Notes: Now we start the process of how Menma got into Naruto's world, as I'm sure you're curious about that. But first, a look at the fate of the original Menma.


The Second Firstborn

A Naruto Fanfic by

Nate Grey (xman0123-at-aol-dot-com)

Chapter 2: Plot to Remake


With a sigh, Tsunade lowered her hands, allowing the glow of chakra surrounding her fingers to wink out. "Well, there's no doubt in my mind anymore." She nodded to her attendant Shizune, who quickly covered the body on the autopsy table with a sheet.

"You sound surprised," Namikaze Minato murmured from the other side of the table.

"Honestly, I am," Tsunade admitted. "I'm sure you're already aware of it, but this is one of the less complicated solutions to the current crisis. There simply wasn't enough proof in favor of your claim, and the prevailing opinion was that your son, even if he was good again, could always go bad or worse a second time. He was either looking at life imprisonment or a death sentence. I wouldn't have chosen this way out, but no one can doubt his resolve."

Minato shot her a cold look. "I don't know that I'd use that term to describe someone that could pulp his own heart with a Rasengan."

She shook her head. "Minato, you're only saying that because he was your son."

"No," Minato said, staring down at the gaping hole where his son's heart used to be. "I'd say the same about any man who did this. Resolve is what keeps you alive, Tsunade-sama. It's lack of resolve and options that allows the mind to accept this sort of death."

Tsunade sighed, realizing there was no point in arguing with him over it.

Unnerved by the extending silence, Shizune took the opportunity to join the conversation. "How's Kushina taking this, Minato-san?"

Minato dragged a hand over his face, a true sign of his exhaustion and frayed nerves. "Let's see. She moved out this morning, won't speak to me, and left a note saying she'll be the last Uzumaki in Konoha." After a pause, he added, "Oh, and she wants a divorce."

Shizune stared at him in disbelief. "She really thinks that's going to help anything?"

He shrugged. "She's convinced that the combined pressure of being both an Uzumaki and my child was the source of Menma's problems, so she doesn't want there to be any others. I don't know how accurate that is, but I think she's wrong. I'll admit Menma didn't have it easy being our son, but if he wanted to escape his fame, then becoming a major threat to the village was the last thing he should have done. Maybe I've still got parental blinders on, but I can't accept that a boy we raised couldn't talk to us when he obviously had a serious problem. Failing that, I'd like to think someone close to us would have noticed something out of the ordinary."

"Part of the problem was that unwitting body double standing in for him," Tsunade admitted. "Nobody actually knew Menma was MIA because they were still seeing someone who looked like him. I have no doubt that were it not for the clone, somebody would have noticed your son wasn't in the village."

Minato laughed bitterly. "He was an idiot when it came to people, but not with jutsu, so I doubt it would have been as simple as that. Clones are an Uzumaki specialty, and there were times he even managed to fool Kushina for a while. If he didn't want you to know he was gone, he'd have managed somehow, stand-in or no stand-in. But none of this solves the question of why Menma went bad. And I don't think that's really the question anymore."

"True," Tsunade agreed. "The question is where the stand-in came from, and where he's apparently gone back to. I don't need to tell you that as one of Konoha's specialists on space-time ninjutsu, the fact that you can't answer that really bothers me."

"It bothers me, too. I make it a point of personal pride to be aware of all my serious competition in that area. Nobody knows anything about the stand-in or where he came from. They either thought he was a more pleasant Menma, or noticed no difference at all."

"Then I hate to bring this up, but I think it's time to stop ignoring the elephant in the room. You're brilliant, Minato, but you happen to be married to the only kunoichi I know that could give you a run for your money in nearly every area you specialize in. So I at least want to pick Kushina's brain, no matter how uncomfortable it will be. If worst comes to worst, I'm one of the few people that can restrain her."

"I doubt it'll come to that," Minato responded. "It might have, if Menma were still alive, but now Kushina's given up on nearly everything, and she doesn't blame you for what happened. A little advice, though: when you want her to come in, just send Shizune to ask her. Don't make it an order. That's the worst thing you could do right now."

Tsunade nodded. "Fine. Any idea where she's staying?"

"Not with Mikoto, for sure. That's the first place I looked for her. Sasuke gives Kushina the creeps, ever since he called her a MILF to her face."

Tsunade's lips twitched into a smirk, and Shizune snorted before managing to compose herself. "And she didn't beat him bloody?" Tsunade asked, chuckling.

