(A/N): Hey! finally uploading (finally!) I tried to do that yesterday but due to some... technical problems, I guess, I couldn't log in, so here it is the new chapter, a day later than first planned... sorry for not uploading before but well, time was not on my side, but on a brighter note it seems I have some talent to become a Barman :D Who would have thought? anyways, back to the fic... last week I only got one review, not complaining, but after getting 4 for only one chapter, it felt kindda sad, and like nobody reclaimed about that large part on the end of the last chapter I can deduce that either it was not that bad, or that nobody read it, I hope it was the first one, anyway, hope you like this new update, I even searched for a music theme to accompany one part of the chapter, and I also got part of the next chapter done in a notebook, so maybe it will come out sooner than this one, first I have to finish it and then edit it, I don't know how that 'Beta reader' thing works so I do it alone, if someone could explain me that I would be relieved, editing is kindda the hardest part of this, adding and taking things out of the first plan is, if not boring, a long process that takes quite some time... well, the only review I got before was answered in a PM but I guess it has a good point, maybe some people gets confused with all that space-time-dimmension hopping thing I did for the fic, so here's a small sumary of the base plot.
In the elemental nations had passed only 4 years since the group of 7 (Tsunade, Kakashi, Sakura, Lee, Shikamaru, Hinata and Sasuke) returned back in time, with the help of Naruto's humongous chakra reserves and some kind of extra use they discovered in the Hiraishin seal array, but Madara Uchiha attacked them just when they were about to do the jump, so Naruto stalled him enough time to let them return while he jumped heavily injured by Madara, the mix of Kyuubi chakra healing him, the space-time distortion and the injury itself ended in Naruto arriving in Earthland at the age of 5, with Kurama out of the seal with the physicall aspect of an Exeed and Naruto without memories.
Now, like Earthland is another world in another... dimension you could say, the time span there is different than in the Elemental Nations, so when that time-space portal sucks Naruto back in the Elemental nations he is 16 years old, just like the others there, but he had actually spent 11 years on Earthland rising with Natsu and Igneel, now this fanfic doesn't follow the cannon of the war that is on the manga or anime, well, not totally, it's another story were Naruto managed to make Sasuke return to Konoha some time after their encounter on the bridge after the gokage summit, so don't confuse yourself with this and the cannon
Thanks butterflypuss for making me notice that :D, today there's not special anounce for Jarvis so let's go on
"But hey! I want to-"
Like I said, he doensn't want to appear here today, so don't forget to like the story if you like it and review... please review... preety please with cookies on top? Oh really, this is the last chapter of the introduction arc, from the next I start with the meld between some of Shippuden's plot and Fairy Tail, and someone will make his/her appereance during a very well known test... who will it be? what test? wait another week for the next chapter hehehehe ... ON WITH THE STORY! :D
Disclaimer: Nah, still don't own Fairy Tail nor Naruto, last plan didn't worked... who would have thought changing the name on every manga and anime on internet would take so much time?
Update 20/03/2015: Experimental arrange of the chapter, hope now it is easier to read and understand without the large amount of words compacted in long sentences :D, also thanks to Third Fang for giving me permision to use his OC's at some points of the fic, if you haven't read 'Yet again with a little extra helps' and after that 'Round two, take two' you HAVE to, it's the log will.
"All my life, I've been protecting others... but now, there's no one left to protect. Maybe... it's time I shape my own story"
Auron, Kingdom Hearts 2
Chapter 4: Breaking some more standards
Kurama finally got some time alone. Not that he wished to ditch Naruto, but since all this mess started he had to be glued to the blonde teenager day and night in fear that any Konoha-nin would try and play dirty to make Naruto stay.
But now he had sent Naruto to Tsunade, and he trusted the old hag enough to let her take care of Naruto, so now he finally had some time to relax and check the village.
After he suggested Naruto to go directly to Tsunade and tell her about Kakashi, and how he needed some serious training, Naruto darted faster than he had saw him in a long time towards the Hokage tower.
He said that he would go to the forest and relax there, so he would be waiting for him back in the apartment, but instead he silently followed him for a while trying to hear what the villagers were thinking about his return.
"Was that the kyuubi brat?"
"Nah, that demon was declared dead 4 years ago. Surely the Uchiha heir freed us from him, I heard he returned pretty damaged."
"Then who was that? He looked just like a grown up version of him"
"I've heard rumors that he's called Naruto Dragneel"
"Wasn't that brat's name Naruto too?"
"Yeah, but he was a ninja, this one doesn't have one of those headbands ninja use."
"Then maybe… do you think the boy the demon used to live inside was freed then?"
"If you put it in that perspective… maybe, it would make sense that once the demon was dead the boy he was impersonating would be set free, maybe this is how the boy was supposed to be."
"I've heard my daughter say that he already has a fanclub, and he's not even that known around the village"
"Hmmm, those clothes he use surely could make any girl drool, I guess, but now that I saw him closer, doesn't he looks like… Yondaime-sama?"
"Yeah… there is some resemblance in the hair and the eyes, maybe that's a good sign, I hope he joins the ninja force of the village."
"Naruto Dragneel huh? I look forwards to the boy's development."
"Yeah, me too."
Kurama shook his head in irritation. Almost every other villager that saw him said that Naruto was possessed, or that the demon had the boy captured and he took his shape, or things in that line of thought.
They were all fools, even more than Ichiya, and that was already something big.
But in some twisted way they also had some truth in their words; Naruto was indeed free from his burden once he 'died' , free from the curse of being a Jinchuuriki, free from promises he made to people that he considered precious to him, but that in the end betrayed that trust… he was free to live a full life this time, and so he did.
