Title: A Single Second

Words: 4,094

Characters: Iruka, Naruto + OCs

Timeline: Four Year old Naruto

Pairings: Basically Gen

The road of life is an intricate maze, made up of interweaving paths of millions upon millions of individuals. To be entirely accurate, the road map created looks much more like a misshapen cloth being woven off into eternity. There are holes points where it contracts and expands, threads that jump from one point to another, twisting the entire framework until it nearly resembles a rope. Threads start and stop, their ends barely (usually) poking out and on extremely rare occasions jutting quickly back in.

Outside of the main framework are thicker threads that weave together and then shoot into the main bundle before darting out. Some of these, nine in particular, join with the main grouping more often than others, sometimes appearing bound to one smaller thread in particular. These nine stand for the biju, the nine 'demons' made of pure chakra who have, in the most recent portion of the timeline, found themselves bound to humans by other humans. Kurama, the Kyuubi, is one such biju.

Contrary to popular belief, fate isn't set in stone. Every action that an individual takes part in—every choice—adjusts the path of the weave and moves every other thread in consequence.

Sometimes these adjustments are so small that nothing, to the naked eye appears all that different, and yet even a small choice, such as orange juice versus milk, still spawns off a new, identical weave into a new reality. Sometimes, however, decisions are made that end one bundle completely or take out large swaths of fabric.

Most of these bundles are isolated from each other, close but not touching as if there is an infinite yet finite amount of space between them. A few, a very few, however, have threads that cross from one to another; sometimes blending with an identical thread and sometimes becoming a duplicate or even joining the bundle earlier than it originally appeared. These usually cause massive chain reactions of new bundles popping up within the affected bundle as they usually are initially created by one thread creating a new bundle whose framework isn't as advanced as the original.

From a distance it is difficult to give a name to which realities are better and which are worse—but really, deciding that is subjective to begin with. None are 'pretty' in this form, as all are misshapen. But there are few who could truly be called 'ugly' either. They just are.

While there are infinite incarnations of reality, the closer they appear in 'space' the closer the story the threads make is in detail.

When taking into consideration one thread common to many in one particular portion of infinite space, Kurama, it is easy to see how vastly different the road of life can be traveled. Focusing further on a few decades worth of time this is even easier to see.

In some worlds Kurama is free, roaming the surface of the world wreaking havoc on humanity with his siblings. In some he still is intricately bound with his siblings in the form of the Jyubi. In many he is caged within a human. The human he is caged within changes often as well. In a few the one who holds him is Senjuu Tsunade, her brother Nawaki, or one of their children; this happens most often when Uzumaki Kushina isn't born. In many Uzumaki Kushina holds Kurama, her chakra chains strong and binding.

If Kushina becomes his jinchuriki there are, usually, three main paths the world takes—all determined on the timing of her first pregnancy. Either she doesn't give birth to a child (usually as the wife of Namikaze Minato) and lives out her days either taking Kurama with her until he can reform or finding another to seal him into, or Uchiha Madara attacks in an attempt to control the biju on the night she gives birth. If Madara attacks that night than either she'll die, taking Kurama with her and the world often becomes temporarily 'safe' until Kurama reforms and the man hunts him down, or the Kyuubi is sealed within her son.

More often than not, because Minato rarely chooses to save his wife over their son, Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto becomes the next jinchuriki.

Surprisingly, this situation exists in nearly all of the timelines in which Kushina is born, and often something similar occurs when someone else holds the biju. When Kurama is free for Madara to take things are worse.

Uchiha Madara rarely chooses a different path.

But this story isn't about that small segment of history; it's about one moment in time where a chunin was one second later to get a mission and a genin team was one second faster.

The mission in question? Babysitting a four year old Uzumaki Naruto.

The child in question had recently been moved from where he'd been kept secluded and watched over by two caretakers and the remnants of his father's personal ANBU squad—most of which were killed the night of the kyuubi attack—to a small apartment. The boy would still have an ANBU member on watch along with a caretaker, but the Sandaime Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, felt that it would be best to begin bringing the boy back into the village's eye.

