Rin had not been in a good way for a while. Ever since the Holy Grail War had ended, she had done her best to try to keep her promise to her servant Archer and prevent his stupidly heroic past self from being condemned to an eternity of mindless killing. She had known such a task was going to be difficult, but she was sure that because of how close she was to the red-haired idiot that she had a chance.

But now years later, she wasn't so sure about her odds. She had taken Shirou to the clock tower in an attempt to get him away from any obvious causes that he could throw himself recklessly at. At least here, there was a chance that he'd find something that he actually enjoyed in life other than saving others.

She let out a deep sigh. That was wishful thinking at best. Even after showing Shirou around England as much as she had she wasn't sure that anything had stuck. He had no obvious hobbies other than cooking, and she had caught him tracing weapons by himself in his room a few times. Rin looked up at the clouds. She was running out of ideas. Was it just an inevitable conclusion? Would Shirou become a Counter Guardian no matter what she did?

She shook her head of those thoughts. She had made a promise, dammit! And she'd do her best to see that promise through to the end!

Having reached the apartment that she shared with Shirou, Rin opened the door. "I'm home!" She announced.

"Ah, hello there Rin." A voice that was distinctly not Shirou's replied.

Rin paused in the midst of taking off her shoes and spun around, to see a sight that made her heart drop into her chest. Sitting at the table of her apartment was her master in the second true magic, Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg. The man had been kind enough to take her on after the Holy Grail War had concluded. Though he had always been tight-lipped as to why he had chosen her of all people. Her apprenticeship had been fairly standard so far, and so she was understandably concerned that the other shoe was about to drop.

You see, Zelretch, as he was more commonly known, was regarded widely as one of the most powerful magi to ever live. In addition, he was immortal, and constantly bored. Considering the fact that he was also a possessor of the second true magic, the operation of parallel worlds, made a normally fairly dangerous combination so much worse.

Zelretch, seeing her expression, started laughing heartily. "Oh, why the shocked face my apprentice? Can't your teacher stop by for a cup of tea every once in a while?" He asked, attempting to sound innocent.

His words seemed to shake Rin out of her shock. She glared at her teacher and grit her teeth. "What. Did. You. DO?!" She demanded.

Zelretch merely shrugged, not really frightened by Rin's anger. Having witnessed his apprentice through many parallel worlds, he had gotten used to her wrath by this point. "Why, whatever could you mean, Miss Tohsaka? What makes you assume that I've done anything?"

Rin's eyes darted around the apartment frantically, looking for something out of place. Doors turning into portals to other worlds, strange creatures wandering the hallways, hers or Shirou's possessions changing into…

That's when it hit her. "Shirou!" She shouted, rushing to the sword mage's room. She bursted through the doorway, only to find it empty of the boy that should have been there at that point in time.

"No, no no no no…." She repeated, upturning every square inch of the room as if Shirou would magically appear out of thin air. With tears flowing down her face, she clutched at thin air, trembling furiously. Her gaze met the door of her room, and she marched with her fists clenched tightly. She came across the kitchen to see her teacher smiling in amusement at her predicament.

"Where… Is he?!"

Zelretch chuckled, before chucking a manga at Rin. "Well, it's a world that pretty much follows this story." He said.

Rin looked at the cover. It read 'Naruto'. Rin had heard of the story in passing, but had never actually read it herself. She just stared blankly down at the cover, not really comprehending what was in front of her.

"Well, there's a few key differences… One character is a different genders, to make things more interesting you see. There's far too many worlds with those characters as it stands, this one was at least a bit different-"

"Why?" Rin asked simply. "As bad as you are, this is above and beyond what you normally do."

Zelretch shrugged. "Well, to be honest, that boy is one of my favorites to watch. You'd think someone with such a straightforward mentality would get boring after a while, but he really doesn't." He sighed. "And as much as it's respectable that you're trying to prevent him from becoming EMIYA, it's not working."

Rin stiffened at that. She knew that she wasn't making any real progress right now, but it wasn't that bad was it? She still had a chance? "Really?" She asked weakly. "So… After everything we've been through… He'll still become…"

Zelretch nodded his head at his apprentice. "Unfortunately, yes. I've seen enough worlds to know what will and won't prevent Shirou from becoming your old servant. This? This right here? It's not enough. He needs something else."

"Like what?"

Zelretch merely grinned. "Something to save. Something to protect. I just happened to send him somewhere where he has both."

Rin stared at Zelretch for a few moments, before resigning the fact that this was actually for the best. "Alright, you win. Just so you know though, I'm going to work my ass of to get to him."

Zelretch nodded. "I figured you'd say that. Just so you know, in order to give him this chance I had to basically recreate him to fit his world's standards, so he'll have a whole new lifetime of experiences by the time you get to him."

