Chapter 6
o
The horizon was just beginning to turn golden as the approaching dawn ushered in another beautiful day in Konoha. Some of the citizens had already been up for a few hours, the scent of fresh baked breads and other breakfast foods could be smelled all around the village, while others were only beginning to stir in their warm beds. The Hokage Tower was open, but not busy yet, that wouldn't begin until after the great gates opened and the rest of the village had risen from its slumber, but a few civilians dressed in clothing ranging from rags to tailored suits as well as ninja of various levels could be seen entering and exiting already, many yawning as they did so. Some where picking up missions, some were requesting them, and others were just milling about as they waited for a meeting they were early for.
Naruto saw all of them from his perch on the roof of a nearby building. He wasn't sure how long he'd been crouching there, but his muscles ached and he longed to allow himself to stretch. Despite his discomfort, he didn't move from his spot or even look away from the activity below him for fear that he might be distracted and miss who he was looking for. It had been three days already since he'd decided upon this quest and he had yet to find her. This was, however, the first morning that he had woken so early and he was feeling confident that this time he wouldn't be disappointed.
His conversation with Sakura the previous week and the changes it seemed to be making with her had given him new hope and confidence that he actually would be able to pull off this insane idea of 'fixing' the future and wouldn't just end up with a bigger mess than he already had on his hands.
She no longer bothered Sasuke for dates the way she previously had, but rather asked him if he'd like to go practice their taijutsu further and even asked him if he could help her become more accurate with her kunai throws. So far, Naruto hadn't seen him actually take her up on her offers, but he had given her a few pointers once or twice. He also seemed far less annoyed with her when she spoke to him and that was the first good sign Naruto had seen since waking up in the past. Sakura apparently noticed as well and had redoubled her efforts to become useful to him in whatever way she could, even staying after Kakashi had dismissed them and training on her own.
Naruto was glad that she was starting to become more like the woman he remembered her as – even if it was just a little – and hoped that Sasuke would start taking her up on her offer occasionally. He'd never gotten the chance to find out how Sasuke felt about her in the future, but maybe they could at least be good friends and there was always a chance that he'd eventually return her feelings… you couldn't restore a clan without some Uchiha babies, after all, and that took a woman who was willing to bear those babies. Sakura was as good a candidate for the job as anyone else who might want it… probably even a better candidate than most since she actually stood a chance of getting to know him for more than his looks and money.
The problem was: what was Naruto supposed to do now?
All of his conversations with Sasuke were what Naruto had dubbed: "Sasuke can't be bothered with you" conversations. They generally involved him asking Sasuke if he'd like to hang out or train or something and Sasuke telling that he had better things to do. The only other type of conversation they had were the ones in which Sasuke dropped veiled insults about Naruto's abilities even though Naruto was now only making the occasional intentional mistake on the missions. Clearly he would just have to wait for old man Tazuna and their mission to the Wave Country before he could start working on his future friend. After the disaster during their farming mission, it was clear that Sasuke wasn't going to come to him for any sort of training or help unless he was dragged kicking and screaming and Naruto didn't want that. If he could just wait until they went to the Wave Country everything would work out fine the way it had before…
Unfortunately, Naruto couldn't remember exactly when they were given that mission and was beginning to grow impatient. Now that he had his body under control (there were still a few slip-ups, but they were so few and far between that they were probably just legitimate clumsiness rather than issues caused by traveling backwards through time and space), it seemed that he should be making some large strides towards creating the utopia he envisioned for this second chance at the future. Instead he was just sitting around doing boring missions, being taught taijutsu and team tactics by Kakashi that he either already knew or knew something that worked better, and watching Sakura making strides towards becoming Sasuke's friend while he was still seen as being the dead-last on the team.
It was because of this frustration that he now found himself on rooftop perch spying on those entering and exiting the Hokage Tower. He'd spent several nights thinking long and hard about what he could do at this early stage to change the future that he'd come from and had only been able to think of one person who actually might need and accept his help: Hinata.
She was, really, his only option at the moment. Shikamaru, Chouji, and Ino all had fairly normal, safe lives – so far as he'd ever heard – until Sasuke's defection. On top of that, Shikamaru wasn't the sort of person he wanted to be around too much if he could help it. It was bad enough that he had to deal with Kakashi and all of his genius on a daily basis; he doubted he could fool two of them for any extended length of time. Kiba, Akamaru, and Shino were probably struggling to complete their missions – in part because of Hinata, though Naruto doubted it was all her fault – but that was about their only worry in life at the moment.
