DISCLAIMER: I own nothing from the Naruto universe but I do have an imagination of my own.

Thinking

Emphasis

Biju, etc. speaking

Biju, etc. thinking

Oh my God, it's him, isn't it?

Yes, indeed: it was true. After being formally introduced to THE Uchiha Itachi and his father, who looked incredibly constipated, by his own father, he wondered what to say - if anything - to the young heir. Hmm...

"Yo! You got an elite cousin or someone like that, right? 'Cause that bandaged old guy's gonna steal one of his eyes." No, that would not be a good thing to say to anyone, let alone the superpowered heir of a paranoid clan who already looks incredibly stressed out. Seriously, how does a pre-teen have stress lines and bags under his eyes?

Fugaku-sama looked like a dick to the youngest boy of the three present. He didn't remember anything about the Uchiha clan head from the anime, so he quickly decided to avoid even looking at the dark-haired man - and especially at his creepy red eyes, thank you very much. At least his dad didn't seem to be wary of the man. Interesting.

"Sasuke, would you like to play with your new friend?" Itachi asked kindly.

"No. And he's not my friend," the adorable-looking future-avenger responded dismissively.

Little brat. The dimension traveler only sighed and laughed gently, something Itachi seemed to both appreciate and be even more embarrassed by.

"Please forgive my foolish little brother." Itachi redirected his gaze in slight exasperation at the chubby-cheeked Sasuke who was playing in the sandbox. "Sasuke, you will both be attending the Academy soon." Seeing his otouto simply shrug and crush most of the castle he'd just built, Itachi closed his eyes. "You will both be comrades of Konoha, Sasuke. Do you remember what I told you about comrades?"

"That Will of Fire stuff?"

"Yes, Sasuke."

"Hai, hai, aniki," Sasuke said as he pushed his fist through the remaining "tower" of his little sand creation. "I'll let you play with me then." The pale dark-haired younger boy looked up at him with a burning intensity, even if his eyes did not yet hold the Sharingan. "Do you know the Shinobi Rules, the code?"

"Hai," his reluctant playmate said. Seriously, what do I do now? I don't want to "play" in the sandbox... He wouldn't trust this "cute" chibi version of Uchiha Sasuke as far as he could throw him - which really wasn't very far at all. From what he remembered of both anime versions of Naruto that he'd seen, the brat in front of him tried to kill Uzumaki Naruto a number of times - all of the attempts rather grisly and insane. Of course, the insane part of that was at least partially due to his brother's actions.

The young boys continued quizzing each other on the Shinobi Code: each of them knew every one of the rules, word for word. "Uchiha-sama, may I ask your opinion on something?" He watched as Itachi nodded his head slowly. The older boy's attention nearly made him flinch, so he gathered up another pailful of sand in order to build a new tower. Itachi's intense! "If you were given an order that was against everything you stand for, I'm sure you'd execute it." It was his family's training that made him notice the slight hitch in Itachi's breathing, as well as the near-imperceptible twitch of his thumb, even as he tried to keep his eyes on the sandbox. "But if that order came from Lord Hokage, whom I think we can both agree has the village as well as his individual shinobi's interests at heart, would such an order make you verify that the offensive orders came from him?" He watched as Itachi's brows furrowed; he was listening to him very carefully. Good. Or so he thought.

"I've found in my time as a shinobi, that we can trust Hokage-sama's judgment," Itachi replied simply and in a very low voice, darting his eyes over at his father.

The younger boy looked over at his and Itachi's father then, too: the Uchiha clan head looked even more ill-at-ease as some of his father's friends joined them, followed by their children. Fugaku-dono hadn't seemed to have overheard anything they were speaking about, even as he turned for a moment toward his sons. He winced as Yamanaka Ino squealed out loud at seeing the young Uchiha in the sandbox, but chuckled a bit as Sasuke went running to hide behind his brother.

"I believe that we can trust Hokage-sama's judgment, too." For the most part. "He is a just man. But, forgive me for asking this, Uchiha-sama…"

"Call me Itachi - just Itachi."

"Arigatou, Itachi-san," he replied politely. "What if you felt that the order you were being given was not perhaps actually issued by Lord Hokage? What if…?" The world he knew whirled away as Itachi's red Sharingan spun into life. It was the first time he'd had the dojutsu activated directly toward or at him, and he could easily imagine it being strong enough to subdue a Bijuu. His world and memories whipped around him - and god damn it! He even saw images flash by of the anime he'd once watched but now lived in. The last thing he saw before everything turned pitch black was looking up into the sky at smoke from what he had realized in horror was a plane exploding, before something - or someone - directly hit him from the quickly disintegrating, smoking airplane.

The Hokage was angry and had yet to be given a decent explanation of what had happened at the playground nearest the Hokage Tower.