"No, but Mikoto overheard the conversation, and made sure he couldn't sit down for a month." Minato flashed her a pained grin. "Menma laughed himself silly over it. One of the last times I ever heard him laugh." He swallowed hard and looked away. "My son is dead. My wife hates me. And you know what I wish?"

"What's that?"

"I wish the stand-in was here. Somehow, I think he'd know what to say to make me feel better. I don't know why, but I believe that. I have to. Because as things stand, he's the only family I have left."


"I wasn't sure that you would come. But I'm glad that you accepted our invitation."

The woman said nothing for a long moment, staring at each of the gathered faces in turn. Her gaze lingered on the last. "You said that you had something important to tell me. Something that would change everything that I knew."

"Indeed. Everything we believe has been challenged by this information. No doubt it will be the same for you."

"Just spill it, Itachi-kun," she snapped. "I'm still in mourning, and I have no patience for games."

The Uchiha nodded, having never been more aware of the fact that his former babysitter was also one of the most powerful kunoichi alive, especially when she was angry. "Of course, Kushina-san. I apologize. But perhaps it would be best coming from Nagato. He made the discovery, and it was he who proposed involving you."

"So this isn't just because you want two Uzumaki in your little club?" Kushina asked suspiciously.

"That may not matter anymore," Nagato answered as he stepped forward. "Nothing we do here may matter at all."

"Start making sense or I'm leaving," Kushina demanded.

"We know where the other Menma went back to," Nagato said at once.

Kushina froze, her eyes wide. "What?" she whispered.

"His name is Uzumaki Naruto, and he comes from another world, similar to but vastly different from our own. He accepted you and Minato as his parents here because you were his parents there, too. And because he grew up an orphan, this was his first and only chance to truly know you."

Kushina stared at Nagato for a long moment, possibly searching for any sign of deception in his face. "Tell me more," she said at last.

"In Naruto's world, Minato became the Yondaime Hokage, and you both died in an attempt to seal the Nine-Tailed Fox in Naruto, in order to protect the village. Naruto grew up alone, ostracized by the very people who claimed to idolize Minato. In time, Naruto managed to change their perceptions of him, but he has only friends and comrades, and no true family. The few Uzumaki descendants who remain are scattered throughout the land, and have no loyalty to each other."

"That sounds awful."

"It doesn't have to stay that way," Nagato replied quickly, eagerly. "I have found a way to manipulate events in Naruto's world. The Nagato there died, but his chakra saturates much of their world, especially Konoha, even now. I believe he was misguided, and attacked the village. Naruto defeated him, but we both know that Uzumaki chakra can take decades to completely vanish under optimal circumstances. And that Nagato, his power was truly optimal, whatever his sins."

"So you can change Naruto's world. What good would that do us?" Kushina asked.

Nagato hesitated. "Naruto remembers his adventure here. But according to him, his time here, and our entire world, in fact, was all a product of genjutsu. We aren't real. Our world is nothing more than a dream conjured up by a madman."

Kushina smirked. "You almost had me there. You think the pain I feel right now is fake?"

"No," Nagato said sharply. "That's just it. We aren't fake. Not anymore. I have already created a minor change in Naruto's world. A small avatar that would not exist otherwise. The clothing that Naruto obtained from our world ceased to exist seconds after he returned home. Not instantly, but seconds after. Something from our world managed to exist in his, for a short time. And my avatar has been in his world for a week now, sustained by that Nagato's leftover chakra. By definition, the avatar is real, and therefore, so is its creator, and so is his world. We were not real before, but we are now, because our impact on Naruto's world has made it so."

"And you want to make more changes. Like what?"

"Menma was our world's answer to Naruto. In theory, the two should not exist simultaneously in any world. But they did, and Menma's life had a profound impact on Naruto's. I propose to reproduce that impact, by exposing Naruto to Menma a second time. Naruto restored Menma to you. Perhaps he can also mold Menma into-"

"Menma is dead, Nagato," Kushina interrupted. "You know that. We all do."

"Menma is dead in our world," Nagato corrected gently. "But he never existed in Naruto's world. Which means there is room for him. He can be the start of Naruto's family. But they would not be brothers."

"Why not?"

"Because Minato is dead there, and Naruto has seen him cruelly torn from death and resurrected once already. It would not be right to do so again. But Naruto doesn't know that Menma is dead here, so he could eventually accept Menma's return. Especially through the method I have in mind."

