AN: Here's chappie numero dos! enjoy! ;P
Disclaimer: I am a Kishimoto wannabe. Not him... or better yet, a girl version of him. :D
Chapter Two: Differences
Naruto reached Konoha far before any of the others did, not even out of breath. He had Gai and Lee to thank for that, as he had profusely. He waited on the outside of the forest, not wanting to enter the village. He had no expression, his face the blank slate. It was important that a Hokage keep his personal feelings to himself, never letting them cloud his judgement. He repressed a deranged giggle. Yeah, like I'm such a good example of non-distraction, Mr. Timetraveler, he chided himself.
He flicked his eyes up to the mountain, taking in its appearance. It was strange, not seeing his face on it. But he had to admit, it had been rather creepy to see himself, though a hundred times large, every day. He was perched on a treebranch high up in a slightly swaying oak tree, not using chakra to keep himself balanced. He estimated he had about ten minutes left before the other caught up to him, at the speed Naruto (the other him) and Sakura were going. Kakashi and Jiraiya probably would've taken only a minute or two if unhindered, but with two rather green Genin (no matter how much he had denyed it at that age) were extremely slow.
He turned his head, listening for footsteps. They were about three minutes away now. He moved his head back, internally cursing not being able to rotate his ears like he could in fox-form. He waited for a minute or so, then nonchalantly started walking down the tree, finally using his chakra. The birds gripping the branches didn't look too surprised - they did live in a shinobi village, after all - though they sounded ringing alarms any ninja could recognize.
He winced. Letting people know where he was when he wasn't in home territory went against his instinct. He reached the ground, jumping the last ten feet or so. The ground was soft and fertile, and he bounced almost unnoticibly at he hit it. He remained still, facing the forest. He wasn't sure it was a good idea to let his younger self, then-crush, and mentors know he was the sixth Hokage. Still, he could not bring himself to stash it somewhere. He had worked long and hard for that cloak, and he wasn't giving it up just yet. He placed a small genjutsu on it, and the kanji on the back faded into the white of the cloak.
Soon enough, Ero-sennin, Kakashi, Sakura and Naruto (he still wasn't used to calling him that) reached him. Sakura looked at the point of collapsing, Naruto was winded, and even Kakashi and Jiraiya were breathing harder. Bua-ha-ha-ha-ha! He laughed to himself. I surpass them ALL!
Okay, so he hadn't completely gotten rid of his competitive and emotion-driven personality yet. Small faults.
"Naruto." Jiraiya's tone left no question which one of them he was speaking to. It was even, calculating, and proud. He even heard a bit of respect in it.
"Yes, Ero-sennin?" Naruto said in the same tone. Jiraiya scowled.
"DON'T CALL ME THAT YOU BRAT!" he yelled. Naruto snickered. There went the respect.
"Seriously, though, what?" asked Naruto, nonchalant. The sage still looked ticked, but continued.
"We may... believe you, but you still shouldn't walk through the Leaf Village looking almost identical to our deceased Fourth Hokage." Jiraiya looked ready to rebuke Naruto's outrage - which he seemed sure would come, but the timetraveler nodded.
"I agree. I don't need any more attention attracted to me until this situation is sorted out." Everyone there looked disbelieving and stunned. Even impressed.
"Uhh..." Jiraiya said unhelpfully. "Yeah. Right! So... if you could?" It was quite possibly the most frazzled Naruto had ever seen him.
"Of course, oh holy Jiraiya-sama; Bringer of Light." As Naruto had gotten older, he had mastered the art of a straight face, sarcastic wit, and giving other people sweatdrops. The elder ninja's mouths were agape, unsure whether or not this was a joke. After all, his younger self would die before saying that, even if just for a joke. His younger self, however, had apparently forgotten what Naruto had called him barely a few seconds ago and looked horrified.
"What kind of sick joke is this! Ero-sennin is not a '-sama,' or a 'Bringer of Light!' It was Naruto's turn to sweatdrop. He hadn't realized exactly how much of an social imbecile he had been.
