Thank you to everyone who has commented, faved and watched this fic so far, it's very encouraging :-D
LiK – Chapter 3
Naruto plastered himself to the wall, keeping his breathing as quiet as possible.
It was, he discovered, rather hard to escape a building he had never been in before…and it wasn't like he had arrived through the front door in the first place.
It had worked in his favour that he looked practically identical to the other Naruto, who was apparently rather well-liked and respected, but that didn't do much to hide his totally freaked expression and lack of proper reaction to people who clearly thought they knew him. Uzumaki had soon ducked down a hallway that looked pretty much the same as the dozen or so he'd ran along earlier, hiding in a room full of shelves crammed with dusty scrolls.
The room didn't look like it had been used for quite a while, but that hardly guaranteed his hiding spot hidden.
Of course, now that Naruto had paused in his escape, he was kind of wondering about the point of said escape. Shikamaru was a genius so if he said there wasn't any way to get back home, Uzumaki was inclined to believe him. Which left him to deal with surviving in a really awesome but fucking scary place like here…wherever here was.
Naruto stopped to think about any downsides there could be to being stuck in this place, because there weren't any real disadvantages to not being in Japan; he didn't have any family, and the only friend he'd call a friend was Shikamaru. And again, all he could come up with were the points he had yelled in Hokage-sama's room that mainly concerned his longevity and well-being.
Uzumaki was fast warming to the idea of staying, ignoring the recent threat of interrogation, and thought about how brilliant it would be if they could teach him how to do the amazing things they did here.
And then he jumped when the door to his hiding spot flew open and Sasuke sighed, a hand on his hip and staring down the hall.
"How the hell did you get away from Ibiki?"
"Um," said Naruto, "I legged it."
The other teen looked at him. "You know you're stuck here."
"Yeah, I figured…er, where is here anyway?"
"Konoha. Hidden village. Fire Country."
Naruto stared at Sasuke. "Your country is called Fire..?"
The crazy Uchiha raised a brow. "I suspect that will be the least of your culture shock issues."
"You can say that again," he sighed, before returning the other teen's gaze thoughtfully. "And it sort of seems to me that you may have been better off staying in my world, what with all the love everyone here reserves for you."
"That's not really something you ought to say to someone," Sasuke returned, one side of his mouth pulled down in a tight frown. "Rude. Could get you hurt here too."
"Hurt?" Naruto echoed, a little incredulous. "Is that a threat? You're obviously not deaf, dumb and blind so it's kind of hard for me to swallow the notion that you don't notice how people seem to treat you like you might break out screaming and killing and cutting or something. You tried to kill the Naruto here a couple of times is what Shikamaru said, and you hardly denied it. Why the hell aren't you in prison or rehab or something?"
The kooky Uchiha was silent for a long while, expressionless as he stared at nothing in particular.
"Well," he said eventually, voice pitched low, "it's not any of your business, and people are entitled to whatever opinion of me they want to keep. I tried to fix things but it's hard when people seem to really want to cling on to the past, ignoring everything else. I don't give any excuses and there's no use explaining to you anyway. I don't even know why I'm wasting my breath."
Sasuke quickly spun on his heel and disappeared from the doorway with a dark scowl. Naruto chased after him immediately, catching up and walking beside the other teen, ignoring the not so subtle glare that was shot his way.
"I bet," said Naruto, "that you haven't even built up the balls to say sorry."
Sasuke stopped so fast his bangs blew forward before settling. "…Excuse me?"
"You heard me," Uzumaki kind of wondered about five minutes ago whether it was a smart idea to goad someone like the homicidal bastard in a place like Konoha, but decided to hell with it. "You tried to kill some guy a few times and somehow you've been let off. Don't you think the least you could do is pluck up the balls to fucking apologise?"
Sasuke spoke through gritted teeth and curled fists. "Where the fuck do you get off lecturing me about something you know nothing about?!"
Naruto scoffed. "Don't try to pull that card. Nothing's worth killing someone over."
"…He raped my sister."
Uzumaki's expression changed immediately and he leaned forward, eyes blazing. "Where is he?! Let's smoke the fucker!"
Sasuke only leaned back and rolled his eyes, but seemed to relax somewhat. "I don't have a sister, you hypocritical retard."
"…You bastard."
"…I had an older brother though," Sasuke continued quietly, walking down the hall once more.
Naruto kept up because he sure as hell knew that this sounded like the story. And he certainly didn't miss the way Sasuke said 'had'.
"He killed my entire clan, only sparing me."
"What the fuck, man?! Even your parents..?" Naruto shook his head, eyes wide when Sasuke repeated his fucked up statement.
"Since I was seven, I swore I would avenge my family by tracking him down and taking his life," the teen frowned like he wasn't sure why he speaking, but shrugged slightly and continued. "When I killed him, I found out that he was supposed to have killed me too…but couldn't. His murder of my clan wasn't without reason either…they were planning on overthrowing Konoha. In reality, my brother averted a war."
