Outsider Chronicles: Path of the Whirlpool

Dieing and ending up in another world is one thing. That world being one of murder and war is quite another. On the up side, the stupid bunny alien goddess won't be a problem, on the down side, I might instead have to deal with giant overpowered monsters powered by hunger.

Right, so I've been reading Cradle lately and I rather like it. This idea has come from that. This is a crossover in the purest sense of the word, so don't expect things to remain the same for either setting. Oh, and don't worry, I have no intention of abandoning Blaze a New Path, I'm just having a bit of trouble with the current chapter and need a short break. Anyway, enjoy!

Chapter 1

"What the..?"

I blinked my eyes, but was unable to see anything in the darkness around me.

"Where am I?"

I could feel something surrounding me, pressing in from all sides. Normally such a situation would send me into a panic attack, but for some reason I felt safe and content, as if I was in the embrace of my mother.

"What happened?"

The last thing I remembered I was walking home after work and then...nothing. At that moment, I was broken from my confusion as my surroundings suddenly compressed, pushing me in the direction my sense of balance told me was down, head first.

"Whats going on?"

The compression hit me again and I caught a glimpse of a flash of light and was suddenly filled with a desire to get out, as well as the familiar indications of a panic attack brought on by claustrophobia, making me even more desperate to get out. It took a while, but a combination of squirming and whatever was pushing me allowed me to finally get out and into the light. At first my vision was a little hazy and I could only make out blurred blobs and my hearing wasn't much better, only able to pick up garbled sounds. My nose was working a little better allowed me to smell that I was in some kind of hospital, although the scent was a little different from what I was used to in medical facilities. Nothing overt, just a very slight difference that indicated that they used something slightly different to sterilise the place.

Then, something impacted my behind, making me cough up liquid I didn't know I had in my lungs.

"Hey, whats the big idea!" I shouted.

Or rather, tried to. Instead the shout came out as a babys wail.

"Oh shit."

I felt someone pick me up, wrap me in something and pass me to another person. I blinked a few times, clearing my vision as best I was able to and looked up at the two gigantic faces looming over me. Well, gigantic for me anyway as I had apparently just be reborn. Well, this is going to take some getting used to.

I...have no idea what to make of this. It had been about an hour since I had been reborn and I found myself in my father's arms...on top of a gigantic toad facing down an equally massive nine tailed fox. Aww shit, this is gonna blow…

Sooo yeah, to summarise, I got reborn into the world of Naruto...as Naruto! How...how am I even supposed to react to that? I guess I can only hope this is a world where the idiot Civies only ignore me or things could get very messy.

OH THANK GOD! It seems that I got my wish. Apparently, I was in a world where the population of the Leaf were smart enough to NOT attempt to murder the walking WMD in their midst. Not sure if thats due to something the Hokage did or what, but the worst I got was a few glares and people telling their kids not to play with me. There was one incident where some asshole tried to overcharge me for out of date food, but a few days later, that worker was gone and replaced with someone else, which had…interesting implications. Best not to think of it.

Anyway, no point in lingering on those potentially ominous thoughts, moving on quickly.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to figure out a good way to kick start my training, mainly because Sarutobi told me, quite reasonably really, that a five year old isn't really suited for physical training. So, rather than waste time trying to figure out a way around that and potentially hurt myself, I decided to better myself in other ways, mainly by learning all I could about this new world. After all, knowledge is power.

With that in mind, I hit the books.

The old librarian didn't like me being there and had a tendency to glare at me, but she didn't deny me access to anything she wasn't supposed to. When I first arrived, I stared up at the upper floors of the massive building where the training manuals were kept for a long moment, before moving on. I wasn't canon Naruto and, while I would certainly learn to sneak around with the best of them later, right now I was just a (fairly) normal 5 year old and I strongly suspected that the Ninja techniques had better security than anything Naruto got past in canon.

Besides, what I was actually here for was much more interesting at the moment. Sure, learning to be a magic slinging Ninja was cool and all, but being able to learn about the expanded world that we never got to see in the original story. Apparently, even outside the Hidden Villages, a great many functions were carried out by specific Clans, from maintaining the crop production of the nations, to leading the non-Shinobi military forces, to policing. The book I'd found on the various clans that made the Land of Fire their home was honestly fascinating, although it was somewhat offputting how many of the names were either puns or references. When the family responsible for maintaining the nations shrines and various religious and cultural festivals was the Kamisato Clan, I got slightly worried, but relaxed when I found the name of the Fire Daimyo had nothing to do with the Raiden Shogun.

Then, I turned the page to the lesser Clans and found myself looking down at a symbol that was oddly familiar.

It was a blue crescent moon on a white background with some text I couldn't read beside it. It was weird because I was sure I'd seen something like that before, but couldn't figure out where. After a moments thought, I shrugged and moved on. It was probably nothing, moons weren't exactly uncommon as symbols after all, and I'd find out as soon as I read the entry. With that in mind, I refocused and continued reading.

House Arelius

A lesser house originating from outside the Elemental Nations. As such, they have skills that set them apart from the other clans, including their Kekkei Genkai that allows them nigh unmatched localised omniscience. They have branches all over the world and are considered to be a potential risk in the event of war, but it is generally accepted that, so long as the war doesn't include their main house, they will do their job. They serve the Land of Fire as custodians and maintenance roles.

I stared down at the page as my mind worked through that, particularly the last line and note about their bloodline limit. That sounded…weirdly familiar, but I couldn't quite figure out why. I did have a nasty feeling that I wouldn't like it when I figured it out though.

After a moments thought, I shrugged and moved on, this time to a book on the rulers from outside the Elemental Nations. Maybe not as useful, but very interesting. I opened the book and was immediately met with two things that made my blood turn to ice.

