AN: Okay, I know that I said three weeks, but I decided that I just couldn't wait. Thanks so much to my reviewers and subscribers; it means a lot to me that you take the time to be kind.

Again, I hope that this is a well-written chapter; please tell me what you think! Really this time, it's going to be ten days or five new reviews until I put up Chapter Three. And, for those of you who are interested in knowing, I plan on making this story five chapters long.

Disclaimer: I am not Kishimoto Masashi, and as such I do not own any of the characters or other ideas contained herein. I can only lay claim to Nashi (my OC) and this plot.

Thanks for reading everyone, I hope you enjoy it. —CF

Chapter 2: Run-In With Fate

Another day. Time continued to pass painfully slowly, but I managed somehow. It had been about four days since I departed from the last village, which again left my search fruitless. Oh, how I longed for someone to call one of my own!

On this particular day, I came up behind a group of people—two or three, by the sounds of the footsteps—who were talking quietly, as if wary of something. I was nearing them just as I approached the crest of a hill. Suddenly, the footsteps and the voices stopped; it seemed as if one of them suspected danger. There was a sudden rushing noise, which I recognized as that of a flying shuriken. I realized at the last possible moment that it was headed for my face, and lifted my hand to catch it. Sure enough, my fingers hooked around a small metal object with four points.

I calmly held it in my hand and walked up to the people I now knew were high-strung shinobi, likely to have recently been involved in the wrong side of an ambush. When I thought I was close to them, I opened my hand, offering the shuriken, and said, "Is it really that bad out there that you start randomly attacking blind men with no weapons?"

"Heh…sorry." It was a young man's voice; from what I could tell, he was about fifteen, and a joker. It seemed that he would be pleasant when he wasn't on edge.

"Naruto! The poor man barely escaped with his life! You could have killed him! What's the matter with you!?" It was a girl about the same age as the first voice. She was obviously rather annoyed at him; it seemed to be a frequent type of thing with him.

"Za, take it! I can't use these things so easily anymore. And, since you were so kind as to attack me, I'll be traveling with you for a distance."

A new voice spoke here. "Are you sure about that? You might get almost-killed again…I think one close experience is enough for one day; don't you?" He was familiar.

"H'm…za, I'm not afraid. You there, young lady." I gestured at her with my walking stick. "What's your name, milady?"

"Sakura."

I gave a slight bow. "I am pleased to make your acquaintance, Sakura my child. I am known as Nashi of the many tribes, but everyone just calls me Nashi. Now, I believe that I have already been introduced to Naruto here," I gestured in his general direction, faking a respectful bow, "And I believe that the sensei is the one that I remember as Sharingan Hatake. Am I wrong?"

"I'll give you partial credit, I am called Kakashi of the Sharingan eye, but my clan is Hatake…where do I know you from, Nashi?"

"It must be almost twenty years ago now, my child; you and a number of Leaf shinobi came to help my village fend off some of our mutual enemies. You were there when I pushed myself too far with these," I said as I put fingers on my eyelids, "If I remember correctly."

"Yes, I remember now. It's too bad. There's no cure…?"

"No, my child, there never will be. Still, I have become used to it. Now, there's no point in just standing around, is there? Let's continue on our journey!" I could hear a grumbling that I could only assume was Naruto as I assumed the lead of the little troop. After a few moments of relative silence, I pulled back a little and spoke to him.

"You know, Naruto my child, I'm not actually mad at you. If you've been having a rough time with enemy shinobi, you have every right to be on the constant watch for danger. Don't be afraid to be a bit rough with potential attackers."

"How did you know it was me just now, and not Sakura or Kakashi-sensei?"

"You were the only one in a condition to be grumbling about something."

"Oh…"

"So, Naruto, tell me a bit about you. As much as you are tightly wound, I'd like to think that there's a person behind all that."

"Well, there's not much that you need to know, except that I'm going to be the next Hokage."

I chuckled at his confidence. "Za, is that so? It's a big goal to reach for, believe me. I'm not saying that you can't do it, just that you have to put in more work than you think, even if you have been training for all your life."

"I know that! Everyone tells me that."

"Za, yes," I took one of his hands in between mine and pressed slightly, hoping to invoke a blessing I had placed on myself some time ago. "I see good things in your future, although I couldn't tell you exactly what. Soon—within less than a month—a fond wish of yours shall be granted. It may not be the foremost matter on your mind, but it will make itself understood, once you get there."

"Umm…okay? Thanks, I guess."

"Don't doubt me, young one. There's merit to that kind of fortune-telling. I've never known it to fail once."

"Where did you learn it?"

"Back in my homeland, a former hidden village that has been since destroyed. If we get to that sort of a point in the conversation, I shall tell you about it."

He and I talked for a little longer, and then I moved on to Sakura. It surprised me to learn that someone who sounded like her was a medic-nin; I expected a person like her to be a powerful fighter.

Soon enough, Hatake spoke again. "Be on the lookout for a clearing. We're spending the night out here."

