Summary: Of all the strange and interesting people Uzumaki Naruto had met over the years, Edward Elric definitely took the cake.

Note: This story does not follow the Naruto or Fullmetal Alchemist timeline.

Also, Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke are sixteen years old.

Sun Boy

Ch. 1

"Sun Boy"

Naruto winced as he was slammed into a tree trunk, the force of impact jarring his shoulder horribly. He crashed onto the thick bough underneath him, temporarily having the wind knocked out of him. He lay there for a moment, regaining what breath he'd lost with the last attack. Damn, that hurt. He'd have to be more careful next time (though knowing him, he could care less about getting hurt while his friends were in danger). He stood up and reached for the weapons pouch strapped to his waist.

Drawing out a single kunai and an exploding tag, he proceeded to calculate how to distract the enemy so he could get his teammates some medical attention. At the distance he was from the enemy, he could potentially wound his teammate too. He'd have to get closer. He could already see that Sakura was getting tired from both avoiding the enemy's broad blade and attempting to drag Sasuke to a safer location (he'd been knocked out earlier when their adversary threw him into a boulder).

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu," he whispered. Two clones appeared by his side and he directed them to attack the enemy while he took his teammates to a better place. The clones nodded. They sprinted towards the man, who had just cut deeply into Sakura's arm. She grunted as fiery, red-hot pain seared through her nerves, but she ignored it in order to back up. The man was about to swing at her again when the clones grabbed hold of his arms and tossed him away. One of them took the liberty of knocking the blade from the man's hands.

"Thanks, Naruto," said Sakura as her blond teammate appeared and grabbed both her and Sasuke.

"No problem. You should rest. I'll take care of him," said Naruto, flashing her a strained smile. Sakura nodded. She watched as Naruto headed off again to defeat the man.

The man, having lost his sword temporarily, had resorted to a complex style of martial arts that had destroyed both clones with a single spin kick. Naruto sifted through his clones' memories to see if he could find any weaknesses, but found none. He bit his lip. This was going to be difficult, but he would definitely win for sure.

The man charged. Naruto dodged to the side as a fist came flying in his direction, but the man swiftly rotated on his heel and kicked him in the stomach. Naruto flew backwards, coughing and wheezing. He could taste blood in his mouth. His ribs must have taken a lot of damage. He shakily stood up.

No matter how much I hate you, I'm gonna need your help, furball, he thought, hoping that his tenant would respond (Kyuubi often ignored him, even in the most dire situations).

To his relief, the great beast rumbled, Thought you'd never ask, brat.

Red chakra seeped out of his skin and enhanced his abilities temporarily. He raced towards his opponent, ducking under the rotational kick followed by a series of rocket punches, and planted his fist squarely into the man's face. Naruto heard a crack and knew the man's nose was broken. His adversary staggered backward with a cry of pain, holding his hands to his face to staunch the bleeding. But in doing so, he left himself wide open for an attack. Naruto took the opportunity to pummel the man with multiple punches and kicks, sending him flying into a nearby tree. He slid down, seemingly defeated.

And disappeared with a poof the next second, leaving behind a perfectly cut log.

Shit! Kawarimi no Jutsu? Naruto thought, twisting his head this way and that. Where did that bastard go?

A surprise attack caught him off guard. The man shot out from the trees and slammed Naruto into the ground, grinding his face into the dirt. Naruto struggled to get the man off him, but the man put a kunai to his throat.

"Don't move, kid," he growled. "You're from Konoha, aren't you?"

Naruto's response was muffled.

The man cackled insanely.

"Perfect!" he crowed, jerking Naruto up by his hair. The young ninja squirmed in his grasp, obviously in pain. "I hate Konoha. They're bastards. If I send you and your teammates back in body bags, then they'll understand. They'll understand how they wronged me. And you would look perfect as a corpse." He lightly pressed the edge of sharp kunai against the soft flesh of Naruto's throat. He immediately stopped squirming.

In the distance he saw Sakura's frightened face. He could see her lips move, but could not hear her (though he supposed she was probably screaming his name or something along the lines of "Run!"). Surprisingly, the thought of his future death did not bring images of his life flashing before his eyes, nor did it bring any fear. He only felt bitter disappointment that he hadn't reached his ambition of becoming the Hokage. He sighed. A Kyuubi rampage would be appreciated right about now, but he didn't want to rely on the fox demon often. He wanted to beat opponents with his own power. And apparently he and his teammates had been outmatched. Game over. How disappointing.

The next instant no one was quite sure what happened. One moment, Naruto was being held at knife-point. The next second thick spikes of rock jutted out from the ground and Naruto was safely held over the shoulder of a mysterious man who had appeared out of nowhere. The enemy was clearly incapacitated, if the blood being coughed from his mouth was any indication.

