Hello anyone that decided to click on this story! I'm actually really excited about the plot-line that has taken up residence in my head. I just started watching/reading Naurto recently (a shame, I know), but when I realized the sheer genius that was the plot-line, how could I not try and make my own spin on the characters...or at least that was what my brain was telling me.

So this is a magical AU that kind of, but not really, follows some of the story line. I'm going to try my best to keep the characters in character, but some of them are just really hard to make act the way that they were created to, so please just let me know if I fail at one of them and I will try my hardest to fix my epic screw up.

The New Guy

Chapter One: Stranger Danger

The wagon that Naruto was in teetered almost nauseatingly as it hit pothole after pothole. He kept rolling back and forth along the hard, wooden floor and with it being pitch black inside, he could barely tell up from down. He gritted his teeth as his face came into contact with the wall yet again. His eyes teared up as the stinging in his nose became more acute. Why him? All he wanted was to be home in a soft, warm bed. He had no idea where he was going, nor did he have any idea who he was with.

Maybe ten hours before, he had woken up with a throbbing head and a rolling stomach, and this had been the only thing he'd known since regaining consciousness. He had no idea how long he'd been knocked out, and he supposed that it wasn't of immediate importance. The most pressing matter was that he couldn't move anything from the neck down in that ten hours, which is why he'd been helplessly flopping around the entire time, bruising and battering his entire body.

He sighed in relief as he was able to twitch his fingers. It might not have been much, and it might not have been enough to get him out of this predicament, but it was enough to reassure him that he wasn't simply paralyzed. Then again, that also took away the possibility that it was his mother and father that were driving this confounded device to god-knows-where in order for him to get help.

Alright, Uzumaki! Naruto coached himself. It's now or never. You can do this! Naruto closed his eyes and concentrated on his body, trying to imagine warmth flowing through him. He had no idea what the sensation was caused by, but it allowed him to do spectacular things that no one else that he knew was capable of doing. He felt that familiar feeling in his fingertips and at the bottom of his feet. They were still relatively numb, but he could still feel more than he had been able to all night. "Oomph!" He groaned as the wagon hit another pothole and he went airborne for a moment before crashing back against the wood yet again.

His concentration faltered momentarily as he focused on the horrible pain in his shoulder. Damn these people, he snarled to himself. He groaned as he began concentrating yet again. Once that familiar warmth was back, he forced himself to start trying to move his limbs and appendages. At first, it was unsuccessful. He could still only move his fingers and toes. After a little while though, he was able to feel the muscles in his arms twitch as his forearms started raising a few millimeters from the wood.

After about an hour, he had limited mobility in his limbs. Groaning at the stiffness of his muscles, he pushed himself up to a crawling position and feebly inched his way to the back of the wagon. He pushed aside the curtain and squinted as he was assaulted by light. The sun was slowly starting to make its way over the line of trees of the forest that he was riding through. As far as he could tell, it was still very early morning, and this wagon was the only thing that was riding along the path.

He didn't know where he was headed to, and he didn't know who he was with. The only thing that he knew for sure was that he didn't want to be with these guys when they reached their destination. There was no scenario that he knew of that kidnapped victims ended up better off by allowing their kidnappers to succeed in whatever plan they cook up.

The wagon was moving at a pretty good speed, and was fairly high up in the air. With his limited mobility, he knew that jumping out would hurt…a lot, but it wasn't like he would be able to jump out while it was stopped and outmaneuver his attackers in the state that he was in. It just wasn't going to happen.

He closed his eyes and lurched himself forward, grimacing as the edge of the wagon hit his stomach as it rolled over yet another bump. He felt the wind force itself from his lungs immediately, and whatever air that hadn't removed itself from that blow left once he slammed against the compacted dirt. He rolled to a stop a few moments later and grimaced in pain. He opened his eyes and looked on lazily as the wagon kept rolling along, the drivers completely unaware of what had happened. Hopefully they wouldn't find out for some time.

He rolled on to his stomach and pushed himself on to his hands and knees. He clenched his eyes shut as he tried to draw up the strength to get to his feet, but found none. After one last attempt to push himself up farther, he felt his arms buckle under the strain and his eyes rolled into the back of his head. He landed back on the dirt, and the air whooshed out of his lungs for the umpteenth time that day as he passed back out.