Not asking any questions, the two young shinobi began to dash in and out of the woods lining the path, which gave me a chance to talk with the sensei a little; after about fifteen minutes, Naruto's voice called the rest of us over to a small, secluded area of the woods—judging from the thick foliage we had to pass through to get to it—and although it was a bit crowded there was enough room for all four of us to sit around a small fire. Once it was roaring, Naruto commented on his hunger, so I asked him to loan me a kunai.

"What do you need it for?"

"Just give me one! I'm not going to attack you. You'll get it back; don't worry about that."

He handed me a knife, and I began to slowly pace around the edge of our glen. Hearing the right kind of noise, I threw the knife and noticed the squelching sound I had been expecting.

"Naruto, your kunai is currently wedged in the side of a moderately-sized deer about ten paces in that direction. Bring the beast back, would you?"

"How…?"

"Just go get it." Sure enough, he dragged back a deer with enough meat to feed all four of us, as I began to flay it with a knife of my own as Naruto prodded me with questions.

"How did you know the deer was there?"

"I heard the rustling in the woods."

"Yeah, but how did you know it was a deer? It might have been a rabbit."

"Za; listen kid, if you had been blind for as long as I have, you would have learned to rely on your other senses like I can. I knew that it was just about the right size to be a deer, but sometimes people are that size, so I threw it with the right amount of strength to kill a deer but only cut a person."

There was a considerable pause. "How did you know how much it would take?"

"I was a shinobi like you, once."

"They let blind people become shinobi?"

"I wasn't born blind. I stopped wearing the hitae-ate when I lost my vision. That didn't mean I lost my knowledge, though."

"When did you lose your sight? Do you miss it?"

"I was damaged so badly that I don't even remember what sight is. There's no point in trying to describe it, trust me," I said, expecting him to start doing so. As I began to dig into the food and hear the others do the same, I continued. "And as to losing it…it was in a battle that had me defending my home. We were attacked by enemy shinobi, and although we had help, we were crushed. I overused a dōjustu I had control of, and it drove me blind."

"But…where is this 'home' of yours? You haven't told us where it is yet!"

"Patience, my child. I will get to that…"

"Why do you call us that? 'My child'? How do you get off thinking we're children?!" Naruto had interrupted rather loudly this time, so I decided I needed to answer this time.

"Za, all right. Well, it goes like this. I was born into a family in a hidden village that has since been destroyed. While I was still there, I was married to a woman, about my age, whom I had known since we were infants. We had two children together, a boy and a girl.

"Well, shortly after the older of the two hit seven years, our village was attacked by shinobi much more powerful than our own. We held them off as a messenger was sent to recruit help from another hidden village we were allied with. That was the Konoha, unless I'm mistaken—the particular battle that I have in mind was the one in which I met your sensei. Anyway, when it was obvious to me that we couldn't win, I had two less-experienced shinobi go to my family—one to my wife and children, and the other to my parents and sister—and told them to evacuate the families immediately, and have them conceal themselves in other hidden villages.

"I was foolish enough not to specify which villages, though. I never heard from them again—any of them. My children must be fully grown by now. I've been to every hidden village that I could find as I wandered this land, but I never found them. Since then, I just started calling people 'my child.' It was a way of dissipating my grief at the loss, I guess.

"So, this brings me to a few questions I'd like to ask you, if you all don't mind." I stopped for a moment, and uttered another blessing under my breath.

"What was that?"

"Oh, nothing. Just a little safeguard, used to help you learn a bit about each other. You can refuse to answer any question, but if you do choose to answer, you will find yourself unable to lie. Is that understood?"

"Yes, sir," I heard Sakura say, so I continued.

"Alright, here's what's going to happen: I'll ask you three questions about people in your lives. You can answer anyone except someone sitting here with us now. Okay? Good. First question: if you could have any one person beside you right now as a friend and ally, someone who would fight alongside you, a person now living or dead, whether or not you ever knew the person—if you could have this—who would it be? Personally…I have to say my sensei, who first trained me and two others as genin. What about you? I don't need details, but a name is a good thing."

There was silence, as if no one wanted to speak. Soon, I heard a quiet voice say something timidly from my right, but the word was lost.

"Speak up, Naruto. No one can hear you." Sakura slapped him as she said this.

"Ow! Sakura…" He mumbled again, but I caught it this time.

"Sasuke…" I was surprised at recognizing the name of the young man I had met about a week ago while on the road. The names matched…could they have known each other?

"He said, 'Sasuke,'" I stated, already prepared to move on. "Second question: out of everyone you've ever known, whom—not among those with you now—do you miss the most? For me, it is my wife."

There was another pause, broken by the kunoichi's voice. "As sentimental as it sounds—my parents."

Naruto spoke again, still so that only I could hear it. "Sasuke."

"Naruto gives the same answer as the one from the first question. Interesting…Okay, third question: Think about some of your happiest memories. Who is in the most of them? Mine—although I have few, I will admit—are of my wife."

The sensei was the first to speak this time. "Obito." I recognized the name of his former teammate; we had spoken when he helped my village.

Sakura followed with her answer almost immediately. "Ino"

Naruto was reluctant to answer, but eventually the answer came out.

"Sasuke."

