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Blood Ties (Naruto/Skyrim)

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Blood Ties is a crossover between Naruto and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim by Igornerd.

Two men, twins separated as infants. Divided by an ocean, they grew up in very different worlds, but both became warriors of incredible skill and power.

Minato Namikaze, the Fourth Hokage of Konohagakure. And Conrad Harissen, the Last Dragonborn.

A close brush with death finds Conrad finally meeting his brother in the last place he would ever expect: the belly of the Shinigami, known to him as the Soul Cairn. There, Minato tasks him to find his home and warn them of their hidden enemies.

But first, Conrad must find an entire continent. And Minato never said anything about a nephew...

Also on FanFiction.net and Archive of Our Own!


Blood Ties contains examples of:

  • Adaptation Origin Connection: The moon of the Elemental Nations was apparently constructed by the Sage of the Six Paths for the additional purpose of warding off the Daedric Princes.
  • Adaptation Species Change: It's implied that some of the "Bloodline limits" that cause the wielder to gain animalistic traits are actually remnants of Akavir's non-human population. Orochimaru himself is implied to be a Tsaesci, while he is merely a human who modified his own body after snakes in canon Naruto.
  • Adaptational Badass:
    • A case of this applying to a branch of magic, rather than a specific person. In The Elder Scrolls, The school of Conjuration is normally limited to two summons at most for a master. In this story, no such limit is mentioned, and Conrad is fully capable of summoning entire swathes of summons without any difficulty.
    • Magical staves in The Elder Scrolls are typically limited to one spell at a time, making them near worthless for dedicated mages. Here, they're explicitly used to help the wielder channel their magicka, thereby increasing the potency of their spells.
  • Adaptational Personality Change: While Durnehviir isn't a full-blown case of Adaptational Jerkass here, he's considerably more battle-hungry than he was in Skyrim. Notably, while he's perfectly content with being summoned for no reason in the canon game (if only to be able to fly through the skies of Nirn again), here he always looks for a fight whenever he's summoned. This trait of his makes Conrad considerably more reluctant to call upon him unless there's an emergency at hand.
  • Adaptational Secrecy Downgrade: Thanks to Conrad barging into his life and revealing just who his father really is as part of Minato's posthumous mission, Naruto finds out that he's the Yondaime's son during the Chunin exams, whereas canon would have him find out in his late teens. Likewise, thanks to a Loophole Abuse regarding the Sandaime's law, Naruto gets to tell Sakura and Sasuke that he's the Jinchuuriki of Konoha and that he's the son of a Hokage, something that took several story arcs within Naruto proper.
  • The Alcoholic: Conrad is a heavy drinker, heavily addicted to mead. While he's admittedly a Nord (and thus always feels The Need for Mead), it's lightly implied that this is partly because of all of his experiences coming down on him. When finds out that Akavir/the Elemental Nations does not have mead, he is immediately distraught at the thought of not being able to drink it out, resorting to sake instead.
  • Answer Cut: In Chapter 25, Tsunade ends up hosting a meeting with Shikaku to discuss their rescue mission for Naruto and Sasuke, where he promptly asks if they've asked Conrad to not do anything rash. Cue to the man in question doing just that.
  • Apathetic Citizens: Downplayed with Conrad, who really wishes he could stay out of politics, but the fact he's The Archmage, the Dragonborn and a big Imperial supporter means he has, at least to a point, to play the political games in Skyrim. This is why he's a bit perplexed at his nephew's wish to be Hokage, though he does make it clear that he does understand the need for an extensive education when entering politics and that while he can support Naruto's ambitions, he's going to push him hard mentally as well as physically.
  • The Archmage:
    • Conrad is a powerful mage and has been offered the title by Winterhold four times, but he has staunchly refused them all. He's later interested to note his mother was a mage herself.
    • The Sage of the Six Paths is later revealed to be one, with Conrad's students claiming that he could possibly be stronger than the likes of Mannimarco and Vanus Galerion upon their discovery of the fact that he created Akavir's moon as a Protective Charm to ward off the influence of the Daedric Princes. Conrad himself believes that he would have made Vivec look like a mere child by comparison.
  • Awesome, but Impractical: Tsunade's holds this as her opinion of alchemy when she becomes more acquainted with it. While she acknowledges that its effects (especially healing) are revolutionary, she also points out that it can't be used properly in a battle thanks to the fact that potions are too clunky to bring and drink during a battle. This is especially true since ninjas are Lightning Bruiser Combat Pragmatists who can afford to strike where non-shinobi are incapable of. She and her apprentice later try to offset this trope by coming up with new ways to revise potions to make them easier to use on the battlefield, such as converting them into pills and using syringes.
  • Badass Bookworm: As a wizard, Conrad is extremely intelligent and loves to read. But he's certainly no pushover. He's also very interested in the history of the Akavir continent and laments whatever past incident led to the increasingly serious loss of knowledge, having found very few sources that date back more than a hundred years (for context, his current home city is near five millennia old).
  • Barbarian Hero: As a Nord, Conrad is often stereotyped as a bit of a brute... even though he is an intelligent wizard.
