Hey Murayama Tsuru here. I bring to you all the actual first chapter of this story. As I said before, the chapters are going to be relatively short…that's all I really have to say right now. So, I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto; it's the property of Kishimoto Masashi-Sensei

Morning came upon Konoha Gakure and Naruto was tossing and turning, in the clutches of a vivid nightmare. Now, this wasn't an unusual occurrence for him; but this morning he was woken up by a gentle, motherly voice, "Naruto, wake up! It's only a dream, you'll be fine." Naruto's eyes opened suddenly to see a woman with long, straight red hair, and a worried look on her face. He looked at the woman and a single tear rolled down his cheek. He blinked it away, and with sleepy recognition he addressed the woman, "Kaa-chan…"

Naruto then smiled and got out of bed, giving his mom a hug, "thanks for waking me up."

"It's what us mothers do, sweetie. Well, get dressed now, breakfast will be waiting for you when you come down." She then walked out of his room; Naruto watched his mom's retreating form, a slightly confused look adorning his features. As he got dressed, Naruto began thinking, "Wait…how did my Kaa-chan wake me up…wasn't she kil…" before he could finish his thought, pain lanced though his head and he sunk to the floor, clutching his head.

After a second though, the pain was gone and Naruto forgot his previous thought completely. Naruto stood, more confused than ever, and continued getting dressed.

Once Naruto was finished, he went downstairs and was greeted with the sight of a man who looked very much like him, but his hair was longer and he looked more world-weary. Upon seeing his son, Namikaze Minato grinned, "I see your mom got you up early again. But then again, maybe that's a good thing; we actually get to see you this morning."

Naruto grinned back, "You know that's not true Tou-chan. I always try to get up before noon, but my I never seem to be able to hear my alarm clock."

"And nor should you. You're a kid, there's no need to worry about getting up early, your mom just likes to see you in the morning every once in a while. But, I believe today, she woke because there's training you have to do with Kakashi."

At the mention of Kakashi, an image of a swirly, orange mask popped into his head. But just as soon as the image came, another jolt of pain ran through Naruto's head. Knowing it wouldn't last, Naruto tried to endure the headache without showing it on his face, as not to worry his parents.

He must not have done a very good job, because once the pain had subsided, his father was looking at him, a worried expression on his face, "Son, are you ok?"

"Yeah, Tou-chan, I'm fine."

"If you say so. The last time you made that face, though, was when you were trying to hide that you had an upset stomach after drinking that bad milk." Naruto grimaced as the memory surfaced. But for some reason, this particular memory didn't involve his parents at all. He only reflected on it for a moment, but didn't think it important enough to worry about.

After a leisurely breakfast his dad ended up cooking (his mom had eventually given up, after too many burned or otherwise failed attempts). Naruto enjoyed his time with his parents immensely, and he couldn't help but think this was the first time he'd ever had done something like this before. He had vague memories of eating at this table, alone, and it warmed his heart to know his parents were here with him.

Suddenly the loud, slightly annoying to other peoples' ears, voice of Sakura floated in through the window, "Naruto, if you don't get your butt down here soon, we'll be later than Kakashi-sensei for training today."

Naruto then jumped up, said a quick goodbye to his parents, and raced out of the house before Sakura became too impatient.

Once he was outside, he stopped short when he saw a familiar, frowning, spikey black-haired (that almost looked like a cockatoo's feathers) Ninja. Naruto's jaw dropped and, almost completely ignoring Sakura, asked incredulously, "Sasuke?! What are you doing here? I thought you—"

Naruto was cut off by a wince as another wave of pain hit him. Trying to keep his face blank, Naruto almost missed what Sasuke said in response, "Don't get the wrong idea, Dobe. I only came because Sakura insisted I accompany her when she came to get you."

Naruto chuckled, hearing the familiar nickname, and Sasuke gave him a funny look. But before Sasuke could insult Naruto further, Sakura hurried them on to their usual training site.

As usual, the three got to the grassy field before Kakashi. Due to a considerable amount of waiting, Naruto had some time to think about the other set of memories he was seeing. If he lightly touched the memories, he could distinctly remember Sasuke leaving Konoha and his parents being dead. But, any deeper thought brought near blinding pain, forcing him to stop thinking almost immediately. From time to time, both Sakura and Sasuke gave him funny looks; they did not understand how Naruto wasn't chattering away like he usually did.

After some more waiting, Kakashi finally arrived, a girl around Naruto's age following behind. Once Kakashi had gotten everyone's attention, he announced, "Everyone, I have an announcement. The Hokage has assigned us a new team member for the new Ninja exchange program," he then turned to the girl, "Alright, you can introduce yourself."

The girl nodded, and Naruto's eyes widened; he recognized this girl from somewhere, a dream perhaps, but before he could even entertain his thought, she started talking, "It's nice to meet you three. On the way over here, Kakashi-sensei told me much about you. My name is Rinrin Kouryu. I'm from Tatsu Gakure." Sasuke nodded in her direction, looking slightly less bored than usual. Sakura smiled at Kouryu and said, "It's nice to meet you too, Rinrin-san."

"Please, call me Kouryu, Sakura-chan." She smiled and memory rose up to the surface of Naruto's mind like a bubble; a battle with an unmasked annoyance, this girl coming down from the sky and casting a Jutsu…before the memory could reveal more of itself to Naruto, it popped out of his head and Naruto felt a cold glare.

Naruto looked up to see Kouryu's, a light almost white blue, eyes on him. Her pupils then became slits, almost like a snake's...or a dragon's, and a voice echoed in his head, "stop trying to remember. If you do, the Jutsu will become undone and he will come find you."

Naruto was about to ask what the hell she meant, but she had already turned to Kakashi who was explaining the training they were going to today to get Kouryu oriented to Konoha's ways.

And that ends the first chapter. Before you say anything, yes I know Naruto's parents are dead, and Sasuke isn't supposed to be here. If you're confused, don't worry everything will be explained in later chapters. Another thing, Naruto does call his parents Tou-chan and Kaa-chan; I'm not making it up! Well…it has been a while since I read that part in Japanese…but I don't think I'm wrong. Also, I'm amazed at the response I got last chapter; I didn't really expect so many people to read it. Thank you to everyone who gave this story a try, and I hope you will continue to support this humble crane. As always reviews are greatly appreciated. See you next chapter.

-Murayama Tsuru