The Hokage ignored his younger self's outburst, and transformed in a small puff of smoke. Everyone seemed to half-expect he was using one of his more... ahem... interesting jutsus, and Jiraiya looked highly disappointed when the smoke dispersed, revealing a man of medium heigth and skinny build, with badly cut brown hair, watery blue eyes, and a small scar on his collarbone. His hands were twitchy, and his fingernails were chewed to the back. All in all, it was one of the most unique and realistic henges anyone present had ever seen.
The sage, ignoring his instinct to look around him for this new Naruto, nodded formally, and lead the way out of the trees and into the village. It was about a minute's silent walk until they reached the impressive gates. Genma and Hayate were lounging in the guard chairs, and nearly fell over themselves coming to attention when they saw Jiraiya. The white-haired man straightened his back, and smiled none too modestly, giving them a Gai-esque thumbs up.
It was a quite walk to the Hokage tower, broken only by an elderly man walking up to a rather smug Jiraiya to get his book signed, and a drunken villager's taunts aimed towards the orange-clad ninja, who seemed not even to notice. The henged blond, however, silently sent a bit of killer intent his way, silencing his jeers and sending him scurrying away into an alleyway. This did not go unnoticed by the other adults in the group, who were unsure whether to feel sad that this was needed, or glad that Naruto had helped his younger counterpart.
Naruto let his eyes wander around the village. Everything is so different... so young... It was true. Gone were the scars of Orochimaru (well, mostly), Akatsuki, Pein, Madara and Iwa. Everyone looked strangely happy, and seeing them was like being in a distant memory - he remembered their faces, but it seemed surreal that he would be seeing them at all. Most people he saw over the age of 50 had died - either naturally, from war, or from the stress of it.
After the male villager's taunts, both Narutos had taken to jumping off the rooftops instead of walking - the more standard was of traveling for both of them. Most ninja didn't do it because of the smattering of citizen complaints, but the younger Naruto simply didn't care, and the elder was the Hokage. People had practically requested that he jump on their rooftops, to his great incredulity.
Naruto and Naruto reached the Hokage tower before the other three - the product of their method of travel. The orange-clad one didn't hesitate to throw open the doors and stomp in, but the elder quickly grabbed him by the scruff of his jumpsuit and drag him back outside to wait for everyone else. They only had to wait about a minute or so before they say the quickly moving trio approach the tower.
"Come this way, please." This was Kakashi. The words were spoken jerkily, and Naruto, frankly, couldn't blame him. It wasn't every day a ninja shows up looking exactly like your dead sensei, claiming to be the older version of your current student. Wow. He thought, slightly impressed despite the situation. I didn't realize how similar Kakashi and my lives are to a soap opera... and a bad one at that.
He snickered to himself as they walked up the familiar (though significantly less scarred, via Tsunade) stairs to the Hokage's office. Jiraiya nodded to the secretary, and she waved them through after checking quickly for henges. When she noticed Naruto's, she began to speak at once, but was cut off by the toad sage.
"It's okay - we know he's under henge. He's a friend." She looked sated, but still worried. She chewed her lip; trying to decide whether or not it was protocol to ask him to release it when there was a Sannin there as well. She, apparently, decided not, and continued to wave them in.
"Thank You." Naruto said politely (to the shock of Kakashi, Sakura, Naruto and Jiraiya) as he walked through the double doors leading to Tsunade's office.
"Hey Baa-chan!" The younger blonde ninja said loudly. The elder was rather put out that he couldn't yell her name as well, but eventually decided not to, if only for her sanity. Plus, he admitted to himself, I don't doubt for a second that she would attack me as an imposter. Good ol' Baa-chan... He smiled nostalgically at the sight of her behind the desk - something he had not seen in some years. The old hag had retired after loosing her left arm in a battle with Orochimaru (which ended up a tie) and given him her spot much to his delight and most of the villager's dismay.
"Tsunade-hime, we have some strange news," an unusually grave Jiraiya began.
...o0O0o...
Tsunade was staring blankly at Jiraiya, an unexpected reaction, considering. She blinked, turning to Kakashi, who nodded. Then to Sakura, who (though she looked uncomfortable at being under such scrutiny of the Hokage - the elder Naruto assumed she was not yet apprenticed to her) shrugged her shoulders, and to Naruto. Naruto, surprisingly, had been mostly silent during Jiraiya's explanation of who the still-henged man was, and as much as he knew about him. Which wasn't much, in actuality.
