A Different Result, A New Beginning

AN: ok so this is my first shot at a fic so bear with me for the first couple chapters. The main reason I'm even writing this fic is mostly because of a lack of updates from my favorite authors and I guess I always wanted to take a swing at it. So here it goes.

Disclaimer- Does anyone that comes here actually think we own anything? I mean if I did I probably wouldn't be on here writing different stories revolving around the same characters. I would be rolling around in my massive piles of money. Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto and Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima, happy now?

Reedited on 7/17/13.

(Valley of the End)

The Valley of the End, a place that was forged from the conflict between two of the most powerful shinobi to grace the Elemental Nations since the time of the Rikudō Sennin. Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara were gods among men during their time and when they clashed the very landscape itself would change. In honor of their final battle, statues of both Madara and Hashirama were built at the waterfall that was created during the battle, thus the Valley of the End was created. The battle between those two giants went down in history and history has a funny way of repeating itself. Now we see a very similar battle occurring at the same spot.

Uchiha Sasuke, the scion of the near extinct Uchiha clan stood on the base of the partially destroyed statue of Uchiha Madara. He was wearing a dark blue tee-shirt with the insignia of the Uchiha clan on the back. His legs were covered by white shorts and ankle wrappings and shinobi sandals. On his head he had a blue clothed Konoha forehead protector.

A confident smirk was plastered on his face due to the power of the curse mark flowing through him. Due to the curse mark's power Sasuke's physical features had changed dramatically. His skin had morphed into an ashy gray color from his normal white complexion. Resting on the bridge of his nose sat a four pointed black star the stretched across his face. The whites of his eyes had also radically changed, instead of their normal color they were as black as the abyss which caused his Sharingan to glow ominously as the black toma slowly swirled in his eyes in a clockwise motion. The most shocking effect that the curse mark had on Sasuke's appearance came in the form of two large, hand-like wings extruding from his back.

Standing across from Sasuke on the base of the Hashirama statue was Uzumaki Naruto. Naruto was wearing a neon orange tracksuit with blue cloth on the shoulders. His kunai pouch was securely strapped to his right leg and he was wearing blue shinobi sandals. On his head he also had the same style Konoha forehead protector.

Unlike Sasuke, Naruto's visage was submerged in anger; one could even say he was wearing a feral expression. The fight had been long and hard on Naruto and the only reason that he had managed to survive till this point was due to the fact that the Kyūbi no Yōko was sealed within him. Naruto had been drawing on the demonic fox's chakra for the majority of the fight and the strain that the corrosive chakra put on his body was becoming more and more noticeable due to the fatigue that was clear as day on his face.

The vile chakra formed a fox like shroud around its container, long, red fox ears sprouting from the top of his head and a long fiery tail extruding from his lower back. Other than the added chakra appendages, his normal appearance had changed just as drastically as his counter parts, though the changes were completely different. Naruto's normally ocean blue eyes were transformed into a deep crimson with his pupils turning into catlike slits. The birth marks on his face darken considerably, giving off the illusion that they were whiskers. Both his nails and his canines had grown a considerable amount to give Naruto fangs and claws. All of the changes caused by the demon's power made Naruto appear to be a feral beast rather than the shinobi he had always strived to be.

Naruto attempted to lift his now useless left arm and failed to get it to even twitch. He knew that it was a useless effort but it was instinct that drove him to try anyway. Naruto wasn't sure when his arm had become useless; at some point during the fight Sasuke had broken it. The demonic chakra had done its job at the time and mended the broken bone but after prolonged use of the poisonous chakra even Naruto would suffer the consequences of being in direct contact with it.

Watching his opponent closely, Naruto could see the telltale signs of Sasuke's chidori being charged in his hand. Unlike the normal chidori, the one in Sasuke's hand had also been corrupted by the curse marks power. The usual blue lightning was now a sickly white color with the outer most bolts being black. In response to the threat, Naruto slowly raised his only usable hand and began forming a rasengan. Not surprisingly, his attack was as warped as Sasuke's. The core of the deadly sphere of chakra was a deep purple while a small second layer of demonic chakra formed around the technique, giving off a destructive aura.

"Sasuke, how did it come to this? All I wanted to do was bring you back to the village and keep my promise to Sakura-chan" thought Naruto. A slight shift in Sasuke's posture alerted Naruto to the impending attack. Tensing his own muscles, Naruto prepared for what he knew was to come, one final clash between them. Leaping towards his best friend in the same instance that Sasuke leaped, aiming the attack to meet Sasuke's head on.

"CHIDORI/RASENGAN!"

Time seemed to slow down as both of the fighter's attacks collided; fighting for dominance over the other in hopes of ending their long engagement.

"No way… I'm being pushed back; am I really not going to be able to keep my promise to Sakura-chan? No! I can't lose here! Everyone's depending on me to bring you back Sasuke! I'm not letting you go to Orochimaru! I'm bringing you back to Konoha whether you like it or not!"

Unfortunately for the blond shinobi, will power alone wasn't always enough to overcome someone in battle and even he knew that. Knowing that he would lose if this continued any longer he started drawing upon more of the Kyūbi's chakra in an attempt to overpower Sasuke and end the fight.

