the queen that wasn't

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Summary: Nara Shikaku needed one look to know the girl did not belong to their world, and ten years to figure it why. Or: summons are Talking Folk, a valiant queen is reborn in Konoha and Shikaku has no clue how to deal with feelings. Nara Shikaku-centric, Lucy/Shikaku. Post LWW AU, Second and Third Shinobi Wars Era.

Disclaimer: neither Chronicles of Narnia or Narnia are mine.

Rated: M

Note: English is not my first langage, and this chapter hasn't been beta'ed!

Alright people, today we're going to focus on what's happening in Narnia, so brace yourself for some serious worldbuilding shit. Since it's kinda dense, I'm going to deliver you some keys at the end of this chapter, if you get confused you can refer to it.

A few words of vocabulary before we start:

-'sellclaw' : Narnian derogatory term to design a summon, or a Clan member in general, the equivalent of a sellsword

-'doublepaw': summon

-'singlepaw': non-summon

-'the other side': Elemental Countries' world

Regarding the characters:

-Kazuto is the salamander summon who fought against Shikaku last chapter. Not Hanzo's summon, but same Clan. I wasn't planning to actually include him in the story, which is why he got an entire part just for himself. Typical

-Fukasaku is the Great sage toad summon of Jiraiya (canon)

-Katsuyu is Tsunade's slug summon (canon), identifies to neutral gender

-Riku is Masato's (Shikaku's father) mouse summon. He's inspired by Reepicheep.

-Enkko is Sarutobi Yuuki's (Shikaku's Jonin instructor) monkey summon

Special warning: minor character's death. But it's an OC, so it doesn't really count.

Also, first part is inspired by Zootopia, I ain't gonna lie

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Interlude II: in the Land of Men and Beasts

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I. Sir Bonnival, Lantern Post

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Among the warriors of Narnia's army, there could be no greater honor than to be assigned as a Royal Guard. Only the best of the best were likely to be chosen for such an enviable position, and even then had no chance without being noticed and appreciated by one of the Kings and Queens. Obviously, a hare in a competitive crowd of cheetahs, tigers, wolves and other mighty predators wouldn't be anyone first choice as a bodyguard, or second, or third, or last choice, really, or so people kept on telling Bon.

Pff, what a bunch of sore losers. If he had listened to those people who only knew how to say 'you can't' and 'you shouldn't' where would he be now? Growing carrots in the ass of Narnia and hating every second of it, probably. Thinking about how he could be doing something significant instead, if he had been born anything but a cute little bunny.

Yeah, fuck that. Maybe Bon didn't have a set of sharp claws or razor-like fangs, so what. Swords had been invented for a reason, hadn't they? So that bitter fun-sized leporids like himself could stab big bad predators in the belly. Or the eyes, Bon had a certain fondness for sinking his blade into wide orbits.

So yes, Sir Bonnival of the Shuddering Woods might not be the most well-adjusted hare in Narnia, but he'd be damn if he wasn't the fastest bastard to ever been granted a sword. His life had not been a peaceful one like it should have been, yet he had no regret. He loved his job, he loved the High King he had sworn to protect, he tolerated well enough the pompeous arses he had to work with, he freaking loved his weapon, and really, really loved rubbing his honorable position to the face of whoever said a bunny wouldn't get anywhere as a soldier.

Bon was a freaking good knight. He would die without an hesitation for his King. He might even sacrifice himself for his prissy fellow Royal Guard. Point, if anything needed stabbing, Bon was your hare.

But no one, no one, had never said anything about what a Royal Guard was to do when his King was having a whole conversation with himself in the middle of the woods. Bon hadn't signed up for that shit. Hallucinations couldn't be stabbed, eviscerated or burnt to the ground, therefore were completely outside of Bon's usual range of competence.

"I'm not crazy!" King 'Talking To Invisible People' Peter scowled at his Guards defensively and gestured towards the Lampost's empty clearing. "He was right there."

"Sure thing Boss," Bon drawled, unimpressed. In Bon's rather simplistic worldview; if it couldn't be seen, heard, smelt or touched, then it didn't existed. Even magic would leave a distateful tingling on the edge his whiskers. Bwah.

