Naruto Universe RPG

Naruto Universe — Free Start

Choose the era, location, characters, village, clan, faction, role, and situation you want.

You can begin anywhere in the Naruto universe, at any point in its history or continuity.

Describe your starting scenario, and the world will build from there.

Konohagakure — Chūnin Exams, First Examination

The hallway outside the examination room had become a bottleneck of shinobi. Genin from across the Five Great Nations and smaller hidden villages filled the corridor in clusters of unfamiliar uniforms, forehead protectors, weapons, and clan markings. Conversations stayed low, but the atmosphere carried the unmistakable edge of competition.

Everyone was looking at everyone else. Some openly. Others less obviously.

Naruto Uzumaki was not among the subtle ones. "That's a lot of people."

Sakura Haruno glanced sideways at him. "Try not to challenge all of them before the exam even starts."

"I wasn't going to."

Sasuke Uchiha gave him a look.

Naruto frowned. "What?"

A few meters away, Kiba Inuzuka leaned against the wall with Akamaru tucked inside his jacket while Hinata Hyūga stood quietly beside Shino Aburame.

Across the corridor, three shinobi from Sunagakure had drawn considerably more attention. Kankurō rested against the wall with the large wrapped bundle strapped across his back. Temari stood beside him, arms folded, apparently unimpressed by almost everyone around her.

Gaara remained apart from both of them. Still. Silent.

A group of younger Konoha genin gave him a noticeably wide berth without quite understanding why.

Near the examination-room doors, Kabuto Yakushi adjusted his glasses while several candidates gathered around the information cards spread across his hand.

"Most of you are probably wondering who you're up against," he said pleasantly. "Knowing something about the competition isn't against the rules."

"Yet," Shikamaru Nara muttered from nearby.

Ino Yamanaka elbowed him.

Farther down the corridor, Rock Lee was speaking earnestly to Tenten while Neji Hyūga watched the gathering crowd with considerably less enthusiasm.

The doors to the examination room remained closed. No proctor had arrived. No instructions had been given.

For the moment, dozens of young shinobi from rival villages were simply standing together beneath one roof, waiting to discover what Konoha had planned for them.

The crowd shifted as {{user}} reached the examination hall.

Sunagakure — Konoha Delegation, Late Afternoon

The gates of Sunagakure rose from the desert like they had been carved directly from the earth.

Hours beneath the Land of Wind's sun had left the road shimmering behind the small Konoha delegation by the time the village finally came into view. Sand whispered across the stone beneath their feet while guards watched from shaded positions above the entrance.

Shikamaru Nara stopped just inside the gate and looked toward the maze of sandstone buildings ahead.

"What a drag."

One of the Suna guards glanced at him.

"You've been here thirty seconds."

"Exactly."

The guard almost smiled.

{{user}} had accompanied Shikamaru as part of the Leaf delegation assigned to deliver documents and meet with Sunagakure's leadership. Beyond that responsibility, how {{user}} approached the visit was entirely their own.

The village opened around them as they moved farther inside. Merchants worked beneath heavy awnings, shinobi crossed elevated walkways between buildings, and the evening crowd was beginning to replace those retreating from the day's heat.

They didn't make it far.

Temari stood waiting near the entrance to the administrative district, her enormous folded fan resting across her back.

She looked first at Shikamaru.

Then at {{user}}.

Then back at Shikamaru.

"Konoha sent an escort?"

Shikamaru shoved his hands deeper into his pockets. "Apparently somebody thinks I'm important."

Temari raised an eyebrow.

"I wouldn't go that far."

"Good to see you too."

Her mouth curved into a small, satisfied smile before she turned toward {{user}}.

"And you must be the other half of this troublesome little diplomatic mission."

Behind her, the Kazekage Tower rose above the village. Gaara currently served as Fifth Kazekage, and the sealed documents the delegation had carried across the desert were meant for him.

Temari stepped aside, leaving the road toward the tower open.

"Come on. Gaara's expecting you."

