Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. To those who read Chapter 1 earlier, please read again. Plot ( and quality, hopefully) has changed.
It seemed as the entire village had cramped into his bedroom. The medics rushed around him, trying to resuscitate the dying man. He sensed old friends, comrades and his dear, rushing to his room from around the village. Konohamaru was the first to make it in, followed quickly by the others. Fighting off the pain in his old bones, he sat up, and whispered into Konohamaru's ear, "Tell them I love them. Now, Hell or Heaven calls." He laid back down, and closed his eyes to rest – forever.
The dull red of his eyes faded to a faint black. He could feel his senses dulling, his heartbeat slowing down. Slowly, all sensation seized and he could feel some central part of him beginning to fade into nothing.
Suddenly, as though time itself had stopped, he crashed into ice-cold water. As his senses slowly returned, a foul odor began to permeate his nose. Soon, his body – withered by old age and the stress of a lifetime of abuse – began to return to its' youth. Even as he stood from the frigid waters, he could feel his body beginning to respond as it once did.
'Hmm, I thought I would never see these mind sewers again.' pondered Naruto. As a shinobi who had lived into old age, he knew that his body was his greatest weakness. Noticing his steadily improving physical, he began to move towards the cage where his inner demon laid. As he began to appoach the center of his mind, the condition continued to deteriorate, returning to a state resembling his youth.
'It's almost as though my own mind is reverting through time. Hopefully, this furry fox has some clue why I am not a cold body in the Konoha morgue yet. ' Naruto hoped as he approached the paper seal holding the force of nature within his body.
"Before you ask, I do have some kindling as to what your mind is undergoing." interjected Kurama, foreseeing Naruto's barrage of questions.
"You are traveling through time – Well, dimension-hopping. Currently, your mind is entering a state of timelessness. As you probably noticed, it now encompasses your mind state at all points in your life. You - well, all Namikaze for awhile after Minato - are far more separated from your dimension than things of your power ought to be. That blond idiot, Minato, fucked with the fabric of spacetime, and so - " explained Kurama, watching with euphoric joy as Naruto's jaw slowly became unhinged from his head.
"I got it from here, you old fox." interrupted Minato, glancing at the his old frenemy. After all, these sewers got very boring and the fox was the only other being there.
Naruto, I know that you thought my spirit had passed away - from the seal even. A fragment remains - even less than what exists naturally in you or my corpse on this earth, and that is where the benefit and boon lies. All of us has a tiny portion of the spirits of our ancestors. My own has been corrupted. The Hirashin was far more complex than even I realized and it ripped my spirit from the bounds that tie to this dimension and time. While that allowed me the infamous speed, it also tore my spirit and that of my descendants - at least until my spirit becomes too diluted - from the space-time continuum."
"What does this whole spirit space time gibberish mean now?" Questioned Naruto, lost.
"Basically, you will keep shifting dimensions and time periods, till - I don't know when, if ever this will end. I would be there with you if I weren't stuck in the belly of the Shinigami."
Naruto's eyes came into focus, revealing a pitch-black screen. Slowly, the screen came on, with two words on it.
New Save?
After a few minutes, he cautiously walked up to the screen. Reaching forward, he selected the New Save option. Suddenly, the screen flashed through his past lives' memories. A huge calendar began to appear on the ground beneath his feet. Along with the dates, it showed snapshots from his life. For miles beyond, he could see years in the distant future and past, unadorned by any memories.
In a moment of brilliance, he ran to the past to hopefully prevent his father from creating the Hiraishin - and entrapping him in eternity. Deciding on a date few years before Minato's birth, he stepped on the pad in front of the aforementioned date. A giant animated paperclip fazed into existence, and stated robotically
"ERROR; level not unlocked. Tutorial activated."
Slowly, his senses began to fade as they once had. Soon, all of his senses seized. After what seemed to be hours, his senses began to return. As soon as his senses had fully returned, the world began to rock. As though a giant was shaking the world, his surroundings - a black, no, a dark maroon, cocoon - began to shake tremendously.
