Revised April 25, 2016: Sorry for those confused with my use of present tense instead of past tense. I went back to add subtitles among other things. The first section was actually someone who was there during the Great Gastrea War and witnessed all the chaos. It took place during that time period, hence why it was in present tense form. Second section was self-explanatory. Just a brief recap of what Gastrea were and stuff. Third section was a timeskip so it just depends I guess.

Again, sorry for the confusion at the beginning.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, Black Bullet, the picture, or some of the Ace Combat elements I'm using in this story.

XoX

The Great Gastrea War Several Years Ago…

I walk on.

I am unable to think.

All I can do is follow the others.

No matter what, I couldn't turn back.

Nothing but deaths and destruction lies behind me.

Smoke and ashes still linger in the air.

Off in the distance, I can hear both the humane and inhumane screams.

It was nothing but Hell back there.

It was an image which will forever be engraved in my mind.

I will never forget it.

I just wish that…

-Unknown #1

XoX

No one knew where they came from.

No one knew what they wanted.

It all happened in an instant.

It came without warning.

The war was brutal.

And humanity did not come out on top.

Life as we knew it changed that day.

The Gastrea.

Their appearances were shrouded in mysteries.

It all began in the year 2021.

A mysterious virus called The Gastrea Virus made itself known to the world. The virus enters the human body through bodily fluids and from then on, transforms its host into what is known as a Gastrea, an alien-like creature. It was a being that used to be human. Now, they're nothing more but an abomination. They're giant, monster-like creatures that ranged anywhere from half to 200 times the size of a human.

As the creature underwent the transformation, they gained new abilities. One of the most prominent ability is their hardened shell/skin. Conventional weapons cannot damage it, only weapons made out of Varanium, a special type of metal, can. As such, killing them with normal methods was practically useless.

Additionally, should such weapon manage to damage the Gastrea, depending on the type, their regenerative ability allows them to heal within seconds. A common one can easily be taken out with well-aimed strikes. The more dangerous and rare ones however requires a more powerful arsenal.

It is thanks to this that the Gastrea managed to overpowered humanity in the Great Gastrea War, and took their spot at the top of the food chain.

Cornered and exhausted, humanity built giant Monoliths made out of pure Varanium at specific locations and retreated behind their own barriers. Thanks to the magnetic fields these Monoliths emitted, the Gastrea could not breach and destroy humanity's people. However, every now and then, one will somehow manage to bypass the barrier and enters the sanctuary. Luckily though, they are quickly dealt with.

Nevertheless, lands once owned by mankind were quickly processed by the Gastrea. The once rulers of Earth have been overthrown. Humanity have bided their time, strengthening themselves and making painstaking research with the hope that one day, they could strike back.

Little did they know the Gastrea were not just mindless abominations…

XoX

Present Day Eight Years Later…

Off in the distance, away from civilization, lies the Outer Area. It was the place the residents of Japan used to inhabit but then abandoned. Nothing lives there except for old buildings and the registered outcasts of society. It was a place that lies directly between Civilization and the Unexplored Areas, locations once owned by humanity but now overran by the Gastrea. No one dare to venture out beyond their safe haven voluntarily lest they have a death wish.

Forests stretched on for what seems to be eternity, covering the area with a dense color of green. Great mountain ranges stood proudly, reaching the very tip of the sky. Several bodies of water runs through the land, leading to the great beyond. In the dense environment, it is unclear what one may encounter when traveling pass the protection of the Monoliths.

BOOM

A violent explosion took place, shaking the very foundation of the earth and making the animals scatter to safety. What used to be a small clearing is now nothing more but a crater dozens of meters wide and deep. The smell of smoke still linger in the air and several pieces of earth lays awry. Within the center of the crater was an unconscious person dressed in an orange and black jacket with orange slacks. The figure had blond hair, three whisker marks on each cheek, and attached to his forehead was a headband with a metal plate with some symbol inscribed.