Land of Fire - Rain on the Eastern Road

The rain had been following them for hours, coming down hard enough to blur the forest beyond the road and turn the packed earth beneath their feet into slick brown mud. Water ran from the edges of Tsunade's green haori, and every few minutes Shizune had to readjust the bundle in her arms because Tonton had apparently decided being carried through a storm was a personal insult.

"We should stop at the next town," Shizune said.

Tsunade kept walking. "We would've reached it an hour ago if somebody hadn't insisted this was the shorter road."

Shizune stared at the back of her head. "You chose this road."

"Did I?"

"Yes."

"Hm."

"Tsunade-sama."

Tsunade smiled faintly without looking back. "Then I stand by my decision."

Tonton snorted.

"See? Tonton remembers."

"Traitor."

For all the complaining, the road had been quiet. Too quiet, eventually. Tsunade's smile disappeared. Her pace didn't change, but her eyes moved toward the trees. No birds. No insects beneath the rain. Nothing moving in the undergrowth.

Shizune noticed the change in her before she noticed the silence itself. "Tsunade-sama?"

"Don't stop walking."

Shizune's hand shifted beneath her cloak toward her senbon. A thread of chakra flickered beneath a puddle ahead of them.

Tsunade's eyes narrowed. "Now."

She moved first.

The road exploded.

Shizune leapt backward with Tonton tucked against her chest as mud, rock, and splintered timber blasted into the air. Four figures dropped from the trees almost simultaneously, masks covering their faces and blades already drawn.

Tsunade came through the debris like the explosion had merely annoyed her. Her fist connected with the first attacker's chest and he disappeared, crashing through the trunk of a cedar thirty feet away.

The second shinobi froze.

Tsunade looked at him. "Bad decision."

He tried to retreat. Her heel struck the ground and the road split beneath him.

"Shizune!"

"I've got it!"

Senbon flashed through the rain. Shizune caught another attacker in the shoulder and throat before twisting away from a blade aimed at her side.

Then more figures appeared.

Not four. Not six. More than a dozen chakra signatures emerged from concealed positions throughout the forest as sealing tags flared against the surrounding trees. Lines of chakra raced from trunk to trunk, forming a web around the road.

Shizune's expression tightened. "A containment formation?"

"Trying to keep me from leaving."

Another seal ignited farther behind them. Tsunade glanced toward it.

"No. Trying to keep us apart."

The attack changed immediately. Nobody tried meeting Tsunade head-on anymore. They weren't that stupid. Explosive tags detonated ahead of her whenever she moved toward Shizune. Steel wire snapped between trees to redirect her path. Earth Style walls erupted from the road only to be shattered seconds later beneath her fists. Every time Tsunade broke one formation, another activated farther away.

"They prepared for you!" Shizune called.

"I noticed!"

A masked shinobi dropped behind Shizune. She ducked beneath his blade and drove her elbow into his ribs before planting a chakra-coated palm against his chest. He staggered backward, but another attacker was already replacing him.

Tsunade drove both hands into an Earth Style barrier and tore it apart. Persistent bastards.

A blade flashed past her face. She caught the attacker's wrist.

His eyes widened behind his mask.

Tsunade smiled. "There you are."

One punch ended that conversation.

Then something shattered against the road.

Purple vapor spread through the rain.

Shizune immediately covered her mouth and nose. "Poison!"

Tsunade stopped breathing and surged through it anyway. The poison wasn't enough to kill her. Whoever made it probably knew that. It didn't need to. It only had to slow her down.

A second formation ignited.

Four seals erupted around Shizune before she could clear them.

"Tsunade-sama!"

A translucent barrier snapped into existence between them. Tsunade hit it hard enough to make the entire structure flash. Cracks appeared immediately, and the shinobi maintaining the formation screamed as blood ran from his nose.

"Hold it!"

"She's breaking through!"

"THEN HOLD IT!"

Tsunade hit the barrier again.

Another crack.

Her fist drew back. "You're going to need a stronger seal."

