Hey Guys! This is my first ever fanfic here, and I've tried my very best to avoid any kind of grammatical mistakes, since English isn't my native language. Anyways, have fun reading the fic and please review!
Naruto was never a morning person. He hated early morning missions and he hated getting up early. Today was, however different. He woke up to the sound of chirping of birds, to the morning chaos that the village hidden in the leaves was, feeling fresh, content and happy. And why not? He had mastered the genius Fourth hokage's Jutsu in merely a week, got Konoha a new hokage and most of all, he was proud of himself for this. But no one knew about the one regret that was eating him from the inside. The regret, for not being able to bring Sasuke back, and not being able to keep his promise to Sakura. He never let that regret cloud his cheerful demeanor though. As always, he pushed that thought at the back of his head, hoping for the best, because he believed in himself. He wished the village will finally recognize him and his powers, because he had suffered enough for the sake of it.
He jumped out from his bed, did his usual morning chores, put on his trademark orange jumpsuit and set off hoping to aid his village in these tough times. However, he had no idea that this day was not his average, normal day that he was expecting.
Tsunade was in her new office, which was radiating with the morning sunshine and was brightened with the sounds of birds which gave the rather gloomy place a seemingly nice and fresh environment. Completely oblivious to the cheerful and busy streets of Konoha, the Godaime hokage was sleeping soundly amidst the piles of papers and books which covered her whole desk. She was never the type for paperwork anyway.
"Hey Baa-chan! Wake up already!" Tsunade got up from her desk startled and almost tripped on the chair on the other side of the table.
"Naruto! How many times have I told you to use the door you little brat!" Tsunade yelled at the 12-year-old. She sounded half furious and half sleepy. Naruto chuckled from the window he was crouched upon and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.
"Well, it's a lot faster this way-ttebayo". He said, not really caring about the look on tsunade's face.
"Anyways, you told me yesterday to come by your office today in the morning, regarding a mission. What's the mission?" Asked Naruto climbing down from the window and standing in front of the desk.
"Ahh, about that." Said Tsunade, relaxing her muscles and sitting down on her desk again. "We've found a somewhat interesting artefact, just outside konoha, and are trying to figure out what it really does" answered tsunade, taking out a sheet of paper from the piles of documents on the desk.
"An artefact? Is it some super-old device or something?" Questioned Naruto with a confused look on his office.
"We don't know about that till now. That's why we've gathered some shinobi to look in the matter. We've set up a site near the artefact for the shinobi to work upon, because the artefact is seemingly unmovable". Answered Tsunade, checking the report in front of her.
"Th-That means, you're sending me to be a part of that shinobi team? For real? Yes! I knew you recognize my intelligence baa-chan!" Naruto literally started jumping around the office in joy and commenting to himself about how he has started getting the intellectual missions.
"What are you talking about? You've to go to the site with food and other essential tools and equipment needed for the research. It's a D-rank mission".
"EHHHH?! What?! D-Rank?! What the hell Baa-chan! And here I thought you were the best hokage konoha ever had!" Naruto deadpanned on the floor, with all his hopes shattered into tiny pieces. And well, Tsunade didn't really seem to care about that.
"What do you mean? You've been on a break for sometime now, and I thought D-rank will be the best for you now. Anyhow, pick up the supplies at the village gate, and head to the site ASAP". Ordered Tsunade, with a rather cheerful expression on her face.
"Yeah yeah, whatever". Naruto dragged himself out of the office and headed for the gate to complete his 'boring' and lame mission that he thought it was.
The artefact was, according to Naruto, a plain old box which was nothing really special. Upon close examination, one could see that it was sealed with some kind of barrier. But it was no ordinary barrier. Every attempt made by the shinobi was in vain, because there were seemingly no loop holes in the barrier.
"What's so special about this box anyway?" Naruto thought out loud while lazily lying on the ground observing the shinobi trying to open the box, or at least, trying to move it. He was ordered to stay there so as to aid the shinobi by bringing them anything they needed by going back and forth from the village to the site, which he had to unwillingly agree to.
Several hours later, when all shinobi almost gave up on the box, Naruto got up from his place. He was bored to bits, and it was really irritating him. "What is this stupid box anyway?! I could've used all this time to get clues about Sasuke or Orochimaru. Hell! I could've trained rather than sitting here all day waiting for this box to open!"
