Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
Chapter 2: A dream come true
Chipmunk was standing in a slightly uncomfortable silence before the Hokage. She had just finished giving her report of the orphanage incident and was waiting for the aged leader to react in some way. Beside her stood three people, or in one case sat on a comfortable chair, all connected in some way to the Uzumaki case. Two of the people she had expected, but the last one's presence was a surprise to her.
Kenchi Yakushi, Konaha's Chief Medical Officer. No surprise here, he was the man responsible for Naruto after his delivery to the hospital.
The ANBU Raven, the leader of ANBU's crime scene investigation unit. He had overseen the inquiry in the orphanage.
Izumi Yamanaka, the perhaps best mind healer in all the elemental nations and the only one of them allowed to use a chair.
Izumi's presence was surprising because she had retired decades ago due to her advanced age and nowadays rarely left her home in the Yamanaka clan compound. She was decades older than even the Hokage and one of the last living witnesses of Konoha's founding. In her youth she had been a fabled beauty who could beguile even the most steadfast shinobi and samurai. Even after her youth had fled she had been legendary for her skill in the Yamanaka mind arts. Today she was a shrunken, wrinkled and very frail shadow of the woman she had once been, but Chipmunk could still see remnants of the elegance she had once radiated according to the stories.
After her retirement from active duty she had used her talents mainly in a healing capacity. After all, a shinobi village produced quite a number of people with mental scars. After many years of service she had completely withdrawn from the public after the second shinobi war, and even the third war and the Kyuubi attack had only caused her to look at a few of the most difficult cases. Almost no one even knew that she was still alive. Chipmunk only knew of her because she had written an essay regarding Konoha's history of medic-nins during her academy time. To get her to examine the Uzumaki boy must have cost the Hokage quite a few favors.
Finally the Hokage spoke up. "What is the current status of Naruto, Yakushi-san?"
"Uzumaki-san is stable, thanks to the timely first aid. His wounds are healing at an astounding rate and don't seem to leave scars. If he continues to heal at this rate, he will be in perfect physical health in two days time. We detected an increased level of the Kyuubi's chakra in his system, but that seems connected to the healing process. On the negative side, he is comatose and no prognosis can be made if and when he will wake up, or if his sanity will still be intact." the man reported. "The seal seems unchanged, but we have no expert available who understands its intricacies."
"Thank you, Yakushi-san. My own opinion is that the seal is completely undamaged, but an expert will have a look at it sometime next week. Yamanaka-dono, what is your diagnosis of Naruto's mental state?" the Hokage asked.
"Difficult to say. When I tried to delve into him the boy's mind had closed itself completely. To tell more I would have to use brute force to break the shell his mind has retreated into, but that would do irremediable damage. I found signs of heavy damage and severe trauma in the few parts I could get a look at. The person who did this to the child succeeded in breaking his coherent self by using a non-replicable mix of physical torture and unstable high-level genjutsu. No signs of mental contamination by the Kyuubi, so the seal is still intact in that regard."
"Is there anything we can do to help him?"
"The only thing we can do is wait. He will either wake, or he will not. There is no telling what might be left of his mind. If he is lucky he will suppress or completely lose the memories from the attack and regain full functionality. Children have astoundingly flexible minds. There is nothing else I can do until that time."
The Hokage nodded. "I thank you for your efforts, Yamanaka-dono. You have my gratitude."
Izumi waved him off and slowly stood. "It does these old bones good to do some work from time to time. I'll take my leave now. You may call me again when the boy wakes." Her face twisted into a toothless grin. "It won't even cost you any future favors, young man, though I do like my men young."
All occupants of the office stared at her retreating form in shock. It didn't happen every day that a sixty year old was called a young man, or that a woman nearing one hundred years of age implied sexual favors. After the silently chuckling Yamanaka elder had left the office everyone got back to business.
"What conclusions have you reached regarding the incident, Raven?"
"We have verified that the dead body indeed belonged to Natsuko Kokawa. Evidence found in her office suggests that she almost snapped upon receiving the message of the death of her last living relative. Somehow she learned of our response to the suspected perpetrators. The perceived lack of retribution on our part drove her over the edge into insanity. She blamed Konoha for the death of her clan and planned to release the Kyuubi to destroy the village. For that purpose she subjected Uzumaki-san to a combination of physical torture and mental attacks by way of genjutsu to allow the Kyuubi to take over. The reported jutsu names are incongruent with the evidence the chakra sensor on the investigation team found. After consulting her file and allowing for the results of the autopsy it seems she voluntarily opened the inner chakra gates in an uncontrolled fashion to allow her the use of chakra and boost her skills. The resulting genjutsu bore only a passing similarity to the nominal techniques because of random power fluctuations. The injuries on Uzumaki-san's part have already been reported. The earliest injuries were inflicted to cause the maximum of pain but do little actual damage. The later injuries were inflicted with an increasing sloppiness, until it degenerated into a senseless beating. Kokawa-san died after the boost from the opening of the gates subsided. The attack is the first attempt of violence against Uzumaki-san since the initial rush immediately after the sealing. There is neither proof nor indication of the involvement of any third parties." replied the ANBU captain in a monotonous voice.
The Hokage closed his eyes and was silent for a while, obviously pondering on the best course of action. After about five minutes he opened his eyes. "I hereby declare the events surrounding the attack on Naruto Uzumaki an A-ranked village secret. No mention is ever to be made to parties not aware of the true circumstances. Raven, please see to it that the orphanage workers are informed of this. The cover story for the workers is that an unknown shinobi attacked Kokawa-san and controlled her to capture Naruto. She managed to resist and was killed. The perpetrator committed suicide when ANBU arrived. I want to be immediately informed of any changes in status of Naruto. Dismissed."
Naruto's fractured mind was drifting between somewhere between sleep and reality. He didn't seem to be able to concentrate on his surroundings or move, nor could he follow a strain of thought to its end before it dissolved. His thoughts emerged less common and dissolved earlier as time went by. A voice – or were it two? – were drifting in and out of his focus, but he couldn't even grasp the meaning of the words that were understandable.
"…completely unforeseen. What…"
"…too early…not ready…"
"…mind fracturing further…damned seal…interference…"
"…can't…help him?"
"…need…foundation…extreme measures…consequences…"
"…do it."
The incoherent mess that was once the mind of a young boy named Naruto Uzumaki felt something alien reach deep inside of it. The next moment, everything went dark.