Kushina shook her head. "But you just said Minato is dead there, and so am I. So no Menma."

Nagato raised his voice, the confidence in it obvious to all in earshot. "There can be a new Menma. But while you two would not be his parents, there is a perfectly preserved source of your combined genetic material."

It suddenly dawned on Kushina, what Nagato intended to do. She was truly shocked, even disgusted, at first. But the more she thought about it, the more sense it made. And slowly, a smile began to spread across her face. "Naruto would finally have a family. And Menma would get another chance."

"Yes," Nagato agreed. "And you know your son, both of them, better than anyone, Kushina-san. I dare not attempt this without your guidance. Will you help us?"


It was not instinct that urged the tiny, masked foxes onward. They moved with far too much human intelligence and purpose for it to have been merely that.

There were nine of them, at one point. There were eight left, and while the absence was noted and on some level even missed, it did not slow them down. Rather, it added a sense of increasing urgency to what was already an urgent task.

They could sense the moods of humans within a certain range. But only humans that had any significant contact with their fallen master.

Their task was to find the one human who loved their master most, but was not of his blood. She was easy to find: she wore an old jacket that still carried their master's scent, and she had begun to take long, unscheduled walks outside of the village. Just as their master had done, in fact. She even took the exact same routes, which indicated that she either knew him far too well, or had been watching for even longer than he had first suspected. Either way, she kept his secrets, and for that, she would be honored.

For her part, Hinata did not react with alarm when the foxes slowly melted out of the shadows and approached her. There was no way she could know that they were his, not without first activating her Byakugan and confirming that they shared his chakra. But she did not do so. And somehow she still knew.

"They say he's dead," she murmured, lowering her head. "They say Menma-kun is dead. Even when I saw the body, I refused to believe it."

The foxes glanced at each other, and with considerable effort, one assumed human shape. "He is dead," the former fox said slowly, unaccustomed to human speech. "But we can still hear his commands."

"What does he need?" Hinata asked quickly. "What can I do?"

The man wisely did not answer that question directly. "Are you prepared to die for him?"

Hinata smiled softly. "Without him, I am already dead."

He shook his head. It had to be voluntary. That part was important, somehow. "Are you prepared? Are you willing?"

"Of course I am." She closed her eyes and began to shed her clothes. "Take whatever you need."

There was a bit of unease among them, not for the sake or her modesty, but at the sheer willingness. They had expected her to agree, but counted on at least some hesitation. Their master had truly chosen well.

The man moved forward, his elongated teeth already protruding past his lips. "It will not be quick," he warned.

Hinata smiled as the agony erupted in her shoulder. "Nothing worthwhile ever is," she whispered as the others formed a tight circle around her.


Sixteen year-old Uzumaki Naruto woke from a dream, only to find a familiar man standing over his bed. Oddly enough, the dream had been about fighting the very same man, and yet Naruto reacted to his presence with very little alarm. Part of this had to do with the fact that the man wore a simple black traveling cloak, with no red clouds anywhere in sight.

"...Nagato?" Naruto asked slowly.

The red-haired man nodded. "Hello, Naruto-kun. I apologize for disturbing you."

Naruto blinked and slowly sat up, uncertain if Nagato meant waking him up, or the dream itself, which had not been so much disturbing as it was repetitive. Living through it once had been enough. "Uh, that's okay. But why are you here? Aren't you sort of... well... dead? I mean, I've seen the real you die twice, now."

"Perhaps," Nagato suggested hesitantly, "you are still dreaming."

Naruto hadn't considered that. "Huh? Well, maybe. It would explain how you're here, and... not dead."

"I have come to you with a warning, Naruto-kun. You have already lost the love of your life once, by my hand. Do not allow her to slip away again."

This brought any further thought about Nagato being a dream to a screeching halt. Certainly, many people Naruto knew had died when Nagato attacked Konoha. But to Naruto's knowledge, Nagato had also revived each and every one of them later on. Even limiting that number to females was hardly narrowing down the list. There was just one problem: Naruto had actually seen the list, and talked to people who had been there. And as far as anyone knew, Haruno Sakura had not died at any point on that day. Which was something of a problem, since Naruto had been in love with her, and only her, since he was a kid. So either Sakura had been dead at some point, or Nagato was talking about some other girl. Naruto wasn't sure which idea was worse: that he'd failed to protect Sakura, who he'd thought to be his one true love, or that he hadn't, but that his one true love had died while he was fixated on Sakura, who was, in Nagato's eyes, apparently a complete waste of Naruto's affections.