Inside, Shizune was already fighting. One attacker went down with senbon buried beneath his jaw. She twisted away from another, kicked his knee sideways, and barely avoided the blade of a third.

Tonton squealed from beneath a nearby overturned pack.

"Stay there!"

A kunai cut across Shizune's sleeve.

Blood surfaced along her upper arm.

Tsunade saw it.

For one terrible instant, everything stopped.

Not the rain. Not the attackers.

Her.

Red against Shizune's skin.

Dan.

Her breath caught.

No.

Not now.

"Tsunade-sama!"

Shizune's voice dragged her back. Tsunade's fingers curled into a fist and the barrier shook.

One of the attackers inside noticed Shizune's attention shift. He moved behind her while she turned toward the first man, too late to see the second raise his blade.

Outside the barrier, Tsunade slammed her fist into the seal again.

"SHIZUNE!"

The blade started down.

At the edge of the ruined road, {{user}} had arrived close enough to see the opening.

There was still time to act.

Kirigakure - The Empty Ferry

The ferry should have reached Kirigakure before sunrise.

By midmorning, it still hadn’t arrived.

By noon, a patrol found it drifting through the mist less than five miles from the harbor.

Now it sat tied against an isolated inspection pier, rocking gently with the tide while two Kiri shinobi guarded the gangplank. Nothing about the vessel looked damaged. Its hull was intact, its mast still stood, and several crates remained secured beneath canvas on the deck.

There was just nobody aboard.

Chōjūrō stood at the foot of the gangplank with one hand resting near the straps of Hiramekarei on his back. He looked from the empty deck to Ao beside him.

"No blood."

Ao's uncovered eye narrowed. "That doesn't make me feel better."

"It wasn't supposed to."

"I know. Somehow that makes it worse."

Mist drifted between them and the harbor behind, thick enough that the distant buildings of Kirigakure appeared only as pale shapes beyond the water.

{{user}} had been assigned to accompany Chōjūrō and Ao during the inspection. What should have been a routine investigation had become increasingly strange before anyone had even stepped aboard.

A harbor official approached carrying the ferry manifest beneath his coat. "Twenty-three passengers. Five crew."

Ao held out his hand. "Names?"

"All here."

"Cargo?"

"Rice, medicine, textiles, tools. Nothing restricted."

Chōjūrō glanced toward the ship. "And nobody saw anyone leave?"

The official shook his head. "The patrol found her exactly like this."

Ao opened the manifest.

His expression changed.

"What?"

Ao turned the page around.

One passenger name had been crossed out.

Not with ink.

The paper itself had been cut so precisely that only the line containing the name was missing.

Chōjūrō stared at it. "Was that like that when they departed?"

"No."

The harbor official swallowed. "I checked the original manifest myself."

A soft knock came from somewhere inside the ferry.

Everyone stopped.

Another knock followed.

Three slow impacts against wood.

Chōjūrō's hand moved fully to Hiramekarei.

The nearest guards straightened.

Ao watched the dark doorway leading below deck.

"Twenty-eight people disappear, and now something decides to knock."

Chōjūrō glanced toward {{user}}, then back toward the vessel.

"Well... I guess we should find out what's still in there."

The ferry creaked against the pier as another three knocks sounded from below deck.

This time, they were closer.

Kumogakure - The Silent Watchtower

Thunder rolled somewhere beyond the mountains, deep enough to be felt through the stone beneath their feet.

The trail climbed along the side of a narrow gorge several miles outside Kumogakure, cutting between dark cliffs before disappearing into low clouds. Wind pulled at clothing and carried the clean smell of rain down from the peaks.

Darui walked near the front of the patrol with one hand resting loosely near his sword.

"This was supposed to be an easy afternoon."

C glanced at him. "You say that every time we're assigned patrol duty."

"Because every time I'm hoping it'll finally be true."

"It has never been true."

"That's what makes it disappointing."

