And here's chapter two. Hope you enjoy.
(Marshalanime does not own Naruto)
He noticed it when he was five, though he'd probably been doing it his whole life. It was an innate power within him that when built up to a certain point would pass him back and forth between two different worlds. These two worlds seemed to share the same history, more or less. It was only during the time of the Second Great War that things differed from what they could piece together. Some people who died in one world were alive and well in another for example. Obviously, this would lead to changes and with each pacing generations the two worlds drifted further apart. It was on one particular day when Naruto first realized that something was off.
"And just who do you think you are Blondie?" Some girl he'd never met before demanded from him as he stood between her and another girl on the verge of tears. They both seemed to be his age, more or less. The one shouting had dark blue heir in a princess cut, perfectly named to match her "Grandeur than thou" attitude. Her pale violet eyes seemed like they were looking down on anyone in their sight. Meanwhile the sniffling girl on the ground behind him had short platinum blond hair with several loose bangs covering up one of her teal eyes.
"Who do you think you are?" Naruto shot back with a pointed finger. "You can't just go around yelling at people till they cry! What's wrong with you?" the blond roared heatedly.
The shear fact that Naruto didn't recognize her seemed to genuinely shock the little girl and flustered she blurted out "You jerk! I am Hinata Hyuga, heir to the presi-PRESTIGIOUS Hyuga clan!"
...
After a moment of silence and the blond blankly stared at her Hinata, who'd begone to steam with a red face, turned on her heel and took off. "I was only trying to help, IDIOT!" she shouted as she disappeared into the distance.
'What a weird girl...' the blond thought. After a moment, "Oh right!" Naruto spun around. "Are you alright?" Naruto asked while reaching out a hand. His smile faltered a little and he jolted his hand back when he saw the girl reflexively scoot away from him. Not one to stay discouraged he went to try again.
"What are you doing to Ino?" A new voice entered the scene along with a pair of small feet slamming into the blond boy's face. This led to him falling backward and smacking the back of his off the hard playground with his assailant landing on his exposed stomach after losing her momentum.
"Ah! Sakura, wait! He was just helping!" Ino frantically called out to her pink haired friend as she sat up, now straddling the boy she attacked.
"Wha...?" blinking at her friend Sakura stared with a gob smacked look before the words hit. "Oh my god!" the little girl shouted as she did her best to jump off the blond. When she turned to inspect the damage she'd done to the innocent kid a look of horror crossed both her and Ino's faces when they saw him out cold with blood coming from the bridge of his nose. Though it was really just a small cut. "I"M SORRY!" the girl ended up shouting into the heavens as she cradled him in her arms with tears of her own forming in the corner of her eyes.
When Naruto woke up he found himself staring at an unfamiliar ceiling with a soft blanket draped over his body.
"Finally awake I see." Yet another voice drew his attention as he turned his head to see a woman with short blond hair with a large, single bang that fell between her green eyes sitting in a chair across the room. Apparently, this was her living room and he'd been sleeping on her couch. "Sakura! Ino! Your little friends awake!" the woman raised a hand up to the side of her mouth and called out.
Shortly after the sound of footsteps quickly approached the room before two girls finally rushed in. Before he could even properly sit up Naruto found a handful of flowers being shoved into his face. "I'm sorry for kicking you!" the pinket blurted out with her eyes squeezed shut.
Tentatively reaching up to part the flowers being offered to him Naruto couldn't think of a single thing to say. This was all just too weird to him, and why was she apologizing? No one ever apologized to him. Looking from the pinket who seemed frozen to the spot, seeming to be waiting for a response before she even dares open her eyes, to the blond girl from before he could see her shy away from his gaze.
Glancing to the side Ino brought up a hand to scratch at her cheek. "Th-They're carnations. They're supposed to be good for apologies." Not at all what he was wondering but it explained the flowers he guessed.
An awkward silence was quickly starting to form when a jovial voice thankfully cut through it. "You should've seen our faces when our little girl dragged you in through the front door. To think my Sakura would be brining boys home already! Ghahahahaha!" Following the voice was a man with dark pink hair shaped like a cherry-blossom with sideburns that made a sharp angle into a mustache.
"Is now really the time for your jokes? The boy was out cold for an hour!" The man's assumed wife responded in clear irritation. Though it was obvious from their expressions that the kids had no idea there was supposed to be a joke in there.
"Now, now, Mebuki." The man began with a 'Tut-Tut' motion of his hand. "We patched the boy right up so there's nothing to worry about. No harm no fouls as they say!"
"Kizashi" Mebuki heaved a sigh as she pinched the bridge of her nose. "Could you try to take this seriously?" she asked.
"Come now! You know how kids are, they get bruised and banged up all the time. I'm sure by this time tomorrow they'll be the best of friends." Kizashi said with confidence.
'Friends?' the word reverberated through the blond's head as the two girls got swept into the adult's back and forth. His chest swelled with hope for a moment. It was something he'd only ever dreamt of and now the possibility was being thrown around so casually. But no. Something wasn't right. This was all wrong. Why were they being so nice? People would ignore him and pull their kids away when he was around. None of it made any sense!
Blurting out some excuse or another Naruto jumped out from under the blanket and took off. He didn't register what they said, he just made a B-line for the closest door and ran. Then he continued to run, and run, and run. He ran until he hadn't the stamina to continue. Exhausted and out of breath Naruto stumbled over to the closest wall, let his back fall into it, and slid down till he sat on the ground. As his breathing slowly calmed down Naruto took the time to watch the people walking by on the street. 'Why?' was all he could think. Their eyes weren't cold and distant like they've always been. In fact, there were plenty that looked, worried? Were they worried about him? Why? Because he looked so ragged and out of breath with a bandage covering his nose? They'd never cared before, so why now?
