Naruto SI
Working Title: Chakra and Ninjas – Oh My!
Chapter 2: How did I get here?
2015/03/20
The walk over towards the paths was a short one, maybe fifty meters at most, but it gave me some time to clear my mind. I had often proclaimed my love for the way my mother raised me, in that I knew it was not how a normal child acted – I was a lot more adaptive than other children, and could fit myself into almost any situation if needs be. So, as I was walking I quickly summarized my current situation.
First possibility: I was in a coma and having an extremely vivid dream/hallucination. This might be possible, and if it is then I may as well just try to make the best of my situation and have fun.
Second possibility: I was dead and just woke up in a new body, in a possibly new world, and the previous owner of this body was Naruto Uzumaki, who had been ignored and neglected from his earliest memories, except by three people: the owner of the ramen stand that Naruto frequented, Ichiraku Teuchi, and his daughter, Ayame, as well as the supposed leader of this village – Sandaime Hokage Sarutobi Hiruzen.
'That is a rather strange name,' I thought to myself, 'But I suppose 3rd Fire Shadow does have a fitting flair, for a ninja, that is.'
That was another thing that got me about where I was, and also what solidified the two possibilities I had thought of in my mind: in this world there were ninjas, who apparently had superpowers. Naruto was even going to an academy to train said Ninjas! And he was only nine years old!
I quickly snapped myself out of my thoughts, reminding myself to think about this later, when I am not in the middle of a forest, and finished the final few steps onto the path.
It was a rather old path, perhaps it may have been a well frequented road at some point, well-trodden cobblestones and newer weeds being equally prevalent at this point in time, and off to the right was just a rather long path further into the forest, or perhaps out of it, seeing as I was not yet sure of which was was which.
The left hand side, however, was what caught my attention.
Standing perhaps seventy five meters off to my left, at the end of the path, was a ruin. Supported on all sides by by pillars keeping it off the ground, although some of them had collapsed by now, holes in the roof where some planks had rotted away, and, most noticeably to me, the Uzumaki Spiral on the front of it. Naruto used to search for hours on end, looking for family- the only connection that he had that he could possibly follow up on was his surname, and the Spiral that went with it.
Seeing the ruin on the other hand, also brought back a few more memories, again from Naruto, about approaching the derelict a the previous evening, and with the sun already setting once again I/he must have been unconscious for over half a day.
Upon receiving these memories made me hope that whatever was inside could clear up what happened here, and possibly give me some answers, so I cautiously approached the building. I made a note of every sound in the forest, hoping that I would not hear the howling of wolves, or the hissing of a snake – I was in a forest after all, and stepped closer.
As I approached the ruin it became obvious to me that it was not actually a ruin as such, although it could be described as one now, but it had only been lying unattended for a few years, ten, at most, seeing as the wood had not yet completely rotted away, and most of the structure was still intact, if a bit weathered and broken.
The building was the only thing that stood out in the forest, so there was not much to be remarked upon about the short distance to the building itself, I never felt as if there were eyes upon my back as some people describe walking in a forest is like, and after a few seconds I was at the steps.
The building itself was maybe twenty or thirty meters wide, and about fifteen meters high. The path that I was walking on lead directly up to the steps, with two pillars supporting an overhang above those steps. As I mentioned before, the intriguing part of said overhang was the Uzumaki Spiral, leading me to believe that this building was previously owned by the Uzumaki.
Or it could just be a coincidence.
Doubtful. There is no such thing as coincidence. Murphy's Law ensures that unremarked coincidences will come back to bite you in the ass.
Looking up at the Uzumaki Spiral on the overhang made me feel a very striking de'ja vu – and closing my eyes for a second had confirmed that Naruto had been there the night before, in the very same position as I was, although with a much more amazed stare, and he had wondered whether this place would hold the answers to his questions: Who am I, truly? Where is my family?
I couldn't say that he found them, just yet.
There were seven steps in total, not something to be remarked on, really, although there was a chunk of the last four steps missing, on the right hand end of the steps, and I quickly ascended them on the left hand side. The doors were hanging off their hinges, so it took a slight amount of effort to get past them without them falling off completely, but this small body helped with that, although it led me to think that I had kept Naruto's reflexes in this body, seeing as I got used to it so quickly.
As I moved passed the door, and into the building itself, I realized that it was not just any building, it was a Shrine! The inside back wall of the building was covered in demonic masks, one of which was lying on the floor, with what looked like a smear of blood covering it.
With my sense of de'ja vu deepening by the second I walked up do it and picked it up, immediately dropping it again as my vision flashed, and I witnessed Naruto walking up to the solitary mask that was not on the wall.
He picked it up, and as he touched it the mask seemed to animate itself and bit him! There was a flash of light, and that same indescribeable blankness that I had experience, before I woke up, in his body.
I picked myself up off the floor, only noticing now that I had fallen onto it, and wondered out loud, "The last moments of Uzumaki Naruto. Well, at least I know what happened to him now. But now the only question is: How?"
AN: I just want to say thanks to my first reviewer, Fae Lovette, and hopefully I will get more soon!
This is hopefully going to cover all of Canon, so I expect it to take a loooong while, and I hope I don't give up on it, seeing as it is my first fanfiction. Most of what happens here is what I expect my own reaction would be to waking up in this situation, as I am literally writing myself into Naruto.
Thanks for reading, and see you next time (which may or may not be later today, debating whether or not I get bored and start writing the next part.)
