Chapter 3
**Author's Notes: Well, the 3rd chapter and still going strong! Thanks for all the support, because this is meaning a lot. No meaningless typing here, so let's get right into the chapter!**
DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT own Naruto, or any Canon Naruto characters, as much as I want to admit it. All rights truly belong to Kishimoto.
Naruto and Naruko walked side by side as the were heading to the Ninja Academy. As they walked, they noticed the adults that were walking the opposite direction glance at Naruto curiously, before seeing the wisker marks and glaring, prompting Naruto to sigh.
"I wish they wouldn't glare like that every time they see one of our faces. Seriously, like the only thing they look at on us is our wisker marks, and that makes them think that we are the Kyuubi…" Naruto said.
"I know. It sucks to be glared at… We both probably had to go through that throughout our lives."
"Yeah, but after I got back from my training trip, they started seeing me in a new light, because I saved the village from Shukaku, the Ichibi, and then afterwards facing off against Orochimaru to recruit Tsunade-Baachan for the position of Godaime. After that and the training trip, I pretty much resurrected everyone in the village because I chose to talk to the enemy and save him from himself in his final moments, causing him to regret destroying the village, and revived everyone before passing away.
Nagato truly wanted peace, but because of the true leader of Akatsuki, the one with the Sharingan, he was manipulated into the track he's going down now."
Naruko was lost in thought, and was brought out when Naruto put his arm around her.
"Don't worry about it. I'll make sure that we get things right this time around. After all, we are changing the past to rewrite the future. Let's not think TOO hard on it. Now, let's go in and get our assigned Jonin Sensei. I already know who it is, but I'll let it be a surprise!" Naruko pouted when she heard the last sentence.
"But I don't like surprises."
"That's because you've never had a good surprise before. Don't worry though, because with me here, you'll be a lot less lonely!" Naruko gave her first true smile she ever gave to anyone, other than her Jiji of course.
They then walked in, and found multiple eyes on them. Naruto recognized the scene immediately: in one of the front rows, multiple girls were crowding the all-too famous Sasuke Uchiha, who was looking out of the window before catching sight of Naruto.
With Sasuke
He didn't know why the room went so quiet all of a sudden. Nor did he really care all too much. He decided there was no harm in doing so though, and turned his head, but then he saw someone he didn't recognize. And with the class's dead-last. He looked almost identical to the dead-last, except for spiky, wild hair instead of smooth, long hair.
"Who are you?" Sasuke ended up asking. He realized that he was the first one to speak after the arrival of Naruko and the mysterious blonde.
"I'm Naruto, Naruko's brother. I was an apprentice for a little bit, which is why you never saw me in this class with you."
"Hmph. No one can beat an Uchiha."
"You do realize that thinking like that can become a hindrance rather than a positive. It's good to have confidence, but if you rely on one thing too much, it can actually hurt you. The Sharingan is something that comes at a cost. The more hate you have, the stronger the Sharingan is, but the more hate you have, the less stable you become. You end up becoming your own worst nightmare.
I know because I've done my research on the Sharingan. I've seen it in action a bit because one of the Jonin has an implanted Sharingan due to a mission gone wrong where one of his teammates, who was on his deathbed, gave his only good eye to him. Remember this: you cannot battle in a clear mind if you only hate. You end up putting yourself at a disadvantage. Instead, learn to accept things. If you don't, it could spell out trouble for you."Naruto said in a sage like manner. Sasuke seethed at the blonde boy.
"YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT! HOW COULD YOU HAVE DEALT WITH HATRED IF YOU HAVE NOTHING TO HATE!?" Sasuke yelled.
"I don't have anything to hate, huh? Just keep in mind that what I'm about to say is an S-Class secret that I have permission to speak about with you, and in passing, this entire class as well by permission of the Hokage. That means that speaking about this past this room is punishable by death. What if I told you that an Uchiha, one of your own clansmen, attacked this very village 13 years ago, by using your own dojutsu? And because of that, they killed our own parents? Because that ended up happening. The jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi at that time was giving childbirth, the time when the seal is weakest, and an Uchiha used the Sharingan to extract the Kyuubi from its vessel. And because of this, the woman died.