Slowly, he feel his body - a different, much smaller body - began to shift. He realized that he had yet to fully gain his sense of balance and that even though he felt that he was shifting upwards, he was moving down was area, and his head was leading.
As he began to feel as though he was falling, an ice cold hand grasped his head gently, and pulled him out of the fall. Seeking to gain his bearings, Naruto called out "Where am I? Who are you?". But no sound came out from within. Ignoring his growing despair, he repeated "Where am - The cold hand slapped his face, and as he recoiled, his words turned into a roaring, screaming cry.
Naruto slowly began to realize that he had somehow turned - no, returned - into a newborn, and the invisible hand must be that of his wet nurse.
Though this was child's play for his mind, his youthful body - Do they sell green spandex that fit my size? - tired quickly, and succumbed to sleepiness. As his eyelids dropped, he saw a red haired woman reach out and take him from the invisible hand.
The next months passed in blur. Every waking moment was indiscernible from every sleeping moment, and days rushed past as though they were minutes.
Slowly, he began to remember his waking moments and see the passing of days. Though he could see, his perception only matched that of his counterparts. A dark haired pair - a man and a woman - took care of him and the man seemed to be forced to change all his diapers. Even now, he could see a chibi Kiba cracking a whip in his mind.
'She has eyes like one of Madara's - the Uchiha. Doubt she is one though - far too kind for their kind. The man seems familiar; perhaps one of the many lost to war.'
As the months passed, he began to gain control over his body and mind. He thought to walk, but decide to crawl as to not arouse suspicion. He learned that he was at a small house, meant for two or three, on the outskirts of town based on the foliage.
'Well, this home rules out Danzo or the council so this must be the old man's doing. Where is Minato though?'
Apart from the baby equipment and a few photos of the two adults, the apartment was sparsely furnished.
His crawlings were interrupted by a large chakra dispatch in the tiny balcony of the apartment.
As a figure, clad in dark blues and blacks, stepped in, all those who hated Naruto in his youth came to mind. Now those haters have free reign to kill him, once and for all. Without even the ability to hold his waste, he was powerless against the forces that would twist him to their sinister causes.
Naruto quickly attempted to flee, but alas, his body was still that of toddler. So instead, he crawled away at a snail's pace. The mysterious figure leapt forward and lifted him from the floor. As Naruto looked for a venue to escape, the figure reached up and tore off his mask, revealing it to be the same man who seemed to be his guardian.
"Aren't you the cutest? Oh, yes you are, oh yes you are! " the man began to spin and Naruto began to spin as well, being in his grip.
"Asuma, you are home?" a feminine voice called out from within the house. Soon after, the aforementioned dark-haired lady appeared from within the confines of the house that he had yet to explore.
"Yeah, that was a lot harder than expected. The council is still a bitch – "
"Language!"
"Sorry, sorry. Anyways, so I get back home, and this little guy is crawling around all over the place." The man responded.
The lady moved closer to Asuma and Naruto and looked into Naruto's eyes. "Isn't it a few months too early?"
"It is about 4 months ahead of normal, but that probably boosted his muscle growth."
Asuma, still holding the baby Naruto, walked over to the crib and placed him within. Gently touching his head, he pressed his palm against Naruto's head.
As Asuma gently brushed his head, he slowly fell asleep.
'What is this - chakra?' Realized Naruto as his consciousness slowly faded away.
The years of childish innocence passed idyllically. While the thought of losing his parents again brought him sorrow, Asuma and the lady - named Kurenai - were pleasant enough. Asuma's crazy, inebriated spirit was tempered by the calm natured Kurenai. Even though his mind was much older than his body, he enjoyed to act according to his physical age.
'Now, I can continue my pranks.
Naruto, your actions reflect upon Konohagakure. The voice of Kakashi rang out among his thoughts.
