Disclaimer
I don't own Naruto! And I hope my first attempt at an OC does not bore you guys to death. This is only an intro chapter, so I haven't dove into the naruto universe that much yet. Enjoy!
(oh, don't worry, there IS naruto in there. Just read past the time travel part, but it wont make sense without it, so don't skip please.)
"My friend, we've never been closer."
"I know... this excites me. Just think, fifty years spent on this project."
"Yeah… we gave up so much for this."
"Hey, we finally got it. Now who's gonna laugh at us?"
"Hahah. You're damn well right. Now let's go out there and make history."
The podium announcer on the other side of the curtains in the huge Bird's Nest originally built for the 2008 Beijing Olympics called out the names of the two scientists responsible for discovering the secret of molecular time travel. "Here we have it, Scott Weinberg, and Ken Natake!!"
The crowd of international scientists and fans erupted into applause as the two humbly appeared from behind the enormous drapery and took stand in front of the microphone. Millions of flashes from cameras nearly blinded sixty-seven year old Scott and sixty-six year old Ken. The announcer asked them a quick question:
"Now, we understand that you started getting interested in this subject when you were 16, Dr. Ken, and 17 for you, Dr. Scott. What drove you on for all these years?"
Ken replied jokingly, "Well I liked Naruto. I kinda wanted to be like him, and not give up. Believe it, hahaha…"
Somewhere in the crowd, a playful response was heard: "Hahah! That's soo old!"
Scott chuckled. "Hey Ken, they say it's old. What do they think we are?"
"Scott are you implying that we're old?"
"Are you saying that we're not?"
Ken shook his head. "Nothing close to it. We're not old… we're fricken ancient."
Scott could only laugh.
……………………………………………………………………………………..
"Folks, after all those introductions, we will now perform a small demonstration of the magnificent discovery we see before us today!"
Scott went up to the platform like device, and called out "Activation sequence 9713856q, space/time inversion, secure secular space."
It took a couple seconds for the machine to process, and then its voice rung across the entire Bird's Nest- loud, deep, and clear.
"Activation sequence 9713856q acknowledged. Secular space path 208 has been secured. Standby."
"Ken would you please?"
Ken nodded at Scott's mark, and took a step onto the platform. A right of light appeared around it, and dimmed back down. It then rang out again.
"Subject identified: Ken Natake 66 years of age. Now beginning molecular breakdown."
The molecules in his body literally began to fall apart and form a mass of indiscernible substance floating within the space the advanced machinery had locked down.
"Opening space/time inversion wormhole. Beginning activation sequence."
Scott, with a serious face, looked down. He leaned over to activate the device just as a bird soared above.
Bird, bird's nest, what's next?
I know.
Bird shit.
The excrete from the flying animal landed onto the activation pad, and the gravitational acceleration gave it just the right push to press the wrong damn button. Coincidental? Fate can go screw itself.
"Incorrect input. Aborting operation."
Scott placed his hand on his forehead. "Dammit, this takes a lot of electricity you know!"
"Abortion failed."
The mass of Ken's molecules disappeared. And not back a couple minutes either, as Scott had intended.
Scott stared in awe. What had just happened? Nobody knew.
"Great, Joe. You miswired the aborting unit. Now we don't know where Ken's gone."
Scott heard this, and knew that Ken could be virtually anywhere. Great. Shit just literally happened.
Somewhere…..
Ken opened his eyes to see his world still closed. The place he was in was completely pitch black. It felt so dead, and so surreal, he wondered if it was the place people go after they died. He crawled his way around to find a small exit, and saw that he was in some foreign mountainous terrain.
"Damn, this is not good for a sixty something year old…." But he felt strong for a sixty something year old.
He looked at his legs and his arms, and they absolutely did not belong to some sixty-year old. He searched for a body of water and found a trickle of water pouring down the mountain side. It had form a small puddle as it trickled farther downwards, and he used that as a mirror to examine himself. He let out a surprised gasp. He remembered this look. This was how he looked like when Yumi first walked into that room. Into his life.
Wow….
That wasn't the only thing that changed. He was hungry too. He climbed further upward to see if he could examine the area around him. Grinning and enjoying his boyish teenage years once again, he recklessly got himself scratched and bruised, but merely laughed it off. Time travel was a success! But something must've gone wrong. Whatever. As long as he was alive, he could get back.
He reached the top of the mountain with a large smile on his face, but when he opened his eyes he looked forward in complete and utter awe. He was speechless at what he saw before him. A huge area that surrounded by an enormous wooden fence stretched through his field of vision. Left and right he looked, but he could no longer see the business buildings and countless technological homes and vehicles of his day. Now he could see trees, trees, trees, and what seemed like a gigantic village. Buildings were plentiful alright, and there was one almost directly below him that had "Fire" written on it in kanji. The building was red.
