A/N: I activate the ability of the Field Spell card 'Fusion Gate", banish two Story monster cards, and fusion-summon This Story! It's rather rough as this is the first time I've fused stories together, but I hope the merge will be more seamless in the future. This will still be a "First Male Nin" story, which will be done in a different way from Nightmares Before Winter's version. Either way, do read and review would you kindly?

…

{Play: "Afternoon of Konoha" by Toshiro Masuda from "Naruto"}

[Chiba Orphanage, Konohagakure no Sato, 1:30 PM]

It was a bright and sunny day in the village of Konohagakure no Sato. Clear skies with few clouds, a gentle breeze gliding through the trees; all in all, it was a very peaceful picture that was painted given the beautiful day. A good sign, given that the Kyūbi no Yoko had attacked no more than five years ago. Many kunoichi were slain in the battle alone, and it wasn't until the Yondaime Hokage Namikaze Mina came around that the problem was dealt with, and at the expense of her own life and that of her wife Uzumaki Kushina. As a result of this, many orphans were left behind from the disaster, the Chiba Orphanage being one of them…but it is at this time of day that Megami liked to spy on her favorite subject via the trees nearby. "C'mon Naruto-kun! How about another round?" urged a young girl with buns in her hair, carrying a thick branch in her hands, "You were actually doing quite well there, considering that your stick is thicker and heavier than mine!"

The boy she was talking to had spiky blond hair, eyes the color of the sea, and six whisker-marks on his face. In his hands, he carried a thick branch with a wider diameter than hers. The two of them were bruised, and were trying to take up swordplay by themselves. Both the boy and the girl were covered in bruises and were panting; a testament to their victories against each other. Sitting near the two combatants was a girl with shoulder-length black hair done up in a pigtail with cute wide eyes watching over the entire spectacle. "Yeah, well, I want to be able to use a weapon no matter its weight Tenten," answered Naruto between breaths, "and so I want to be able to train to the point where I won't get tired as easily when using a sword."

Tenten simply let out a bit of an amused huff as she looked at Naruto with a smile. "You do realize that boys can't be kunoichi right? And besides, what would a kunoichi want to do with a really heavy sword? It's all about speed!"

What she said was true; only women were able to utilize chakra and so they were a part of the armed forces. Men on the other hand only had the chakra coils, but could not make use of the chakra contained, and it is for that reason that clan heads were required to be married to another kunoichi and utilized a jutsu to temporarily grant one of the women male genitalia to pass on the ability to use chakra. Any boys born of this union were often disowned or turned into servants to continue the family line.

"Whatever!" scoffed Naruto, before his eyes had widened in realization, "Ah! By the way, before we continue, I have a surprise for you and Lin."

{Play: "Kansha" by RSP from "Bleach"}

A look of confusion had suffused on the faces of the two girls as they walked towards their friend. Naruto on the other hand propped his branch against himself before digging through his pockets and then pulling the contents of each out before the two of them in closed fists. Upon turning his palms upward, he opened his hands, revealing a pair of hand-carved wooden netsuke of different designs; the one in front of Tenten was in the form of an adorable little boxwood mouse holding a ball in its mouth, and the other for Lin was flat and boxlike, but had a lotus motif engraved upon its black pine surface.

Lin's already wide eyes had grown to the size of saucers upon seeing this, and the two of them picked up their respective gifts. "Naruto-kun, did you make these?"

A nod was his response to Lin's question, before Naruto pulled out his own netsuke—the subject of this one was of a fox chasing its tail. "Took me a lot of cuts before I got the technique right, but I did it. I hope that these would be good symbols of friendship between the three of us; that, and Happy Birthday Tenten!"

What came next had caused his mind to blank out due to the sudden and quick movement that the two girls utilized. One moment, their hands were had moved to pocket their gifts, and the next they were both sandwiching him between them in a hug while pecking him in the cheek affectionately. "I'll treasure this gift forever Naruto-kun," began Lin, blushing to herself at her own audacity.