"What?!" The black-haired magus shouted. "How can you even do that?! You can't- You shouldn't- That's got nothing to do with the Second Magic!"

"Eh. I've got enough friends in so many worlds by this point that I can ask a favor from a magician of just about every true magic. I just sent him to one of my alternates and they handled it from there."

Rin calmed down at that explanation. It was entirely likely that Zelretch knew other wielders of the different true magics, so she supposed that it was entirely within his abilities to change Shirou to better fit the new world that he found himself in. She would accept it… For now.

"He's going to be alright though, right? You made sure that he'd get a good start to his new life?"

At this, Zelretch's smile turned distinctly mischievous. "Oh, don't worry. I made sure that his 'birth' into his new world was identical to his birth into this one."

Rin looked disgusted. "If he's fully conscious, being shoved out of a womb would be downright traumatic. He's got enough issues as it is!"

Zelretch shook his head, his grin remaining unchanging. "No, while that would be funny, that's not how the being known as 'Shirou Emiya' was 'born'" Zelretch said, adding helpful air quotes to help his apprentice get his meaning.

Rin was confused for a few moments before her eyes widened. "You didn't." She said.

"Oh, I did."

Like many nights, Shirou saw hell. He felt the flames flickering against his skin as he waded through the rubble. He heard the desperate screams for help, saw those crawling through the ruined buildings desperately doing something, anything to try to do something to survive.

And among it all, he merely walked, ignoring everything around him for the sake of surviving. This was the scene that Shirou remembered from his childhood, one that plagued his dreams as it seemed to be right now. He would walk, re-experiencing the pain of discarding everything that made him who he is as he abandoned others to their fate, before finally collapsing and being saved by Kiritsugu.

And yet, this was an unusual occurrence. Shirou was unusually lucid this time around, something that he didn't get the chance to experience often. In fact, Shirou couldn't remember the last time he had been in control of this particular dream. Shrugging, Shirou didn't question it. If he was going to have to go through this dream again, he was going to at least try to save some people while he does so. With that plan in mind, he braved the fire and smoke in order to change the outcome of his dream.

He made his way through the intense flames, only finding corpses. He paused momentarily to check the pulse of a few people laying on the ground, but none had any signs of life. The fire had already claimed them. However, that was soon to change.

The building that he had just entered was different then the others. The foreboding feeling that was constantly pressing down on him seemed strongest within, yet Shirou pressed on nevertheless. When he entered the building, the smoke made it hard to see at first. Yet Shirou continued on regardless, determined to scour everywhere he could for someone he could save. The building he was in looked as if it had been fairly tall, though it also appeared to be the epicenter of the whole fire in the first place.

That was odd to Shirou, as from what he recalled the fire was started by the holy grail's taint. Given that, how was there anything at the center, let alone the foundation of a building? However, that line of reasoning was immediately cut off when he heard a nearby sound: one of a child crying softly. Shirou immediately dashed towards the first sign of life he had detected since the start of his dream.

After pushing past a burning board that attempted to block his path through a partially-disintegrated doorframe, Shirou managed to find the source of the tears: a small, pig-tailed blond child. She was wearing a strange orange jumpsuit, and was currently curled up into a ball, clutching her knees as she sobbed into them. The walls of the room she was in was completely blackened, and there were ashes scattered towards the edges of the room itself.

Shirou grabbed the girl's shoulder, causing her to flinch and recoil away from Shirou's touch. As she turned towards Shirou, she revealed a very unusual face to him. With the whisker marks and blue eyes, she would have been considered an exceptionally cute child if it wasn't ruined by the streaks of tears running down her face. She was staring at Shirou with panic in her eyes, desperately crab walking away from him until she finally hit a wall.

Shirou hesitated for a split second, but once he remembered that he was in the middle of a giant inferno he started moving towards the panicked girl. As he came within an arm's reach, the girl put her arms in front of her face as if to shield herself while closing her eyes as hard as she could, obviously expecting Shirou to hurt her in some way. Knowing that the small girl in front of him would react poorly to any attempt to forcefully take her away from the burning ruin they were in, Shirou merely held out his hand and waited.

Slowly, the girl seemed to realize that the strange red-haired boy wasn't going to hurt her. She gradually opened her eyes and looked at him, her eyes eventually widening further than they were normally, before they started watering again.

That was all the warning that Shirou had before the girl launched herself at him, clutching his sides in a painful hug as she sobbed hysterically into his chest. While taken by surprise at first, Shirou eventually wrapped his arms around the girl, attempting to comfort her. After a while, the girl's body stopped shaking violently, and Shirou noticed that she had fallen asleep. Nodding in satisfaction, Shirou attempted to shift the girl onto his back so that he could lift her in a fireman's carry, but found that even unconscious the girl wouldn't let him go. Maneuvering her carefully, Shirou was luckily able to get her into a bridal carry and trudge through the fire.

