Invictus Spiritus

Authors Note – That title took up longer to think than I'd like. This is a 'revision' you could say of "Mors Certa, Hora Incerta". In the sense that the premise of the story is the same but the execution of it is very different. Naruto will still be the inheritor of TOAA, and that's all I can say without spoiling anything.

Last night, I've spent all evening looking for ways to be a better writer, and I came across some good sources and in doing so decided that I had to revise this story. The fact that I wrote the first chapter without even thinking about where I wanted to go sort of killed my ability to write my second one. Luckily, I decided to commit to writing notes now and have already got a solid plan for the first chapter.

The timeline will be following the Modern X-Men Comics, so from the 2011 Edition of X-Men: Season One onwards. I've got the timeline down (thanks to the internet and Reddit – on a side-note, massive thanks to the Marvel Subreddit for giving me links for the chronological Marvel timeline!) and I know what I want to do, so it'll start off with X-Men and go from there.

Nevertheless, enjoy the first chapter of Invictus Dominus (or Spiritus, haven't decided).

"Speech"

'Thought'

"Different Language"

"Non-Human Speech"

'Non-Human Thought'

"Mental Non-Human Speech"

Disclaimer: I do not own Marvel nor Naruto. I only own the rights to the story of Invictus Spiritus.

"If you wish for peace, prepare yourselves for war." – Naruto

The war has been going on for nearly five years.

It started when I was 16, and I'm nearly 21 now. The war hasn't stopped in its brutality, nor its pace. At this rate, the people… my people are suffering through a battle of attrition. The enemy has no need for supplies, and they lack the yearning of sustenance. They need no food, no water, no weapons, no armour. Only space for their endless reproduction of clones. This is not just extended to just the men and woman under my command; brave men and women who will gladly lay their lives down for the sake of peace through understanding and not peace through a false reality.

No, my dear friends, I am talking about the civilians whose lives have been so drastically affected by this tragedy.

The tragedy of WAR.

Say what you will of Kaguya, of Madara, of Obito. Call them murderers, thieves, liars, but what they are is nothing short of efficient. Why bother subjugating the wills of hundreds of thousands of iron-willed shinobi when they can simply create expendable clones whose only thought is the extermination of those willing to defy their masters? They are nothing if not ruthless.

I remain unbroken. Unconquered. Uncontested. They want me to give in, to acquiesce to their demands, to concede victory to them. I will not and could not. Not when the lives of the men, women and children who will lead us to a better future, lead us to prosperity are resting on my shoulders.

I will not bow. I will not break. I will not give up.

~Invictus | Spiritus~

The Elemental Nations use to be a land full of beauty, of tranquillity, and of an ever-promising future of peace.

Now, it was wrought with naught but craters, dead bodies and the smell of soot and ash. 6 figures could be seen in the epicentre of the crater, one lone figure standing against five others, 3 of those being further back than two others.

A closer look would prompt the figures to be shown more prominently, a glimmering shade of saffron and amber. His outfit seemed to have consisted of prominent obsidian markings encompassing his entire body in an intricate pattern. Magatama markings circled around his entire neck, while the emblem of a sun was emblazoned upon his right hand while his left hand was cradling the other figure, whose body seemed to be deteriorating at an unordinary pace.

"Damnit Sasuke, don't you dare die on me you bastard! We've almost got the bitch, stay with me till we get her!" The figure shouted at the body he was cradling, his face morphing into an expression of rage, sadness and undeniable grief.

Sasuke could only cough violently, splotches of blood pooling out his mouth with each cough, "Naruto, you… you need to end it. We're on our last legs… you… me… Obito… Kakashi… Sakura…" His sentence was interrupted by another series of wrenching coughs, more blood pooling out, "Take my half, end this fucking bitch once and for all!" With that, he lifted his left hand, the symbol of an obsidian crescent moon emblazoned proudly on his hand.

With a quick application of chakra, Sasuke willed his powers granted to him by Hagoromo, and his lineage onto the now-named Naruto – whose face was nearing tears.

Looking down at his left hand and feeling a sharp pain in his eyes, Naruto could see the symbol that was present on Sasuke now searing itself onto his left hand. Hissing at the sudden pain, he could only grit his teeth as his head was now being assaulted with memories that were not his own, signifying that they were Sasuke's and he was passing on his skills and abilities onto him.

The fucking bastard wanted to be a martyr. Sucks to be him, but Naruto wasn't going to let that happen.

'Kurama, I need your chakra. Just enough for Hagoromo-Jiji's mark he gave me. Nobody's going to die on me, not anymore.' Naruto sounded off to his lifetime companion, the nine-tailed beast, Kurama – known also as the Kyuubi no Kitsune.

"Alright kid, but my chakra's running low too. Kaguya is one mean bitch, and by this rate, we'll only have enough for a few A-ranked and S-ranked abilities. That, or you can use what we've been studying for in preparation for this battle." Kurama's reply was sobering for Naruto, reminding him that the battle had been going on for an upwards of 80 hours. They were fighting for nearly 4 days now, and the woman was only showing the slightest bits of fatigue.

Stupid Goddess and stupid powers. It wasn't going well for them, but for her? This was just another day to her. Kami, he hated her.

Feeling his companion's chakra seep through his, he placed his right hand – the one emblazoned with the mark of an obsidian sun – on Sasuke's chest. Applying the healing properties granted to him by the mark, he could feel Sasuke's chest go from heaving to slow, steady breaths.