"And so will I," added Tenten, grinning innocently at her friend, "now if you're ready, we're going to go for another round!"

Naruto said nothing, but simply got in a ready stance before the two of them resumed their duel. Little did the three of them know that they were being observed from afar; there was not a trace of doubt in the onlooker's eyes as she watched the three friends sparring with each other, play-fighting the day away. This boy was the one Megami had been looking for all this time…she could only hope that he was the one!

…

{Play: "Bad Situation" by Toshiro Masuda}

[Outskirts of Training Ground 44, two years later—October 13, 10:43 PM…]

Sensing the disturbance that was going on outside the forest, Megami opened her eyes through another tree to set her gaze on Uzumaki Naruto running down the street. She'd seen many things in her long life, some things significant, and others more mundane: the creation of the world by her sister tree, her subjugation and sealing by the Rikudō Sennin, the argument of her daughters, and even the great battle between Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara. She had also recently seen the unprecedented—the Bijū Kurama was attacking the village of Konohagakure no Sato. Oh she'd seen the events leading up to the beast's release, and she wasn't surprised that the bitch was mind-controlled this easily…if you were lucky and your timing was right with the Sharingan, you could mind-control that nine-tailed hussy (which just so happened to be easy to do the first time because she was in heat). It saddened her that this had to happen because Uzumaki Kushina, a girl who visited her often after the day she came from Uzugakure no Sato, had died to protect her own seedling.

She happened to like Kushina-chan a lot, even having silent conversations with her whenever she visited her neck of the woods—the Jinchūriki of that slutty fox Kurama was actually an interesting girl, very energetic and respectful (it was unknown if the girl was aware that she was talking to a shinboku). Megami also agreed with her choice on life-partners—Namikaze Mina was a girl that agreed with Hashirama-chan's Will of Fire and, were she human, a good lover. It really touched her heart when parents would protect their seedlings from certain death, and it was exceptionally so in the case of those two. Because of her respect for Mina-chan and her love of Kushina-chan, Megami silently promised to uphold the former's request to see their son Naruto as a hero.

Unfortunately, human nature had not surprised the ancient cedar the slightest bit for the past millennia; she knew that the stupid humans of this village outnumbered the intelligent ones. She was also aware of the corruption that had been rotting away in the heart of the village she once loved; that Hashirama-chan and Tobirama-chan had given their lives to defend against the likes of skanky, power-hungry hags like Madara-hentai. Megami watched through the trees planted in the village as young Uzumaki Naruto was chased around by an ignorant mob from his home in the red light district to the Shi no Mori as part of their 'fox hunts'. In her eyes, their 'beloved Yondaime Hokage" was spinning in her grave at this outrage as she watched; and yet, it was something she'd been waiting for seven years to happen, ever since Hiromi-baka's ill-planned decision to tell the ignorant populace that Naruto-kun held that whore in his gut. Granted, she didn't want Naruto to come to the training ground in this fashion, but who was she to question the will of the divine—silent as they tended to be these days?

Megami simply waited and watched as Naruto managed to climb the fence and get to the other side before running into the forest. Perfect! "Don't bother chasing it in there," said a man, obviously the leader of this year's mob, "that there is the Shi no Mori…kunoichi go there for training. That thing is as good as dead now that he's run in there, but to make sure the job is taken care of, I have some friends who are willing to go in there to make sure that the demon-brat dies tonight!"

Cheers had erupted from the crowd as people heard this. Megami could only smile to herself as she saw the Hokage arrive, causing the celebratory air of the mob to die down at her next words. "ANBU, arrest everyone in this crowd and take them to Ibuki!" she shouted, "Inu and Hebi, I want you take a team to the training ground to find Naruto…if you find the kunoichi on the take, kill them on sight in as messy a manner as you like. Neko and Tora, I want the two of you to make sure that Mishima Gidō does not escape; I will deal with him shortly!"