"So who's idea was this?" she asked. Jiraiya looked confused.
"Huh?" He stated intelligently. Tsunade rolled her eyes, again staying uncharacteristically calm.
"I mean the prank, of course. Wait, don't tell me, it was Naruto and Jiraiya's idea. That, I guess, isn't surprising, but I can't believe they managed to drag you two into it." This last comment was directed towards Kakashi and Sakura. Sakura looked cowed at the rather annoyed gaze of the Godaime, but Kakashi was firm.
"Hokage-sama, this isn't a joke. Really," said Sakura in a small voice. Tsunade just shook her head.
"So you really think I'll believe that a future Naruto, who looks exactly like our Yondaime, turned up with extremely good fighting skills." They all nodded. "And then convinced you of his true identity with two jutsus that, no matter how time-consuming they may have been to learn, can be learnt." By this time, Jiraiya was looking rather uncomfortable.
"But... but..." he stuttered, trying to convey his thoughts. "A Double-Rasengan!" He said the jutsu's name with a bit of reverence. Sure, he could do it himself, but it was much more amazing seeing it from a point of view other than the performers.
"Which can be learnt, I reiterate." She looked the time traveler up and down, who was still in his henge. "And if this is all true, why are you still in 'henge.'" She said the word henge with sarcasm. She obviously thought that he was some unusually brave villager to play a prank on the Hokage. Realizing that his current form was not helping her believe his story, Naruto immediately put his hands together into a simple handsign, and said,
"Kai!" With a 'poof' of smoke, his appearance returned to his regular one. The Godaime looked rather impressed, while the rest of the adults present looked re-startled at his appearance. Honestly, Naruto didn't blame them.
"I'm impressed." She said, voicing her rather obvious feelings. "I've only met two people other than me who can use layered henges, and release only one." Kurenai and, before his death, Dan. Naruto realized. And, of course, he thought with a small burst of pride for his wife, in my time, Hinata and I also.
"This isn't a henge, Baa-chan." He said. Applying more chakra than necessary to release even his self-invented 'Advanced Henge' technique, he did the same jutsu as before.
"Kai!" His appearance remained unchanged, though a small cupboard in the corner was revealed with multiple bottles of sake hidden inside. Naruto snorted. That's Baa-chan for you... The Hokage colored, and lowered her hands below the desk to replace the genjutsu over her alcohol's hiding place. Once it was back up, she stood, and looked at Naruto.
"Hmmm." Her voice was clipped, and serious-sounding. "The Iwa-nins have improved. They even got that dratted name Naruto calls me right." She grumbled to herself a bit, while the rest of the room (namely the two Narutos and Jiraiya) snickered. "But, as I'm not yet completely sure that you're lying, I'll give you one more chance. Give me some proof."
Naruto's mind was whirring. How can I prove to her that I really am... well, myself? What's one thing only I know about her... the necklace! His hand jerked for a second to his necklace, then relaxed. No, no... that won't work. Any good Genjutsu specialist worth his salt could recreate a necklace, and just about everyone knows she has it. Let's see... Dan and Nawaki? He paused, considering that. Nah... that's little-known, but it wouldn't have been impossible to dredge up if I was impersonating someone.
He chewed his lip uncertainly. Then, he reconsidered. What about Jiraiya? I know loads about him. More than I'd like to, actually. He nodded to himself, agreeing. But what will convince them? Everyone knows his books, and many of his jutsu... his books!
"Ero-sennin," (another wince) "-you wrote a book with my name as a character. It was this character that caused me to be named 'Naruto.'" Every chin in the room dropped to the ground. The younger Naruto's face began to rise in color.
"I WAS NAMED AFTER ONE OF YOUR PERVY BOOK CHARACTERS!" The elder (previously) orange-wearing ninja laughed loudly, joined by Kakashi - who knew now he was telling the truth. Jiraiya and Tsunade were in state of shock, but Sakura was scoffing.
