Chapter 1

Naruto would probably be the first to say that being dead probably wasn't as bad as people made it out to be. Yeah, sometimes he forgot he was dead and tried to initiate conversation with some random passerby, usually ending with the man getting some weird expression, before quickly leaving the area, but it wasn't all that bad. His prankster spirit, for one, was always happy, as he was able to scare the living daylights out of anyone he wanted. He fondly remembered the time he'd taken up residence in some bachelor's house and then played "rearrange your furniture when you aren't looking" every time the man turned his back. That had lasted a good 3 months before he got bored of it.

So Naruto watched the world change around him. Watched continents move, little by little, and even saw new spirits rise to power, dethroning Kami with some weird hierarchy of power. All of those "Diedra" and "Daedric Princes" arrived without much of a friendly nod from Naruto. He didn't care for those beings, as they were usually very full of themselves, but the Daedric Princes could be pleasant once and a while. Really, the only one he avoided was the one who wouldn't shut up about cheese. Honestly, why did one all-powerful being have to be stuck on cheese that much? At least the cheese palace he'd built had been pleasant enough. Except for maybe the 5th or so day, when it started turning green.

Naruto shook his translucent head in amusement as he sat cross-legged on a dark rooftop looking over the Markarth city-scape. The Daedric princes were much better than the Daedra as a race. The Daedra were a race of warriors who fought non-stop and were very secretive. Or… Naruto didn't really care enough to find out, as they weren't in his plain of existence. He preferred to keep to his own business and preferred the other beings to keep to theirs. Manners were manners.

"Hello, Rev." A feminine voice greeted from behind. Naruto's eye involuntarily twitched at the name. He'd refused to give his name to the little princes, so they'd taken to calling him "Rev" which was a word for "Fox" in the old language. One of the languages that came about after he died, he noted.

"What do you want, Nocturnal?" Naruto asked, turning his head so he could see her in his peripheral vision. Living up to her name, she blended into the darkness very well, leaving him only a darkened silhouette to address.

"I was hoping you'd help me with something." She said, her voice sounding sickeningly sweet. Naruto once again twitched.

"What do you want from me that your siblings can't do?" He asked with a grimace. Nocturnal wasn't someone he could say no to.

"I need you to live again." She said rather bluntly. Naruto let out a strangled gasp as he turned his head to stare at her.

"What?"

"I said-"

"I know what you said. Why do you want me to join those miserable people?" Naruto asked, cutting Nocturnal off. His red eyes reflected off the metal on Nocturnal's dress, showing just how much power they held. His elongated irises sharpened to a narrow point. Nocturnal, used to beings much more powerful than the blond phantom, brushed it off.

"Because we need you to. Well… Sheograth didn't really care. And Hircine still wants to hunt you… And Molag wants to enslave you… Alright, only a few of us need you…" she half-heartedly explained. Naruto continued to stare at Nocturnal.

"Aaaaand Meridia wants to kill you for being Undead by nature… And Namira wants to eat you… Vaermina wants to torture you for… no reason, actually… Mephala wants to play a little game… Which I bet you'd rather not play… And Boethiah has some plan about making you his personal assassin." Nocturnal stated with a sheepish smile. Naruto deepened his stare.

"Is that all?" he asked.

"More or less… Azura and Malacath are the ones who sent me… And the rest are either indifferent or stuck for an undisclosed amount of time." She said, taking a seat next to him.

"Am I allowed to say no?"

"Do you really want 3 Daedra as your enemies?" she asked pointedly.

"Not especially, no," Naruto answered.

"Then it is in your best interest to agree." Nocturnal said with a smirk.

Naruto remained silent before speaking up.

"What's the job?" he asked, his tone reeking with annoyance.

"We need you to protect the monitor the dragonborn. He's not the most tolerant of Nords, in all honesty, and we're worried he'll do something unwise." She said, uncomfortably shifting her legs.

"You're scared… of a man?" he asked in surprise.

"He's not just a man, he's the Dragonborn. We can't eliminate him if he does something to offend us because he is a creation of the Aedras and we can't touch anything of their creation."

Naruto was once again reminded that there was another group of all-powerful beings that were at odds with the Daedra. Except the Aedra were more reclusive than the Princes. Naruto had never met the Aedra, and he was happy for the time being. They sounded too uptight – not that he didn't have a reputation for being uptight as well – for his tastes. Naruto shook his head, banishing the thoughts for another time.