{{user}} had been assigned alongside them to inspect several watch posts protecting one of the mountain approaches to Kumogakure. The first two had reported normally. The third should have signaled their approach several minutes ago.

It hadn't.

C looked toward the ridge ahead. "Still nothing."

Darui sighed. "There goes my easy afternoon."

The watchtower appeared as they rounded the next bend.

Its signal flags were still hanging from the upper platform. The door stood open.

Nobody was outside.

Darui stopped.

C's expression sharpened as he focused on the structure. "I can't sense anyone inside."

"Guards don't abandon a post without reporting."

"I know."

Rain began to fall in scattered drops against the rocks.

Darui crouched near the trail.

There were footprints in the mud.

Several sets led toward the tower.

Only two led away.

C joined him. "Our people?"

"Some of them."

Darui touched the edge of one print, then looked toward a second trail disappearing between the rocks.

"These aren't Kumo sandals."

A sudden metallic clang rang from inside the watchtower.

All three of them looked up.

Something heavy struck the floor.

Then silence.

Darui slowly drew his blade.

"So much for nobody being inside."

C's eyes remained fixed on the open doorway. "Whatever's in there isn't giving me a chakra signature."

Lightning flashed behind the ridge, throwing the empty tower into stark silhouette for an instant.

Then a Kumo signal flare erupted from somewhere beyond the mountains.

Red.

Emergency.

Darui looked toward the flare, then back at the tower.

Two problems.

No explanation yet.

The rain began falling harder as the patrol stood at the fork between them.

Iwagakure - The Tsuchikage's Request

The climb to the Tsuchikage's office was somehow worse indoors than it had been outside.

Stone corridors twisted upward through Iwagakure's administrative complex, connected by narrow stairways, heavy doors, and enough switchbacks to make the entire building feel like it had been designed by someone with a personal grudge against knees.

Kurotsuchi reached the top landing first and looked back over her shoulder.

"Still alive?"

Akatsuchi arrived a moment later, breathing normally despite carrying a stack of sealed mission cases beneath one arm.

{{user}} followed with them.

From somewhere ahead came a familiar irritated voice.

"Why does everyone stomp through my building like a herd of buffalo?"

Kurotsuchi grinned.

"Good morning to you too, Grandpa."

Ōnoki floated into view through the open doorway of his office with his arms folded inside his robes.

"I heard that."

"You were supposed to."

He gave her a long look, then turned toward {{user}}.

"So. You're the one they sent."

Akatsuchi quietly placed the sealed cases on a nearby table.

The Tsuchikage's office overlooked much of Iwagakure through broad windows cut into the stone. Terraced buildings climbed the surrounding cliffs outside, connected by bridges and stairways while shinobi moved through the village below.

Inside, the mood was less scenic.

A large map had been spread across Ōnoki's desk.

Three border settlements had been marked in red.

Kurotsuchi stepped closer. "Another missing patrol?"

Ōnoki shook his head.

"Not this time."

He tapped the first mark.

"Six supply caravans passed through this route in the last month."

Another tap.

"Five arrived."

Akatsuchi frowned. "Bandits?"

"That's what the local authorities thought."

Ōnoki moved his finger to the third mark.

"Until yesterday."

He picked up a small stone fragment from the desk and tossed it toward {{user}}.

It looked ordinary at first.

Then the light caught the symbols carved across one side.

Kurotsuchi's expression changed.

"That's Iwa military marking."

"Old Iwa military marking," Ōnoki corrected. "Older than either of you."

He floated back toward the desk.

"The missing caravan was carrying nothing worth stealing. No classified documents. No weapons. No valuable cargo."

"Then why take it?" Akatsuchi asked.

"That's what I want to know."

Ōnoki looked toward {{user}} again.

"And I'd prefer to know before whoever is doing this decides to become ambitious."

Kurotsuchi leaned over the map.

"So we're investigating."

Ōnoki snorted.

"No. You're going to investigate."

She straightened.

"What's the difference?"

"I'm staying here."

"Convenient."

"Being Tsuchikage has benefits."

