He fell through the warp.

He could see the fear on their faces as he drifted away into the darkness.

Pearl tried to jump out to grab him, but Garnet held her back.

She was screaming, tears streaming from her face.

They were all crying.

The dark consumed him.

Konoha

Hiruzen Sarutobi was having a good day. A Hokage is never without work, but today there was less than usual. There was little paperwork, the council wasn't in an uproar, and Naruto hadn't caused any property damage with one of his 'pranks.'

It was then that the room was swarmed with ANBU, holding what appeared to be an unconscious child.

Hiruzen felt a headache coming on.

"Can I ask what this is all about?" Hiruzen asked wearily.

The ANBU member's began looking at each other, clearly trying to decide which of them would speak.

Finally the one in the cat mask stepped forward.

"Lord Hokage, we detected a large influx of energy from the forbidden forest, fearing an enemy attack we went to investigate. Upon arriving, we found this child unconscious in a clearing." She said in a profession tone.

"And why did you feel the need to bring him here?" Hiruzen asked, rubbing his eyes.

"Just look at him sir." Cat responded.

Hiruzen looked over at the child. He was small, maybe eight or nine. Had light skin and short, curly hair. He was wearing a red shirt, with a prominent yellow star, and blue shorts. His clothes were unusual, but not overly suspicious. Then he saw it, the boys shirt was pulled up revealing a large gem placed on his naval. That wasn't normal. Hiruzen, then began noticing other strange things about the child. His clothes didn't just look strange, they were made from a material he had never seen before. His skin wasn't just light, he was actually a very soft peach. So close to a natural skin color that he doubted anyone would notice without looking for it. Most of all Hiruzen realized that he couldn't feel any chakra coming from the boy, it was almost as if he had less than a civilian. Looking at the gem, Hiruzen knew this couldn't be true.

"Good work bringing him here. You are right this isn't a normal child. Call the hospital and arrange for a private room with guard of no less than Chunin rank. Have them alert me when he is awake" Hiruzen told them.

Hiruzen watched as they took the child away. He sighed, it was just a child, but he could take no risks when it came to protecting his village.

One Week Later

Hiruzen was reading over the notes left by the doctor, who had been assigned to the boy. Apparently the gem was a natural part of the boy's body as there was no evidence that it had been placed there, but that was the least strange part about what they found.

The medics quickly realized that the child's flesh was more difficult to penetrate than the average person. His resistance to blunt forces were even greater than that, the 'test' they used to determine that had gotten more than a few fired. Hiruzen didn't condone hitting children.

Believing that the child had some new kekkei genkai, they began to do more intrusive tests involving sensors. The sensors had sever difficulty sensing the boy, as he apparently, 'blended in with the environment,' along with having no apparent chakra. They moved onto using Hyuuga members after that.

The child did, apparently, have chakra in him. It was just far less than any living being should have. He also didn't have any chakra coils, or pathways, within him. He was utterly incapable of molding chakra. The child was instead filled with something that very closely resembled natural energy. It was almost as though he were a normal part of nature, except for one barely noticeable thing. After testing, his energy was found to have an elemental component attached to it, similar to chakra. The energy had the tang of light and plants, with undertones of crystal. They didn't know if he could use the energy, but it made them weary. He was an unknown.

The council was calling for his blood, some more literally than others. But he refused to act until he could at least speak to him.

Cat appeared in his office, Hiruzen knew what this had to be about.

"He's awake." Cat confirmed, and like that they were gone.

Hospital

Hiruzen appeared at the door, only to find Inoichi preparing to enter.

"What are you doing here" Hiruzen demanded.

"The council sent me to" Inoichi began to say.

Hiruzen cut him off.

"You listen to me not the council." Hiruzen was angry with the council's repeated attempts to undermine him.

"Lord Hokage, I'm sorry it won't happen again." Inoichi stated, almost shaking in fear, as he began to edge away.

"Inoichi stay. In retrospect I could use your abilities when I talk to the child." Hiruzen demanded.

"What do you need me to do, lord Hokage?" Inoichi asked.

"Tell me if the child lies to me at any point in our conversation." Hiruzen needed to be sure that the child wasn't a spy trying to infiltrate there ranks.

"Yes, Lord Hokage." With that they entered the room.

The Room

Hiruzen wasn't prepared to see the child beaming happily at them, while waving.

"Excuse me sir, where am I?" the child asked.

Hiruzen almost went to answer, but he knew he couldn't let himself be taken in if this was a ruse. Hiruzen hardened himself, he wasn't a kind old man. He was the Hokage, who survived through two great wars, which had taken the lives of thousands.