"No dying on me yet, you emo-prick. I'll use our powers to end this, once and for all. So, make sure you and the others prepare a welcoming party for me, yeah?" He grinned at his best friend, his confidence being a front to his anxiousness.

Whatever he did now, he could not show any ounce of hesitation or anxiety. He didn't have enough Chakra to prolong the fight as long as he wanted, so he had to think of a plan, and think of one fast.

'Kurama warned me that we only have enough for a few abilities, either that or we can use that. I really hope it doesn't come down to it, but from the looks of the way this fight is going, I might have too…' Naruto grimaced, he hated these odds.

However, and this time, an excited grin crossed his features; he faced worse odds and won, what was another to the list?

Teleporting Sasuke with a quick application of Hiraishin (he had to thank pops for that sometime soon, thank Kami for the transference of memories through a physical link), he sped towards Kaguya, powering up his cloak even further and disappearing in a blur.

Hoping to catch her off-guard during this transition, he created two more clones and sent them to approach her from below and above. With his fist reared back, he and his clones appeared instantaneously together, and both clones appeared with a Rasengan of differing elements (his clone above appeared with a Lava Release Rasengan while the one below appeared with a Magnet Release Rasengan) and each one of them consecutively sent their abilities flying forward.

"Steam Release: Erupting Propulsion Fist!" The blonde rocketed his fist forward, just as his clones sent theirs forward, and an erupting explosion occurred the moment each technique hit, creating a blinding smokescreen which obscured all 4 figures.

When the smoke cleared, Kaguya was seen further away, her cloak bearing the only signs of damage, with rips on the lower hems while her right sleeve was completely torn off. Her face was now an ugly one of rage. If Naruto wasn't so concerned with his chakra levels, he would've laughed. However, he was glad that it worked and from the looks of it, she was tiring from the massive expenditure of chakra she was outputting in order to safely teleport away from all their attacks.

It seems that she was more fatigued than he realized, 'Okay, I can use this to my advantage, all I need to is…' Eyes widening at her sudden disappearance, he could only gape at his missing appendage, as it was sent careening off to the other side of the battlefield.

"GAH FUCK!" He screamed as the pain finally settled in at having his right arm completely ripped from the elbow downwards.

What the fuck? He didn't expect her to have enough chakra to be able to reliably teleport to him and hit him with an ability without getting a scratch in herself. What sort of chakra recovery did she have? Damn, now he was down to one arm and his prospects of ending this fight without resorting to that were getting slimmer and slimmer.

'Kurama, even with the chakra arm I can produce, the amount of Chakra I'll need to maintain it through this entire fight isn't going to last in a fully-fledged fight against her. I think we might have to resort to using it.'

Kurama only grunted in acceptance, "Damnit kid, I warned you she was one mean bitch. You let your guard down for just one split second and she immediately capitalized on it. Focus brat! All she needs is for you to have a lapse in attention and she can end this faster than your sex life took a turn for the better!" Even when they were seriously losing blood and the fight, he couldn't help but get in a sarcastic quip.

'Very fucking funny fuzzbutt. Now, we've got enough chakra, right? We can't go on like this, not when Sasuke and the others are still here. We need to get them out first and foremost and then we'll start preparing the seal.'

"Alright kid, but remember, you need to make sure she doesn't know what you're up to otherwise she's going to do whatever it takes to disrupt it. You need to make sure that she DOES NOT, under ANY circumstance attempt to disrupt the seal or your concentration on creating it. One wrong stroke, one wrong hand-sign and we can kiss our ass goodbye." Kurama warned him, making sure to emphasize what consequences could befall if he let his attention or Kaguya's attention wander for one split second.

'Yeah I know, you don't need to tell me twice.' Naruto grimaced and created 3 clones, "Okay, I need you guys to start preparing the seal, Clone 1, supply Clone 2 with the Ink needed to create it, Clone 2 make sure the moment Clone 1 begins to create the ink, you begin the process. Clone 3, I need you to go over to Sasuke and the others and teleport them back to the others. This is going to need our full attention, and if we hesitate even once in this, we're done for. You've got your orders? Off to it then."

Clones 1 through 3 nodded in confirmation and headed out to their objectives. Clones 1 and 2 headed further down the battlefield and began the arduous process of creating the seal while Clone 3 headed towards the others in order to teleport them back to the other Allied Shinobi.

Naruto himself prepared for a battle of endurance with the Progenitor of Chakra herself, and willed his Chakra into his right arm, to act as a temporary replacement to his now missing right arm.

'Okay fuzzbutt, let's do it!'With Kurama sounding off, and a savage grin crossing both their features, he teleported towards her to engage her in close quarters combat. Nothing pumped up the blood faster than a good old fistfight.

Kaguya, aware that he was now fully engaged in the mindset of combat with her, prepared herself just as fast, catching a knife jab towards her throat, and quickly sending out a jab of her own to his chest, which was blocked by his other arm.

They were locked into a stalemate of sorts, each of their hands caught in one another which was then interrupted by Naruto headbutting her nose too fast for her to see, causing her to falter in their contest of strength which allowed Naruto to send out a lightning-fast kick to her outer thigh, which ended up stinging her more than she should've let it forcing her to let go and hop back to recuperate the stinging in her left leg.