While keeping him secluded in infancy had been best, especially with the reaction of the village upon finding out the child's fate as a jinchuriki, it couldn't be done so indefinitely—especially not using the child's parents' home. Keeping Minato's enemies unaware of the existence of an heir was important. He had barely been able to justify housing the child within the home as safety concerns when he was much younger and as something the fourth would have wanted, and would have done for any orphan that he'd fated to live that way had he himself been alive.

Most of the village seemed to buy into Naruto's existence as a no-name orphan who had been given the Uzumaki name simply in remembrance of Konoha's fallen allies. Of course most hadn't seen him since he was a tow headed, surprisingly quiet, newborn if ever. Those that didn't or had been among the very small number who had known Kushina was pregnant understood the reasons behind the lies. Others chose to attempt to forget the connection, letting their hatred of the biju override their logic.

Jounin Ishii Hisoka wasn't that happy with their assignment as he glanced over the scroll the chunin in charge of delegating missions that day had given them, even if it was classified as a low C rank in pay rather than the usual D a babysitting job would entail. There was a note included with the scroll for the debrief he was to give his team.

His was one of the few genin teams able to take this job, from what he could tell. The newer genin teams and the rest of the younger generation had been sheltered as much possible from the reality of the defeat of the kyuubi. While a few likely knew the truth, most didn't and the law the Sandaime had set—along with the few executions he'd carried out when it had initially been broken—prevented the rest from knowing. Since then no one had broken the law, or at least been caught doing so.

While he wasn't all that enthuses about the mission—one that would last an entire week during the time the boy's usual caretaker took care of her own home and other obligations as apparently she was only paid to be there during 'non-school hours' not that the boy went to the academy or the civilian school yet—he would perform it to the letter and make sure his team would as well.

That would be the difficult part.

He didn't have anything against the boy that held the Kyuubi; in fact he pitied him and was thankful the boy existed. He had just been hoping for a trip out of the village. Two of his three students, however, had lost family to the Kyuubi, one of which was entirely orphaned.

Umino Iruka would likely have the most difficulties with this mission. The other student, Wada Sumiko had lost an older brother. His third student, Imai Minoru hadn't lost any family due to the simple luck that they hadn't been in the village the week of the attack due to his oldest sister having given given birth. The family had gone to see the new parents where they lived in the capitol of Hi no Kuni. That didn't, however, mean Minoru felt the loss from the attack any less.

"What's our mission?" Sumiko asked curiously, her light brown eyes smiling along with her lips. The fifteen year old kunoichi was dressed in her usual fair, a tight long sleeved mesh shirt with a black vest over top. She wore black wraps over her forearms and lower legs that hid simple armor from view. A short black skort of sorts reached to just above her knees, slit on both sides to allow for a weapons pouch, along with the one affixed to her belt.

She didn't have any other visible weapons asides from two scrolls clipped to her belt and several long senbon that held her hair up into a messy black bun. Her family wasn't from any of the ninja clans—although at least one member of her family per generation since Konoha's founding had chosen to be. Her skills lay in medicine and ranged weapons for the most part, utilizing her excellent chakra control to increase speed and aim.

"It doesn't start for another hour, so let's head to the training ground so I can explain," Hisoka told them, holding back a sigh.

The trio nodded and, following his example, disappeared. They could have walked, yes, but in the two and a half years that the three had been on Ishii's team they knew it was better to walk than run. Every moment they were on duty was considered training.

The jounin arrived first, via shunshin, at their usual meeting spot. He was dressed in the same manner as most jounin sensei, the only difference being few more scrolls and a chokuto on his back. While he wasn't a master in kenjutsu, he was highly proficient at it and could utilize suiton or katon chakra with it. His dark brown hair and eyes allowed him to blend in during most situations.

Minoru was the first student to arrive, and as a taijutsu expert focusing on speed and silence this was typical. The boy smiled at his instructor, gold-hazel eyes crinkling into slits as he ran his hand through his own brown locks, which were in desperate need of a trim. His clothes, much like the other boy on the team were simple and nearly standard ninja-wear. A pair of green pants ended in white bandages that disappeared into standard blue sandals. A long sleeved mesh shirt was covered by a dark brown short sleeved shirt with a familiar red swirl in remembrance of Uzushiogakure on the back.