Though Rock Lee was rapidly becoming a clone of Maito Gai, Naruto was certain that the process was already irreversible by this point; even if he was allowed to live five lifetimes over again he probably couldn't stop it. Neji had a stick up his ass, but he'd live and Naruto knew that he would change that during the Chuunin Exam. Plus, he wasn't really sure how he could possibly help Neji without fighting him the way he had originally and on a list of stupid things he could do to call unwanted attention to himself, beating down the Hyuuga clan's greatest genius was probably pretty near the top. Tenten's only trouble was that she had to deal with Neji and all his depressing talk about fate as well as Gai and Lee and their babbling about "the power of youth." Naruto felt sorry for her, but she'd come out of it just fine the first time around.
Sai was still a member of Root and Naruto had no idea where he could find him or what he would do and say if he did. Taking down that organization's leader, Danzo, was an even worse idea than beating up Neji… though Naruto really hated to admit it.
Though Naruto wished he could do something for the future Kazekage, Gaara and his siblings lived too far away for him to do anything for them. They would just have to survive, as they had originally, until the Chuunin Exam before he could start working on them. Gaara had been trapped in loneliness and near-insanity for years by this point, a few more months wouldn't hurt him too much, it hadn't the first time around anyway.
The current Leaf jounin were all capable of taking care of themselves for a few more years, at least, and old man Hokage wasn't in any immediate danger either. As near as Naruto could tell, that left Hinata – whose life was full of scorn and self-depreciation that she didn't deserve – and the traitor Kabuto as the only ones whose lives he could and should start messing with.
Of those two, Hinata was the one he'd decided on. As much as he wanted to hunt down and kill Kabuto, there was no way Naruto could find him without looking extremely suspicious. A genin – particularly a twelve year old genin who had only been a ninja for a few weeks – had no business asking about random older genin. Asking about Kabuto's location would only raise questions that he didn't think he could answer… especially when the bastard turned up dead shortly thereafter.
He was already beginning to think that Kakashi might suspect that he wasn't the Naruto he was supposed to be. Little comments he'd made, odd glances here and there… Kakashi was definitely too observant for Naruto's good and would be much too clever to miss the fact that a fellow Leaf-nin had been killed not long after Naruto had been asking where to find him. If that happened, there'd be no telling what Kakashi's reaction would be.
No, it had to be Hinata. Besides, he owed her more than he could make up with just the halfhearted apology he'd given her that first day when he still thought she was little more than a piece of an elaborate genjutsu.
The young Hyuuga had always been quiet and unsure of herself when they were kids. She'd even fainted a couple of times for some reason when he'd dropped in on her unexpectedly and often spent more time looking at the ground and apologizing than she did talking to him. That had eventually changed and she had become one of his close friends, especially after Sakura's death. Unfortunately, the timidity of her youth damaged to her reputation amongst her clan beyond repair. The elders refused to accept her as the Head of the Clan after her father's death, instead choosing a man that they did approve of and arranging for her to marry him so that the lines of succession would remain intact.
The man chosen, Hyuuga Hiroshi, was little more than a career politician. He'd served as a jounin for a while, endowed with the genius that all Hyuuga seemed to possess, and then, after being injured on a mission, had become an advisor for someone that everyone felt was important (though he wasn't important enough for Naruto to remember his name). Hiroshi was also member of the Head Family, naturally, and had many friends and allies amongst the elders of the Hyuuga clan – which explained how he was able to jump to such an important position after such a boring career.
As soon as the marriage was announced, Hiroshi began setting up appointments to meet with Naruto. The meetings were boring, long, full of a lot of butt-kissing, and discussions of plans for the future of the village and the Hyuuga that Naruto had no intention of implementing. Despite how dull the meetings were, the fact that Hiroshi worked so hard to get into Naruto's good graces would have been flattering had he not already hated the man for being party to forcing Hinata into a marriage that he was sure she didn't want and had he not heard from Shino that Hiroshi was also telling members of the village Council that a new leader with more experience and less "baggage" was needed to take over the position of Hokage.
Even with all that, he might have learned to at least tolerate the man, but then he had stopped by the Hyuuga manor to see Hinata and found a dark bruise on her face that he was certain didn't come from a sparring match – no matter how much she insisted that it had. After that, his loathing Hiroshi became a venomous hatred that was second only to his hatred of Orochimaru… well, that was overstating it a bit, but he certainly had made it into the top ten.
He wouldn't allow that bastard to become leader of the Hyuuga and he certainly wouldn't let him marry Hinata, not a second time. When Hinata had told him of her impending marriage, she had mentioned – after some prodding on Naruto's part – that there was a way out of it, but refused to tell him what it was. He'd thought about it for years even after her marriage, but never was able to guess what she could have been talking about. That meant that this time around – since he clearly wasn't smart enough to figure it out – he would have to make it so that the mysterious escape clause was never needed. He was going to make sure that Hinata was the best damn Hyuuga the elders had ever seen… or at least second best, just behind Neji.