Not giving her a moment of rest, Naruto rocketed towards her and teleported behind her, his knee aimed towards the back of her neck, execution style. She ended up turning around and blocking it with her right hand, gripping onto his knee, but Naruto; without skipping a beat, performed a roundhouse kick, freeing his knee in the process but was also stopped by Kaguya's hand. She then proceeded to send a fist towards his groin, which caused him to go wide-eyed and backflip out of harm's way.

Harm him all she wants, he was not letting her near his babies.

Knowing she caught him in a vulnerable position, she sped towards his exposed front, sending out two palm strikes which caught him dead centre in the chest, causing him to cough spittle and sending him flying backwards.

'Kami she can hit! I think I felt two of my ribs snap from that alone, as crazy as she is, she knows what she's doing.' Naruto begrudgingly complimented her, although he never would admit it out loud, as he was sent flying towards the dirt. His body was aching, and he could feel both his and his partner's reserves were cutting dangerously low, almost hitting Chakra Exhaustion points of low. Whatever it was, he needed to keep going, at least until the seal was completed.

Looking over, he saw that Clone 3 completed his task and was doing his utmost best to distract Kaguya as he recovered. As annoying as his clones were (ironic considering they were fragments of himself), the good thing was that they all shared one mental link, which allowed them to subconsciously understand when their creator was in mortal danger and would go to any lengths to prevent it. He was lucky to have been using this technique so extensively, as before, they could only withstand one blow before being dispelled, but now they could only be dispelled by running out of the chakra or by being hit by something that could kill them, so being stabbed in the heart, neck, anywhere vital was a definite dispel.

Attempting to recover from his severe injury, he could feel Clone 1 and 2 sounding off to him that the seal was now complete. Now all that was required were the hand signs, but he couldn't let his clones do this, as they didn't have the chakra needed to perform it, much less sustain it during the entire hand sign sequence.

'Okay Kurama, the clones got the seal ready, and they're doing their best to keep Kaguya in the middle of it. You supply the chakra, I supply the hand signs. You ready for this buddy? It's now or never!' Naruto echoed to his companion, the fire of resolve and determination burning brightly within him.

This was it, this was the end game.

"You're goddamn right I'm ready for this Kid. This is going to take a while, so give me time to supply you with the necessary amount of chakra. Don't fumble with your hand signs kid, we're nearing the end now. Remember, we need her to be physically tethered to either the seal or the person performing it, otherwise the seal will only do half the job and prevent her from escaping, but not prevent her from reincarnating." Kurama huffed, and he could feel his companion shift inside his mind, into a meditative pose, fists bumped together.

Knowing his tenant was now doing his part, Naruto opted to complete his end of the bargain. Starting off with Monkey.

'Monkey, Snake, Tiger, Rami, Boar, Ram, Ox, Rat, Bird, Dog, Dragon, Snake, Hare, Tiger, Horse, Dog, Boar!'

"Uzumaki Hidden Technique: Burial Grounds for the Eternal Youth!" Shouting out the name of his technique, he teleported to the mark he left on her hand during their stalemate and quickly sent both palms flying forward, both hitting their mark directly on her chest.

'If it weren't for the fact that I'm sealing her, I'd compliment her chest size. She's got a decent rack on her. Wait, no! Bad thoughts! Terribly bad thoughts! Damnit Ero-Jiraiya!' Without meaning to, he ended up groping her chest. Were it not for the severity of the situation, he was sure Kurama would be laughing to his face about it, and from the look on Kaguya's face, she was both horrified, embarrassed and… wait, was that arousal he could see in her eyes? Ugh, talk about inconvenient timing.

While Kaguya may have been caught off-guard, she was more than ready to counter his surprise move with one of her own and sent a projectile towards his heart hitting its mark and exiting out the back.

"You may have gotten me with whatever it is you've done, but I have ensured you'll never see your friends ever again! All-Killing Ash Bones!" Kaguya roared in anger, the sealing finally taking place, and allowing herself a moment of satisfaction at seeing the gaping hole in her Son's descendants chest.

She may have lost this war, but she damn made sure these people lost their beacon.

Naruto couldn't believe it; how could he be so stupid as to not restrain her from pulling away or pulling a last-ditch attempt at killing him? He could feel the aftermath of her technique slowly disintegrating him from the inside, his molecules deteriorating at an alarming rate; too fast for his regeneration to suffice.

"Kid! Stay with me kid! Just for a few seconds, let the seal take place. Don't you dare die on me!" He could hear Kurama roar inside his mind, but it seemed so distant, so far. He refused to relinquish his grasp on Kaguya however, allowing the seal to spread all over her body, and causing both of them to glow a blinding white, her screams penetrating his ears.

Not even a few moments later, he could feel her entire presence disappear and be gone. Even Black Zetsu was gone. 5 years, 5 long years of war and strife. 5 years of never-ending conflict, of bloodshed. Finally, it was done.

It was over. At long last, Kaguya had been defeated.

Never to reappear ever again, his technique ensured it. After all, he made sure to confine her spirit (and subsequently, that of the ten-tails and Black Zetsu) within him, never to be let out nor resurrected ever again.

However, Black Zetsu's presence may have disappeared, but Kaguya and the ten-tails were far too powerful to simply have their spirits be willed away.