Iruka was the next to arrive with Sumiko just seconds behind. His skin was a darker shade than his teammates, eyes and hair a common brown with his hair pulled him in a short pony tail. His pants, unlike Minoru's, were blue and he wore a white shirt with his clan symbol on the back. A scar crossed his nose and cheeks and he was smiling at the female member of the team as she stopped next to him.

Hisoka interrupted Iruka's boast before it could even begin, "Our mission, this week, is a C rank."

"Yes!" Iruka exclaimed and Minoru's smile widened.

"But this isn't a normal C rank," Hisoka let his eyes rest on each of his students. "We won't be leaving the village."

"What?" Minoru asked. It was a perfectly reasonable question. As a team they had done fifteen C ranks in just the last year and half that during their first year. Hisoka couldn't remember off the top of his head how many D ranks they'd been on (but then even as academy students their generation had been doing the easiest D ranks in order to help rebuild the village).

Sumiko frowned, lips pursing together. "Then why is it rated C?"

"Several reasons," Hisoka motioned for them all to sit down and they did, kneeling or crossing their legs in the grass. He set the mission scroll in front of them and sighed. Activating the privacy seal that had been included within the scroll, he continued, "all three of you are aware of the truth behind the defeat of the Kyuubi?"

"Yes." Iruka responded shortly, voice tight and fists clenching in the grass. The other two nodded.

"Our duty from ten hundred till eighteen hundred for the next week is to babysit four year old Uzumaki Naruto. Due to his situation and the length of the mission this has been classified as a C rank instead of a prolonged D rank. We'll spend most of the time in the two bedroom apartment he shares with his nightly caretaker."

"Babysitting?" Minoru scowled.

"But sensei—"

"Sumiko," Hisoka interrupted Iruka as he pulled one of his scrolls from his belt, "In simple terms, how does sealing work—in regards to a scroll?"

The girl blinked, eyes following his movements as her sensei placed the scroll on the ground in front of his knees and opened it. Hisoka had gone over basic sealing with them six months ago, teaching them how to, at the very least, make simple explosives and utilize to those seals and scrolls available at equipment stores to their best ability. Of the three only Sumiko had done any in-depth studying of the subject, choosing to seal most of her equipment in specially made scrolls.

Minoru groaned as she prattled off the basics of where items went and how they could retrieve items.

Hisoka just smiled at her and nodded as she finished. "That, in many ways, is the basics of many seals, although there are other uses. Most seals are utilized to store or alter either temporarily or permanently something. In the case of exploding tags at the basic level they are utilized to store the catalyst that is ignited by chakra. Seals used for physical training," he nodded towards Minoru who wore arm and ankle bands of the type, "can store chakra that is changed into weight or used to alter gravity."

"The Yondaime used a very complex seal to permanently store the Kyuubi within an infant, as you already know." Hisoka's eyes narrowed and he affixed his gaze to each of his students, one by one. "This child, contrary to much of the popular opinion within the civilian population and some shinobi is not the Kyuubi. He is this scroll." Hisoka tapped the scroll with one hand and pulled a kunai from his equipment pouch with the other. "The Kyuubi is but a kunai, a weapon, sealed within the boy." Setting the kunai onto the seal matrix he quickly sealed it away. "Yondaime-sama was the best seal master Konoha has seen since Uzushiogakure was destroyed. We must trust that he knew what he was doing and that a seal that took his life is one strong enough to be trusted."

Rolling up the scroll, he put it away and rose to a crouch. "Now, Uzumaki is not aware of his status—a member of the Yamanaka clan confirmed this recently." Hisoka didn't need to tell them how much of a risk that must have been. "We are not to enlighten him. I don't expect all of you to be happy about this mission, but I expect you to follow it to the letter and to treat the boy as a child, for that is what he is. Call him by his name or, should the situation arrive, an appropriate nickname. I think you're all old enough that I have to state the difference between appropriate and inappropriate."

His eyes softened slightly as he took in Iruka's bowed head. The teen was still upset and Hisoka doubted that the truth spoken as words had much effect on his opinion. Nothing short of meeting the boy would likely do that. "If we have to we'll come up with a rotation for who does things like clean up or cook and who entertains him . . . but he won't be left alone at all while we're there."

Glancing at his watch, he sighed, "We should head over now. We don't want to be late."

