Wrong Again
Chapter 2
I don't own Naruto.
Naruto groaned as he rolled over only to promptly fall off. The feeling of falling blind paralyzed him and all he could do was flail helplessly disoriented before he crashed to the ground with a painful thud. He sat up and gingerly rubbed the back of his head.
He didn't know how long he had been out. The sun was going down and in the dying light he saw that he was in the forest. These woods looked familiar but at the same time he knew he hadn't been here in a while.
How did he end up in the forest? He was facing off against Sasuke. And just like that everything came back and he growled; the news of Sasuke defeating Itachi, only for him to be too late to find him. The memory of the death of Jiraiya leading to his training with the earth's chakra only to face off against Sasuke made him sick.
Fat good senjutsu had done him. What good was it when he wasn't willing to use it? The last moments he remembered was going at Sasuke with his rasengan and faltering.
Damn, in the end, he hadn't been able to do it. He couldn't bring himself to force Sasuke back at the cost of his life. That training had gone to waste.
The question that Itachi had asked him all those months ago haunted him now. It seemed like he had his answer after all. He hadn't been able to find a way to save both Sasuke and his village. In the end, he couldn't even save one.
What hurt more was that he hadn't been good enough to save Sasuke.
As his heart clenched painfully, his usually dormant mind reared up and told him to look around and find out why he was in the forest. He rubbed his tears aside, slightly surprised that he was once more crying for that bastard.
Gingerly he stood up, swaying slightly still. He leaned against a tree, probably the one he had fallen from, as he tried to figure out where he was exactly. He took a step but immediately fell forward and clung to the tree as nausea overwhelmed him.
"Whoa," he moaned. His gaze passed over his hands which were clutching the bark in front of him. For a moment he didn't think about it at all; it was just his hands which looked different. He stared harder, focusing his gaze on the back of his fingers. He couldn't quite pin down what the hell was so different about his hands.
A mosquito landed on his left hand and his first thought was, wow, when did mosquitoes get so big here in Konoha?
He slapped the insect away as it prepared itself to suck his blood. In the middle of swatting, he noticed that his hand even felt weird. He took a few moments to swing his hand around. That's when he saw his feet and it clicked.
He panicked and he reached for his face, his hair frantically raking his face and hair in denial. He couldn't stop himself from trying to see everything on his body at once. Several more perusals confirmed it.
He was tiny! No longer the five eight that he had grown, was still growing into, but a mere four something, Naruto did what no self respecting shinobi would admit to doing. He fainted.
He walked through the dark village quietly as he observed what was going on. He had woken up from his faint hours later after the sun had gone down completely. After a quick check to show that yes, he was still short and puny, he made his way to the village to see what the heck had happened. It had taken a little while before he had gotten used to being short again.
Here he was staring at a Konoha that didn't look like it was preparing for war. There weren't any guards on sentry duty patrolling the streets. He concluded that it must have been past three since there weren't any drunks or civilians, ninjas even, stumbling around after a night out.
He headed to the front gates where he remembered, no, knew where he had fought Sasuke. As he approached the gate, there was nothing more than the customary chuunin on duty. They looked at him and told him to go to bed before they went back to their duty.
Sasuke wasn't here. He couldn't feel the Uchiha's chakra, nor anyone else's for that matter. It was as if there hadn't been a major battle here recently. But there was; he knew there was.
Was this an illusion? Had Sasuke somehow caught him in his Sharingan much like how Itachi had? If so then, what was the point of this? Itachi had done it to frighten him but this so far was only confusing him and making him feel nostalgic, hardly a feeling to cause any painful demise.
He decided to play it safe, illusion or not and head home.
Half an hour later he found himself outside his apartment only to find that that it was locked. It sounded like there was someone in there though. He listened closer and confirmed that there was snoring coming from the other side of the door.
Who the hell was in his apartment? Kakashi? No, he would never fall asleep in his place like that. Come to think of it, he'd never seen the older man actually sleep, much less snore that loud.
Wait. He pulled back from his door. If he was kid, or really short, either way, then he wouldn't have gotten his apartment until he started at the academy. This meant that he was still living with that crabby old lady who always hit him every chance she got.
That would explain why he was sleeping in the tree; he always ran away whenever he could. He was always found though and brought back.
Naruto didn't realize he had been backing up until he hit the wall opposite the down and his knees buckled, sending him sliding down onto the dirty floor. He could no longer see the door in front of him; this meant that he was what? Five? Six?
The thought lodged itself into his mind, repeating itself over and over again and before he knew it, his eyes had slid shut on their own accord. He wondered what age Sasuke was right now. That was the last thought that flitted through his mind as he registered vaguely that he just wanted to sleep and wake up to find out that this was just a dream.
"Get out of the way, demon!"
Naruto immediately snapped awake and instinctively blocked the kick aimed for his face. His mind didn't have time to take in the situation; his nerves were tingling from all his body sensors sending him information and overloading his hazy mind.
He gripped the leg and flipped the intruder over. The intruder fell onto their back with a loud thump and a curse. Before they had a chance to get up Naruto was already on their throat. He blinked when his hand was empty. He felt his thigh for his pack but touched nothing but skin.
In his distraction he was heaved off followed by a lot of shouting and yelling. He caught words like monster and demon brat but he wasn't over the thought that he was still in the same hallway despite having fallen asleep. A heavy fist connected with his temple and he was sent fumbling into the wall.