He drifted in blissful nothingness with no sense of self or time, no memories and not even much of a mind in general. Only a steady beat was his constant companion, that and a feeling of all-encompassing warmth. On some day that changed, he was suddenly pushed around and squeezed through something narrow. Where during his previous existence he was completely weightless, he now felt far too heavy to move. He was lying on a hard surface and covered by something slimy. Something rough and wet was licking him all over, and then he was embedded in some soft, warm fur that wrapped tightly around him. He felt secure. A scent filled his nose that he began to associate with one concept: Mother.
He had no sense of time, alternating between sleeping and eating. When he grew hungry he only had to squirm around a bit and find a teat on his mother's body to suckle some delicious milk. From time to time his mother would lick him with her tongue. It tickled. Sometimes another scent would join them, different from his mother, but somehow similar. Additional exotic scents clung to the visitor. Another concept engraved itself in his developing mind: Father.
One day he found himself alone in his home. His mother was gone, and he quickly began to feel cold and frightened. He pressed himself against the relatively warm ground to preserve what little warmth he had. Suddenly his mother was back, and he was once again nestled in his warm, soft, furry heaven. Everything was well again. In the following time mother left him again several times, but he got increasingly better at dealing with it.
A persistent itch somewhere on his head marked the day the world changed for him. For the first time, he opened his eyes as well as his ears and saw and heard. He was in a sizable burrow with several tunnels leading away. Dim light shone through some of them, faintly illuminating his surroundings. His mother was a great mass of fur coiled around him.
In the following days he began to explore the world around him. At first he had a hard time walking around on his shaky legs, but he got steadily better. He also saw his father for the first time when he brought some dead interesting-smelling animal for his mother to eat. The leavings of the meal tasted yummy as he licked them. He began to play with his parents, jumping on them, wrangling and trying to catch their tails. With time, he grew bolder in his wanderings through the tunnels and even cautiously approached one of the exits to the surface, only to be carried back by his vigilant mother.
As soon as his teeth grew he began to chew on everything, or at least he tried. The attempts to chew on his parents' tails or other body parts earned him some bops on his head. He began to eat more and more of the prey his parents brought home, sampling all the different tastes. Worms, insects, mice, hares, bunnies and different birds all enriched his diet. Fluffy bunnies, yum-yum!
Finally, the time to leave the burrow for the first time came. Chaperoned by his parents he left the dark tunnels and entered the bright surface world. The burrow entrance was located on a hillside hidden behind some bushes. A glade opened before them, surrounded by high trees. The most impressive things he noticed were the hundred different colors. In the gloom of the cave it had been impossible to differentiate them, but here it was different. Flowers of all colors were gently swaying in the afternoon breeze under a blue sky dotted with white clouds, the air was rich with thousands of scents and the noises of unknown animals reverberated throughout the clearing.
He also got a good look at his parents. His mother sported a deep red-gold fur, while a silvery gleam ran through the dark pelt of his father on his every movement, making it very difficult to pinpoint the actual color. It seemed to be black, grey or even pure silver, depending at which angle one looked. In contrast to his parents his own fur was a bright yellowish color. Soon a butterfly captured his attention as it settled itself squarely on his nose before taking to the air again. Not wanting to let the little insect get away with that display of blatant disrespect he bounded after it to catch it between his paws.
Quickly he lost track of his surroundings in his pursuit and missed a step, causing him to tumble down the hillside and face first into a stand of flowers. The resulting cloud of pollen made him sneeze several times and enabled the infamous butterfly to get away. After shaking his head to free it from the loose pollen he returned to his parent's side who had watched him in amusement. Sometime later he began to feel tired and was escorted back into the tunnels, but not before his father had caught a tasty mouse and shared it with them.
In the following days and nights the trips to the outside grew longer. Sometimes both his parents would leave for a while, but it didn't frighten him anymore. He began to accompany them on their trips, learning to hunt and move silently. After a while he had the feeling that he could survive on his own, but still preferred to stick to his parents. Finally they signaled him to go along with them when they intended to leave the burrow for good.
It was time to move on, and he eagerly followed his parents into the darkness of the night.
It was warm and he didn't hurt anymore. These were Naruto's first impressions as his mind rose from the darkness, a strange dream about foxes fading from his consciousness. He still was very tired and wasn't fully awake. A smell like a summer day in the woods filled his nose. Not wanting to open his eyes, he squirmed a bit around. Under him was something incredibly soft that radiated warmth, on his back he felt two weights that had tightened slightly when he shifted his position. His bed rose and fell rhythmically, as if it was breathing softly.
'It's like someone is holding me. This must be a dream.' he thought sleepily, 'No one has ever held me like this. But it feels good. I just hope the dream lasts a little longer…just a little longer… ' He snuggled closer to whatever it was and let sleep take him once again. The thing he missed was a soft female voice speaking: "Sleep and heal my little one, you aren't alone anymore."
After the words faded away only the soft breathing of the child and woman remained. The woman was sitting seemingly on thin air in an endless expanse made of formless shadow. No ground, no sky and no objects were visible, just darkness all around.
An indeterminate amount of time passed before some of the shadows grew denser before parting, thereby uncovering a third figure. The man, and it looked like a man, approached the pair. He took a seat in the nothingness directly besides the woman and put his left arm around her body.
"Is it done?" asked the female.
The man nodded. "Yes. Even now his mind is slowly reintegrating. It was more difficult than anticipated. The seal was rooted far more strongly in his mind than I expected. I had to completely isolate it from his mental processes by creating a false mind bubble around it. It almost triggered some contingency functions several times."
"But he is safe now?"
"From the influence of the seal? Perfectly. I will have to study it more; the pressure it exerted on the boy's mind was peculiar. Aside from the fact that it fractured his damaged mind even more and would have destroyed him completely in the end, there is something suspicious about it. There is simply no reason for a demon imprisoning seal to have that many connections into the container's mind. Unfortunately I don't know anything about fuinjutsu to discern the true purpose; I will have to observe the effects it has on the false mind to determine the basics."
The man noticed that Naruto had begun to drool and pulled a tissue from nowhere to wipe the boy's mouth.
"What of the plan? Can we still salvage it?"
Chuckling mirthlessly the man replied. "Love, the plan is so far off the tracks that it's only worth is that of a thought exercise. It is no longer viable. The timing and manner of the attack was most unfortunate, especially because I didn't foresee anything like it. Our transformation process was incomplete when Naruto's mind was shattered. We were simply not ready to brace the waking world, and the loss of his mind would have caused the seal to collapse. Combined with what I had to do to save us all, he is now tightly bound to us, especially to you. If I tried to leave this realm and go into the real world, I would pull you with me. That in turn would violently rip the seal to pieces. You would suffer injuries that might take more than a century to heal, but Naruto would be completely obliterated."
