Um, wow? Holy garbanzo beans? Schnitzel? The amount of favorites, story alerts (and some author alerts, too!) is like totally out of this world! Mucho appreciated. And doubly thanks for those who reviewed this chapter! (You know who you are!) I really appreciate it. Makes me wonder if I was destined to write Naruto stories with the outcomes I've been getting…
Anyway, enough of my twittering! Onward with this joyous story!
Disclaimer:I, sadly, can't claim this. All credit goes to the epic Masashi Kishimoto for creating this lovely manga/anime.
Legend:
"This is blucross."- Talking
'This is blucross.'- Thinking
This is jutsu being spoken/thought of
0o0-0o0-0o0
"Fancy meeting you here," Naruto commented dryly, observing the expressions of those before him with an amused glance. Based on the states they were in, it was obvious that they were just coming back from the mission that Naruto had come back from over two years ago.
"Who are you? What are you doing here?" Ah, that was definitely Hatake Kakashi. Overly uptight as a teenager.
"Who am I? Who are you? And why are you here? I was here first." Naruto asked, knowing this would get a rise out of his future sensei.
"Don't mock me!" Kakashi shouted, his eyes narrowing and anger lining his voice.
"Maa, maa Kakashi. Its obvious who he is," Minato appeased the younger teen, a rueful smirk appearing on his face. "No one can be that much of an idiot to ask that question."
"I resent that!" Naruto argued, getting worked up himself. Who would've thought that he, Naruto, would be riled up from a guy that was technically dead, his father no less.'*
"If you really are who we think you are," continued Kakashi, ignoring what his sensei had said, "then what mission are we coming back from?"
"You are coming back from the mission at Rouran." Naruto replied easily, the drain from his fight against Shi no Eien** starting to wear up on him as the adrenaline from being surrounded left him.
Kakashi stared at Naruto with a searching look, as if trying to make sure that Naruto was who he really was. Naruto let him, knowing that the teenager wouldn't be appeased until he did so.
"Alright," Kakashi relented after a while. "I believe you are who you say you are. But you still haven't answered my other question: what are you doing here?" The older Jounin, having stayed silent as their youngest squad member interrogated the younger blonde, looked at Naruto expectantly.
Naruto, for the most part, wasn't up to the talk, physically or mentally. After the use of the seal, as well as the fight with Shi, Naruto knew he wouldn't be able to walk for a long while.
"You know, this and that, that and this," Naruto replied, not really giving an answer. But then again, what fun would there be if he couldn't rile the younger version of his sensei, the one who had done the same thing to him during his early Genin days?
"Now Naruto," Minato chided, using Naruto's name for the first time, "this is serious; we only just saw you tow days ago, and here you are, dressed up completely different from before, and looking like you've been dragged through hell and back." 'Well, that's one way to describe it,' Naruto thought amusedly, looking at each of the Jounin.
Naruto blinked, though, as he felt something land lightly on his shoulder. Looking downwards, Naruto saw the small bug, and looked back up, glaring half-heartedly at the Aburame.
"That's not very nice, stealing information from me like that," Naruto chided as the bug went back to report his findings his master.
"I must say that I'm quite surprised, Naruto-san," Aburame Shibi stated, looking at the blonde before him. "With the exhaustion level you're at, its quite surprising that you're still conscious."
'Gah,' Naruto thought, inwardly shuddering. 'Now I know where Shino gets it from. The saying "The apple never falls far from the tree." fits those two to a tee.'
"Exhaustion?" Minato asked, scrutinizing Naruto, who slightly fidgeted. It was true though; he hadn't felt this type of exhaustion since he had fought Pein, and that was something. Maybe he was Pein reincarnated…
"I'm fine," Naruto lied with a fake smile, which he knew that Minato, as well as the rest of the squadron, could see through. It was just then he felt himself lurching to the left, only to be stopped from hitting the ground by something big, warm, and oddly enough, safe.
"Fine my butt, Naruto," Minato replied, though his voice was starting to get a little blurry for Naruto. "Its alright Naruto," Minato continued in a soft, gentler voice that lulled Naruto into a sense of security. "Just sleep; I won't let anything happen to you."
Believing the words spoken to him, Naruto gave way to his exhaustion, letting the darkness come over.
0o0-0o0-0o0
The next time Naruto was conscious, he was riding on the back of his father. Noticing that his breathing was starting to differ from the soft breaths it was when he was asleep, Minato greeted the boy.
"Morning," Minato said cheerfully, one of those rare few who seemed to be a morning person.
"G'morning," Naruto replied, yawning widely. He heard chuckles coming from either side of the aforementioned blonde, which he assumed to be Akimichi Chouza.
"How did you sleep?" The Akimichi asked in a friendly tone which Naruto knew he liked immediately.
"Better than I have in months," Naruto admitted, thinking back on the past couple of months; with Shi on the loose, he had lost a lot of sleep to make sure that his village was protected enough so the villagers wouldn't have to worry at night. Plus, he had made some for Suna as well; he knew Gaara was feeling the same pressure he was.
"And why is that?" Minato asked, and Naruto, having been reading emotions for years, knew that the older blonde's curiosity was only a cover up for the worry that slightly leaked through his voice.
"This and that, that and this," Naruto gave his father the same response he had given Kakashi earlier.
Minato simply laughed at Naruto's reply, knowing that the younger male wouldn't have given him a straight answer.
"Well, that must've been a lot of 'this', and a boat load of 'that'," Minato retorted, and in turn, Naruto laughed as well.
"Yes, it certainly was," Naruto replied. Trying to move his arms, Naruto winced at the pain shooting through them. "Ow," he said.
