A/N: Hey guys, first time writing a Fanfic, Please feel free to point out anything you feel is wrong with this. This was a Challenge set forth by AarontheBarron, and I was really intrigued by it, and I felt it would be a good plot to get myself into writing, even though it isn't my greatest forte, it is a passion I guess…always felt like writing things. Anywho please read on if your interested and I'll end my rambling here. The prologue was redone, as I got myself a Beta, there are a few changes from the original, which I am sure people who read the original prologue would notice.

Beta: Many thanks to Timballisto, amazing Beta

Disclaimer: I don't own anything in relation to Naruto, I mean even this general plot isn't mine TT~TT, it all is Kishimoto's bless his soul, don't know what I would be doing without Naruto in the world. General Plot Credit goes to AarontheBarron, anything else that isn't Kishimoto's or Aaron's I guess belongs to me, though I highly doubt it…argh I'm rambling again…someone stop mee….

"The only reason people get lost in thought is because it's unfamiliar territory"

Prologue : The Clumsiness of a Master Sealer

"Troublesome"

Naruto's sole focus was on the scroll lying in fron of him. After hours of bickering and whining, Tsunade had finally caved in, and gave him Minato's legacy. Namely, the scroll that contained the technique that made the Yondaime the most powerful and feared shinobi since the Shodaime. Naruto could almost feel the chakra radiating off the precious record, like the Hiraishin was yearning to be used in battle once more.

Since most of the hard seal configurations were written out for him to apply to kunai, the Hiraishin was well within his grasp and, though not a complete master, Naruto was confident in his ability to use the technique in the midst battle.

Of course, mastering one of the most vaunted jutsu in history wasn't enough for him.

"A spiral here, some kanji here, and a little circle… link the seals up with an overlaying odd numbered seal to represent time and space." Naruto scratched his head as he moved in with agile brushstrokes. "..something about the past and present looping back to prevent a paradox or something…" He impatiently tucked an errant blonde strand behind his ear. If he got the theory right (something Naruto had always been iffy on), this should reverse engineer the Hiraishin and make it, in his opinion, a secondary, extremely useful technique.

It'd been two hours and the paper was nearly sodden with ink. Really, he hadn't meant to get so sucked in, but his eyes had passed over it while getting ready for his lunch date with Sakura. Naruto assumed it'd just take one more array, but then he'd had to balance it out and-

Oh. Sakura.

"Shit."

Right on cue, the door slammed against the doorframe with a crash. Naruto jumped as the flimsy apartment door shook and groaned at the chakra enforced knocks.

"Naruto! Naruto, are you in there? If you are, you better not be blowing me off for that stupid scroll! I can't believe you, of all people, forgot our date!"

Sakura huffed and tapped her foot as she heard Naruto scurry around on the other side of the door, obviously trying to get ready when he knew she was already pissed at him.

"I swear to god, Naruto would forget he was a ninja if he didn't have me to remind him." The medic-nin blew a piece of hair that had escaped her headband out of her green eyes. Despite her irritation, a note of amusement grew.

Really, she thought. I might've been more worried if he'd shown up on time!

He was becoming worse than Kakashi-sensei in that regard. Ever since the war had ended over three years ago he just hadn't been the same. Perhaps it had to do with Naruto's first ever kills in cold blood (god knows she'd been a wreck after hers) and the death of Sasuke by his own hand.

Sakura couldn't have even called Sasuke's death a killing, or a murder, or even an assassination. It had been merciful, like putting down a rabid dog that kept striking out and trying to poison the world around it. She had known it and, finally, Naruto had known it. She supposed that's why he'd used Rasenshuriken and shredded Sasuke into bits so small, they could never recover a body.

When she thinks back he seemed so mature, so responsible; an adult. Every now and then, however… he's just Naruto.

Sakura took a deep breath and knocked again, louder. "Naruto!"

Naruto unfroze, remembering suddenly he had about five seconds to get ready for a date he'd been looking forward to his entire life. He sprinted toward his bathroom, skidding on his floor at he tried to brush his teeth and wash his face at the same time.

"Coming!" he called out, spitting his toothpaste into the sink. He started to rip off his orange pajama top, staggering back out into the living room with it entangled around his head. He tripped, his sandal tipping ink all over the floor and scroll he'd been doodling on.

"Damn it!" Naruto cried out in frustration and pain, alerting Sakura outside the door.

The door came crashing open, and in the doorway stood one very pissed off and slightly concerned Haruno Sakura.

"What the hell did you do to yourself now?" she demanded as she sat Naruto down on his sofa and extracted his head from his shirt.