He took no notice except the fact that it hurt. He knew though that genjutsu could cause pain if the mind thought that it was real. So he let the fist connect again, as he centered his mind and tried to tell himself that it wasn't real.
He had taken some lessons on genjutsus from Kakashi. The older man had imparted on him some tricks that he applied now. Genjutsu preyed on a weak mind but if he could tell himself that this wasn't real, he could control the outcome of the illusion.
After several more poundings that his child body couldn't take, he had to conclude that either the user really was powerful. Sasuke. Or that this really wasn't a genjutsu as his head throbbed with pain along with his ribs which fell like they were broken or bruised.
With a burst of chakra he shoved the man away and he fled.
Miles away on top of the Hokage Monument, he sat hunched over as he inspected his injuries. His side was swollen from a vicious kick and his face was lumpy from several well aimed punches. Of course they were well aimed; he had sat there like an idiot trying to tell himself that this was an illusion.
He gritted his teeth and stood up. He was going to try and find out just what the hell was really going on here.
The stone before him held names, but these names he didn't know. The latest edition that he had been looking for wasn't there. He remembered the day that they had carved the old pervert's name onto the stone. It was a somber affair and no one had spoken. Thinking about it made his heart clench painfully as he remembered first hearing the news.
He shook his head, no use thinking about that now. He still had to figure out where the hell he was. This was Konoha; there wasn't any doubt about it. There was no way he wouldn't recognize the village that he loved.
His attempts to find out people that he knew hadn't worked out too well. So far all he could conclude from seeing the usual civilians was that he was in a situation much like when he was a child. Technically he was a child so that meant he didn't know anybody yet.
He couldn't knock on Kakashi's door and he hadn't met Sakura yet. The only person he knew at the moment was the old man but that attempt had been futile. The guards had shoved him away and thrown in an extra cuff to his already abused head.
But there was one person that he knew.
He wondered briefly if he had the courage to go and find him. His family was still alive; his brother was still alive. He didn't know how the situation would end up. And frankly, he was just scared.
After that fight, the last thing that he had felt before pain shot through him was the feeling of total dejection and utter failure. Did Sasuke really not want him there? Was he really willing to kill him after all?
This Sasuke, if going with the whole theory that he was in the past for some reason, hadn't tried to kill him.
But he did.
Naruto didn't know if he could face him. He couldn't be sure that if he saw that pale face with dark eyes that he wouldn't punch the other for leaving him even though he hadn't left him.
But he had.
"AHHHH!!" he let out a frustrated cry and fell to his knees in front of the stone memorial. So caught up in his internal struggle he didn't notice the annoyed presence behind him. After a few moments when he still didn't sense the person behind him, they let out an annoyed cough.
Naruto spun around ready to defend himself as he threw an angry glare at the stranger. Said stranger threw his hands up in defense and tossed the angry blond a disarming smile. It seemed he had interrupted somebody else's mourning period. Or vice versa as he always came here this time of the day every day and he had never seen this kid here before.
Come to think of it, the stranger looked at the kid carefully. It was the demon vessel.
"What do you want?" he snarled at the older man. He took in the dark hair and pale skin. Just like Sasuke. He noted the vest depicting the status of chuunin or above. The eyes were friendly but they were staring at him nonetheless just like he was.
The man finally answered, "Naruto right?" The blond only glared at him harder and answered with his own question.
"Who are you?" The man didn't seem to take any offense, like he was used to grouchy individuals.
"A friend," he started and took a step forward. Naruto took a wary step back. He didn't have any friends yet at this age. The man kept his gaze but stepped past him to touch the stone.
"…of Hatake Kakashi. A man who sacrificed his life for his comrades in the name of duty for the village," he finished softly as his eyes carefully traced the characters carved into the stone. His fingers traced over them, as if trying to memorize the grooves.
He was no longer looking at the blond and therefore missed the bewildered look that had overcome his entire face and posture.
That was impossible! Kakashi? Forever young, weird and quirky Kakashi? The man who was always there in his own way? No way that he could be…Naruto couldn't finish that thought. What the hell was this? He tore his eyes from the lying man only to see those fingers tracing the unmistakable kanji.
Hatake Kakashi.
"He was a good friend of mine, even if he didn't ever say so or act so until the very end. Who would have guessed that the stuck up bastard would shove me out of the way?" the man continued, unaware of the turmoil that he had just caused in the young boy beside him.
"I want to go back just so I can wring his neck and then yell at him for not saying anything sooner, you know? He should've said or done something sooner so that we could have had more time. And then maybe," he paused, "Just maybe he would still be here."
Those words filtered into Naruto's brain and he looked up at the wistful man.
"My name's Obito, Hatake Obito," he looked down at the kid as he introduced himself finally. He reached down and Naruto didn't have the strength to knock his hand away but all the man did was wipe away his tears.
He blinked and looked down noticing for the first time that he had been crying again; second time in two days. The thought that he was pathetic came to mind but he didn't care.
He didn't care as he continued to cry for a man that had been like a weird uncle almost; for a man that he had yet to meet but knew all too well.
Obito lowered himself and took the kid into his arms as he tried to soothe the crying child. Soon his silent tears turned to sobs and his small, bruised body shook as he took comfort from the stranger.
He couldn't remember the last time he had cried like this.
A/N:
If this chapter feels stilted, like the flow isn't very smooth; it's intentional (hopefully that's what it's like). Naruto's walking around in a daze for the most part and will continue to do so for a while so expect his POV to be like this. Thanks for reading!