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Chapter 1
"Why am I doing this again?"
The young man muttered to himself as he took in his appearance before a full-length mirror, visibly drooping at the reflection that stared back at him. Instead of orange pants and the black uniform jacket he had adopted as his new personal look, he was dressed in a uniform that, in his honest opinion, looked more suited to a butler or waiter than a student. His eyes swept over the black blazer with white accents draped over a white, long-sleeved button-down shirt with vertical linings and his lips twisted into a grimace. A black ribbon was on the collar, matching the black pants he was wearing, and brown dress shoes that were less comfortable than his usual footwear. His reflection looked less like a student and more of a new hire getting used to a restaurant's dress code.
He moved his arms a bit, stretching them in all sorts of ways to break the uniform in, before letting them fall to his side. His grimace had lightened, but he still wasn't a fan of what he was wearing. 'I look ridiculous in this.'
'You said it, not me.' A deep and growling voice sounded through his mind, familiar and welcome to him at the very moment. 'Besides, it's not as though we can't make better uses of our time.'
'That's certainly true,' he admitted. Stepping out of the dressing room, he scowled when he noted the smirk on the other young man's face, 'but this is making me less and less excited about this whole thing.'
"It's certainly an interesting outfit, I must admit," His companion said, making no effort to hide his amusement at the entire situation.
"Fuck you."
His companion's smirk deepened. "Yes, your enthusiasm is quite palatable. Are you fine with the size, or would you prefer something else?"
He rolled his eyes, "This is fine. Let's just get one more set and go already." Heading towards the changing room once more, he quickly stripped the uniform off and put on his preferred clothes. Taking another look at himself in the mirror, he had a moment of wistfulness.
What had once been the small, bright and eternally grinning idiot in the past had changed so much that it could be almost difficult to reconcile who he was back then with who he is in the present. His hair, once a vibrant blond that made him stand out so much, had seemed to wilt and lighten to the point that it could only be described as 'white'. Like before, it made him stand out against the general populace but the reactions had been more based on curiosity and slight wonder as opposed to the harsh glares and silent hate of his childhood.
His height was another huge difference; back then, he had been one of the shortest members of his graduating group but now he stood taller than all but two of them. The scrawny build he once had had filled out to become a lean and powerful one; not as bulked up as two particular Kumogakure brothers, but not as slim and light as before.
However, the biggest change was indeed his eyes. Instead of the two cerulean eyes of his youth, the reflection that stared back had two eyes that, in time, had become just as familiar to him as his old ones were. The eyes of his best friend reflected in the mirror, the right Sharingan and the left Rinnegan both standing out almost immediately.
'Things have changed a lot since then, haven't they?'
"Change always happens...the only question is what do you make of it. You've grown a lot brat…I'm sure your old man and hothead mom would be proud."
A few years ago, such words would have been uttered with intense loathing and hate. Now, they were genuine and touched him greatly.
The mood passed and he exited the room with the uniform in hand, his suddenly blue eyes zeroing in on his companion seated on a nearby stool, a bag clutched in his hands.
"You all set?" He asked.
His companion nodded, his lips stretching into a smile. "I've paid for my things already. Let's go."
With that said, the pale young man rose to his feet and they made their way towards the checkout. Luckily for them, the store they were in was small and easy to navigate and the purchase was made without any issues.
Stepping out of the store and into the town, he blinked slightly as the hot sun bore down on them. "I wasn't aware it was going to get this hot today," he remarked as they set off down the street.
His companion shrugged, the action causing his shaggy white hair to shift all over. "Didn't pay too much attention to the weather report before we left." His lips quirked, like he had thought of something funny just then. "You're becoming quite handy with the Rikudou Sennin's technique."
He shrugged as well, "It's very useful. We can't just keep stealing money when we run low on stuff, especially in this world." His words were soft, even as the streets were barren of any actual people. Sunday afternoon or not, he wasn't going to let this conversation be picked up by anyone else.
His companion hummed in agreement. "I'm just surprised you were able to grasp the technique as quickly as you have, considering your lack of knowledge."
His eyes narrowed, "Last time I checked, nothing you threw at me did anything. In fact, I seem to recall knocking your ass out in one punch." His tone had hardened considerably at the end.
"Oh? Is that how you saw our battle?" His companion's voice had taken a harder edge as well. There was a harsh sneer on his face, he could almost feel it. "I suppose that's how it would look from an amateur's point of view. Then again, using our battle as an example was a bad choice and only speaks of your limited understanding of things."
"…You know what? Fuck it, it's too hot to even bother with this argument." He grumbled as they made a right turn. He was quite thankful that the apartment they had moved into was close to the shopping district. It made it easier for him to make use of his more "unusual" skills to get what they needed.