"Yeah, right. Nice story, you imposter!" She said, glaring at him accusingly. She looked like she might've gone further, but Jiraiya halted her - holding out a single hand. Commanding silence.
"It seems..." he said slowly. "That this man here is, indeed, Naruto Uzumaki." Sakura and Naruto blinked, confused.
"Wha-?" Naruto said, scratching his head - unimpressive though it was as said head was barely as tall as Sakura. "Yeah right! I'm way too cool to be the same guy as this lame-o!" The time traveler sweat-dropped. "And plus, I know Ero-sennin is just agreeing that I was named after a pervy book character because he knows it'll annoy me." He nodded matter of factly, arms crossed.
"Though I know it's hard to believe, Ero-sennin actually wrote a non-perverted book once before he started the 'Icha Icha' series." Tsunade said dryly, accessing Jiraiya as if wondering what went wrong. "And it wasn't too bad at all." The toad sage puffed up his chest self importantly, then deflated it quickly when she continued: "Too bad he's only gone downhill from there." Sakura snorted in laughter, though only the two Hokages heard her through her attempts at muffling it.
"And I really am you, kid." Naruto said, smiling in a way that convinced them even further that he was indeed who he'd said he was. The younger of the two narrowed his eyes into barely-visible slits, neck craning back to look him straight in the eye.
"If you really are who you say you are, I only have one more test for you." Naruto grinned rather... well... demonically.
"Bring it."
...o0O0o...
Sakura, Jiraiya, Tsunade, and a large crowd besides that looked on in disgust at what the two were doing. Sakura put her hand over her stomach, looking like she might throw up. A few of the village boys were looking on reverently, though most of the girls (save a few) had about the same expression as Sakura. Jiraiya looked shocked (and slightly proud), while Tsunade's eye was twitching reminiscently of Iruka. Iruka, was of course, one of the spectators along with a good number of his class - who had head the goings on from the training field by the Academy and had decided to take an impromptu field trip to see what was happening.
Teuchi and Ayame were looking as if it was their dream come true, and were moving at what must be ninja-speed to match the unmatchable.
"MORE!" Came the simultaneous cries of the the two blonde ninja. (Though the elder was disguised, and looked more Yamanaka-ish, instead of like Naruto.) They glared at each other, sparks practically flying, before stacking their previous bowl and diving into the next like there was no tomorrow. The loud slurping sounds could be heard for blocks - and were only attracting more and more spectators.
Barely seven seconds later, the two cried out again, "MORE!" And so on. The stacks of wooden bowls were being gone through so fast that the Ramen-makers had run out, and had to take them from the gigantic pile of used ones. This, however, was not to be worried about, as several people had taken it upon themselves to keep tally. "MORE!"
Jiraiya shook his head, and turned to the creeped-out Kakashi and the green-faced Sakura.
"This enough proof for you?" He asked sardonically. The pinkette nodded sickly, before covering her mouth and running away - assumably to retch. Kakashi watched them with a sort of horrified fastination.
"How do they do that?" He asked in amazement. Jiraiya shook his head.
"No idea whatsoever. I think it might be something to do with-" he looked around for eavesdroppers, making sure no one was listening. No one was. They were too wrapped up in the goings on at Ichiraku Ramen Stand. "-you know... eating for two?" He finished in an uncharacteristically hushed voice. The last thing he wanted was for the villagers (or other biased people) to figure out the probable reason for his huge appetite. They would probably prevent Naruto(s) from going there any longer.
Kakashi nodded in agreement. "I wondered if that had anything to do with it. It's good to know my ideas are at least slightly backed up." They continued to watch in silence.
"MORE!"
...o0O0o...
"Uuuuggggghhhh..." 13-year-old Uzumaki Naruto, dethroned Ramen Champion, was sitting dejectedly on his butt - cradling an unnaturally large stomach. He scowled to no one in particular, purposely not looking at the only slightly-full time traveler (which he now admitted must be true) before him. "How do you do that?" Naruto asked his elder self in envy. The other occupants of the room snorted over their (singular) bowls of ramen.