During the collision of the two high level techniques, a sphere of chakra had started to form around the two fighters. The two attacks were nearly equal in power and thus the sphere was stabilizing. Naruto's actions destroyed the delicate balance of power between the two sides. The addition of more demonic chakra caused spider web cracks to form on the walls of the sphere until those small cracks turned into larger cracks. The odd mixture of demonic chakra and the pure evil of the curse mark's chakra caused an actual distortion in the dimensional barrier and with one final burst of chakra from Naruto the barrier that separates the dimensions broke open and absorbed the power that was able to cause the break.

(Minutes away from the Valley of the End)

Hatake Kakashi, Jōnin of Konoha and the sensei of team 7; a man known throughout the elemental nations as a feared shinobi for his expertise in the art of ninjutsu. He had just returned from a solo mission to find that one of his students had defected from the village while the other had gone after him. It wasn't hard to guess why he had volunteered to be the squad leader of the relief squad that had been sent after the initial retrieval team.

They had already recovered the majority of the retrieval team. Both Akimichi Choji and Hyuga Neji were in critical condition, suffering extensive damage in their successful bid to eliminate the enemy; they would be lucky to make it back to Konoha alive, let alone make it through the night. Inuzuka Kiba, Nara Shikamaru and Rock Lee were in much better condition when they came across them.

Asking Suna for aid was the right call as it led to the extermination of the rest of the enemy while suffering no further potential casualties. All that was left were Kakashi's two students.

Normally that would be overall good news to the veteran shinobi but he had a foreboding feeling in his stomach over the entire situation. That feeling caused Kakashi to break protocol and broke off from the main squad in favor of covering more ground. He knew if he didn't reach his students soon something horrible was going to happen.

"Their scents end up ahead Kakashi, if I would have to guess, they're at the Valley of the End" said Pakkun, Kakashi's ninja hound.

A frown formed on Kakashi's face as he processed the new information. If their scents ended at the Valley of the End then that was more than likely where they had chosen to have their clash. It meant a couple things. The first thing that it meant was that Kakashi had a chance to reach his students before anything catastrophic happened. Kakashi also found some morbid humor in the choice that the last of the 'loyal' Uchiha made in regards to his departing battle location.

"Then lets pick it up, I want to get there before something bad happens to them", said Kakashi as he pumped more chakra into his legs to dramatically increase his speed. Pakkun merely grunted as he tried to catch up to his master.

(Valley of the End)

As Kakashi stumbled into the valley he bore witness to a level of destruction that even he hadn't expected. One word came into his mind as he looked upon the scene, devastation.

The walls of the valley had large chunks of rock missing from them. One of the cliffs in particular had small fires lingering on the grassy roots that worked their way through the granite. Around the base of said cliff the grass had a much larger fire going that threatened to spread to the rest of the forest if nothing was done about it. The bases for both of the statues also had large pieces of stone missing from them. The worst of the damage however was evident to Kakashi as he approached the waterfall. The back of the waterfall had been completely blown out leaving a massive hole where solid stone should have been.

Walking through the war torn valley Kakashi picked up on some things that he had missed. Random kunai and shuriken were sprinkled throughout the battle field, melted ninja wire fitted to different boulders, blood caked onto the cliff side. The stench of fresh blood could be smelled throughout the area as well.

The worst part of this was that neither of his students were anywhere to be found. He had expected that he would find either both of his students or at the very least Naruto, he certainly didn't expect…this. "What happened here?"

Pakkun heard the whisper of a question but didn't answer; they both knew what had happened here. Smelling the air for any sign of the battle continuing past the valley, the ninja dog's face scrunched up in confusion.

"Kakashi" said Pakkun to get the man's attention. "Their smell ends here; I can't find any traces of either Naruto or Sasuke leaving this valley".

Turning to look at his summon, Kakashi gave the hound a questioning look. "What do you mean you can't find any traces of their scents? They couldn't have just disappeared."

Pakkun grunted at the man's predictable answer. "I don't know what to tell you, all I know for sure is that their trail ends here and I can't track them without having a scent to pick up."

There was a long pause where neither Kakashi nor his ninja hound said anything. What was there to be said? Two of Kakashi's students were missing and there was no way to track them. There wasn't really anything that could be said.

"I'm going back Kakashi, there isn't anything more that I can do. If you find anything that you can use to track them don't hesitate to summon me back" after a couple seconds Pakkun decided to add "I hope you find them Kakashi, I liked those kids." And with that he puffed back to his own world.

Staring up at the gathering clouds, he let the downpour hit him full force. "Yea, me too Pakkun, me too…"

(Mountain Peak, Earthland X780)

On top of the highest peak in Fiore sat Tatsumaki, the oldest dragon in Earthland.

It had been three years since all of the dragons had gone into hiding. A sigh escaped the maw of one of these great beasts as it thought back to what the dragon empire once was. Long before the age of man, The Great Dragon Empire encompassed the entirety of Earthland. No other species could come even close to the power that the dragons had at their disposal. The only thing that could destroy the empire was the empire itself.

That was preciously what happened. It had started as something frivolous, some of the dragons in the empire wanted to try and form a relationship with an up and coming species of Earthland, humans. It was fine at first, only small interactions that didn't lead to anything. That changed the moment that one of the dragons showed the humans how to use their magic, that single decision changed the course of history.