XoX

Unknown Location…

In a dark, sewer-like setting lies two figures. The lightings barely illuminated the surrounding darkness. One of the silhouette appears to be a giant, nine-tailed fox with brownish-red fur. Another is the exact replica of the person laying in the crater. Both were lying on their backs, seemingly knocked unconscious. They seem to be completely unaware of what was happening in the outside world. Suddenly, the giant fox began to twitch and stir.

"Ugh," the kitsune groaned, sounds echoing within the walls. "That was one of the worst experience in my life." Using one hand to nurse his head and another to help himself sit up, the kitsune then took a few moments to regain his bearings. Afterwards, it began searching for the other figure. Upon spotting him, "Oi, Naruto," a booming voice called out, "Wake up!" To make sure the message got across, the kitsune slams a hand by the prone figure, making the land shake and indirectly causing the body to jump four feet in the air.

SPLASH

"Gah!" yelled the figure as his body made contact with the ground, causing ripples in the water. Pushing himself up and groaning at the rude wake up call, "Ugh. What was that for Kurama?" Naruto said with a slight glare as he too nurse his head.

Pointing a finger, "That was for not listening to my advice and continuing with your experiments."

"How was I supposed to know this would happen?" he shot back in an effort to defend himself.

Rolling his crimson eyes, "Oh I don't know, how about the fact you barely slept for a week because you were too engrossed with whatever it is you were doing?"

Crossing his arms and pouting, "Well excuse~ me for wanting to crack the seals on my dad's Hiraishin (Flying Thunder God) technique."

With a deadpan stare, "And look where that got us."

Waving his hand dismissively, "Oh we're fine," he said nonchalantly. "I'm pretty sure we're not dead."

"So convincing." His voice was dripping with sarcasm.

"Thanks!"

"That was sarcasm."

"Oh…"

Sighing, "Just… go figure out where we are," Kurama said exhaustedly. "I need to see if you somehow managed to damage yourself. Again."

"Oi!" Naruto shouted indignantly. "I'm not that bad dattebayo!"

"Do you want me to go there?" Kurama asked with a deadpan face.

Avoiding his gaze, "No…"

"Then go."

With a slump of his shoulders, "Fine…"

XoX

In the Outside World…

The previously unconscious body began to stir. His eyes slowly fluttered open as he came to. As his eyes adjusted, images became clear. The first thing he saw was the clear blue sky and the clouds. The second thing he noticed was the earth seemed to cave in around him, suggesting he was in a crater of sorts. The third thing he noticed was how much his head was hurting.

"Ow…" Lying there for several moments to regain his bearings, Naruto then proceeds to slowly get himself out of the hole he made for himself. As he crawled to the top, he took a look around him. Trees and bushes covered the surrounding area. Off in the distance were some mountain ranges. There was no sign of life anywhere. In fact, the entire place was completely unfamiliar to him. And strangely quiet as well.

"Um, Kurama?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you know where in Konoha we might be?"

Shaking his head, not that Naruto could see, "Can't say. This entire surrounding is not one we've come across before."

Sighing, he then pinched the bridge of his nose. "Just great," he mumbled out loud. "We're stuck in who knows where and have no way of getting back home."

"Look on the bright side," Kurama suggested in a slightly cheerily tone.

"What's the bright side?" Naruto asked curiously.

"I don't know. That's why I told you to look."

Almost face-faulting at the response, he then felt his eyebrow twitching, "Geez Kurama. You're so~ useful." Putting his fingers together in a cross sign, a dozen or so clones popped into existence. "Scout the area," he ordered his duplicates. "I'm going to see if I can pick up anything in Sage Mode." With a salute, the clones then disappeared in the blink of an eye to complete their assignments.

Once they were gone, Naruto took up a meditative position on the ground as he began to gather the Natural Energy in the air. As he calmed himself and slowed his breathing, he slowly became one with nature. Soon, orange pigmentations appeared around his eyes. In this state, his spread his senses out as far as he could, searching for anything and anyone who could help him. After a few minutes of searching, a frown appeared on his face.