The woman tightened her grip around the boy. "Never! I will not let harm come to the child." Suddenly she seemed to realize something. "Why do I feel so much for the boy? Before, he was only my jailor. I hoped to never see him again, but now it's different. Now I want to see him happy, watch him grow up and never be really separated from him."
"The answer to that is very easy. You love him like a son. In a sense you are his mother, as I am his father. He will probably never remember, but you gave birth to the new him in a very real sense in that small fox burrow. The foundation of his mind was shattered, and had to be replaced by a new sense of self. The connection with foxes we picked up was the best way for that. We couldn't simply graft one of our own countless memories onto him, the… format isn't really compatible. Maturation as a human would have taken too long and would make the reintegration more complicated. A small part of both of us is now ingrained into him, but aside from that he will be pretty much like before."
He sighed before continuing. "For all the power we have and how high we tower about the mortals, it is still possible for beings like us to form emotional bonds. It is a sign of humility I decided to keep. Additionally, I noticed the boy was very lonely when I made my improvements to his mind. The fragments of his mind practically jumped at us when he felt our closeness. Prying them away would only have done more damage."
"Improvements?" She narrowed her eyes. "What have you done to him?"
The man was quick to defend himself. "I was already busy with repairing his mind, making a few improvements was only logical. Nothing major." A sly glint entered his eyes. "Besides, don't think I didn't notice what you did to his body when you healed it."
Now it was the female's turn to look embarrassed. "Well, what's done is done. What do we do now?"
"The boy still needs time to fully heal. We keep him here as long as we can. In the meantime we'll have to develop a new plan. One thing is certain; we won't get out of here anytime soon."
The woman sniffed. "This place is not fit to bring up a child. We'll have to redecorate."
"I agree. The best way is to start small and comfortable. We can introduce him to our more… unconventional aspects as soon as he is ready."
"What should we let him call us?"
"Just pick some names at random, it won't matter in the end. Now, let's begin with the redecoration."
With these words, color spread outwards from the pair. Grass covered the formerly non-existent ground, a blue sky appeared and trees shot up and grew to monumental size in seconds.
A whole new world was building itself.
Naruto woke to the smell of cooking. He felt weak like never before in his life. It was exhausting to even turn his head. Slowly he tried to make sense of his situation. The last thing he clearly remembered was following the matron of the orphanage through empty corridors in the middle of the night. After that everything was blank apart from a dream of someone holding him.
Currently he was lying in the most comfortable bed he had ever experienced. Whatever it was that he was lying on was very soft, and the blanket covering him was thick and fluffy. With a supreme effort of will he forced his eyes open. His current bed was almost triple the size of the orphanage cot. It was located in a middle-sized alcove with wooden walls. He could see a wardrobe and several empty shelves. The alcove opened to a larger room. A fur curtain served as partition, but it was currently drawn open. From his limited perspective he could only see a large table and a window in the far wall behind it. Sounds he associated with a kitchen and the humming of a woman could be heard, but their origin remained out of his field of view.
He tried to call the unknown person, but instead of the expected shout only a dry cough came out of his mouth. Only now he noticed that his throat was completely parched. Apparently the cough was loud enough to gain the attention of the person in the room, because the humming as well as the other sounds stopped. A short time later the most beautiful woman Naruto had ever seen came into view.
She was clad in a simple and modest brown dress with an apron that nonetheless distinctly displayed her ample curves. Curiously she wore no shoes. A thick mane of red-gold hair that fell to her slim waist framed a lightly tanned face from which ruby eyes examined him with concern. With a few quick steps she stood besides his bed and bent down to him. Because she was so close, Naruto could clearly smell her scent. It was the same one he had dreamt of. Before he could do anything with this insight, the woman began to speak and interrupted his line of thought.
"You are awake, good. How do you feel?" she asked Naruto in a concerned voice.
He tried to answer, but only a dry cough came out.
"Do you want something to drink?"
Naruto managed a weak nod.
"Wait a moment, I'll be right back."
With that she stood and left, only to return a short time later with a wooden cup and a pitcher in her hands.
"Drink slowly." she told him when she placed the cup at his lips.
Upon tasting the wonderfully cool water Naruto soon disregarded the warning and began to gulp down the water as fast as he could. Predictably he choked when he tried to breathe and drink at the same time. The resulting coughing fit sprayed water all over him and onto the woman. Naruto cringed internally. When something similar happened in the orphanage he was always shouted at and punished. Instead of the expected outburst, the woman simply put the cup down upon the floor, produced a piece of cloth from her apron and proceeded to gently clean first Naruto and then herself.
"Be more careful, little one. There is enough water for you to drink, no need to be hasty. Do you want some more?" the woman mildly admonished him while wiping his face.
Seeing Naruto's nod, she filled the cup once again and held it to his lips. This time Naruto heeded the warning, and after emptying an additional cup of water he felt much better. Deciding to test his voice, he rattled off a series of questions.
"What happened? Who are you? Where am I?"
The woman chuckled. "You may call me Youko, and you're in the home belonging to me and my mate." Her expression grew serious. "You have been badly hurt, and we took care of you."
"What about the orphanage?" Naruto asked.
Youko stroked his cheek with one hand. The action was totally unexpected for Naruto, but the accompanying feeling was so good that he leaned into the hand. "Don't think about them now, first you have to get better. Sleep for now, I will bring you something to eat as soon as it is ready."
Suddenly Naruto noticed how tired he had become. The short conversation had already drained his meager endurance, and he went out like a light. An indeterminable time later he was disturbed in his sleep when Youko shook him gently awake. She had seated herself on a stool on the side of his bed with a plate of steaming soup in her lap and fastened a piece of cloth as bib around his throat. The smell alone made his mouth water. The woman used her breath to carefully cool down the soup one spoon at a time before feeding it to him.
It tasted nothing like anything he had ever eaten before. The food in the orphanage was bland at best, on most days they got some unappetizing gruel made from rice and some vegetables or a thin soup with hard bread. The soup he was now eating belonged to a whole different world of food. For one, he could actually see the pieces of vegetables floating in the soup, even if he couldn't identify them. A dozen different herbs contributed to the unique aroma. Naruto was shocked when he bit on a piece of meat. Actual meat! They got meat perhaps one time per month in the orphanage, and his portion was usually stolen by the other children. All too soon his stomach was full and the plate empty. As Youko began to remove the bib and plate, Naruto was already fast asleep.
