Shattering Lies
is a crossover Fan Fiction story of Naruto and Oshi no Ko by AncientKeeperOfScrollsV2.
The story follows Naruto Uzumaki and Ai Hoshino, where the day he meets her, he saves her from a terrible fate. Upon this fateful meeting, the two started connecting and gaining happier lives.
Official summary: He was a Shinobi and all his life he had either been lied to or kept his own lies. Who he was, who is parents were, what he contained. His whole life was built on lies that guided him. She was an Idol, her whole life revolved around keeping up lies to protect her and the people she loved. In a chance encounter, destines are changed and lies are shattered.
Due to the very first chapter averting a major Wham Episode in Oshi no Ko's canon, all tropes referencing the event won't be tagged for spoilers.
Shattering Lies contains the following tropes:
- Absurdly Youthful Parents: Due to Teen Pregnancy, Ai became a mother when she was 16, and this also applies to Naruto when he masquerades as Aqua and Ruby's birth father. The two sired Sapphire together at age 20 and Minato a year after, and by the 12-year timeskip, both Naruto and Ai are currently 32 with four kids past 10 years of age.
- Adaptation Name Change: Downplayed. After marrying Naruto and taking up his family name, Ai's maiden name, Ai Hoshino, is then changed to Ai Uzumaki. In addition, Aqua and Ruby also gained Uzumaki as their new surname name.
- Adaptational Angst Downgrade:
- Zig-zagged with Aqua. He thankfully doesn't have to deal with PTSD as his canon counterpart did due to never watching Ai die at the hands of Ryosuke, but he has to deal with being ostracized by his peers when it's publicly revealed that he and Ruby are Ai's illegitimate children much earlier than in canon. And he still is living with the knowledge that someone orchestrated Ai's attempted murder and intends to uncover his identity.
- Ai has this trope being played straight after being saved by Naruto, as their bond and eventual romance played a huge form in Character Development of her full understanding of romantic love.
- Zig-zagged with Ichigo and Miyako. Since Ai had never died, Ichigo doesn't leave Strawberry Productions out of grief and seeking revenge and Miyako also didn't grieve the loss of the girl she grew close to during her idol career. The two of them also grew closer to each other and were able to sire a daughter during the 12-year timeskip, but tragically Outliving One's Offspring as their newborn daughter was stillborn.
- Adaptational Angst Upgrade: This applies to Naruto at full force in the fic. Unlike his canon counterpart, he failed to save everyone, fulfill his dreams of being Hokage, and redeem Sasuke as the latter refuses to change his ways till the very end. This results in Naruto being Trapped in Another World for three years with no way home, and even if he did manage to find a way,
Word of God states that everyone would be long dead by then. While he eventually found love and a new sense of purpose in life with Ai and her children, the story still makes it clear that he's deeply traumatized from the constant wars and failures back home, and if he were to lose Ai and/or any of their children, he would have no problems with decimating the entire world in retaliation. - Adaptational Badass:
- While not unathletic, it's unknown if Aqua and Ruby know any form of self-defense or martial skills in canon. Here, thanks to having Naruto as a stepfather and a martial arts teacher, they're both skilled martial artists who're capable of holding their own in a fight. And it also helps with having a good amount of cardio to consider Pieyon's dance a "cakewalk".
- This also applies to Ai as she becomes capable of self-defense thanks to her husband's tutelage sometime after Minato's birth, but has yet to be seen fighting.
- Adaptational Nice Guy:
- Downplayed with Naruto as he was always a Nice Guy as seen in The Last and Baruto, but he's much more active in his children's lives compared to his canon adult self's Parental Neglect.
- Since Aqua never lost Ai and has her and a kind father figure to keep him morally grounded in this fic, he's less manipulative and controlling, and only wants to revenge against his biological father out of a desire to protect his family.
- Adaptational Skill:
- It's unknown if Aqua and Ruby have any self-defense skills in canon. Here, they're both trained martial artists in unarmed combat thanks to Naruto's tutelage.
- Ai also learns self-defense from Naruto after Minato's birth.
- Adaptational Villainy: Hikaru was already confirmed to be a Serial Killer in canon, but as of the fic's posting, it was still left in the air if he was behind Ai's death. Here, it's made clear that he was the one who sent Ryosuke to Ai.
- Adaptational Wimp:
- Subverted with Naruto. He only has one arm after losing his right in his final battle with Sasuke, making him incapable of performing any hand signs requiring two hands. Luckily for Naruto, most of his Jutsu only requires one hand, and being the only (former) person in the semi-mundane world of Oshi no Ko makes him the World's Strongest Man and World's Best Warrior.
- Justified with Ryosuke, as he was only a threat mainly because his target of assassination is an untrained civilian and catching her off-guard. When he tries to kill Naruto after the latter calls him out just as Ai opens her door, he gets laughably overwhelmed with ease thanks to Naruto's Super-Reflexes, Super-Strength, Super-Speed, ninja training, and war experience.