  • Batman Gambit: Conrad often resorts to this. While he did offer the captain a very large sum, he only pays up half up front and lets him know the rest will be given to him upon return, and once he's dropped off at the Elemental Nations, he transmutes the gold he had already paid into silver to ensure the captain won't have the bright idea to leave him behind before he has the chance to revert it to its true value.
  • Batman Grabs a Gun: The people of Tamriel generally frown upon Necromancy (with Dark Mages and, well... Necromancers as the usual exceptions) to the point of it being illegal in most provinces, and Conrad himself is no exception. However, when he and Jiraiya end up being overpowered by Orochimaru, he resorts to raising the corpses within the Snake Sannin's lab to get an advantage, before sealing the deal by attempting to Soul Trap Orochimaru into a black soul gem.
    The boy's safety was on the line though. What would he do to ensure his safety, Conrad asked himself?
    Everything.
  • The Bet: Quite a few wagers are brought up by cast, with some of them having important effects in the greater scope of the setting.
    • Tsunade sets a drinking contest against Conrad with the prize being him personally teaching her alchemy. Amusingly enough, she actually manages to win, even if mainly due to the fact that Conrad had recently woken up from a coma.
    • It's heavily implied that Naruto himself made a bet with Tsunade to see if he could master the Rasengan before she could leave the village. The wager is later revealed to be Tsunade's condition to take on Sarutobi's hat as the new Hokage.
  • Blood Knight:
    • As a mortal with the soul of a dragon and a Nord, Conrad is generally eager to put up a fight (though he doesn't actively attempt to seek one out all the time), and even compares it to a good romp.
    • Durnehviir is one, as with most dragons in The Elder Scrolls. A combination of this and his Pride is what prevents Conrad from calling him too often unless he's either surrounded or in an emergency. Durnehviir gleefully ends up fighting the the giant, three-headed snake during the invasion of Konoha instead of adhering to Conrad's demand to help save his nephew. Conrad himself admits that he understands why Durnehviir was so enticed, and opts to save Naruto himself.
  • Berserk Button: The loss of Conrad's beard is a very touchy subject.
  • Brick Joke: Early on, Mirabelle comments Conrad likes mead so much, he'd love to swim in it. Much later, he has a wonderful dream where he's literally swimming in the stuff.
  • Broad Strokes: In Skyrim, the quests to destroy the Dark Brotherhood and kill Titus Mede II are mutually exclusive. In Chapter 24, Conrad mentions that while he did take out the Dark Brotherhood, the group had also killed the Emperor of Cyrodiil prior to that.
  • Brutish Character, Brutish Weapon: Conrad's weapon of choice is an axe, fitting his more barbaric style of fighting, especially compared to the ninja of the Elemental Nations. That having been said, he also downplays this as he's a Magic Knight who additionally uses a Magic Staff in accordance and is an intellectual wizard, to boot.
  • Butt-Monkey: Sven, the only Imperial among the magelings, isn't quite a Plucky Comic Relief, but tends to provide more comedy than average.
  • Calling the Old Man Out: Conrad initially attempts to do this to Sarutobi over Naruto's upbringing (or lack, thereof). He reluctantly backs down when the Hokage (intentionally) places his stump where his leg used to be to nab his sympathy. He later ends up doing it in full swing when finds out exactly why Naruto's treatment by the villagers is the way it is. Hiruzen internally admits that the man has a point, no matter how much it stings to be called out by Conrad of all people.
  • The Chosen One: As the Last Dragonborn, Conrad has been at the center of multiple prophecies and potential apocalypses, dealing directly with several Daedric Princes.
  • Combat Pragmatist: Conrad has no patience for honor in a fight.
  • Conditioned to Accept Horror: Naruto and Sasuke nonchalantly bring up the fact that they nearly died during their first mission, in spite of the fact that neither of them are older than thirteen. Conrad's response to this is to get a drink.
  • Continuity Nod: As the story takes place about a decade after the events of Skyrim, various events that have happened throughout the game often get referenced by the Dragonborn. However, the events of the other games and the background lore from The Elder Scrolls get alluded to.
  • Crossover Relatives: The premise of the fanfic has the Dragonborn be Minato Namikaze's long lost twin and thus Naruto's uncle.
  • Culture Clash: There are multiple instances where blunt, plain-spoken Conrad unintentionally (or intentionally) offends Konoha ninja. There's also the fact that he's getting used to the comforts of civilization, many of which Skyrim simply doesn't have. For his part, Conrad is appalled by the Shinobi world's widespread and casual acceptance of Child Soldiers.
  • Curb-Stomp Cushion: How the story starts. While traveling, Conrad is attacked by a full Thalmor company, whom he kills to the last. However, he's grievously wounded in the act, to the point his soul slips from his body and is taken temporarily to the Soul Cairn, where Conrad meets Minato.
  • Cutting Off the Branches:
    • The story reveals that Conrad went through with siding with the Empire instead of the Stormcloaks.
    • Serana is off-handedly mentioned to be a former vampire, indicating that Conrad succeeded in convincing her to go to Falion to get her condition removed.