Not heeding to the cries of the other ninja around him, he made a shadow clone, and started forming a Rasengan. It didn't matter if the box didn't open. He'll just break the box open, and end this mission here. With these thoughts in mind, he slammed the Rasengan on the box. And then, something very unexpected happened.
The barrier on the box, started growing brightly and eventually started getting unsealed. The box seemed to respond to Naruto's chakra, and it opened with a blinding white light which impaired the vision of every shinobi present there.
"WHA-What the hell is happening?!" Naruto asked himself, while the white light started engulfing him. He felt his gut being twisted and his whole body being sucked into the light. Before he could've made a move to escape, he was in a completely other dimension with white light all around him. He felt his consciousness fading. It was as if someone had sucked all his chakra out of him.
"What is this feeling? What is happening?" Growled a very angry fox in the deep depths of Naruto's mind.
Before anyone could make a move, Naruto was gone, leaving the now empty box in the area while the horrified shinobi just gaped at each other with shock.
Minato Namikaze was having a rather uneventful day in his office. "Damn the paperwork". thought the fourth hokage of Konohagakure. He was too young for all this. When he was declared the hokage two days ago, he didn't bother to think he signed up for the paperwork as well. When he took the oath of protecting the village, he didn't know he'll have to deal with the documents before dealing with the enemy. And here he was, sitting on his desk and signing documents, which seemed to increase every minute. Unknown to him, his day was going to get very interesting now.
He heard a knock on his door while he was busy battling with the paper in front of him. Expecting another pile of documents, he had an urge to send back whoever was knocking on the door. "it's still my duty though". Thinking so, he uttered a barely audible 'come in'. The visitor was a chunin who was on guard duty at the village gates. Minato instantly cheered up when he saw the chunin didn't have any kind of file or paper with him.
"Hokage-sama, a situation requires your immediate attention, if possible". Said the chunin slightly bowing in respect to the Yondaime.
"What is the matter?" Asked Minato with his ever cheerful and sweet demeanor.
"We've found an unconscious body just outside Konoha. It seems to be of a young shinobi, about 12-13 years of age". Replied the chunin with a serious, yet calm look on his face.
"Go on". Ordered Minato, the situation immediately picking his interest.
"About 30 minutes ago, we saw a bright light emanating not so far from the village. When we went there to inspect, we found the unconscious kid there. He doesn't possess anything special though. Regular Kunai, Shurikens and other ninja tools. What perked our interest though, that he had a Konoha headband on his forehead. But none of us seemed to recognize the kid. We've never seen him around the village". Replied the chunin with a calculative look on his face.
Minato's head started forming possibilities. Yes, the war was over. But, can the kid be a spy? Or can it be a plot by the enemy to use the kid to infiltrate the village? His heart said that a 12-year-old can't be capable of something like this. But his mind considered all the possibilities. They were Shinobi. Anything is possible in this world.
"Where's the kid now?" Asked Minato with a calm look on his face.
"We've sent him to the hospital for examination. He was unconscious, after all". Replied the chunin.
"Alright. Check for any Genjutsu or Transformation jutsu on the kid. Notify me immediately when he's awake".
"Yes sir". The Chunin left after paying his respects to the hokage.
"I hope it all turns out good. I don't want any trouble in these peaceful times. The village has suffered enough". With his hopes held high, Minato went back to his paperwork.
White ceiling, the familiar smell of medicines and solutions, people dressed in white. Yup, he was in a hospital alright. Naruto opened his eyes in the familiar environment he had been in number of times. His head felt dizzy, but his body felt okay. He started recalling as to what brought him here. With some difficulty, he finally recalled the whole incident. It was all because of that Stupid Box. He was stuck in that white light and ended up in the hospital. He remembered the feeling he had in his stomach, and it almost made him sick again. He wondered what was that light anyway. He decided to ask Tsunade later.
He slowly got up from his bed, struggling a little because of the dizziness in his head. He looked around hoping to find someone familiar to explain the situation.
"So, how are you feeling Kid? Any kind of pain or nausea?" Naruto's eyes met with a woman smiling at him. She was a medic-nin, he could tell that. But he didn't recognize her.
"Umm, no not really. My head is a little messed up though, it's feeling kinda dizzy". Replied Naruto with a smile of his own.
"Oh, I see. I'll administer some medicines then. Don't worry, you'll get better in no time. Your recovery speed is amazing though. We didn't expect you to wake up for a week or two". Replied the medic-nin expressing some amazement in her voice.