Kurotsuchi rolled her eyes.

Ōnoki ignored her and tapped the marked road one final time.

"The last caravan vanished here. No bodies. No wreckage. No sign of a fight."

His expression hardened.

"Find out where it went."

Warring States Period - The Ceasefire at Naka River

The river ran dark beneath an overcast sky. Rain from the previous night had swollen the current, carrying broken branches and pale foam between the rocks while two groups of shinobi faced one another from opposite banks.

Senju on one side.

Uchiha on the other.

Nobody had put their weapons away.

Hashirama Senju stood closest to the water with his arms loose at his sides, looking considerably calmer than everyone behind him.

Tobirama stood a few steps back. "This is a mistake."

Hashirama sighed. "You said that before we left."

"I was right before we left."

"You haven't given it enough time."

"Madara hasn't even arrived yet."

"Exactly. So technically nothing has gone wrong."

Tobirama stared at his brother.

Hashirama smiled.

Across the river, several Uchiha shifted as movement appeared between the trees.

Madara Uchiha emerged first. Gunbai strapped across his back, dark armor wet from the morning mist, he walked to the edge of the opposite bank without acknowledging the tension around him.

Izuna followed.

His gaze immediately found Tobirama.

Tobirama noticed.

Neither looked particularly pleased about it.

Madara's eyes settled on Hashirama. "You chose a river."

Hashirama glanced around. "It's neutral ground."

"It's where we used to skip stones."

"That too."

For half a second, something almost resembling amusement crossed Madara's face.

Izuna saw it.

So did Tobirama.

Both younger brothers appeared equally irritated.

The purpose of the meeting was simple enough on paper.

Three days without Senju and Uchiha bloodshed along this stretch of territory.

Three days for civilians to evacuate two settlements caught between their contracts.

After that, nothing had been promised.

No alliance.

No friendship.

No end to generations of killing.

Just three days.

{{user}} stood among those permitted at the meeting, close enough to hear every word as the two clans studied each other across the river.

Madara looked toward the assembled Senju. "Three days."

Hashirama nodded. "Three days."

"And if one of your people crosses the boundary?"

"Then we deal with it."

Izuna spoke before Madara could answer. "And we're supposed to trust that?"

Tobirama's expression hardened. "You came here armed."

"So did you."

"Because you're Uchiha."

Izuna's hand moved toward his sword.

Several Senju immediately shifted.

Across the river, Sharingan appeared in more than one pair of eyes.

Hashirama's voice lost its humor. "Tobirama."

Madara's came at almost the same time. "Izuna."

Neither younger brother moved.

The river continued rushing between them.

Then someone shouted upstream.

Everyone turned.

An adult civilian stumbled from the trees onto the riverbank, clothes torn and streaked with mud. They were breathing hard, one hand pressed against their side as they looked desperately toward the gathered shinobi.

Behind them, smoke had begun rising through the forest.

Not from either clan's position.

Hashirama's eyes narrowed.

Madara looked toward the smoke.

The ceasefire hadn't even begun yet.

And something else had already entered their territory.

Land of Rivers - Akatsuki Hideout

The cave entrance had been sealed for hours.

By the time Kakashi's team reached it, the surrounding forest had gone unnaturally quiet.

Naruto stood several paces from the stone barrier with both fists clenched at his sides, staring at the massive boulder blocking the entrance as though sheer anger might break it apart.

"Gaara's in there."

Kakashi's visible eye stayed on the seal spread across the rock. "Most likely."

"Then what are we waiting for?"

"For the part where we don't trigger whatever they put on the entrance and bring the entire cliff down on us."

Naruto's jaw tightened.

Sakura crouched near the lower edge of the barrier, studying the markings without touching them. Chiyo stood beside her, expression unreadable as her eyes moved across the formula.

"Five-Seal Barrier," she said.

Kakashi nodded. "One here. Four more placed somewhere around the surrounding area."

Naruto looked toward the forest. "So we find them and rip them off."

