"Crap"
Was the first word he said when he finally stopped crying in the midst of darkness. And it was a pretty accurate word considering what he was looking at in the reflection of the water.
He was a lot younger than he had thought he would be. He looked like 7 but he knew he was about twelve he had always been on the small side. His features though were a bit softer not as chubby and he thought maybe he brought back some of the starvation he had experienced during the war; God was he hungry.
His eyes weren't the same either. They seemed off to him like they knew too much and well that was pretty accurate. Plus they were puffy,
He looked like crap.
He wasn't sure how he was hoping he would come back whether it was his 27 year old self or even his 12 year old self where everything in his life had just begun. How he came back at the age of 10 slightly baffled him but it couldn't be helped. The time transfer justu wasn't even stable and they weren't even sure if it would work.
He washed his face off in the cold water.
"Dang nab it"
The cold water made his eyes cool down but his lips redden and he could see his features were more feminine than he thought.
Well that sucked
He had become quite manly the last time he looked at himself and now he regressed.
He gave a heavy sigh as he rose to his feet. He was lucky he was in konoha already because trying to slip in with no proof of identity would prove difficult. At least he hoped the security was high enough that it proved difficult. But going around on his own would be fairly difficult he would need a comrade someone that could give him good advice and who knew this timeline much better because honestly even though he knew there was a possibility of using the time transfer jutsu he didn't exactly like history.
He had someone in mind though. Though the time may have changed to who knew what that person wouldn't change. Naruto was positive that as long as he wasn't thrown that far back that person would be able to help him and if he worded things right the man would be more than willing the problem was did he wait until the sun rose and then search out the man or did he go now where his fight or flight instincts were on high alert.
The growling of his stomach seemed to answer his question and with a foxy grin he ran off.
Just barely sleeping.
That's how it was now a days. High level missions that trained you to just barely sleep. With the war missions had been back to back many of his friends and comrades had fallen already and he was left to just barely sleep.
23 wasn't young anymore so no one cared if you didn't fall into a deep sleep or if the nightmares of death haunted you to the point that even closing your eyes was scary. It came with the territory and if you had lived this long well consider yourself blessed. But he really wanted to rest; he just couldn't.
His mind was a whirlwind of mess and he just wished something else would occupy it besides the horrors he was hallucinating.
And like an answer to prayer.
His barely sleeping managed to pick up on an unfamiliar chakra signature; and it was coming his way. Almost Lazily because on the inside he was as wound up as a spring he sat up on the bed he had been trying to rest in.
Was it an enemy?
Were they being invaded?
Was is a message?
The signature kept getting closer pulsing slightly as if to tell him something but he had never gotten a message through chakra;
he did not know this person…
Naruto landed on the window sill.
The room was as dreary as he pictured it. It was a good thing he remembered the man's chakra signature because he was not in the mood to search room to room for the man….
Speaking of whom was hiding quite effectively.
Naruto was sure he could easily find him if he stretched out his sensory abilities but the man was on guard enough and they need trust. And so despite knowing that stepping further in would most likely lead to a trap he had to trust the man first.
Trust that he would be willing to hear him out before he handed him over to the hokage and things got really complicated.
Yea he just loved to gamble...
So with a deep breath he jumped off the sill landing gracefully in the center of the room.
He felt it instantly
a paralysis that held him captive and the snake like feeling as the darkness moved up his body. But he didn't move keeping calm as he could now tell where the man was and staring into the darkness watching as the man he had searched for slowly stepped out of the black shadows.
And for all the don't be creepy chants he had recited on the way over he couldn't stop the nostalgic smile that graced his feminine features, the way his blue eye sparkled despite the night,
"Well this is one hell of a greeting"
Naruto said as he tilted his head playfully
"But well it's good to see you alive, Shikaku"