Now if only he could find her!
"Stinkin' Kurenai," he grumbled as a new group of not-Hinata or her teammates appeared, "I thought you were supposed to be the responsible one."
He let his eyes travel from one side of the courtyard leading up to the Tower to the other even though he was certain that he'd already looked all of those people over and shook his head; obviously Asuma was a bad influence on her. Were it not for the fact that their offspring was going to be a cute baby and would be loaded with natural talent he might have jokingly considered trying to get her to dump the lazy bearded jounin, but only jokingly.
The two's relationship had become public while he was away training with Jiraiya, followed shortly thereafter by marriage and later by Kurenai's pregnancy. Because Asuma was killed just a short while after Naruto returned from his training, he never got the chance to see them officially together. He had, however, heard on several occasions that the two of them clearly belonged with one another… and who was he to argue with an expert like Ino?
Another ten minutes went by and the area surrounding the Tower began to fill up with more and more ninja and other people with business there. Soon it would be impossible to keep track of who he'd already looked at and who was a new arrival. It wouldn't be long before Naruto would be unable to spot even someone as distinct as Kurenai, never mind Hinata, who was always trying to remain unseen.
As it turned out, he had already missed them enter the Tower, but fortunately spotted them as they came out, mostly because Kiba was practically dancing with excitement while Akamaru, caught up in his friend's exuberance, barked loudly from his perch atop Kiba's head. Naruto himself almost felt like doing a little jig as he rose to his feet and watched them for a moment.
It was strange to see Team Eight as children again. He'd already seen Hinata, of course, but that was when he thought that everything around him was nothing more than the powerful genjutsu, Tsukuyomi. To see them now, realizing that they really were children again was almost as strange as the first time he'd looked at his own teammates.
Shino was wearing a grey coat with a high collar and the dark sunglasses that everyone in his clan seemed to wear. Over the years Naruto had actually forgotten what Shino's hair looked like as he'd taken to wearing a hood that was almost never removed when he got older, but now his poofy, dark hair –he'd clearly inherited it from his father as Shino's mother had straight hair that actually obeyed gravity – could be easily spotted even from the distance. Looking at it now, Naruto wondered if Shino had started wearing his hood in an effort to hide his hair and make himself even less conspicuous than he already was… that sounded like something an eternal pragmatist like him would do.
Kiba was wearing a similar coat with the hood pulled up. His hair was either already as long as he'd worn it as an adult or the hood and jacket were lined with dark fur that looked just like his hair, probably the latter since it looked like he had a lot more arm hair than Naruto remembered him possessing as an adult. Akamaru sat on his head, happily wagging his white tail and giving no sign that he would eventually be the enormous dog that Kiba had been able to ride into battle.
"Hinata-chan!" Naruto called out as he stepped off the rooftop and ran straight down the wall, seeming to bend gravity to his will (though it was little more than simple chakra manipulation).
Team Eight looked over at him in surprise as did everyone else who heard him – most only looked at him long enough to see who he was and then quickly made it a point to ignore him, while those from outside the village continued to stare for a little while longer. He quickly pushed his way through the crowd, not bothering to respond to the angry muttering he heard every time he pushed someone a little more than was appreciated, until he reached his future friends.
"Hey, Hinata-chan, how's it going?" he asked with a large, happy grin.
For the first time that he could remember, Hinata didn't really smile at his greeting; she only stared down at the ground and pushed her fingers together.
Her lack of any sort of real reply left him feeling flatfooted. "Er… Hinata-chan, are you okay?"
"I… I'm s-sorry, Naruto, but m-my team has a mission," she whispered so quietly he almost didn't hear her.
Naruto stared at her in confusion for a moment, feeling awkward and incredibly uncomfortable. Hinata had never called him just 'Naruto.' When he was the Hokage, she almost always called him 'Naruto-sama' even when he asked her not to and when they were younger she'd always called him 'Naruto-kun.' What was even weirder was the tone of her voice, even whispered as it was, made it sound like she was actually trying to be rude… as quietly and gently as possible.
"Oh… uh, right… yeah, I, uh…" The conversation had gone much smoother in his head when he planned it out a few days earlier. Of course, when he planned it out, he'd assumed Hinata would be at least mildly happy to see him instead of looking like she wished to see anyone but him. "…I just wanted to ask if you'd… um, like to hang out or… uh, train… you know, sometime…"
"P-perhaps," she whispered, still refusing to look him in the eye. "W-when we return, m-maybe."