"That's rich coming from you, Naruto." Kakashi said as he somehow managed to slurp noodles through his mask. Sakura was looking at her steaming bowl of noodles in a restrained manner, on a diet no doubt.
"You know, Sakura," Naruto said disapprovingly, "a ninja on a diet is just asking for trouble. Eating less gives you less energy, less power, and plus - even if you train - less muscle mass and strength. If you train enough, you should lose weight anyways." She looked torn between yelling at him for giving her advice, and considering it. Kakashi, Jiraiya and Tsunade looked impressed. Naruto saw their looks, and shrugged. "What? It's true!"
They looked away, unsure of how to react to this new, more intelligent Naruto. Seeming to remember her title as Hokage, Tsunade cleared her throat and straightened, sitting higher behind her desk. On impulse, all ninjas over 18 did so, naturally stiffening their muscles and readying for a mission.
"Uzumaki Naruto, until we find a way to get you back to your time, will you agree to stay here and help defend Konoha?" This was more of a political, formal request. Everyone knew his answer.
"Yes, Hokage-sama!" He replied, realizing how strange it was to call someone else Hokage-sama. He'd never really called anybody that before... each of his predecessors had had their own nickname. Danzo's week-long stint as Hokage didn't count in his mind, and neither did Kakashi-sensei's. Neither had their faces up on the monument.
"Good! You will, obviously, need a new name. Do you have any requests?" This barely needed any thought from him. He went by his code name nearly as much as Naruto in other countries.
"Will Katokaze Niiromaru work?" He asked. She raised an eyebrow, apparently surprised by his ready response. "It's one of the several identities I use when I'm in missions out-of-country." He explained quickly. She nodded, accepting his story, and continued.
"Hmm. Interesting name, Niiromaru. 'Red Cutting Wind.' I'd bet my year 189 Kiri-made sake that has a good story behind it. Care to tell?" She was fishing for information, but it was a long story and this was not the time to tell it.
"Another time, perhaps, Hokage-sama?" Naruto requested. "I still have to get a hotel room, and such. Any chance you could loan me money? I can pay it off in missions." The current hokage nodded briskly, adding:
"Only, I would suggest that you rent an apartment for now - if only to stop yourself from accumulating enough debt to actually get me to have to sell my year 189 Kiri sake to someone. We don't know how long it will take to send you back" Naruto laughed, a rather different sound than it was when his younger self did so.
"If you say so, baa-chan." The nickname seemed to relax her, and she settled further into her chair. She gazed at the young man, slightly teary-eyed. Who knew Naruto would get to be so grown up? She thought. It seems only yesterday that he was betting that he would learn the Rasengan in only a week... "So. Fork over the cash, grandma." ... And the moment was over.
She sighed, too mentally-exhausted from the extremely strange day to even think of berating him. "Here you go, brat." She said, pulling a wad of ryo notes from a chakra-sealed drawer on her desk. Jiraiya's eyes bulged, obviously wondering how many pairs of high-definition binoculars (or whatever the old sage spent his dough on) he could buy with that. Naruto took it, and - to the surprise of the other room occupants - deftly sealed it into a high-security sealing scroll tied to his pants.
"Seal-master." He said by way of definition. Jiraiya's eyes bulged out even further, this time more from pride. He barely had time to stutter out,
"Wh-wha?" Before the blonde ninja gave a peace sign, a 'bye!' and left the room with a puff of smoke - his eyes in the form of upside down U's. Everyone glared at Kakashi, who was staring at the spot where Naruto had stood a few seconds ago with the look of someone who had just found out someone had stolen their last piece of pocky.
"Hey!" He said, outraged. (He apparently didn't notice the glared directed his way.) "That's my thing! How dare he-" he finally realized the other occupant's looks, and chuckled half-heartedly.
"Heh heh..."
"KAKASSSHHHIIIII!" The enraged voice of the Godaime rang throughout the village, not missed by a smirking Naruto. Payback. He thought, leaping off a rooftop and onto the cobbled brick road that surrounded the outer Konoha wall. He slowed his pace now, feeling sorry for the ANBU squad currently following him about 100 yards behind him. He wouldn't want to get them in trouble by losing them, would he? Well, maybe I would, he reconsidered with a prankster's grin. However, today he was feeling merciful - and decided to let them do their job.