"No one would dare imply you're not entirely sane, Your Grace," Reishid, ever the sycophant attempted to calm down the situation. She added in a tone low enough the King's human ears wouldn't be able catch the insult. "Hillbilly bunny. What do you think you're doing."

"Not enabling this madness," he growled back in the same tone to the panther. "Stuck-up bitch."

"I can't hear you," King Peter gritted his teeth in annoyance and graced upon them the Royal Look of Disappointment. "But I still can tell you're insulting each other. Apologies. Now."

"Please accept my most sincere apologies for my unacceptable behavior, Partner," the panther lied diligently for her beloved King's sake.

"Yeah. What she said," Bon grunted before promptly changing the subject. "Anyway, we should get back to our turf Boss."

"What, so you can tell my sister I'm having hallucinations?"

Hell yeah. Queen Susan would know what to do. Queen Susan always knew what to do, for everything. It was one those absolute constants in Bon's life: the sun shall rise, Reishid couldn't see farther than the tip of her snout, cabbage tasted like butt, and Queen Susan was the most competent person in the world.

An unexpected party of thirty fauns, twenty dryads and twice as many cups of wines falling on Cair Paravel? Not a problem. Sorting out antic taxes rates from Archenland. Give her a few hours. Hosting ceasefire talks between Narnians, Archenlanders and Telmarines? No big deal.

For Bon, King Peter led the country, Queen Lucy sparkled the morals, King Edmund upheld fairness, but it was Queen Susan who held the whole thing together. When Queen Lucy had disappeared and been presumed dead, the Gentle had no wavered. Those were among the darkest days in Narnia, when King Peter wouldn't be seen outside of his room and King Edmund did not utter a single word, Susan held strong.

Bon could admire that in a person.

Maybe it shouldn't be so surprising Peter had eventually snapped. Bon felt nothing but fondness and respect for his King, but he had seen first hand how devasted the Magnificent had been by his sister's supposed death. Now still he thought of his younger sibling every day. Bon would recognized the far away look in less than a second.

"Nay," King Peter shook his head decidedly. "The boy I saw had her necklace, I know it. I'm sure he's one of those...shinobi. We're going West."

West. To the Cauldron Mountains? Where those fucking cowards of Clans had hidden during the Ever Winter while good Narnians suffered under that crazy ice bitch? Over Bon's dead body.

"My King," Reishid softly suggested. "We're expected to Cair Paravel. I'm afraid Queen Susan might get...worried by our lateness."

The same way Queen Lucy never came back from her own trip. Low blow, but efficent. Looked like that better-than-you pest had her uses after all.

"Also, King Edmund is already at the Cauldron Montains," she added, sensing a weakness in her King's resolve and going all in. "We could send him a message instead."

"Arf, fine," Peter threw his hands in the air in spectacular act of pettiness. "But I don't want to hear a single word about my 'hallucination' or 'craziness', am I clear?"

"Cristal," Bon nodded eagerly, willing to agree to anything as long as he didn't have to get in close contact those damn sellclaws and their cursed Clans.

Fucking traitors.

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II. Summon Kazuto, Asano Wasteland

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The Asano Wasteland, ancestral home of the Salamander Clan didn't looked like a wasteland at all. Hundreds of years ago however, it used to. Legends spoke of a dry and dead soil tucked in the valley between two equally hostile montains, now turned a luxurious jungle fat with blissful chakra. Even the eldest among the eldest had never seen a glimpse of the former desert, yet the name had stuck. As a rule, the Clans cared more about fables and traditions than about facts. Hence, the 'wasteland'.

In the Wasteland, trees had roots thicker than their trunk, sineous and greedy claws grasping deep inside the river's side. The humid air weighted upon their scaly skin like a warm coat, rain fell every two days, regular as clockwork. Chakra grew steadily inside every flower, every plant, every drop of precious water.

And that was the extent of what Kazuto knew of Narnia. The Wasteland. It was almost amusing, in a way. Kazuto had run among the endless forest of Fire, guided his summoner through the fogs of Water, slept in the desert of Wind. He knew the sewers of Ame better than his own home. He travelled between worlds on a daily basis, yet had never set a foot outside of the Wasteland.

