Disclaimer: I do not own characters or concepts from either Naruto or Overlord. I only play with them for my (and your) amusement.

The beast looked into the water collecting in the dish showing the outside world, , it has been centuries since his last master, their armies had withered and died, he was one of the last.

He couldn't make more, he was fragile, the process would take more than he or Mortis could take, and with that last, ignorant little monster, their chances would be gone. It was why they needed a master, why they were so loyal, because masters made them great, made them strong.

Gnarl sighed, his leathery brown brow scrunching in thought. The world outside had changed much, much of the magic was gone from it, what was left had been folded into something new, something that rendered minions almost obsolete, they would need to change, the humans controlled fire and lightning like never before. The very rock of the earth was their play thing. They would need much knowledge to be able to bring the dark domain forth again, let alone the minions.

He sighed, he'd have to send Stench out. Stench would have the best chance of gathering any scraps of information they needed, despite his smell. Gnarl sighed, they'd have to bathe him. Stench would cover them all with water before the day was out, and likely cover them all in more filth than they could imagine.

He enjoyed harmless chaos far too much to be healthy.

Stench moved through the tunnels, standing back as Grubby dug them and shored them up, to accommodate the pack he carried. When the brown moved out of the way, the green minion poked his head from the small heap of dirt that they'd disguised the tunnel with before quickly moving to a building that had seen better days. His body hid itself as he looked around, many of these buildings had seen better days, they looked untended. He smiled as he started the work of several nights, searching through this small section of the larger town for bits of paper, books, anything to give the minions an advantage in this new world. With each note, each book or scroll, he tucked them away looking for more before grabbing a book with strange symbols in some kind of array before making his way back to the den he and the other survivors called home.

Gnarl tapped his claw against the page as he read, muttering to himself, and looking at the scroll. "This, jutsu, is fire, the reds might be able to use it, if they still lived anyways." he tossed it aside for a moment before pawing open the books, his eyes opening in surprise. "Looks like old elvish, maybe the sage dialect. Horrid language, but soaked in power." He mumbled to Mortis. "I've never had a chance to study it, let alone with a book like this." He stroked his beard thoughtfully. "The humans are much stronger, we will need a new master, one being trained in the ways of, 'chakra."

He looked at Stench thoughtfully, "You must return to the surface, find someone, a new master. He must be one of these, ninjas. And hurry, we will need to see about adapting the ancient arts, I have some, ideas."

Stench nodded enthusiastically, happy that he would get to go back to the surface, that he'd have the honor of finding a candidate for the next master.

He thought, and thought, and thought some more as Gnarl called for Giblet. Then he gave it up for a lost cause, he was good at stabbing things in the back, and would leave the thinking for Gnarl, he'd find someone who enjoyed chaos, chaos was always fun.

He sat silently watching the jostling throngs of people, young kids throwing paper shuriken, older academy students disappearing through cleverly hidden holes, doors, and various other access points. In fact, Naruto could swear that one bush hadn't been there a few days ago, and judging by the way people were avoiding it, it had to smell something awful. He turned around, and started to load the balloons into the net he'd made, it wasn't a particularly good net, having been made from ribbons, string, and one particular strand made from tied together spaghetti noodles that were now hard and falling apart. Still it didn't have to be good, he just needed it to hold while he pulled the inner tubes tight, and besides, he'd have to leave it behind anyways.

He smiled as the net launched it's payload above the street and the balloons rained down on the people, a kaleidoscope of colors ranging from blood-red to sunshine yellow, painted the masses even as several ninjas reacted automatically to rip apart the balloons with a hail of shuriken, kunai, and some items he had no idea what they were.

"Hahaha! "Take that! An Uzumaki special! Straight from the future Hokage!" His eyes narrowed for a second as he saw something orange and deformed dart into the bush-that-hadn't-been. Then he noticed the angry looks of ninjas gearing up for a chase, and from those with the tattoos like Kiba's, well, they looked more predatory than usual. Naruto chuckled sheepishly before grabbing a handful of kunai that had landed on the roof and ran through the park behind him.