Shirou was determined to save someone this time around, even if it was only a dream. Reinforcing his body, Shirou sprinted through the fire as fast as possible.

The Third Hokage was panicking. He had just got out of a meeting with his advisors to talk about the Uchiha issue when he felt the hateful presence of the Kyuubi permeate through the city. He had made his way towards the source only to see a truly monstrous inferno burning through a large portion of Konoha. He had immediately ordered all available shinobi to start putting out the fire with all due haste.

Unfortunately, this fire did not appear to be an ordinary fire. While water techniques were preventing the spread of the fire, it appeared to do nothing to extinguish the fire that was there. Seeing this only caused Hiruzen to panic further. Naruko Uzumaki, the current Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi lived at the center of it. He had initially expected that the seal had failed and the Kyuubi had been released, but no one had seen it manifest yet.

However, should Naruko die within the fire, then the Kyuubi would truly be released, and in that situation, the village would almost certainly be destroyed. It was taking all the shinobi that the Hidden Leaf had on hand just to prevent the fire from spreading and killing even more citizens, so he could only spare a handful of ninja to go into the fire to attempt to rescue any survivors. However, the Hokage knew that Naruko's apartment was near the center of the fire and it was unlikely that his ninja would be able to save her in time.

Even though he hadn't prepared a successor yet, the Hokage was prepared to risk his life to save Naruko, someone who he considered his surrogate granddaughter. He was prepared to risk his life to save the people of Konoha. He was-

"Sir! Sir, someone's coming out of the fire!" One of his ANBU reported to him.

The Hokage spun and looked where the shinobi was pointing towards. His eyes widened as he saw a small child, likely around Naruko's age, was sprinting out of the fire at speeds that would be impressive for even a genin, carrying a small body in his arms.

Once the youth breached the perimeter of the fire, the Hokage could see him more clearly. It was a young boy, one with soot-covered red hair, piercing golden eyes, and a pained expression on his face. His clothes were burned and blackened by the fire, and as the boy slowed down, his legs started wobbling from the exertion he had just gone through. However, what attracted the old man's attention more than anything was what he was carrying in his small arms.

"Naruko!" Hiruzen shouted, sprinting towards the young boy. When he arrived, he held out his arms for the boy to give him his burden.

The boy only seemed to smile sheepishly before moving Naruko's unconscious body towards the Hokage, only to be unable to do so due to Naruko's incredible grip on his torso. Given the sight, Hiruzen could only grin. Even with the village burning around him, the sight of Naruko safe and sound did so much to ease his mind that he allowed himself a moment of levity.

That moment ended when the boy's legs started wobbling out of control. Before the third Hokage could react the red-haired child started falling forwards, only to spin around so that he would land underneath Naruko, cushioning her from the fall. He immediately rushed to the young child's side, only to see his eyes slowly close.

After checking both children's pulses, the Hokage nodded in satisfaction and turned to an ANBU that had stayed by his side, not willing to leave the leader of the village undefended amidst the confusion.

"Take these two to the hospital immediately. I will stay here to help prevent the fire from spreading further." He commanded.

The ANBU merely nodded his head and scooped up the two children in his arms. There were other ANBU nearby that would ensure the Hokage was safe. He sprinted to the hospital as fast as he could, determined to make it there and back in time to assist with the fire suppression effort.

Hours passed, and eventually the fire subsided, having run out of fuel to continue its existence. The only reason why it had managed to last so long under the use of so many Jutsu was because of the lingering effect the Kyuubi's chakra had on the fire, which provided enough fuel for the fire to sustain itself.

That was the cause of the council meeting the third Hokage found himself in at that moment. No one quite knew the exact circumstances of the fire itself, but the Kyuubi's involvement was undeniable. Which meant that in the end, only one person could be held responsible: Naruko Uzumaki, the container of the Kyuubi.

"Hiruzen, thousands of people just lost their lives! At least a tenth of Konoha was just razed to the ground! At least consider the alternative!"

These impassioned words came from an elderly man covered in bandages, so much in fact that it covered half his face. He was an advisor to the Hokage, and had suggested a solution to their current problem. The only issue is that the solution in question was being met with mixed feelings at the moment. The fact anyone was even considering it could be considered surprising, however the one person who could approve the motion that Danzo wanted to pass was stalwart on his refusal.

"I said no, Danzo. My decision is final." The Sandaime responded, only barely able to resist the urge to kill his old teammate.

"Lord Hokage, I know that you are close to the Jinchuuriki, but she has shown tonight that she cannot handle the power that she contains!" Homura, one of his other trusted advisors argued.

"That may very well be, but even if I wanted to follow through with your plan, we have absolutely no way of re-sealing the Kyuubi in a new container, nor a suitable container to put it in afterwards. All that would be achieved by extracting the Kyuubi would be the death of a child who hasn't even had the training to mould Chakra yet."