He was headed towards a small district towards the east of the leaf village - a mostly unpopulated area that had previously been occupied by the Uchiha estate and several other families eradicated during the first Iwa-Konoha War and the Kyuubi attack. He knew exactly where he was going, and after about ten minutes at civilian-speed, he reached his destination. In front of him stood a large and previously-grand apartment building, which (if Naruto remembered correctly) had once belonged to the Oodoki family. It was built in a classic, traditional style - in mostly bamboo instead of the more modern choice of imported wood and concrete. The red roof was curved dramatically with a ridge foot-wide on the top where he had once carved his and Hinata's name within a heart during their fourth month of dating...
He was lost in good memories for a minute or so, and when he emerged from his thoughts he realized he was getting a bit cold. He shivered slightly, and walked into the building. The first thing he noticed was that it was strangely quiet - none of the hustle and bustle of the times he remembered. He walked uncertainly up to the low, dusty desk in the back of the comfortably furnished lobby, and hit the silver bell. For a second, he waited.
He heard them before he saw them. "Get off me, woman!" Came the first, in a croaky voice.
"Not a chance, you old coot!" She cackled back. "You answered last time, and the time before that!"
"Well I'm the oldest!"
"Mom always liked me best!"
"Untrue!" Naruto muffled his laughter in the sleeve of his jacket as the two struggling, elderly brother-sister duo came in - complaining all the way. When they saw him (still in henge) they straightened, instantly forgetting their quarrel. The girl, who Naruto knew was named Linn, spoke first.
"Welcome to Kirioni Apartments and Hotel rooms, how may I help you?" She said in a practiced voice.
"Hi, I'm Katokaze Niiromaru, and I'd like to rent an Apartment with a window towards the Monument, please," he requested politely. She smiled widely, showing off several of her missing teeth.
"Excellent!" She replied excitedly. "We have just the room for you. Do you need more than one bedroom? Bathroom...?" She trailed off, looking for any extra requests he might have.
"Uhh- I don't have any extra requirements other than a large window like I said, and a hot shower. Is that possible?" Her brother, Lee, came over now - wanting to be in on the conversation.
"Of course we do, Katokaze-san!" He said enthusiastically. "Now, my name is Kirioni Lee and this is my sister, Kirioni Linn. We own this building, and are two of the three people working here." Naruto nodded, listening; though he kept a sideways view of Linn - who was glaring at her brother, hands-on-hips.
"Lee! I most certainly don't need you of all people to introduce me!" Then she whipped around with an agility she had not previously shown, expression turning sweet. "As my brother here was... kind enough to tell you, I am Kirioni Linn, co-owner of the Kirioni Apartments and restaurant." She smiled, and looked him up and down appraisingly. "It is so nice to have young people in here. We hardly ever get them now a days, do we?" It was, apparently, a hypothetical question - as she didn't give either Naruto or Lee time to respond.
"Thank you, Linn-san; Lee-san; and call me Niiromaru." He replied respectfully, knowing that they would only remain the kind landlords if he was respectful. I know this from experience, he thought, shivering as he remembered. "I would be honored to stay in such a beautiful place." Lee smiled at the compliment, and Linn blushed slightly.
"Ohh- it's a bit old and musty..." she said modestly.
"Nonsense! It is not!" Lee corrected, seemingly afraid that Naruto would go away if he was told about their building's non-existent faults. "This building was previously owned by Oodoki family. The Oodoki were a large group; in their prime being the fifth largest clan in Konoha. They were, regrettably, targeted by the Iwa-nins during the war because of their bloodline which was especially harmful to them. Though I believe two or three of them are still alive, they decided not to stay in their clan home." Lee finished the brief history, and though he looked like he could have gone on longer, Naruto cut him off - knowing all too well how long he could ramble once he got started.
"Amazing! So how much is a room as I specified?" He asked. This snapped the two out of their daze.
"That will be..." Linn awkwardly pushed the buttons of their small computer-esque machine on their desk. "... 7000 ryo per month." The timetraveler refrained from letting loose a long whistle. It was ridiculously cheap for what he knew of the quality of the apartments. An apartment like that could go for 12,000 ryo and still be considered a fair deal.