"Lord Kazuto," Chieftain Agresta's tail twitching was the only outward sign of anxiety she allowed herself. Remarkable, for a singlepaw. "Are you absolutely certain?"

As the Clan Chieftain Agresta technically ouranked Kazuto, but he was a Summon, and Summons had a special status. Which was why Kazuto was 'Lord Kazuto' and Agresta simply Agresta.

"Aye," he blinked in agreement. "It is the truth. Queen Lucy had claimed a shinobi from Leaf for her own. I had no other choice but to retreat."

And leave his summoner to die, he did not said. It might sound treatorous towards the Crown, and Kazuro was nothing if not loyal. Loyal to Aslan first, and the Kings and Queens He had chosen, to the Clan second, and only then loyal to his summoner. He'd never minded before, but then again, before it hadn't mattered, because Narnia and Elemental Nations had a time-space continium between them. The only interaction they had was limited to summoning, and the Clans had unanimously agreed centuries ago to keep their Narnian affairs and Summoning business entirely separated. Officially at least, what happened in the other side stayed in the other side.

Until Queen Lucy, that was it.

"This...changes things," Elder Kohu sighed, his wrinkled fingers curled around his walking stick.

Back in his days, Kohu-sama had been the fiercest summon of a barely born Ame. At the peak of his glory, he could shift his body the size of a house, and the poison under his tongue killed faster than a slashed throat. Now however, his name was never called upon anymore.

Just like Kazuto's wouldn't be. Who would want to make a contract with untrustworthy summons? By his action, he had endangered the entirety of the Salamander Clan, but what other choice did he have? Disobey the Queen's claim and murder her Leaf champion in cold blood? His oath to the Crown came before his contract with his summoner, and so his summoner had to die, by Aslan's will.

"We must send a messager to Cair Paravel at all haste, the Kings and Queen have to informed of this developpement," Agresta said, quickly thinking over their different options of action. "Great Sage Fukasaku is leaving for..."

Kuho-sama and himself had an instinctive reaction of disgust. Not those damn toads. They were worse than lowlanders.

"Rely on this back-stabbing slimy bastard? You can't be serious, Agresta!" the former summon snarled, his mouth leaking with poisonous saliva at the simple mention of his life-long ennemy.

"We can't afford to loose time for the sake of old rivalries, Lord Kuho," the Chieftain did not roll her eyes, but it was a close call. "Fukasaku-sama has already met the High King..."

"Of course he has, that opportunist bootlicker," Kuho-sama grumbled darkly.

"Therefore he's our best chance to present our case favorably to the Crown," she finished as if she hadn't heard the interruption.

Easy for a singlepaw to say. For her, open conflict with the Toad Clan belonged to the long past. Not so much for summons, whose contracts had been held for generations by ennemies villages, currently at war with each other. Kazuto was fighting against toad summons not a week ago, had almost an eye to Gamarama's acid oil. 'Old rivalry' indeed.

"He's from Konoha," Kuho-sama said the name like the worst of insult. "So is Queen Lucy. Toads have every interest in keeping her involved."

Unlike the Salamander Clan, who had thrown their lot with Ame decades ago.

"This problem goes further than Village's affiliations. I'm sure Fukasaku-sama can understand the urgency of the situation," Agresta argued. "Lord Kazuto, you must go with the Great Sage to explain what you saw."

Kazuto and Kohu-sama exchanged a wry glance. If technically the Chieftain had complete authority over the entirety of the Clan, it was understood summons ruled over themselves on matters concerning the other side, and that singlepaws had little to say about their affairs, and vice versa. For her to outright order him...he wouldn't be outside his rights to refuse her request, especially with the Elders' support, and Agresta knew it.

Nonetheless, if he didn't quite agreed, Kazuto understood the reasoning. With Queen Lucy's direct involvement, the status quo had been shaken to its core, and they needed to find a new equilibrium.

"I'll do as you say, Chieftain," he softly inclined his head, to her visible relief.

Maybe he would get a chance to explore his native land outside of Wasteland after all.