Iruka Umino whistled a merry tune as he walked through the busy streets on the outskirts of Konoha city. He was surrounded by many excitable children that were rushing around, looking at stalls with wide and wishful eyes. His heart went out to the poor darlings, and he wished that he had the money to buy everything that their small hearts desired. As it was, he didn't even have enough money to cover the necessities for all of them.

"Don't get too close," Iruka warned them quickly. "Inari," he scolded to the oldest boy of about ten. "You know better than that."

Said boy, lowered his head as he slowly turned away from the vender and shuffled back to Iruka with a defeated sigh. "Sorry, big brother."

Iruka patted him gently on the back. "I know that you want all of these nice things, but that just isn't in the cards right now." Inari wasn't Iruka's little brother, nor was he related to any of the children that he was with. They were all orphans of famine and war that had spread across the country a few years earlier. Iruka, an orphan himself, had taken up the responsibility of caring for them as best as he could even though he wasn't exactly the richest person in the city. There was only so much someone could do on a teacher's salary.

"What are we going to look for today?" another girl inquired. She bounded toward him with a big smile, her red hair pulled into pigtails.

"Berries," Iruka told her. "You know that the blackberries are the sweetest this time of year." The girl, Moegi practically glowed in excitement at the prospect.

"Oi, brats!" a bored voice came over the rest of the children that Iruka was herding around. Iruka looked over and saw that Shikamaru was looking at a pair of girls that were staring in awe at a jewelry stall. "Quit standing around. The sooner we get this done, the sooner we can all go home." He had his hair pulled back in a ponytail and a hoop in one ear. His face was a mask of perpetual boredom that he always seemed to feel. He was a true slacker in all definitions of the word and seemed to find any activity that required effort to be a 'drag.' He was a good kid regardless and was kind enough to help Iruka out with this despite him having a family that was more than able to provide for him.

"I'm surprised that Choji isn't here," Iruka told Shikamaru as they both walked behind the rest of the children that had finally stopped staring at all of the stalls and started walking toward the forest. "I figured he'd be all over an excursion like this."

"Normally he would," Shikamaru agreed, his voice coming out as nothing more than a sigh as he put his hands behind his head and looked up at the sky, watching the clouds move at a slow pace over them. "He had to stay behind, though. It's his parents' anniversary and he's manning the bakery for them while they go out."

"I see," Iruka nodded in understanding. "That's very considerate of him."

"Meh," Shikamaru said noncommittedly. "Sounds like a total drag."

They made it past the trees as they were talking and were walking along the trail, which was surrounded by increasingly dense trees and foliage. The shade was a nice relief compared to the stifling heat that the sun created in the city. Iruka sighed in contentment as he wiped the sweat off his forehead and looked down at the children. "Okay," he said. "Split off into groups of three and start looking around for berries. Remember, don't eat any until I've had a chance to look at them, alright?"

"Yes, sensei," they all mumbled in unison. They all split off and quickly rushed off the path, looking for berry bushes.

"Shouldn't we help them?" Shikamaru questioned Iruka with a raised eyebrow.

Iruka shook his head. "No. They're all excited about this. I'm sure that they'll be happier on their own than they would be with uncool adults trying to tell them what to do."

He expected another noncommittal answer from Shikamaru, which was his forte, and was surprised when he was met with silence. He looked over at his student and saw that he was staring further along the trail.

"What is it?" Iruka questioned.

"There's something farther up on the road," Shikamaru told him. "It's too far away for me to see what it is, though." A beat of silence passed between them before Shikamaru shrugged. "I'm sure it's nothing."

Iruka frowned. "It might be nothing, but I'd rather check it out and it be nothing than risk the kids." Shikamaru sighed and took a step toward the object, but Iruka placed his hand on the teenager's chest. "You stay here. I'll go and check it out."

"I can—"

"Stay here and make sure none of the kids call out," Iruka told him firmly. "It's probably nothing, but you're still my student. As your sensei, I'll make sure that everything's okay. It's my job."

"Fine," Shikamaru sighed, rolling his eyes. "Whatever you say."

Iruka smiled at him before walking toward the lump in the road. He could faintly make out the silhouette of the object, but couldn't tell much about it other than it was too large to just be a tree root. It was probably just a dead animal, but the clenching in Iruka's gut told him otherwise. There was something too familiar about the shape of the mass. As he got closer, it dawned on him, and he started running toward it. That lump was a human.