Now at the hospital, he listened carefully to his ANBU Commander's report, but the boy who was allegedly responsible for attacking a group of playing children, including so many clan heirs, was one of his most trusted shinobi! Uchiha Itachi's little brother had even been one of the victims of what he could only imagine was an accidental or somehow deflected attack. Or perhaps the actual culprit was hidden... Itachi-kun loved his brother more than anything; of that, Hiruzen was certain. It was simply impossible to believe that Itachi had purposefully attacked his brother, and he couldn't imagine the Uchiha heir having any reason to knock four clan heirs out. And that number didn't even include the Uchiha heir, himself, who was the only one still hospitalized and unconscious. What in the name of the Sage happened, Itachi-kun?

Just as he turned the hallway corner to "visit" his youngest ANBU, he heard a voice shout from the room, "Danzo-sama!" Hiruzen sunshinned into the room and briefly glared at his most persistent rival, who was taking a step back from close to the head of Itachi's bed.

"Shisui-kun, good to see that you're back," the Hokage greeted amicably. "I assume your mission went well."

"Uh, yeah… Sumimasen, Hokage-sama," Shisui bowed awkwardly, taking his eyes off of the elder councilman only to look back at his cousin and best friend. His new mission to guard the jinchuuriki had actually gone somewhat awry, but looking at his unconscious little cousin, he couldn't find the words to properly report. Well, it's not like I'll report what accidentally happened to Ru-chan in front of the asshole that is Danzo-sama, anyway. It would just give the man more ammunition. "What the hell - I mean, what the… What happened here?!"

"Your cousin attacked several children today," Danzo sneered.

"What?! No wa- er, I mean… Gomen, Danzo-sama. On my way in I heard that Sasuke-chan's in the hospital, too?" Shisui asked, trying and nearly failing to keep his act together. "Were they attacked?"

"As I said, Uchiha…"

"That's enough, Danzo. I'd like to speak with young Shisui-kun alone," the Hokage let a little Killing Intent fly in the air - not enough to necessarily frighten his old friend - but enough to dismiss the man, hopefully without him opening his big biased mouth again. He turned to the young Uchihas and tiredly sank into the seat next to Itachi's bed after the Warhawk left. "Shisui-kun, Sasuke-chan's back at home and hasn't remembered what happened earlier today."

The Sandaime groaned and wiped the lower half of his face, wishing once again that Minato was still here to deal with this crap. "We have a real mess on our hands - however, until your cousin awakens, tell me your impressions of Ru-chan." Perhaps if he gave the younger Uchiha a few more minutes, he would either awaken or he could come up with a way to solve any number of the now increasingly messy problems with dealing with the village's remaining founding clan.

Hiruzen watched as Shisui shut the door behind him and then activated privacy seals, feeling a headache coming on - both figuratively and literally. "Tell me this isn't about Ru-chan," he implored darkly.

Shisui let out an awkward chuckle. "Mmm, the mission was fine, Hokage-sama; at least for the most part." His face involuntarily screwed up in anxiety at seeing his leader's eyes squint into a more wrinkled but rather frightening glare. "She seems like a good girl: just like you said, sir. There was an unfortunate - uhh, incident? You see I heard a noise outside and checked for chakra signatures…"

"With your Sharingan," Hiruzen guessed. "Did anyone approach the safe house?"

"No - and uh, yes. I mean, the other way around. I mean - sorry sir. I guess this whole thing with Itachi's got me a little flustered." The Uchiha scratched the back of his head and noticed the Hokage's unimpressed gaze focusing on him. "So what's your excuse the rest of the time, dumbass?" he asked himself. "Anyway, I figure when Ru-chan saw my Sharingan, she kinda flipped out. By that, I mean that she fell back against the wall and then ran off and locked herself in the bathroom for a while. She's fine, though, sir: said so herself. Falcon checked her out, too," he continued rambling. "I thought taicho was gonna kill me," he mumbled in finality.

"Aa. Bear can be very protective of our young Ru." The Sarutobi chuckled a bit in what he believed was a show of grandfatherly warmth. "I wouldn't concern yourself over it, Shisui-kun. I am sure this was simply the first time the child saw a Sharingan up close. You have to admit that for a civilian child to see one's eyes turn from such a dark color to a shining red, it might lead to some anxiety," Hiruzen said reassuringly, although his thoughts were grimmer. I'm sure her protectors have already checked Ru for a genjutsu, but considering Shisui's Mangekyō's specific abilities, I'll have to drop by tonight and disrupt her chakra flow, just in case.