He got a true family and friends, he grew up with the warmth of being acknowledged, something Uzumaki strived all his life.
Shaking the depressing thoughts away, and pleased that at least the village meant no harm to Naruto, he went for his small stroll on the forest and then headed to the apartment, ready to take a nap… until he was woken up by a joyful Naruto some time later.
"Kurama, hey Kurama (yawn) wake up!"
"Urgh… come on kit, I'm trying to sleep here"
"But Kurama, it's past midnight! (Yaaaawwwwn) I've been outside with Tsunade-baachan the whole afternoon and night! (Yaaaawwwn)"
Kurama cracked open his eyes, and noticed that despite his exited voice Naruto was barely awake.
His eyes were open just because he refused to close them yet and his clothes were dirty, surely because of some training.
"You should rest Naruto, it seems you are quite tired"
"But Kurama (yaaaawwwwn) I have to tell you…" The words started to sound sluggish, sleepiness was starting to overcome him "She believed me…"
"Who believed what Naruto?" Kurama asked now curious
"Tsunade-baachan, I told her (yaaaawwwwn) about Igneel" His voice was practically a whisper now, he was just about to fall asleep "She… believed me…"
The eyelids finally became too heavy to keep struggling and he closed them, almost falling to the floor if not for Kurama catching him first and taking him to his bed flying. Once he set himself to continue his sleep, Kurama saw Naruto snore softly and with a content smile on his face.
The next day came uneventfully. Naruto woke up quite early feeling fully rested, which he found weird because of the hour he returned the apartment yesterday, but shrugged it off and walked out of the bedroom into the hall/kitchen.
There he saw Kurama, still rolled in himself sleeping on the small couch, and remembering that he would need something for breakfast because today he would train with Tsunade-baachan, he decided that he would prepare something for both of them. He was on a good mood after all and Makarov-jiji was nowhere near, so there was no problem now.
For the first time since he arrived at the apartment he opened the small fridge close to the kitchen, and was surprised to find it filled with food ready to be cooked. Stuff going from vegetables to cooking ingredients he didn't recognized at first sight.
"I don't think this was here when we arrived… well, I'll thank whoever brought this once I find out, but for now… what could I use?" He hummed in thought eyeing the food there for some time, until he decided what he would use and took it out of the fridge to start cooking.
He had finished cleaning and cutting meat and vegetables, and was ready to put the stuff to fire, but then he noticed a small detail he forgot to remember before.
"How did Mira told me to use a kitchen?"
Kurama woke up with the pleasant smell of house-made food in the air. Curiously it smelled just like Mira's food back in the guild, but after opening his eyes and remembering where he was he dismissed the idea and poked his head over the couch to where the kitchen was.
There he saw Naruto standing with a pot of something on one flame-covered hand, seemingly cooking, while tasting and adding other things to it with the other hand.
The kitchen behind him looked like if someone tried to cook a exploding tag inside it.
"Kit, are you cooking?"
"Yup! I found the fridge full of food so I decided to prepare something for breakfast for the both of us."
"What happened to the kitchen?"
"Well… it kindda exploded a little when I couldn't remember how to turn it on and I tried to set it on flames with my fire, but a weird symbol appeared on the floor and it turned off without even smoking. Soooo I decided to use my fire to cook… quite practical I may say."
He tasted the food once again and nodded in approval "Grab that bowl over there, it's ready" Kurama did as told and Naruto poured some food on it, he smelled it wearily and Naruto rolled his eyes.
"It's not poisoned, stop being such a pussy and eat" and then he grabbed a bowl for himself, pouring some food on it, and started eating.
Kurama licked suspiciously first, but once he tasted the stew-thing that Naruto had prepared his eyes widened, he looked at Naruto, then back to the bowl, and then he started inhaling the food, not unlike Naruto used to do with Ramen.
Once he finished (surprisingly before Naruto) he stretched his paws holding the bowl to Naruto and with an expecting look on his eyes. Naruto understood the unspoken petition and poured more food into Kurama's bowl while grinning, he would even dare to say he saw tears of joy in the small fox's face.
Once there was no more food Kurama finally regained his wits and asked in a bewildered voice "H-how?"
"Well… one day Natsu-nii was away in a mission and I was totally bored, I think you were in the forest hunting or doing something like that, so I saw Mira in the bar also bored and asked her if she could teach me how to cook. The days I used to arrive late at home I stayed at the guild's kitchen with Mira, then… was it that good?"
"Damn it kit, had I known you were such a good cook… wait, if you knew how to cook then why you never prepared something?"
"Makarov-jiji once entered the kitchen when I was finishing cooking, and he said that if I didn't made the kitchen explode while doing it then it deserved to at least be tasted. After he ate all I prepared by himself he made me promise that I would never prepare something to others until I made S-rank mage while crying. He mumbled something about other guilds trying to kidnap me if they ever tasted my food or massive guild migrations because of me…"
Kurama only raised an eyebrow, but decided to not keep questioning about that. Naruto was an excellent cook and he had him for himself, that was all that mattered right now.
"Hey, are you not going to train today?"
"Yeah, Tsunade-baachan told me to…" his eyes widened like realizing something and turned his head to where he knew he would find a clock, and seeing the hour he cursed.
"Shit! I'm late!" and then the door flung open, and a cloud of dust where Naruto was sited was the only proof he ever was on the room.
Kurama then floated to the bedroom and saw outside through the window to spot a distancing trail of dust headed to the Hokage tower, so guessing that was Naruto running he sighed and followed it.