Naruto nodded, his brain working furiously to figure out why she was acting that way. Every possibility from 'replaced by a disguised enemy' to 'contracting a personality-altering virus' ran through his mind, but were discarded until at last he hit on what he thought was the most logical, but least probable theory:
Hinata was mad at him.
Over the years he'd done many things that he thought Hinata would have had a good reason to be mad at him over. Sending her sister and cousin on the missions that had claimed their lives, not stopping her clan from forcing her to marry Hiroshi, being a moping baby every few weeks (or even every other day) who didn't want to be responsible for all the things that he was responsible for… Any of those would have been perfectly good reasons to become annoyed or angry with him, maybe even hate him, but Hinata had never shown him anything but kindness. How had he managed to do something in a few weeks that he'd never been able to do in nearly thirty years? How as it even possible that she would be mad at him in this timeline when she never had been in the previous? He'd barely even spoken to her!
Hinata and her team started walking away, but Naruto's hand shot out and caught her by the wrist, pulling her gently back towards him. "Are you mad at me, Hinata-chan?" he asked.
Hinata bit her lip and kept her eyes away from him.
The fact that she didn't immediately begin stammering about him being mistaken while quickly apologizing and taking the blame for making him think such a thing was as sure a sign as Naruto had ever seen.
He opened his mouth to say something, but wasn't sure what exactly should come out. He could apologize, but he didn't know what he'd be apologizing for or he could ask her what he'd done to make her angry, but that might only make her madder at him – as was sometimes the case with Ino and Sakura. Kiba saved him from sitting there like an idiot with his mouth hanging open and his brain trying to decide which option involved less risk.
"Come on, dumb ass, leave Hinata alone! We've got a big, important mission to get to," the taller boy yelled. Akamaru barked in agreement.
"A big mission?" Naruto asked dumbly still staring at Hinata.
"Yup, and the client's kind of a jerk. So leave her alone, you're making us late!"
Hinata finally managed to look up at Naruto and he thought she almost appeared sorry to have to leave, but then – without so much as a goodbye – she dropped her head again and joined her team as they walked towards the gates.
Naruto watched them disappear into the crowd and then cursed under his breath. If it was possible for him to make Hinata mad at him, who knew what other trouble he could get into?
ooo
"Sasuke, report."
"I have the packages and am waiting in position."
"Sakura-chan?"
"All set, I'll be at the drop off point in less than a minute."
"Naruto?"
"…"
"Naruto?"
"…"
"Naruto, what is your status?"
"Hey dummy! Wake up! Where are you?"
It was Sakura's voice that finally cut through the haze surrounding Naruto's brain, "Uh… what?"
"Have you picked up your portion of the list?" Kakashi asked through his headset.
Naruto looked down at the list in his hand and then up at the marketplace spread out before him. "Uh… no…"
"Damn it, Naruto!" Sakura voice yelled through the earphone. "We're supposed to be done in less than ten minutes!"
"Right… yeah, I'll, uh… I'll get right on it." Naruto switched off his radio so he wouldn't have to listen to anymore complaints and looked down at the piece of paper in his hand. Eggs, milk, tuna, bread, apples, radishes, onions, flour, cheese, and sugar. It would take him more than ten minutes just to collect all of those items, let alone make it back to… wherever he was supposed to take them.
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" he called out as he brought his fingers together. A second later, five additional Narutos were standing with him. Each was given two items to collect and then the small army of blonds rushed into the marketplace while Naruto picked a spot in the shade to sit down and think some more. All day he'd been unable to think anything but the meeting Hinata earlier that morning and what he could possibly have done to upset her in such a short period of time when he'd barely even seen her. Despite having devoted most of his time to the problem – and his performance during the mission had shown how little attention he'd paid to it – he still wasn't able to think of a single thing he could have done… unless she was still mad about him dislocating his finger, but she hadn't even been that mad about it at the time…
It only took his clones a few minutes to return with the groceries they'd been sent for, not nearly enough time for him to make any headway with the Hinata problem.
"Okay, I've got the supplies," he reported into his headset after turning it back on, "I'm on my way…"
"Hurry up," Kakashi replied, "you only have about three minutes before the time we said we'd be done."
"Yeah, no problem…" Naruto easily leaped onto the roof of the nearest building, looked around, and then asked, "Uh, where were we supposed to meet again?"
