Given how badly this site has been broken over the last few months, it's a surprise I'm even deciding to update here. I thought I was done with this site. Yet I just can't give up on it as it is where I started writing. So even as it is broken, I will update here occasionally with massive dumps of what's been written since the last time I've updated, so if you want timely updates, follow me on Ao3.
This snippet is a variant on how Kingdom could have gone. Ship is Naruto X Amber. If you like this, or any snippet, I would love to hear from you. Enjoy.
Child, born and forged through war… Hero of the Sun.
A hero who held to his principles and brought peace and prosperity to your world. I require your light once more. Another world is enshrouded in darkness, its fate left to be swallowed by the void. The children of the world stand before the unknown… Unaware of their unending fate.
They are in need of the hope that your fire provides—someone to guide their light and show the courage it takes to stand against the darkness.
Stand with them and teach them what it takes to be a hero.
It was so warm…
The sun's rays shone as his eyes flickered, taking in the warmth. Yet he felt sticky… Damp.
Closing his eyes, grimacing as he slowly sat up, a spiky, blonde-haired young man rested a hand on his temple, softly rubbing it. He had a raging headache… And he felt wet…
"Ugh, why am I sleeping on wet grass?" He grimaced as he opened his eyes, noticing dew sticking to him, and shook his arms. "Dammit. What did I do last night? Why am I all the way out here in the middle of a forest?"
"Wait a second…" Cerulean eyes flickered, noticing something off as he raised his hand before his face, squinting at it. "That's a little smoother than I remember… Also, a little less definition… Still feel as strong." His eyes then sharpened, focusing on the black arm sleeve of his jacket, recognizing it immediately. " And I haven't worn this in years! …Wait, how does it fit?"
"And where is my stuff?!" He reached down and frantically reached into his right hip pouch, glowering. "It's just kunai and shuriken… Might need those… But where are all my scrolls?! …Oh, thank Hagoromo. Still got Gama-chan."
Taking a deep breath to calm down, he shifted his position and crossed his legs under him. Closing his eyes, he took in the energy of the world and focused. Something odd was going on here, and he needed to seek out his friends to figure out just what was happening.
A frown crossed his expression as the skin around his eyes wrinkled and tinted orange. His eyes opened, and a golden iris scanned the area in confusion. Everything felt slightly off. He couldn't pinpoint it, but it didn't feel quite right when he drew on the natural energy.
And at certain spots in the world, his vision was hazy. Almost like it was fog his senses couldn't pierce.
"What in the world is this?" Naruto squinted and scrunched his face, confused at the sensation he was feeling. Running his hand through his locks, he tilted his head, and his frown deepened. "Mah, I know I sometimes can't make people out far away. And why can't I feel any of my friends?"
Exhaling as he stood up, he shook out his black uniform jacket and scrunched his face further, examining himself entirely. He didn't just look and feel younger… He was younger.
"What the hell happened? I look and feel like I did after I finished training with Sasuke…" Naruto muttered, alarmed at the reversion of his age. He wasn't necessarily complaining about becoming more youthful again… Didn't quite have the same aches and pains that he associated with sitting at a desk and not being active most of the day…
But how was Hinata going to feel about it? Naruto grimaced at what his wife would think. Then he blinked, his head tilted as a broad grin crept on his lips that his mentor would be proud to see. "Think she might enjoy it for a while before we sought out a solution. …Or find what reversed my age and do the same for her. Think she might enjoy that."
"But where the hell is everyone?!" Naruto shouted, frustrated with his sight through natural chakra. His visage changed as he allowed the natural energy to flow back into the world; Naruto exhaustedly exhaled. "Gonna have to figure out what's happening here and where everyone is…"
"Guess I should start with the closest group of people to me."
This was the most frustrated he had been in a long time. …These people didn't know anything about his home.
They just stared blankly at him in confusion! It's like they never heard that question before!
Or knew what a Ryo was! How was he supposed to spend what little money in Gama-chan if they didn't understand? And what were those cards called Lien?!
"Where am I?" Naruto gnashed his teeth, walking a dirt path with wooden fences lining the pathway. Small grassy peaks rose all around and even receded from the town he left. He wasn't getting any more information from that place…
"Least they gave me directions to someplace that might." Naruto rolled his eyes, deciding to take the path and enjoy the scenery. Something he didn't do often. But it was pretty lovely… Hinata would have loved it.
The gray sky worried him. Didn't seem like a storm, yet he felt he could feel electricity crackling through it.
Scrunching his face, Naruto noted it did almost look like a storm cloud… But it didn't seem natural.
"Alright, what is going on here?" Naruto stopped in place, examining the strange phenomenon, taking natural energy from the world. It didn't look natural. Didn't feel natural… It felt… Negative?
"What?" Naruto's eyes shimmered for a second. He hadn't been able to sense negative energy in ages… Ever since his friend sacrificed himself to help him protect his home… So why was he…
On instinct, he focused within himself and called on a power he hadn't felt in so long…
And he watched a golden aura flickered to life, burning around, golden embers sparking from his flaming body.
This couldn't be… It had been thirty years! He had watched his friend burn through his chakra to make sure he…
Ugh… Why is everything so fuzzy? …Where am I?
Mist glistened in Naruto's eyes. He hadn't heard that voice in so long… It was… Nostalgic.
Kurama?
Kid? What… Okay, what's going on? Last thing I remember was funneling all my chakra to ensure you didn't burn through all of yours first… And why is there a massive surge of negativity around us?
"Okay, I'm not the only one that feels something is weird about all of this!" Naruto shouted, observing the strange misty cloud gathering, obscuring what he thought would have been a scenic look.
I've got many questions, and that is only one of them! Fill me in later. Look ahead! I found the source!
Turning his sensory vision ahead, he felt how much sharper and intent it was. He was able to pierce through the fox in the distance and sense so many more people…
But his attention was drawn to the same path he had been hiking. A young woman was being accosted and held up further down the path a few miles. And it felt like the epicenter of this negative brew of energy.
Naruto's gaze sharpened. He stepped forward, and with a flicker of golden light, his hand snapped around a white glove mere inches from the distressed woman's face. With a yank of her arm, widened amber eyes bored into golden irises. "Yeah, whatever this is…"
"Not gonna let it go down."
R & R.