"That's really…" Naruto floundered for the right words, "…fucked up."
"Hmn," Sasuke murmured noncommittally.
Uzumaki squinted as he thought, glancing at the other teen out of the corner of his eye. "So where does the Naruto here come in to all this..?"
Sasuke shoved his hands in to his pockets as they walked. "…He used to be my best friend."
When no more was said, Naruto poked the kooky Uchiha in the arm. "Yeah, okay…and..?"
"Shut the hell up," Naruto was amazed that the tone didn't match the words. "I've told you more than enough as it is."
Uzumaki chuckled. Fair enough, he thought, but stopped dead when they rounded a corner. Right across the hall was Hokage-sama's office. Naruto looked at Sasuke.
"Are you telling me that I spent fifteen minutes running around this frickin' building only to come full circle and hide just down the hall?"
Sasuke smirked. "You can't possibly think we didn't know where you were. Even though you aren't a ninja, we can still sense your chakra. And you're the only unfamiliar chakra in this building."
Naruto huffed. "What the hell is chakra anyway?"
Sasuke stared at him before shaking his head and continuing to walk back to the Hokage's office. "No. No way. I am not giving you a lesson on academy level nin knowledge. Ask someone else."
"...Academy..?" Naruto wondered aloud, before racing to catch up, enthusiasm rising. "You mean like a school?! I could learn to move water and ground and run Superman fast and shoot fire from my mouth?!"
Sasuke's gaze was quickly pinning him. "Who did you see perform a fire jutsu?"
"Oh, uh, whatzizname, Konohamaru," Naruto brightened even further as he remembered something. "Hey! He said what he did was only a limited fire jizzy-"
"Jutsu. God, please don't go around saying jizzy."
"-and that your clan could do way more awesome jizzy-"
"Jutsu. Fuck. Jutsu, you retard."
It was a moment before Sasuke realised he was being stared at with pleading eyes.
"Fuck off. I am not teaching you any clan techniques."
Naruto grinned hugely. "No, no, that's cool. I just wanna see."
"I'm not wasting my time and chakra on that."
Naruto deflated and scowled, mumbling. "Geez, it's no wonder people just love you."
Sasuke glared hard before roughly shoving Naruto through the Hokage's open door. "Here he is."
The woman with the gigantic bosom scowled at Naruto, before waving some paperwork at the silver-haired man. "Naruto is being released to Team Kakashi's custody. At all times he will be accompanied by at least one of you until we can get this sorted out or reach a more permanent and satisfactory arrangement."
Naruto spluttered. "Custody?! Like, I'm under arrest until further notice?!"
"It's for your own protection," the woman motioned shooing them out of her office. "Now get out."
Seconds later and standing in the corridor, Naruto was hardly welcomed to the team with open arms. Sasuke was ignoring him, but that didn't seem to be particularly personal since he seemed to be ignoring the rest of this Team Kakashi.
The stomach-flaunting guy didn't appear overly affected by the sudden development, but he introduced himself as Sai and asked if Naruto's dick was as small as the other Naruto's. Neither of the Narutos were impressed, but Sai didn't seem bothered as he produced a sketch book from somewhere and began drawing.
The pink-haired girl stared at him and looked away, then stared at him again. Naruto wondered if it would be classed as cheating if someone slept with their partner of a different timeline...he also wondered if the girl had considered this too. Still, her hair was way too pink to even seriously think about it. But she shook his hand quickly as she told him her name, "Sakura Haruno", before standing close to this world's Naruto.
Naruto v2.0 himself grinned, but it faded fast and he appeared to be watching Naruto closely. Probably the way he was watching him actually; trying to figure out exactly how freakishly alike they were and how weird this might get.
The older man with silver hair was staring at him, and had been for quite some time now. At Naruto's raised brow he shook his head.
"Haha, no, it's just you look so much like Min-" the man quickly shook his head again as he cut himself off. "Naruto. You look so much alike, it's uncanny. I'm Kakashi Hatake, your new sensei!"
"This team's named after you?"
Kakashi grinned...as much as Uzumaki could tell. "Cool right?"
"Right," Naruto glanced at the other Naruto before crossing his arms and kicking at the ground, uncomfortable. "So...what's gonna happen to me?"
Kakashi pulled out his book porn once more and made his way along the hall, the rest of the team falling in to step behind him out of habit and Uzumaki following suit. "Well, I'm assuming you have no money?"
"Man, all I've got are the clothes I'm wearing and hey look, no shoes. Fucked up events don't usually give you time to pack a suitcase and change your bank details."
"We'll help you out some," Kakashi continued. "But you need employment."
Naruto brightened. "Sure, so I'll do whatever you guys do. Um...what is it exactly that you guys do?"
Sasuke glanced at him and smirked. "There's no way you can do what we do."
Before Naruto could object, Kakashi was agreeing.