Three voices groaned and then Sakura gave him directions.
ooo
A pretty woman herding four young, rambunctious children had just arrived at her front doorstep where Kakashi, Sasuke, and Sakura were waiting for her when Naruto seemed to appear out of nowhere, red faced and panting hard. The woman stared at Naruto for a moment, trying to place his face, before her eyes widened and she quickly shooed her children inside as she took a step away from him. Naruto ignored both her and her reaction, instead handing the bags of groceries to Kakashi and then walking to a nearby tree where he sat down and wiped sweat from his face, muttering about being out of shape.
Kakashi gave his student only the briefest of glances before turning back to the woman and helping Sasuke and Sakura take the groceries inside. It took only a moment for the final chore of their mission to be completed and then he led his team – with Naruto trailing behind them – back to the Hokage Tower to report on the success of the mission.
Along the way Sakura, who normally preferred to walk next to Sasuke and – up until just recently – trying to get him to talk to her, slowed her pace until Naruto caught up with her. "You were paying less attention than usual today," she pointed out without really looking at him. "It was like you were somewhere else."
Naruto's head jerked up in surprise and then he smiled for the first time in hours. "It was nothing; I just didn't sleep well last night."
Sakura frowned, "You're a bad liar."
Naruto let out a loud gasp and then tripped, falling face first into the cement sidewalk. 'You're a bad liar' was one of the last things Sakura – his Sakura – had ever said to him as he knelt next to her in a dark cave and helplessly watched her blood drain out of her. He'd told her that her injuries weren't that bad, that he'd have her patched up in no time, that everything was going to be just fine. She'd smiled up at him, weakly reaching up a trembling hand to cup his face and wipe away his tears… and then she'd said the last words that he'd ever thought he'd hear from her and they started with: "You're a bad liar."
Sakura knelt next to him, all pretenses of not really walking next to him or talking to him vanishing. "Geez, are you okay?" she asked, actually sounding concerned which surprised Naruto further.
He got to his knees and looked at the scrapes on his hands, knowing there would probably be some on his face as well. Iruka would no doubt laugh at him for getting injured on a grocery collecting mission, but that was okay. It was always nice seeing Iruka smile and the image of that smile helped push back thoughts of the dark cave that he would never let this Sakura enter. "Yeah, I'm fine."
Naruto stood and the two picked up their pace so they could keep up with Sasuke and Kakashi who were now quite far ahead. After a few paces, he looked over at Sakura and then said, "Hey, Sakura-chan, you're a girl, right?"
Sakura's eyebrow twitched and her hand curled into a fist. "Yeah… I'm a girl."
Naruto missed the signs that would have warned him that he was already in danger and should proceed with extreme caution; he was already beginning to lose himself once more in thoughts of why Hinata would be mad at him. It was either think about that or think about the day Sakura died and he had no desire to go through that again. "So, do all girls just get mad over nothing… or is it just yo—"
A loud crack echoed down the street as Sakura's fist connected solidly with Naruto's cheek, sending him crashing into the side of a nearby building.
Sitting upside down with a swollen cheek and one eye that could barely open anymore, Naruto watched Sakura storm off towards Sasuke and Kakashi, who both gave her plenty of space as she continued past them. He should have seen that one coming, Sakura might have changed a little, but it was still far too early to be going to her for advice. He righted himself, rose unsteadily to his feet, and did his best to catch up.
ooo
Naruto's first thought upon being dismissed for the afternoon – besides wanting to take a long soak to ease the pain from the beating he'd had to let Sasuke give him during their training session and the one Sakura had given him on the walk to Tower after their mission – was to hunt down Hinata and try to fix things, but then he began to wonder if she didn't need some time to get over it the Sakura and Ino often had when he accidentally pissed them off. Going by the logic that Sakura and Ino were girls and they needed time to cool off before they were willing to forgive him, and that Hinata was also a girl, therefore Hinata would probably need some time to cool down, he decided to give her the time she needed before storming the Hyuuga compound to apologize for whatever crime he'd inadvertently committed.
So instead of looking for her that afternoon, he waited a full day – which seemed like more than enough time for someone to get over something – before he even started to really keep an eye open for her. After two days of hoping to just run into her or spot her in the crowd, he began to actively search for her during his free time. He woke early and watched the crowds arrive at the Tower. He wandered around near the Hyuuga compound. He checked the training grounds whenever he had the chance, hoping to catch her team practicing.
Nothing.
He saw plenty of other people that he knew or would eventually know, but Team Eight was no where to be seen.
After it had been nearly five full days since he'd last seen her, he finally decided that he'd have to ask someone. The next morning, after they had been given yet another D Rank mission – leaving him once again wondering how long he had to wait before Tazuna showed up – he walked over to his old teacher, Umuino Iruka, and said, "Uh, Iruka-sensei, have you seen Team Eight recently?"