  • Dead Person Conversation: In a one-sided variation, Jiraiya comes up with the idea of asking Durnehviir to give Minato a message from Naruto. In return, Conrad has to fight the undead dragon with no magic or Shouts. Jiraiya agrees to the dragon's terms, mostly because he's not the one who's going to have to duel the monster.
  • Deal with the Devil:
    • Hermaeus Mora tries to tempt Conrad into one, though the offer is flatly turned down. Despite this, Mora implies that even if he can't personally intervene in the Elemental Nations, he's at least aware of what is happening there, by mentioning "S-Rank secrets".
    • Boethiah attempts to goad Danzo into one, promising him power and the prospect of becoming Hokage. However, the recipient of the offer ultimately ends up defying this as he fears the possibility of being reduced to a puppet and having the village fall into Daedra hands.
  • Distinguishing Mark: Conrad is noted to have three nasty scars on the side of his face, putting him in contrast with Minato's otherwise spotless profile.
  • Does Not Like Magic: A widespread Nord cultural trait. Conrad does not subscribe to it, being an exceptional mage to the point of being offered the title of The Archmage by Winterhold, but he does consider the possibility that this was the reason his parents decided to split up, given his mother was a mage.
  • Doomed Hometown: Conrad was born and raised in Helgen, which was burned to the ground by Alduin at the start of his adventure.
  • Dude, Where's My Respect?: Upon discovering the Hokage Rock, Conrad grumbles out that, despite saving all of Nirn at least twice, he's only gotten himself more enemies. Meanwhile, his brother gets an entire monument dedicated to him.
    Conrad Harissen: I save creation two, maybe three times, I get nothing besides a lot of enemies. You save a city… and they turn your face into a monument. Even if you have a sissy chin.
  • Due to the Dead: When Conrad is getting ready to depart from Konoha, he leaves a bottle of mead on Minato's gravestone.
  • Dug Too Deep: The Winterhold jarl had the idea to boost the town's economy by opening some mines. It worked, even though the best seams are fairly deep underground. Conrad, ever the pessimist, immediately asks how long the excavation has until it catches the attention of the Falmer. His subordinate estimates they have less than a year before miners start disappearing.
  • Dungeon Crawling: Conrad's career for the last two decades.
  • Elemental Embodiment: Summoned daedra that Skyrim mages can call for battle. In a bit of Adaptation Expansion, Conrad also confirms the existence of Earth atronachs.
  • Elemental Weapon: Interestingly, Conrad doesn't like enchanting weapons if he can avoid it, preferring for any witnesses to just think he was a particularly skilled brawler rather than a Magic Knight... and because he really doesn't like the usual cost the Enchanting discipline incurs.
  • Entertainingly Wrong: After losing his beard, Conrad ends up looking like an older version of his twin Minato. He is then mistaken for the late Yondaime himself by a few Iwa-nin and some of Minato's friends, an impersonator using the Transformation Technique by some villagers and Kakashi, a ghost, and a biological clone of Minato by Orochimaru. In everyone else's defense, no one could have known that Minato had found a way to establish some way of communication from beyond the grave.
  • Even Evil Has Standards: Somewhat downplayed as Danzo is A Darker Shade of Grey than outright evil, but when faced with Boethiah offering him a deal for more power, he staunchly refuses on the possibility that accepting the deal may lead to Boethiah turning him into a puppet to control the Hidden Leaf at large. As much as he does questionable things, he does hold genuine loyalty for the village, and all of his actions are ultimately his own way of protecting it.
  • Experienced Protagonist: The Dragonborn had already gone through all of the events of Skyrim and its various campaigns, along with having travelled through all of Tamriel. While he finds Akavir/the Elemental Nations to be insane, he's nonetheless Seen It All and often reacts to certain situations in resignation, being capable of planning ahead and taking care of problems whenever necessary.
  • Fond Memories That Could Have Been: After Itachi hits him with the Sharingan and spends the 72 hours torturing him, Conrad slips into a coma and has a dream of the life he and Minato could have had had they both been raised in Tamriel.
  • For the Evulz: Conrad struggles a bit to explain to Inoichi why the Daedra interfere and toy with mortals, but settles on this answer.
    Because they can.
  • Functional Magic: At one point the Hokage, Tsunade and Jiraiya ask Conrad why he taught them Alchemy so freely... and yet, never mentioned the Enchanting discipline. Conrad admits that Alchemy was always his forte, personally has never been too good at Enchanting, and the soul manipulation aspect of the discipline disgusts him. He does, however, grant he can direct their envoys to Enchanting masters.
  • Fusion Fic: The premise of the story finds the Elemental Nations here being one and the same with The Elder Scrolls' Akavir. That having been said, the locals don't actually call it Akavir in large part to the name change that may or may not have something to do with the Sage of the Six Paths. It is mentioned, however, that the land was once indeed named Akavir, but the name is extremely antiquated and hasn't been used since the Warring Clans era.