That's right, Danzo's plan in the wake of the fire that took out so many people was to move the Kyuubi no Kitsune to another child. Hiruzen was obviously against this idea, as he was quite fond of Naruko and any attempt to extract or otherwise move the demon fox would end up killing his surrogate granddaughter in the process.

Danzo shook his head. "Not true Hiruzen. Ever since the last time we were attacked by the Kyuubi, I have been prepared for just such a circumstance. I am confident that I could create a seal that would hold the Kyuubi in a new subject. I also am aware of at least three children within Konoha with exceptionally large Chakra coils, enough that they shouldn't perish from containing the Kyuubi."

As the other members of the meeting started murmuring among themselves, Hiruzen narrowed his eyes. That seemed way too convenient for Danzo, even if he normally prepared for almost every occasion. This was just too much information for Danzo to happen to have on his hand at all times for a 'just in case' type of plan. Did he know that this would happen. The old Hokage shook his head of such thoughts. He couldn't act without enough evidence, not against one of his trusted advisors.

A deep sigh managed to break through the various noises in the room. "How troublesome." Said a scarred man. The man in question had dark hair tied into a spiky ponytail behind his head, and was wearing a typical jounin vest. This was Shikaku Nara, the current jonin commander, head of the Nara clan, and altogether one of the smartest shinobi in the world.

He rested his chin on the table in front of himself and closed his eyes, almost as if he was about to fall asleep. "Tonight has been far too much of a drag, and I'd really rather not do that again. You're all missing an important thought."

Hiruzen perked up at that. Was he truly missing a piece to this puzzle? "Oh? Do tell Shikaku. I would appreciate your council on this manner."

Unnoticed to everyone in the room, Danzo's expression darkened significantly at Hiruzen's words. However, because no one noticed it Shikaku continued on with his analysis. "Well, it's pretty simple. Honestly, I don't know why it wasn't Danzo's first thought…" He murmured, cracking an eye in Danzo's direction. He stared Danzo in the eye for a few moments before shrugging unconcerned.

"Eh. Whatever. What I'm trying to get at is… This whole thing feels like sabotage to me." He explained.

That got more than a few people to perk up. Many hadn't wanted to kill a child in cold blood like Danzo had been suggesting, but in the wake of such a terrible disaster many were tired and wanted to prevent such a tragedy from happening again. They were shinobi, and as such were very used to making the hard decisions however, any option that sounded more likely was something that most in the room would grasp on for dear life.

The Hokage himself nodded in agreement at Shikaku's words. "Yes… I believe you might have a point there, Jonin Commander. While the Kyuubi is most certainly powerful, it has never been recorded manifesting its power as anything but pure Chakra, unlike other tailed beasts." Hiruzen mused. "In addition, it would take a significant amount of the fox's Chakra to magnify any fire that Naruko should encounter in her apartment. We would have been able to feel the Chakra long before the fire in that case. No, the Kyuubi amplified a powerful fire Jutsu, likely in an attempt to kill its container in the monstrous sea of fire we saw this night."

Danzo nodded slowly. "I suppose you are correct Hiruzen." He seemed reluctant to admit that, but continued on anyways. "In that case, we must ensure that the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki is guarded at all times."

Hiruzen nodded, finally agreeing with something that Danzo had said that night. "Yes, I do believe that you are correct. Very well. I will assign a constant ANBU surveillance of Naruko Uzumaki. I believe that we can call the meeting here. I thank all of you for assisting Konoha in this time of crisis, and I wish you all a good night."

After that, the clan heads and civilian representatives exited the room, with the sole exception of Danzo and Hiruzen himself.

"Did you notice, Hiruzen?"

The man in question could only nod solemnly. "Tonight, at the fire… No Uchiha came to aid us, and Fugaku neglected to show up to the meeting tonight. I knew the situation with them was bad, but to willingly ignore their fellow Konoha brothers and sisters?"

The third Hokage could only sigh. "We need to talk with them. See if there's something we can do to make this right."

Danzo remained silent. He had his own plans regarding the Uchiha. He personally believed that they were too unstable, and that they could pose a legitimate threat to Konoha's security. The Uchiha would perish soon, and even though tonight's plan failed, he was certain that his plan for that problem clan would come to fruition soon.

Shirou started waking up to the sound of unfamiliar voices. He cracked his eyes and noticed that he was flat on his back, staring straight up at a tiled white room. Glancing around the room he was in, he noticed that it looked like a typical hospital room. He was lying back on a medical bed, and a quick glance underneath the blanket he had covering him revealed that he was wearing a hospital gown… And that he had somehow de-aged about a decade and a half.

That caught him by surprise for a second. Hesitating, Shirou pinched himself just to make sure that he wasn't just dreaming. Considering the dream he'd had the previous night, he wasn't going to discard the possibility just yet.