The morning sun shone through the window when he woke again. Feeling a bodily need, he tried to get up. With some difficulty he managed to free himself from the blanket. That was the first time he noticed he was only wearing a very long nightgown. Where had his clothes gone? Shoving thoughts about his wardrobe to the side for the moment, he swung his legs out of the bed and tried to stand. Finally he stood on his own feet. He managed to take three shaky steps until the room began to spin rapidly. Losing his balance, he fell against the wall before sliding to the floor.
Apparently he had made enough noise to be noticed by Youko, who hurried to the source of the disturbance. Upon seeing Naruto sitting on the floor intact she shook her head. "You know, you can call me if you need something." She was about to carry Naruto back to his bed when he regained his senses enough to say something like "I need to go to the potty". Youko stopped in her tracks.
"Oh. Then I guess I'll have to show you the way."
She shifted her grip so that Naruto rested safely against her shoulder before carrying him out of the room. Due to his dizziness he didn't really remembered much of the way to the bathroom. After taking care of his sanitary needs he was carried back to his bed. He was relieved to be able to lie down again. Youko left him for a few minutes to fetch breakfast. It consisted of some freshly baked bread, tea and a curious yellow translucent substance. Naruto watched as she cut off a slice and smeared the yellow goo on it before pressing it into his hand.
For a moment he eyed the slice warily, but hunger got the better of him. After his first bite he stared at the slice in wonder before devouring the rest. He looked at the smiling woman.
"Sweet."
Youko chuckled. "That's honey, Naruto. One of the many things you can find in the woods if you know where to look."
Soon he was fully sated and reclined in the bed. Youko left him, but he could hear her working. He felt somewhat tired, but not enough to go back to sleep. Instead he tried to think about his situation.
Obviously he had been badly hurt even if he didn't remember it; his current weakness was a sure sign of that. Naruto would have expected to be taken to the hospital as had happened a few times in the past, but perhaps he had already been released. They didn't like him in the hospital. But how had he ended up in the house of the nice woman? Nobody was ever nice to him, apart from the old man that had visited him a few times. Some of the caretakers were less hostile than others, but never friendly. Perhaps they were overcrowded and he had been sent here to heal completely before returning to the orphanage.
His thoughts were interrupted when he heard the opening and closing of a door. A figure passed his field of view too quickly for him to make out any details. He could hear a conversation in a low tone, but the words were too indistinct to pick up. Shortly after the conversation ended, a man entered Naruto's alcove and seated himself on the vacant stool. As far as Naruto was able to see the stranger was completely clad in leather. Boots, trousers and a vest were all made from animal hide in different shades of brown. A pale clear-cut face with short-cropped black hair showed a friendly expression. Pale yellow eyes examined him for a moment before the man began to speak.
"Hello young man, my name is Daiki and I'm glad to finally see you awake. I have a little something for you."
With these words, he produced a fox doll from behind his back and held it out to Naruto. The doll was surprisingly lifelike and made from a combination of cloth, leather and fur. Naruto stared at it for a long moment. He had never owned any real toys in his life, only the random stuff he managed to pick up.
"For me?" he asked in a disbelieving voice.
Daiki nodded. "It is yours. Go on, take it."
With a feeling of awe he carefully took the doll from the man's hand. After the doll made no move to suddenly disappear Naruto hugged it close to his chest. It was really ideally suited for intensive cuddling. With tears in his eyes he looked up to the man who sported a smile.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you."
"It was no trouble. Every child should have something like that." he said and stood up. "Get better soon, young man."
When he left the alcove the man was joined by Youko who had watched the exchange with a soft smile. Naruto felt very happy and very confused at the same time. People who were nice to him and even gave him presents were a totally new experience. They even smiled at him. Nobody did that. Naruto fell asleep before he could organize his confused thoughts, his new fox doll clutched tightly in his arms.
It was two days later when he was finally well enough to leave his bed. In addition to a shorter shirt he wore now some trousers from the same material as Youko's dress. He was still unsteady on his legs and couldn't stand on his own for more than a minute, but he was slowly getting better. Most times he was seated in a chair and watched Youko go about her household chores. Daiki was away most of the time on some unspecified business, but when he returned he would often bring plants and meat with him. Naruto hardly felt any boredom; it was too interesting to see the woman working. On the occasions when she left the house he played with his still unnamed toy or napped a bit. She always made conversation with him, when she didn't ask about his life or what he liked, she told him about herself and what she was doing. Apparently she and her husband lived alone in the forest and supported themselves through hunting and gathering.
The room he saw the most of was the main room adjacent to his alcove. A wooden table with several chairs stood in the middle of the room, while a large stone fireplace took up most of the space of one wall. A stone workbench and several cupboards that held tableware and cooking supplies occupied another wall. Multiple furs covered the floor and empty spaces on the walls. Two windows let light into the room, but Naruto couldn't see through them because they were made of parchment. A large heap of soft furs a short distance from the fireplace was often used by the couple to relax for some time in the evenings. The room had four doors. One led to the outside, one to the couple's bedroom, the third to a storage area and the last to a passageway where some firewood was kept. The other end of the passageway led to the bathroom.
Unless they specifically heated water on the fire the running water that was somehow funneled to the bathroom and to a small basin in the stone bench was very cold, but Naruto was no stranger to cold water. He was in fact very surprised when the water was heated for him. Naruto was still too weak to wash himself properly, but Youko had apparently no problems to do it for him. It had been a long time since someone had bothered. The caretakers had stopped since he was barely capable of doing it himself. It was somewhat embarrassing, but very nice on the other hand. The caretakers had always scrubbed him almost raw, but Youko was much gentler.
The first time he was able to eat without help was embarrassing in a different manner. He was wolfing down the food as fast as he could, when Youko cleared her throat and asked him if he always ate like that. Her tone of voice made it clear that she obviously disapproved.
Naruto looked up from the food with a questioning expression. What was wrong with eating as fast as he could? The main thing was that the food landed in his belly before someone could steal it. When he said as much Youko made a face.
"We have to work on that. Nobody here is going to steal your food; there is more than enough for all of us. You can't really savor the taste if you gobble it down as fast as you can."
Thus began a series of lessons in basic table manners.
"Close your mouth while you chew." "No talking with a full mouth." "Chew carefully before you swallow." "Don't play with your food."