  • Giving Radio to the Romans: A mutual example. Once Conrad and Konoha's leadership come to an agreement to let Naruto into Skyrim to hide him from the Akatsuki while he trains, one of the things the Leaf shinobi want out of their deal is to explore the magic of Tamriel to get a large edge over the other Hidden Villages. In return, Conrad—or rather, the captain manning the ship he used to get to Akavir/the Elemental Nations—gets to (exclusively) trade products of the Elemental Nations (with basic electric appliances, pens, modern clothing like sports bras, and toilet paper among them).
  • Giving the Sword to a Noob: Averted. Conrad flatly refuses to give his mother's enchanted ebony sword to Naruto, mostly because he has absolutely no experience with heavier blades, much less enchanted ones. Once he's had the training, he can have the enchanted sword.
  • God's Hands Are Tied: The Daedric Princes are unable to influence the Elemental Nations the same way as the rest of Nirn, since the moon blocks their attempts at communication and the ability of Daedra to appear there with no local assistance. However, Hermaeus Mora has at the very least a very good understanding of the continent's social and political situation and Boethiah has started pulling information on the place via the minds of Inoichi Yamanaka and Danzo Shimura, who very unwisely tried to read the memories of the Dremora summoned by Sven.
  • Gold Fever: Conrad uses this to his advantage, using gold to make a down-on-his-luck captain agree to a near suicidal mission to sail from Tamriel to Akavir.
  • Hedge Mage: For all of Conrad's skill in magic, his skill is a bit haphazard and owes a lot to multiple teachers. While he learned most of the magic he knows from Winterhold, it's mentioned he knows secret spells from the Synod and the College of Whispers... and even some illegal ones. He's currently trying to reverse-engineer the Mark and Recall spells, which have been long-forgotten and banned, to make his globetrotting easier.
  • Hero of Another Story: Conrad reaches the Akavir around the time the Chunin Exams start, but doesn't actually meet Naruto until after the Preliminaries. Short one-sentence snippets jump from the story to the Exams as a way of tracking events.
  • Human Sacrifice: When explaining the Enchanting discipline, he explains that it works by binding souls to an item, whether white (nonsentient) or black (sentient) souls; even if the latter is considerably stronger, it's viewed as abhorrent and illegal.
  • I Choose to Stay: After seeing how his nephew is treated in his homeland and the horrors its society is willing to dump on its children, this is Conrad's goal for taking Naruto to Tamriel — making sure he falls in love with the place to the point he will never want to return to Konoha.
  • Improperly Paranoid: After spending months with them, Conrad holds this view over the shinobi, who act overly paranoid about every detail. This comes to a head with Danzo, whose attempts at getting an advantage over Conrad out of fear of what the man could do to the village — despite the Dragonborn wanting nothing to do with it besides taking his nephew to a more accommodating place — end up bringing the eyes of the Daedric Princes towards the Elemental Nations.
  • In Spite of a Nail: Tsunade still ends up being named the next Hokage in spite of Hiruzen's survival. This is because Hiruzen ended up losing his leg in his fight against Orochimaru, fearing that the village would be left vulnerable with a crippled Hokage.
  • Insistent Terminology: Both sides use certain terms the other is less than impressed by. Conrad keeps using "city" when the Konoha characters would use "village" and they use "jutsu" where Conrad would use "spell".
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Conrad is an uncouth and greedy Jerkass who's quick to get irate and apparently likes to sleep around a lot. That having been said, he does have a genuinely heroic streak and quickly bonds with his nephew upon meeting him. It's implied that his Knight in Sour Armor tendencies have more to do with the lack of acknowledgement over the (highly important) achievements that he's had over the years for a destiny that he never asked for and the fallout from the Great War.
  • Kinslaying Is a Special Kind of Evil: A large part of Conrad's disgust with Itachi comes from the fact that he killed his entire family. Whilst contemplating about Sasuke's revenge plot, Conrad admits that the complex circumstances behind it should technically allow enough leeway for Sasuke to take his brother down permanently without much fuss.
  • Language Barrier: When Conrad and his companions make landfall on the Elemental Nations, none of them speak the language. It takes several months before reliable communication is established.
  • Late-Arrival Spoiler: Courtesy of Boethiah, all of Danzo's most heinous actions (most notably the fact that he was the one who ordered the Uchiha massacre) that were revealed late within Naruto's storyline unceremoniously end up getting thrown in front of him.
  • Life Will Kill You: Urag gro-Shub, who was one of Conrad's many magical tutors, dies in his sleep two years before Conrad's return to Winterhold.
  • Line-of-Sight Name: How Minato Namikaze was named by Sarutobi, working off "wind" and "waves" since he was collected from an aground ship.
  • Long-Lost Relative: Conrad discovers that he has more family than he realized, eventually traveling to meet his nephew Naruto.
  • Lost Common Knowledge: The original teachings and techniques of the Sage of Six Paths and the history of the Elemental Nations beyond the foundation of their oldest cities have long since been forgotten by most in Akavir. There are a few monks that still preserve some of the knowledge within the context of their teachings, but their religion is not exactly very popular among shinobi.