The fools that taught their magic to the humans had caused the downfall of the most powerful civilization to ever grace Earthland. He had told them that if they continued down the path that they had chosen that things would escalate past the point of no return. Even after hearing his words of wisdom they continued with their idiotic plans, consequences be damned.

It wasn't that he was completely against the idea of coinciding with humans; it was just that with any new and seemingly radical idea one had to act slowly and carefully. Rushing things that haven't been fully explored would only lead to conflict and strife.

Once it had been revealed to the entire nation what was occurring, everything went downhill fast. The dragon nation was virtually split on the issue. It went from small arguments in passing to full blown confrontations within their society.

Thinking back on the issue, the old dragon remembered that he himself hadn't done much to keep the peace during that time. He had personally opposed the idea of sharing what they knew with humans so easily. They had earned everything that they had through centuries of study and hard work and they were supposed to give that away at the drop of a hat?

It was also a matter of caution for Tatsumaki. He had studied humans prior to those events and he had seen time and time again that if humans gain any kind of advantage that they would abuse that advantage in any way they could. It wasn't that humans were inherently evil; it was just instinct to do what one can to get ahead and survive. The problem with humans was that they rarely had the foresight to think about what consequences their actions would have in the future.

Tatsumaki saw what would eventually happen. Humans would abuse the dragon's magic and would eventually become the most feared race on the planet. They were still too young as a race to have such power, still his warnings went unheard and dragons continued to give away their power.

At first he thought that he may have been mistaken about the humans. In a way he was, it wasn't the humans that had started the conflict. The Dragon King had been silent during the beginning stages of the issue. He had expected that his fellow dragons would come to their senses and finally end this ridiculous endeavor. To his initial shock and outrage they hadn't stopped, if anything the movement had grown and more dragons were teaching their magic to humans.

It didn't take long for the Dragon King to pronounce the pro-human dragons' traitors and sentence them all to death.

That decision was the final nail in the coffin between the two sides. All-out war had broken across the globe, leaving almost none untouched by the carnage. The Dragon King had underestimated just how many dragons were on the pro-human side and what was meant to be a quick execution had turned into a long and bloody civil war. Never in their long history had so many dragons died, the body count only increasing as the humans joined the fray on the side of their dragon masters.

At first the humans only played a small role in the war, mostly giving support to dragons that requested it. The few dragon magic wielding mages wouldn't dare attack a dragon by themselves, not until Acnologia.

Acnologia was more akin to a demon than an actual human. He came from nowhere and no one knew who his master was. All that was known about him was that he held a very strange type of dragon magic and he used it mercilessly. He crushed the first dragon that he faced in the war and was celebrated as the 'DragonSlayer' by the humans of Earthland. It wasn't long after that when the other dragon taught mages began fighting dragons on their own and even overcoming them, soon the magic became known as Dragon Slaying magic.

As the war waged on Acnologia continued his onslaught on the anti-human faction, with every kill he increased his already sizable power. Then the unthinkable happened, Acnologia turned on the dragons he had been fighting alongside for years. Friend or foe, it didn't matter to the DragonSlayer. As long as you had dragon blood flowing through your veins you were a target.

The war continued for years after Acnologia's betrayal. Slowly but surely, with the aid of the humans the pro-human faction continued to chip away at the once proud empire. The Dragon King soon realized just how dire and near impossible the situation had become and decided that if they were going to lose, they would do it in the grandest scale imaginable.

The plan was simple really; the non-human faction would launch a full scale invasion of where the pro-human dragons had taken up residence, namely the Byzantine kingdom. The reason why the Byzantine Empire was the current home to the pro-human dragons was because the majority of their dragon slayers called it home.

The day of the invasion went down as the bloodiest day in history. The reason for that wasn't because one side over powered the other, it wasn't because of some grand strategy that completely outclassed the enemy, it wasn't even because of some dumb luck by one side. The reason why it became the bloodiest day in history was because of two people, Acnologia and Zeref.

No one knows how or why those two joined forces but the effects were devastating. The two of them destroyed both sides mercilessly. They utilized the fact that the two larger factions were focusing on each other and eliminated any that strayed from the main forces. At some point during the battle things took a turn for the worse. Acnologia had somehow gained the ability to turn himself into a true dragon. Again, how he managed such a feat was a mystery to this day but it's suspected that Zeref's dark magic was the catalyst for the sudden transformation.

After the transformation the battle's momentum had shifted permanently. Zeref had up and disappeared but that was the least of everyone's worries. With Acnologia's new found power he swept through both factions with a zealous fervor. Eventually the Dragon King himself rose to fight the human turned dragon. In the end Acnologia had killed the old king and had declared himself the new Dragon King. His first act as King was to set an example for all those who would oppose him by burning the entire Byzantine Empire to the ground.

In the course of a single day two of the most powerful empires in the world had vanished and all that was left of a powerful race had been reduced to a handful of dragons.

In the wake of the war the remaining dragons had dispersed to live a life of solitude, disgusted and disheartened by what had happened. They all left to the far corners of the globe, choosing areas that held little to no intelligent life. The age of dragons had come to a violent close and the true age of man would rise from the ashes.