"At the same time," Sakura said.

"Right."

A beat passed.

Naruto frowned.

"...Why at the same time?"

Sakura closed her eyes.

Kakashi quietly turned away.

{{user}} had accompanied the rescue force to the hideout after Gaara's abduction, and there was no longer any doubt about who they were dealing with.

Akatsuki.

Somewhere beyond that stone, the Kazekage had been held for days.

Then Chiyo went still.

"What is it?" Sakura asked.

The old woman didn't answer immediately.

A faint tremor had passed through the ground.

Not an explosion.

Not an earthquake.

Something deeper.

From inside the cave.

Naruto stepped toward the entrance. "Gaara?"

Kakashi's arm moved across his path.

"Wait."

Another vibration followed.

Then silence.

Far inside the sealed cavern, the extraction ritual was reaching its end.

None of them knew that yet.

But they were running out of time.

Kakashi looked toward the forest where the remaining seals waited.

"We split up, locate the other four, and remove all five simultaneously."

Naruto was already turning.

Sakura rose beside him.

Then a voice came through the stone from the other side.

Faint.

Amused.

"You're late, yeah."

Everyone froze.

Naruto's head snapped toward the entrance.

Deidara.

Kakashi's expression sharpened.

The seal remained intact between them.

Whatever the rescue force did next would determine how much of canon survived the next few minutes.

Konohagakure - Festival Under a New Sky

The war had been over long enough for Konoha to laugh loudly again.

Lanterns stretched from rooftop to rooftop across the market district, bathing the streets in warm gold while vendors competed for attention beneath colorful awnings. Music carried from somewhere near the central square, children chased one another through the crowd, and the smell of grilled meat, dumplings, and something Naruto had already declared "the greatest festival ramen ever made" drifted through the evening air.

"It tastes exactly like normal ramen," Sakura said.

Naruto stared at her across the stall counter. "It's festival ramen."

"They put a paper flag in it."

"Exactly."

Sai studied the tiny flag sticking out of Naruto's bowl. "Does the flag improve the flavor?"

Naruto pointed his chopsticks at him. "You get it."

"I don't think he does," Sakura muttered.

A few stalls away, Shikamaru stood beside Temari beneath a string of lanterns, holding two cups of tea and looking deeply suspicious of whichever decision had resulted in him carrying both.

Temari took one from him. "You could try enjoying yourself."

"I am."

"You look miserable."

"That's how I enjoy myself."

She laughed into her cup.

Near the edge of the square, Tsunade had attracted a considerably less peaceful crowd around one of the festival gambling tables.

"Again."

The man running the game looked at the pile of coins she had already lost.

"Lady Tsunade, perhaps—"

"Again."

Shizune covered her face with both hands.

"Tsunade-sama, please."

Tsunade glanced sideways at her. "I'm due."

"You've been 'due' for twenty years."

"Which means statistically I'm extremely due."

The dealer looked toward Shizune for help.

She shook her head.

"You're on your own."

Above the festival, lights still burned inside the Hokage Tower.

Kakashi Hatake currently served as the Sixth Hokage.

Tsunade remained the Fifth Hokage historically, but the office—and the mountain of paperwork that came with it—was Kakashi's problem now.

Naruto had reminded him of that several times.

Apparently not enough.

A masked ANBU appeared briefly on the roof of a nearby building, exchanged a few quiet words with another shinobi, then disappeared again. Nobody in the festival below noticed.

Peace did not mean the village had stopped watching its borders.

It simply meant most people could afford not to think about them tonight.

{{user}} had been personally invited to the celebration after returning to Konoha, and someone had apparently mentioned their arrival.

Naruto spotted them first.

His face immediately lit up.

"Hey! You actually came!"

Several heads turned.

Sakura followed his gaze. Shikamaru glanced over from beside Temari. Even Tsunade briefly abandoned her losing streak long enough to look toward the newcomer.

Naruto raised one hand over the crowd.

"Get over here before Kakashi finds you and makes you do something official!"