Stench stared up at the sky from his hiding place among the bushes and then at himself. His body soaked in orange paint was hardly pleasant, but the chaos and hatred he felt around him made up for it, "He woulds bes a fun master." He shook himself getting as much of the paint off as he could, then started to walk slowly, careful not to brush into anybody. Once on the other side of the street he moved quickly, ducking through the bushes and foliage at the edge of the park. It was large, but the boy smelled of evil, he could find him. He looked around before grabbing a sheet off a clothesline and wiped his face with it. He chuckled at the orange minion face on it before tucking it into his bag and moving through the bushes.

His search took longer than he thought it would, just like the rest of this place strange city, there were many places for something the size of a minion or child to hide. Stench sniffed and in a happy mood let off a noxious green gas before slowly clawing his way up a tree, he looked into the top of the tree and barely saw green and brown ropes stretched between the branches.

"Ugh, what's that smell?"

Stench took a moment to sniff himself. Yes, he did still stink from that horrid bar they scrubbed him with. He looked up again. "Maybe master?"

Naruto jolted from the light doze he'd entered while waiting for the search to die down. "Huh, wha?" He looked around right before he felt something small and pointy poke between the strands of his net. He cursed silently and looked down for the ninja that was no doubt about to drag him towards the old man's office. When he saw the green demon like face staring at him, he did his best to jump back, the strands tightening around his foot and tripping him as he fell out of it all together, his last thought before his head collided with a branch on the way down, "The fuck was th-?"

Stench looked down the tree at the boy laying underneath it, climbed down, and started to drag it towards an entrance to the strange and delightfully fragrant tunnels that ran all over the city. "What those bes again? Sewes?"

Stench shrugged and continued pulling the boy behind him.

Naruto rolled over, trying to ignore the insistent poking on his forehead. "Are you sure Stench? I suppose he does smell of evil, but he seems a bit on the short side for an overlord."

"Maybe master wants to rule, runs fast and hides well, like greens. I's sure he's ninja."

Naruto mumbled tiredly from behind closed eyes as he ignored the strange way they spoke. "Not a ninja yet, still in the academy. And I don't want to be a hokage, I will be."

Gnarl looked at the semi-concussed boy silently laying on the stone shelf cut into the wall of the den. The one that usually held the few items Gnarl had managed to keep throughout his years of both successful and failed overlords and their destroyed lairs. On the one hand, the pure durium behind that last statement was impressive, the child meant it. He wanted to rule, he wanted power, and he was willing to work for it. On the other hand, he was puny. "Decisions decisions." His clawed toe tapped as he thought before he pointed to Mortis. "Heal him. We'll see whether or not he's worthy as he grows." he muttered as he turned back towards the scrolls and books collected from the abandoned buildings.

Mortis nodded silently as he placed his webbed hand on the boys brow and let a little of the magic that he still commanded flow through his palm before jerking back, "Hellfire!" he spat gleefully as Gnarl turned to him quickly.

"You're sure?" Gnarl asked, his eyes lighting up with barely suppressed joy as Mortis laid his hand back on him.

Mortis concentrated a moment before looking back to Gnarl and shook his head. "No, not hellfire, something, different, but powerful, evil."

Gnarl looked at him silently. "There hasn't been been an overlord with that in him since I was very young indeed. Can it be used to reforge the ancient objects?"

Mortis looked to his old friend. "Maybe, but he will need to learn the hard way. Perhaps he will be stronger for it. Though it would take many sacrifices."

Gnarl nodded, his ears flapping as he did. "Aye, without the heart we have withered, the power of an overlord will return some of our strength, but a true heart, forged anew from the life blood of an army and the power of the Overlord would serve us well."

Gnarl smiled as he began to scheme.

Naruto began to stir on the slave, the hard stone uncomfortable against his skin, Naruto thought for a moment groggily before deciding it was more like patches of skin. "Dammit, what happened to my coat." He sat up, ignoring his surroundings as he pulled off the top of the orange suit and examined it, not only were there holes, but it was dirty and streaked with things he really didn't want to think about. "Well, this is done."

"Indeed Master, though I did take the liberty of having some things prepared for you."

Naruto looked up, his eyes focused on the dim light in the cave around him before he found the source of the voice and slammed into the alcove behind him. "WHAT THE HELL?" The brown, thing, cocked it's head and stared at him.