Tatsumaki snorted at the absurdity of it all, dragons losing out to humans in a prolonged conflict. It was inconceivable in every way possible, but it happened. Tatsumaki would admit that humans had a certain tenacity about them that set them apart from other races but he was too old to worry about such things, he wasn't like his brethren.

Centuries passed after the destruction of the Great Dragon Empire and time slowly began to heal the wounds of the land and those that remained after the war. The land healed and a new nation rose from the ashes of old.

The remaining dragons had grown bored in their isolation and had reemerged into the world, exploring what it had to offer. Soon enough most of the dragons had adopted a child. Tatsumaki was aware of their actions but unlike during the time of the pro-human dragons he didn't voice any concerns, there was no reason to. They were being raised in a different time. There were no battles to be fought, no wars to be won. There wasn't any external pressure being applied to them. It was only the dragon parent and child, the way it should've been.

The family bond provided this new generations of dragon slayers with a sense of belonging and understanding that the previous generation lacked. It was the ideal way for humans and dragons to coexist. To have true understanding between races you had to have peace so your mind was clear of distractions. History had proven that this type of understanding couldn't be achieved during strained times. The conflicts that had once risen would not come to pass a second time.

Both dragons and humans a like fear what they do not understand. Fear leads to hate, hate leads to anger and aggression. It made perfect sense that with understanding would come a long lasting peace. These new humans didn't know anything other than peace; it was true what they said, those that have never known peace have different values from those that have never known war.

Perhaps he should've taken on a student to pass on his knowledge and magic. The thought was entertaining but in the end useless. That ship had sailed years ago when Acnologia had decided to drive all of the remaining dragons into hiding for whatever reason. The order hadn't had a real impact on him at the time but he did regret the fact that all of his knowledge would die with him.

Near a millennia of knowledge and experience, soon to be gone forever. Tatsumaki was indeed an old dragon, older than any of the others, Acnologia included. Even with his age he had kept his mind sharp, his knowledge ever expanding. He was one of the few remaining dragons that could clearly remember the Great Dragon Empire and the horrors of the civil war that brought the nation crashing down.

The other remaining dragons had been mere hatchlings during the conflict as far as the old dragon was concerned. Because of that they weren't nearly as effected as he was by the bloody war. Tatsumaki was not as lucky, during that time he was entering his prime; while still young in perspective to the other dragons Tatsumaki's mind had already made him into a respected individual in their society.

He had warned his fellow dragons against teaching their magic to the humans and had been flatly ignored. He had given his council to the Dragon King when the order came out for the heads of the pro-human dragons. He explained how the conflict would collapse their great nation but again he was ignored.

Angered by being ignored by his compatriots on both sides Tatsumaki had turned a blind eye to the conflict. Both sides had tried to recruit him throughout the war but every time he stayed firm in his beliefs and refused to fight a war that would leave only victims.

With his stone cold front he had observed the war, watched as his dear friends fought and killed each other as they died for their beliefs. The scars of the war had changed the dragon. From an active and engaging individual came a cold, cynical dragon that observed the world with a detached interest. Everything became about watching the world go round and making undeniable truths known; such was the job of a scholar. It was all he had after the conflict.

His long years of isolation and study had borne many fruits but the most important one was his invention of the magic that eventually became known as Archive. It became undeniably useful for anyone that had wanted to enhance their knowledge.

Only now in his old age had Tatsumaki truly regretted some of his actions, mostly his choice of isolation. There was no point in wallowing in the past however; if he did he would only depress himself.

A powerful, strange wind pulled Tatsumaki out of his self-reflection. What made it odd was the fact that he didn't have any control of it. The mountain that he had called home for over 300 years was completely surrounded in his own wind which was completely dominated by his will; to have something be able to break that control was…interesting to the old dragon. Flapping his mighty wings, he propelled himself through the air to confront whatever had wandered into his territory.

(Mountain Top)

The prospect of fighting a powerful enemy after so many years of inactivity excited Tatsumaki more than anything else. Many would feel frightened or scared about such an encounter but for the old reptile he was anything but. He had accepted that he would die a long time ago so the fear of death no longer resided within him. Now all that was left was a desire to fill the void of what had become a mundane life.

Landing in the area that had caused the disturbance, Tatsumaki slowly walked his way up to a massive crater that had appeared on the snow covered peak. The object inside of the deep crevice was certainly not what he was expecting.

It wasn't a powerful mage or a menacing creature. Nor was it a fellow dragon seeking him out. Instead of those things was a relatively small yet powerful vortex, no larger than an average man.

What intrigued Tatsumaki was the fact that there didn't seem to be any catalyst that was causing such a fierce phenomenon. The very air around the vortex was distorted due to the power rolling off of it; it reminded Tatsumaki of a black hole absorbing all of the light around it in the way it looked.

He had seen this before; Anima's from Edolas had occasionally popped into existence in much the same way over the years. The difference between this vortex and those Anima's was that he had never felt such strength come from an Anima before.

The power was also foreign to the dragon. It was close to the magic of Earthland and Edolas but different all the same; denser, heavier, stronger than the Eternano in the air.