Suffice to say, the ten-tails was not happy. After millennia, he was finally freed! Only to be stuck once again within a container! He refused! Too long had he spent biding his time for freedom, slowly influencing the course of humanity to end in his release. Too long had he spent manipulating the world and its events to shift towards his liking. Too long! TOO, TOO LONG!

With a roar within Naruto's mindscape, the Ten-Tails poured an incredible amount of its chakra outwards in an attempt to implode Naruto's body within.

Naruto, however, would not let it, and he and Kurama both fought back, a contest of undisputable strength of will taking place within his dying body. One fought for the freedom to rampage and destroy the world they knew while the others refused to let it happen.

What they were unaware of however, was the fact that such a battle now showed visible signs in the physical world. Naruto's body was rapidly convulsing, twitching and writhing as the constant outpour of energy within his spirit was too much for his physical body to handle.

Without even realizing, the technique both he and Kurama performed overloaded with chakra and a large tear occurred right where Naruto was convulsing and without a single ounce of resistance, his body was pulled within its depths and a resounding explosion occurred the moment the rip closed, killing all life that was previously present.

The war was over, but the rest of the world would only know misery for the next coming months as signs of their hero pointed towards his brave sacrifice in an attempt to ensure that world peace would be ensured.

Naruto Uzumaki – to the Elemental Nations – was dead and gone. The world cried that day; however, its tears would bring about a new era of peace and prosperity. Just like he intended for it to be.

Elsewhere, in an entirely different realm of existence

A being sat upon their throne of clouds, their eyes taking in the sight of the multiple universes underneath their fingertips. The universes that they had created, that they had watched over, that they had nurtured and cared for.

Suddenly, their attention was taken elsewhere. An anomaly.

Strange. Most fascinatingly so.

With a simple snap of their fingers, the being brought the anomaly towards their plane of existence, curiosity brimming within the depths.

It was… a human? Hmm, not just any simple human, not by any stretch of the imagination. No, no, he was far more wasn't he?

Looking down at the sight of the convulsing individual, the being known to only a select few as The-One-Above-All stepped down from their throne, merely gliding over to the boy now within their planes.

"Curious. Most curious indeed… It seems to me that you and your companions seem to be struggling… against a creature? No… more than that. A titanic being of evil… of pure malice… Interesting indeed. I shall lend a hand. It seems to me that you require it."

Kneeling over, The-One-Above-All simply pressed one finger, and within the blink of an eye, the body had stopped convulsing. His omnipotent power deeming it to halt in its endeavor.

The-One-Above-All mused, "Quite an interesting one, aren't you? I see that you have faced many hardships, many tragedies. You have witnessed the rise and fall of civilization itself and yet your spirt remains unbowed. Your morals remain unbent. Your will remains unbroken. I would like to see what you have in store for me young one. Here, a gift from me to you." Once again, he pressed his fingertips towards Naruto's sternum, a divine glow of light trailing from his fingertip into the blonde shinobi's body.

"I grant you all my power. You shall be my… inheritor of sorts. Hm… no… not inheritor. My heir. You shall be the one to watch over my multi-verses, in the event that I grow tired of them. You shall watch them, nurture them, grow them. Learn from them as they will from you. You shall be my sole champion. Now, go. These worlds need you, my son… Yes…" The-One-Above-All smiled, it was strange, calling this non-blood related human their son. Especially because they could not procreate. They certainly could, but they found no interest in such trivial matters. To call someone their son, their sole heir. It felt… satisfactory to them. Strange as it seemed.

"You will not remember me, nor will you remember this conversation. However, I doubt you will remain satisfied with the lingering questions that may be burning once you arrive. So, I urge you to satisfy your curiosities, to satisfy your burning need to understand just how you came about here and why it occurred. For I know you will not stray from the path you have set yourself since your existence. You contain something I've never seen in any one being before, even with all that has occurred. You contain within you an uncontested, immovable and immeasurable will so strong that you shall never stray from the light regardless of circumstance, and it has me perplexed. And somehow… it leaves me with this feeling of warmth… of happiness… knowing that there exists a human like you." With that, The-One-Above-All sent him away, careening towards the universe they knew would provide the most interesting for their heir.

Earth-616.

~Invictus | Spiritus~

A large bricked mansion sat in the middle of a large open field, gated off by a fence and surrounded by the thick expanse of mid-autumn trees. At the front of said fence, sat a large plaque, which read:

Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters.

With a large whoosh, the gates sprang open, and a turquoise convertible sped through them and skidded around the large stone fountain and stopped inches away from the entrance.

On the entrance steps stood a rather-bored looking redhead clad in a simple pair of a green shirt, blue jeans and white shoes. Her eyes were currently on the novel in front of her, as if the display shown just moments before did not interest her the slightest, and the driver behind the wheel stepped out and slammed the door to his car. Walking towards her in a huff, he undid the top buttons of his dress shirt and ran a hand through his hair.

"I'm guessing the date went well then Warren?" The young redhead asked the now-named Warren, a tall and short-cut blonde, who sighed.

This was Warren Kenneth Worthington III, also known by his Mutant codename, 'Angel'.

"I hated it. Went as well as you could expect Jean." Warren replied, to the named Jean.

The redhead on the stairs was known as Jean Elaine-Grey, known by her mutant codename, 'Marvel Girl'.

"Did it go bad?" She asked softly, putting her book down after seeing the distress on the teens face.