"'Ow' is right, young man," Minato scolded Naruto, making said person blink. "You have the audacity to say you're fine when you've nearly depleted all your chakra, which I might add is a helluva lot, not to mention all the bruises, cuts, and lacerations you have along your body. Plus, there are minor fractions in your ribcage, arms and left leg."
Naruto blinked. Had he been that beaten up? Sure, he knew he was running low on chakra (now knowing that it was because of the time-traveling. 'Stupid seal,' he thought to himself.) and that he was sore in a lot of places, but he didn't think it was that bad.
"Its lucky for you that I knew some medical jutsus to help you." Minato- who had still been talking while Naruto was thinking of his predicament- finished, most likely waiting for an answer from the blonde on his back.
"Ah, thanks," Naruto replied with -barely noticeable- nervous chuckles.
"Is that all you have to say?" Minato raged in fury, surprising everyone in the group. They had never seen the blonde genius so worked up about anyone's health, even his own genin teams'. Just how important was this boy to Minato?
"Why didn't you say something sooner?" Minato continued ranting, becoming even more worked up. Why had Naruto just stood there, acting as if nothing was wrong? "We would've helped you!"
Naruto grew more and more irritated at the man's words. "I've never had anyone like that!" He snapped, all the years of sadness, loneliness and pain bursting out subtly in that one sentence.
As soon as those words had left Naruto's mouth, Minato shut up immediately. Naruto never had anyone like that as he grew up? No one to make sure he was eating properly, to rely on when he was in trouble or hurt? Minato felt terrible at that moment, realizing what he had said was rather inconsiderate, even if he hadn't known that information before.
The tension in the group was thick enough to cut with a knife, and it stayed that way until they reached the imposing gates of Konoha. It was there that Naruto saw what could be a brown-haired version of Sakura. The way she pounced on Kakashi for not telling her that he had a mission, and leaving suddenly was rather rude.
"Remind you of anyone?" Minato asked quietly, as to not garner the attention of the kunzite medic-nin.
"Yeah," Naruto replied, using the same level of voice. "My Genin teammate, Sakura. Really nice if you're her friend, but scary as hell if you're on her bad side. Has a mean sucker punch and hits as hard as Tsunade, if not harder." At that statement, both blondes flinched at the same time, both shuddering at the thought of someone actually being able to hit harder than Tsunade. It wasn't a pretty thought.
"Oh my gosh!" Rin exclaimed, making the two blondes tense, as if knowing they were her next targets, which they were. "Minato-sensei, when did you get a twin?"
At that statement both blondes snorted, thinking of the irony of her statement. They were as close as that, but as far away in the same respect. Naruto was like a mini-me of his father with slightly wider eyes and his mother's addiction to ramen and loud, vibrant personality.
Unfortunately, this put the attention on the two blondes and their position, as Naruto was riding on Minato's back, seeing as how he had been asleep until an hour ago.
"Who are you?" One of the Chuunin at the gate post asked. Naruto noted with a slight frown that they were more terse and stricter than they were in his time. 'Speaking of which, what time am I in?' Naruto wondered, putting that question away until he had time to ask Minato.
"He's my twin little brother, Namikaze Naruto." Minato replied smoothly, having had prepared for this while Naruto was asleep.*** Everyone in their group knew it wasn't true, but he trusted them enough to know that they wouldn't spill the information.
"Is that so?" The same Chuunin asked, still skeptical.
Naruto nodded sagely, to the amusement of those watching. "It is. I ran into Aniki* and his squad while they were returning from their mission. Aniki is a bit daft- which I apologize for- and sometimes, as I've learned over the past few days, will forget to give out somewhat important information."
At the insult Minato knew he was receiving, he swiped the back of his head, trying to hit Naruto. Said target deftly dodged the swipe, causing Minato to his own head. Naruto snickered at the pain his father had caused himself, while others watching did their best to hide their amusement. Being on the bad side of one Namikaze Minato would have him retaliate in the form of pranks, whilst, being funny to the viewer, were most definitely not to the person pranked.
For the most part, the Chuunin at the gate post now seemed satisfied at the explanation given by the Jounin and his twin little brother, and let the pass through.
"Alright, we'll meet up with you for ramen in an hour, after we're done reporting our mission to Sandaime-sama," Minato told his female student, who nodded, knowing at the very least that Minato was the leader of the mission they had returned from.
"Hai,* Sensei! I'll see you then!" The cheerful medic-nin then went off, trying to find something to amuse her for another hour before she could speak to her Sensei and teammate.
"Now that that's taken care of," Minato said, causing Naruto to snicker again, "let's go report to Sandaime-sama. He'll understand your situation once you explain it, I'm sure." Minato whispered the last sentence in a lower voice so that only the squad who had gone on the mission- and Naruto, who was on Minato's back- could hear.
The other Jounin nodded, before heading to the Hokage Tower at a leisurely pace, knowing that what was going to happen next would take a long while.
0o0-0o0-0o0
And there you have it! Chapter two all nice and done for ya.
*If anyone can find out that bit of irony, I'd love to hear from you. If not, well, I expect this more than the previous idea. Its rather hard to understand, even for me. ^-^"
**As said in previous chappie, Shi no Eien= Death Eternal.
***I'm not sure exactly how old Minato is, so I'm going to guess he's about 22-24 years old. If anyone does know how old he is at this time, please let me know.
*Aniki=Elder Brother (the cooler way to say Onii-san, I think xD)
*Hai=Yes
Thanks for reading! And please PLEASE REVIEW! Reviews are food for my mind. The more I get, the more that comes out in the next chapter.