The chuunin looked surprised at the question, but after a moment's thought he smiled kindly. "They're out on a mission, Naruto, and aren't expected back for another week at least."
Naruto's eyes widened. D Rank missions were almost always conducted within the village – though a few took place in the surrounding area – and generally took only a day or a few hours to complete. Some might run as long as two or even three days, but never for more than that. "You gave them a C Rank mission?"
Iruka grinned nervously and the scar running across his cheeks and nose seeming to grin with him as he adjusted the spiky, black ponytail sticking out of the top of his head. "Well, Kiba asked… uh… loudly for something more challenging even though his team wasn't always doing that great on the D Rank missions they'd been given. I didn't think they were ready, but Kurenai-sensei felt that her team would be able to handle it and so we found them a relatively easy one that we'd been waiting to assign to one of the more experienced genin teams." He shuffled some papers and then continued, "There was a bridge builder who had come in a few days before wanting some bodyguards to protect him from bandits while he traveled back to his home in the Wave Country…"
Naruto didn't hear another word that was said. His stomach dropped into his feet and his heart stopped beating while the blood drained from his face.
It wasn't possible… it couldn't be possible. His team was supposed to get that mission! They had to get that mission! That was where everything had started for them, it was where they learned to be a true team, it was where Sasuke had found out that he wasn't just a screw up, it was where Sakura had learned to at least tolerate him, it was where…
An even more horrifying thought struck him. Team Eight. They wouldn't be ready for something like that, not yet anyway. If it weren't for Sasuke and Kakashi, none of them would have made it through the first fight with Zabuza… they might not even have made it that far. Kurenai was a good ninja, but she was no Kakashi and no one on her team was at Sasuke's level at this point.
"Naruto, are you okay?" someone asked him and he thought he might have managed to nod dumbly as he turned to leave. He was dimly aware of Iruka, or perhaps old man Hokage calling to him as he walked away, but their voices sounded far away and his mind couldn't focus on them enough for him to understand or care what they were saying.
It was possible that Hinata, Shino, Kiba, Akamaru, and Kurenai were already dead… it might even be likely. Somewhere along the way he'd made another mistake and this was a far bigger one than simply getting Sakura tied to the training post or making Hinata mad at him… he might have gotten four people – and a dog – killed.
Naruto followed Kakashi, Sakura, and Sasuke all the way out of the Hokage Tower before his brain turned back on and he began coming up with a plan. He knew that what he ought to do was to go to Kakashi and tell him everything, but he also knew that he couldn't do that. There was no telling if Kakashi would believe him, even if Naruto showed him a jutsu or two… or ten… that he had no business knowing. The simpler explanation would be that Naruto was some sort of spy disguised as Naruto or that Kyuubi was in control of his body and by the time the full truth was realized – if it ever was – Kurenai's team would have already met their fate, assuming they weren't already dead.
What Naruto needed to do first and foremost was to figure out if the members of Team Eight were even still alive. Fortunately, he was certain that he could at least get that much before he committed himself to anything too drastic.
He waited until he walked past an alleyway and then quickly stepped inside. His fingers sped through the seals: boar, dog, bird, monkey, and sheep and then he slammed his hand down onto the ground. They were seals that his mind knew by heart after years of use added to the fact that the summoning jutsu was the first thing Jiraiya had ever really taught him.
For the first time since he was a kid, nothing happened. No seals spread out from his palm, no toads appeared with a puff of smoke… nothing.
He ran through the seals again, more carefully this time, put his hand down… and again was disappointed. It took a moment, but when the reason for his failure dawned on him, and then he felt dumb for having not realized the problem earlier. Of course he couldn't summon a toad! He hadn't signed the contract yet!
Cursing his own stupidity, he stepped back onto the street and continued following his teammates.
There were only two options left, now. Tell someone that Kurenai and her team were in trouble and face the questions that would come from that, or go and help them on his own. Naruto sighed as he made up his mind. He'd spent years wishing that he could go back to being a kid again when life was simple and easy, but now that he was a kid things were more complicated than ever!
Their mission that day was the longest of any he'd ever been on and he had never been such a horrible screw up, not even on the first one they ever did during his original trip through life. By the time it was all said and done, Sasuke and Sakura were mad at him for holding them back through pure inattention and he couldn't care less. Kakashi asked him at least twice if he was okay, noting that he looked a bit distracted and more than a little ill, but Naruto barely managed to mumble an answer. All he could think about was Team Eight.