The vortex continued to grow as it gave off more and more power, still the dragon didn't shy away from the anomaly. Whatever was causing this distortion was strong indeed but so was Tatsumaki. It wasn't arrogance that caused the dragon to stay, he had lived for over half a century and between his own raw power and experience, he didn't consider himself weak.

The vortex appeared to reach its critical mass and became more erratic and unstable. Everything around the vortex was then drawn into the swirling mass until a large explosion rung out throughout the mountains, dust and rock spraying everywhere in the explosions after math.

Approaching ground zero, Tatsumaki peered into the now much larger crater to see what was left. Inside of the dust and stone was a small human child, no older than 14 if the dragon would have to guess. He appeared to be heavily wounded with his torn clothes and the massive amount of blood that was flowing from his body.

Staring at the unconscious boy with a calculative gaze, the old dragon estimated that the boy would bleed out and succumb to his injuries within the hour. He wasn't beyond saving but Tatsumaki had to make a decision quickly if he were to save the child's life

Did he rescue the boy and try to garner information from him or did he leave him to die? Tatsumaki was positive that if he left him alone he would die, if not to his injuries than to the harsh environment of the mountain, it didn't matter which to him.

While the information that Tatsumaki could gain from the boy was tempting, he couldn't shake the feelings that he felt from the vortex right before it exploded. Anger, hate, sorrow, an unquenchable lust for power and something even darker, something truly evil. It was the telltale sign of a demon and a powerful one at that. Letting something like that live would be a lapse in judgment that may cost many their lives.

Even if the boy was a powerful demon, Tatsumaki was confident enough in his strength that he was sure he could handle the beast. What truly gave pause to the elder dragon was something that even he hadn't realized would be a problem, the boy was human.

Tatsumaki knew in his mind that the blond hadn't done anything wrong to him but even so he couldn't find the strength to move from his spot. Perhaps in his long isolation he had truly believed he had gotten over his scars of war, watching humans use their dragon master's magic to kill his friends; it wasn't something that one could just forget. Then to see those same humans bathe in the blood of his fallen brothers to increase their own power, that left a certain kind of scar that father time just couldn't heal.

As he struggled with his own demons he watched as the boy's condition continued to deteriorate. He wouldn't last within the next half hour let alone his earlier projections. Looking at the blond's whiskered face the mighty dragon let out a heavy sigh as he finally made up his mind.

(Tatsumaki's Cave)

Pain, never in his life had he felt such pain. It felt as if every muscle in his body had been shredded. What had happened? The last thing he remembered was chasing Sasuke to the Valley of the End and then…

"SASUKE!" yelled the blond, pain completely forgotten as his mind caught up to what happened right before he last clash with his best friend.

What happened? The last thing he remembered was calling on more of the Kyūbi's chakra and then everything went black. Had he won? Where was Sasuke? A better question to ask was where the hell was he?

Taking a good look around the large room he was in he noticed some very unsettling things. The most prominent was the fact that he wasn't in the familiar walls of Konoha's hospital. In fact he wasn't in any kind of room at all. From what he could see it appeared to be a rather large cave that was inhabited by a rather large predator. The reason being for that assumption was the rather large bones of what Naruto assumed were the beast's prey.

Continuing to scan the room Naruto noticed some other things that gave him pause. While the cave had the initial smell and appearance of an animal's den he could see signs of someone living there. Candles had been placed throughout the cave to give off a faint light, just enough to maneuver through the room. He also saw that the walls of the cave were lined with hundreds of books of all different shapes and sizes. What kind of animal reads?

Somehow in Naruto's attempt to analyze the room he had missed the most important piece to the puzzle, a massive dragon that had been drilling a hole through the young shinobi's head for the last 10 minutes.

Tatsumaki didn't know what to make of the boy in front of him. At first he seemed normal enough, looking around the room, attempting to get heads or tails of where he was and what had happened. Scrutinizing the boy further gave way to a completely different discovery for the reptile. There was more to what the boy was doing than meets the eye. He was carefully cataloging everything in the room, taking note of any oddities and anything that could be of use.

In short, the boy was looking at the area as if it might turn into a battlefield and what was his best option to escape. He didn't know if the boy was doing it on purpose or out of habit, regardless it gave the dragon pause. A normal child wouldn't exhibit such behavior, a normal child would probably be frightened at the very least and this boy had no fear in his eyes.

Tatsumaki had seen this type of behavior in human children before though not since the Great Dragon Civil War. Both children and adults alike would wake up in a similar fashion during the prolonged conflict and it weighed heavily on their psyche as a result. Clearly this child was a soldier of some kind.

It saddened the old dragon to see one so young be accustomed to such a life style. While he still held his dislike for humans as a whole he could never bring himself to hate the children of any race, they were innocent after all. Why couldn't he have found a child that wasn't indoctrinated into the art of combat and killing?

A low groan escaped Tatsumaki's lips which alerted the young blond to the presence of the gargantuan beast.

Hearing a rumbling sound come from his left Naruto turned his head and just blinked at what was before him. He continued to stare at it as he took in all of the aspects of the thing that was watching him.

It was a massive creature on par with the Kyūbi. To Naruto it looked like a giant lizard with wings. It was covered head to toe in dark tan scales that looked like plates of armor more than anything else. The only deviation in the color of the scales came from the slightly lighter scales on his stomach which looked just had thick as the ones on its back.