"If I have no other choice, then I'll do it. If only to preserve my standing among the Daedra." He added the last part as an afterthought.

"I knew you'd agree!" she said, the statement ending in a strange girlish squeal that freaked Naruto out more than anything he'd ever heard.

"So how do I go about living? Kind of a hard thing to ask of me right- UGH!" Naruto collapsed onto the ground as Nocturnal let go of a pressure point on his neck. She ignored the tingle in the back of her mind that said that it shouldn't be possible to knock out a phantom with a pressure point. She was a Daedra. She could do what she wanted.

XxXxXx

Naruto opened his eyes with a groan, before immediately shutting them again in pain. The sunlight was too bright for his blue eyes, especially after so long without having seen anything.

After a moment, he opened his eyes to look around. He was sitting in what looked like the middle of a forest. All around him were millions of trees. He felt a small ache in his chest at the sight of trees, but pushed it down quickly. It was too late to be homesick.

"Hey, you."

Naruto looked around frantically before seeing a heavily armored man approaching him from behind with a sword drawn. He waved awkwardly before walking over to the man.

"Halt. We've caught you crossing the border illegally. I'll have to take you into custody."

We? Naruto looked around, before spotting more men walking around with swords drawn. He gulped, before giving the man a sheepish smile.

"Can't we… you know… work this out?" he asked, bracing himself to make a run for it. The heavily armored man seemed to consider it, before shaking his head and taking a single step forward.

"No." He said. Naruto nodded, before pointing behind the man.

"Your superior seems to differ in opinion." Naruto said, throwing his best acting into the statement. The armored man stiffened and turned, leaving Naruto to take advantage of the distraction.

"FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!" he screamed, as he ran as fast as he could through the woods. Even without chakra, he was able to get back into a rhythm of dodging trees. He slipped his arm around a stray limb of a tree and used the momentum to launch himself in a perpendicular direction. He kicked up some dust as he ran, spraying it behind him with considerable dust. After running for a few more minutes, he ducked behind a boulder and peeked over the rock. There was nobody still chasing him. He sighed and turned to sit with the boulder pressed against his back.

His relief was short lived when he realized he'd run straight into the mouth of the beast. In front of him was a platoon of the armored men and 3 wagons full of prisoners. Naruto smacked himself in the forehead for his stupidity.

"That's him!" another one of those soldiers yelled, grabbing him roughly by the shoulders. Naruto was roughly bound by ropes and pushed into the cart.

"Howdy." he greeted the other prisoners. They nodded in his direction, although with some confusion about his greeting. I guess some of what I say is a bit archaic to them… Or they never heard it before.. hmm… Thoughts for a time when I'm not being arrested?

XxXxX

Naruto opened his eyes to look around. Another prisoner had been added to their numbers. Goody. Another minion.

The new guy seemed to collapse as soon as he was loaded onto the wagon, probably from some kind of head injury, Naruto wasn't sure and he didn't exactly care. All he wanted to do was cause some mayhem so he could escape and complete his mission for Nocturnal. She was a Daedra, and perhaps the most attractive of them all. He wasn't one to break promises, especially to women who are almost all-powerful and extremely well built in the chest region.

"You are finally awake." Naruto looked to see one of the other prisoners looking at him with an inquisitive gaze. He seemed to falter before speaking again.

"Pardon me for asking, but… What race are you? I've been studying you for a while now, and you don't look like any Nord I've ever seen. If anything… You remind me of some of the Khajiit from Elswyr." He said, pointing to Naruto's head. Naruto felt his head and sighed. He'd gotten the ears back. On his head were some small fox ears he'd grown after assimilating with Kyuubi back when he was alive again. Now, somehow he'd gotten them back. He checked to make sure he hadn't grown a tail, and sure enough, he had a fluffy red tail, wagging joyfully behind him.

"Fuck." He said, gaining another curious look from everyone on the wagon.

"I'm a…" he rubbed his chin in thought as he searched for something to call himself. "Shinobi."

"A… Shinobi? I've never heard of a race like that." The brown headed man to the other man's right said with a suspicious glare. Naruto shrugged and went back to sleep.