"We'll get to that, but first we have matters to take care of." Hiruzen said, full of authority.

"Okey-dokie." The child responded, completely nonplussed.

"The first matter would be who are you?" Hiruzen asked.

"Pearl, says its rude to ask for someone else's name if you haven't introduced yourself first." The child responded.

Hiruzen was taken aback by the childish response. Hiruzen, noted to ask about this 'Pearl' later, clearly the child didn't understand the situation he was in, but still Hiruzen complied.

"My name is Hiruzen Sarutobi, and the man in the corner is Inoichi. Now then, who are you?" Hiruzen asked.

"My name is Steven Quartz Universe!" The child, Steven, yelled excitedly.

Steven Quartz Universe, Hiruzen wasn't expecting that. Steven was clearly a foreign name, as he had never heard it before, and Hiruzen was sure he would remember the surname Universe.

"Where are you from Steven?" Hiruzen was curious.

"Beach City, the best place in the world!" Steven yelled, apparently the coma hadn't dampened this child.

"Where is this Beach City?" Hiruzen asked, he had never heard of this place before.

"It's on the Beach." Steven responded.

Hiruzen was sure the child was mocking him, he supposed he could just ask about it later.

"Steven this is very important, why are you here?" Hiruzen leaned forward as he asked.

Steven looked confused for a second, before remembering.

"I was coming back home with the gems, but I fell through the warp." Steven looked a bit concerned at this point.

More unfamiliar terms.

"Where am I." Steven asked, but was cut off.

"Who are these gems you mentioned." Hiruzen felt bad for cutting the child off, but he needed to know.

"You know, the Crystal Gems. We protect the Earth from bad guys." Steven responded enthusiastically.

Hiruzen was sure the child was lying to him, so he looked back toward Inoichi, who nodded in the negative. The child was telling the true, who were these 'Crystal Gems,'

"Can you tell a bit more about the Crystal Gems" Hiruzen pressed.

"Well there's Pearl, she's really protective and hates messes. Amethyst she's fun, and eats everything. Garnet is the leader, since my mom…. Well she's kinda of scary, but once you get to know her she's a big softy. Then there's Peridot and Lapis Lazuli, but there not really Crystal Gems. And lastly there's me." Steven said happily.

"Why are you called the Crystal Gems" Hiruzen pressed further, Steven still hadn't given anything of use.

"Oh, that's because we're gems, well half-gem in my case." Steven said patting his stomach.

Now they were getting somewhere.

"Steven what are gems?" Hiruzen asked.

"Gems are gems. Wait that's not a good explanation. How did Pearl put it. Oh yeah, I remember. Gems are a species of sentient gem-like entities who project a light based hard hologram as a body. Gems require no substance to survive, however can eat if they chose to. Gems are effectively immortal so long as there gem is unharmed. Gems have different abilities based on their gem-type, however most have the ability to shapeshift and summon a weapon." Steven stated monotone as if reciting something from memory.

That was a lot to take in.

"Now, where am I." Steven asked urgently.

Hiruzen could see no harm in telling him.

"You're in Konoha." Hiruzen stated

"Konoha?" Steven echoed.

"Where's that?" Steven was pretty sure he hadn't heard of this place before.

Once again Hiruzen was confused. How could he not know Konoha, it was one of the great villages.

"It's in the land of fire." Hiruzen explained further, hoping to see some spark of recognition.

Realization was dawning on Steven, he had fallen through the warp. Lost forever.

"I need to see a map." Steven yelled panicking now.

Hiruzen complied, and quickly supplied him with a map.

After a moment of frantically looking through the map, Steven spoke.

"This isn't where I come from." Steven said solemnly. His smile was gone now.

"What do you mean Steven" Hiruzen asked in mild concern.

"I fell through the warp, things that fall through the warp don't come back." Steven said, monotone.

"What's 'the warp.'" Hiruzen asked.

"I'm not sure how it works, but the gems use it to travel on and off planet. While you're in it the world goes black and you're floating in a black void, with a wall of light stopping you from falling out. Pearl once told me that things that fall into the void are lost forever. I fell. Now I'm somewhere else." Steven grew distressed during his explanation.

"I'm sorry." Hiruzen didn't know what else to say.

"I'm going to leave you alone now, sorry for the distress I have caused." With that both Hiruzen and Inoichi left the room. Steven was staring off into the distance.

Hey guys, not sure how far I'll get with this story. It's been raddling around in my head for a while and I wanted to get it out. There's not too many SU stories that focus on Steven, so I wanted something with him separated from the gems, hopefully stimulating similar stories. Also Steven seems like a good character to put into the Naruto Universe. He appears weak, but has a great variety of abilities.