Naruto had problems at first because nobody had ever bothered with teaching him that sort of stuff, but Youko was patient. Luckily his bad habits hadn't had the time to become ingrained too strongly, and soon enough his eating behavior had improved to Youko's satisfaction.
Five days after he had first woken the pair judged him healthy enough to leave the house for the first time. Naruto had spend entire weeks within the walls of the orphanage without seeing the outside once, meaning he hadn't actually thought of pushing for leaving the house himself. He didn't want to do anything that might upset the nice couple. Because he was still unsteady on his feet Daiki picked him up and carried him out of the door.
At first Naruto was blinded by the bright light, but as soon as his eyes adjusted he took in his surroundings. The house they had just left had a roofed front porch with a bench. He could see a large wooden shed and the entrance to an underground building. Grass covered the ground between the buildings except for a few well-worn paths, and he could see the edge of a forest a few dozen meters away. As he was carried around, he noticed that the dense forest bordered the cottage on two sides, while lush meadows stretched into the distance on the other two sides. There were no animals, but a carefully kept small kitchen garden was located beside the cottage. A small brook originated from a rocky knoll behind the cottage. Some of the water was artfully diverted into the house by wooden constructs. It was totally different from what Naruto had seen inside the village. Normally there were always people around, but not here. It was… peaceful. The air was fresh instead of saturated with human smells, and the noise of the village was totally absent.
"Now, what do you think about our home, young man?"
"It's great! What's in there?" Naruto asked while pointing to the shed and the door.
"That's my workspace for stuff that is to messy to do inside the main house, and that door leads to a storage house. I'll show them to you another time."
"What do you do for work?"
"Well, I mostly hunt in the woods for meat and hides and gather edible plants on the way. Youko normally accompanies me or leaves on her own, but since you are with us she mostly stays at the house. The few things we can't get ourselves we swap the valuable pelts and herbs for."
Naruto was carried around a bit more until they stopped at a field of flowers a short distance from the house. After being set on a blanket that Youko had carried with her, Naruto examined the flowers from a close distance. They were much larger and more colorful than the few flowers he had seen in the village. When he bent forward to better catch the smell of an especially beautiful flower he overbalanced and fell face-first into the field. Nothing serious happened aside from a sneezing fit from all the stirred up pollen.
'Why do I have the feeling this has happened before?'
He felt himself picked up by strong arms. Youko and Daiki sat side by side and put him on top of their touching legs. It was quite comfortable for Naruto. He leant back against the warm bodies of the couple and simply relaxed while watching the wind play with the grass. It didn't take long and he was fast asleep.
In the following days he became steadily more mobile, though he rarely left the watchful gaze of Youko for any length of time. One day a cauldron of stew was cooking above the fire. Naruto was alone in the room, for Youko had left to gather some ingredients from the storeroom. He was already hungry, and the stew smelled so delicious that he simply couldn't resist although he had been told to stay away from her cooking utensils. He stood before the cauldron and was about to grip the rim of the big black cauldron when his hand was forcefully slapped away.
It hurt. When he looked up, he saw Youko with a furious expression. She had never been angry with him and had never hurt him. Had she only acted as if she liked him? Tears began to well in his eyes when he suddenly found himself enveloped in a hug.
"What were you thinking? You could have hurt yourself."
Naruto blinked. It sounded almost as if the woman was about to cry. And she wasn't angry with him because he tried to get at the food, but because he could have hurt himself?
"I only wanted to taste the stew. I would have stayed away from the fire and cooled the soup down before eating." he said.
Youko ended the embrace and looked into his eyes.
"You don't understand how you would have hurt yourself, do you?"
Upon seeing Naruto's blank look she sighed.
"I have to show you. Don't touch anything and watch closely."
Youko picked up one of the strings of raw meat that she had prepared for later and showed it to Naruto.
"That piece of meat is like your finger. Now watch what happens."
With these words she let the meat touch the cauldron at the same spot where Naruto's hand would have. Immediately a sizzling sound started. A short time later Youko removed the meat and showed it to Naruto. It was obvious that it had been barbecued, with some spots torn off because they stuck to the cauldron.
"That would have been your hand, and trust me, burn wounds hurt a lot. It isn't just the fire and the soup that are hot. The fire heats the cauldron, and the cauldron in turn heats the soup."
Naruto gulped. "I'm sorry."
Youko embraced him again. "It's alright, little one. Please listen to me or Daiki in the future. We have always a reason when we forbid you from doing something."
He only nodded. This was only the most recent in a string of new experiences for him. At no time in his life had somebody actually cared about his wellbeing and taken the time to explain things to him. In the ten days he had stayed with Youko and Daiki his vocabulary and understanding of the world had already expanded massively. Bit by bit he began to completely trust the couple.
A woman with wild hair was standing above him. She formed strange signs with her hands, and the world dissolved into a jumble of colors. Monsters emerged, biting and scratching him. He screamed. A burning pain started in his arm, and the woman was back with a knife in her hand. She gibbered incoherently while drool dripped from her mouth. Again she made some signs, and he was surrounded by insects that stung him all over. A hard impact hit him, and he could feel something inside of him break. The woman was back again, and her knife came closer and clo…
Naruto woke screaming in the middle of the night in his sweat-drenched bed. Youko held his body while Daiki had his arms in a tight grip. As soon as he saw that Naruto was awake, he immediately let go. Terror from the dream and relief that it was only a dream flooded Naruto, and he began to cry.
"Hush little one, you are safe." Youko whispered while cradling him in her arms.
It took a long time for Naruto to calm himself. The couple took him to their own bedroom, and huddled against the warm body of Youko he was finally able to sleep again. The next morning after breakfast the three sat together at the table.
"Naruto, we have to talk about last night."
"NO!" Naruto didn't want to talk about the dream, he wanted desperately to forget.
Youko took his hand into hers. "Please, little one. It's important. Please tell us what you saw."
He didn't really want to, but couldn't resist the pleading in the end. After he finished with his recollection the pair shared worried glances.
Daiki sighed. "It wasn't a dream, it was a memory."
"What?" Naruto didn't understand.
"The woman you saw was the orphanage matron. I don't know why, but she went mad and wanted to hurt you. And she did, very badly in fact. You have suppressed most of the memories, but they are still there. I can do something about them, but you have to let me. Do you trust me?"
That was a difficult question. Did he trust them? Normally he trusted nobody, but these two people had been nothing but nice to him the entire time he was with them. Yes, for the first time in his life he trusted some adults. "Yes, I do."