The crowd then began to disperse in an attempt to avoid getting arrested and taken to Morino Ibuki. Meanwhile, Inu and Hebi organized a team of ANBU with them to commence the search for Naruto, with all the clan heads sans Uchiha Fukuko volunteering to help track the boy down before they ran into the forest, sending silent prayers to whatever deity would listen for Naruto's safety. It was at this point that Megami watched as Mishima Gidō held his head up high in arrogance even while being detained by the ANBU. "I did what you were too cowardly to do, Hokage-sama," he said, venom lacing his tone, "if you want to kill me for your own faults, then do it! I'm ready! I've done my work in avenging my family, my business, and everyone else who was lost because of the demon that you are too afraid to kill!"

"Kill you?" asked Hiromi, a mocking tone in her voice, "No, I'm not going to kill you. Not when I should be rewarding you for your heroics, Councilman Mishima. In fact, you've done such a good job that I think I should be rewarding you for your…initiative in doing what I was too cowardly to do—starting with not killing you."

This left Gidō gob-smacked upon hearing that last sentence. The Hokage was going to reward him for killing the demon-brat? What the hell was going on here? "I'm pretty sure you're wondering what your reward is," continued Hiromi, a sinister smile creasing the corners of her mouth, "after all, it's very certain that Shimura-fujin is a very lonely woman after I broke up with her long ago, and I have no doubt that she would love to know that you agreed to take her out on a date…after telling her about your showing me the error of my ways, of course."

Now this really left Gidō pale with fear as all life left his body. While in terms of appearance, Shimura Sango was a crippled, elderly woman that had aged quite well, with a cold and serious aura about her that both enchanted and terrified men and women alike (in short, she was a cougar); that was all a façade to anybody that crossed her in any way…truth be told, among the few people thus far that had escaped the woman's wrath aside from the little monster for some reason was the Hokage herself, and that was because it was a well-known fact that she was once her girlfriend (until the both of them competed for the Hokage hat) and was still on speaking terms with her. That was even worse than getting punished by the Hokage herself! "Buta, Ushi," barked Hiromi, turning his attention to the two ANBU restraining the terrified councilman, "make sure the esteemed councilman is not late for his date, and be sure to tell Shimura-fūjin exactly what he did."

Watching as the two ANBU dragged away the limp form of Mishima Gidō, Hiromi could not help but wonder as to what her ex would do to the arrogant fool, but decided against it…whenever Shimura Sango decided to take revenge, it was never pleasant. Although, for some reason, she could not help but wonder as to what she had on mind—the Sango she knew would not do anything on a whim, much less for a little boy she barely knew, and so it was no surprise that Hiromi had suspicions of ulterior motives on the part of her former lover when she was counted among those who voted against Naruto's execution. Come to think of it, she was rarely ever seen in public, and yet there was a time she caught her treating Naruto as if he were a wayward grandchild whenever she went out for her daily walks in the park. And it didn't help detract any suspicion from her when it was one of her ROOT operatives that came and informed her of the mob tonight. Yes, something was definitely wrong with this picture, and Hiromi intended to find out what it was…but now was not the time, and so she'd have time to question Sango later even if she had to bring out the kinkiest sex toys she had to find out.

As she turned her attention back to the forest, the Sandaime Hokage prayed to any deity listening that Naruto would survive this night…

…

{Play: "Evil" by Toshiro Masuda}

[Somewhere in the Shi no Mori]

He'd been running for the past hour or so, but Naruto knew he'd been pursued by kunoichi. They were probably among the bad ones, but he was so busy on making his escape that didn't recognize any of the ones who were chasing him. Unfortunately, even though he knew he could run for a long time, he also knew that he couldn't keep running all night long—he'd barely managed to escape by the skin of his teeth after that last attack!

At this point, Naruto found himself in a clearing, panting with weariness; it wasn't long until he picked up the scent of something sweet in the air before his knees turned to jelly and his eyes had become too heavy to keep open. Three seconds was all it took for young Uzumaki Naruto to slump to the ground asleep—he only hoped that the kunoichi chasing him wouldn't find him here.