Naruto arrived at the Hokage tower shortly after his mad dash, and while he got his breath back he greeted the ninja guarding the entrance.
"Yo! Tsunade-baachan told me to look for her here today, where do I find her?"
"Ehhh… Hokage-sama is currently in the mission assignment room" he said while pointing Naruto on the direction of said room looking at him curiously. After thanking him Naruto ran in the direction he was pointed, and shortly after the ninja saw a small flying fox enter the tower.
Wait, a fox... FLYING!?
"Blonde spiky hair, white scarf and a tattoo on one bicep" the fox stated nonchalantly, and the dumbstruck chunnin signaled him on the direction Naruto went some seconds before.
The fox thanked him and kept flying towards that direction, the ninja only shook his head and sighed tiredly "I think I need a vacation."
"Sorry I'm late Tsunade-baachan!" Naruto shouted as he entered the mission assignment room, all the ninjas there immediately turned and directed him confused and annoyed looks.
"I'm telling you kit, one day that big mouth of yours will bring even more problems than it already does" Kurama said entering the room behind Naruto, then floated over the blonde's head and dropped over it just like Akamaru used to do when he was still a puppy.
"Yosh! I see your flames of youth burning brightly today, Naruto-kun! I promise I'll do my best on today's mission to fan mine and make them burn even brighter!" A weird-looking and over enthusiast guy on a green spandex suit with a green jacket over it said (shouted).
Naruto's eyes fixated on the bowl haircut and in the abnormally huge eyebrows he knew shouldn't exist in a normal world. He immediately catalogued it between Master Bob's outfit and that guy Midnight cross-dressing outfit on his 'most disturbing things ever saw' list… he still couldn't decide if Midnight was a he or a she.
"Emmm… thanks, I think… Lee was it?" Naruto answered/asked a bit afraid of the shining smile the other boy was giving him, and the overdose of green color on his clothes.
"Of course you will do Lee-kun, and if you can't I'll climb the Hokage monument ten times up and down with an arm tied to my back!"
Naruto almost had a heart attack by the sudden outburst from behind him, only to jump back in horror when he met a grown up version of the boy that was in front of him, haircut and eyebrows perfectly emulated, and a disturbing brighter smile directed to him.
"Gah! Bushier brows!" was all he managed to say at the moment. Then the spandex beast jumped to were his mini-me was and kneeled before him.
"Oh no… everyone shut your eyes!" Barked the until now amused Tsunade, and everyone did as she ordered. Well, everyone except Naruto.
"And if you can't do that I'll run five hundred laps around Konoha on my hands, Gai-sensei!" Lee exclaimed totally oblivious to the panicking ninjas around them.
"Lee!"
"Gai-sensei!"
"Lee!"
"Gai-sensei!"
"Naruto!" Naruto shouted his own name, not quite following what was happening, but suddenly feeling as energetic as the weird duo in front of him.
Said enthusiasm was suddenly cut off when his brain froze trying to process the sudden change in scenery in front of him.
Gone was the mission assignment room, and instead he found himself staring at the two spandex green beasts hugging each other while crying in a… manly way, in what seemed to be a shore above the sea. Waves were crashing behind them and the sun positioned on a never ending sunset.
Only once they broke of their hug and sobered everything returned to normal.
Tsunade saw Naruto just standing there, his empty gaze staring at a random point in the room, and if it wasn't for the blinking every now and then she would have confused him for a statue.
Afraid something serious could have happened to his brain after such overexposure to youthness she walked to where he was and made one of her hands shine with a green light to check his status.
The green duo paid him no atention as they kept their tirade of ridicously hard challenges.
"I think they broke him" Kurama said still on his head, determining it was safe to open his eyes again once he heard the room return to a somewhat normal movement noise.
"No, It's just the shock of the first time experiencing the 'sunset of youth', It'll wear off in some more time" she sighed in relief before turning to Shizune, who still had a hand extended waiting for Lee to take the mission scroll.
"Take care of everything while I'm gone with the gaki, if someone insist in seeing me repeat the threat from yesterday" When Shizune nodded Tsunade grabbed Naruto's shoulder and shunshined away.
"Yosh! Gay-sensei, they are going to train and so we should do to keep our flames of youth burning brightly!"
"Then let's go Lee-kun, let's show our youthfulness to the world, and if we can't…" their voices faded in the distance as they shot running out of the office, surely towards a training ground.
Shizune only sighed and put away the scroll that she still was holding on a hand, hopefully Lee would return later.
When Naruto finally regained consciousness he found himself on what looked to be a training ground, and shuddered at the sudden image that jumped to his mind of two green… things hugging each other. Trying to make the memory go away he started to scan his surroundings and list the usual layout of a training field.
"Training dummies? Check, trees and bushes on the borders? Check, an unconscious white haired guy? Check, a clear spot to spar? Check, a… wait, an unconscious white haired guy?" He walked close to him and recognized him as Jiraya, the perverted teammate of Tsunade-baachan.
"Hey Ero-jiji, are you alive?" Naruto asked while poking a huge lump on his head with a stick he found nearby. A groan and a twitch signaled that indeed he was still alive so he decided to leave the poor old man alone, and since he was already here he would use the chance to train with another jutsu he learned yesterday from the big scroll.
Making his self-created one hand seal three clones jumped out of his shadow (Yesterday he used the hand seal only to show off with Tsunade), and grinning like a madman he gave them instructions.
"Well guys, ya' know the drill. Get some distance between yourselves 'cause this will be a blast, yeah!"
Far away from Konoha, an Iwa S-ranked blonde haired missing nin sneezed.