The first was a crest that consisted of three purple stars over purple mountains on a black background and the second was a portrait of a gorgeous woman with flowing, black hair and purple eyes that seemed to glow, even on the paper. NOW I know why the Arelius clan sounded so familiar! Fuck me, I'm not in Naruto, I'm in fucking CRADLE!

I swallowed and slowly closed the book, ruthlessly shoving down the rising panic in my chest as I quickly returned my books to the return trolley and walked home as calmly as I could manage. The moment I was safely locked away in my apartment, I snatched up a pillow and screamed into it. On one hand, this was a good thing. There wasn't much chance of…pretty much any of the bad shit that happened in Shippuden going down, on the down side, FUCKING DREADGODS! And all the bullshit that happened in the Heavens, but I can't do much about that.

With great effort, I forced myself to calm down, properly this time, and actually think. This…this had implications that went far further than just derailing the story. If this was Cradle, where did Ninjutsu come from? Was the Elemental Nations like Sacred Valley or had I just missed something? I knew that Ninjutsu was a thing because I'd seen it be used and I could certainly see how an alternate method of using the Sacred Arts could come to be. And what about the Tailed Beasts? How did they fit into the world? They clearly existed, it wasn't hard finding out about the Fox, but I sincerely doubted that they were Dreadgods or even close to that level of power.

Fortunately, I had a source of answers for most of those questions, assuming I could get him to talk.

I stopped pacing, sat down on my bed, closed my eyes and tried to figure out how to get into the Seal to have a chat with the fox. Unfortunately, it was apparently not as easy as I was hoping and, after a few minutes of mental flailing, I sighed and gave up. I didn't need to get the answers right this moment after all.

Then, I opened my eyes and found myself sat in a dry tunnel in front of a massive gate with a grinning fox looking down at me.

"Well, I wasn't expecting this meeting to take place so soon," said Kurama, "Then again, I suppose I shouldn't be. Your memories make for very interesting viewing."

I swallowed.

"Ah, you saw them?" I asked.

"Your little mental break brought them all to the surface, otherwise it would take significantly more effort that I wouldn't have bothered with," said Kurama, before his smile faded, "They certainly paint a grim image of the future."

"Maybe, but I have no idea how reliable they'll actually be," I said, "Naruto and Cradle are two entirely different stories after all, how is this connection going to effect things?"

The fox was silent for a moment as a cloud of purple energy appeared in front of his vision and I felt a rather weird feeling at the back of my head.

"Well, I can say for sure that the Otsutsuki Clan won't be a problem for you, unless you do something REALLY stupid," he said, "If anything, they'd probably be interested in acquiring your services. The Monarch factions are always on the lookout for new talent."

I blinked.

"Wait, are you saying that Kaguya is a Monarch?" I asked.

"Correct," said Kurama, "Otsutsuki Kaguya is the head of the Otsutsuki Clan and ruler of the Elemental Nations. While I wouldn't exactly call the Clan 'good', they are not the monsters from your memories."

"So basically the same as the rest of the Monarch Factions," I said, "Alright, I guess that means we don't need to worry about the Ten Tails?"

Kurama frowned.

"Doubtful, but there are those who would see it resurrected," he said, "We Tailed Beasts were still born from it and power like that has a tendency to attract those who wish to take advantage of it."

"Fabulous, thats all we need," I grumbled.

We fell silent, me thinking over everything I'd been told while the Fox eyed me from the other side of the bars.

"Tell me child, what are you planning?" he asked eventually.

I sighed.

"I genuinely have no idea," I said, "Basically all of my knowledge is worthless. Sure, I can probably predict some things, but the fusion of worlds means that things are GOING to be different. I guess the only thing I can do is try to become as strong as possible and maybe try to avoid getting squashed by one of the big bads later down the line?"

I sighed.

"Shame really, as cool as Naruto is, I'd have liked the chance to learn a Path from Cradle…"

The fox stared down at me for a moment more, then closed his eyes for a moment. I felt…something wash over me. For a brief moment, I became aware of…something at the very edge of my senses, before it vanished and Kurama opened his eyes.

"Very well, in that case, I shall take you on as my apprentice," said Kurama.

I blinked.

"Wait, what?"

Kurama grinned.

"I said that I, Kurama, the Sage of Nine Tails, shall take you as my apprentice and teach you my Path," he said, "In truth, you would have gained the basics at some point, simply due to being my Jinchurki, but neither Mito or Kushina ever managed to fully master my power. Actually teaching you will make you infinitely more dangerous."

I stared at him, then sighed.

"Of course your a Sage," I muttered, then spoke up, "I would have to be stark raving mad to turn down training from a Sage, especially considering how utterly crazy the future promises to be."

I pressed my fists together and bowed.

"I am in your care, teacher."

The foxes grin widened.

"Excellent, in that case, lets get started," he said, "I should warn you, this is probably going to be painful."

"I would expect nothing less," I said, with a grin of my own, "Do your worst!"

Right, done. Well, that certainly sets the scene, doesn't it? The main problem I'm having is that I can't find a good timeline for Cradle, which makes planning this out a huge pain in the ass.

Weirdly enough, I don't think that I've actually broken either world in terms of power levels. The strongest characters in Naruto tend to have the power to reshape maps like the upper echelons of Cradle (ignoring the Abidan). I think that the only thing that might have changed is the number of map redrawers.

No, I'm not including Genshin in this, I just needed some family names. The characters might appear later, but they wont be from Genshin, just shamelessly stolen.

Anyway, I don't feel like going into any detail here, so I'm just going to sign out. Don't forget to leave a review on the way out!