- Age Lift: Kana is the same age as the Hoshino Twins instead of being one year older than them in canon.
- Alternate Universe Fic: For both Naruto and Oshi no Ko. Instead of making peace with Naruto and ending the Infinite Tsukuyomi, Sasuke instead sends him away to another world as a Dying Curse and dooming any survivor to a slow death, thus creating a Downer Ending for the former story. As Naruto lives his new life in the latter world, the events still play out the same way for Ai and her children until the fateful day comes in the form of Ryosuke, to which Naruto intervenes and creates a major divergence.
- Big Damn Heroes: The first chapter alone shows Naruto foiling Ryosuke's murder attempt, thus saving Ai's life and creating the first divergence from canon.
- The Big Damn Kiss: After Ai makes her love confession to Naruto at the Tokyo Dome on live television and goes to his home, they share their first, but long and passionate kiss in Chapter 5.
- They once again have a very passionate kiss in their bedroom, this time described as the most intense moment of their lives, as it was filled with raw passion in Chapter 7.
- Christmas Episode: Chapter 33 flashes back to a time when the Uzumaki Family were celebrating their very first Christmas together.
- Cynicism Catalyst: Naruto starts the story off as The Cynic due to his failure to redeem Sasuke and being Trapped in Another World for three whole years with no way of getting back home as a final "middle finger" gesture from the dying former friend.
- Disappointed by the Motive: Once Naruto learns about Ryosuke's reason for wanting to kill Ai comes from the fact she had kids, furious is an understatement when Naruto learns what he tried to do. He would've broken his neck had Ai not told him she called the police. It may be hinted that he would've killed him anyways for what he tried to do.
- Failure Hero: This fits Naruto like a glove, as he's unable to redeem Sasuke, fails to save everyone from the Infinite Tsukuyomi, is unable to fulfill his promises and achieve his dreams, and is currently spending the rest of his life in a different world.
- First-Episode Twist: The nail that the crossover aspect of the fic brings is Naruto saving Ai from her murder at the hands of Ryosuke, which was the first major Wham Episode in Oshi No Ko after the deceptive opening chapters.
- First Love: Despite having dated several men and even having twins with one boy her age, Naruto is essentially this for Ai as he's the first person whom she genuinely experiences romantic love with and vice-versa.
- Good Stepmother: Gender-Inverted and exaggerated with Naruto. For all intents and purposes, he sees and loves Ai's children, Aqua and Ruby, despite them not being blood. In fact, Naruto cares very little (if not at all) about such views and often reminds Aqua and Ruby of this whenever one of them (mostly Ruby) feels doubt. He also masquerades as Aqua and Ruby's birth father in the fallout with Ai's Love Confession on live television.
- Happily Married: Eventually finding their true loves for each other, Naruto and Ai got married after some time their daughter Sapphire was born.
- Heroic Bastard: Both Aqua and Ruby are this as Ai and their birth father were never married. Even after Naruto and Ai's marriage, as well as Naruto passing himself off as their birth father, they're still technically illegitimate children unbeknownst to the world at large.
- Hypocrite: It says a lot that Ryosuke, a Stalker with a Crush who was planning to murder Ai and had already murdered Goro in the past mind you, calls Naruto a monster when he's slowly getting killed by him. Unfortunately for Ryosuke, this only angered Naruto further and killed him right then and there if Ai hadn't snapped him out of it.
- How the Mighty Have Fallen: Shukaku says this when seeing Naruto act like a family man, despite being the strongest man in the world. Naruto subverts this big time stating he's OK with that.
- In Spite of a Nail: Despite the notable deviations from both Naruto (and by extension Boruto) and Oshi no Ko canon, there are still events that are played out similarly to them.
- Naruto still ends up falling in love with someone similar to Hinata Hyuga in nearly every way, marrying her, and siring a son and daughter.
- Aqua still wants to seek revenge against his biological father.
- Ichigo still ends up grieving for the loss of a daughter.
- Mistaken for Related: Invoked by Miyako as part of a PR move in The Reveal of Ai's children being biologically related to Naruto, in order to ease off the scrutiny after Ai publically announces her love for him. The fact that Aqua and Ruby share the same hair color as Naruto would make this masquerade stick.
- Karmic Jackpot:
- By staying true to his kind personality and saving Ai Hoshino's life, Naruto not only gains a new purpose in life and a loving family in return, but he also ends up creating the new Uzumaki Clan.
- For Ai, she gets this big time compare to canon. By giving birth to her children, raising them, and repeatedly loving them despite her own hardships and risks to her career, she not only survived her deadly fate at the hands of Ryosuke but Ai also gained a loving husband who truly understands her and makes her realize that she is capable of love, and eventually becoming the matriarch of the first, new Uzumaki Clan.