Warren made a face, "Not bad per say… the first part was great. We had dinner, talked a lot, laughed, all of it. Not once did I have to pretend interest or fake-laugh. Usually, I had to do a semblance of either but with her it wasn't the case. That's like, never what happens with society girls." He sighed and looked dejectedly towards Jean, "But as you know, all good things must come to an end. After the dinner, she snuck us into her parents' summerhouse and wanted to go swimming. Swimming Jean!"

Jean made a face in realization, "Oh. That's not good." Causing Warren to snort.

"Yeah, you're telling me. I ended up showing her my badass freakazoid wings, then we made out in the pool – wait – no," He paused and looked down at his feet, "instead I ended up running with the worst stomach-ache in my life and ditched her standing there in her underwear."

Jean made a look, "That just sucks."

Warren could only agree.

Before any of them could continue their conversation, a large streak of light took their attention, and before either one of them could react, it was sent rocketing towards the mansion.

"Oh. Oh fuck! Warren, get the Professor! I think its about to hit the mansion!" Jean screamed to Warren, who quickly dashed into the mansion screaming 'Professor! We've got a situation on our hands!'

'Okay Jean, this is just like all those exercises the professor made you do in the training room. Except, it's real and if you mess up…' She could only gulp as the thoughts of her failure ran through her head.

Flexing her mental muscles, she quickly held her hands out and attempted to telepathically stop the large meteor from making a crater of the school.

She succeeded, somewhat.

Instead of a blazing meteor that would not doubt make a crater of the mansion if it was flying at the speed it was, it was now considerably slowed down, although at this rate, it would still create a massive hole in the side of the mansion and cause a media circus to erupt.

Jean was doing her best to slow the meteor down and praying to whoever was up there that Warren managed to get the professors attention otherwise they were all in for a bad treat.

'Come on Warren… Anytime now!' Jean was visibly sweating, her muscles tensing as she forced all of her telekinetic powers to force the meteor to slow down enough so that the professor can do the rest.

Just before she thought all was lost, rescue came in the form of Warren quickly wheeling the Professor outside, whose face was already set in a look of concentration as his one hand was cradling his temple while the other was working with Jean on stopping the meteor.

"Jean! We cannot hope to stop this meteor from destroying the mansion, the very least we can do is redirect it to the back of the school grounds! Align your powers with mine and we shall attempt to do that instead!" Charles requested of her, causing Jean to merely nod in his direction and force the meteor to stray off-course away from the school.

Within the next few minutes, both telepaths were doing their absolute best in diverting the meteor, and they did. Barely.

With a resounding boom! The meteor just narrowly missed the roof of the institute, instead careening towards the back field, and landing with a resounding crash.

Jean crumpled to the floor the moment the meteor landed in their backyard – backyard being a severe understatement – whatever it was, it could certainly wait until after she regained breath.

Say what you would, but Jean felt like she deserved a little bit of rest after mostly slowing the descent of the meteor by herself. Giving credit where credit was due, she allowed herself a mental pat on the back.

After going through multiple breathing exercises, to ensure that her body wouldn't just collapse underneath her, she went around the mansion, finding it useless to go through the mansion when the source of all her effort was laying just outside in what may or may not potentially be a massive crater.

Finally rounding the corner, she saw the rest of the team already there, and could feel the emotions wafting off them. Mostly nervousness and quite oddly enough, anticipation?

What, did they expect a super-cute female alien to be what was inside the source of the meteor?

Jean snorted. As if. Although, it wouldn't be too far a stretch if those thoughts did end up being true as boys will be boys. Especially at this age.

She sighed, 'Ugh. So much for asking Warren to go to the circus. Maybe he'll still be up for it after all this is over?' Lamenting over the fact that she missed the opportunity to ask one of the only boys she found attractive out. Could you blame her? She was stuck in a mostly all-boys institute, her being the only female. It was difficult not falling for at least one of them. Or at the very least, being attracted to one of them.

Stupid teenage hormones.

Waiting for all the smoke to die out from the impact of the crater, she looked towards Professor Xavier, his eyes set forward, a serious glint within them.

Walking up to him, she asked, "So Prof., any idea what may be inside of it?"

The professor simply shook his head and replied, "That I do not know. It seems that whatever may be lying within that crater has an almost unbelievable amount of mental fortitude. So much so that even I could not pierce through their defences with my own telepathy. Prepare yourself in the event that the entity within that crater is not as friendly as they may seem."

Jean's jaw locked at that statement. How the hell was that possible? Bar a few exceptions, the Professor's ability with his telepathy was so strong even she was hard-pressed to defend against his mental onslaught.

Seeing Charles gesture towards Hank brought her mind back into the situation, it seems like they would finally be heading down the crater.

Preparing herself as best she could, she also headed down the crater, careful not to trip over any upturned dirt or debris.

What all three found was not what they expected.

Within that crater lay a body – male it seemed like, covered in a ruined cloak that, were it not for the extensive damage, would've enshrouded his entire body within and his face was covered by strange mix of a wooden and porcelain mask, depicting the shape of a… demon?

Yes, indeed it was! The mask roughly looked to be the depictions of the Japanese demons of old, an Oni if their memory served them correctly.