I know where this is……
He blinked and soaked it all in. Then he looked again.
Out of amazement, he lost his footing and slipped on the rock. It didn't process through his head as much as it should have though. He was still staring, as he fell. The only thing he thought about it was:
I'm going to die… in KONOHA.
Too bad, Ken, you're not dying yet.
Pink flashed before him and he was caught by none other than the heroine of Kishimoto's manga Naruto. Haruno Sakura landed on her feet and lay the 16 year old Ken on his feet. Sakura spoke first.
"Hey are you alright?"
Ken, amazed and dazzled, quickly blurted, "THIS IS SHIPPUDEN RIGHT?"
Sakura looked puzzled. "..shippuden?"
Ken realized that these were the people in the story and they had no idea what they were being called outside text and ink. Wait. He was crazy. He couldn't be talking to characters in a manga! It was absurd!
…but so was time travel.
Space/time distortion must've gone out of hand, and the wormhole must have taken him to some alternate universe. The Naruto universe. This was awesome.
".. Nevermind."
"I'm Haruno Sakura. What's your name?"
"Ken Natake, pleased to meet you—HOLY CRAP!" Ken turned his head and pointed at our beloved blonde idiot. "IT'S N-NARUTO!"
"Eh? Who is this guy?" Naruto was obviously confused.
Sakura was quite confused also. "I don't know, he said he's Ken Natake. He fell from the top of the Hokage monument."
"Come ooon Sakura, we were supposed to be going on you know… a date…. Seeing as how I just got back from threee years with the pervy sage and stuff"
"You're paying right?"
"Yeah yeah.."
Ken could only watch as his childhood entertainment spoke live and clear in front of him.
"Sorry Naruto-san, I'm uh.. Ken."
"Hey Ken. Sakura-chaan let's go!"
"Hey Naruto let's bring him along! He doesn't look like he knows where he's going, and most of all he's not even shinobi! And look, don't you think his clothes are a little weird…?"
Ken looked down and saw that he was in his formal attire from the ceremony back in China. Dang, he did not fit at all.
"Naruto, let's go get him some normal clothes and you can pay for his bowl too!"
"WHAA?"
"No, it's okay, really" Ken blurted out of nervousness. "I wouldn't want to bother the two of you."
"Yeah Sakura he doesn't –" Sakura pinched his ear. "Ooh AY okay! Okay. Dress first, then I pay for ramen."
Naruto patted his wallet with a sad frown. "Sorry pal, you're gonna lose some weight today."
Ken walked behind the two as he tried to soak this all in. Then it hit him… If I wanted to… I could even become shinobi!
"So Ken, where are you from anyway? I haven't seen you around in Konoha." Naruto was being as curious as he always was.
"Well let's just say I fell out of the sky and into some big dark place."
"Huh… I don't get it…"
"You don't need to get it." Sakura punched Naruto in the head. "You seem to be from somewhere even outside the five great nations right? Your clothes and even the way you look at things makes it seem like you have no idea how you got here."
Well she's right that I'm not from here… but I know how I got here.
"Yeah, I'm not from here… but that's not important." It was, a little. He needed to get back sooner or later. But now I'll enjoy the fun.
After getting him dressed, Ken now sported a long sleeved black shirt made out of durable training material, with a small vest full of pouches to hold equipment in them. They were empty now, but Ken wanted to purchase it since he planned on training soon. Sakura didn't mind, as Naruto paid for it. His pants were long and fashionable, but were designed to hold out on the battlefield, as was most of the stuff made in a world of shinobi.
Now back in his teenage days, Ken did have a liking for ramen. So when they reached the legendary Ichiraku ramen shop that was mentioned so many times in the manga Naruto, he no longer saw the small street shop in the pages in his hands. He was looking at the real deal, Ichiraku right before his very eyes. It wasn't that big, but the meaning behind it was extraordinary.
"Good afternoon. I'll have a miso ramen please." Sakura politely delivered her order. It fit her figure.
"Old man! I want a special tonkotsu ramen! Throw in an extra egg!" Naruto's order fit his personality too.
"Umm… I'll have a tempura ramen." Ken sat down, still looking around. Teuchi eyed the boy, and asked
"New friend of yours? I haven't seen him around. What's his name?"
"I'm Ken, nice to meet you, Teuchi-san." Ken nodded his head.
"Oh how did you know my name?"
Crap. Think fast. "I've heard a lot about you." Well it wasn't a lie right?
"Hahah, I see I'm getting famous! Okay your ramen will be out soon." Teuchi went to the back of the shop to work his magic. Ken could already smell the meal he thought could only happen in stories.
When the ramen arrived, Sakura took her time and ate it with reasonable timing. Naruto, however, wolfed down the ramen like there was no tomorrow. Ken finished it rather quickly too, but was not filled by the one bowl. His teenage appetite had also returned, it seemed. Sakura noticed this, and eyed Ken, who was sitting with his hands folded under his chin.