  • Lying by Omission: Conrad suggests introducing any shinobi Konoha wishes to send to Tamriel to Enchanting masters, but says he can't guarantee they could learn the craft... but he doesn't volunteer the information that he knows for a fact the Elemental Nations definitely have means to manipulate souls, given Minato is present in the Soul Cairn.
  • Magic Knight: Unlike most other mages, Conrad is also proficient in melee combat, wearing sturdy armor and wielding an axe.
  • Magical Gesture: A requirement among ninjas in order to cast their jutsu involves the use of complex signs with their hands. Needless to say, the fact that magic in Tamriel involves a heavily downplayed set of the trope in the form of simply waving their hands stuns everyone from the Elemental Nations.
  • Manly Facial Hair: As a Nord, Conrad is very proud of his beard, not least since it covers his "sissy" chin; he's annoyed to see his brother went mostly clean-shaven, and even more so when events conspire to burn off his beard twice: first when his alembic explodes, then when attacking Orochimaru's lab.
  • Mighty Glacier: Conrad, at least relative to shinobi. While he's far slower than even most genin, he more than makes up for it with his armor, his access to -flesh spells, and the sheer power of his magic. Jiraiya even notes that in spite of the fact that Conrad wasn't even trained to be a ninja, he could possibly be marked as the first S-ranked civilian in the bingo book.
  • Mind Rape: When it's clear Conrad is overpowering Kisame, Itachi swoops in and stops him with the Sharingan.
  • Minor Living Alone: When Naruto invites Conrad into his apartment the first time, the man is able to figure out that Naruto has no guardians to speak of thanks to the less-than-ideal state of the place, along with the fact that there is only one bed. The man ends up being less than pleased at this, even more so when he finds out that Naruto is a pariah among the villagers. This is later subverted when Conrad asks Inoichi for a place to stay with Naruto, leaving Naruto, Conrad, and his students to stay in one of Minato's old safehouses.
  • Mr. Vice Guy: Conrad is undoubtedly a Jerk with a Heart of Gold, but oftentimes he's defined by the surprisingly great amount of Greed that he holds, and he's often a penny-pincher who tries to haggle for mundane things like second-hand books.
  • Mundane Fantastic: In stark contrast to their attitude towards the basic technological advances of the Elemental Nations, Conrad and his students shock the locals by their rather blasé outlook towards Tamriel's norms; namely, the presence of potions with extraordinary effects, the existence of non-human sapient races, the relatively common spread of magical knowledge among its populace, and the fact that gods exist and can interfere with the world.
  • Mundane Luxury: Since Tamriel is stuck in a Medieval Stasis and is thus technologically backward compared to the Elemental Nations, Conrad laments the fact that his home doesn't even have basic luxuries like pens, electrical appliances, and toilet paper and is often targeted by numerous perils beyond mortal ability (such as Alduin and the Daedric Princes). He rips into the ninjas' willingness to employ Child Soldiers despite the relative lack of problems the Elemental Nations has compared to what Tamriel has to offer.
    Conrad: (after listening to Iruka complain about his drinking habits) I would like to see how you people would talk to me after spending a couple months in a cell in Skyrim. We don't have toilets, though. [...] Our plumbing is not as common or advanced as yours. We don't have many of the things you take for granted. Our lands are full of monsters too, and even worse things lurking about. You people don't know how lucky you are, and you ruin it by taking children, who still think they're invincible and never going to die, and throw them at your enemies.
  • Mundane Object Amazement: Conrad and his students are shown to be amazed by otherwise simple technology such as lightbulbs, pens, and even basic appliances. This is largely due to Tamriel being stuck in a Medieval Stasis, whereby these objects tend to be rare or even non-existent.
  • Mundane Utility: Yamato uses his Mokuton (an otherwise rare and sought-after practice) to... refurbish a house for Conrad and Naruto. Conrad internally notes that the shinobi had squandered his talents by taking on his current occupation.
  • Mutually Exclusive Magic: Discussed. As Magicka and Chakra are two explicitly different sources of power, Conrad and the higher ups of Konoha have forbidden people from testing out Magicka restoration potions out of fear that it would disrupt a shinobi's Chakra. Jiraiya theorizes that doing so would lead to an imbalance between the spiritual and physical energies of a person.
  • My Greatest Failure:
    • While Conrad sided with the Empire and fully admits to hating Ulfric Stormcloak even after knowing what happened to the man, he internally admits that he considers killing Ulfric to be the one "accomplishment" he greatly regrets.
    • Hiruzen deeply regrets how his choices have left Naruto growing up alone and hated by the rest of the village. He even admits as such to the Dragonborn that he's done everything possible to compensate the boy for it.
  • Mythology Gag:
    • The Mysticism school of magic is referenced here and referred to as a "Lost School" that was abandoned over the ages following the fall of the Mages' Guild, with some of its spells being incorporated into the Alteration school. In The Elder Scrolls proper, the school previously existed on its own prior to the release of Skyrim, where a good portion of spells that were once classified under it had been moved to Alteration instead.
    • The Mark and Recall spells are alluded to as having been banned by the Empire in the Third Era. These spells have previously existed within Morrowind before being dropped from the series beginning with Oblivion.