However, it didn't look like any stereotypical Oni they've ever seen. Sure, the signs of it being an Oni were there; the horns, eyes, tusks, but that was where the similarities ended. It was a warm hue of Sky and Ocean blue, with there being two sets of bottom canines while only one set of top canines were present. All three however were protruding quite sharply from the mouth of the mask.

Then there were the tusks protruding out the sides of its mouth, a strange, almost ethereal mist coiling around it – much like a lovers embrace. If one were to look closer, the mist seemed to align to the breathing pattern of the person wearing it.

Intriguing…

To top off the look, the largest set of horns were set on top of the mask, its edges gleaming in the mid-afternoon sun.

The strangest part of the mask were the eyes however – a trio of closed pupils, their colour unknown to anyone but the owner of the mask. It was incredibly perplexing to see, but nevertheless, more important thoughts invaded the mind of the three individuals observing the body for any tell-tale signs of life.

What they could see however was that the young man was in no healthy condition, multiple lacerations, puncture wounds, singe marks, bruises. My goodness was that a missing arm?! What in the world…

Jean and Hank had to look away lest they throw up at the gruesome sight. The Professor however – used to such sights – merely grimaced and softly requested his students to carefully extract the boy and carry him into the Medical room.

Charles could only sigh and wheel himself back to the edge of the crater, sending a telepathic request for Jay to slowly wheel him back up. He didn't expect this, not at all.

He only hoped he was making the right decision by taking the boy in and healing his wounds. Only time may tell what he may do regardless of their generosity. Charles had positive hopes for the coexistence of Human and Mutants but that did not ensure he had high hopes for all Mutants to coexist peacefully together. Much like he did not expect the companionship between humans and mutants to be all sunshine and flowers.

~Invictus | Spiritus~

"…id! Kid!" A harsh but warm voice shoots Naruto up from the land of bliss.

Rubbing his eyes to get the fatigue out, Naruto was met face-to-face with his long-time companion and tenant, Kurama – known also as the Kyuubi no Kitsune.

"Kurama! Buddy! What the hell happened? All I remember is that fight with Kaguya and sealing her. Speaking of sealing her, are we dead? I was sure she got me with her All-Killing Ash Bones during the last few moments."

Kurama huffed, his reply sounding just as unsure as he was, "I don't really know kid. I thought we were goners for sure but…" The titanic tailed beast sighed, "I have little to no clue as to how we're both alive and kicking. Not to mention, if Kaguya didn't kill us, I was absolutely sure our fight between her and the Shinju would spell death for us. I don't know kid, but something seems really off…"

Naruto rubbed a hand through his hair in frustration, and felt lost, "So what the hell do we do now? Where are we in fact?"

"Luckily for you, we're still in your mindscape, unluckily however… you seemed to have landed us in another sticky situation."

"Uh… what?"

"Focus you idiot! Can't you feel it? Or rather, do you not feel that? Chakra is non-existent here! Wherever your dumbass seems to have landed, we're definitely not in Konoha anymore… or the Elemental Nations for that matter." Kurama barked at his container, aggravated at his oblivious nature. You'd think after going through an entire war that you were essentially single-handedly known for stopping, you'd mature.

Nope, not this bone-head.

Crossing his legs and bumping his fists together in a meditative pose, Naruto submerged himself deeper into his own spiritual energies, and reached out to feel if Kurama's statements held truth.

Feel the energy of the world go through you, allow yourself to be encompassed in it, caressed by it. Do not fear it, do not abhor it, do not scorn it. Let nature and her kin guide you and empower you.

There! While natural energy came in spades, the feeling of chakra; or rather the lack of it was what drove him to stiffen in shock.

The fuzzy bastard was right… Damn.

Oddly enough, he could feel a presence watching over him, or rather, watching him to see if he would abuse the very fabric of Mother Nature and her power.

Naruto snorted, like hell he would. Like everything that came into his life, he would never allow himself to take any of it for granted and he made sure to let the presence know it. He may be basking himself in natural energy, but he would never take more than what he needed. He refused to let greed overcome his sense of righteousness.

After declaring it (albeit to himself), he could feel a strong and comforting presence wash over him like a blanket. It seemed whomever was watching over him was pleased with his response and he allowed a satisfactory grin to grace his features.

´Thanks whoever you are! I'll be sure to never abuse this gift you have given me. It's a promise, dattebayo!' Naruto shouted out within himself, unsure as to why he did it, but felt like it was appropriate given the circumstances.

A grunt from Kurama shook him out of his meditation, "I don't wanna be a bother kid… actually, I am going to be a bother and if you've got an issue with that, kindly go fuck yourself." Coughing to regain focus on the topic at hand, "We've got a situation on our hands kid. Wake up and prepare yourself for a fight if needed. I'll pump you with some of my chakra in case you need to pull out some stops to get away."

Nodding at his best friend and sending him a fist bump which was gratefully reciprocated, Naruto willed himself to wake up. Allowing the real world to align his spiritual consciousness with his physical body.

And with a fell swoop, he allowed himself to awaken.

~Invictus | Spiritus~

After taking the heavily injured man with them to the medical facility, Jean and Hank made sure that the medical equipment was properly set up and that the young man was given the necessary treatment in order to make a full recovery.

After half an hour, they pulled up a chair and allowed themselves a moment of rest. Regardless of the time it took to set it up, they both admitted to themselves that today was definitely not expected.