The wings themselves were the same color as the rest of its body and even though they were folded in Naruto could tell that once they reached their full wingspan that it would be the biggest wingspan he had ever seen, to be fair if this thing ever had a chance at flying it would need every inch that its wings provided.

That was a particularly scary thought for Naruto to imagine that this thing could actually fly. The tips of the wings looked like the end of spears with the way the creatures bones stuck through the end and came to a rather sharp point.

The top of the beast's head had dual horns coming out the back of it in a twisting fashion and just rested there. They didn't seem to have any combat purpose but they still looked like they could skewer just about anything. To finish off the intimidating imagine were a mouth full of serrated teeth and long claws and long spikes that ran down the spine and to the end of the monsters tail.

Naruto simply rubbed his eyes and looked back at the creature in front of him but it was still there. Repeating the process several times he found that the results wouldn't change and he continued to stare at a creature that shouldn't even be alive. Naturally he did what most people would do when meeting a dragon for the first time.

"GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" he cried whilst trying to get up and run away from the monster. Unfortunately for the blond, his body wasn't anywhere near recovered enough to perform such an action and thus he fell face forward into the hard, unforgiving floor.

"That hurt…" grumbled Naruto and he pulled himself off of the cold floor. He heard what he assumed was a snort of laughter coming from the strange creature. So this thing thought that was funny huh? Naruto so wasn't in the mood to be laughed at by some overgrown lizard and was about to lay into it before he felt himself being lifted off of the ground and placed gently on the makeshift bed he was previously.

Naruto just stared at the creature for a while after that. Shouldn't something with such an obvious arsenal of carnivorous weapons be tearing him apart right now? Staring at the beast again Naruto noticed some things he had missed in his initial panic.

It was old, incredibly so. While at first glance the scales on its body looked unbreakable and strong, the creatures face portrayed its true age. The scales were sagging excessively and the sadden expression that he could see in its eyes reminded him of Sandaime's eyes, eyes full of regret and a resigned fate.

The way that this thing was looking at him made him feel uncomfortable. If it looked hungry or angry or anything that would make it seem hostile he would understand. But that was the thing, it didn't look hungry, it wasn't angry or anything of the sort. The look he was receiving was interested, dare he say analytical? It was like it was trying to see just what kind of person Naruto really was.

There was no way that this thing was doing that though…right? It was a giant lizard for crying out loud! But if it truly was a mindless beast then why hadn't it just attacked him yet? Naruto had seen some rather strange things in his admittedly short life so perhaps this thing having an interest in him wasn't so farfetched?

"Ummm, hi?" he said lamely, trying to start a conversation with the beast even though to him it just seemed stupid. Everything since he woke up just seemed really weird so maybe this thing could talk too? Why the hell not?

Tatsumaki frowned slightly at hearing the blond child speak. The tongue he spoke in was completely foreign to him and he knew every language that his world and the others he knew of had to offer. What kind of force was able to tear a hole in the dimensional walls that separated this child's world and Earthland?

Any dimension that was close to Earthland had an already weakened wall due to the two dimensions continuously colliding together. The farther away a dimension was, the stronger the wall that separates the worlds is.

A better way to explain it is that all of the dimensions in the universe are connected via a series of 'tubes' that form a massive web. Each dimension has an infinite number of 'tubes' or passage ways that connects to all of the other dimensions and at the end of each of these passages is a wall or barrier that keeps the two worlds separate.

Depending on the distance between the two barriers, the walls are either unstable, like the ones between Earthland and Edolas or they're near impenetrable like the one that connects Earthland and this boy's realm.

Whatever sent this boy here was more powerful than Tatsumaki had ever been if it could open this particular gate. Regardless of where he came from and what sent him here, the language barrier needed to be fixed before anything could continue.

With that thought in mind Tatsumaki raised one of his massive claws and lightly touched the tip of it to the child's forehead.

(Naruto's Mindscape)

"How did I end up here?" was the resounding thought that entered the blond's head as he took in his new surroundings. One moment he was in a cave with a giant lizard and the next he was in front of the Kyūbi's cage. He had thought that it was going to try and eat him when he saw its claw coming for him, now he didn't know what to think.

"Over here child."

The deep voice resonated through the room and froze Naruto in his tracks. There was only one other voice in his head and that certainly wasn't the voice of the Kyūbi. The voice was also coming from behind him, the exact opposite direction of the seal.

Turning around slowly Naruto came face to face with the same creature he had seen moments ago. Eye's widening comically, Naruto took a few steps back in surprise at seeing the beast in his mindscape. How the hell had this thing even gotten into his head!? How was that even possible? Also Naruto distinctly heard it talk, truth be told that didn't surprise him as much as it should have, dealing with talking toads and foxes for most of his ninja career would have that effect on him.

Smirking down at the panicking human Tatsumaki looked around at the kid's mindscape; certainly wasn't what he was expecting. "You are an interesting young human; your language is very different than mine."

Still shaken about having someone else enter his mind, Naruto ventured a question while he was on 'talking' terms with the monster in front of him. "How are you talking to me if our languages are so different? How are you even in my head for that matter!?"