He'd promised himself that none of his precious people would end up on the Heroes' Monument, and in what felt like the blink of an eye, he'd somehow made a mistake that might have condemned four of them to that fate even earlier than in his original lifetime.
ooo
Later that night, Naruto stood on his small balcony and peered out into the darkness. He had wanted to get going as soon as possible, but after thinking about it, had decided that he would have to wait until evening to make it easier to avoid detection. The last thing he needed was to get caught before he even made it over the wall. "You understand what you have to do?" he asked, looking back into the apartment.
"Of course," his own bored voice answered. "I'm you."
"Do you think it will work?"
"I don't know, we've never tried anything like this before, but it'll probably only last until you fall asleep anyway," another copy of his voice replied from the other side of the room where he was helping himself to some instant ramen.
Naruto sighed and rubbed his eyes, he hated going without sleep. He had pumped as much chakra as possible into the clones, trying to make them last longer even when he moved a long distance away from them. Some types of clones could only move a certain distance from the original before the jutsu came undone and they vanished. He'd never had that problem with his clones, even when they traveled a mile or more away from him, but he'd never taken it as far as he was going to this time.
He stepped back inside and walked to the kitchen. "I guess it's a good thing I didn't throw this out…" he said as he opened up the refrigerator and took out a small carton of milk.
"I don't need that," the clone by the bed quickly told him as he pulled on a nightshirt and adjusted his black sleeping cap that was designed to look like a monster eating its wearer. "I'll just pretend."
"It'll be better this way and you know it," Naruto retorted.
"Then you stay and drink it and I'll go."
"You know that won't work…"
"Come on, we're a good actor. I can do it without the milk," the clone whined pitifully.
"Stop complaining," the other clone chuckled.
The first clone looked from the original Naruto to the second clone and then, seeing no sympathy for his fate, sighed and shook his head resignedly. "You're both cold hearted."
"It's not like it can kill you," Naruto reminded him.
"Fine, fine," the clone muttered darkly, turning and wandering into the bedroom. "Just hurry up and go. Maybe I'll get lucky and this won't work anyway."
Naruto nodded and headed back out onto the balcony hefting a backpack onto his shoulder and tightening the straps until it was snug. "Wish me luck."
"I wish you were unconscious so I wouldn't have to drink the milk," the clone shot back with a scowl. The second clone waved merrily and continued eating.
Naruto had chosen helping Hinata over Gaara because of how far away his fellow jinchuriki lived and how difficult it would be to vanish for the time it would take to get there and back. As it turned out, he was going to be forced to go on almost as long of a trip anyway. If there really were gods watching him, he was sure they were getting a good laugh at his expense.
He took a deep breath, gave his clones a small smile, and then disappeared into the night, hurriedly making his way towards the outer wall of the village, leaping from one roof top to the next and then over the wall and into the trees.
o
o
A/N: Since Kishimoto usually doesn't go into detail about distances or amount of time that's passed between one chapter and the next, I have no idea if Naruto's solution to his problem is actually feasible or not – but I don't think canon discounts it either. The only real clue we have is that Kakashi says a water clone cannot move far from the original's body (when fighting Zabuza), but that's a water clone and Naruto's chakra capacity, even as a child, exceeded most adults' so it's hard to say if it applies to his shadow clones. In more recent chapters (365, I think) Naruto sends out a bunch of clones searching for Sasuke because they'll be more efficient than using radios… which I would think would have a pretty wide range… again, who knows? Anyway, I don't think that it's a hugely unbelievable, so I'll just ask you to accept it for the sake of the story.
After reading numerous reviews complaining about Naruto's intelligence, I began to wonder if I was mischaracterizing him. I mean, Kishimoto says that Naruto is "simple and stupid," but maybe I'd taken it too far. Upon looking at most of what everyone was pointing to, I've decided that I think he's just fine as is… in fact, I don't really see what the big fuss is. So for anyone who is planning on sending me a review questioning Naruto's intelligence, calling him a retard, or whatever, I'd just like to point out a few things. Since this is my response to most of those reviews anyway, hopefully by giving you this now, you'll either have your points/questions answered or you'll be able to bring something new to my attention rather than just giving me the same old thing that I've already read several times. So, here are the main complaints about Naruto's intelligence level so far (excepting the first two chapters in which I think he deserves to be excused for since he thought he was under a genjutsu and didn't realize that he was dealing with reality) and my answers:
1. Not changing things right away. I'm not sure how this is a sign that he's being dumb. If you ask me, a stupid person would just be running around making sure that he changed as much as possible as quickly as possible. Not everything in the past had negative consequences, in fact, a lot of them worked out quite nice in the long run, so why should those things be needlessly changed (potentially calling attention to the fact that Naruto is acting very different from how he should be). This point, I think, comes from him acting the same during Kakashi's test – which worked out so horribly for his team the first time… what with them passing and all. Sorry, but I'm not going to have Naruto wanting to change everything even if it worked out okay for everyone. The saying "If it's not broke, don't fix it" is a cliché for a reason. Only an idiot tries to repair something that is already working perfectly fine.
