"Naruto? Since when did you know how to use the Body Flicker technique?" The aged Hokage raised a brow questioningly. "And I've never seen anything like the one you did just now…"

Naruto laughed nervously, "Right… about that, Hokage-jijii…"

"Hmm?"

"Well, that wasn't the Shunshin. It was something… more unusual."

"Oh? Humor me."

"It's a time travel jutsu."

"… I didn't really mean to try and make me laugh, Naruto—which, by the way, wasn't funny at all."

"No, really. I mean a time-space fuuinjutsu (sealing technique). Something I've learned from Ero—Jiraiya-sensei."

"Jiraiya-sensei?" He asked incredulously. "You… aren't joking, are you, Naruto?"

"That's what I've been trying to tell you. Not that I blame you or anything—this is entirely unbelievable."

The old man stared at Naruto long and hard, causing the girl to fidget. He finally sighed, and leaned back on his chair. "What caused you to come to this time? Surely you hadn't tried this dangerous technique on a mere whim?"

"No. The future… is not what you would expect. Um, may I use a henge on myself? My body feels really… small." Naruto looked down at her chest, "Tiny."

The Hokage laughed, "Sure, do what you like."

The girl, in a puff of smoke, transformed into a fairly tall, young sixteen year old, with different clothes. Naruto wore a pleasant smile, "Much better. Well, getting back to the matter at hand… Ah, but Hokage-sama, this would be a very long tale. Do you have the time?"

Hiruzen blinked at her politeness, and what she called him. "I'm free for the morning—it's six o' clock right now, and speaking of which, your teams are announced today at nine. Would you be fine to go?"

"Well… I feel quite tired and I know who my teammates are, but I would like to see everyone again." She smiled sadly, "I'll briefly start from the Chunin Exams… That's the beginning of everything, I suppose."

It was just then did Sarutobi Hiruzen know, merely from her tone, that he was in for a hefty headache.


Naruto stretched the kinks out of her neck and back as she got out a few ingredients from the fridge. Luckily, she had all sorts of vegetables (kindly given by the Hokage a few days ago, probably), and meat. She set the rice cooker, and started chopping.

"Ouch!" She quickly got a tissue and wiped the blood oozing out of one of her fingers. Curse these short limbs! Imagine how bad her kunai and shuriken skills have gotten because of them…

Sighing, she looked through her cupboards and got out a small band-aid. Checking the clock, she saw that it was fifteen minutes before eight. Still got a lot of time… I'll be done making bento and preparing for the academy by thirty minutes, so I guess squeezing in training will work.

A smile graced her lips as she placed the frying pan on the fire, and got cooking. Hah, to think I'd miss house-work this much… She sniffed the wondrous smell, and I guess it wouldn't hurt to make a big meal today.

She frowned at a thought, now that I have time to think… I wonder why I didn't appear in my bed, seeing as I would have been asleep at this time… She shook her head. Unnecessary thinking didn't sit well with her. I was probably sleepwalking, and just happened to wind up in the Hokage's office. She scowled, but then again, the Old Man had said that I appeared in a weird way… Grah!

Shut up. Your voice is annoying me.

Hmph! It's not like I want to think this much, but I just do! Naruto sighed, that's what happens when you're too smart.

Hmm. I question that.

Shuddap.

I will if you do.

You're so childish.

Shuddap.

"Stop copying me, dammit!" Naruto sighed. She loved that furball—she really did—but he really got on her nerves more often than not.

After making her two lunch boxes, she looked around the room. She hummed. Now that she remembered, she wasn't too unorganized except for the occasional ramen cups here and there. Picking them up, she threw away the contents in the sink, crinkling her nose while doing so.

Sakura had been around at her house quite often, and reprimand her for not taking care of her apartment. They would clean it up together, though, and those were the times Naruto cherished. She became fond of house cleaning, but she loved cooking now. She'd always find herself grinning whenever she reads a new recipe book, too.

Sai had called her a freak.

That hypocrite. Naruto rolled her eyes at some of the memories of him, but felt a small pang in her chest.

Darn. She was homesick already.


Sweat rolled down the side of her face as Naruto's shuriken missed the bull's-eye yet again. In thirty minutes she had mastered the kunai fully, just as good as she had been in her original time period. Her shuriken skills, however… everytime it flew off, she'd scream bloody murder to the creator of the weapon.

"Why did I have to grow so much?" She whined, as she flopped on the ground. "Gah! This is no time to slouch!" She jumped back up, and threw the shuriken at the target again.

She scowled when the small, four-pointed blade had missed by a mere centimeter. Well, looking at the bright side, I'm improving a lot, I guess.

She grimaced at the memory of her first attempt. It was pathetic, to put it simply.

She swung, and grinned.

It hit its target.

The bell rang, signaling that it was time for classes to start.

"Dammit, I'm late!"

She quickly picked up her weapons, and then noticed a many threads of ninja wires. Huh? Why are they in a shrub of all places? She then blinked, and it felt as if a light bulb had switched on in her brain. That's it!