"That would be one of the magic's that I invented; it's called Archive. While the basic uses of it is to store information and rely it to others, I have advanced it to a much farther level. I'm able to enter someone else's mind and either take any information I want or imprint information into their mind."

"Oi, that's bullshit, you just can't go into someone else's head and take what you want. That's not right!"

While Tatsumaki admired the lads moral convictions he was less than amused when he had begun lecturing him on the moral dilemmas of his actions. "Watch your mouth human, I am well aware of the moral implications of my own magic. I'm a scholar among my kind and I believe in a fair exchange of knowledge. Due to the language barrier I decided that I would take your language and in return I would imprint you with the native language of Earthland. An equivalent exchange if you would."

"Oh…" It came out as barely a whisper but what was he really going to say? Whatever this thing was, it was right. There would be no way that they could even be talking if he hadn't done what he did and it's not like he didn't get anything out of it either. Still though, there were a lot of reasons that Naruto didn't want other people looking around in his head, a prime example would be the cage behind him. "Hey, what else did you take from my head?"

Taking offense to the accusing tone that the boy was using Tatsumaki stood up tall and spread his wings in an opposing manner. "Nothing. Like I said, I am a scholar, not a thief. I do not believe in just taking knowledge. I prefer learning it like I did long before I invented Archive. Now I believe introductions are in order, I am Tatsumaki, The Wind Dragon."

Looking at the intimidating dragon in front of him Naruto managed a not so strong response to the powerful introduction Tatsumaki gave. "Ummm, hi, I'm Uzumaki Naruto, future Hokage! Nice to meet ya"

Tatsumaki gave the blond a funny look before smiling at him. "You're an interesting little human aren't you? I have a few questions for you and if you would be willing to answer them I would answer any questions that I'm sure you have."

Thinking about it for a moment Naruto decided that would probably be for the best, he had no idea what had happened and maybe this dragon or whatever it was, could shed some light on the situation. "Yea, that sounds good"

Not wasting any time, Tatsumaki asked one thing that had been bothering him since Naruto had entered this world. "How did you arrive in this world?"

Now that wasn't an easy question, mainly because even Naruto didn't know that answer. "I don't know all I remember was being in a fight and then our techniques clashed and there was a bright light and bam, I wake up to you staring at me."

The answer didn't give him any clarity but it did confirm what he had originally thought. There was no way that this child by himself could open a rift between their two worlds, clashing against another power source however could potentially have the power needed to put it in the realm of possibility.

"Ok my turn, Where am I?"

"You are in Earthland, a different dimension than the one you come from."

Naruto looked at the dragon with an owlish look before the words fully registered in his mind. "A different dimension? What do you mean a different dimension!?"

"It's exactly as I said, you're in another dimension. My hypothesis is that when your opponents and your technique collided, the power that you two emitted was enough to cause a rift in the dimensional barriers and you were brought here as a result. Now I believe you owe me two answers. Why were you fighting this person that ended up sending you here?"

"He was trying to abandon the village, he was making a mistake and he wouldn't listen to reason so I had to beat some sense into him, he's my best friend and I couldn't let him ruin his life."

"From what you had on you and from what you told me I take it that you and your friend belong to a type of military organization." It was spoken as a statement, not a question. While he had seen this kind of thing in the past he didn't believe in raising child soldiers. Teaching children magic and how to defend themselves was fine but incorporating them into the military at such a young age would mean that they would have to start training before they were 10 years old. That left a sour taste in his mouth; children of any species were innocent while they were young. "How old are you Naruto?"

"I'm 14." "This dragon is asking a lot of personal questions. I guess he's trying to get more information about me but I thought he would try to ask more about information from where I'm from, he seems more like the kind of guy to want to know more about the world and science stuff then to actually get to know someone." "I think it's my turn now. Was there anyone else where you found me?"

"No, I saw you come through the rift that connected our worlds and you were the only one that came through here."

"I see… you seem to know an awful lot about this dimension stuff, do you know a way to send me home?" he asked in a hopeful manner.

"While I do know of a way that we could use to send you home, I do not have the power necessary to cause a rift in the barrier that connects our worlds. As far as I know there isn't any other way to cross dimensions."

"So you're saying that if I can get strong enough you could tell me how I can get home?" That's something he could work with. He needed to get stronger anyway so if getting more power was all he needed to do to get home then it was a win-win situation.

"Not quite, the world you came from is in a dimension that is very distant from our world and thus I've never been able to catalog it with my Archive magic. There are an infinite number of dimensions and only the ones closest to Earthland have a weak enough wall that I've been able to break and explore. Even if you managed to obtain enough power to break down some of the barriers that I cannot, you will have no way of knowing which one will take you home, you could easily become lost between the worlds and you would never find your way home."

"But what about the rift that Sasuke and I caused? Couldn't you look for dimensions that had recent rifts in them or something like that?" Naruto didn't quite understand this whole dimension talk but he would be damned if he just gave up on trying to get home, he had promises to keep damn it!