"I'm afraid our line of work requires certain abilities and skills that you don't possess. Though I'm sure Iruka-sensei could help you find a job. But we'll talk about that later. Right now we should consider where you will live while you are in Konoha."
"Can I room with Shikamaru?" Naruto asked immediately, thinking of his only real friend in all of this newness.
"I don't think that's a good idea," Sakura laughed, though not unkindly. "Shikamaru is likely living with his parents again considering he's in the same sort of situation as you. And anyway, Hokage-sama says one of us should be with you at all times."
Ugh, thought Naruto, awkward. He didn't know any of these people and he'd have to live with one of them. Putting off his living arrangements a moment longer, he asked what was likely to be the first of a great many questions.
"So this Hokage lady with the huge- uh- office is like the president of Konoha or something?"
This world's Naruto looked at him quizzically. "President?"
"Mm, like your chief, leader, big boss, you know?"
Sakura nodded enthusiastically, smiling at her husband? Fiancé? "Tsunade-sama is the leader of Konoha. Naruto here is next in line for the position."
His lookalike grinned under the acknowledgement, flushing slightly. "I've been training for years. It's a huge honour."
Naruto remembered the gigantic stack of paperwork on the Hokage's desk. It had the look of the sort of pile that never ended. But hey, who was he to say the job looked incredibly boring compared to all the rest of the cool stuff he had witnessed so far. Maybe the Hokage got a company car or something. And then he considered the fact that Naruto was his age and he was only nineteen...this place wouldn't be so irresponsible as to put a teenager in such an important leadership position, would they?
"So what exactly is it that you all do?" Naruto asked once more, desperately curious.
"As a team, we carry out missions for the Hokage and the village," Kakashi glanced up briefly from his book. "We each have unique abilities and together we are Team Kakashi."
Naruto stifled a giggle and the Captain Planet theme song. "So this team is named after...you, yes? What happened to Team Seven?"
This was apparently the wrong thing to say as a blanket of tension suddenly stifled the group. Open mouth, insert foot, Naruto mused as he pretended to ignore the atmosphere.
"Ah, well," Sakura began, building confidence as she continued. "How did you know about Team Seven?"
"I saw a picture of you guys, looked to be a few years old," Naruto answered carefully. "Though Sai wasn't in it."
"I was never a part of Team Seven," Sai explained distractedly, still sketching as the group followed Kakashi out of the building in to the midday sunlight.
Clearly changing the subject, Sakura turned to Kakashi. "I'm assuming we won't be completing missions for a while."
"Mmm," the man replied, snapping his book closed and stowing it away in a pouch at his hip. "Well I leave Naruto in your capable hands."
And he disappeared.
"You know," said Naruto to the air which had replaced Kakashi. "That is so awesome but really quite rude."
"Naruto," Sai murmured as he continued to sketch and walk and how did he even do that, Uzumaki wondered. "You can stay at my place."
"Sure. Thanks," Naruto was going to say, but didn't get the chance.
"Actually, I was thinking he could stay at the Uchiha Compound."
Everyone stared at Sasuke, who shifted slightly under the sudden scrutiny. Uzumaki got the feeling this invitation was unexpected to everyone, including Sasuke. Not to mention since he'd known the crazy Uchiha, he'd been stabbed when left alone with him.
Judging by Sasuke's personality, Naruto could see there was quite a real possibility of that happening again.
"Well there's more room there," Sasuke said to the silence. "And the compound is more central to the village than Sai's."
Naruto wasn't even sure why that would matter.
"I was talking to the other Naruto actually," Sai smiled. "Sakura probably wants some alone time with this new Naruto to do a comparison of their ability in the-"
Sai teleported about a millisecond before Sakura's fist squashed his fake smile, and Uzumaki was kind of sad about that because he was curious to see how hard the girl could hit. Not curious enough to test it himself though.
In any case, he turned to Sasuke while the other Naruto alternated between cussing out Sai and placating a rather scary Sakura. "Is it really okay if I stay at your house or compound or whatever?"
Sasuke nodded.
Naruto glanced at the remaining two members of Team KaCrazy before shrugging. "Lead the way."
"Hey," he said after a moment as they walked. "Is Sai's fascination with Naruto's dick some sort of homo thing?"
"...Who knows when it comes to Sai."
"Huh. And what would've happened if Sakura actually did hit him?"
"His brain would have exploded out of his nose and ears."
"Really?!"
Sasuke stared at him. "...No, fuck. You're such a retard."
Naruto sighed. "You're such a bastard and your sense of humour sucks majorly. I'd hit you again but now I'm pretty sure I only got you last time due to the element of surprise."
Sasuke 'hmmed' and Naruto was becoming a little concerned that his safety was entirely in this crazy guy's hands. And wasn't it an awful oversight that he was in the care of someone who was known to have homicidal tendencies..?
Naruto wondered if he'd survive the afternoon.