"Jeannie, my dear, do you reckon the young man will make a full recovery? I may even allow myself to safely estimate that he is right around our age, perhaps a bit older. His physiology certainly dictates him to be a young man - in fact, he could be deemed as a super-human with those traits of his. Enhanced cell, tissue and muscle regeneration, an incredibly dense and compact bone structure which makes me think that wherever he's from, it certainly isn't from Earth. At least not ours… His skeletal structure is 3 times as thick but maintains the same mass as our own. He may even be born from a world so much like our own but with a heavier gravitational field than our own planet's. It would certainly explain that unusual phenomena…" Hank asked her the question only to go on a scientific ramble that flew straight over Jean's head.

Putting a hand to signal him to stop, she replied, "Okay Hank, first of all, I need you to relax all that scientific mumbo-jumbo. I don't speak nerd and frankly don't think I ever will. However! I will agree with you in saying that the guy looks to be around our age. At least, his…" Jean paused for a moment, a slight hint of scarlet dusting her cheeks as she was about to admit an embarrassing detail she hoped would never get out.

While setting the guy down onto the bed, they had to remove his articles of clothing and she allowed herself a sneak peek and my goodness…

The guy had one hell of a body. Sweet merciful Heaven… Luckily, Hank was too busy in his thoughts to see the embarrassment on her features and she quickly got back into her statement.

"Anyways, as I was saying, the guy certainly looks young. There's not an ounce of body fat on him, and you felt how heavy he was right? The dude must be packing some serious muscle cause there's absolutely no freakin' way the dude weighs that much with that little body fat."

Hank nodded in agreement, "Indeed. It would seem to me that his body type came from a life-long regime of proper exercise, perhaps even training and the right amount of each food group. It doesn't seem to be too bulky or uneven, and I would hazard a guess to say that all that muscle wasn't gained through the use of machines or through a gym, but rather through physical activity. Perhaps he played a sport of some sort? Basketball, and Football seem to be the most likely of choices seeing as both his upper and lower body received an equal amount of attention…" Once again, Hank rambled on, but Jean understood all of it as it didn't include any technical science jargon.

"Do you reckon he was in the Military? I don't know about you, and I'd rather not pull what the Professor did and try to peak into his mind – although admittedly, that didn't work out for him so it certainly would be out of my own abilities…" Jean grumbled, though not angrily, but she continued on "He just seems to scream military. Or at the very least he was military-trained. The dude's got this, you know… aura around him. You don't even need to be a telepath to get that much."

Hank once again nodded in agreement, "Yes, yes, that would be a good guess. In fact, I would say that assumption wouldn't be too far off the mark. At the moment, he is unconscious but something about him just seems… out of place. Even I'm unable to properly word it, and I have a large vocabulary! This is frustratingly intriguing and if I could, I would wake him up now!" Hank ruffled his hair in exasperation, the man being treated was a scientific wonder, and if the Professor could give him express permission – along with the test subject himself of course, he would definitely run the man through some tests.

The hissing of the automatic door greeted the two of them to Xavier's smiling face, and as his eyes roamed toward the figure laying on the bed, the smile never left his face although his eyes did slightly harden.

"Hello there, Jean, Hank. How goes the recovery of our patient?" Charles asked softly, his worries for the unconscious figure overpowering his need for answers.

AS much as he'd like to, his nature as a compassionate individual took precedence over his curiosity, and this young man's recovery was near the top of his priority list.

Hank stood up and walked over to the machines monitoring his progress, "Well Professor, as you can see, his recovery seems to be going along well however, it would seem to me that these machines are unnecessary as his breathing has evened out and no signs of damage are now present on his features. Although, I am unsure to the state of his body, I am sure that the boy will wake up in a few moments… Wait…!" With a start, he realized the figure on the bed started to shift and groan, and with a deep breath – which caused the mist around his mask to grow larger – the eyes on the figures mask opened, and a trio of burning amethyst eyes greeted them.

'Okay then… That's not creepy at all…' Jean shuddered as she stared at the mask, its pupils now fully open and scanning the environment. It seemed like her guess was right, the fog surrounding his tusks were fitted to his breathing pattern and the eyes on his mask were fitted to his own. Creepy as it was, she had to give props to whoever created the mask because it must've taken them one hell of a time in figuring out how to achieve such a thing.

~Invictus | Spiritus~

When Naruto awoke, he didn't expect himself to be surrounded by a bald guy in a wheelchair, a man who had the stature and mannerisms of a beast, and a cute redhead further away.

'God her hair is beautiful.' He complimented her looks, not realizing his thoughts projected outward, and was said as his eyes pinned directly at her – causing a flush of scarlet to bloom from her face and for her to squirm minutely, whether it was from embarrassment or gratitude, he'd yet to figure out.

Although, there was an indiscernible note of confusion that lit up in her eyes, as if she didn't exactly know what he said, but the way he stared at her and his inflection made it easy for her to connect the dots.

Quickly moving his hand towards his face, he sighed in relief as he could feel the rounded grooves of the wood and smooth edges of the porcelain of his mask set firmly on his face. It was a gift from the Konoha 11 to commemorate the entirety of the Allied Shinobi Nations declaring him as the Supreme Commander.

He had to admit, while he never got to be Hokage, being the Supreme Commander of what essentially equated to all the major hidden villages sure as hell came in a close second. And he had to admit – under severe torture and ramen shortage – that having the title of Supreme Commander of the Allied Shinobi Nation sounded a lot cooler than just Hokage.