"I'll take it." He said immediately.
"Don't you want to see it first?" Lee asked confusedly.
"No, thank you. I'm busy at the moment so I'll allow you two to pick out one you think I'd like." They looked even further mystified, though Linn was looking more than slightly horrified that he wasn't interested in seeing his new "house" immediately. Naruto saw that this could be a small problem, and said (to ease her nerves) :
"Like I said, I'd like a window. Also, wooden floors would be nice, if you have them, and a balcony if possible." She looked slightly mollified, but then remembered something, and asked,
"Wait! What's your favorite color, Niiromaru-san?" Lee looked at her incredulously, but Naruto guessed (correctly) she wanted to get a color scheme he liked.
"Green, thank you." He replied, exited before she could give herself a heart attack thinking up new insecurities. He chuckled good-naturedly as he left. I never get tired of those two, he thought fondly.
...o0O0o...
It was a good five hours before he returned to the building. And I didn't even get any training in! Not, however, that he had been slacking off. He would have loved nothing better than to make his way to his favorite (in this time, fully intact) training ground. But he'd had other business to take care of, and he would rather save things he enjoyed for later in the day. Unfortunately, his shopping trip had taken much longer than expected, and the sun had set a while ago when he finally came back and was greeted by two nervous, though enthusiastic, landlords.
"We have your room ready, Katokaze-san." Linn said, opting for the polite approach. "It is room number 316 on the third floor." He nodded, still tired, and followed the uncharacteristically silent siblings up the stairs and to his new home. It took longer than it normally would have with Linn and Lee by his side (they were getting older) but he refused their offers to let him go up alone - and therefore more quickly. Finally, they reached the room of their choice. Lee, grinning, opened the wooden door and let him in.
At first, it was dark. Naruto blinked, trying to get his eyes to adjust. Then Lee flipped the switch, and Naruto gasped. The room was incredible. It, like the main design of the house, was simplistic, made in classic Japanese style. As far as he could tell, there was only three rooms. The main room - which they had entered - was painted a rich, forest green. It seemed included a kitchen area in the far left, a living room, and two doors leading (presumably) to the bedroom and bathroom.
A gigantic window, stretching across the entire village-facing wall of his room, practically depleting the need of other light sources. Even in the dim outside light, the room was comfortable feeling and somehow bright. Naruto walked inside hesitantly, examining the scant furnishings that came with it. A couch, and set of chairs, a table, and so on.
"It's amazing!" He exclaimed, still on his best behavior, though he doubted he would have said anything else anyways. Linn and Lee straightened up, looking proud of themselves. "It's better even than what I had in mind as the best possible outcome!"
"Oh, thank you," Linn said modestly. "It just needed a few little touchups before it was ready for you." He once again marveled his surroundings. For the next five minutes, the two owners showed him around the apartment. They "taught" him how to turn on the oven (it apparently had a few problems), the rice cooker (it was older than they were, and just as obstinate) and all the other various appliances and furniture in the room. It had it's oddities, but he loved it.
With a final, "Thank you," Linn and Lee walked out of what was now his home, and he just stared around for a bit. Shaking himself out of his daze he walked over into the center of the room and moved the sparse furniture away. Double-checking that there was no one around except the ANBU, he released his henge. Then, he pulled out one of the scrolls in his belt, and laid it on the ground. Applying a small bit of chakra, he made three handsigns and pressed his hand onto an inked circle. With a large, "POOF!" three black counter stools appeared.
Not for the first time, he thanked Kami for overly-helpful furniture salesgirls - who had been delighted when he showed up in "Shrikan's Furniture House" without an idea of what he wanted to get, or the color scheme of his future room, other than, "'maybe green?'" He placed them at the small counter by the kitchen, and went back to the scroll.
He then proceeded to unseal a bedside table and lamp, a gigantic bookshelf, a pile of books and jutsu scrolls alike, and various other household items, which included (but was not limited to) a seemingly-excessive amount of pots and pans, a strainer, three small plants, and a single, wooden deck chair. Wiping off his hands, feeling successful, he rolled up the scroll once again and placed it on the bookshelf with several other identical scrolls, and plopped down onto the couch beside him and fell asleep in a matter of seconds.