Sasuke sighed in irritation at the pink and purple disturbance. "Go bother someone else. Your presence is annoying."

Ino and Sakura stopped their bickering and looked hurt, before they sulked and went to find another bench to sit on. That was when they all heard the window break.

Sasuke's eyes bulged out as a large flurry of wire attached shuriken and kunai took hold of the wooden desk he was sitting behind. Then, his eyes threatened to pop out when an orange blob literally flew in from the giant hole in the glass.

The class gaped when they saw yellow and orange collide with black and blue.

Sasuke could only stare at pools of oceanic blue in shock, as he was nose to nose with Naruto.

And also lips to lips.

The blonde could only hear alarms ringing in her head.

This was certainly not what she had expected on the first day of getting back in the past.


Iruka chuckled nervously when he got inside the silent classroom. "Sorry I'm late…" What on earth did I miss? "Well, congratulations on passing the Genin test! I hope you are all prepared for the life of a real ninja—" He raised a brow when a hand was raised.

And his eyebrows raised up at an incredible height when he realized who the hand belonged to. The lazy boy never asked a question in class before.

"Yes, Shikamaru?"

"Sensei, why's Naruto here? I thought she flunked the test."

"Ah… that." He laughed nervously, "It seems like Mizuki had made a mistake on her test scores, and so she passed."

Some whispers erupted, before he silenced them. "Quiet, class! I need to announce the team selections!" The class was as silent as the dead.

He sighed, and brought his sheets closer to read them. Naruto tuned the first six teams out. She was going to completely shut her ears when her team was called out.

"Team seven: Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura," Insert said girl's disappointed groan here, "Uchiha Sasuke." Haruno Sakura squealed in delight, causing everyone's ears to pop, before the whole female section of the class complained.

Iruka shouted, "Shut it!" Calming down, he coughed into his hand, "It's traditional that team seven gets the last of the grade, and the highest of both genders. Seeing as Naruto was dead last, and Sakura was the top kunoichi of the year, it's only natural that they would get Sasuke as their teammate."

Naruto grumbled grumpily at the glares she received. It's not her fault she didn't go back in time far enough.


Naruto stretched; glad to be out of the stuffy classroom and away from the (weak) killing intent. She yawned, before settling onto a tree branch

She stared at her bento boxes. And stared. Darn. I don't feel so hungry anymore… just so tired. I should probably give one of them to someone…

She glanced around, before she noticed a bit of pink through the leaves of trees. Sakura's a good person to give it to! She's probably on a diet. Naruto rolled her eyes.

Sakura sighed dejectedly on the stone bench as she looked at her small lunch. Salad. She grimaced at the noise her stomach made.

A mouthwatering smell touched her nose then, and she sniffed around. That smells so good… She turned around, only to jump back at the sight of Naruto grinning, holding up her two boxes of delicious looking food.

Sakura gulped.

"Want this one? I sorta made too much this morning."

Sakura pondered on her options, before nodding. It was too much to turn down. She shuffled aside, giving the blonde some space.

Sakura brought her chopsticks down to cut the meat, brought it up, and took a bite.

Oh my God. "Naruto, you made this?" She asked, stuffing more into her mouth. "This is so good!"

"Hehe! Well, cooking for your whole lifetime makes you a pro at it!"

Sakura watched Naruto chew on her lunch in newly found awe. She hadn't thought of her to be… well, good at something. She only labeled the Uzumaki as the dead last, and only saw her as that. As she grew older at the academy, her dislike turned disgust, disgust at how annoying the girl was in her eyes. Sakura thought on that more carefully and realized that although Naruto was loud, her grades were horrible, there's really nothing to dislike about her. Now that she looked back, Sakura remembered how the adults had always watched Naruto walk down the streets in fury and hatred.

Why was that?

Pranks? Sakura inwardly shook her head. No, surely that wasn't it. Pranks, though could get mean and nasty, could be easily forgotten after a couple of years. And even if that hadn't been the case, it wouldn't have gotten such strong, negative emotions from that so many people. Had Naruto done a crime?

…No, that was definitely not it.

Even Sakura could tell that Naruto wasn't a bad person, and was quite the opposite. She had seen once that Naruto tried to stop some bullies before, and always got beat up for it. Despite that, Sakura had never seen Naruto complain. Sometimes, fear had planted her feet to the ground, forcing her to watch the whole thing, but Naruto always picked herself up and walked home. Then the next day, she would be completely wound-free and happy, like nothing had happened.

Because of that, Sakura had nearly thought entirely the incident never happened to Naruto. But somehow, deep inside, she knew that that wasn't the case.

"Hey, Naruto, why—"

The bell rang, signaling the end of lunch break.

"Yea, Sakura?"

The girl furrowed her brows, before shaking her head, "Just wanted to say thanks for the bento."

Sakura knew, as of today, she would see Naruto in a new light.


This chapter was rewritten! Please wait for the others... and to the people reading this for the first time, I'm really sorry that the next chapters will be an eyesore to read.

I'll post the rewritten version of the next chapter by this weekend, I think (I hope).