He made it to the person in record time. It was a blond boy that was lying on his stomach with his limbs sprawled out near his body as though he had collapsed while he was on his hands and knees. He quickly rolled him over on his back and placed middle and forefinger against the side of his neck and sighed in relief as he felt a strong and steady pulse as the same time that the boy took in a deep breath and let it out.

He looked at the boy's face and deduced that he was probably sixteen, the same age as Shikamaru. He had three scars on either cheek that looked a lot like whiskers and the rest of his face was covered in small nicks and bruises as though he had been repeatedly slamming different parts of his face against a solid object. The boy's eyelids started twitching and flickered open briefly, showing bright blue irises before fluttering shut again.

"Shikamaru!" Iruka called loudly, turning around to see that his student was already walking quickly toward him.

"Who the hell is that?" Shikamaru demanded.

"Some kid," Iruka replied. "He's passed out, but doesn't seem to be in dire condition. All the same, we need to get him to some kind of healer and figure out what's happened to him."

"Lady Tsunade has the closest shop," Shikamaru told him. "I'll go and get Kiba. He lives nearby and can help me carry him there."

Iruka nodded in consent and Shikamaru turned around and rushed away. He might not be motivated most of the time, Iruka mused, but he sure does pull through when it counts. Iruka felt a rush of pride run through him at the thought of how amazing all of his students really were. They would all grow up and become fine mages, he just knew they all would.

Sakura Haruno was a busy girl. At the age of just sixteen, she was one of two second in commands at Tsunade's healing ward and was training under the best medical professional in all of the fire country. Not many things surprised her anymore, and she was prepared for just about anything. She could deal with broken bones, deep cuts, and children that simply needed their booboos kissed. She had seen it all and was confident in her ability to handle anything.

That was before her sensei bailed on her for the morning shift, insisting that she needed to practice running the medical ward on her own so that she could handle having her own in the future. That was obviously code for I'm going to gamble away half of your paycheck and spend the other half on sake. If that wasn't enough to put Sakura off her game, the flow of patients that day was unreal. She had seen at least three people for heatstroke, ten for broken limbs, and there had even been a carpenter that had hammered a nail straight through the palm of his hand.

When the patients had finally trickled down from their steady stream to almost deserted, she had taken a seat on one of the beds, panting from exhaustion. She was going to need a vacation after this. At least it's almost over, Sakura assured herself, looking up at the clock that was sitting on the wall, mocking her. You only have a little over an hour left. Then Shizune comes in and you can go and pass out.

She heard the ding of the doorbell going off as hurried feet came through the door. She sighed as she pushed herself off the bed and walked out of the sickroom and into the waiting room. She tiredly assessed the situation and suddenly became more alert. Her fellow classmates, Shikamaru Nara and Kiba Inuzuka were standing in the middle of the room with a blond guy. He was passed out and had his arms thrown over both Shikamaru and Kiba's shoulders. He was a couple of inches shorter than both of the boys so his feet hung off the ground, swinging with every movement the other two made.

"What happened?" Sakura demanded as she turned around and immediately walked back into the sickroom with the two boys following her. She motioned for them to lay the stranger on the bed that she had just been sitting on a minute before.

"We don't know," Shikamaru told her. "We found him like this in the forest. He was passed out on the road toward the south."

Sakura closed her eyes and took in a deep breath through her nose as she called forth the magic in her body, concentrating the flow toward her hands. She placed her hand over his head and quickly ran it down the length of the blond's body, doing a scan. She frowned as she took a step back from him. "He has no serious physical injuries," she informed them quickly, almost talking to herself.

She tapped her finger against her chin as she thought. A lightbulb suddenly went off in her brain as she thought of something. "Ah," she said as she brought her hand back to his chest and went a little deeper inside. "Just as I thought," she murmured to herself, detecting traces of magic running through his body. Not just through the magical networks, but also in his nerves and muscles. "Paralysis spell," she mused. "He must have pushed himself to exhaustion by trying to fight against it."

"Paralysis spell," Shikamaru said in disbelief. "Why would someone cast as spell like that on him?"

Sakura shrugged. "For all we know, he could deserve it. Maybe he's a highway man or something."

"You've got a point," Shikamaru said quietly. He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "This is turning into a total drag! I'm regretting telling Iruka-Sensei about this. I should have just kept my damn mouth shut." He looked over at Sakura with an almost pained expression on his face, as though he would have rather been anywhere else. "I wouldn't feel right just letting him be here with you alone if he's dangerous." He turned and looked at Kiba. "Go and find a Jonin. Tell them what's going on and get them to come here."

