which a large city was built. The buildings here were built in a style totally unlike anything he had ever seen before, and on top of that, they were much taller. But they were empty, almost like stone shells. He walked down a wide road, paved over with cement. He could swear he could hear something, faint noises echoing throughout the city, but part of him thought it might just be his imagination. Maybe he was just getting a bit paranoid from the days of travel.

As he reached the other end of the city, he looked out over the landscape. His jaw fell open as he saw a line of colossal creatures off in the distance. Like the wolves and bear, their skin was a solid black, with bony white plates covering their bodies in various places. They also had massive, curled tusks coming from their faces. Overall, they resembled huge elephants. There had to be at least a dozen of them, all traveling south in a long line. A part of Naruto was glad that they were so far out. He didn't want to find out if they were hostile to him or not, like the wolves and bears were. It was possible that they had the temperament of elephants, but better to just avoid the trouble.

Just as he was ready to turn away, he noticed two things at once. The first was a glint far to the northwest, the reflection of the sun off of glass as it set. There was another city on the very distant horizon, one that was larger than the one he was in, and, unlike the one he was in, had windows with glass in them.

The second thing he noticed was the sound of stone sliding behind him, somewhere in the city. Whipping around, a kunai at the ready, he didn't immediately spot anything. Still, he knew for a fact that he wasn't imagining it now. Should he stay and investigate? It could just be more of those animals. His other option was to just leave, and head for that distant city. If there were people there, he might finally be able to find out where he was.

The decision was made for him when he heard voices. Actual, human voices, after days of being alone in the woods. He dropped into a crouch. They sounded like they were coming form the building just ahead of him. He crept up closer, slinking up against the outer wall. He could definitely hear people talking inside. He listened for a time, trying to determine if they were hostile or not.

"How much longer do you think we've got?" a man asked. His voice was deep and gravely.

Another man, with a voice much smoother, answered him, "At the rate we're going? Probably a few months at least. Plus we need more Dust than we have here, so we'll need to wait for more to come in from Vale."

The first man spoke again, "Well that's just great. I was hoping to go back home in a few weeks. I'm tired of the constant Grimm attacks. I know it's for the cause, but I can't take much more of this."

"Don't tell me you're thinking of quitting on us, Sayn," a woman said, "Not when we're so close to make a huge impact.

The man who must have been Sayn responded, "No, I'm not. I just hope we can finish quicker than that."

They didn't necessarily seem to be evil or like they would attack Naruto immediately, but something was telling him he should keep his guard up. Still, eavesdropping would only get him so far on that front. He stood up, dusting his jumpsuit off, and made his way to the entrance of the building. As he entered, the four people sitting just inside jumped up, dropping their metal cups as their hands shot to their waists for weapons.

Naruto held his hands up, not exactly in surrender, but more to show that he wasn't hold a weapon. They sure were on guard, though with how the wildlife had been, he couldn't blame them. He noticed, though, that each of them had some kind of animal feature. One had bear ears, another had a cat's tail. The woman had shark-like fins coming off of her arms The final person, another man, had a monkey's tail. All of them were wearing a uniform of some kind, black pants with a white jacket over a black shirt. Their faces were half covered by masks, which almost resembled the bony coverings that those animals had.

"Who are you? Where did you come from?" the woman shouted at him. The four of them were pointing what Naruto could only assume were guns at him. They were smaller than any he had ever seen, but they were constructed much the same.

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki. I've been lost for a few days," Naruto answered. "Can you tell me where I am?"

The four animal-people looked to each other, as if silently asking each other a question. The woman, who seemed to be the leader of the group, spoke up again, "You're in Mountain Glenn. How did you get out here? And…" She paused for a moment. "Those whiskers… Are you a Faunus?"

Naruto frowned. He had no idea what a Faunus was. She related it to his whiskers, and between that and the fact that each of them had an animal feature of their own, it was likely that it was a word for animal people. Did he count as one? The whiskers were because of the Nine Tails, so they weren't his own. But then again, it was possible, very unlikely, but possible, that each of them hosted a Tailed Beast of their own. As far as he knew though, the Akatsuki had almost all of them by now, that couldn't be the case right? But with that aside, the four of them seemed to be on edge, waiting for his answer. If he said he wasn't a Faunus, what would they do? And Mountain Glenn? He'd never heard of a place by that name.

He was spending too much time thinking. He would just work off of the assumption that Faunus referred to anyone with animal features on their body. "Yeah, I am," He said. He felt a bit guilty, knowing he might technically be lying to them. They seemed to relax just a bit, but they kept their guns pointed at him.

"Sorry, it's just hard to tell sometimes. What are you doing all the way out here? How did you get lost?"

"I don't know. I think I got transported here, and I've just been wandering for the last few days. I don't even know where Mountain Glenn is when it comes to my homeland."

"What?" the woman was taken aback, "Transported how?"

"Through a shrine pond. I don't know what happened, but I touched the water and I ended up out in the woods. I think it was something like a Summoning Jutsu."