When it was certain that the coast was clear, and that the young jinchūriki was not going anywhere, a tall and effeminate form took careful steps forward while remaining in the shadows and camouflage in the trees. This was most definitely not the way she wanted to meet Naruto; no, not at all…but then again, what did it matter how he came to her neck of the woods? He'd come, and that was all that mattered. All other thoughts pushed out, the figure reached out long arm, scooping up Naruto into the palm of her wooden hand, and took him away…he would not be seen again for a while.

…

{Play: "Kaedesirabe-II" by Mamoru Samuragoch from "Onimusha"}

[Elsewhere in the Shi no Mori—fifteen minutes later…]

Inu and Hebi quickly leaped through the foliage…hoping that they were not too late in saving Naruto with Pakkun and a large number of the former's ninken leading the search. Their search party included Itachi, Kuma, Usagi, and Washi, along with the clan heads, all of whom were rather good trackers or would aid in adding an extra set of eyes. "You really think we're going to make it in time?" asked Hebi, briefly turning her attention to her colleague.

"I really hope we do," growled Inu, the rage shown in her heterochromic eyes behind her mask, "as much as I'd hate to admit it, those bastards got us good; waiting for the two of us to be out of town on a mission, distracting the Hokage with mountains of paperwork, attacking in the middle of the Kyūbi Festival where it's the loudest, there is no doubt that this was planned well. The only salvageable thing about this situation is that our mission was not that hard—and so we were able to get back quickly."

It was true—due to the amount of hatred leveled against the boy, among the only kunoichi that Sarutobi Hiromi could honestly trust with all her life (with kami-sama above as her witness) on his protection were Hebi and Inu…both of whom had taken in Naruto after he was kicked out of the orphanage nearly two years ago. Granted, she could've picked any woman in the village to take care of him given his hidden importance to the village (due to his popularity with at least 85-90% of the village's women both civilian and kunoichi alike), but these two were among her most trusted. That and the two of them had personal reasons to protect the boy beyond being among the people that just plain loved him.

"Don't worry about it Hatake," reassured Tsume, running up next to them, "I'm pretty sure he's fine. We've just got to make sure we get to him before any of those bitches do…in fact, I'm pretty sure we've eliminated most of the competition."

"Out of curiosity, why are all the clan heads coming out to aid us?" asked Inu, conclusions being drawn prematurely in her head. She had a pretty good idea as to the why, but she wanted to hear it from their mouths.

"Believe it or not, we were friends with Mina-sama and Kushina-sama when they were alive," answered Chiaki, keeping her normal deadpan expression, "like the majority of the clan heads, we all owe the boy's parents in one way or another. And besides, this is to return a favor to him—ever since he accidentally turned up in the Hyūga compound, things seem to be getting better in my family: Nori's outlook on life has improved, Hinata's confidence has been boosted, and Hanabi adores him."

Tsume chuckled. "Are those the only reasons? I'm pretty sure your youngest pup isn't the only one that adores him…last I saw of him in your compound, I'm pretty sure Hinata and Nori were looking at him the same way!" Now this elicited a blush from the closet-pervert she knew as her former-teammate. Seeing this opportunity to lighten the mood a bit, especially after watching Chiaki nearly trip over herself, Tsume decided to also add one more target to the list. "And I'm pretty sure your clan compound's not the only one he visited…was it Shizu?"

There was no change in Aburame Shizu's pace…but a cute, embarrassed red skin tone was all it took for her to confirm Tsume's claim. "I invited him to my compound after one of the supermarkets literally booted him out into the street. I had some of my kikaichū scare off a bunch of idiotic men that were about to stomp him to death. Apparently, he was trying to buy some sugar for a recipe he was going to try out, and so I gave him a small jar of our clan's honey as a sample so that he could buy from us later. Needless to say, when Chō invited us to her restaurant to try out a dish that Naruto made, I was floored. I can only assume that I'm not alone in wanting him to marry into my clan, now that you mention it."