Kakashi Hatake was strolling down the streets of the markets of Konoha carelessly. He remembered Iruka mentioning something about taking the children out into the forest to let them pick berries to eat. As much as it didn't seem to be the case, Kakashi actually had a huge soft spot for children and greatly admired what Iruka was doing for the orphans in the city. He had just gotten of patrol and was heading toward the southern road to see if Iruka needed assistance with anything before he went home.

He passed a few people that stared blatantly at him and he simply smiled back, not that they could really see it too well with the cloth mask that covered the bottom half of his face. He was no longer too bothered by the stares. He always found it humorous when people realized who they were staring at and would immediately look away. He was the famous copycat mage, after all, and had mastered over a thousand spells.

He sighed in contentment. It was so nice to be feared. Of course, he couldn't stay careless for long. Something that resembled an oversized bullet slammed into his stomach and sent him toppling to the ground with the breath nearly completely knocked out of him. He felt weight on his lower half and figured that the projectile was sprawled all over him. He looked up and saw the unruly brown hair of Kiba Inuzuka. So much for being feared.

He just lowered his head back to the streets and tried his best to ignore the questioning stares that were becoming much more obvious and almost no one turned away in fear. A few heartbeats later, Kiba must have gotten over his shock, because he immediately scrambled off Kakashi and stood up, allowing Kakashi to sit up. He looked wearily up at the tanned teenager, shaking his head in exasperation as Kiba's brown eyes looked down at him uncertainly. He scratched the back of his head sheepishly and held a hand out toward Kakashi.

"Sorry, Sensei," Kiba told him as Kakashi allowed him to help him up. "Totally my fault," Kiba sighed. He lowered his eyes to the ground for a moment in obvious embarrassment before looking back up at Kakashi with a startlingly serious look in his gaze. "I'm glad that I ran into you though. We need you at Tsunade's infirmary. Some kid showed up in the middle of the forest. He's unconscious and Sakura says that it's a paralysis spell. No one knows what's going on and we thought that he could be dangerous."

Kakashi nodded as he stretched, forcing himself to forget about the tenderness in his stomach as he contemplated what Kiba said. "I'm glad that you guys were rational about this," Kakashi finally told him. "I want you to go to Iruka and tell him to get those kids away from that road until it's been checked out and tell him to go and talk to Genma about everything."

Kiba nodded and he and Kakashi rushed in opposite directions. Kakashi darted past people, not bothering to apologize as he pushed them out of the way. He didn't have time for that. There were two Genin alone with a potentially dangerous stranger. Tsunade really chose an amazing time to shirk her duties. He scowled at the thought as he pushed past the wooden door, wincing at the shrill bell that rang above his head and assaulted his eardrum. There was an unhurried patter of footsteps moments later and Shikamaru Nara came from the back and into the front room, looking as though he had no worries in the world. He supposed that was a good thing, though.

"Hello, Kakashi-sensei," Shikamaru greeted with a half wave that quickly turned into him trying his best to stifle a yawn. "I think this is the quickest I've ever seen you show up."

Kakashi frowned at the teenager. Yeah, he might have been perpetually tardy, but he figured that he would have received a warmer welcome than this. Maybe even a look of relief that the big, bad Kakashi was there to make sure that they were safe.

"I liked it better when you brats were younger," Kakashi said decidedly as he walked to Shikamaru, who turned around and led him to the back. He was hit with a scene of Sakura Haruno leaning over a bed, her pink hair falling into her face, obscuring her green eyes. She was looking at the most unassuming boy that Kakashi had ever seen.

Sakura looked up and beamed at Kakashi, much to the Jounin's pleasure. At least some of the younger generation still had an appreciation for his abilities. "Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura called, sounding so happy. He felt a bit of joy himself; it had been a while after all since he had seen the young mage. It filled him with pride to know that his former student was doing so well.

"So," Kakashi said as he walked over to the bed that housed the unconscious boy. "What do we have here?"

So, I hope that you liked the first chapter! I realized that I never mentioned anything about pairings, though I do hope to make this more plot-driven than just romance, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to put that out there.

Naruto/Hinata

Sakura/Sasuke

Shikamaru/Temari

Jiraiya/Tsunade

Ino/Sai

Kakahi/Iruka

I hope that none of you are offended by any of these, but there you have it! I hope that you liked the chapter and feel free to leave behind any feedback!