The woman, and her comrades, were clearly growing more and more confused with each word. "A pond? A "Summoning Jutsu"? What are you talking about? Are you messing with us?"

Naruto raised his hands, as if to say to calm down, "No, I'm telling the truth! That's really what happened!"

The woman sighed, "Right… Maybe you dreamed it. Whatever the case, you're in the ruins of Mountain Glenn, a failed project by Vale to expand." As Naruto stared blankly, with no idea what Vale was, she continued. "We're just here… doing what we can to rebuild it. We're from Vale."

Naruto could tell she was lying. He might not be the most observant, but he wasn't a total idiot, and her hesitation could practically be felt. Still, these were the first people he'd talked to in days, weeks if he didn't count the toads. And they knew, and were willing to share, information about the area. "Is Vale the city off in the distance? What's it like?"

She nodded, "Yeah, that's right. It's the capital, so it's about as big as any of the others. Where are you from?"

Naruto hesitated a moment. He didn't know Mountain Glenn or Vale, so they had to be incredibly far from home. On the other hand, if these people knew about the Land of Fire, and had negative relations with it, then it wouldn't do to- Wait, but his headband. That would have given him away right away. His eyes flashed upwards, as if to look at it. Maybe it wouldn't hurt to tell them then. "I'm from the Hidden Leaf Village. Konoha. It's in the Land of Fire, do you know where that is from here?"

The woman shook her head, "I've never heard of anywhere like that. Is that just a local name or something?" One of her comrades tapped her on the shoulder, and whispered something in her ear. She grimaced, closed her eyes, then nodded. "Sorry about this, Naruto, but we need you to come with us. Our bosses don't want you to leave now that you've seen us here."

Naruto immediately dropped into a defensive stance, and the four guns, which had been lowered as the conversation carried on, were pointed at him once again. He weighed his options. The first, most obvious, was that he stay and fight. But he had no idea what these people were capable of. They used guns, which no ninja ever used, so they probably weren't ninja, but he had met plenty of non-ninja that were formidable opponents. There were four of them, as well, and from the sounds of it, there were more somewhere around here, the bosses she had mentioned.

His second option was to leave. He knew he was fast, possibly faster than these four. Vale, apparently the capital city, was the city he had seen earlier. If it was within sight, he could probably reach it by day's end. The woman had lied to say that she was from the capital earlier, meaning that it was probably a place where he wouldn't have to worry about hostilities. After all, why else would she use it as a cover? He had a few smoke bombs, too, so escaping would be pretty easy. The more he thought about it, the more he thought that sounded like the smarter option.

Fast as he could, he whipped out a smoke bomb, and hurled it at his feet. The red smoke exploded out, and he booked it back the way he had come from. He heard the guns fire, and a quick glance back confirmed it. Dodging the blindly fired shots was easy enough, but what surprised Naruto was that the bullets were much faster than any guns he had ever seen. They might even be faster than his top speed. He had no reason to find out right now, but he made a mental note to not try to outrun any bullets any time soon.

Outrunning these "Faunus" though, that was easy enough. He was out of the city in just over a minute, and was off in the direction of the city of Vale. Fortunately, those elephant-like creatures were long gone. He was a little upset that he'd forgotten to ask what they were, but then again, the conversation had ended very suddenly.

That night, Naruto noticed something. He hadn't reached the city yet, but the trees over him had finally opened up. For the first time since he had gone through the pond, he was able to see the night sky, including the moon. And the moon… The moon that was shattered into pieces. It was as if it was a permanent crescent moon, with a tail of debris coming off of it, floating through the sky.

Even the fox inside of him felt uneasy when Naruto saw that, which was strange, to say the least. The Nine Tails never reacted to almost anything, so for it to be seemingly afraid of the shattered moon was a new feeling. Somehow, though, it wasn't the most pressing issue to Naruto. For the moon to be in that state… How? And why? Who or what could have done that?

The pieces were starting to click together for Naruto, but he didn't want to believe it, so his brain was almost subconsciously rejecting the idea. How could it be the case? Just what was that pond that it could… Naruto shook his head. He didn't want to admit it, but he was running out of excuses to himself. If he was right, then it might mean he couldn't get back to Konoha. And even that might not be his biggest issue.

How could he possibly be in another world?

Howdy folks. It's been a long time since I've been active on this site.

I used to write a couple stories, way back in the day, but those were often a mess. Re-reading some of them, they bring me little joy. They're not all bad, and I still recognize my style in them, but I'm a much better writer now than I used to be. Not sure how the community has changed since I've been gone, especially since the last time I would have posted would have been some 6-7 years ago. Anyways, point is, new account, new story. I've been rewatching Naruto recently with my gf, and decided I might as well revisit a hobby I used to thoroughly enjoy.

Not sure how often this will be updated, but suffice to say, I'm gonna be working on it during a lot of my free time. Hope you all enjoy. If you don't enjoy, I hope you're at least willing to leave constructive criticism.

See y'all next time.