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III. Great Sage Fukasaku, Cair Paravel

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"If I understand correctly," Queen Susan the Gentle tapped her red-painted nail against the wooden table, "my sister gifted the necklace we sent her to this...Shikaku Nara?"

"Err...It's Nara Shikaku, actually," Edda, the Monkey Clan's envoy corrected her sovereigh shyly. "Last name goes first..."

"My apologies. So this Nara Shikaku," she smiled with polite amiability as High King Peter vibrated in silent excitement in his seat, "is currently wearing the pendants made from Queen Lucy's dagger. That necklace?"

The lion, the tree of creation, and the cross. Hard to mistake Queen's Lucy sigil with anything else, especially considering Fukasaku had delivered the gift in person. "That's the one yes."

"And so when you," King Peter nodded at the Salamander summon quietly watching the audience," met this boy in battle and saw her sigil, you chose to retreat."

"Aye, your Majesties," Kazuto-san tonelessly confirmed.

Fukasaku held back a wince at the reminder. As every summon had to learn at some point, he knew the pain of loosing his summoner, but to abandon them... He could hardly imagine the heartbreak of leaving Jiraiya-chan to a certain death purposely.

"Nonetheless, Nara Shikaku was grievely wounded in the confrontation, and almost perished," the Queen turned toward the monkey questioningly.

"That's what Lord Enkko reported, your Grace."

"And was briefly seen by King Peter at the Lantern Post, but only him, at a matching time," Queen Susan finished factually.

"Who's crazy now?" King Peter murmured as he wiggled his eyebrow to the hare standing stiffly at his side. His guard snorted but didn't replied.

"I see. First of all, may we offer you our condoleances for your loss, Friend?" Queen Susan the Gentle ignored her brother's antics to incline her head with sincere compassion to the salamander.

"It's is...appreciated, your Grace," Kazuto bowed, doing a fine job at hidding his surprise at her consideration.

"Secondly. If I recall correctly," she focused her razor-sharp glare on Fukasaku. "I believe you swore 'summoning' from their world to ours was impossible, master Fukasaku. Were you mistaken?"

'Or were you lying to your sovereigns', the elderly toad translated the frost tucked at the corner of her eyes into words. His fingers closed around his staff comfortingly. Fukasaku was no easely impressed newbie, and had at least five time her lifespan over the young Queen, but boya wasn't that woman intense.

He sighed, silently regretting the absence of his stubborn wife at his side. As a fellow scary female, Shima might have known how to deal with the Queen's politely aggressive inquiries. Aslan preserved him from the pointed words of powerful ladies.

"My Queen," Fukasaku bowed respectfully to his sovereign. "As far as my knowledge on the matter goes, reverse summomning is indeed impossible. And if it weren't, it is unlikely any living being from the Element Countries could survive in our Narnia. They do need chakra go live after all, a commodity practically inexistant here."

Except in the Western Montains, naturally. Mount Myoboku had the highest density of chakra in the whole Narnia, followed closely by the Shikkoku Forest and the Ruychi Cave. But even there, Fukasaku doubted a inhabitant of the Chakra World could survive more than a few minutes. Theorically.

"So you have told us before," Queen Susan's eyes narrowed. "Yet that does not explain the presence of Shikaku Nara at the Lantern Post."

"If I may," Fukasaku tried carefully. "'Presence' might be too much of a word, your Grace"

Her eyes narrowed in as she straightened on her seat regally. "Explain yourself."

"Summoning is a term applicable to physical travel," the High King interjected pensively. "Which doesn't seem to be the case here."

"Precisely," he croaked. "I would say the world 'projecting' is more appropriate. Unfortunately, as I cannot think of any precedant, I can offer you no concrete explanation, your Graces, merely conjectures."

Regardless of the dangerous uncertainty a shinobi aware of Narnia presented, Fukasaku couldn't help but feel fascinated by the new prospect. He had spent decades studying the complex art of between-worlds travelling, and had no exemple in mind of a human going to their side. A priori without the use of poolwater, amazingly.

"Is there anything special about this Nara?" the Queen pinched the bridge of her nose exhaustingly, "that might be relevant to his... supposedly impossible abilities?"

"Nothing we can think about, your Majesty," Fukasaku admitted unhappily.