After all, when a bijuu is extracted, no matter how powerful the life force, the vessel dies. So, in hindsight, it was an Uchiha who directed the Kyuubi on a rampage, because of the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan, one where you can only get it by killing a blood-related brother, sister, mother, or father, and transplanting their eyes as your own. That's the only way to obtain the Eternal Mangekyo. It's a very brutal Dojutsu, and you need to know that the Uchiha wasn't so high and mighty.
It wasn't one of the Uchiha's that was still living in the village, no. It was an Uchiha thought long dead by now. And yet, because it was an Uchiha that did it, the village became weary of the Uchiha. Not only did the villagers become weary, but the Uchiha clan compound was moved to the outskirts of the village, and closer to the prison. The villagers were probably content with it as it gave them a cover saying that the Uchiha clan should be near the prison so that they wouldn't have to go far once in the village to arrest people and put them into jail.
Also, there was an ulterior motive going on with the Uchiha. Because of all the criticism the Uchiha were getting, they were wanting to take control over Konohagakure. Yes, they were planning a Coup de tat. Your older brother Itachi was always village first before the clans, because he knew what true peace was, and what the clan was doing. He slained his own clan not because he was testing his power, but because they were planning a Coup De Tat. He was ordered by the Hokage to only slay those who played a direct part in the Coup. However, some sadist elder convinced him to kill all except you.
He said this word for word: 'Kill your entire clan except for your brother, or you join the Coup and die along with your brother.' He said this without the neccesary authority, but Itachi did it to save your life.
He wanted you to get strong to kill him. He wanted you to get the Eternal Mangekyo. However, what he doesn't realize is that if you were to figure it out after you were to kill him, you would turn yourself against Konoha, and probably an S-class criminal. It's not worth hating.
As I like to say, Hate always begets more hate. It's a constant cycle of hatred if you don't stop it. Think about it: lets put the hatred between here and Iwa into perspective. Iwa, Kumo, and Mist all attacked one of our greatest and ironclad allies, Uzushiogakure, home of the Uzumakis. Because of it, we hated them right back. That's when Minato Namikaze, who later bacame the 4th Hokage, defeated an entire army of Iwa ninjas. However, now they hate anyone who's from Konoha, and are especially hateful to those who look like the Yondaime.
Because of hatred, we live in wars. It's what causes wars in the first place, and because of hatred being bred by wars, it'll keep going through as time goes on. It's a never ending cycle. The only way to fully unite the nations together, and stop the wars we go through is by setting aside the hate, ergo stopping all wars from happening in the first place. It may not be easy, but if you set aside the differences and look from the other perspective, you may find a bit more easiness.
You want to know why you are so pampered within the village, Sasuke? It's because they don't want a rogue Uchiha that turns against the village, like how Madara, one of the FOUNDERS of Konoha, had done in the first place. Don't go off of being an Uchiha to make a name for yourself. Be you. Don't be an Uchiha." Naruto finished.
The entire class was shook from what this boy just said. He sounded like he even fought in a war. How he knew so much was beyond them, but to one Sasuke Uchiha, he took it the hardest. He listened to every word. He even understood what he was saying. To learn that an Uchiha was the one that caused the Kyuubi attack, and then to find out that his own family was going to start a Coup, he was taking it hard. He didn't want to believe a single word he said.
But every word he said made sense. It all made sense. He started getting memories of Itachi crying just before passing out that night. Why the Uchiha clan's compound was so far away from the rest of the other compounds, when they should've been closer, practically neighbors to the Senju, due to them being a founding clan and all. And why he saw Itachi crying before passing out. Why before he was alone, he was sent nervous stares by the villagers, and why after the event, they were treating him like royalty. It all made sense.
He decided then and there to abolish all hatred he had for Itachi. He would no longer live like the typical Uchiha. He wouldn't be carefree, but he wouldn't be as stoic as an Uchiha, nor would he willingly get the Mangekyo. He will find out if Naruto had lied, but everything he said made perfect sense. He would need to talk to the Hokage about this, though.
Before Sasuke got a chance to speak again, the door opened up to reveal Iruka, who didn't know what just finished happening.