Daiki and Naruto sat face to face on the floor. The man took Naruto's head into his hands and began to hum in a deep tone. Something cool and soothing seemed to touch the insides of his head. The painful memories faded until he didn't remember the details anymore. Additional sets of torture bubbled up and were treated the same way. It took hours, but finally they had worked through all of his repressed memories. Naruto still remembered being hurt, but the details and the accompanying pain and emotions were gone. It felt like an invisible weight was lifted from his shoulders.
"There, that's done. Now, why don't we play a game of tag?"
Naruto tapped Daiki, shouted "You're it!" and ran out of the door.
"Why you little! I'll get you!"
Days came and went, and Naruto began feeling truly at home. During the day he would help with some minor chores, watch Youko work or play with his toys or one of the adults. Aside from the fox Daiki had gifted him a number of wooden blocks that he used to build all sorts of structures. Every few days he would get a new small wooden carving in various shapes. At the moment he owned a bear, a boar, a wolf and a duck. In the evenings they sat together on the bench and watched the sun disappear beyond the horizon. Each night before he went to sleep Daiki or Youko would tell him a story. Most featured the adventures of some animals and conveyed a lesson about life. Naruto could hardly believe how good his life was now.
One evening he was playing with his miniatures on the floor before the fireplace while Youko and Daiki reclined on the pile of furs. He reenacted the wolf attacking the duck a bit too enthusiastically, and the duck went flying into the room. With a slight shake of her head Youko stood and retrieved the figurine.
"Be a bit more careful, little one, otherwise the duck might fly away." she said when she gave the piece back to Naruto.
"Thank you, mommy."
Everyone froze and the adults looked at him with big eyes. Naruto realized what he had said and began to panic. The one time he had mistakenly called a caretaker mommy he had been unable to sit for the rest of the day because of the spanking that followed. Not to mention the other punishments. The nice couple would now surely send him away. Tears began to flow and he started to tremble. His panic attack was interrupted by a tight hug by Youko. Completely startled his mind went blank.
"Everything is alright, Naruto. Calm down!"
After a few moments in the embrace the panic began to subside. Feeling the boy relax, Youko loosened the embrace somewhat. Finally Naruto found his voice. "You're not mad?"
The woman loosened the embrace and looked at Naruto startled. "Why would I be mad? In fact, I would be honored if you call me mommy."
Naruto was shocked to the core. Someone actually wanted him? He had heard of adoption, even seen a few instances at the orphanage, but the few times he brought it up the caretakers only sneered at him. They said that nobody would ever want a brat like him. A new possibility entered his mind. He had witnessed one special event in the orphanage when the father of one girl showed up who had been presumed dead for months. It had been a very happy occasion as far as he could see before he was shooed away.
"Are you my mommy?"
Youko looked at him with incomprehension for a moment before she understood.
"You mean to ask if I'm the woman that gave originally birth to you?"
Seeing Naruto's nod, she shook her head.
"No, your original parents have been dead for years. Does that change anything for you?" she asked with an apprehensive expression.
Naruto thought for only a moment. His original parents were dead, that was not unexpected. They had left him long ago. That there was someone who actually wanted him however was surprising. He would not throw that away.
Now it was his turn to embrace the woman… no, his mother before him. Tears began to flow, but this time they were tears of joy.
"You're my mommy now and forever."
"Thank you… son."
The following embrace was interrupted when the third person present cleared his throat. Naruto and Youko looked up at Daiki who sported an expectant expression. Naruto had to think for a moment before he recognized what the problem was. Sometimes he really was an idiot.
"Want to join us… daddy?"
Daiki's face lit up with the brightest smile he had ever seen. The man left his seat and joined them in a group hug. Naruto became almost giddy with the emotions that bubbled inside him and that he felt from his new parents. This was the happiest day in his life. He had finally found a family.
Naruto's face was crunched up in an expression of utmost concentration as he went on with his latest task, building the highest possible tower out of wooden blocks. He was currently out of free blocks and tried to remedy the situation by removing some of the already used blocks to add them on the top. The difficult part was doing that without the tower crashing down. Which had already happened today. Several times. His tiny hand hovered undecided over a block near the base of the tower. If he removed that one, then-
"CUDDLE ATTACK!"
Naruto squealed in surprise when he was unexpectedly picked up from behind and squeezed hard. The squeals soon turned to laughter as he identified his assailant. "Daddy, you're back!"
Youko joined them in a three-way embrace and began to kiss Daiki passionately. Naruto didn't mind as long as he got his share of hugs. Kisses he could do without. In the time he had been with his new family he had learned a lot about different displays of affections. His mother was a very physical person, freely giving out embraces, caresses and kisses. Father was more reserved, but often carried him around on his shoulders. Naruto loved the high vantage point it gave him, the world seemed so much larger than from his usual earth-bound perspective.
His father had left several days ago to go for an extended hunting trip. Naruto had wanted to come along, but wasn't allowed to leave the area around the cottage. He had already explored the fringes of the forest, at first with Youko in tow. They had collected a lot of berries and other edible plants. Naruto had never known where food came from and how much was readily available. At the present time he was allowed to wander around on his own as long as long as he stayed in eyeshot of the house and didn't enter any area he was expressly forbidden from entering without company, like the storehouse or the workshop.
Mother's voice interrupted Naruto's musings. "How was your hunting, dear?"
"Not as good as I would have liked, the deer were hard to find. It took me a lot of time to track them down, but I managed to bag a capital stag in the end not even an hour from here. The carcass is outside; I have to cut it up soon."
Naruto inserted himself in the conversation. "Can I watch?"
"If you want. The work is rather unappetizing though, so I don't know if your stomach can take it."
"Sure I can!"
The dead animal was huge. In fact, it was so huge Naruto wondered how his father had managed to carry the thing back to the cottage. 'He must be far stronger than he looks.' Naruto thought. The work was indeed bloody, and the smell did cause Naruto to feel somewhat nauseated from time to time, but he persevered. Step-by-step the animal was freed from its innards, a good deal of its blood and its hide. During the entire process Daiki lectured him about the possible uses of the animal part he was currently working on, the necessary techniques to process it and what things one should avoid doing. Most of it went beyond Naruto's understanding, but it was interesting nonetheless. Finally his father hung the carcass in an unused storeroom to cure the flesh for a few days. After a thorough scrubbing in the creek they returned inside the house.