However, he had yet to wake up. Therefore Shirou had to assume that the de-aging was either a reality or an illusion that he would not be able to break out of. However, Shirou believed it was the prior. Why? Well, for whatever reason Zelretch, Rin's teacher, loved using Shirou as a test subject. It would be just like him to de-age Shirou while trying something out, and Rin wanted to make sure he was okay and took him to the hospital.

However, upon looking around the room more, Shirou was given quite the shock when he looked at the only other hospital bed in the room. It housed a familiar mop of blonde hair, which in and of itself wasn't very concerning… If it wasn't for the face with the whisker marks attached to said hair.

She was real? Granted, Shirou hadn't completely ruled out the possibility of an illusion or dream, but he would give it even odds at this point. However, if the girl was real…

Shirou paled. That fire… It held a hatred comparable to the fire that was caused by the taint of the Holy Grail. What on Earth could possess such hatred, and furthermore why was it loosed upon the world?! How many people died in that fire?

More importantly… How many did he fail to save this time?

He looked at the girl sleeping soundly on the hospital bed next to his. At least… At least he had saved one. That was more than the first fire. He supposed in this way that he could sympathize somewhat with his fire, even if he knew that he hadn't felt anywhere near the same relief that Kiritsugu had felt when he had dugged him out of the ashes of the fourth Holy Grail War.

Suddenly, Shirou was startled by the sound of the door opening. A doctor stepped through the opening, followed shortly by an old man with flowing robes and a strange red hat with the kanji for 'fire' on it.

"Oh! I see that you're awake now. That's good. Tell me young man, would you mind telling us your name? We're trying to reunite families that had been separated by the fire." The doctor said.

Shirou nodded his head. In his current state, the doctor likely thought that he had family in the area affected by the fire.

"My name is Shirou Emiya. Thank you for taking care of me." He said, sitting up only to bow his head at the two in the doorway. While Shirou didn't know exactly where he was, he could tell that the man in the robes was important based on the way that the doctor seemed to subtly differ to him. In addition, Shirou's 'smell' for magecraft was going haywire around both men. The doctor was a strange scent, but the man in the robes smelled very similar to Rin, who was known as an 'average one', or a mage capable of wielding all elements equally. That meant that not only were the two people in front of him capable of magecraft, but the older one was likely extremely proficient, given his status as an average one and also his apparent age.

Yes, Shirou truly believed that, if these two had wanted to kill him there wasn't much that he could have done about it while unconscious. They meant him no harm.

The doctor looked at the older man in questioning, to which the man merely gave a tired sigh before rubbing his forehead.

"Well young Shirou." The old man started. "I have a few questions for you, if you wouldn't mind?"

Shirou shook his head in response. These people had taken care of him after the fire, the least he could do was answer a few questions.

"Well, my first question is where exactly you learned how to use Chakra?" The robed man asked. "You pulled off quite the feat in that fire, something far more advanced than someone your age should be capable of."

Shirou only cocked his head in confusion. Chakra? Did he mean Prana? As he was about to correct the old man, that was when it all clicked. He had realized how close to the truth he had gotten with his 'Zelretch experiment gone wrong' theory. It was entirely likely that the old vampire had decided to send him to another world on a whim. It had never happened before, but it didn't seem too outlandish for the Wizard Marshall to do.

Mentally filing that shocking revelation for later, Shirou responded to the question with genuine confusion.

"Chakra? What's that?"

The old man's eyebrows shot up, and the doctor looked even more concerned than before. Shirou supposed that if this 'Chakra' was this world's equivalent to Prana and the people in front of him had identified Shirou as a mage, then what he had just said would seem strange.

"Truly? You don't know what Chakra is?" The doctor ask. When Shirou shook his head, the doctor looked to the man in the robes. "Well, I suppose that it isn't entirely out of the question that his Chakra just responded to the feelings of panic he likely had. Maybe that's why he was moving so fast?"

The man the doctor was talking to rubbed his chin in thought. "Yes, I suppose that is possible." He shrugged his shoulders. "Oh well, it merely seemed as if the boy was a prodigy, figuring out such an advanced technique so early in life."

The doctor frowned at the old man. "That 'advanced technique' nearly killed the boy from Chakra exhaustion!" The doctor admonished. "That is not the kind of thing a kid should be practicing!"

The old man rubbed the back of his head sheepishly and gave the doctor an awkward smile before turning to Shirou again.

"Well, now that that question is out of the way, is there anything you could tell us about that fire? If you can tell us what cause it, we would much appreciate any information you can give us. You and Naruko here are the only two survivors who were within the inferno itself."

Shirou shook his head again. "No, I'm sorry. I don't recall anything before the fire." Which was true, Shirou had absolutely no idea how he currently got there. Shirou knew that he was being selective with his truthfulness, but considering the fact that Shirou was likely in a parallel world, he thought it would be prudent to give as little information about himself as possible.