"Alright, everyone be quiet and sit…" He saw that everyone was wide-eyed, but quiet. Probably because Naruto just got done explaining the whole event of the Uchiha Massacre.
"Ah, so you must be Naruto, right?"
"Yes I am, Iruka-Sensei."
"Well, why don't you and Naruko-chan go and sit down in an empty seat, and we'll get started with team placements." Naruto and Naruko nodded.
He went through 1-6 before getting to 7.
"Team 7: Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno, Naruko Uzumaki, and Naruto Uzumaki."
"WHAT?" Everyone except Naruto and Naruko yelled. After all, this was going to be the first 5-man cell that ever came to be.
"You heard right, this is the first 5-man cell that's ever happened! Today we make history!" Everyone laughed at that, some cheering, and some upset that they aren't on that type of squad.
"Team 8: Kiba Inuzuka, Hinata Hyuga, and Shino Abarame. Team 9 is still in rotation, so I'll be skipping to Team 10: Ino Yamanaka, Shikamaru Nara, and Choji Akimichi. Alright! Meet up with your teammates and get to know each other, and come back here in an hour to meet your Jonin sensei." Everyone got up and started heading towards the door.
Naruto and Naruko headed to Sakura and Sasuke.
"Hey Sasuke, Sakura. You wanna go and get some food? That way we can talk and get to know each other better, and as such work as a team much better." Naruto asked.
"Sure, what about you, Sasuke?" Deciding to put a hold on the crush to actually get to know the guy, Sakura asked politely. She had no idea all that happened in Sasuke's life, and because her main crush on him was mainly to please her parents, those who were basically there to try to keep Sasuke loyal, of course she wouldn't stay like she was previously. After all, she was classified as an adult now. She could make her own decisions on who to be with.
"I say we should. After all, we should get to know each other. By the way, Naruto, I understand what you said, probably too well. I see what you were talking about. I was so lost in my hatred that my memories blocked out all the good times I had with my older brother. I'm probably not going to go for revenge the next time I see him. Instead, I'll go for answers. Answers that he might end up giving."
Naruto responded with a true smile. "Well, it helps to talk to others about what's bothering you. If you have someone to talk to, you can relieve the stress. Don't take it upon yourself to kill someone, if you need help, you can have it as long as you know its the right thing to do. Just needless obsessions can bring harm to you and those around you.
I'll tell you a little more about myself during lunch. Meet me on the Hokage monument while I get the take-out. We're not too far from it. Naruko will show you how to go up there." Naruko smiled and showed them the way. She glanced back at Naruto, who smiled warmly and performed the Shunshin to Ichiraku's ramen.
"Hey, I'm here for some takeout!" Naruto called out when he went under the flaps.
"Be right there!" A familiar voice rang out. Shortly after, a young woman, one who Naruto easily recognized as Ayame, walked through.
"Hey there! Are you from around here? Although you DO look familiar…" Ayame said.
'Kurama, do you think there's a way to give someone their memories from the alternate dimension? That way I wouldn't explain it out in the open, but it'd be better if I gave the memories to her.'
"I'm pretty sure there's a way, but you would need to get her to touch anywhere on your body, be that your head, shoulder, or arm. I'll do the work for you, but she'll be a bit out of it for a few seconds while she gets all her previous memories."
'Thanks a lot, Kurama!'
"I'd love to explain by word, but it'd be better if I just showed you. Could you touch my forehead?"
Ayame looked at the stranger, weirded out by his question, but complied. A second passed and suddenly images of another person went through her mind, going through a second life… She snapped back to reality, and looked again at the boy who she immediately recognized.
"N-Naruto-kun? Why didn't I remember you, and… Why are you back to 13 years old again? Wait… did you time travel somehow?"
"Similar process, but no, not time travel. That is physically impossible. Instead we went to an alternate dimension. And one of the main differences, probably the only difference between this timeline and our original would be that I have a female counterpart…"
So THAT would be why things were off, and why she couldn't remember who Naruto was originally… Still though, they looked so much alike…
"So… did you already meet her?" Naruto nodded.