Naras were weird, as in 'casually consorting with soul-sucking shadows for fun and giggles' kind of weird, but not on 'crossing worlds' scale. Even if they could, it would be too 'troublesome' to bother in the first place.

Edda timidly rose her hand. "Hm...Lord Enkko said mister Shikaku's chakra have changed. It's barely noticeable, but it's there if you look for it, he said..."

"So it has to be the necklace," King Peter turned towards his sister. "The dagger was blessed by Aslan Himself after all..."

"If it's the necklace," Susan countered pointedly. "Why wouldn't it work for Lucy?"

"I don't know! Maybe the owner has to be close to death..."

"We're not testing that."

"Never said we should, dearest sister."

Siblings. You gotta love them.

"Ahem," the bearded human sitting at the Queen's right cleared his throat insistently. "If I may, I believe we need to focus on the consequencies before the 'how'."

Fukasaku stared at the man who had yet to speak until now warily. He had somehow hoped they wouldn't adress such sensitive subjects so prematurely

"What do you mean Peridan?" King Peter frowned.

"From what I've gathered, no human on the 'other side' knows anything of Narnia. Clauses in summoning contracts stipulate summon are under no obligation to answer question regarding their Clan, and summons are sealed to prevent accidental spilling."

"That is true," Fukasaku stuck out his tongue to show the tatoo on the back of his tongue. "Me and the wife have personally sealed all the young summons in our Clan. Even I wouldn't be able to speak of our land when I'm on their world."

"However a shinobi has seen Narnia for himself," Queen Susan concluded, massaging her temples tiredly. "Oh, Lucy..."

"It's not that much of a disaster," King Peter squeezed her arm comfortingly. "His...visit? Let's say visit, shall we, lasted barely a second, and it will be easy to consider such a vision as an hallucination due to poisoning. Friend Edda, has Enkko noticed any change of behavior with the boy since the incident?"

"He..he hasn't mentioned anything of the sort," the monkey wriggled her hands anxiously. "But he didn't knew about it, so..."

"Even if it's true," Queen Susan bit the bottom of her lips. "What if it happens again?"

Silence in the room. All of them were battle-forged warriors, they knew security required sacrifices, yet not one was inclined to speak their thoughts plainly. No one wanted to be the one to suggest assassination to protect from hypothetical exposition.

"No," King Peter clamped his fists angrily. "Absolutely not. He's just a kid. And Lucy's friend. She must have given him her sigil for a reason."

"He's a shinobi, your Grace," Peridan tried without conviction. "He has murdered already. Their kind is...different from ours..."

"I said no," King Peter gritted his teeth furiously, before turning torward his silent sibling. "Susan. Say something."

Queen Susan stared at her hands, resting on her velvet covered lap. She closed her eyes.

"Very well. We shall wait and see, then. I will write to Edmund immediately."

Fukasaku had little doubt in his mind that should she felt their country was in true danger, the Queen would give the order without an hesitation.

And Fukasaku would obey.

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IV. Keeper Katsuyu, Shikkotsu Forest

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Katsuyu waited patiently as King Edmund went through the content of the message from his sister. Three times. Usually the Just King didn't required nearly so much time to process new informations, but for that special case, the slug could understand his shock.

"I see," the King eventually put an end to their misery. Not. "No, actually I don't see at all. Who the hell is Nara Shikaku?"

That was an question Katsuyu had some intel on, luckily. "Shikaku-dono is a chuunin of the Leaf, the son of Jonin Commander and Head of the Nara Clan Nara Shikako. His father, Nara Masato, born Sarutobi, hold the Mouse Summoning Scroll."

"Naras are those...shadow binders, right?" Edmund frowned in recognition.

If Katsuyu had the necessary organs to smile proudly, they would. The brilliant boy learnt so quickly, it was a true joy to call themselves his teacher. "They are."

"You have met him Katsuyu-sensei, haven't you?" his eyes narrowed suspiciously.

"I have indeed, your Grace," they admitted easely. "Shikaku-dono is very close friend with your royal sister. Hikari-sama is extremely fond of him."

