1 Prelude...

Drip...

Drip...

My eyes snapped open as I took a sharp intake of breath. I laid flat on my back, submerged in water. The sky above was black but shined brightly with the presence of millions of stars. I shakily stood up, before looking around. Where was I? I cupped my chin as I began to swim through my memories.

The last thing I remembered doing was going to a cartoon/anime convention, dressed up as Ben 10 from the "Alien Force" part of the series. I even had a replica Omnitrix from that part of the series on my wrist, that glowed and emoted. I was mainly there to relax, as I was stressed by the increasing amount of work that had pilled up at my job.

I was wandering around the area when I noticed a poster laying on the ground. I looked around to see if anyone had noticed it, but to my confusion, people were acting like it wasn't even there. Intrigued, I walked up to the poster to inspect it. It was a Naruto poster, showing all of the characters. Being a fan of the anime myself, I reached over to pick it up. But something... strange happened.

As soon as grabbed the poster, the Omnitrix on my wrist began to glow a bright green, while the Naruto poster began to glow a bright orange. The two lights clashed, before mixing into a bright white light, which obscured my vision. And the next thing I knew...

"... I woke up here." I said to myself.

I looked at my reflection in the water, noticing that I was still in my Ben 10 costume, but oddly my replica Omnitrix was gone.

"Did I... die?"

"Not exactly."

The voice sounded throughout the room, seemingly coming from nowhere. I quickly turned around as winds began to whip around my body. Water began to steam as a bright silver light swirled into existence in front of me. The water under the light fizzled out, reveling a dull metal surface. I covered my eyes with my arm before the light dimmed. Moving my arm, I observed the sight in front of me. My eyes widened as my jaw slackened.

"What the hell?"

"Heh, I do get that reaction a lot," said Hagaromo Otsutsuki. His Rinnegan eyes seemed to peer into my soul, assessing me. He floated above the ground, with six Truth-Seeker orbs lazily floating behind him.

"Y-you're the Sage of the Six Paths!? Y-you aren't real!"

The Sage's smirking visage shifted into a frown at my question. His Rinnegan eyes suddenly glowed purple. I suddenly fell to my knees as the air around became dense. The ground began to crack under me, before cratering. I began to sweat bullets, coughing in pain. The air suddenly became light again, as stopped coughing.

"Does that seem real enough for you?"

I slowly tilted my head up and began to speak.

"What... what do want. I've seen the series. You being here is a bad sign for me. What do you want with me!?" I said raspingly.

This caused the Sage to frown, as he closed his eyes. He let a sigh before looking at me.

"Straight to the point, huh? I guess that could be expected. Okay... to answer your question, what I want from you is not a simple thing. For too long my children have been fighting, so engulfed in their petty squabbles to notice the consequences of their actions. I'm sure you know what will happen concerning my... mother, and I want you to stop that from happening. Mend my son's bond once more."

I picked myself up before glaring at the sage.

"Why are you asking me, huh?! Shouldn't you as their father be more involved with this, instead of bringing me into this!"

The Sage narrowed his eyes, as his Truth-Seeker orbs began to shift erratically. I was suddenly lifted off the ground, as Sage's face got close to mine.

"Don't you think that if I had that option, I would use it! I wouldn't need you to help me. Unfortunately, there are some... circumstances... that prevent me from intervening now. That's why I'm asking you." He said coldly.

He dropped me to the ground, as I landed in a crouch. I realized that there was nothing I could do to stop this, so I have to go along with this. Seeing my turmoil, his face lightened up, as he raised a hand.

"I know that this is a lot to ask you, but I beg of you to do this for me. Please."

I looked down at the ground as I though about this one last time.

".... Fine, I'll do it."

His face brightened up as I said this.

"Good! You have my debt for this! In fact I think I'll pay it off right now. I recognize that the world I'm sending you in is dangerous, so I thought it would be appropriate to a... gift."

He closed his eyes before widely opening them once again, the Rinnegan shining with power. On his forehead a small line appeared before opening revealing a ruby red Rinne-Sharingan, its tomoe spinning hypnotically. He held out both of his hands, as two twin flames materialized in his palms, one red one blue. He clapped his hands together.

"Creation Of All Things!"

In his cupped hands the two flames blended into a bright green light as it molded itself into a shape. I watched with wide eyes as the light suddenly dimmed, the area becoming darker.

I began to stare as I noticed what was in his hands.

"I'm sure you realize what this is."

It was the Omnitrix. It looked exactly like my replica one, but the difference was that my replica was made of plastic and was hollow, while this one glowed with power.

"Oh my god, this is so cool! How is this real?! How many aliens do I have! Do I have master control. Is this-"

"Silence. This will all be explained. The aliens I have given you are right now 20 in total. I know the true power of this watch and right now you can't handle it."

I barely heard him, as I grabbed the Omnitrix from him. I placed the watch on my wrist and watched as it tightened into a tight position. The hourglass symbol on the faceplate lit up in a bright green light as it activated it.

The Sage noticed this and began to laugh at my awe.

"It seems you already understand all about this watch, huh? Well I guess this is where we part ways."

This brought me out of my wonder, as I looked at him like he was crazy.

"What the hell do you mean?!"

He chuckled.

"Making that watch took almost all my chakra. The amount of life forms in the device was immense. It will take me a long time to regenerate my chakra. I can't hold up this place any longer. You have to go, now."

With a final wave of his hand, my body began to dissolve into countless green flickers of light. The last thing I saw was the Sages tired eyes closing.