"I think that we would be great as siblings, seeing how we are quite literally the same blood." He sheepishly rubbed the back of his head, a signature Naruto gesture. "And plus, I've always wanted a sibling. They seem to have such good bonds, even if they tend to argue a lot, it would be fun! What do you think, Ayame-neechan?"
"I think that's a wonderful idea, Naruto-kun. What about Hinata-chan though?"
"Well, she doesn't know much about me in this timeline since I arrived not too long ago, probably about an hour or two ago. Anyways, I was planning on telling Team 7 about me being from an alternate dimension soon. I got Sasuke to give up the whole hatred thing, so more than likely he won't defect from the village, even after seeing Itachi.
I'll talk Sakura-chan into becoming a medic nin as soon as possible, because she already has the potential to become a second Tsunade yet again, and if that's the case, then she'll need to train as hard as she can to learn even more from Tsunade-baachan when the time comes. This time, if I end up taking the training trip again, probably with Naruko-neechan this time, I won't be training in harnessing the power of Kurama as I have befriended her in our timeline.
Just to let you know though, this is an S-Rank secret that only I or the Hokage can talk about. Although I do trust you and Teuchi-jiji with the secret. So do you think you could get Teuchi-jiji here real quick so I can give him his memories of his past life?" Ayame happily nodded and went to get her father.
Teuchi came out to see a practical carbon copy of Naruko, except in a male form. He was so caught off guard that he almost missed a greeting from the strange, yet familiar boy. "Hello! I know this may sound a bit wacky, but I promise it's for a good cause. Could you please touch my forehead?" Teuchi shot a questioning gaze at Ayame, who nodded. He sighed and went over to the boy, putting his hand over the boy's forehead. For a second, nothing happened, the next second, though, memories of a similar yet drastically different life flashed through his eyes.
He finished going through his memories and snapped back to the present. He knew that the #1 Hyperactive Knuckle-headed Ninja WOULD do something like this, but what exactly did Naruto do this time?
"Naruto? Is that really you?" Naruto nodded happily.
"Teuchi-jiji, sorry for the whole 'could you please touch my forehead' line. I know it sounded a bit suspicious… in any case I asked that so I could give you your memories from our previous timeline. This is really the only place I felt safe to talk about, but Team 7 will be coming here every now and then, that I can make sure of.
Could I get the usual for take-out, along with another usual for Naruko-neechan, and 2 regular misos and 2 tomato soups? I gotta get take-out food for the team as we are meeting on the Hokage Monument."
"Of course, Naruto. After all, you were our #1 customer in our old timeline… Wait did you time travel or something?" Naruto sighed.
"No, it was similar, but since time travel isn't possible, even with Kurama's help, we had to transfer over to a different dimension, hence why there are two Narutos, albeit one is a female going by the name Naruko, but I've decided that we will act as siblings, seeing how we are technically related because we are just different genders born from the same parents.
My cover for now is that I'm her brother that became an apprentice, and that's why I haven't been seen inside the Academy. No one asked about if they've seen me outside of the Academy, so I don't have to worry about that for now." They thought that it was actually a clever cover-up. Becoming an apprentice means that you don't have to go through the academy's requirements in order to gain the rank of Genin.
"What about your jutsus?" Ayame asked. Naruto looked down a bit.
"Well, I can still do Rasengan, but I have to use the Kage Bunshin to make it. That means that I need to work on my control much more than it is now, and speed up the process. I'm thinking of utilizing the Shadow Clones to speed up my training, but they probably wouldn't last too long due to poor control over the technique. However, I'll have to talk to Kakashi-sensei, seeing how he probably knows by now, so I'll be giving him his memories.
I didn't give Jiji his memories because he didn't live long enough to see all the developments throughout the times, so it would've been easier to just answer his questions." Naruto finished just as Teuchi handed the food to him. "Well, I've gotta go! People are waiting on me for the food!" Teuchi laughed.
'Oh, that brings back those old memories. I still can't believe he managed to go to a different dimension… just what I'd expect from him, to be honest.' he thought as Naruto shunshined out of the restaurant.
Naruko arrived with Sasuke and Sakura at the top of the Hokage's monument. Sakura looked at the view that was Konohagakure and was blown away at how it looked.