"As much as I'd like to hear about everyone's encounters with Naruto-kun, I think we should get the troublesome mission done first," interrupted Nara Chikako, bringing everyone's attention back to the present, "and while we're on the subject of that dish he made, I take credit for that venison he used—who would've thought that a six-year-old could cook this well? I swear; if I can't get Shika-chan to marry him, then I'm pretty sure Yoshino wouldn't mind sharing him with me."

Pakkun stopped at an area with Kuromaru sniffing around at the area. "The trail ends here," said the pug, continuing to sniff before turning to face his contract holder, "Kasumi, it looks like a struggle took place here."

The kunoichi in the area began searching the scene, trying to determine exactly what happened here. "I'm smelling traces of heiwa koke spores in the area," began Inu, starting to swagger ever-so-slightly, "the trail is not so cold that I can't tell what happened here, but I wouldn't recommend lingering."

"Heiwa koke?" asked Usagi, sincerely concerned about the situation they found themselves in.

"It's a very rare species of moss," stated Yamanaka Inoko, greatly worried by the implications, "but this is impossible, because it grows in Iwagakure. True, we do have a hardier and subspecies that we cultivate in our neck of the woods, but real heiwa koke is not used as an anesthetic so much as it is used for a sedative—and a powerful one at that. After the Third Shinobi World War, Iwa had set up a trade embargo, and so when all our samples of the moss died off, we had no supply of them and were forced to develop other sedatives for medical use."

Upon hearing this, Inu turned her attention to Pakkun. "Do you still have Naruto-kun's scent trail? Is Iwa responsible for this?"

"No," answered the pug, no doubt frustrated in the lack of progress, "whomever it was that took Naruto away from here masked his scent. I'm picking up nothing but cedar all around, and I really don't want to risk going in any further; the trail up ahead is thick with spores. "

"And besides, even if we did try to isolate that scent, it's like finding a needle in a haystack," added Kuromaru, "Whomever it was that was here before us undoubtedly has a major head-start over us. That, and if it were Iwa that kidnapped Naruto, they wouldn't be going deeper into the Shi no Mori."

A sigh of disappointment and self-loathing had escaped from both Hebi and Inu. They'd failed in their mission…but in a way, they were glad that they did fail. "It's no use tracking him down like this any further," began Inu, depression clear in her voice, "in a way though, I'm glad that Naruto-kun has been kidnapped—I only hope that his kidnapper would treat him well. But don't think for a second that I've given up the search…I'll come back, and I won't stop until I find him!"

For once, Hebi honestly could not think of anything to say, as Inu had already said what was on her mind. The two of them would search the Shi no Mori for the boy that they truly loved with all their hearts, and come hell or high water, they would find him!

…

{Play: "Mononoke Hime" by Joe Hisaishi from "Princess Mononoke"}

[Somewhere in the Shi no Mori—morning…]

Naruto awoke to the sunlight assaulting his eyes. As he took in his surroundings, he realized that he was in a clearing within the forest, having laid upon a bed of leaves. What immediately caught his eye was the massive tree in front of him. It was so large that he wondered immediately as to the identity of the one that planted it here, as well as the amount of nutrients in the soil for it to have grown so large. Other details he managed to make out of the tree were the insane amount of seals inscribed upon its bark…it seemed to add an archaic sense of beauty to the ancient tree.

"You like what you see?" asked a feminine voice, approaching from around the tree. Naruto saw that its owner was a tall, humanoid figure—the form of this figure resembled a fit and well-proportioned woman somewhere around the age of 30, and stood around six meters tall. Her legs were made of lithe tree trunks that eventually merged in the middle to form the hips, and strong branches built up the arms which ended in dangerous-looking digits; all of which were twisted around to resemble the musculature of an athlete. Her firm-looking breasts were generous, just shy of a G-cup while resting above a strong abdomen. On her head was a pair of short, antler-like protrusions that branched out in imitation of a crown, giving this woman an overall regal and cervine appearance about her—her heart-shaped face was framed by what appeared to be willow-like branches that went down to her hips, bringing out the inner beauty shown by her loving smile as she gazed upon him with an amber-colored energy coursing through her body and flowing from the holes in her face where her eyes would be. "It is said that this tree predates the Rikudō Sennin herself…and that Senju Hashirama had once come here to perfect the Mokuton she'd invented."