Outside, two white-masked ANBU agents and one silver haired ex-ANBU looked in on his activities with disbelief. Now that he was asleep, they dared to communicate - unaware that Naruto had tracked their every move since they began to follow him.
"Kakashi-senpai, are you absolutely sure that this is the same person?" Came the whispered voice of Tenzou, oftentimes called Yamato by friends. "I mean, sure he looks generally the same, but could you honestly imagine Naruto having enough... well... brainpower to remember to buy furniture and other things like that? Much less know how to seal them in such a high-occupancy seal? I haven't seen a sealing scroll hold that much since Yondaime-sama!" Kakashi was silent all through Yamato's rant, still eyeing the sleeping blonde.
"I'm not sure. Despite the overwhelming evidence against him, and his rather un-Naruto like habits... I'm tempted to think that this is indeed him." He spoke in a measured voice, giving nothing away. "I see Naruto reflected on some of his actions, not just what he says. Plus, who else do you know that can down forty-seven bowls of ramen without even getting a stomachache?"
Yamato shivered at the memory of the disgusting spectacle, though he had seen it only from a distance as he was stationed on a rooftop during the most boring duty in ANBU: patrol. Ever since the Chuunin Exam Disaster (or CED, as it was beginning to called by the ANBU) the village security had been upped dramatically. Tsunade-sama had been disgusted that Orochimaru had been able to get into the village even with all the additional ninja present due to the exams. It showed Konoha's weaknesses, and it had been a good tactical move to assign one ANBU team to patrol the city per day... but that didn't mean the job wasn't still dreaded by the ANBU themselves.
"Good point." Yamato agreed. "I doubt anyone in all the ninja countries can eat half as much ramen as that kid." Kakashi nodded, and went back to his position of peering interestedly and sadly through the large window at the man crashed almost comically on the couch. Another thing. Kakashi thought. Naruto doesn't even sleep halfway... and neither does he. This was an apt observation, if not the most astute one. Naruto, at the moment, was snoring loudly; mouth agape with a trickle of drool descending his chin.
It really was incredible how much the man in front of him looked like his old sensei. The same spiky, impossibly blonde hair. The same expressive blue eyes, though the shape was all wrong. Almost the same height. They even had similar smiles. Kakashi's face drooped almost imperceptibly as he thought of the Yondaime. It was hard to believe that he was older than his sensei had been when he'd died. Kakashi let loose a small sigh as he looked in at the snoring man, causing Yamato to look at him worriedly, though he didn't comment. No doubt he guessed what he was thinking about. The silence lasted about five minutes, though it was not uncomfortable. None the less, it was broken by Yamato.
"He really does look like Yondaime-sama, does he not Kakashi-senpai?" The silver-haired (though others would by now claim that it verged on gray) man whipped his head around and starred at him accusingly. Yamato turned away with a small snort. "Well excuuuse me!" He said in an affronted tone. Kakashi sighed, not wanting their conversation to end on a bad note.
"No, sorry. You're right. He does look like Minato-sensei."
"Is that a bad thing?" Yamato asked after a second, speaking hesitantly. Kakashi seemed to think about this.
"No... I don't think it is. It's just very strange." They nodded simultaneously. It was creepy. They both decided.
Barely a few minutes later, two mask-wearing ninjas came to relieve them of their post, taking both their place and their discussion on the uncanny resemblance of this stranger and their Yondaime. They didn't know just how close they were to the truth.
end of chapter
A/N: Woot! So, am I doing good? This is a long chapter - almost 7,000 words! My usual chappie length (btw) is about 4,000.
On a side note! If you haven't guessed from Kakashi's actions, he does NOT know that Naruto is the Yondaime's son. I think that if he did, he would have been nicer and taught him more when he was a green genin. :D Though (thanks to manga) me know now that he did always know, I'm still mad at him. :(
Don't forget to:
-Wash your socks
-Do the dishes
-Call your mom
-REVIEW MY STORY!