My ass. Can't blame a child for acting childish."
Before he knew it, the fateful day had come. The first day of class. The beginning of it all.
Walking next to Kurenai, he strolled towards the academy, dismissive of the hate surrounding him.
Dressed unimpressively in dark, muted hues, he enters relatively undisturbed.
Hoping to actually learn something this time around, he takes a seat in the corner of the room. Soon after, Iruka enters.
The children was abuzz, and excited chatter filled the room. Even though it was the first day of class, he could see them starting to congregate together.
"Hello, I am your instructor - Umino Iruka!" Iruka boomed from the front of the class.
At the sound of the voice, the class fell silent. As he peered around the new class, he realized that none of these were his old friends.
"Why did I have to fail twice?! Darn, now I am stuck with a bunch of kids I don't even know." thought Naruto, as Iruka began to call out names and hand out a thick bundle of paper to each student.
As Iruka continued to call out all the names in monotone voice, Naruto got lost in thought, staring through the window to the jungle.
The jungle always seemed so young, so eternal. Perpetual beyond time itself. Memories of the same jungle, ravaged by invading armies and Madara's attacks began to overlap the lush, present jungle. Even then, life had remained within the land.
'Stop acting like a wistful old ass.'
'Hey fuzzy, since nature never dies, and you never dies, are you and Gaia like cousins or something?'
With mumble of 'Stupid Brats!', Kyuubi retreated to the inner recesses of his mind.
Hearing his name called, Naruto looks up at Iruka. Seeing the sneer on Iruka's face, he remembered that even his Iruka had hated him at the beginning.
Approaching Iruka, he politely received his papers, and retreated to his desk. Soon after, Iruka began to read the syllabus - so that's what the paper was - to them.
Inevitably, he fall asleep as Iruka begins to list off the exact amount of weaponry they would need to procure before the second month. Excluding one girl who was nodding rather ferociously, most of his peers seemed to be in similar states of approaching sleep.
Just as his dreams of a ramen bath had begun, they stopped by the voice of one Umino Iruka, calling his name.
"Naruto! How dare you sleep in my class! Get out!" roared Iruka, clenching a roll of paper as though it was a baton.
Resigned to his fate, he grabbed his bag and slowly strolled out. As he was leaving, he realized the entire class, excluding him and the crazy nodder, was still dead asleep. Iruka was unaware or ignorant of this particular fact, and continued his exposition into the syllabus.
'Geez, with how passionate this guy is, you would think this syllabus was his literal baby!'
'Papercuts. All the papercuts!'
'Agh! Don't put that picture in my head.'
Slowly, Naruto began to realize he was outside the classroom, and he sat down, not wanting to deal with the villagers bullshit today.
'How did I get Iruka to like me in the first place?'
'Why anyone likes you is beyond me.'
'No, I mean, seriously, how did he stop hating me?'
'Pity, fool. He pitied you, took you to ramen, and then you worked your happiness magic.'
'So how to turn him around this time ... Mah, it's weird actively thinking about becoming friends.'
Scheming how to turn Iruka around, he slowly went back to sleep.
At the Uchiha household
A tiny Sasuke is poking Itachi as he tries to eat his lunch.
"Stop poking me."
"Stop poking my finger with your shoulder"
"You are the one poking though. I am not moving"
"But ... you are older. So that means I am right!" A gleeful Sasuke began to grin, as he bested his brother.
"Alright. What do you want?" replied Itachi with a sigh, resigned to Sasuke's strange logic.
"Itachi, help me train."
"Maybe later." Itachi reached out, and poked him back - in his forehead.
"Please. Pretty please. Pretty please with a cherry on top."
The conversation was interrupted by Mikoto, rushing into the kitchen with a towel clenched in her hand.
A.N. If you feel any kind of way about this story, leave a review. Hate it? Let me know what I am doing wrong. Love it? Let me know. I get an email for every review, and it's very motivational to know that someone felt like actually reading my work. XD