The apartment where Uzumaki Naruto lived with his caretaker, an elderly, retired kunoichi by the name of Kouki Mayu, was a simple two bedroom with a living room/kitchen, balcony, and a bathroom. The building itself was in good repair and rather quiet, although that could be due to the time of day.

Hisoka knocked on the door, his team hovering behind him, five minutes before ten hundred hours. "Team Ishii reporting for duty," he held out the scroll when the door opened, revealing a gray haired woman, face lined with age.

She eyed the scroll for a moment and paused tilting her head as if waiting for something. A moment later she nodded and smiled tiredly at them, motioning for them to come in. "Thank you for being on time, that's a step up from the last ninja." She paused and looked back towards the main room. "Naruto-chan, why don't you come out and meet the nice ninja who will be playing with you this week?"

As she closed the door behind them, a mop of blonde hair accompanied by a pair of bright blue eyes peaked around the corner that led into the hallway. "Ninja?" a young voice asked, curiously. "Like Raion-san and Risu-san?"

Mayu chuckled softly, "Yes, Naruto-chan . . ." she quirked a mischievous smile at the apprehensive genin. "Only I think these ninja may answer your questions."

An excited exclamation followed by a brightly colored blur burst around the corner. The boy was small, but well kept—aside from his very messy bright blonde hair—and every ounce a happy, bubbly child. In fact, if it weren't for the tell-tale whisker markings on each cheek he looked like any other little kid. He wore orange coveralls with a pale blue shirt and bright white socks.

Hisoka blinked as he watched the boy stop and stare up at his team. Iruka had taken a step back, but Minoru and Sumiko stood their ground and stared down at the child. Either Naruto didn't notice their reaction to him or it was so normal that he was ignoring it.

Before he could spout off his fifth—at least—question—not allowing for time for them to actually be answered—Mayu settled her hand on top of the unruly blonde hair and ruffled it. "I'll be back for dinner, Naruto-chan, you be good for the ninja . . . remember Risu-san is around somewhere if something bad happens." She wasn't looking at the boy as she spoke, but eyeing the team before her, gaze serious even as her voice was light hearted.

Hisoka understood what she meant. While they were playing and taking care of the boy, the first line of defense from would be attackers—and possibly them—was an ANBU operative who the boy knew on some slightly better than professional level. He knew that his team had realized it as well.

"We'll make sure he's safe and has a lot of fun," Hisoka reassured her. She nodded and grabbed her coat and bag before slipping on her shoes and heading out the door to go about her business and visit her own family. There was an awkward silence for a few moments after the door shut. Naruto had tensed a little, his bottom lip caught between his tiny teeth.

Smiling, he leaned down a bit towards the boy, eyes taking in his features. Bright blue eyes blinked at his scrutiny. "Well, Naruto-chan, my name is Ishii Hisoka and this is my team Iruka-kun, Sumiko-chan, and Minoru-kun . . . how about you show us around and then they can answer some of your questions?"

Blue eyes almost disappeared as Naruto released his lip in favor of giving them a blinding smile. "Sure!" he reached out and snagged Sumiko and Minoru's hands and dragged them—as much as a four year old can drag anyone—into the room chattering away.

Hisoka's eyes settled on the remaining member of his team who had yet to move from his spot, back against the door. Sometimes the hardest part about the truth was facing it.

The day went smoothly. Mayu had left snacks and a partially prepared lunch—enough for all four of them—which Sumiko and Iruka had taken turns dealing with. Minoru had spent much of the day, along with Sumiko, playing with Naruto. Drawing and playing silly 'ninja' games along with having to answer all manner of questions about ninja life seemed to take up most of their time.

Minoru was generally pretty patient, but Naruto's attention span seemed to be lacking and he sometimes asked question three or four times before the answer would 'sink in'. Eventually he'd needed a break and Sumiko had taken over the boy, convincing him to illustrate a story as they came up with it.

For his part, the jounin kept an eye on everyone, answered Naruto's questions whenever the boy turned his attention towards the oldest ninja—and thus the 'coolest'—and worked his way through a few different books. As he was reading a passage on possible ways to utilize suiton and katon manipulation together, his main and secondary elements, Iruka sat down next to him.