"W-Wow… This is a breathtaking view of the village! How have I never been up here before?"
"Because you don't think of how it looks from up here until you've actually seen it. It's much nicer during sunset though." Naruko said with a smile. Sasuke had a small smile while looking at the view.
"it's very nice… peaceful even. I could get used to looking at this every day if we train up here." Sasuke said. Both Naruko and Sakura nodded along with that. Naruko proceeded to walk forward and sit on the 4th Hokage's head.
"You know, this is where my dream came from. The dream of becoming Hokage. Right here in this very spot. Both me and Naruto share the same dream. To one day become Hokage, although at the current rate, Naruto might get there before I do." She finished with her iconic sheepish head rub. Sasuke and Sakura smirked at her.
"That's true. That would mean that you would have to work hard. WE have to work harder in order to survive in this world." Sasuke said, getting nods from both Sakura and Naruko.
"Although I'll admit, I haven't been taking training seriously at all… it was all because I was doing what I was told, and developed a fake crush on you, Sasuke. Although there is still a part of me that's attracted to you, I think I'll actually take this seriously. The only problem is that I don't know what to train in." Sakura said, pretty disappointed in herself. Especially since she let a crush that she had get in the way of her career as a ninja.
"Then why don't you learn Medical Ninjutsu?" Sakura's head snapped at the new voice, only to realize that it's Naruto. She tilted her head, and Naruto answered her unspoken question. "You would need almost perfect Chakra Control, which you probably have, with how small your reserves are, you can increase your reserves enough while maintaining your proficiency in control that you can perform Medical Ninjutsu on the same level as Tsunade Senju, possibly even better in due time, if you get the proper training."
Her eyes widened at the implications. She wouldn't be a burden to the team if she did this. She accepted it with open arms, and then stopped when she remembered something. "We don't know much about you, so why haven't we seen you around Konoha?" She asked. Naruko started getting a bit nervous, while Naruto smiled.
"I knew that question was coming up. I'll explain once we meet with our sensei, because he should know the truth about me. I'm definitely shrouded in mysteries, knowing things I shouldn't know, and to be honest, I shouldn't even be here. It'll all be explained in due time, don't worry about that, though. We are going to be on the same team, so I won't be hiding too much from any of you. Especially you, Naruko-neechan." Naruko smiled at the term he gave her.
After all, they are technically siblings in all but dimensions.
"Alright, let's eat and then head on back to the academy. Don't want to keep this secret hidden from any of you for too long, now do we?" They all smiled and started eating their respective meals. Sasuke was impressed that Naruto knew that he liked anything to do with tomatoes, so getting a tomato soup made him devour his meal.
Sakura got 2 bowls of Miso Ramen. If Naruto's speech didn't change her mindset, she wouldn't have ate any of it. But now that she's going to be taking Shinobi training seriously, she decided that she would stop dieting. However, when she got the first taste of the ramen, she started inhaling it. The taste, plus her hunger, and the saltiness of the noodles made it too tempting to just start devouring.
Naruto watched as his 2 other teammates inhale their meals. It was going to be much smoother sailing than the last time he went through this. Because of this, he had good feelings about the future of the Elemental Nations.
**Author's Notes: AND That's it for Chapter 3! Man that was a long chapter, but with the way I want this story to progress without Sasuke going rogue, it'd make sense for Naruto to want to get Sasuke on good terms as soon as possible. After all, I doubt he would want Sasuke to abandon Konoha and go through the retrieval mission a second time, as well as hearing that he joined the Akatsuki.
This way, when Sasuke sees Itachi when Naruto goes to retrieve Tsunade eventually, of course with Jiraiya, he doesn't do a full blown attack on him in a blind rage, but instead he acts civilized towards him. I'll leave Kisame up for speculation though…
Also, we are getting close to being caught up with what I have so far! Even though I started it a few months ago, because of the fact that I've been trying to get The Fox and His Flowers' next chapter up, I've been neglecting this story a bit, so I'll have to postpone the next chapters until I get far enough ahead. Hopefully you all understand.
In any case, that'll be it for talking about The Children of Prophecy. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and will see you for the next one. Until then, have a great rest of your day!**