"Ken would you like another bowl?" She said this as she finished another bite of her ramen. Well Sakura wasn't the girliest person around either, was she.
"No, I wouldn't like to intrude on your hospitality so much. I'm very thankful for what you've done for me, really." Ken was speaking the truth.
"Yeah Sakura, my wallet can't take that much anyway." Naruto was just about to finish his second bowl.
"Naruto, offer him another bowl."
"But he just said..!"
"Naruto would love to buy you another bowl of ramen. Right?" Now Ken understood what Sai said about fake smiles. Sai had yet to be introduced to them at this point in time, however.
"OKAY. Ken, I'll get you another bowl. Old man! Another tonkotsu please."
"Coming right up!" Ken had quite a ravenous appetite. He thought he could get close to Naruto's, if not match it.
Again, Ken and Naruto finished. Both were full. Sakura kept urging Naruto to be hospitable, but the two shinobi soon realized that Ken could eat a LOT.
Naruto finished his 7th to see Ken finish his 6th. He was surprised. It had become a silent challenge from the foreigner, an eat-off between men. Naruto quickly slurped the broth and ordered his next round. Ken soon followed suit.
It was apparent that Ken wasn't going to stop anytime soon as they both reached their 15th bowls. Naruto was now sweating. Not because he was becoming bloated. He could easily eat double that. No, he was sweating because he was practically watching his wallet fly away. Teuchi of course had a large grin on his face as the two ate it off. At his 19th bowl, Naruto finally called it quits.
"OKAY I give. You can win Ken." Sakura chuckled and poked fun at the blonde.
"Oh so the king of ramen has fallen at last."
"No, it's not that. IT'S BECAUSE I DON'T WANT TO BE BROKE!" Ken laughed, and so did Sakura. He was beginning to feel more relaxed around these two, more at home. This really was fun!
"Naruto can you help me train?"
Naruto gave him a strange look, and replied "With what?"
"Well… I want to learn how to mold some chakra first…" Ken looked at his feet to prevent his reddened face to be seen. "I was always curious about that."
"Woah. You don't know how to mold chakra??? I don't really know how to explain it…"
Sakura, of course, did.
"Chakra is a fusion between your physical energy, stamina, and your spiritual energy. Just feel it inside your body, and concentrate. When you feel a sudden lift in your nature, focus it into wherever you want in your body."
Ken thought he got it. Of course he understood the explanation. He was considered one of the smartest men in the world, up there with Albert Einstein. Really. All the guy did was discover the method behind time travel.
"Okay I think I got it." Ken closed his eyes and focused. He did feel the spiritual energy rise. He felt his stamina drain. He felt them merging into one. He felt the "lift in his nature" that Sakura had mentioned. Ken opened his eyes and spoke. "I think I got it. By George, I think I've got it!" That was obvious to him as a quote from My Fair Lady. Naruto and Sakura of course did not get that.
Naruto looked confused yet again. "Who's George?"
"Never mind. So if I wanted to use a jutsu what would I do now?"
"Mold your chakra into your hands, and.. try to perform this seal. Then focus on making an invisible copy of yourself." Sakura performed the basic genin Bunshin no jutsu. Two Sakura now watched Ken as he tried to do the same.
"Okay. Bunshin no jutsu!" Ken succeeded. Faster than the dunce genin Naruto ever did. This of course, made Naruto scoff inwardly.
"Wow, Ken! You're talented!" Not really. Just smart.
"Feh. Ken try this one! Kage bunshin no jutsu!" Naruto cloned a solid copy of himself. Ken knew this too. The seal was different, and it took more chakra.
"Okay.. but don't expect much. Kage bunshin no jutsu!" A solid clone appeared, but soon released itself. "Oh, I can't maintain it yet."
"But you did it!"
"I did it better…"
Sakura could tell Naruto was jealous. She thought it was kinda cute. She wouldn't tell him that though, or he might get a little too happy.
"Okay Ken. Don't mind Naruto here, he's just jealous because he has zero chakra control." Naruto scoffed, again. "Now… try molding as much chakra as you can. I want to see your limits."
Ken was pretty interested in how much chakra he had too. But he had no idea how to compare it, as he had no previous experience feeling his own chakra and feeling that of others.
"Okay… here I go…" Ken formed a seal, and started molding away.
What Sakura and Naruto saw before them, no one expected. He was so talented at chakra manipulation, and he was smart. But this…
"Woah." Both of them could only stare.
A/N: BWAHAHAHAHA I AM SO EVIL! I LEAVE YOU ALL HERE!
As I said before, it's an intro and its my first shot at an OC kinda character. That aside, I hope you liked my writing and im sorry to make you read through all that time travel stuff to get to the naruto stuff :] review and comment please!