Hiruzen merely nodded, however the doctor seemed to latch onto something. "I'm sorry, did you say you remember NOTHING before the fire?" The man asked, alarmed by Shirou's previous response.

Shirou nodded, which caused the older man to recoil in shock. "Amnesia?" He muttered to himself.

The doctor nodded. "Yes, it is somewhat rare, but in extremely traumatic circumstances the brain will sometimes shut down. While on occasion these people can recover their own memories, I'm afraid I've never experienced a case with someone this young. Considering the fact that Shirou's brain is still developing, it is entirely possible that he will permanently lose his old memories."

The doctor then turned to the boy he was talking about. "Tell me young man, what is the first thing you remember?"

Shirou scratched the top of his head. He felt bad lying to these people, but telling them that he was actually about a decade and a half older than he appeared to be, and that he was from a world was not likely to go over well.

"Well, I remember waking up in the fire… I remember seeing a lot of people dying… And then I thought that I had to save someone, anyone." He paused, not because he had to steady himself, but because he had to figure out how to explain his speed without giving away that he was using reinforcement. Using it poorly for that matter, as he had not taken into account the fact that he had regressed in age by many, many years, changing his body structure and how much Prana he could send into his body parts.

"I remember running… Looking back now, I was definitely moving faster than normal…" He muttered to himself, before shaking his head. "I couldn't find anyone alive, everyone I tried to save was dead before I got there. Then I heard someone crying, so I followed the sound until I came to her." Shirou said, pointing at the girl on the other bed.

"She seemed afraid of me at first, but after she realized that I wasn't trying to hurt her, she hugged me and wouldn't let me go, luckily though she fell asleep a few moments later, so I chose a random direction and started running that way. Once I reached the edge of the fire, I saw you approaching. I tried to hand her to you, but she was still holding on to me too tightly. After that, I felt very lightheaded, so I collapsed." Shirou finished explaining.

The old man's eyes softened at Shirou's words, and he seemed to age years before Shirou's eyes. The doctor however, looked somewhat concerned. He turned to the man in the robes.

"Lord Third, he clearly needs-" The doctor started, only to be cut off by a wave from the old man.

"I know. I'll get Inoichi on it." The man, who was apparently someone extremely important replied.

"I only have one more question for you Shirou, that is, so long as you are willing to answer it." Shirou only offered a nod in response.

"What is it that you wish to do now? You have no memory, and while I hate to say it, you are likely now an orphan if you weren't one already. Normally, this would be a pretty simple case. Having no known living relatives, you would simply be sent to an orphanage and put up for adoption, however…"

At this, the old man turned to look at the young girl on the other hospital bed. He walked to her side, making absolutely no noise as he did so. He smiled down at the young girl, and Shirou noticed that the smile was tainted by regret and guilt. If it hadn't been for those underlying emotions, Shirou would have thought that the old man was looking at the young girl the way a grandfather would at a granddaughter.

"This young lady's name is Naruko. Naruko Uzumaki. And she has had quite the difficult life. Though I fear… That her life is about to become much more complicated." At this, he turned to Shirou. "You helped her in her hour of need, and I can only imagine that when she wakes up she will want to meet you. Because of certain… Circumstances, Naruko cannot live within an orphanage, despite being an orphan herself. Because of this, I must ask you a favor of my own."

The Hokage took in a deep breath, obviously having a hard time composing himself. "I would ask you to live with her, rather than go to an orphanage. She needs someone who will care about her, a friend her own age that will help her when she is at her worst. Please… As the only person on this planet who looks at her as family, please help my granddaughter where I cannot."

Shirou was silent as he pondered the heartfelt request that the old man in front of him just made. Inwardly, he was conflicted. This was not his world, and he had… Well, Rin was probably waiting for him back in his old world. However, the thing that was preventing him from simply waiting for Rin to get him back was simple… He didn't really want to return. Living with Rin at the clock tower, while productive in the fact that he was learning more about magic, wasn't what he wanted to do with the rest of his life. He wanted to help people, he wanted to go out there and chase his dream… To become a hero of justice. And yet… Rin very obviously didn't want that.

Rin had seen the end of the road if Shirou continued down the path of his dream. She had seen the terrifying ending that was Counter Guardian EMIYA, the Archer of the fifth Holy Grail War. She had seen the hill of swords that her servant had died on, witnessed him being betrayed by those who couldn't understand him. She had promised Archer at the end of the war that she would prevent Shirou from travelling down his path. But yet, Shirou had to admit to himself as much as he liked Rin himself, and as much as he wanted to make her happy… He couldn't. As Rin had once told him, he was distorted. He could not live a normal life, not after all he had been through. And as such, even knowing that it would kill Rin inside, Shirou was only a few days from simply walking out of her life forever.