Still, Naruto was not about to consider Nagato an expert on love. People who knew love didn't roam around keeping dead bodies for company. Naruto had never really seen Nagato pay much attention to the one woman who did seem to care about him. And if that was why Konan's smiles had been so rare, Naruto for one wouldn't have blamed her at all. He knew how much it hurt, when the one you loved only noticed when it was convenient for them to.

On the other hand, Naruto did not instantly believe that Nagato's warning was entirely meaningless. If it had been Jiraiya that appeared to him instead, Naruto would not have brushed him off as a mere product of a dream. And even if Nagato was wrong, Naruto had to admit that he had never really discussed that day with Sakura. If she had died, and somehow recalled that, it was just the sort of thing a person like her wouldn't want to talk about, to anyone.

"Not that I don't appreciate the warning," Naruto said slowly, "but how would you even know who the love of my life is? You haven't actually known me all that long, and I'd almost rather take advice on love from Ero-sennin first."

Nagato's lips twitched into a slight smile, however briefly. "A fair question, to be sure. Are you familiar with the power of my Human Path?"

Naruto squinted thoughtfully. "That's the one that sucks out souls?"

"Yes. I used it repeatedly on various shinobi in the village, while I was searching for you. The love of your life was among those, although I did not know it at the time. I only realized her importance some time after you had altered my thinking for the better. She herself is unaware of her intended role, but I suspect that will not last much longer. I warn you so that you will not reject her thoughtlessly if she should approach you."

"Why would I reject a girl that loves me?" Naruto asked. "I've never even really been in a position to do that!"

"First impressions can be difficult to put aside. But I suggest that you attempt to do so, Naruto-kun. I would not have come to you if I did not wholly believe what I am saying. You were able to put aside your hatred of me. I ask that you suspend any initial judgment of her, until you have a firm grasp of the situation."

"Okay, I got it. Warning received. Just do me one favor." Naruto balled up his right hand into a fist, and then thrust it out expectantly.

Nagato stared at it curiously. "You wish to give me something?"

Naruto laughed. "No, it's something I picked up somewhere. We're sibling disciples like you said, and after all we've been through together, I feel like I know you. But since I've got you here, and I might not get another chance, I think we should fist bump. I sense there's something you're not telling me, and you're entitled to your privacy. But a good friend taught me that you can learn all you really need to know about someone by bumping fists with them. He also told me that any man that wouldn't do it, isn't a man worth knowing. And I know you're a man worth knowing, Nagato, so don't leave me hanging."

Something like fear seemed to pass over Nagato's face, and after several seconds of tense silence without either one moving, Naruto started to withdraw his extended fist with a frown. But then, in a lightning fast movement more worthy of combat, Nagato's fist shot out, froze, and then slowly touched Naruto's. The gesture lasted no more than five seconds, but both males drew back with a far deeper understanding of each other's motives. And at least on one end, that may not have been a good thing.

"I should go," Nagato said at last.

"But you can't, can you?" Naruto asked, frowning at him. "You can't actually leave. And you probably shouldn't, from what I saw."

"Does that mean," Nagato asked slowly, "that you want me to stay?"

"Doesn't seem to matter what I want just now. And I think I'm going to need you to stick around. Because as long as there's at least one other person who accepts this? I'll know I'm not completely crazy."


Elsewhere in Konoha, there was a similar conversation happening, though with far different results. Because that conversation actually was taking place inside the head of a single person, and that person was seriously beginning to question her own sanity. And that was before the voice in her head told her what it expected of her.

Then, she knew she was crazy. But also, that she desperately needed to talk to Uzumaki Naruto.


Continued in Chapter 3: When You're Expecting

Naruto fails to ask Sakura for a date, which leads to a conversation she wasn't expecting. Then Naruto has a rather awkward conversation with someone close to him, who Nagato intends to become even closer.


Endnotes:

I know what some of you are thinking. You're thinking the Genjutsu World ceased to exist, even as an illusion, seconds after Naruto's "return" to his world. So even if the GW Nagato could create an avatar that could survive on leftover chakra, the avatar would exist, but the false world would still not. Believe me, I understand that. But there is a method to my madness. Much of which relies on that whole "fake isn't really fake" speech I gave you earlier. So I'm sure you'll understand when I tell you that I'm not ready to tell you yet.