Hiruzen didn't know it, but Shisui was even more disgruntled after hearing his leader's supposedly comforting words. Civilian child: my ass. Anyone who looks at her can see exactly who's kid she is: honestly! Not to mention the fact that she can already wall walk and has good control of her massive chakra stores… Even after everything Itachi and I have told you about our clan - our FAMILY - you still don't trust us, do you old man? There was something more important he had to let the Hokage know, however. "Sir, when I entered the room, Danzo-sama was… He - I will not accuse, sir - but it almost seemed like he was about to..." He felt a lightning-like pain throughout his body.

"Explain," the Hokage ordered, and so Shisui did, although he was careful about his wording and had to use gestures for much of it. When he'd flickered into Itachi's hospital room, it looked to him like the wrapped-up old bastard was about to nab himself a Sharingan. Had he tried that or anything else with his little cousin, Shisui knew for a fact that he would've killed the old man in less than a heartbeat, no matter if he was an "honored elder" or not. Of course, he didn't mention that to the Hokage. And how could he anyway? Even though the curse seal on his tongue didn't hold him to Danzo's whims as much as most other members of his not-so-secret army, he still couldn't implicate the man directly in any of his schemes.

The teenager was pulled from his rapidly darkening thoughts when his cousin suddenly took in a gasping deep breath and opened his eyes wide. Shisui wasn't sure if he'd ever seen his cousin look so... afraid? Lost? Grieving?

"Itachi-kun, are you alright?!" was voiced alongside "How are you Itachi-kun?" from the Sandaime.

The Sandaime watched as the cousins seemed to have an entire conversation with a simple, momentary look between them before each of their faces blanked. Little did he know, that's exactly what happened. Itachi's Mangekyō had a space/time differential, but only two of the boy's enemies had ever discovered this and they were immediately killed. Shisui Uchiha was the only person who Itachi confided in about his eyes' exact abilities, and he'd take that knowledge to his grave.

Hopefully, that wouldn't be as soon as he'd just seen, no matter the incredibly odd, simplistically animated, nightmare he'd just seen through his cousin's Tsukuyomi.

Rachel/"Ru" again stared at herself in the bathroom mirror - the tiny markings on her cheeks, her too-bright blonde hair, and tan skin tone; her large and unnaturally electric blue eyes… She'd been deluding herself for far too long, but she certainly couldn't any longer.

Of all the things to knock some sense into her, the red-eye thing should've been way down the list. And how have I never come across weird red eyes like that in my reading?! Is it on purpose?! As soon as she saw the new guy - Raven-san's - eyes spin around in red circles - she felt her stomach and whole life turn upside-down along with them. The time she spent with her little nephew trying to ignore his weird and incredibly violent favorite show came back as if to haunt her. Oh God: there's no doubt about it, huh?

Rachel saw that guy's eye and nearly heard the first few bars of the anime's accompanying soundtrack. What did she even know about the show? Almost nothing! Why couldn't I get reincarnated in Game of Thrones?! Gah! That's a terrible idea: those White Walkers were terrifying! I don't want to be a zombie and do weird shit to babies!

But "Naruto" was a boy! Fuck! Has anyone even said my whole name out loud, though? She realized she probably had herself to blame for not knowing or ignoring what she might have been earlier informed her name was. No matter how many times she'd been called "Ru," (Na-RU-to: Gah!) although she was normally called "Gaki" by her bunch of sometimes-masked housemates, she always thought of herself first and foremost as Rachel. But Rachel was gone… Rachel is dead!

"What's… what's my last name? Do I have a last name? Gah!"

Ninja-shit, ninja-shit… Shinobi-shit. No matter what she declared she wanted to do with her second adult life in the future, she'd always been told that she'd get nowhere without learning the ninja arts. Supposedly the Academy and learning shinobi-shit was the only way to make something of herself. Was it true? Had she been lied to? Did she really have no choice?

Well, it's not like they actually kill people, right? The remainder of her rational mind immediately argued that wishful thought. Think about those stories girl: even the ones that dog used to read all had ninjas supposedly heroically ending their adversaries' abuses and such, whether or not they said exactly how! Talking, reading dogs… Gah!

Is this why I've had those violent outbursts? Do I really have no choice?!

She heard pounding from the other side of the bathroom door. "Uhh, HANG ON," she yelled out shakily. Turning on the cold water, she splashed it in her face until finally giving up and trying to drown herself in the sink. Or at least that's what it looked like to the Hokage who had ordered the door be forcibly opened.

"NARUTO," he yelled, pulling her up by her hair.

Oh God: it's TRUE! I am that idiot Naruto dude! What can I do? What can I do?! The former Rachel/now Ru/oh-shit-I'm-Naruto yelped as the old Hokage mayor guy did something to zap her head painfully. "What the actual fuck?!"

"Why were you attempting to drown yourself, child?!"

"What?! I was just trying to cool down! My hair's really thick and hot, ya know. Why the hell did ya fry my brain there, 'ttebane? Gah! What the fuck did I just say?!"