"Again no, the barriers repair themselves after being damaged as a way to prevent worlds from colliding with one another. The hole that you caused has already sealed itself up by now. That's not to say that you couldn't find your way home. I'm an old dragon, I've been around for over 500 years and I've seen what you humans are capable of producing over the centuries. Your race is remarkable when it comes to innovating things to meet your needs. I've been in seclusion for a few years and the potential for your race is staggering. Who knows, maybe someone out there has already invented something that may be of aid to you. Now I still have a few questions for you and I believe it was my turn quite a while ago. The first question is why do you need to get back so badly?"

Naruto had the decency to blush at that, he kind of went overboard when he was trying to find a way home. At first he was just going to shout out an answer like he just had to get back but he thought about it, why did he really need to get back? "I… I have promises to keep, I can't keep them if I'm stuck here, people are counting on me and I can't abandon them! I need to get back, no matter what!"

That answer surprised the old dragon. He was expecting something silly or frivolous. Usually children don't take much heed in promises and the importance of keeping ones word. "Why does that matter? Promises get broken every day, why are these promises so important to you?"

"Promises do matter, no matter what; I'll keep my promises, even if it kills me! I never go back on my word, that's my way of the ninja!"

"Such passion."In all of Tatsumaki's years he had never seen anyone, human or otherwise, be so passionate in their beliefs. This child seemed full of surprises. A small smile formed on the seasoned dragon's lips as a thought entered his head. "What are you going to do now? You know I cannot provide you with a way home, are you going to go out and search for one?"

"Of course I will…" and do what? He knew nothing of this world, the countries, the layout of the land and oceans. Culture, laws, military strengths, he knew absolutely nothing of this world other than a language that had been put in his head.

Tatsumaki could see the gears turning inside the blond's head. Good, he wasn't stupid; he knew that he needed information if he wanted a snow ball's chance in hell of making it home.

Naruto was conflicted, he wanted to head out right away and look for a way home but even he knew that going into a situation like this with absolutely no information was suicide. Not only that, but he knew he wasn't as strong as he thought he was. His battle with Kimimaro and then Sasuke showed him that. If it wasn't for the Kyūbi, he would've been dead multiple times in his fight against Sasuke alone. He needed to get stronger before he headed out and he certainly needed more information before he left.

"I… Will you teach me? I don't know anything about this world and I'm going to need to know everything that I can if I want to make it home. I'm also too weak; I know that as I am now I'm not nearly strong enough. If I want to keep my promises and accomplish my goals then I'm going to need to get much stronger. So please teach me!" Admitting such things to someone he had just met hurt his pride immensely but he needed these things, pride be damned!

This time a full grin adorned the dragon's face. This child was very interesting, and to think, he was considering letting him die a few hours ago. Yes, this child would do, he had found his Dragon Slayer.

"Answer this last question and I will teach you more than you ever imagined; what does the cage behind you hold?" The cage had been bothering him for a while now. He could sense a dark presence behind those bars. Something with that much hate shouldn't be inside of anyone's mind, especially a child that seemed so innocent in comparison.

At the mention of the cage Naruto began sweating bullets. Well fuck, he was hoping that he could hold off on the explanation of the fox for a little bit. Apparently that was not an option. "Well you see, a-

A low growl cut off the shinobi and the large visage of the demon fox came into the light for both Tatsumaki and Naruto to see. "I can speak for myself human, I am the Kyūbi no Yōko. I was sealed inside of this fool by that accursed Yondaime Hokage. We've been stuck together since the day he was born. Why don't you do me a favor and remove that seal that's on the cage and I'll show you my gratitude, I'm sure I know many things that would interest someone like you."

Tatsumaki regarded the demon as he would anything else in this world, with an apathetic look. He could feel the malicious power rolling off of it and it sent a shiver down his spine. He doubted that in his old age that he could fight this monster.

While the offer of being taught something by such a powerful demon did have some appeal to it, the moral consequences of it far outweighed his personal gain. "Do you honestly believe I would release something that emits such a foul presence? I do not take kindly to having been thought of as a fool. I was simply curious as to what you were nothing more."

Turning away from the demon, Tatsumaki regarded Naruto with an even look. "Now Naruto, are you prepared to become my Dragon Slayer?"

With a smile that went from ear to ear he replied, "I'm more than ready, master."

AN: so here it is the first chapter of hopefully many. This idea had been going around in my head for near a month now and I really wanted to try and take a swing at this writing thing.

A big shout out to Lanky Nathan for giving me some encouraging words to actually sit down and write this thing. I strongly recommend reading his story of a lost Shinobi. It's a great crossover between Naruto and Fairy Tail and if you liked this opening chapter then I know you'll like his work because he's way better than me in my personal opinion. That's mostly because I have like 0 confidence in my writing skill as of right now but he's still pretty good by anyone's standards.

So you know the drill, read, review, follow, that kind of thing. Any constructive criticism, idea's, corrections that you want to mention be my guest, I'm always open to those kinds of things. If you want to flame me and my story then I guess do what you want, I'm not your mom, I've been around the internet long enough to know that trolls will exist no matter what you do. I can take it (I hope). Also I need a beta as of right now so that options out there if anyone wants it

That's it for now, I'll hopefully have chapter 2 up within the next 2 weeks but don't hold me to that because finals are literally in the next 3 weeks and I don't know how much writing time I'll be getting.

Side note, this chapter was re-edited as of July 17th 2013. The other chapters are still being worked on, after chapter three though there shouldn't be any problems.