"I must thank you Tsunade" Kurama said suddenly while floating besides Tsunade returning from a store in the village, like today's training would be tiring (for Naruto) and would also take great part of the day, she decided to get some snacks for them. Kurama tagged along not wanting to babysit two unconscious men.
"Huh? What are you talking about fox?"
"For listening to the kit yesterday. He's always been reluctant to tell people that his father is a dragon, usually people snort at that or just don't believe him, but according what he told me you patiently listened to him and actually believed his story."
"You should give us some more credit Kyuubi, geez, here we can summon building sized talking animals, you were a proof of that. Dragons existing are not that hard to believe; besides we both know who his true parents are."
"Keep that to yourself Tsunade; you know what I think about that"
Tsunade sighed, but it had tired and resigned tone.
"The boy told me his whole story, and I can understand your reluctance to let him stay. He really has a life made there, and a deep crush on that Lucy girl by what I heard… He really deserves that, specially after what he had to endure on those last weeks…"
"Uzumaki is gone, along with those memories, so leave it like that. I'm sure you will miss him once the time to leave arrives, but it's your time to make a sacrifice to let him be finally happy. Look at it as some kind of making amends with him."
"I know that, and I will support you in what I can. But the others…"
"Don't worry Tsunade" replied Kurama with a soft smile "For now it's enough for me that at least one of you can understand."
Tsunade smirked at the alien expression on the fox face. Well, at least alien for her.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Now we will start hugging each other" both snorted at the claim "But I would really like to meet this-"
BOOM! A loud explosion sounded in the general direction of the training ground they left Naruto and Jiraya, and after exchanging worried looks Kurama grabbed Tsunade's jacket and dashed towards the explosion flying, while a hysteric Tsunade screamed bloody murder to the fox.
When they arrived the scene before them wasn't the one they were expecting… Well, not totally because there was indeed a huge crater, surely caused by the explosion, but they also noticed that Jiraya was pale on the branch of a tall tree, hanging in a very similar way to a scared cat looking wide eyed to the laughing Naruto on the ground.
Said blonde was having problems breathing and grabbing his sides, which were surely hurting. Tsunade cleared her throat to get their attention.
"Oh, hi Tsunade-baachan!" Naruto cheerfully greeted once he sobered up a little and managed to breath normally again.
"Care to explain what happened?" Tsunade asked clearly irritated, not that Naruto noticed, and his smile widened even further.
"Well, I was practicing another jutsu I got from that huge scroll you lend me yesterday, but the explosions were not as large as I expected."
Tsunade frowned, another jutsu? So besides learning the Kage Bunshin again he managed to snatch another jutsu from the scroll? She only voiced her more immediate worry "Explosions?"
"Yeah! Oh really, you didn't knew, look Kage Bunshin no jutsu!" And doing his one hand personal seal four clones jumped out of his shadow and distanced between themselves. Then he did his one hand seal again and called "Bunshin Daibakuha!"
A small shiny magic seal floated in front of his hand and one of the clones grinned and waved goodbye before he went off on a mid sized explosion.
"See? I tried all that came to my mind but it wouldn't grow…"
"B-but Naruto… that explosion was strong enough to take down half the ninja force in Konoha!"
"Huh? But Natsu-nii caused stronger explosions with his fire when he fought against Gajeel."
"Kit" Intervened Kurama "Half the ninja force in Konoha doesn't have fire immunity nor Iron scales to endure it."
"So… the other half has it?" Naruto asked looking exited.
Tsunade, Jiraya and Kurama sweatdropped and facepalmed at the same time "Is he really that idiotic?"
"Sometimes he's just a clone of his brother"
Naruto just smirked and shook his head in an amused way "It's easy to mess with you guys, of course I knew that!"
Well, actually for a moment he considered what he told Kurama, but when he saw the disbelieving looks on their faces he noticed his mistake, but decided against making his realization noticeable. At least he was observant this time, let's give the boy that.
Tsunade growled and her right eye twitched, and she asked in a forced calmed voice "Then what caused that explosion?"
The smirk on Naruto's face disappeared immediately and answered before Tsunade decided to train pain resistance with him.
"The old pervert woke up and told me to compensate quality with quantity, so I did this" He nodded to the remaining clones and they jumped in a pile over an imaginary opponent while Naruto did his handseal again and called "Tajuu Bunshin Daibakuha!"
BOOM!
Another crater appeared on the training ground once the smoke and dust cleared, and some debris still fell from the sky. Naruto was again rolling with laughter in the ground and the two Sannin exchanged worried glances while Kurama only rolled his eyes.
"You should have saw the pervert's face! It was so hilarious… I wouldn't be surprised if he pissed his pants with the size of the explosion."
Tsunade then glared at Jiraya, who was glaring daggers at the still snickering Naruto "And you suggested this!?"
"I didn't saw the force of a single explosion, I swear! Once I regained consciousness, not thanks to you I might add" He said on an annoyed tone with a small pout now glaring at Tsunade, who glared back and made Jiraya gulp and keep talking.
"He was ranting about weak explosions, so I told him that a lot of small explosions together would make up for a big one" Tsunade eyed him carefully, as if testing if he was telling the truth.
"I'll believe that for now, there's a schedule to clear too and we are just loosing time now, so get you ass down from that tree you old pervert" Then she glanced to the smirking blonde.
"And no more explosions here or there will be no training today" Naruto sobered immediately, stood straight and gave a salute to Tsunade.
"Yes ma'am!"
"Today's training will be a bit different from your usual, so summon as many clones as you can."