    • At one point, Naruto excitedly asks if Conrad can turn into a dragon. While Conrad himself can't do it, this is what happened to Martin Septim—a man born from a line of Dragonborns—in the climax of Oblivion.
  • No Plans, No Prototype, No Backup: Conrad dislikes how the Elemental Nations have buried the history of the Sage of Six Paths, because now that the Daedra have started to find ways to circumvent the protection of the moon, there's no way to check on how he did it to see if there is any way to keep them at bay or to repeat the original spell that kept them out.
  • One-Man Army:
    • As the Dragonborn and a powerful mage to boot, Conrad is capable of obliterating entire armies on his own.
    • This also applies to many powerful shinobi, most notably Minato when he was alive.
  • The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: Sasuke's obsession with being the one to kill Itachi. To his surprise, Conrad agrees with his revenge quest and even encourages him to go through with it.
  • Outside-Context Problem: The people of the Elemental Nations had never even heard of Tamriel before Conrad arrived on their shores, despite Tamriel itself knowing of them as Akavir. Unfortunately for them, the Daedric Princes later end up adding to their problems. Eventually, it's revealed that the reason why Tamriel has remained unknown for the Elemental Nations in the first place is because the continent was deliberately hidden from their view by the Sage of the Six Paths via his creation of the moon.
  • Papa Wolf:
    • Well... Uncle Wolf, but Conrad quickly develops into this for his nephew Naruto, becoming protective of the boy by defending him against hostile villagers and even the Akatsuki.
    • Minato himself is this. Not even death and being stuck in the Soul Cairn for more than a decade is enough to stop him from worrying about his son, with the plot being kickstarted thanks to his plan to contact his long-lost brother and reach out to Naruto.
  • Parental Issues: Conrad did not have the best relationship with his father. He did his best to raise Conrad, but their personalities often clashed and his disdain for magic didn't help when Conrad grew to become The Archmage. Conrad confesses to Minato that he has no idea of whether their father is still alive, having lost track of him after Helgen's destruction.
  • People Puppets: Daedric Princes can take control over lesser Daedra under their command, using them to either see through their eyes or use the as mouthpieces. Boethiah ends up using an unbound Dremora Lord in such case to present herself to Danzo and offer him a deal.
  • Personal Effects Reveal: The Hokage sends the items found with Minato and his deceased mother to Conrad. Among them there is a rare Ebony sword, a health-restoring ring, spellbooks, and a black soul gem.
  • Polar Opposite Twins: Conrad contrasts his twin brother Minato in several ways:
    • The two of them are Nords who hold great fame/infamy thanks to their exploits. Though the two of them are both ruthless on the battlefield, Conrad is shown to be rather crass and rude outside of it, while Minato was soft-spoken and polite to his friends and allies.
    • While Conrad was born and raised as a normal Nord by his father in Skyrim, Minato was raised in the Elemental Nations in an orphanage with no idea of his actual heritage. In terms of birthright, Conrad is The Chosen One whose destiny as the Dragonborn was part of it, while Minato had no birthright or any Bloodline limits he could take advantage of.
    • In combat, Conrad is a Mighty Glacier who can tank hits with his armor and spells, whereas Minato gained his claim to fame as a Lightning Bruiser who was the fastest out of all of them.
    • In terms of romance, Minato was Happily Married to Kushina, while Conrad prefers living alone as a result of being betrayed by a woman he had fallen in love with before.
  • Power Misidentification: Conrad donning his Dragon Aspect causes a number of shinobi to mistake him for a Jinchuuriki.
  • The Power of Family: When he works out the meaning of the word "jinchuuriki" and what this means for how they are treated, Conrad hugs Naruto and wishes he could have known of his existence earlier, and resolves to get him out of the cesspit that is Konoha for Tamriel as fast as he can.
  • Pragmatic Hero: The captain is aware of the value of the gold-turned-silver Conrad left him with, but since the profit margin of the products he's filling his hold is so much higher than even gold, he spends some of the money knowing he'll make a killing regardless.
  • Protective Charm: On a massive scale. The Sage of Six Paths somehow hid Akavir in its entirety from the world beyond its borders, including the Daedric Princes, with the moon. However, Sven's desperate summoning of a Dremora Lord has damaged the veil...
  • Real Language Represents Fictional: Going by what little is seen of "Akaviric" (aka the language of the Elemental Nations)—where terms like "Kiroi Senko" exist and the written system is noted to be "glyph"-based—the language is represented here as the real world language of Japanese.
  • Religious Bruiser: Conrad is a devout follower of Talos. Despite siding with the Imperials and hating the Stormcloaks, he feels tremendously guilty about the state of his worship in Tamriel.
  • Revenge Before Reason: Sasuke Uchiha's current dogma in his quest of vengeance against his elder brother Itachi for murdering their entire clan. It's understandable, however, given that he is a child who has had no parental guidance since he was six after such a traumatic event. In order to make the lad less reluctant to join him on his return to Skyrim (on the Hokage's request), Conrad goads Sasuke on by promising the kid that he might be able to find magical artifacts and weapons that would help him in his quest against Itachi.