"You're not looking so good. What's your name?" A man's voice reached his ears, the first of the concerned onlookers who'd come over to check on him. Looking up Naruto took in his appearance. A shinobi if the vest and headband meant what he thought. Though the headband was unique in that it had additional cloth that covered up his left eye. He had short black hair and despite how scared up the right side of his face was he had a very approachable air to him. "That's a pretty flower you've got there." the man told him as he knelt to be closer to eye level.
'Flower?' Glancing down at his left-hand Naruto saw what the man was talking about. It would look like he'd grabbed one of the flowers in his rush to get out Sakura's house. 'Ino, was it?' She'd called it a carnation, didn't she?
"Not one for conversation, huh?" the man responded to Naruto's silence. Though the boy wasn't silent for long, or rather his stomach wasn't. "Hungry, are you?" the man said with a chuckle.
"A-Am not!" Naruto blurted out with flushed cheeks. Though another grumble from his stomach said otherwise.
Patting his pocket, the man told him "I've got enough money laying around for the both of us. So how about it, want to keep big brother Obito company?"
Everything was weird, but it wasn't a bad kind of weird Naruto decided. So, deciding to just go with the flow the young boy excepted Obito's over. Taking the outstretched hand Naruto was helped up to his feet before being led off. "...Naruto..."
"Hm?" The man responded as he glanced down at the boy clutching his hand.
"My name. It's Naruto Uzumaki ttebayo!" the boy happily cheered with a big grin. In that moment, unnoticed by the boy, Obito's expression stiffened for just a second.
"That sounds like a wonderful name." the man told the boy.
When the two of them came to a stop they were outside a small shop with the sign above declaring it as Ichiraku's Ramen. Not that Naruto could read it. With a big stride Obito led the boy inside as he bushed the short curtain aside with his free arm. "I hope you've got something ready old man cause we're starving!" Obito loudly declared once he saw the ramen chief standing behind the counter.
"Well, haven't seen your face in a while. I was starting to worry that you'd forgotten about us." Teuchi joked with his frequent customer.
"They've been running me raged lately. It's just one mission after another." Obito said as he helped Naruto onto one of the stools.
"That's what happens when you become a bigshot "Mr. Phantom Shinobi"." the chief said as he grabbed menus for the two of them. "And who might this be? Surely, he's not yours. You'd never be able to keep your mouth shut if Rin were pregnant." Teuchi remarked as his focus shifted towards the blond, ignoring the fact that Obito just about fell out of his seat at the comment.
"Hey now! That's not something to joke about!" the shinobi blurted out. Though he was ignored in favor of Naruto's introduction.
"Naruto Uzumaki!" the blond proudly declared as he took the offered menu.
"Names Teuchi Ichiraku, and this is my daughter-" Teuchi replied as he pointed his thumb over towards a brunet standing on a stepstool and stirring a large pot of ramen.
"Ayame! Nice to meet you." the girl, maybe twice his age, happily finished for her father as she looked over her shoulder at the blond boy.
"Yeah!" the blond happily said.
It didn't take long for Obito to realize that Naruto couldn't read, what with him squinting his eyes at the piece of cardboard in his hand repeatedly. So, he'd ordered two different flavors and offered Naruto the one he thought tasted better. From there they enjoyed a relaxed conversation with each other and the stand owners. It was just small talk, until...
"Hey, aren't the faces on the mountain weird?" Naruto voiced his confusion after taking notice of the stone faces through a slit in the curtains.
"Weird how?" Obito asked as he two glanced over at the cliff face. "They seem normal to me."
"It's the fourth one, isn't the hair all wrong? It's supposed to be all spikey." the blond said as while running his fingers through his hair as though to make his spikey hair even spikier.
At this the other three in the stand all turned to Naruto with questioning looks.
"Lord Dan has always had long straight hair for as long as I can remember." Teuchi said with a curt nod.
"Dan?" the boy responded.
"That's the fourth Hokages's name. Everyone knows that." Ayame answered this time.
"Ooooh! So, he'd the guy who died protecting the village." Naruto asserted as though coming to a great revelation. To be far he doesn't know the name of any Hokage, even the kind old man who visits him from time to time.
This nearly sent the others into an uproar.
"Dead? What are you talking about?"
"I saw him just the other day!"
"What would make you think such a thing?"
Now it was time for Naruto to be confused and agitated. "But everyone knows that the Forth Hokage gave his live to save the village when the Ninetails attacked!" Naruto huffed.
"I think someone's pulling your leg." Teuchi said with a scowl and crossed arms. He was internally fuming that someone would teach such a young and impressionable child such a lie.
"Yeah, the village has never been attacked by whatever this Ninetails thing is." Ayame added.
"The old man wouldn't lie to me like that!" the blond retorted in an irritated tone and, an admittedly adorable, glare.
"Now, now, let's all calm down." Obito interjected with a nervous grin. "Why don't we just go back to enjoying our meal, k?"
"But-"
"We can talk about it later." Obito cut the boy of immediately, resulting in the blond pouting but ultimately giving in. He was furious that they accuse the old man of lying but he also couldn't risk his free food.
Things settled back down after that and they soon finished their food and left just as cheerful as when they'd arrived.
"It's getting kind of late. Want me to walk you home?" Obito suggested as the two of them walked down the street together as the sun drew closer and closer to the horizon. It wasn't until he felt a tug on his arm that Obito realized the boy had stopped in response to his question. When he turned to see what was up, he felt a twinch of pain in his chest. The blond was just standing there with a pained look in his eyes, just staring at the carnation he'd been carrying around for a while know. Words weren't needed. Obito saw everything he needed in those broken eyes. Without any more hesitation the man asked a question that would brighten up the boy's day.
"Do you want to stay with me?"