- Knight of Cerebus:
- Although the story already has its own form of darkness similar to Real Life, Ryosuke and Ai's former partner make the tone much darker.
- A rare, inverted heroic example with Naruto. His ninja training and superhuman and Chakra abilities take off some of the life-threatening aspects of the more vulnerable characters.
- Living Emotional Crutch: Justified. The story makes it clear multiple times that Ai and their children are what's keeping Naruto from falling into further despair, and if any of their lives were to be threatened, Naruto would have no problems with burning down the entire world in a Roaring Rampage of Revenge first before he'll let any of them die.
- Love Confession: After bonding and dating for a couple of weeks, Naruto eventually finds the courage to reveal his past and powers to Ai a day before her idol performance in the Tokyo Dome and confesses his love for her. Although the level of information makes Ai "quite" unprepared to comprehend and mentally process Naruto's declaration of love for the rest of the day, she returns his feelings by making one last grand performance as an idol before declaring her love for him on live television.
- Normal Fish in a Tiny Pond: Played with. In the somewhat mundane world of Kaguya-Sama: Love is War and Oshi no Ko, Naruto is practically the World's Strongest Man and World's Best Warrior thanks to his Chakra abilities and superhuman physiology. However, even back in his own world, he's already become one of the strongest Shinobi thanks to a combination of his intense ninja training and battle experience, being the reincarnation of Asura, Uzumaki heritage, Jinchūriki status, Sage Mode, and receiving the Six Paths' power from Hagoromo himself.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: You want to know how much Sasuke's betrayal and Dying Curse affected Naruto, who spends the entire series trying to redeem him and seeing him worth redemption? Whatever love or bond he had for Sasuke is effectively dead in his mind and one of his regrets is not killing him in the first place and for lacking the strength to commit it.
- Original Character: Naruto and Ai have a daughter named Sapphire and a son named Minato.
- Point of Divergence: The very first nail in the story is Naruto's existence in the world of Oshi no Ko, which causes a big chain of events that would deviate from canon.
- Ai Hoshino survives her fated death as Naruto subdues Ryosuke from murdering her, and in turn, preventing him from committing suicide.
- Aqua and Ruby do not suffer the tragedy of losing their mother, and grew up better adjusted as Naruto and Ai eventually married. Also, while Aqua still seeks revenge against his biological father, he's more mentally stable and less manipulative than in canon.
- Naruto and Ai sired Sapphire and later Minato after getting married.
- The revival of the Uzumaki Clan in secret.
- Ichigo never left Strawberry Productions out of grief and revenge thanks to Ai being still alive. This results in him and Miyako into siring a daughter together during the 12-year timeskip, but tragically Outliving One's Offspring due to their newborn daughter being stillborn.
- The reason for Naruto being in the world of Oshi no Ko in the first place is because of a deviation that happened in his final battle against Sasuke. Instead of Sasuke making peace with Naruto after their arms are destroyed, he instead, clings to his selfish side to the very end and banishes Naruto to another world as a Dying Curse.
- Rescue Romance: Ai's interest in Naruto happens when he prevents Ryosuke from killing her, and they eventually bond and fall for one another.
- Sexual Karma: In addition to gaining a wife and a loving family for his rescue and kindness, Naruto ends up having passionate sex with Ai that would later result in the birth of Sapphire. As a married couple, they would also have a very active sex life.
- Spared by the Adaptation: Thanks to Naruto's interference and stopping Ryosuke from killing Ai, she ends up surviving the terrible encounter, thus Aqua and Ruby still have a mother by their side.
- Time Skip: Similar to the canon story of Oshi no Ko, 12 years have passed in Chapter 12, where Aqua and Ruby are now starting high school.
- Tragic Hero: Naruto. In addition to suffering the numerous canon tragedies and hardships in his story, he fails to redeem Sasuke and gets Trapped in Another World by the latter as a Dying Curse. After living in Japan for three long years with no way of getting back Naruto is a lonely young man filled with regrets, broken dreams, unfulfilled promises, and the bitter acceptance of living out the rest of his remaining life in his new surroundings. What's worse is that even if he did find a way back, he would have no way of reversing Infinite Tsukuyomi due to Sasuke's death and all of humanity is practically extinct due to the worldwide Genjutsu and being fed to the God Tree, which would damn Naruto to a living hell of eternal loneliness.
- Wham Episode: It may not involve death...but the return of Shukaku counts as one!
- Wham Line: Shukaku saying two words: I'M BACK!
- You Monster!: Naruto gets called this by Ryosuke when he is "about to" kill him, which is incredibly hypocritical given his disgusting personality as a Stalker with a Crush, what he was planning to do to Ai and the fact that he already committed murder himself in the past.