"Master, there's no need to panic, I am Gnarl, your loyal minion."

"Loyal minion? How the hell can you be my loyal minion, I don't even know you! What the fuck are you?"

Gnarl looked at Naruto like he was particularly dim-witted. Which if Naruto was fair and considered his grades, he might admit wasn't entirely wrong. "Like I said, I'm a minion, your minion, and master of all minions in the absence of our master. We have been alone for a very long time, waiting patiently in the shadows for a new overlord. And we have chosen you."

Naruto looked at the brown thing with a glowing crystal hanging above his head and inched a bit off the shelf, his feet hitting the floor. "Why me? What did I do?"

"Nothing, but we need to start somewhere. Maybe you'll manage, maybe you won't. But without a new overlord we will die. We need a new overlord, and we need life force to spawn anew. And those few of us left are too valuable to sacrifice to make new hives. And even then, we have no reds."

Naruto stared at him. "What do you mean, hives, reds, and sacrifice, what are you talking about?"

Gnarl nodded. "Forgive me our would-be lord. We minions are born from hives. There are four types, the brown minions like myself are the fighters, we hold much strength and ability to adapt to new weapons, though I am old and more learned. The reds are physically very weak, but can unleash powerful fire attacks. The greens who you met are great assassins and prefer to fight from ambush. Then there are the blue, the only minions who can swim and weakest of all minions, but they are powerful healers. Anyways, the hives can be forged from minions with the right rituals and enough power, but there are only three of us brown, a single blue, and Stench the green. I suppose we could sacrifice stench, but I'd rather not be rid of him, his abilities are, unique amongst the greens."

Naruto stared at him. "What?"

Gnarl hung his head and pinched the flesh between his eyes. "Such a wonderful choice Stench." He looked back up at Naruto, "I will explain in time master. For now, we shall attempt to equip you and return you to your home. Once we were born of magic, but it has changed, become something new, so we will need your help to learn about 'chakra. The more I learn, the more I will be able to help you build our kingdom. With the help of our forge master Giblet, we have reforged some ancient relics for this new time. Here." He said as he handed a bundle of leather and metal to Naruto.

"This vest is armored for your protection. The plates shall protect you from most hits, and the leather is not stiff enough to prevent you from taking advantage of the agility of your kind." Gnarl watched as he pulled the leather and metal on over his shirt and looked at it critically. "Hmm, you'll need to grow into it a bit." He said as he eyed the three plates on either side of it hang a bit lower than they intended. He motioned for Stench who walked forward and strapped an armored plate to his right forearm, and then over to his left, both were intricate, but where the right had a minion's face on it, the left had a glowing jewel.

"That jewel will gather the life force of creatures that die, while your minions will attempt to gather it for you. But before that, you must gather some on your own. We need you to do this for us master. I will send Stench with you, the two of you can hunt together. It will take a bit of time, but soon we may gather you a proper horde for your use. "

"A horde, what's that?"

Gnarl looked at him amused. "Large groups of minions can be, difficult to control, once we had artifacts to keep them reigned in, you will have to build a connection to them as the first overlords did." Gnarl watched as two metal shin guards were attached by Stench before nodding. "And last but not least, the mask. Once it was a full helmet, but again, we have reforged it. now it is, something else." Gnarl muttered before he began to slip the black hood over his head, His forehead and cheeks felt cool through the cloth from the metal against it and he looked into a piece of glass that Gnarl held up.

His face wasn't quite hidden, but the shadows caused by the shape of the mask added an almost sinister element to it. It was then he examined the metal itself. The plate on his head bulged outward slightly, five protrusion poking out, the smallest set on the outside, slightly larger on on the set between them, and the middle one even bigger, two metals pieces framed his face and extended past the edges of the black cloth. There was little doubt in Naruto's mind that if he headbutted somebody, they'd feel it. "What if I don't want to be your master?" He asked softly.

Gnarl looked at him closely. "Stench told me of your claim, that you would be Hokage. For you to lead, others must follow. And this is one of the reasons you were chosen master. We are but your humble servants. Will you accept us?"

Naruto looked at him for a second before closing his eyes. "When do we start?"

Gnarl grinned.