Leaning his book to the side, Hisoka glanced over to where Naruto was taking a short nap—he never seemed to stay down for longer than ten minutes—while Sumiko tidied up the various art supplies around them.

"He looks so . . . innocent." Iruka mumbled finally.

"That's because he is," Hisoka replied, voice soft. "He's just an unlucky little boy . . . an orphan who lost his family the day he was born and will face prejudice for something someone else did for the rest of his life."

"But—"

"Iruka," Hisoka interrupted the teen, nodding towards where Naruto was yawning widely, already perking up with energy. It was clear why Mayu needed this time as a break from the young boy. "I think it's your turn to play with Naruto-chan."

Iruka shot him a wide eyed look, but nodded stiffly after a moment and stood. He stopped a few feet from the child as Sumiko disappeared towards the bathroom to wash her hands.

"Uh, hey, Na-Naruto . . ."

"Iruka-san!" Naruto chirped excitedly, smile slightly smaller than usual. Iruka had been avoiding him most of the day, after all. He bit his lip, eyes moving around before landing on a bookshelf. Eyes lighting up he reached out and snagged Iruka's hand and dragged him towards it. "Read story to me, please?" he asked, not even waiting for an answer as he dropped to his knees to investigate the brightly colored bindings. He selected a bright orange cover rather quickly and held it up to the teenager expectantly.

Iruka blinked down at him and smiled hesitantly before taking the book from him. "Uh, sure . . . where—" he cut himself off as Naruto once again snagged his hand to lead him to a very comfortable chair.

Hisoka watched from behind his book with hidden amusement as Naruto situated Iruka into the chair and climbed up into his lap. The first few minutes were a bit awkward, but as Naruto began to 'help' Iruka read—incorrectly telling the tale—a bit of banter began to form between the two as when it came to facts Iruka couldn't let the boy tell the story wrong.

Naruto didn't seem to mind the argument and somehow it devolved into Iruka attempting to help teach the four year old what each of the symbols meant.

Sometimes something as simple as a few seconds time difference can change the course of reality. In many worlds Naruto was left in the care of a chunin who did little more than point the boy towards toys, feed him, and clean up after him while ignoring his questions and quietly glaring at him. But, in worlds like this one, the threads wove differently and Naruto made a friend for life.

Fin

Authors Note (They will never again be this long): Okay, here's the thing, this isn't going to be a long drawn out epic fic . . . not in the usual sense because history tells me I'm not always good at those. What I am good at, however, are Universes. Creating 'one shots' that conclude but leave the story open to more possibilities – ie a series of one shots or a series of longer fics that tie in together. What I plan to create here is a universe. This means that I won't be delving into every event canon dictates (but then who really wants to read yet another wave arc fic that dies before it gets to the Chunin exam?).

Will I be dealing with canon events? Possibly . . . might this be a shorter fic or series of one shots? Maybe. My muse is finicky . . . but each 'part' will be a complete story within the universe that just ties in with the others. Most if not all will focus on Naruto.

I will be using Japanese terms for things, ie abilities/etc. I don't watch the dub (can't stand English dubs mostly), so I don't know what the terms they use are anyway. I keep up with the subbed anime (I have skipped filler episodes), but I am not caught up in the manga currently, though I have been spoiled. I know the basics, but considering this will be an alternate timeline I don't really need to get every detail of canon perfect anyway.

Do feel free to correct me on terminology/spelling as I have only recently returned to the Naruto fandom after six or so years, but in regards to some canon events I may ignore you. I am utilizing a wiki source for basic information regarding dates (ie Umino Iruka's graduation/chunin promotion).

This will not be a fic where Naruto is physically abused by the citizens of Konoha. I see no need to go down that path and only a tiny minority of shinobi in this verse would dare to even think about allowing it. Emotionally, at least in regards to the village as whole, things will be much the same as in canon. There is no need to throw stones in order to hurt, after all.

I do hope you enjoy this story . . . oh and the OC's that show up in this part (Naruto's four . . . it couldn't be helped without being incredibly repetitive with canon characters which I like to avoid) will likely only be in this section of the fic as 'main' characters. Remember, a this is a !verse, that means characters will appear and disappear from Naruto's life . . . just like people do in real life.

Oh, this isn't beta-ed.

Thanks for reading!