  • Secret Compartment: Conrad keeps a hollow in his axe's base stuffed with gems for emergencies, which he uses to cover the payment for the teams assigned to join Naruto in Tamriel.
  • Secret Shop: To make some local money when they're stuck in Konoha, Conrad's apprentices open a small, very discreet store specializing in potions on an alley behind Yamanaka Flowers.
  • Separated at Birth: Conrad and Minato were separated at infancy, with Conrad staying with his father in Skyrim while Minato was taken by his mother and ended up in the Elemental Nations. They only end up meeting about a decade after Minato's death, right in the Soul Cairn.
  • Shout-Out:
  • Sickly Child Grew Up Strong: The prologue shows that of the two infant twins that would grow up into Conrad and Minato, one was weaker and more sickly than the other. While it's left ambiguous as to which one was taken in by the mother, the rest of the story shows that it doesn't matter since both of the twins ended up growing into famous, formidable warriors in their own right.
  • Simple Solution Won't Work: Even though Conrad is set back by six months worth of hopeless research regarding Minato's message, he admits that he can't just demand Durnehviir to ask Minato about his request since the dragon is far too proud to be used as a courier and would probably demand a fight for the request. He also admits that he can't just head back to the Soul Cairn through Castle Volkihar since the area has been noted to be patrolled by the Thalmor. And of course, he's not dumb enough to take Hermaeus Mora's offer.
  • Solomon Divorce: What led to Conrad and Minato being Separated at Birth is shown in the prologue, where their parents have each gained custody of one of the twins following their divorce.
  • Something Only They Would Say: To convince Inoichi of his identity, Minato (or, rather, the representative of Minato's memories that he placed in Conrad's mind) tells him of the time during Shikaku's marriage, where the Yamanaka whined to Chouza about "never being able to find the right woman," before being convinced to dance in an... establishment.
  • Spanner in the Works: Conrad's arrival indirectly yet completely derails Orochimaru's plans for Konoha:
    • Him sharing Alchemy (specifically, healing potions) among Konoha's populace ensures that the village is in a significantly better shape after the invasion with a greater amount of manpower. This includes saving Hiruzen Sarutobi's life.
    • Later on, him taking on Itachi and Kisame ends up distracting the former from performing his Mind Rape on Sasuke, thereby preventing him from going off the rails into a Face–Heel Turn. This ends up forcing Orochimaru to have the boy kidnapped instead so that he can nab the Sharingan directly.
  • Spared by the Adaptation:
    • Mirabelle Ervine is shown to be alive and in charge of the College of Winterhold, well after the Dragonborn's adventures.
    • Hiruzen Sarutobi ends up surviving the invasion of Konoha thanks to the healing potions Conrad and his students were able to introduce, albeit at the cost of his leg.
  • Suppressed History: Despite invading and being invaded by Tamriel within their thousand-year history together, the current populace of the Elemental Nations/Akavir had no clue that there was an entirely different continent across the ocean, or the fact that they had even interacted at all. It's implied that the Sage of the Six Paths deliberately made the scenario in order to block out the Daedric Princes' direct interference.
  • Take a Third Option: Jiraiya asks if there's any other way to Enchant items without using souls. Conrad admits he knows of two ways, but they're fraught with danger on their own — either bind a Daedra instead, a complex and dangerous process, or use a Sigil Stone; since they were mostly left behind in Tamriel after Daedra invasions, the easiest way to get one in the Elemental Nations would be to strike a bargain with a Daedric Prince. Understandably, Tsunade decides to abandon this line of thought.
  • Teen Pregnancy: One of several reasons why Conrad and Minato's parents ultimately decided to break up.
  • Teleportation: Conrad has been tirelessly working on the runes Minato left in his mind, reverse engineering a personal teleportation spell he can freely use to move between the Elemental Nations and Tamriel. He still has not yet managed to completely work it out.
  • The Thing That Would Not Leave: Conrad has very little patience for Konoha's political realities, which unfortunately comes to bite him when he cuts through the red tape to directly talk to Sarutobi by going intangible and barging into a meeting with Kiri representatives, who understandably mistake him for the ghost of Minato Namikaze. The irritated Hokage explains that he's essentially spooked a powerful rival nation's representatives by impersonating the prior ruler, who killed many of their own warriors, and tells Conrad that while they do see the merit in allowing him to take Naruto to Tamriel, both for protection from Akatsuki and to collect desperately needed information on the greater world, they are holding back on allowing him to do so because they don't want to reward his behavior.
  • Tracking Spell: Minato tried to implant as much knowledge as he could within Conrad, but was unable to do much more than impart a series of markings and place a "remnant" of himself within Conrad, who was unable to access it directly. Thus, we was forced to visit Winterhold in an attempt to check what the markings did. With the aid of Beta, he successfully reverse engineered a spell designed to track Minato. The glowing spheres the spell produced were spotted by Konoha and other Villages; at first, the only important thing was that they determined they were not formed from chakra, until they realized the spheres were somehow following locations or items important to the late Kage.