Ah. King Edmund hated to be reminded of his sister's other name. He winced visibly at their slip up, but did not commented. Instead he rose an eyebrow reproachfully. "You have told me human summoning was impossible."

And so they had. To their defense, a month ago, when the King had first showed up to their Moutains, asking to be taught everything there was to know about the world his younger sister had been reborn into, it was been the entire truth. To be honest, Katsuyu still wasn't convinced otherwise. Nara Shikaku's reported case of 'reverse summoning' was dubious at the very best.

"My most sincere apologies," Katsuyu bowed respectfully. "I believe the term 'summoning' is not quite appropriate though.."

"Yes, yes, summoning, projecting, I don't care which one," King Edmund messed his hair up as he tended to when things were not going his way. The King was a brilliant man, but admittedly not a very patient one. "The point is, he crossed from the other side, therefore, it's doable."

To say the King hadn't taken his sister's disappearence well would be the understatement of the year. And it hadn't taken long for the slug to notice he was much more interested in finding a way to have her back than anything else. Obsessed, some might even say.

"And if it's doable, then I'm going to do it," the King sternly stared at them, waiting for them to argue. "Any objections?"

Aside from the fact that world crossing experimentation was incredibly dangerous, unstable and likely to get him killed, or worse? That should he not shatter his body in the process, his presence could put them all in danger of discovery from the shinobi world? None.

"I shall endeavor to assit you as best as I can, your Grace," the slug swore resignedly.

"Katsuyu-sensei," the man they called King grinned boyishly. "You are a Queen among Slugs. King? Non-binary Royal. You are a non binary-Royal among Slugs, and I am in your debt."

"Oh," he added as an afterthought, "could you contact the Mouse Clan? I want to know everything there is to know about this Nara Shikaku. And I do mean everything. "

Pevensies, Katsuyu had to admit, were terrifying people. And that statement came from someone who spent half their time surrunded by pattented killer.

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V. Summon Riku, somewhere in Earth Country

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"Dipshit," Riku said instead of polite, regular, boring greetings as he puffed out of the summoning seal. "Your family is terrible. Awful. The very worst."

Riku had been convened at Shikkotsu Forest because King Edmund wanted to talk about the Second Deer Brat. King Edmund. About Nara 'Lazybone' Shikaku. What the actual fucking fuck?

Masato made a sound intented as a chukle, but in execution ended up closer to a gargle. And that was the moment Riku noticed how wrong this entire setting was. He couldn't recognize the field they were in, the air was embued with the scent of blood, the corpses of two humans with Iwa's gear layed out nearby.

Masato reeked of repelling, frightening death.

"Oi Masato," Riku hurried at his summoner's side, taking in the scaringly white skin tainted with dark red, the grey patches under his eyes, the hand he kept presser over his belly to stop his inner organs from spilling. "What the fuck happened?"

"Iwa bastards," his moronic summoner grinned sheepishly.

"You damn idiot," Riku hissed angrily, ignoring the panic raising at the back of his head. "You got gutted by those useless arseholes? What were even you thinking?"

"Aw, Riku-chan, you know I never think! But I got them good, see?"

He didn't cared. He didn't gave a flying fuck about how many of them died. It wasn't worth the trade anyway. "You're useless! Okay, fine, fine. Where are your teammates? I'm going to get them, you just hold on. Don't you dare die on me like that, you piece of crap."

Masato smiled, a empty stretch of the lips, nothing like his trademark full grins. "Dead, I'm afraid. All of them."

"Fuck," the mouse shook his head helplessly. "Fuck!"

"Sorry Riku-chan," he pouted as he lied back against the tree he was leant against. "But I just didn't wanted to die alone, ya know?"

"Keep the bullshit, you're not sorry at all," and then in a smaller, softer tone. "Is there anything I can do Masato?"

"Ehe, don't call me by my name, it freaks me out," his visibly weakening friend said in a far away voice, as if he was falling asleep. Except he wasn't falling asleep at all. "If you get the occasion, could you tell my deer ones I love them?"

The deer ones, the shitty nickname he got for his wife and kids. Riku had currently no other summoner than Masato, since they were deep into ennemy territory with no Konoha reinforcement, he had no idea who would get his scroll. Who knew how much time would pass on the other side before someone called upon his name?