Naruto gave her a confused look but nodded and did as instructed "Tajuu Kage Bunshin no jutsu!"
But this time, instead of jumping from his own shadow the clones appeared from every shadow around them, even from Kurama, Tsunade and Jiraya's own shadows, making both Sannin jump in surprise and Kurama roll his eyes again while muttering 'showoff'.
"How did you do that?!" Asked/shouted a shell-shocked Jiraya with a hand over his chest, trying to get his heart rate back to normal level and seeing the sea of blonde haired and scarf wearing boys.
"Told you that Eternano was easy to mold, so easy that I can tune it to a strange energy in the air, so I can pull clones from every shadow around me… cool huh?" Naruto said with a cocky grin to the now gaping Sannin.
"Yo-you can use Senjutsu?"
"Sen-what?"
"He said he can tune his magic power to that thing you call senjutsu"
Kurama answered for Naruto, holding himself from face pawing. Surely Jiraya should know that he would be a toad statue by now if he used natural chakra the wrong way.
"He actually doesn't use it, but it helps him working as some kind of conductor, right Naruto?"
"Guess so, you were also the brains so I suppose that's right" Kurama sweatdropped "But yeah, it allows me to pull Eternano into every shadow around me, really useful if you ask me."
"We can discuss the how's later, but now tell me how many clones you've created" Tsunade said.
"Hum… About a thousand I guess" he then turned to a nearby clone "What do you think?"
"Yeah, a thousand" the clone nodded.
"Then five hundred go with Tsunade now" Jiraya ordered, and said woman started walking to another training ground while the clones followed her.
Then the pervert did the cross finger hand seal, and a single shadow clone appeared next to him in a poof of smoke "The rest of you go with him."
After some minutes only Naruto and Jiraya were left in the training ground.
"Sooooo, now what?"
"I'll teach you summoning"
"Summoning?"
"Yeah, look at this" he bit his thumb and some blood spread on his hand, then he slowly started doing the hand seals so Naruto could have a good look and learn them, and finally he slammed his hands on the ground "Kuchiyoose no jutsu!"
Kanji spread on the floor forming the summoning formula, and in a big poof of smoke Jiraya appeared on top of a really, REALLY big toad.
"What have you summoned me for this time, Jiraya!" the toad boomed
"W-wait Gamabunta, this is actually something important I need you as Chief summon. Remember Naruto?"
"The brat? He haven't summoned us for a long time. Gamakichi misses him greatly"
"Hey! Who are you calling a brat!" Naruto shouted from the ground, shock of the toad's size forgotten at being called brat.
"What I was going to ask…" Jiraya cut Gamabunta to avoid an argument, and gained an irritated huff from the toad boss "Is if Naruto can still summon toads. I'll explain the details later, but something might have happened to him during this 4 years. Even if his name is still on the contract he, maybe, won't be able to keep summoning toads."
Gamabunta looked at Naruto for a while, examining him with a thoughtful face. Naruto remained still and felt nervous under the gaze, he didn't knew why, but he felt the need to pass this 'test' as if it was something really important to him, so he waited the big toad's verdict.
"I can feel something… funny with his chakra, but besides that I can tell no difference at all, so I see no reason for him to stop summoning us" Naruto let out a breath he didn't knew he was holding.
"If that's all I'll go back to mount Myoboku and report Ma' and Pa' the brat's back, they'll surely will wish to hear your explanation later" And not saying anything else he disappeared in a big poof of smoke, making Jiraya fell roughly to the ground making Naruto laugh his ass off.
"Well, you heard him gaki, summon a toad. You already saw the handseals, you need to bite and draw some blood over your hand while doing the handseals to make it work" Jiraya said while nursing his butt, trying to rescue what little dignity he had left after that last embarrassing… incident.
Naruto nodded and bit his finger, and with some blood did the handseals, then planted a hand on the ground and claimed "Kuchiyoose!"
A big magical seal array appeared under him, shining and spinning slowly. Really impressive and quite intimidating at first sight… but nothing happened after that.
"Nice lightshow, but you haven't summoned anything… I thought Gamakichi would appear"
"Gamakichi?" After the name was called the seal array reacted. It stopped spinning and shone brightly for a second blinding Jiraya, but once the light died down he saw Naruto standing on top of an oblivious orange, human sized toad wearing a blue jacket.
"Gee… that one was a weird trip. Did you summoned me Ero-sennin?" Gamakichi asked not even noticing the stunned teenager on his back.
A vein bulged on Jiraya's forehead.
"No, it was him" He stated while pointing to Naruto.
"Naruto! Hey bro, what's up? Where have you been all this time? You got all of us worried, even dad… Not that he would ever admit it."
Naruto finally woke up from his shock "Emmm… you're Gamakichi then, right? Nice… Nice to meet you, I guess, name's Naruto Dragneel… man, this is awkward" Naruto said scratching his cheek with a finger
"Hey bro what's wrong? Cut the prank already, it's not funny. You are Naruto U-zu-ma-ki, not Dragneel."
"Actually, it's Naruto Dragneel Uzumaki now, his situation is… special now. He's-"
"Memory loss" Naruto cut off Jiraya before he explained further, he had said that he would play along with this until the time to leave came, and he was planning on doing so.
"I've been living somewhere else until I came here by accident, people from the village recognized me and now they are trying to make me regain my memories, but I doubt I will, so I'm trying to make new ones."
Well, that was not a total lie, they really believed he had amnesia, but it wasn't an entire true… he hated lying but the situation called for it.
"And how did you lost your memories? Tell me so I can kick the responsible one's ass" Gamakichi said narrowing his eyes and punching his webbed hand on the ground, making Naruto loose his stability.