"Hehe, I know that already. I only need a good night's sleep-ttebayo!" Grinned Naruto.
The medic-nin quirked up an eyebrow at the unusual verbal tic. It kinda felt familiar to her.
"Anyways, what about that stupid artefact outside the village? It's because of that box that I ended up here, ya know. What was in that box anyway?". Asked Naruto, completely unaware of his situation.
"Artefact? What're you talking about kid? There's no artefact or a box in or out of the village. As for you, we found you outside the village unconscious, and brought you here. Come to think of it, what happened to you anyway, were you on a mission?" Replied the woman, looking at Naruto as if he was crazy.
Naruto was very confused now. How can this woman not know about the artefact? The whole village did! And why is it that this place seems familiar, but not exactly like his konoha?
"This is Konoha right?" Asked Naruto, doubting himself a little now.
"Well, yes it is. Kid, you don't seem OK. Is there a problem?" Asked the medic-nin, a little concerned about Naruto.
Before Naruto could answer, he heard footsteps outside the door, and when he turned towards the door, he saw a Tall, Blonde, Spikey-haired, handsome man, with cerulean blue eyes looking at him with a smile on his face. The man had a long white cloak on his back, with a konoha Jonin vest underneath the cloak. Naruto looked at the man, and he could tell immediately that the man was a strong shinobi, given the way he carried himself, and he could see the confidence in his gentle eyes. He seemed to be in his early to mid-twenties.
Minato entered the room after getting the confirmation that the child, was in no form a fake or a transformed shinobi. He still had his doubts though. Did the kid belong to Konoha, or was he an outsider? When he entered, he was really surprised, though he didn't let it show on his face. The Kid was like a miniature version of himself. Blonde spikey-haired, with almost the same blue eyes like his. And the child had some marks on his cheeks that resembled whiskers. He felt the face shape and the features resembling someone he knew, but he couldn't figure out who.
Anyways, he entered the room and gave the kid a smile. He saw that the kid was looking confused, and he wondered why.
Before anyone could say anything, two people entered the room after Minato. One of them, was a tall and strongly-built man, with long white hair that reached down his back. He was carrying a large scroll with him, and he had two red marks that ran down his cheeks. He was a middle-aged man who seemed to be in his mid-thirties. He wore a red jacket over a green colored mesh armor and matching green pants. He wore a headband which had the symbol 'abura' written on it, which meant 'oil'.
The other one, was a beautiful woman, with long bright red hair that ran down her waist. Her hair was the most striking feature in her appearance. She had a slim and slender figure, with a round face and green eyes. She was wearing a high collared sleeveless blouse with a long loose fitting white and purple colored dress. She looked to be in her early to mid-twenties.
"Jiraiya sensei? Kushina? What're you two doing here?" Asked Minato, who was a little surprised to see the two of them here.
"Yo! Long time no see Minato! Well, you see, your wife had some work with you so she came by the hokage office to meet you. As for me, I just returned from the mission in the Land of Waves. We both were looking for you. Your secretary then informed us that you had to visit the hospital". Said Jiraiya, with his everlasting cheerfulness and carefree nature.
"Yeah. What are you doing in the hospital anyway, Minato?" Asked Kushina, with a questioning look on her face.
"Ero-Sennin!" Everyone was now looking at Naruto who was pointing his finger at Jiraiya and grinning from ear to ear.
"Ero-Sennin?" Repeated Kushina, and then burst out laughing. Minato, who was first taken aback by the suddenness, was also laughing along with her now. The medic-nin was trying to suppress her laughter at first, but gave up in the end anyway. Everyone in the room, except Jiraiya was laughing, splitting their ends.
"Eh? Wh-What did you c-call me you brat?!" Jiraiya asked still taken aback by the new nickname he just got.
After what seemed like an eternity, everyone regained their composure.
"O-Oh My God! Ero Sennin! How fitting!" Said kushina, wiping the tears off her face. "Haha, who is this mini version of you Minato? I never laughed so hard in my life before this ya know?".
"Y-Yes, who's this brat?" Jiraiya asked pouting.
"Well, I don't know either as of now. Maybe, we should ask him?" Replied Minato now coming back from his fit of laughter.
Naruto was taken aback now. Nobody recognizes him? Why is the ero sennin refusing to recognize him?