XxXxX

Naruto's head crashed painfully against the wooden wall of the wagon. He looked around as he cradled his aching head. They'd come to a stop inside of a town.

"Let's go, we shouldn't keep the Gods waiting for us." The blonde headed man said in front of him. Everyone stood up and followed, except for Naruto, who was very confused.

"No, wait! We're not rebels!" apparently, he wasn't the only confused one. Naruto glanced around to get a better stock of who was with him. The blond headed man, the dark headed man, and the man who was gagged all were Nords. The man who was unconscious when he was loaded was an Imperial.

"Face your death with courage, Horse Thief." The blonde said. Naruto nodded to himself. Stealing a horse was a crime worthy of death, in most law books.

"You have to tell them, we're not with you!" The horse thief yelled.

"Shut up, will you?" Naruto asked with a growl. The man's blubbering was driving him insane. He hopped off the cart and faced another one of the armored men, who he realized now, were all Imperial Nords. Imperial… Nords? Really? I know I didn't leave Markarth often, but that is a little bit farfetched.

"Step forward when we call you name." A rather imposing Nord female ordered.

"Ulfric Stormcloak, Jarl of Windhelm." The man with the gag stepped forward, unperturbed by the circumstances. Naruto respected that, as he himself was a little nervous at the prospect of being arrested. Where were they, anyways?

"Ralof of Riverwood." This time, it was the blonde Nord who stepped foreward. Ralof mumbled something to Ulfric as he passed him to stand over by the chopping block.

Naruto gulped when he realized just where they were.

"Wait… You're going to cut my head off? Do you understand how much that hurts?" he asked incredulously. An Imperial soldier pummeled his head from behind.

"Shutup, Khajiit." He said.

"I'm not a Khajiit…" Naruto's complaint fell on deaf ears.

"Lokir of Rorikstead."

"No! I'm not a rebel! You can't do this!" Lokir shouted. Naruto could clearly see the man's leg muscles bunch under his pants. He would have face-palmed if his hands weren't bound. He was going to run.

Just as Naruto predicted, Lokir took off as fast as he could, but it wasn't enough. An archer fired into his back, piercing his heart from the behind.

Note to self: Archers have deadly accuracy.

"You… Who are you?" Naruto looked at the Imperial, inquisitive himself.

"No. You, Khajiit. Who are you?" The Imperial asked. Naruto bristled as he stepped forward.

"I'm not a Khajiit…" he said lamely. No one had believed him yet. Once again it fell on deaf ears.

"What is your name?" the Imperial asked.

"Naruto Uzumaki." Naruto answered. Why did everyone have to think he was a Khajiit?

"We'll make sure your remains are returned to Elsweyr." The Imperial answered. Naruto sighed dramatically before he was pushed to stand in line next to Ralof.

"And who are you?" The Imperial Nord had turned to the Imperial.

"Arius Sergio." The now properly labeled Arius answered. Naruto took the opertunity to study him. He wore rags, similar to the clothing Naruto wore. His face was handsome enough for a man – Naruto wasn't sure, as he didn't normally describe a man as handsome. He had brown eyes and a small frown. His hair was cut short in a warriors cut, so no one could grab it and pull on it. He had a single scar under his left eye, jagged life a cut from a knife. He was imposing, to be sure.

"Stand in line, Imperial." The woman said, cutting off whatever the Imperial Soldier was going to say. Arius complied with a nod of his head and stood next to Naruto. He stood at least 3 inches taller than Naruto, although his ears made up for the gap. Naruto shot Arius a grin.

"Crossing the border, eh? That's what they accused me of. A load of horse shit, if you ask me." Naruto whispered to Arius. The Imperial glanced at Naruto with the same confused glance he got from everyone.

"You're not a Khajiit, are you?" he asked. Naruto immediately liked the man even more.

"Nope. I'm… You can call me a Shinobi, I guess. If anything, I could be considered a breed of Khajiit, as they do have some that look human, but they are all Cats. I'm a fox, as much as I hate to admit." Naruto answered. He was going to say more, but he was interrupted by the chopping block and a squirt of blood.

"That… Was really bloody…" he said. Arius nodded. The head rolled around in a basket as the blood fell freely from the neck. The female Soldier glanced over at Naruto.

"Next, the Khajiit!"

"I'M NOT A FUCKING KHAJIIT!"