  • Training from Hell: In The Joys of Teaching and Learning Conrad is trained by Gai as part of his rehabilitation after getting taken down by Itachi's genjutsu. The ninja subjects him and his students to his... extreme training methods that leave them drenched in sweat and down in pain; the fact they have endurance-replenishing potions really doesn't help. One of them enjoys the experience far more than the others.
  • Translation Convention: The language of the Elemental Nations is specifically understood to not be anything known to Conrad and his fellow Tamriel natives. However, dialogue set whenever someone uses "Akaviric" in the continent is rendered in English, with Conrad and his apprentices speaking in broken sentences and misused words whilst learning the language. Later on, "Cyrodillic" and "Nordic" are also rendered in English when Naruto and his team end up going to Tamriel and learning the common tongues.
  • Underestimating Badassery: Without any ninja training, Conrad comes off as just a civilian to the ninja of Konoha. He proves them wrong when he delivers a One-Man Army Curb-Stomp Battle during the invasion of Konoha, spreading a wave of Killing Intent so massive that it could be felt through the entire village.
  • The Unsolved Mystery: Why was Conrad and Minato's mother, a swordswoman and mage of no small skill, sailing to Akavir with her newborn son? Who attacked her ship and killed her, leaving Minato as the Sole Survivor? And why was she carrying a Black Soul Gem?
  • Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Sven, Conrad's apprentice, panics when a ROOT team arrives at the Gilded Cage prison where he and the others are held to grab them, and summons a Dremora. The problem in doing this is that one, he didn't succeed in properly binding it, and two, much more seriously, the summoning pierced the Sage of Six Paths' cover over the Elemental Nations, giving the Daedra their first look at the land in a millennium. Conrad later has to swing by and complete the binding, leaving the Dremora stuck, since if killed, it will only be sent to Oblivion to spread the word. Later on, Inoichi Yamanaka has the brilliant idea to worsen the mistake by using a mind-reading jutsu on the bound Dremora, getting Boethiah's attention. And then, Danzo steals the Dremora to do the same thing, but now Boethiah is ready to pick up the horn right away... and is genuinely impressed by Danzo enough to offer direct assistance, though he's smart enough to know accepting it means to become the Daedric Prince's servant or puppet in the long run.
  • Venturous Smuggler: Conrad immediately pegs the captain of the ship that takes him to Akavir as one, and indeed, he immediately starts a small trading post to fill his hold with all the untaxed products he can. By the time Conrad is ready to return, he's set to make a tremendous profit margin off the silks and assorted items from the Elemental Nations he's gathered in the meantime.
  • Weird Moon: On top of Masser and Secunda, the moon of the Elemental Nations is revealed to be a focusing point of magic designed to hide the continent from the eyes of the Daedra by the Sage of the Six Paths.
  • What the Hell Is That Accent?: In-Universe, the citizens of the Elemental Nations who hear Conrad speak for the first time often note that they can't place where his accent comes from. Of course, none of them know that he'd only recently learned their language, or that he comes from somewhere outside of the Elemental Nations as a whole.
  • Would Hurt a Child: As the shinobi of the Elemental Nations are used to the idea of Child Soldiers, they're perfectly willing to employ any sort of harm against them, including torture and outright killing them. When Conrad's students end up under the threat of torture in order to coerce the Dragonborn for his interrogation (never mind the fact that neither side can understand each other's language), Conrad is livid. Later on, he's even more appalled to discover that this trope applies to the Elemental Nations as a whole.
  • Wrong Context Magic:
    • To the shinobi of the Elemental Nations, Conrad's ability to throw magic without hand signs or calling forth chakra (never mind the fact that said magic works on an entirely different source of power) comes off as a shock to the people who have dedicated years of training into ninjutsu, where such a feat should be impossible. In fact, he has no chakra pathways at all, nor do his students. The best he can guess is that the difference in development has something to do with how their native techniques are taught in early formative years or an environmental condition, since Minato eventually developed normal chakra pathways, yet none of the Tamriel natives' magicka pools show any change. With what little information he can glean and suss out, he guesses chakra is a combination of body and spiritual energy, that needs constant practice and training, and puts the user at risk of death by exhaustion. He personally sees no reason to change from his preferred magicka spellcasting, which he's more familiar with and doesn't have said risks.
    • Likewise, Tamriel's potions (especially the healing potions' ability to heal injuries near instantly) come off as astonishing to the point of being Game Changers since the Elemental Nations doesn't have alchemy, and its closest equivalent (chemistry) is largely rooted in more grounded, real-world approaches. The healing potions later on end up saving several lives during the invasion of Konoha, including the Sandaime's.
  • Your Soul Is Mine!: An unfortunate core tenet of the Enchanting discipline. Conrad wasn't very good at it before visiting the Soul Cairn and afterwards he never wanted to try it again; learning his brother is a permanent resident doesn't really help. Thus, he's really worried when while checking his late mother's belongings, he finds a black soul gem, and his desperation in dealing with Orochimaru is reflected when he decides to actually use said black gem to trap the Sannin's soul, though the attempt fails.

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