"W-who are you?" stuttered Naruto, still afraid of the woman before him.

The beauty came to a stop in front of him, that loving grin still on her face. "There's no need to be afraid Naruto-kun," she said, surprising him that she knew his name in the first place, "nobody's going to hurt you here…not as long as I breathe. As to what you may call me, I am Megami—a tree spirit if you will. My true body is the tree that you have just seen."

He could not believe it, this woman was a tree-spirit? As he studied the being even closer, Naruto could see the proof before him; her entire body was a gestalt of living trees, to the point where he could see that her body stood not upon a pair of feet, but roots that extended from her calves and into the ground. He even noted that there were several parts of her upper body, where the odd leafy branch had sprouted from her on top of her shoulders and outside her arms…and to his embarrassment, he also saw splotches of moss around her roots, on her shoulders, and on the lower part of the junction where both of her legs met. Say what you will, but to Naruto, this was a very-much naked woman. However, one question popped into the forefront of his mind: "How did you know who I am?"

Megami's chuckle spoke volumes of her amusement. "Being a tree as old as I am, I've seen many things happen: Hashirama-chan's battle with that whore Madara, Hiromi-baka's term as Sandaime Hokage, and even the circumstances of your birth. Hence why I know your name…because I've been watching everything—but most importantly, I've been watching you. Your willpower seems to be stronger than even your mothers could have foreseen."

This tree was watching everything? If so then he may as well… "You have questions, and I will answer them in time," began Megami, interrupting Naruto's train of thought, "but before I do, I have a request to ask of you."

Naruto remained silent…taking this as a cue to go on, Megami gently reached forward with her palm down and in front of his face. It was here that he knew that she wanted to give him something, and so he cupped his hands together under the tree spirit's gigantic hand.

Once she saw he was ready, a small spherical object started growing out from Megami's palm before dropping it into Naruto's waiting hands. "This seed requires that it be planted in a living body. Whether it is eaten or planted in your bloodstream, it will grow quickly on your chakra pathways. This is the only way I can reproduce—and by doing this you'll become my son. However, before you take this seed within your body, I must caution you that either way, there's no turning back. If it accepts you, then you will become one with the tree and I shall teach you to wield its power as the guardian of the forest."

"And if it doesn't?"

Her face had turned very sorrowful. She'd done this multiple times, and they all ended in failure—and she knew it. But Megami wanted to make sure Naruto knew the consequences of what he was about to do. "If the seed rejects you, then you'll simply become another tree in the forest. I've given other people my seed, hoping that one day someone will be accepted by it, and my heart's been broken because many men and women that have found me and that I have loved without question, have been devoured by that seed. Do you want to do this Naruto-kun?"

{Play: "Jinchūriki" by Takanashi Yasuharu}

The boy sat down to think long and hard about this. Did he really want to do this? Did he have anything to lose? Naruto then thought back to all the women that treated him well…of Inu and Hebi always making sure he was safe; of Chiaki-sama's hospitality; Sango-sama's grandmotherly love; so many memories that he had both good and bad and memories he wanted to make. But then again, what had he done to deserve such kindness? How did he repay them? How could he repay them? It was at this moment that he had made up his mind—guardian of the forest or not, he would work to repay the ones who treated him well. With resolution empowering his hand, Naruto took the seed from Megami-sama's hand graciously before he quickly popped it into his mouth. A single swallow was all it took to seal his fate—and the last thing he would remember of that moment was the pain that would have him thrashing around over the course of the next day…

…

A/N: And that's a wrap. I hope this fusion monster survives the first round of this duel otherwise I'll be taking more battle-damage than I hoped. Your reviews will determine if I should continue this or not, but either way, I promise that after chapter 2, the merging will be more seamless. So do read and review, would you kindly?