"S-Sakura! Just let me explain-!"

"Why are you in those god awful orange pyjamas at 2:00 in the afternoon!"

"I had an epiphany!" Naruto blurted, warding off his teammate's aggression with his raised hands.

"Mhhm." Sakura hummed, not giving an inch.

"I had a theory, on how to reverse the Hiraishin! You know, to kind of summon someone or something that has the seal. I mean, how awesome would that be? Totally badass, that's what." Despite his dismay at having missed their lunch date, Naruto couldn't help the giddy happiness in his voice as he discussed chakra theorems with someone who actually understood them.

"Are there any practical applications?" Sakura asked sceptically, ever the pragmatist. Perhaps that's why Tsunade was considering her for the Head Medic position at Konoha's Military Hospital.

"Well, yeah." Naruto said, closing his eyes in thought. "Parole seals on criminals, would be an example. Maybe I could slap one on an enemy and draw them in close for a rasengan…or or you know, if I ordered ramen from Ichiraku's-"

"I get it." Sakura said, half scolding, half laughing. "You're such a lazy bum sometimes, Naruto. You should really stop hanging out with Shikamaru so much."

"Nah." Naruto yawned. "It'd be too troublesome."

Sakura chuckled as she swatted at Naruto's arm, in an attempt to suppress the giggles that threatened the burst free. "Look, I forgive you for forgetting, alright?"

She gestured to his pants, which were still his pyjama bottoms in bright, the ever-blinding orange. "Just go get ready and we'll have a late lunch."

"Aye, aye!" Naruto smirked and saluted before scrambling for his bedroom in a desperate attempt to get at real clothing.

He tugged his badass cloak out of the wardrobe and scooped his sandals out from beneath his bed.

"Cloak… shoes… shirt?" Naruto looked around, frowning as he saw them missing from his drawers.

"They're in here!" Sakrua called dryly from the living room. "Nice ramen underwear, by the way."

"What!" Naruto sprinted back into the living room, his foot hitting the wet ink that he'd spilled on the floor earlier.

"Son of a…"

He failed to complete his expletive as he plunged toward the ground. Bracing himself for impact, he stiffened as his back hit the scroll lying open and wet on the ground.

An explosion rocked the apartment, followed soon after by a flash of light.

Sakura struggled to her feet as she struggled to pull herself out of the wall of Naruto's tiny kitchen. She cradled her wrist, wincing as the fractured bones grated. "What the hell was that?" she coughed, wincing as the dust slowly settled, allowing her a clearer view of her surroundings.

"Naruto, are you alright?"

Silence.

"Naruto?"

"Where the hell am I?"

It was cold. Trees bereft of leaves surrounded him, and nearby, he could hear a river churning in its bed. He shivered slightly, and slowly exhaled, watching as his breath condensed into ta stream of white. He still had his coat tucked tightly in his arms, but he seemed to have dropped his shoes in the… whatever it was that happened.

So there he was, smack dab in the middle of a field in nothing but a pair of orange pyjama bottoms and a maroon coat.

The place looked vaguely familiar. It reminded him of the Land of Waves, almost, back during his first visit with Team 7.

But it wasn't. It couldn't be possible.

He hastily ran up the tree at a speed any civilian would gawk at and perched high, on the very top of the swaying pine.

"..the hell?"

A panorama of wild trees and magnificent coast stretched around him the entire circumference of the island.

No.

The beaches were off. Perhaps the tides? But the colour of the sand was the exact same shade and the water the same navy shade of blue as his visit only three weeks ago.

Naruto squinted towards a collection of buildings at the northern end of the island, near his bridge-

"Ok, ok Naruto. Calm down. Wave Country just… flooded, that's all. Just a little water. That might be why nothing looks the same but it looks identical at the same time. I'm not hallucinating and I'm pretty sure I checked the expiration date on my milk yesterday. That might be why- WHERE THE HELL IS MY BRIDGE!"

END

A/N End Note: Hot damn, that was a lot of writing. Thanks for reading guys, all Reviews and criticisms are welcome; again this is my first time writing a Naruto Fanfic. Sorry if it seemed abit short this, I only just started writing, about a week ago, and frankly I don't know how good of a writer I am. Please do Rate and Review I would greatly appreciate any input on how to improve myself. And again I'd like to say thanks to AarontheBarron for his challenge, in all honesty, I don't think I would have started writing at all if it wasn't for his challenge XP. Please be Gentle in the Rate and Review, it's my first time XD. Stay Tuned for Chapter 1, whenever i put it up.

ExpK