He said: "Yeah, of course."

"Great," Masato closed his eyes. "And tell the wee ones I'm proud of them too?"

"They already know that idiot. But I guess I can tell them again."

"You're a true friend, Riku-chan," the human's head inclined to the side. "I'm a bit scared after all..."

"Don't be," he climbed over Masato's shoulder, settling in the crook of his neck. "I'm staying with you. You're not alone."

"Kay," his summoner breathed painfully. "That's good..."

He did not spoke again. Riku waited for Masato's breath to still, for his chakra to disappear steadily, for his heart rate to drop, slowly, ever so slowly, until that warm heart of his would not beat at all.

He felt the contract snap in his very bones, and was jerked out of the other side the second his summoner was gone from it.

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As promised, explanation time!

-the Summoning Clans live in the Western Mountains, so they couldn't be farther away from Cair Paravel without being out of Narnia. They are loyal to Aslan and the Crown, however they have complicated relations with other Narnians; who are NOT summons. Since they used to live in semi-autarchy, especially during Ever Winter and are heavely influenced by the Elemental Countries, Clans have a drastically different culture from classical Narnians.

-Hence, Narnians have a biais towards Clans, and vice versa. The half-way hostility got better since Clans fought at Aslan's side against the White Whitch, but they're not buddies either way. Clans members call classic Narnians 'lowlanders'. 'Sellclaw' is a Narnian derogatory term to design a summon, or a Clan member in general, the equivalent of a sellsword.

-As you can guess, The Clans themselves aren't an homogenous group. They have a history of hundreds of years of hostility and alliances between them, both due to events in Narnia and in the Elemental Countries. For exemple, Toads and Salamanders really, reaaaally don't get along. They do have rules in common though, like telling summoners about Narnia being a big No No or 'what happens in the Elemental Countries stays in the Elemental Countries', at least officially.

-Inside a Clan, only approximately tenth percent of the members are Summons, or more for Clans like the Toads. The familiar expression for summon is 'doublepaw', which literally means 'one who walk in two lives'. By extension, a 'singlepaw' is a non-summon clan's member. The 'other side' is a term often used to design the elemental countries.

-In the Salamander Clan, the leader is not a summon and called a Chieftain. It's not the case in all Clans. For instance, the Toad Clan's official leadership belong to Gamabunta, considered as the most competent summon. Likewise, 'keeper' is a specific title of the Slug Clan given to their stronger summon, here Katsuyu.

-all members of a summoning clan are bilingual, they speak elemental common language (japananese for the sake of conveniance) and Narnian. Non-summons tend to use Narnian proeminantly, which is why Agresta use English pronuns, unlike the summons. Narnian don't speak japanese at all.

-Since they are likely to be called at any moment, summons never leave their Clan's territory. As they are chosen to become summons very young, most of them don't see the rest of Narnia until they retire. If they get to retire. Fukasaku is an exception, as he's very old but still a summon. In Riku's case, you don't just say no to a King, even when you're technically not allowed outside of the den.

-I've always wondered what summons won out of the deal with summoners. They put their life in danger, they have to stay available at any moment, but we don't really know why they would agree to this apparently one-sided deal. In this AU, in exchange for their service to shinobi, summons bring back chakra to the clan as a whole. Summoners are not exactly aware of that, they know they lose a constant chunk of chakra as long as they keep the summon, but it's assumed the loss is due to the chakra expense for the jutsu and doesn't 'go' anywhere. Chakra does not exist in Narnia, outside of the 'imported chakra' from the summoning Contract.

-Small objects can canonically be carried through summoning, hence the letters and the necklace between Lucy and her sibling.

-Summoners cannot be 'reverse-summoned' like in canon Naruto lore. Therefore Jiraiya never went to Mount Myoboku, actually he didn't even heard ofMount Myoboku. First rule of Summoning Clans, you don't talk about Summoning Clans. Ever.

There we go, this is non-exhaustive list of this AU rules. There was many things I haven't talked about yet, obviously, and if you have questions I'll be delighted to answer them. Or not, if it's spoiling^^

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