Hatake spoke here, surprise resounding in his voice. "The same answer all three times, Naruto? I'm surprised; you don't see that very often with this test."

"No indeed," I consented as I took down the truth-blessing. "It's funny, but I met a young man earlier this week, and he, too, gave three of the same answer…say, Naruto, who is this Sasuke that he's so important to you?"

"He was a teammate of ours, when we first graduated the ninja academy," Sakura told me when Naruto started making a peculiar noise that suggested to me that he was rather uncomfortable with the topic. "After a while, he left Konoha to join with a wicked man who promised him power—he became a missing-nin, and has been elusive ever since. He's a criminal, but…it would be nice to have him back."

"I see," I said, not caring about the irony anymore. The coincidences between this story and the information I had gleaned from the previous young man were starting to get a bit too thick for my liking. "Naruto…"

There was a moment's silence as the ninja collected his thoughts. He then sniffled a little and spoke.

"Yeah?"

"If I told you that I had a method to get Sasuke to be your ally again—for him to completely forget his current life and be your friend again—what would you think?"

There was another silence, in which I could feel the young ninja slide closer to me. "I'm listening."

I smiled a little, sure that he was doubtful. "Za: you see, there are things in this world that are limited to knowledge by a certain few people. Jutsu, to be sure, fit in this category, but there are many ninja about our world. People like me, however—people of a skill set that earns them the name whisperers—are much rarer, to the point that I may be the last one alive. That safeguard, the truth-telling one from earlier, was such a thing—a blessing, we call it. It is a type of non-jutsu skill that is only handed to a select few. Rather than being controlled by gestures, by the body, blessings are controlled by words. They are akin to prayers, it that certain sets of words are said to do certain things."

"So, if you were to teach someone these words, could you pass on the blessings to that person?"

"Za, I wish it was that easy! The thing with blessings is they use a specific language to control things. The people who spoke this language openly—those of my homeland—were the ones who, over many years, developed the blessings. There is one major problem, however—this language has a very unusual structure, to the point where it doesn't seem to follow any patterns. Few people have the patience to learn it, and even then, they have a hard time mastering the subtleties that are required for complete control of blessings. In fact, it is said that the people of my tribe have an innate knowledge of this language. They say that this knowledge is necessary to use the blessings.

"Interestingly enough, I have a feeling that someone here has this knowledge. So, I have another question, a bit less probing this time. Is there anyone to whom the language we are speaking does not seem natural? That is, do you feel that the definition doesn't match the word?"

I had to wait only an instant before the voice I expected spoke up. "Yeah, I feel that way. Is that weird?"

"Not at all, Naruto. Just, if you could, answer a few questions for me." I grabbed a handful of dirt in my fist and turned my hand over, revealing it to the boy. "What, do you think, is the proper name for this?"

"Tashmévseh." There had been almost no pause before he spoke. Returning the dirt to where it belonged, I waved my hand through the fire and used a simple blessing to hold a small tongue of it in my hand. "What of this, Naruto?"

"Bèlikotraumálnelech," he replied in a heartbeat, his voice steady and confident. I could hear Sakura shifting her position, not really caring about the conversation at hand.

Replacing the tongue in my hand to the main flame, I continued my line of questioning. "Okay, a hard one: what do you make of the little word that I use all of the time, 'za'?"

"It means 'well,' like we sometimes use when we start to talk."

I then took a stick and drew a small spiral in the dirt, closing it off at the outside edge. "What would you call this shape?"

"I would give it the name 'm.' That's it. 'M.' No more."

"Interesting…you know, Naruto, I have given that little test of my native language to many people over the past twenty or so years. In all those times, everyone got them all wrong, except one person, who got every one of them right."

"Who was that?"

I gave a soft chuckle before I answered. "You."

There was silence about the camp, as this information sank in.

"Me."

"Yes. Correct on all four counts. There's no question about it, you're from my homeland—at least partially. Where do you trace your ancestry?"

"Well, my dad always lived in Konoha, but my mom was supposedly from a little country called the Land of the Whirlpool."

"Za; that was indeed the Whirlpool language that we just discussed, Naruto. It seems that you are one of my countrymen." I chuckled at this.

"It's funny; I've always been raised as 'Nashi of the many tribes,' and I go off calling someone my countryman…I don't even have a country…just a mother, a stepfather, and a half-sister. Oh, how I long for them! I wish I could hear their kind voices again…especially that of Kushina…dear, sweet Kushina, where could you have gone?" Thoroughly lost in my reminiscence, I nearly forgot that I was in the company of three shinobi.

"Kushina…" It was the sensei. I could tell from the particular noise coming from my immediate right that the name meant something to Naruto. "Nashi, remind me of which tribe you belonged to, among the whirlpool."

"At home, I belonged to the household of a clan that had been given the name Uzumaki."

A loud squeal at my shoulder told me that this meant something to Naruto. He spoke, but his voice was weak. "You said that you had your sister sent away during the war, and she went to a hidden village, right?"

"I did."

"My mother's name was Kushina Uzumaki, and I am called Naruto Uzumaki."

I paused, reeling at this information. Family!