"Easy there dude!" Naruto said jumping to the ground "And no, I don't know who or what caused the amnesia… Now that I think about it, I've already been a week and a half here and nobody has told me how I… lost my memories, all I was told is that I disappeared during a mission."
Jiraya got nervous hearing this, how he would react if he was told that it was during a fight with his 'best friend' in a mission to retrieve said 'friend' because he went rouge seeking for power from a public village enemy?
"Ehhh… I think you should ask that to Tsunade-hime, she is… Better informed about that since I was out of the village at the time" Jiraya chuckled nervously under the examining gaze Naruto and Gamakichi were giving him.
"I know you are hiding something Ero-jiji, and I won't let it-"
He became silent on mid sentence, and his eyebrows furrowed. Then he blinked many times before grinning like a kid that got the last candy in the bowl.
"Hey! I know how to do the Shunshin!" And then he proceeded to do an embarrassing victory dance. Jiraya sighed in relief and thanked his lucky star and any deity out there for the perfect timing and the combination of short attention spans and excess of energy… at least for this time.
On a not so distant alter dimension of that multiverse, a young looking woman with long black hair and emerald green eyes stopped suddenly in the middle of her candy spree, giving the owner of the store who foolishly offered her sweets a breather.
By her side a dragon godess demon... thing, currently the size of a cat, popped it's head out of a medium sized pile of candies next to the woman.
"Squeak! Squeh Squeh Squeak... Chirp?" The small dragon's head chirped to the woman, who nodded and somehow spoke with three lollypops stuffed on her mouth.
"Yeah, I also felt it. Someone is praising us for something we don't even know how to do."
"Squeak! Chirp Chirp Squeak!"
"Yeah! We must celebrate that others realize how awsome we are! Keep the sweets comming, that we haven't even started with the chocolates!"
"Squeak! Chirp!"
The owner of the store wept as he did as told. He knew he had made a terrible mistake the moment he offered a free sample to the woman.
And also realized that he would not get rid of her until she was sated the moment that old man with long white hair and that other guy with the weird trench coat that looked more like a straight-jacket started running and screaming like little girls.
"Care to show gaki? It's not that I don't believe you but… Well, I don't believe you" Naruto glared at the Sannin and punched a blazing fist through a tree.
It tore through it easier than a Rasengan.
Jiraya paled immediately.
"N-now, don't get me w-wrong Naruto, I'm not doubting your skill, but even being a low ranked jutsu most ninjas only learn it when they reach chunnin rank, and even sometimes jounin level of skill. Even for them it takes months of training to master it" Jiraya lectured, somehow regaining his composure in the process.
"But according to baa-chan, only I can use Kage Bunshin the way I do. Besides…" He grinned and crossed his arms "It's eaaaa…" the word started in front of the pervert, but ended behind him "…syyyy."
Jiraya jumped back startled, taking Naruto to the ground along with him.
"Hey! Careful old pervert!" Said pervert mumbled something about disrespectful brats before getting up.
"It's not fun if you make it look like the jutsu by using those shadow clones of yours."
"That was not a shadow clone Ero-sennin" said a wide eyed Gamakichi, making Jiraya's eye twitch in annoyance "That… that was an afterimage… what the hell have you been doing bro?"
Naruto scratched the back of his head sheepishly sited cross legged in the ground while it was Jiraya's turn to look wide-eyed the boy in front of him.
"Well, baa-chan explained me that it wasn't actually teleportation, but more like a hi-speed movement enhanced by your catra."
"It's chakra Naruto."
"Whatever… so she showed the clones the seals and let them try it while she started to chat with Kurama. At first I only could run faster, but not make it look like a teleportation, but then Kurama finally decided to help me" He then chuckled evilly "Maybe because some clones decided to start detonating themselves… Hehehe."
Jiraya shivered unconsciously.
"But he told me to try to, instead of focusing my magic power on myself, use it as some kind of hook to the place I want to go, and then let it just pull me."
Naruto remained silent for some seconds before he resumed his speech, but this time from a tree branch on the edge of the training ground, the Naruto sitting in the ground vanished a second later and Jiraya's jaw hit the floor while his eyes almost popped out of their sockets
"It took nearly 300 clones and many nasty landings to finally get it right, but once they got the hang of it things went smoother" again some seconds of silence and the speech continued from Gamakichi's head "But it was well damn worth it, thanks to that weird energy on the air I can mold the Eternano easily without the handseals, the afterimage was a cool side effect for short jumps."
Once again silence, and Jiraya immediately swung his head everywhere searching for the next appearing spot, and finally spotted a shiny spot in the ground not too far from him that looked like some kind of seal, and then Naruto appeared there smirking. He turned and saw the Naruto on Gamakichi's head already fading, and said toad was three shades clearer on the face, with a padded hand over his chest.
"I'll go back now bro, it was nice and all to see you again, but you are starting to creep me out" And with that the toad was gone in a flash of light instead of the usual poof of smoke.
"That's impressive and all" Jiraya said knowing that it was a major understatement, but it seemed like a bad idea to rub the boy's ego "But the time you take to use the jutsu is far too long, for rapid successions, I mean, if you could polish that and the timing between jumps this version of Shunshin could give you a great edge on battle."
Damn, if the gaki perfected this unique variant of shunshin it could easily rival Minato's Hiraishin with that afterimage thing, maybe even become stronger and more dangerous.
Whatever he was thinking was cut off by Naruto's chuckle, only to later see another 10 shiny spots on the ground around him "No way…"
"I was just. Breaking things. Down to you. A bit. Baa-chan and. Kurama almost. Had a heart attack. After seeing this. But it still takes a lot of magic power to do, luckily I have enough to pull that same trick a couple more times."