Naruto listened with rapt attention when Daiki regaled them with a tale of his hunting exploits over their evening meal. From time to time Youko would add a tidbit or two. Apparently she liked to hunt as much as his father, but stayed at home because of Naruto. To his disappointment he was considered too young by both his parents to either accompany them on a hunt or stay alone for a longer time. According to his father it would be some time before he was ready.
Later in the night when Naruto was half asleep in his bed the animals from his father's tales still paraded around in his head. The contest of skill between hunter and hunted fascinated him. Some day he too would be a great hunter.
Months had passed, and Naruto couldn't be happier. He had a loving family and was learning tons of interesting stuff like what plants and animals were edible and which were not, how to survive for a time if he found himself alone in the woods and even basic cooking and household skills. Although he wasn't absolutely sure, he thought that his memory and learning capability was much better than before. On the other hand nobody had taken the time to teach him anything in the past, so how should he know what his normal rate of learning was? Either way, his vocabulary and ability to form longer and more complicated sentences had improved dramatically. Furthermore, it was easier to grasp more complex concepts, and his thoughts seemed somehow clearer.
His parents had finally taken him along on a trip into the deep woods. Youko had donned leather clothing similar to his father's for the journey. It was odd to see his mother without her customary dress, but it was infinitely more practical wear for the forest where twigs and branches could easily get entangled in loose clothing. When Naruto couldn't keep up on his short legs, his parent took turns in carrying him. During their journey they pointed out interesting plant or animals.
"Look over there, this moss is good to staunch the flow of blood from scrapes and wounds."
"The bark of that tree can be used to brew a tea that eases headaches."
"These tracks were made by a pack of wolves. It's normally better to avoid them, but these are already over a week old."
At midday they made a break on a beautiful clearing. It was surrounded by large old trees and filled with lots and lots of colorful flowers. He had a vague feeling of familiarity, but nothing definite came to mind. When they sat down to eat their provisions they observed several rabbits playing in the grass. Naruto tried to catch some of them, but the animals were far better runners than him. Soon enough they were on the way again.
The trip was more exhausting than Naruto had believed, but they reached their destination when the sun neared the horizon. Before them stretched a large lake with the other side barely visible. They made camp in a small natural cave in a hillside overlooking the lake. Naturally, the entire process of settling in was accompanied by lessons.
"If you make camp mind bodies of water choose the place carefully. They can often swell unexpectedly, even if that applies more to rivers than lakes. Take the high ground, and make sure you have a free way to escape should the waters rise."
They ate some fish that Youko had caught and went to sleep. Cuddled between the bodies of his parents Naruto felt warm and safe. On the next morning a new adventure for Naruto began: He was taught swimming, though it was more in the line of staying afloat than regular swimming. The unusual part even in comparison with the last months was the amount of direct skin-to-skin contact the splashing around involved. His parents had brought only one set of clothing, and they didn't want for it to get wet. It led to a series of questions about their bodies, but they were answered effortlessly. The question about clothing in general was far trickier.
"Clothing is useful for protection against the elements and changing one's appearance, but it's often more a question of social customs and not necessity what and how much one has to wear. There are certainly a lot of situations where different kinds of clothing are appropriate. We are completely alone here, so why should we hide our bodies if we don't have to? Animals most certainly don't do it, and the human body is nothing fundamentally different. Never be ashamed of your body, but take what the people around you consider appropriate into consideration."
After they finished playing in the water and let the sun dry them, his parents got to work. They took turns in catching fish and gutting them. Naruto helped by hanging the gutted fish on an improvised frame to dry them in the sun. In the evening they sat on the edge of the lake and watched the sun set. The family stayed at the lake for several days until his parents judged that they had caught enough fish for the foreseeable future. Heavily loaded they returned home, and Naruto got to know a variety of different fish dishes in addition to his usual diet of game and plants.
"Naruto, we have to talk to you about something."
He looked up from his current occupation (fighting a battle between the miniatures of different woodland creatures of which he had a veritable army by this time) with a questioning gaze. His father was sitting on the floor besides him, while his mother was standing on the other side of him.
"The most important thing first: Regardless of what will happen next, we will always love you. The truth is, we aren't human, we are something very different."
Naruto was shocked. "What do you mean you aren't human? You look normal."
"It's easier to show you. Watch."
His father's entire form seemed to ripple before it was replaced by a large fox sporting black fur with silvery reflexes. It sat on his haunches and calmly watched Naruto with eyes the same color like his father's, even if these were slitted.
"Daddy?"
The fox nodded. Naruto carefully stretched his arm and scratched the head of the fox. He turned around and saw his mother replaced by an equally large fox with red-gold fur that was slowly approaching him.
"Mommy?"
In answer to his question Naruto got his face full of a long wet tongue. It tickled so much he couldn't suppress a giggle. Taking that as incentive his father began licking his face too, what in turn increased Naruto's laughter. It soon evolved into a wrestling match between one boy and two foxes. After Naruto had tired himself sufficiently out the three were lying before the fireplace. Youko was dozing and used as a pillow by Naruto. His father was lying across from him and watching him attentively. To his surprise the silvery fox began speaking.
"You're surprisingly calm, son. Doesn't it bother you that we aren't human?"
"Don't care. You're my mommy and daddy. Your shape doesn't matter. But how do you do it?"
"Magic."
"Magic? What is magic?"
"Magic is the power to shape reality. The humans of your world can't use it, but we have a rather large amount. It is part of what we are. I might teach it to you sometime in the future. There is a lot more to it, and to us, but we will reveal it to you when you're ready."
"Oh. OK." He gave a large yawn. "'m tired. Goodnight."
In the following time his parents spent more time in their fox forms around him. It was odd at first, but soon it made no difference to him. They were foxes mostly when they did something outdoors for which it was more practical, but doing work in the household would have been difficult without hands. The most fun he had when they let him ride on their backs in fox-form and took him out to the fields. The wind in his face, the landscape slipping away, it all served to create a feeling of freedom he had never known before.
Naruto would have wished for this happy state of affairs to continue indefinitely, but it was not to be. One day Youko asked him to join them for an important conversation. Naruto followed her into the house to the table with a feeling of dread. He knew very well the one thing his parents had always avoided speaking of. His father opened the conversation with a serious expression.
"Naruto, you have to go back soon."
Naruto immediately began to tear up. "No, I don't wanna leave you."
"Son, it is not that we want you to leave, but there are reasons why you have to. Very important reasons." Daiki said with a sigh.
"Why? Why are you sending me away?" Naruto asked.
"It's complicated. You have been with us for a long time. Did you notice that in the entire time you didn't grow even the tiniest bit? Today you look exactly like you did when you woke the first time in our home." Youko said.