Because of that, he was not as devastated as he maybe should have been about being in a new world. At least here, Rin wouldn't chase him around the world in an attempt to drag him back to the clock tower and give him a thorough verbal lashing.

So then why was Shirou conflicted if he wasn't hoping to return to his old world? Well, the answer was fairly simple. Even in a small form, Shirou was certain that he could still save people with the abilities that he had. He was confident that he could go out into the world right this very moment and manage to protect those who needed protecting.

And yet… Looking at the blonde child that he had saved from the fire, that was where Shirou was conflicted. He had saved her from a fire that distinctly resembled the one that he had barely survived in his childhood. More so, based on her reaction, she truly didn't expect anyone to come by and rescue her. This girl had no one. She was an orphan, much like himself, who according to the old man, had no real friends her age.

Shirou wasn't an idiot, even though some of his actions would probably lead people to that conclusion. He knew that not everyone had a monster to slay, an enemy to fight, a foe to protect them from. Sometimes in order to save someone, one merely needed to be their support, to aid them in their everyday life.

But yet, was the life of one worth more than the potential several that Shirou could save on his own? Such a question was difficult for Shirou, as he had once vowed that in situations such as this, that he would always choose to save both. And yet in this situation, he could not think of a situation where he could save both Naruko and save others. Closing his eyes to steel his emotions, Shirou opened his mouth, about to tell the old man in front of him that he would be unable to perform the favor asked of him, when he heard a groan.

All attention in the room turned to Naruko's bed, as the girl in question slowly opened her eyes. Blinking the sleep out of her eyes, Naruko sat up and immediately her eyes were drawn to the man in the robes. Upon recognizing him, her eyes widened in joy and she gained a grin that stretched across her face, so wide and happy that it practically stretched from ear to ear.

"Jiji!" She shouted in excitement.

The old man's smile made him look like he'd suddenly regained decades of life in a mere moment. "Hello Naruko. It is good to see you are well."

Naruko nodded enthusiastically, before she perked up, looking like she just remembered something. "Hey old man, what happened? I remember some weird guy in a mask, then a fire… Then…" She took on a classic 'thinking pose' with her arms crossed and eyes closed, before seemingly remembering another important detail.

"Oh yeah! That red haired boy! What happened to him?" She asked, suddenly sounding concerned.

The old man in question looked at his granddaughter in mirth, before he started chuckling to himself. Obviously Naruko wasn't happy with this, as she had asked what she considered a very important question.

"Eh! Jiji, my question isn't funny, ya know! What happened to him?!" She demanded.

Naruko's grandfather merely shook his head before he replied to her question. "I apologize Naruko. He is right here." He said, absently pointing a single finger at Shirou, who gave a small wave at Naruko when her gaze landed on him.

Naruko's eyes widened in shock at the sight of the boy who saved her from the fire. Her cheeks blushed a light pink as she sheepishly rubbed the back of her neck, both in embarrassment at not noticing him earlier and at how she'd acted back during the fire.

"Oh, uh… Hi." Naruko chuckled awkwardly.

"Hello." He replied.

The old man, seeing Naruko struggling at this moment decided to step in and help. "This young man's name is Shirou Emiya. He is the wonderful young man who managed to pull you out of the fire." He paused, thinking about his next words, before he continued. "I believe that the two of you will get along quite well."

Naruko stared at Shirou, the grin on her face telling everyone in the room that she was exceptionally happy, yet to Shirou it was a different story.

Her expression, her smile, her attempts to appear confident… It was fake. It was all fake. As someone who did his best to fake human emotion for most of his life, one who classified himself as a 'faker', Shirou could tell that something was wrong. Something about the way that she was acting told Shirou that if he made the wrong move here, he could potentially ruin her life.

And yet again, he was brought back to his conundrum. Should he save the one life, and likely commit himself to many years of normal life, or should he attempt to go out into the world and make a difference? Save one or save many?

After learning what he could about Kiritsugu, his late father, Shirou knew that the man's answer would have been easy: he would abandon Naruko, as he would be able to save many more if he were to not be tied down to one location. However, while Shirou respected his father, he was also aware that his father's way of living eventually lead to his inability to fulfill the very dream that Shirou inherited.

And so, Shirou smiled at Naruko and said the words that would change the fate of the entire elemental nations, one that would send repercussions that would be felt by all throughout the world.

"I would like that." He said.

The brilliant, and more importantly genuine smile that he received in return told him he had made the right choice.

After leaving the two children to familiarize themselves with each other, Hiruzen walked down the hallway with the doctor that he had entered that room with.

"You wanted to tell me something. About young Shirou." Hiruzen stated.

The doctor nodded in response. "Yes sir. First of all, while his speed coming out of the fire was impressive, Mr. Emiya's overall Chakra levels are slightly above average for his age at best."