During that time Naruto's voice seemed to come from every image of the blonde around Jiraya, and when the voice finally stopped moving the only signal that those were no clones was that when Jiraya pocked one of them his finger went through it as if there was nothing, all his demonstration took less than 20 seconds.
"N-now that was something else gaki, and hearing about what Tsunade-hime told me before you have put a total new standard to the basic academy jutsus, and now you have turned a low ranked travel jutsu to a level similar to the Hiraishin, if not higher I would dare to say."
"What's a hirshin?"
"Hiraishin, Naruto."
"Whatever."
"The Hiraishin no jutsu was you father's most… sorry, it was the Yondaime Hokage's most deadly jutsu, combined with the Rasengan. It was a time-space ninjutsu that used seal tags attached to special kunai that allowed him to have total control of the battlefield, allowing him to teleport wherever one of that kunai were placed. The yellow trail of light that appeared every time he used it earned him the title of 'Konoha's yellow flash'"
"Kunai is that metal thing that looks like a dagger right?" Jiraya nodded. His sight was lost behind Naruto, like looking or remembering something only he knew with a small but warm smile on his face.
"You seem to be proud of that Yondaime guy, I'm sure he was someone really close to you… was he your son?"
"Kami forbid that! No gaki, Minato Namikaze was his student" Tsunade said entering the training ground along with Kurama, and when Naruto heard the name Minato something reacted inside him, it was a warm feeling that he only related to Igneel, Natsu, Happy and Kurama.
He dismissed it as empathy to Uzumaki once he remembered Jiraya slipped that Minato was Uzumaki's father.
"Good work with the shunshin by the way, you really blew the standards after that small addition you gave it."
"Hehe, thanks baa-chan" He said blushing a bit at the praise, and then got a curious glint on his eyes.
"Hey Baa-chan, the pervert let it slip that the Minato guy is Uzumaki's father… Why I haven't seen him so far? I mean maybe he is searching for his son out there, but he should also have returned during the time I was here right?"
Tsunade gave a sharp glare at Jiraya, who turned to a side with a sheepish look trying to escape her gaze, and then Tsunade turned to Naruto.
"He is dead, he died a long time ago protecting the village from a demon that attacked the same day his son was born… he sacrificed himself to save the whole village along with his wife, leaving our Naruto as an orphan."
Naruto was shocked by this revelation, and didn't noticed the guilty flinch on Kurama's face. But Jiraya did noticed it.
"Want to hear about it gaki? Even if sad, it's a nice story of how they loved their son and village so much that they died protecting both" Naruto nodded absentmindedly and sat in the ground cross legged.
Tsunade gave Jiraya a questioning look but decided to play along and also sit besides the pervert to see what he was trying to get from this.
Jiraya started explaining what a Bijuu and a Jinchuuriki were, and how Kushina Uzumaki, Naruto's mother, was the Kyuubi's Jinchuuriki. Then he started with the attack to the village, when a masked man somehow managed to take the Kyuubi out of Kushina's seal and gain control over it.
How Minato Namikaze faced the masked man alone while the ninjas of the village fended Kyuubi off to avoid the total destruction of Konoha, and how he broke the control the masked man had over the fox forcing him to retreat, to then return to the village and take the Kyuubi away from it.
The details of what happened then were not known to him since he wasn't there and only learned about the other fight from what the Sandaime, his old teacher, told him. In the end he performed a sealing that cost his and his wife's lives to put the Kyuubi inside their son in hopes of him becoming the hero of that night, and with confidence that he would become strong enough to harness the Bijuu's power.
Of course Tsunade knew all the details. Naruto told them personally to her along with the rest of his friends during the war after he mastered the use of the Kyuubi's chakra, but she wouldn't unveil that information now.
First because it would blow their cover to Jiraya.
The pervert was no idiot, even if he acted like one, and if she gave him even the faintest trail to follow he would eventually uncover the whole story about their time-travel. But the other, and the strongest reason she didn't gave a deeper explanation from that night was because of the pained face of both Naruto and Kurama.
One was shocked beyond belief, with tears gathering on the corner of his eyes, while the other looked utterly ashamed and regret shone through that red slitted eyes that once held nothing but hate, it would only be worse for them to unveil the truth of that night.
"D-did he have his last wish granted? D-did Uzumaki was seen as the hero?" Naruto fearfully asked while hugging the small body of Kurama like a lifeline. The fox didn't mind being used like a stuffed animal for the moment, too deep on his own memories to care, regret clearly visible on his pained face.
Deep inside Naruto already knew the answer to his questions, but he hoped that intuition was wrong... Sadly it was Tsunade who shattered his hopes this time.
(Play song: Musique pour la tristesse de Xion – Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 Original Soundtrack)
"No" she answered simply with a sad sigh. Jiraya was too focused on the small fox on Naruto's arms to keep explaining, so she kept talking.
"The pain of the looses was too great for practically the whole village, and not having the fox to vent their frustration in they instead targeted Naruto. He grew up alone and hated by the whole village, and even if the Sandaime decreed a law that forbid the young from learning about his burden in hopes of him having a somewhat normal childhood, their fathers had the idea that Naruto was the fox, not the one who kept him at bay. And even if the didn't openly spoke the truth, they taught to hate and shun him to their childs."
"He… he grew up like me…" Naruto practically whispered only to himself, but Tsunade heard it and frowned. Wasn't he happy in that other world?