"Are you okay, kid?" a low voice greeted Naruto's ears. The stranger set him down at the base of a nearby tree.

"Yeah, thanks," Naruto responded, looking up at the man. He was surprised to find a young man with flaxen hair and golden eyes standing over him. "Who are you?"

"I'll answer that later. We have worse things to worry about right now," said the man. "Are those your friends?" He gestured to Sakura and Sasuke, who were still in the same spot Naruto had left them.

"Yeah. I'd better go to them now. Are you sure you can take that guy by yourself?" asked Naruto, looking at his injured foe.

The man did not answer; he merely strode towards the downed opponent with an air of confidence. Somehow, Naruto felt as though he could trust the man, and he made his way to his teammates. He dropped down next to Sakura, who hugged him fiercely and murmured that she was glad the strange man had come in time. Next to them, Sasuke groaned miserably and woke up. "What happened?" he muttered, sitting up gingerly and tenderly rubbing his head where he'd smacked into the boulder.

"While you were out, Naruto was almost killed," Sakura informed him. She turned back to the battle that was currently taking place. "That man, the one with blonde hair, saved him."

Sasuke strained his neck as he looked in the same direction. He immediately spotted the person Sakura was talking about. Wheat-blonde hair flared out behind him as he clapped his hands together and slammed them to the ground. Blue light crackled around him and the next instant the injured man had been sent flying into a tree from a giant stone fist that had morphed out of the ground. As the man slid down, unconscious, the stranger clapped his hands again and created a cage out of the soil to trap him in. Then he strode back to where Naruto and the others were.

"You kids okay?" he asked, shaking a few strands of flaxen hair out of his eyes (which, Sasuke noted, were a surprisingly bright-golden shade).

"Yes, thank you for helping us out," said Sakura.

As Sasuke stood and dusted himself off, he was amused by the fact that the golden-eyed man was barely a few inches taller than him. "You say we're kids. You're not much taller than us, so you can't be that old either," said Sasuke.

"Are you calling me short?" growled the blond man.

"That depends on your age."

"I'll have you know that I'm twenty years old."

"Then you're short. Simple."

The man glared at him. Sasuke could see the telltale shaking and clenching of the man's right fist that clearly indicated he wanted to punch him, but held back. "No, I'm not," the strange man declared defensively, whirling around on his heel. "You kids are just too tall."

"Hey, you never answered my question!" reminded Naruto. "What's your name?"

The man paused. "That's not important. I should get you guys back to your village before you're ambushed again," he said, turning towards them. "Which way is your village?"

Sasuke crossed his arms and shot the man a suspicious glare. "There's no reason you can't tell us your name unless you are a missing nin," he drawled. "I've never seen your type of ninjutsu before. I do not trust you around us."

"Sasuke!" exclaimed Naruto, clearly appalled at the rude way he was treating their savior.

The man shrugged. "Whatever you want, kid," he said, starting to walk away from them. "If you don't want me around, I'll be off."

Naruto ran after him and caught the sleeve of the man's coat. "I'm sorry about Sasuke, he's just a rude jerk! Come on, our village is this way," he insisted, tugging the man back to their little group. Sasuke glared his disapproval.

"Naruto," he began, "there's a reason why our villages are hidden. We can't bring strangers in."

The blond man heaved a sigh. "Your teammate's got a point," he said, shaking himself loose from Naruto's grasp. "Guess I'll see you then."

"Wait!"

But the man was already gone.

Three days later, rumors spread around about a lone wanderer who had golden hair and golden eyes and his strange powers. He helped every person, be they ninja or civilian, that he came across in troubled times, although he did not give them his name. Thanks to his kind deeds and strange features (and odd sayings about Equivalent Exchange), the Elemental Nations decided to give him a special nickname like they did for world-renown ninjas.

"From now on we decree that this fascinating wanderer be aptly named "Sun Boy"," an elder declared.

Naruto found out a week later.

That is chapter one. Embarrassingly short for a chapter, but oh well. Not like this story's gonna be long anyway. Maybe a few chapters. I was reading Marz1's excellent FMAxNaruto crossover and got an idea in my head. Well, drop a review and tell me what you think. Unlike all my other stories, this one is going to be short. As in, maybe 3 – 5 chapters, I don't know yet. Please review! Flames are not welcome.

Kage Bunshin no Jutsu - Shadow Clone Jutsu

Kawarimi no Jutsu - Substitution Jutsu

MangaFreak15

P.S. For those of you who are getting questions about why Edward is being named "Sun Boy" when he is a man, that will be explained later on.