2. Not knowing how to milk a cow. This was supposed to be kind of funny, but perhaps it didn't work. Sorry that his future knowledge doesn't help him with farm chores, but you'll notice that it did help him kick a 15 hundred kilogram (over 3 thousand pounds) animal's ass when the time came.
3. Not knowing what he did to upset Hinata. They had ONE conversation people. At the time, he was too busy being excited that all of his long dead friends were alive again to notice her get upset and leave. Since then he's had a lot on his mind (saving the world, regaining control of his body, not letting people know he wasn't kid-Naruto anymore…) so I don't think that it's out of the question for him not to remember upsetting her (something he didn't even see) two weeks ago. I don't know about you, but I've done things to upset people and not realized it until it was later explained to me… and I'd like to think that I'm smarter than even future Naruto.
4. His comments to Sakura about girls getting angry for no reason. Again, it's supposed to be funny. Naruto is distracted and says something thoughtless… well there's something Naruto has never done before. Besides that, he's used to a Sakura who is a little more understanding and forgiving than this one is. Sakura punching him is for comedic effect, just as it is in the manga/anime, it's not something to be used to judge his skills or intelligence, it's just supposed to be funny… but apparently not.
5. Not using Shadow clones to accomplish everything he needs to do. I suppose he could be out training while his shadow clones do all of his missions, but then, is that really what he wants to do with his time? Was it Naruto's lack of training that caused Sasuke to leave the village? No. It was Sasuke's thirst for power and revenge. Naruto already knows plenty of jutsu and has all of the chakra he could ever need and now has much better control over it – meaning that he doesn't waste nearly as much – so the only things he could really train are his muscles and chakra can offset any deficiency there (as seen in the manga by ninja's jumping straight up onto tall buildings or moving from one spot to the next in the blink of an eye). He trains with his team, he doesn't really need any more training outside of that. What he needs is to build friendships not just between himself and his friends, but also between Sasuke and other people so that there's more holding him to the village than there was originally, and that requires him being there on the missions… plus, it's probably a bit nostalgic for him to do those.
6. Not talking with Sasuke (on screen) more. Sorry if I haven't regaled you all with the deep and meaningful conversations that have gone on between Naruto and the ever-talkative Uchiha, but I just didn't think that it needed more than the one or two conversations shown. You'll notice that it has been said that most of the conversations follow the same basic outline:
Naruto: Hey Sasuke, want to go hang out or something?
Sasuke: No.
Naruto: How about get in some extra training?
Sasuke: With you? Pft. I'd be better off on my own.
….Ah yes, stimulating and poignant to be sure. I should probably make a whole chapter just with this type of conversation over and over. Let's face it, Sasuke has about five or six years worth of practice ignoring his need for friendships, I just don't see him overcoming that in a day or two or even a week, especially not with someone that he's observed to be his inferior. Sakura at least is close to his level as far as intelligence goes, but Naruto is believed to be beneath him in every possible way. So, I apologize that Naruto hasn't beaten Sasuke into the ground (calling all sorts of attention to himself), in order to get some respect that could eventually translate into friendship, but he's chosen the more natural, and less dangerous path… seemed logical to me, but I guess not.
7. Not using any jutsu except what we've seen in the manga. This one is just dumb, sorry. He's on D rank missions, what does he need to use other jutsu for? So he can paint a large sign over his head saying that he's not the Naruto he's supposed to be? He has used one previously unseen jutsu (to my knowledge at least) and that was just him reacting to danger that he normally doesn't find himself in.
Anyway, if those seven things make him stupid, fine. He's stupid, retarded, whatever else you want to call him. I don't think that's the case, but that might just be me. Regardless, it probably won't change a whole lot. He'll make increasingly more changes, obviously, but he's not going to go around needlessly showing off jutsu, offering insightful thoughts on deep philosophical questions concerning the make up of the universe, or whatever else it is that you want him to do. He's not going to be SuperNaruto unless he has to be and that won't be for quite a while longer.
So if you still have some sort of beef with Naruto that hasn't been answered by those seven things, fine, let me hear it, just keep in mind that I'm not making you read this story, so if you don't like it, you really don't have to tell me about it, just stop reading… unless you review, I won't even know you're gone.