"I sometimes have… flashes of my life from before Kurama found me on the forest. Not complete memories, but still… and always they are about people hating me… calling me names, looking at me as some kind of monster… it's always painful to remember…"
Then his expression softened a bit, a small smile came to his face and he hugged the small fox on his arms tighter "But I was fortunate to find Kurama, and then Natsu-nii and Igneel, and the whole guild… they made those painful memories seem like nothing and made me feel loved… they are my family"
Kurama only leaned his head over Naruto's chest and nuzzled there, a relieved smile on his muzzle, but still some pangs of guilt flashing on his eyes. He knew Jiraya had deciphered his true identity by now, and that he clearly remembered, but he didn't cared. He had made Uzumaki's life's a living hell, but now he was making amends with Naruto, trying to procure as much happiness as he could to his blonde kit.
A frown then appeared on Naruto's face "Uzumaki, unlike me, couldn't find a family, but you two along with all the people I met when I arrived here seemed very fond of him… I can understand that the younger ones met him later, that he somehow managed to become their friend as he grew up, but the older ones looked like they could raise him. You, that pervert" he said pointing to Jiraya "the cyclops and many others there that I'm sure knew about his origins. But even then he grew up alone, being the son of a man that everybody looked up to, and also being the one keeping a disaster like that one from happening again… Why?"
"We had to keep his origins hidden from many people… even from himself…" The expression on Naruto's face was like if someone told him that he would never return to his home, utter disbelieve "We needed to keep it a secret for his protection. Minato became the public enemy of more than one nation, and they would have been more than happy to kill his heir, it was easier to keep him safe as another orphan of the Kyuubi attack, that way he-"
"That's bull!"Naruto felt the anger rise within him, no one deserved to have his origins hidden from them, he didn't knew who his parents were, and for a moment he wondered if there was also another version of Minato and Kushina on Earthland, and if they were his parents… But when questions about why he was alone started to rise he dismissed the idea.
He preferred to stick with Igneel and leave his true parentage aside, nobody knew about it and he didn't wished to find out. But Uzumaki's case was something totally different, that small bit of information would have made his life far much better than what Tsunade was telling him, he was sure of that.
"That Minato guy seemed to be important for you two, then why you didn't took care of his son?" Naruto kept on ranting and both Sannin had to look to a side in shame, it was their own selfish pity what condemned Naruto to that life of loneliness.
In Jiraya's case he used his spy network as an excuse to go away from the child. His resemblance to Minato, someone he loved as his own son, was simply too much for him to bear, and in Tsunade's case her self-induced depression and small shell kept her away from Konoha, making her not care about her former home village and leave Naruto alone.
Even being the legendary Sannin, none had the guts to answer him.
"Back in the guild we went to war, TO WAR with another guild because they hurt a group of our family, and wished to take another away from us. We didn't even cared about our guild hall when it was destroyed, you know why? Because we were the ones who made the guild, not the building, and because we cared for each other. And you tell me that because of fear that Uzumaki could be targeted you made his life a living hell? That because you thought he could be killed in revenge you never stood for him, and left him alone to fend himself against the hate of his own home?"
"Please, understand that besides being the Yondaime's son he was also the container of the most powerful Bijuu of the nine! His potential to become a weapon for the village would have made him a living target for every other nation if his parentage was ever revealed!" Naruto's wide eyes made Tsunade realize she gave the wrong answer.
"A weapon? All of this because I was your weapon?!" The discussion was so heated up between Tsunade and Naruto, and Jiraya and Kurama were still lost on their own regrets that not even Naruto noticed his own slip.
"Of course not! We all care for him for who he is!"
"THEN WHY!? THAT COULD HAVE BEEN ME!" He stood abruptly with Kurama still on his arms "That could have been us" He added on a low tone, more like talking to himself but Kurama still heard it and flinched as another pang of guilt hit him
"You…" Jiraya finally spoke, but his voice was tired and defeated, totally different from the cheerful and boastful he got used during his stance in Konoha "You wouldn't understand, this is not your world and you won't comprehend our reasons."
Jiraya knew they wouldn't win this argument against Naruto, so he decided it would be better to just finish the conversation there.
For some silent minutes Naruto's eyebrows frowned and he closed his eyelids in deep thought, releasing Kurama in the process, and when he opened his eyes again, flames of determination flared on his eyes with such conviction that the sight reminded the Sannin of the old Naruto.
"I will find Uzumaki no matter what, that's a promise" The relieved smile that came to their faces was wiped instantly by his next statement.
"And then I will take him with me back to Earthland."
Despite the gloomy mood Kurama was in, he couldn't help but facepaw. Only Naruto would come with such answer.
"There he will have a family, friends and he will finally be happy" And turning his back to the two gaping Sannin he started to walk away, Kurama shortly following him.
Some seconds later a muffled explosion was heard from another training ground and a rush of memories reached Jiraya. He stood there wide eyed for a second before he closed his eyes, and a sad smile with a low chuckle came out of his mouth before he shook his head.
"What happened Jiraya?" Tsunade asked in an unusual soft tone to her teammate.
"The gaki did it again, his clones mastered the Rasengan and now he can form it with one hand, besides from now being able to throw it … Not even Minato managed to do that" And with that he stood up, turned and started to walk back to the village, deep in his own thoughts.
Tsunade was about to also leave, but turned once again to the distancing image of Naruto's back and a bittersweet smile came to her face. He had all the right to leave them this time if it meant that he would finally be happy, and despite how much it would hurt her hearth, when the time came she would be there, encouraging him to go and return to his new and better home… it was the least she could do being his godmother.
(End Song)