His companion let out a sound of superiority, but made no other comment. Their walk back to the apartment was silent, something that was quickly becoming the norm for their interactions. They greeted their neighbors with polite smiles and nods as they climbed up the stairs of the apartment complex.
That changed when they arrived at their apartment floor and saw a young woman step out of the apartment right next to theirs.
She was a rather plain girl with spectacles and brown hair worked into pigtails. Her yellow eyes brightened when she saw them and she immediately turned to them with her hands on her hips. "Ah! Uzumaki-kun, Otsutsuki-kun…finally joining me in the hell that is school?"
His companion chuckled as he sighed, "Hello to you too, Aika-san. Unfortunately, we're a bit strapped for time and need to get ready for tomorrow."
Aika smiled and waved at them. "Alright, I suppose. We can talk at school tomorrow, so you can go your way today." With another wave, she disappeared into her apartment.
Entering their room, he made a cross sign with his fingers and something began to shift and grow from his body. With a second, the mass had split from his body and solidified into an exact replica of himself. The clone immediately formed another hand sign and his companion stiffened as a small wooden dragon was formed from the clone's body.
The Otsutsuki turned to the real one with a half-hearted glare. "This is for earlier, isn't it?"
The original merely smirked at him before he left once more, shutting the door just as the wooden dragon clamped its teeth on his arm.
Stepping into the hospital was something Naruto rarely enjoyed.
The moment he stepped into the building, his stomach twisted and knotted. The absolutely rancid wave of negative emotions that seeped out of the very infrastructure itself always unsettled him, always changing in intensity and quantity each time he visited. Today, the emotions were absolutely foul; loss was the strongest emotion of the wave.
He grimaced. 'Another couple of deaths, huh?'
"You're off again. Three people died today, not two."
Taking a moment to compose himself, he gripped the bouquet in his hand tightly and walked up to the receptionist. Planting a pleasant smile on his face, he greeted the young woman behind the desk. "Good afternoon. I'm here to see the Hyūga sisters."
"Ah, good afternoon Uzumaki-san. You're earlier than usual today," she said as she checked him in on her computer. "The Hyuga's were moved to room 206 yesterday, but there weren't any changes in their health," she added after seeing his worry. "Please, go ahead."
"Alright, thank you very much." With pleasantries out of the way, he made his way towards the stairs and began his ascent to the second floor. Once he made it to the second floor, he saw a sign right across the stairs that mentioned even numbered rooms being towards his left and odd numbered rooms towards his right.
Immediately turning left, he briskly walked past the first two rooms and knocked on the door of room 206. There was a brief moment of silence before a familiar voice called for him to come in. Opening the door gently, he entered the room and a helpless frustration gripped his heart.
Hinata and Hanabi Hyuga lay in the two hospital beds, both of them hooked up to a number of hospital devices. Both of them had their eyes bandaged, and both lay weak on the hospital bed.
Fully entering the hospital room, he noted the nurse facing him and gave her a smile.
"Good afternoon Sakura-chan," he said, moving forward and giving his teammate a hug. She returned his hug and they both separated after a moment.
"You're earlier than usual. Everything alright?"
He shrugged. "I guess. Toneri hasn't been an issue so far, but it's too early to say whether or not he'll be a problem." Setting the bouquet on Hinata's table and ignoring the pointed look from Sakura, he sat down on the nearest chair. "That being said, I'll be keeping a close eye on him for the next few weeks."
Sakura nodded as she checked something on the equipment. "Good, because Sai just sent some news to me and its not good." Turning to face him, her gaze was serious and he immediately sat up. "According to him, he met a youkai somewhere in Kyoto."
"Two new transfer students? Why wasn't I informed of this earlier?"
The young woman before her sighed heavily as she handed over the files in her hands. "I deeply apologize for the blunder. They were supposed to have been sent to the Student Council yesterday, but there was an issue with the files that the principal wanted to go over."
Glancing through the files, Sona Sitri made a mental note to scope out the two new students. Rias was sniffing in the Hyoudou boy's direction at the moment, and she'd be hanged before she let her rival also snag two more members to her Peerage.
"Uzumaki Naruto and Otsutsuki Toneri, huh?"
A/N: Another project that's been on my mind for a while now. Yes, I am working on the next chapter of 'A Twist of Fate', but I doubt it will be done until the latter half of the month.
The first arc of this fic is Naruto and his friends doing their best to heal Hinata and Hanabi. Why can't Sakura and Naruto just easily healed the two when they've done so before? There's a reason for that. Where are Shikamaru and Sai? Wait and see. I want to try something different with this setup and have them interact with more than just the three main factions.
Please note that this story isn't exactly a priority for me. I'll certainly do my best to update, but think of this as a story I work on when inspiration hits and when I'm having struggles with other fics of mine.
Read and review,
MaelstromBankai.