Hiruzen merely nodded. "Indicating that he is unlikely to have been trained. Go on."

"However, there was something strange regarding the young boy. He appeared to have some form of self-healing. Not quite on the level of a Jinchuuriki, but still impressive in and of itself."

The third Hokage rubbed his chin in thought. "Perhaps the first of a civilian lineage to develop a bloodline? It is certainly within the realm of possibility."

The doctor merely nodded positively in response. "That is my current theory. Regardless, should the boy join the Shinobi forces later in life, it will doubtless be a boon."

The Hokage nodded. "Very well. Thank you for your report. I will take my leave if there is nothing else then."

The doctor gave a quick salute and wandered down the hallway.

After the doctor left, Hiruzen narrowed his eyes in anger. Naruko had mentioned a strange man in a mask. When Hiruzen had pressed the issue, that was all that Naruko could remember. That meant that some foreign ANBU had found out about Naruko's Jinchuuriki status and attempted to release the Kyuubi on Konoha. He would have to amp up Naruko's protection detail after tonight, and he would do his damndest to make sure that whoever was responsible was caught for their part in tonight's tragedy.

Anyone who targeted his surrogate granddaughter did not deserve to live in his eyes after all.

In a dark and quiet room, a sole man sat at a desk, his hands locked underneath his chin as he pondered the events of that night. The man in question was heavily bandaged on the right side of his face, and had a scowl that many in the village assumed was permanently stitched to his face.

This man's name was Danzo Shimura. Advisor of the Hokage, commander of the secret ROOT force of Konoha, and a man who was very dissatisfied with how the night ended up.

It had been a few months since Naruko Uzumaki had been allowed to live on her own, and once Hiruzen had eased off on the ANBU assigned to watch the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki Danzo had felt that it was the time to strike. While he wasn't particularly interested in acquiring such a high-profile target, Danzo knew that he had to put the safety of Konoha first. The entire reason why the Kyuubi was released to ride roughshod over Konoha so many years ago was because the Kyuubi was stored in a female container. It was a proven fact that a Jinchuuriki's seal weakens considerably during childbirth, and Danzo could not risk history repeating itself with the young Uzumaki.

As such, Danzo wanted desperately to remove the Kyuubi from Naruko before it became an issue, however something must have gone wrong that night, for his ROOT shinobi never reported back, and a good tenth of the city was destroyed in a colossal fire.

And now, Hiruzen was going to be more paranoid than ever before. One wrong move, and Danzo could risk exposing his entire operation to his old teammate. No, such a risk was unacceptable. He would merely have to keep an eye on Naruko Uzumaki in the future, especially if she were to harbor any interest in producing offspring.

Danzo shook his head. He needed to prioritize. While a vital matter, observing the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki could wait. After all, the Uchiha were currently a much greater immediate threat…

A/N:

So… After not writing for several months on either of my currently active stories, I finally post and it's… A new story.

The reason for that's a little simple: this is a submission to Alex Kellar's 'Breaking The Fate' contest! This contest involves inserting Shirou Emiya into a character's tragic backstory before it can become tragic, and so I chose Naruko Uzumaki.

… What's that you say? It looks like Naruko's story is already tragic before Shirou even shows up? Well, yeah… I guess… Kinda. Look, the challenge said 'long before ninja school', so I chose this, when Naruko and Shirou are *mumble mumble* years old.

Anyways, some quick things that I feel like I need to get out of the way here before I go.

Is this a Harem?

I'm only going to say this once. NO! Firstly, even though I enjoy a harem fic every once in a while, I don't feel comfortable with writing one just yet. So even though both Fate/Stay Night and Naruto are fandoms that are littered with Harems, it's not happening here.

How much are you gonna follow the storyline?

Well, honestly there won't be much changes until the Chunin exams. Sorry! Not too much I want to change until then.

Will Rin be in this story?

No, that was just an amusing scene that I thought would add a bit of depth to Shirou's being there outside of 'Zelretch is bored'.

How long will this fic be / When will this story end?

Well, considering the deadline is the first of February, I've got a bit of time. My plan is to finish the entire story within that time frame. Keep in mind that after the Chunin exams I'm not really gonna be following the plot structure of Naruto too much. That being said, this story's probably gonna be in the ballpark of 150,000 words. That unfortunately means that my other stories will not be worked on for the foreseeable future.

What's up with the Uchiha? Wasn't that After Sasuke was in the academy?

Well… Yes, however I'm kinda fudging with dates here. Honestly it was a bit of an oversight on my part, but by the time I realized what I'd done (literally five minutes before I wrote this) I realized that in the long run, it wasn't gonna make much of a difference, so I kept it in. Hope that doesn't bother anyone too much!

That's about all I have for you! I hope that I'll have another chapter next week, but that's probably wishful thinking. Hope you all enjoy reading this!