Naruto's face scrunched up in thought. It was indeed true. But at the same time it couldn't be right. One didn't simply stop growing for no reason.
Upon seeing Naruto's realization, Youko continued with her explanation. "I don't know how much you will understand from my explanation, but I will try. You already know that I and my mate aren't human. The fact is this entire world is not real. Your body is not really here, it just seems that way. Since the orphanage incident your real body has been in the Konoha hospital, but your mind has been here."
"This is all a dream?" Naruto asked with trepidation.
"No. Daiki and I are real, even if the world around us is not. You were gravely injured, and we created it for you to recover. This world lies on the edge of dreams. We can control it to a large degree, but it is a prison for us at the same time. If you stay here too long, your body will become sick and die. Your mind will follow, because it can't exist without a body. We won't be parted for long though. After a few days you will be able to visit us again, but it won't be for as long as now. Do you understand?"
In fact, Naruto did understand. He was injured, they created a dream world to protect him, but he couldn't stay here forever. They weren't sending him away; it was just a temporal absence.
"How long have I been here?" he asked.
"Time flows differently here and in the waking world. You have spent more than a year with us, but on the outside only a few weeks have passed. In the future virtually no time will pass when you visit us, but the visits will have to be much shorter. People would become suspicious if your body becomes regularly comatose, and I don't think you want to leave the other children in the orphanage alone with your body when you can't fight back," his father explained.
At that Naruto had to suppress a shudder. He remembered only too well the cruelty of the other children.
"There is one more thing, and it is important. Tell no one, and I mean absolutely no one, about us or what happened to you. If they hear about us they will try to prevent you from meeting us ever again. Simply say you don't remember what happened since the woman fetched you from her room. Your father made it so that nobody will be able to tell that you didn't tell them the truth. The old man you know from the orphanage will probably visit you. We don't trust him. Act like you always have towards him. Arouse no suspicion." Youko instructed him.
"Just bear with it for seven days, son. That is the earliest possible time you can visit us again. You will feel a darkness trying to pull you down. Don't resist it, it is our way of transporting your mind here."
Sleep was evading Naruto for a long time that night. Youko held him close the entire time and Daiki told stories. Finally, his eyes closed and he fell asleep.
Slowly the world swam into focus. He was lying in a relative comfortable bed that was a far cry from his little cot in the orphanage and was staring at a white ceiling. The room he was in was otherwise empty besides a chair and a locker. It looked pretty much like a standard hospital room he had seen when he had broken his arm when he was two years old. Naruto tried to sort his memories; the long time spent with his new parents was clearly there, but the events from the orphanage were equally fresh in his mind.
"Hello? Is anyone here?"
Two men with painted face masks seemed to appear from thin air. Naruto had seen them occasionally when the old man visited the orphanage. The larger man turned towards the other and said in a commanding voice "Newt, go and notify the Hokage immediately that Uzumaki-san is awake. "
The man with the newt mask nodded and hurriedly left the room through the door. The other man made no move to answer Naruto, so the boy asked again.
"Why am I here? What happened?"
"Your questions will be answered in time. You were brought to the hospital after you were injured. Now please wait for Hokage-sama to arrive."
It wasn't long before the robe-clad old man and an unknown but very old woman arrived. He knew the old man from before. He was the only one that visited him occasionally and was nice to him, but he was also the one his parents had warned him against.
"Hello Naruto. How do you feel?"
"Hello old man. I'm fine. What happened? Why am I here?" Naruto asked.
The old man shared a look with the woman before answering. "You have been very ill for a long time. Yamanaka-dono here is a special doctor. She will examine you, all right?"
"Sure, old man."
After shifting the chair to his bedside, the old woman sat down.
"Hello Naruto, my name is Izumi Yamanaka. What is the last thing you remember?"
Remembering the words of his parents, Naruto made a thoughtful face. "I think… I was going to sleep. It was a pretty normal day. I ate some gruel that evening." He looked at the woman. "That's all."
Again the old lady and the old man shared a look before she turned back to face him.
"I will have to examine you. It might feel a little weird for a moment."
The old lady leaned close to him and made some rapid signs with her hands before touching his forehead. Naruto felt a very strange sensation. It was as if his mind had split in two. The real him was buried under another him that was slightly different. He could feel something touch the false him and poke around. After a while the sensation ended, and he couldn't feel the second mind any more.
"Thank you, child. I have to talk with Hokage-sama for a few minutes, we will be right back."
They left the room for a few minutes, but Naruto could still hear some parts of the conversation. He twiddled his thumbs while pretending he didn't hear anything. "…seems completely recovered…tells the truth…found no memory of the attack." "…sure? Can we send him ba…" "…able to leave the hospital today…shouldn't cause problems." Soon enough, the old man reentered the room.
"It seems the doctor says you are completely healthy. You should be able to return to your home today. Aren't you glad to meet your friends again?"
Naruto got a pleading look in his eyes. "Please don't send me back there. All the people there are mean to me."
"Now, now, Naruto, I'm sure it can't be that bad. I'm sorry, but you can't stay here, and there is no other place for you to go. I'll take you back later today."
True to his word, the Hokage walked him back to the orphanage himself after some other doctors had checked him over. After a short conversation with the new matron he was sent to his old room. The next few days in the orphanage were some of the worst of his short live. The staff was cold to him as ever, if a tad more hostile than before. They didn't know anything specific, but everyone connected him with the death of the well-liked orphanage matron. The other children picked up on this and increased their own bullying when they weren't ignoring him. But the worst thing was the transition from a warm, loving environment to this cold hell. Before he had longed for a family, even if he didn't exactly knew what it was about. Now that he had experienced it, his bleak life in the orphanage was a hundred times worse. Each night he silently cried himself to sleep.
'Just a few more days until I can go back.' he thought.
Another thing was different though, he had already lived considerably longer than the age of his body led everyone to believe. Even if it wasn't the normal growth process children went through because of the lack of physical development, Naruto understood far more what was happening around him than before. He noticed the whispers and hateful glares from the adults as well as their incitement of the bullies to make him a target. Even if he still didn't know why they hated him, he could now tell that is was not because of any actions he had taken. He would have to ask his parents about that.
Finally, on the seventh night when he once again laid awake he felt a comforting darkness wrap around his mind and pull him to another location. Naruto gladly gave in to the pull; he remembered his father's words to expect something like it. The next time he woke up he was again lying in his bed in the cottage, with his parents waiting at the bedside.