"That's interesting." He heard Kurama mumble from within. "I can't sense any chakra near us. Or anywhere within 20 miles actually."

"I can't find any chakra in Sage Mode also. I did however picked up some life forms all around us. The thing is, they felt… tainted."

The kitsune hummed in thought. "I suggest you continue exploring and be on your guard Naruto. We're in unknown territories at the moment."

"You got it."

As soon as Naruto said that, his clones popped. As the rush of memories entered his head, he tried his best to sort them out. His eyes widened as he saw what his clones saw. Double checking if his clones were hallucinating or not, he quickly stood up, his Sage Mode fading away, and began running into the forest, ignoring Kurama's voice. Taking off into the branches, he watched the world whizzed by as he went at speeds that would make anyone jealous.

Coming closer and closer to his destination, he slowed his approach. Giving his position away would ruin the whole purpose of this scouting mission. Remaining as stealthy as possible, he searched for any good visage point that provided good cover. Once he took up a secured position in the trees, he peeked out from behind the leaves to see for himself whether it was true or not.

Down on the ground a few meters away from them was something neither Kurama nor Naruto has ever seen before. It was a giant, dark green, beetle-like creature with 10 meters long hairy legs and four giant, red eyes. Its whole body was covered in small fur and two menacingly-looking horns were sticking out by its mouth. Speaking of which, as it opened its mouth, the duo saw a full pack of sharp teeth in two rows and a large tongue. Every now and then, it would emit a strange clattering sound.

"… Are you seeing this?"

"Yes…"

"What… is that?"

"… I don't know."

"I have never seen anything like that before."

"Same here. And I've been around since the almost the dawn of time."

Neither could steer their eyes away from the monstrosity. So focused on the thing in front of him that Naruto didn't realize how far he was leaning out of his spot, causing the leaves to rustle due to the imbalance, thus giving his position away. As such, Naruto was surprised when the creature suddenly turned around and looked at him straight in the eyes. Had he been a lesser man, the glowing red eyes would have frozen him on spot. Luckily, he had Kurama and the Uchihas to thank for his immunity toward nightmarish objects.

Nevertheless, Naruto couldn't help but curse his luck. "Oh crap."

Kurama merely sighed. "You just had to draw its attention toward us didn't you?"

Naruto wasn't given the chance to retort when the creature suddenly charged toward the tree, causing blond to abandon it. The tree was shattered instantly and debris went everywhere. Landing gracefully, Naruto took several kunai and shurikens from his pouch and threw it at the being.

Only for them to bounce off with clanking sounds.

He observed with wide eyes at how the projectiles was utterly defected. Sadly though, he ending up provoking the creature as it yelled and then charged full speed toward the stunned blond, who was surprised a thing that big could move that fast.

Pushing chakra into his feet, he quickly jumped into the air as the being barreled through and smashed right in a tree, obliterating it and sending splinters everywhere as well as causing dirt to fly around. Landing on a branch, Naruto quickly went through several handsigns and took in a deep breath before shooting a red-hot fireball at the creature's blind spot, hoping that technique will finish it. The flames scorched the area the creature was in, the fires still burning even after he finished his technique. Inwardly, he hope that was enough to finish the thing off.

Which was why it came to a surprise to him as the bug-like came out of the flames unscratched and angrier than before as it roared into the skies. And the eyes, if possible, glowed even more.

"That shell of theirs is quite annoying," Naruto couldn't help but comment.

"You can say that again. It reminds me of Isobu's."

"You think a Rasengan will work?" he wondered.

Kurama hummed in thought. Quickly recalling the abilities of the monstrosity before them, "Anything with strong piercing or grinding properties should be able to get through that defense of theirs. With that being said, normal methods are fruitless. I suspect nothing less than C ranked techniques will be able to bypass that skin of theirs."