Still, being Hokage was his life-long dream, he just became something else related to it.

Still awesome though.

Feeling a triplet of eyes still continue stare at him, he could only feel his confusion mounting.

'Uhhh… Kurama, not trying to be snippy or anything but… why are there people, why am I hooked up to a machine, and why are they looking at me?' Naruto asked owlishly.

Inwardly, he could feel his companion smack his head against the floor of his mindscape, "Okay moron, I'll put it simply in case you forgot our conversation just a few minutes ago, I don't have a clue either. So, unless you're willing to look like a deer caught in some flash of bright lights, you're going to prepare yourself for a fight. We're still recovering from that ass-whooping we gave and got from Kaguya, so I can only give you enough to preform 3 S-Ranks and a few A-Ranks, depending on what you pull off. Watch yourself kid, these guys… there's something weird about their energy signatures. I can't put my finger on it - because it's definitely not chakra. Whatever it is, watch yourself kid."

His countenance slipping into something more professional, preparing himself for an encounter should the individuals find themselves to be on the more… hostile side of negotiations should he say.

However, he had his doubts. Why bother patching him up and leaving it at that? From what he could feel, his chakra hadn't been suspended (though that could do with their lack of chakra and instead of something else as replacement) and he was confident that if he were to look down towards his body, he'd still find his seals in fully working condition. Heck, why bother looking after him at all?

War had hardened him somewhat and turned him into a pseudo-cynic, but he didn't command 500,000 men and women under the same banner with that attitude. He could definitely attest it to his indomitable will and charisma – or at least, that's what everyone else says.

He never could understand why they would allow a 16-year-old to command them, but those details were in the past and belonged there. Best not linger on those sorts of thoughts now.

Feeling the looks from the three other individuals still in the room with them, he faced towards the perceived leader of the three.

It wasn't that difficult to figure out that the bald-headed weirdo in the wheelchair was their leader. The other two individuals positioned themselves just in front and towards the back of him, allowing them to react quickly should he lash out and attempt to restrain him before he could even think about touching the dude.

Luckily for them, he wasn't that type of guy.

If they started bringing out weapons, however?

Oh, then somebody's going to go home in a casket, and it sure as hell won't be him.

Clearing his throat to gain their attention – which in and of itself wasn't too difficult a feat to achieve seeing as their eyes were already on him, he regarded them with curiosity, his mask unable to hide the rather blatant emotion from showing.

"Who are you and where am I?" He thought he'd get straight to the brunt of it, seeing as they didn't seem to be going anywhere anytime soon.

~Invictus | Spiritus~

While Hank, Charles and Jean were expecting a lot of things to come out of his mouth the moment the figure in the bed awoke, they didn't expect him to be Japanese of all things.

"Anata wa daredesu ka? Watashi wa dokodesu ka?"

Jean groaned, "Oh great! The first thing he says is something none of us can understand. Damnit, I would've laughed at the situation if it happened to anyone but me."

Hank sighed and could only rub his chin in exasperation, already thinking of ways they could pass for conversation – at least eligible enough to allow their patient to understand that they were friendly and did not mean him harm.

Charles Xavier only sat in his wheelchair and contemplated, his eyebrows furrowing in seriousness.

'It looks like we've hit quite a predicament. My oh my…' He could only think, if only…

Ah yes, that may work.

"Hank, if I may…" Charles began, peaking Hanks interest and pulling him out of his indulgent thoughts.

"Yes Professor? What is it?"

"I may have a solution to our… linguistic problem. I shall require your assistance however."

Hank turned towards the professor and looked at him dead-on, "Of course! What would you need of me?"

Charles could only hope that this would work.

"Well..." He began and laid out his idea to Hank whose eyes shot open in surprise and eagerness the more he heard the professor speak.

End Chapter

Authors Note – So what did you guys think? First chapter is to have Naruto introduced into the world of Marvel and it followed the Fanfiction trope of throwing him in through a portal and having him land there.

I'm at least hoping that my premise of a TOAA-inheritor Naruto is a new one and I'm genuinely excited to see where this goes. As of the day I release this chapter, I'm already in the process of writing up the notes for my second chapter and figuring out where to go from there so expect an update within the next week or two. I would also like to mention that with every chapter, I'll be re-reading over my previous ones to see if I made any mistakes or if I needed to restructure a sentence. I proof-read all my work, but it never hurts to check once or twice over again when a new chapter is published.

This is indeed a rewrite of Mors Certa, Hora Incerta and it's premise is essentially the same except Naruto will have a much more direct impact on this world. Pairings are unknown at the moment and I'll think on it as I write, I just want to focus on getting these chapters out.

Please do tell me if my writing suffered in quality, or penmanship at any point in the story as I'm always looking to improve both my quality standards and word length to make the story more enjoyable to read.

I'm also still going through Naruto's skillset, equipment and power levels as I don't want him to be a Gary-Stu, but I definitely don't want him to be an idiot either. He's powerful, but he has flaws – flaws that if exposed, could make him incredibly susceptible to injury, or death.

Other than that, please tell me how I did through a review, favorite or follow. I'm sorry if it seems like I'm rehashing all my stories, because in a sense I am as my writing has definitely grown and I've wanted to try new things as I get the idea for them.

I'll see you all later. Take care now.

Ta.