"Oye! Ero-sennin! You recognize me don't you? You're Kidding right?" Naruto asked giving his foxy grin.
"Stop calling me that Kid! And, what're you talking about? I've never met you until now!" Retorted Jiraiya.
Minato saw the confused look on naruto's face. He knew, something wasn't right. The kid seemed to recognize Jiraiya. But how? He decided to take the initiative.
"Well, before that, where are my manners. We didn't introduce ourselves till now, right? I'm Namikaze Minato. It's a pleasure to meet you!" Said Minato, with a smile on his face.
"Namikaze... Minato? You are- "Naruto went wide-eyed.
"ohh. Looks like you've become famous Minato. Even Kids know your name by heart now!" Commented Jiraiya making Minato rub his head sheepishly.
"You... Who are you?" Asked Naruto innocently.
Minato sweat-dropped. Kushina again went into a fit of laughter and this time it was jiraiya who joined her.
"Ahh...well" Minato couldn't say anything beyond that.
"He's the fourth hokage of Konoha kid!" Answered Kushina with a smile.
"Fourth Hokage? Hahaha! What're you talking about?! The fourth hokage died 12 years ago while fighting the Nine tailed fox! Don't you know that?" Answered Naruto, laughing all the time, as if he was stating the obvious.
The rest of the room went deathly silent. They stared wide-eyed at the kid before them. They didn't know what to say.
"Wh-What are you t-talking about Kid?" Asked Kushina, extremely confused.
"What? How can you not know that? The whole world knows that! The Fourth was the greatest hero of all time! He fought the Nine tailed Fox and saved Konoha! See, his face is on the hokage moun- "Naruto went silent after that. He looked through the window of the hospital to see, that there were only three faces on the mountain. He was beyond shocked to see that. How was this even possible?
"Wh-Why isn't the Yondaime's face up there?"
Minato had now started connecting the dots in his head. He was now certainly sure that the kid belonged to Konoha. But not this Konoha. Only one answer came to his mind, but it was highly improbable. He had to confirm his suspicion.
"Kid, when's your birthday?" Asked Minato, with a serious but calm voice.
"What does it have to do with this Min- "Jiraiya was cut-off in between when Minato gestured him to listen to the answer.
"10th October, 372 S.Y" Replied Naruto.
Everyone in the room, except Minato gasped in Shock. That Date was almost 12 years in the future. They were currently living in the 360 S.Y. They finally understood what was happening. They were not ready to believe it. But when, they looked towards Minato, he nodded his head in confirmation. All of their doubts had been answered. Though it was highly improbable, it was true.
Kushina and Jiraiya looked towards the kid. They now started to understand why the kid was so confused and scared. Kushina went near the kid and ruffled his hair gently. She didn't know why, but she felt a connection to the kid. She wanted to comfort him and tell him that it's gonna be fine.
Naruto, his head full of doubts looked towards her and asked "What's going on? Why is it that nobody recognizes me?"
Minato felt really sorry for the kid. When he looked deep in the eyes of the Kid, he saw...loneliness. Under that smiling and bright face, the kid had a terrible past and he could see it. Not to make his life more miserable, he answered Naruto.
"It's gonna be fine Kid. Don't worry. Nobody has forgotten you. And this is Konoha. As for some details, we'll explain it to you as soon as you get out of the hospital. Okay?" He said while ruffling the kid's hair gently.
Naruto smiled a little first, but after seeing the smiling faces of the people around him, gave his trademark Foxy Grin.
Everyone chuckled a little. Seeing the kid happy gave them a sense of relief. But they had the task of figuring out as to how did Naruto end up here, and about the 'future' that the kid mentioned.
"Yeah! I've already recovered though dattebayo!" Answered Naruto with a smile.
Everybody was really surprised with the kid's unusual verbal tic. Jiraiya and Minato turned towards Kushina, who was looking at Naruto, looking really surprised. They didn't know someone else had a tic like Kushina did. They all started laughing, to naruto's confusion, about the 'coincidence'.
"By the way, you didn't tell us your name till now kid. What's your name?" Asked Kushina, with a smile.
"Uzumaki Naruto! Dattebayo!"
OK. The First chapter is done. I'll be sure to update as soon as possible! So please guys! Read and Review! Any Suggestions, constructive criticism will be really appreciated. It was my first time trying a fic. Thank You!