"Well," making a cross sign, "Here goes nothing." Several clones popped into existence, each drawing out a kunai and imbedding it with wind chakra, making the kunai glow a bluish-green color. "Let's see how you'd like this!" As one, each of the Naruto clones released their wind chakra enhanced kunai at the beast. The weapons soared and whizzed through the air, striking home. Even more, they went right through the beast itself and embedded themselves on the landscapes behind it. The Narutos let out celebratory cheers, thinking the battle was over and how no monsters could stop them.

That is, until they saw the wounds beginning to heal itself right before their eyes as the monster roared once more.

"What the…"

"Oh come on!"

"That's just not fair."

"Yeah, healing like that should be considered cheating!"

"Don't we have the same healing abilities like them?"

"Shut up!"

"It's like fighting the Reanimations all over again!"

Not wanting to give the beast the chance to recover, and ignoring how his clones were acting, Naruto quickly charged forward. His clones, seeing the original take off, quickly followed behind. As one, each began forming a palm-sized blue sphere in their right hands, the telltale signs of the Rasengan. Wanting to finish this as soon as possible, they dived toward the beast. Letting out a battle scream of "Rasengan Barrage!" the small army of orange struck home. A violent explosion took place and dust soon surrounds the location of the beast.

Naruto jumped back as his clones popped to observe the damage done. He was positive the attack was more than enough. Still, it never hurt to be careful, especially when dealing with an unknown. As the dust cleared, his assumptions were correct, which he was grateful for. The once colored eyes became dull and lifeless, a sure sign it was defeated. Although, Naruto couldn't help but grimace at the sights before him.

"I think I overdid it."

"You think?"

The carnage was indescribable since the author wanted to keep this story rated T.

"Any ideas what that thing was Kurama?" Naruto asked as he began enlarging the distance between him and the now dead creature.

Shaking his head, not that his host can see, "None. I have never seen anything like this before."

"Was that why the forest was so quiet when we came to?"

"Actually, I think it was because we scared everything away when we arrived here."

Groaning, "Ugh. Man, where in the world did we even end up at? Because I know for sure we're no longer in Konoha. Unless of course it was overran while I was holed up in my workshop for a week."

The kitsune didn't answer right away, not wanting to make wild speculations right off the bat. After a moment, "Did your clones find anything else?"

Naruto quickly went through his clones memories once more. Nodding, "Yeah. They saw some giant, blackish-gray monolith things off in the distance and an abandoned town of sorts nearby. At least I think it was a town. I never saw buildings like those before. Coincidentally, the place is filled with same yet different tainted feeling this creature had."

Kurama frowned. His tails swayed back and forth from behind. A gnawing suspicious formed at the back of his mind as to what happened to them; however, for the moment, chose not to voice it just yet. "Try checking out the town. Maybe we'll find someone to help us," Kurama advised. "If not, make more clones and see if they can find a populated place. We need all the information we can get."

"Alright. You got it." With that, Naruto carefully started making his way toward the abandoned town, hoping to avoid any more encounters with the strange creatures if there were more out there.

Little did he know the tainted feelings he felt there were coming from the outcasts of society.

And the creature he had just fought wasn't even the strongest one nor was it the last one he'll ever encounter.

XoX

AN: I've been having this idea around for a while and just now finally gotten around to it. This story was inspired by my need to have the Cursed Children live a better life (the way they were treated in the manga and anime was just sad) and partially due to cursed4321's story Cursed Existence in which it was a Naruto xover with Black Bullet as well.

I'm not sure whether or not I'll make it long because there's only 12 episodes in the anime and the manga isn't even finished yet (I think it's behind the anime actually…) therefore a lot of the technical aspect is missing so I'll have to come up with stuff.

I might just finish it around 5 chapters. At the very least 5 anyways. Not sure. Not planning on dragging it out either. I have the last two chapters planned out already though, just have to fill in the gap.

To satisfy your curiosity, this Naruto is from after the Fourth Shinobi War but before he married Hinata and became Hokage.