IMPORTANT: This chapter was updated on 12/15/04. This IS the beta'd version (finally). At least, most of it is beta'd. I think that it's the last couple paragraphs that aren't but that's not important. Insignificant. Anyways, here it is to all who reviewed and are awaiting chapter 4. Chapter 4 will be up in a week or so. I'm trying my hardest to finish it but it's kinda hard with my 'full-time' job. I'm hired on as part time but they are giving me full time hours. Gomen.
Hi everyone. By the way, I finally remembered the Yondaime's name. At least I think it's his name. It's Arashi right? Well, that's his name in this story unless someone tells me otherwise.
Just to let you all know, the first chapter has a 90 chance of being re-edited and changed a bit just to make it fit better. The second and third chapters are taking me placed I didn't think I'd go. (I swear, it's happening way too often to be coincidence…or maybe I'm just crazy :P) This is the second chapter….FINALLY!! geez. I had the worst case of writers block. Anyways, if it doesn't say otherwise, assume its in Naruto's POV k? or better yet, I'll just make it Naruto's POV for the rest of the story. I don't really have a plan of events so I'm writing on spur-of-the-moment that and the ideas that pop up after an ENTIRE FREAKING WEEK of writers block. I mean, something has to be happening in my brain after a week right. Again, constructive criticism is most welcome. so yeah. replies to reviews at bottom
Fox Kit: "yo, I'm back. And my muse is not here…again. Maybe I just won't have a muse anymore…."
BB: (interrupts fox) "What are you talking about? I'm right here! You can't kick me out of this business…YOU……YOU…YOU…ARGGG!! raises katana "SHIIII-NEEE!!"
Fox Kit: trips muse cracks knuckles. "Time to get serious." Walks over to muse… BAM. Muse falls to floor.
BB: "Oh you soooooo did not just do that." Gets up, wiping jaw. "You dead." Grabs stuffed bunny from back pocket, raises bunny …THWAP "DEATH BY BUNNY!! MUAHAHAHAHAHAHA"
Fox Kit: kuso. Not the bunny, me in trouble big….brings out carrot gun. Starts firing…powpowpowpowpowpowpowpowpow…. "HAHAHAHAHA!" does victory dance.
BB: cries in background. "All these wasted carrots!" turns puppy eyes on Fox Kit. "You meanie!" whips out cell phone, "Hello? Moo-Moo Happy House? Yeah, I have an out of control author here. She's firing carrots everywhere."
Moo-Moo: "Carrots, huh. That IS serious. We'll be right there."
----end of this chapters musing-------
-----------Morning-----------
I've been staring at the ceiling for at least 20 minutes now, contemplating my situation. I know I've been sent to the alternate time-path and that I'm a couple years younger. 13 years ago there was a fork in the thread of time. One had the Yondaime alive and one did not. The second choice was predominant therefore that was the path that was realized. Normally when one path is taken, the other one fades away but that was not the case for this one. The one major thing I couldn't think of was why me? And why now? What was the purpose of sending me back? It made no sense. I sighed in frustration and let the thoughts go. I could always figure it out later. I turned my eyes to the window and noticed that the sun had crept its way through the curtains, down the wall, across the floor and was now currently heading up my legs towards my eyes during my musings. Which means that it was time to get up. I looked down at the man who I had realized was my father, sleeping beside me on my hospital bed. He's still wearing his Hokage robes from last night which I realized wasn't a dream. I run my hands through his hair and it's so soft, like silk. I run my hands through it again feeling every strand brush my fingers. The strands tickle my palm and I giggle. This was the first time in a long while that I had had the chance to relax. It felt…..kinda nice. I'll have to keep up my façade of being weak since I don't know exactly how strong I am in this alternate time. My father chose this moment to wake up (can you believe my father is the Yondaime?!)
"N..r.to?" he wanted to know, blinking groggily "wha's.." he yawned. "wha's so funny?"
I just started laughing harder. I turn on my right side as I roll into a ball, trying to stop. Now you'd think I'd remember that hospital beds are meant for one person and when you have two people on it and one of them rolls over, that each person will quickly acquire more space. And I did just that: on the floor.
THUMP.
I grunt with the impact. "….ouch. That hurt. Remind me never to do that again."
I haul myself back up onto the bed for the second time in as many days. My father had fallen back to sleep on the bed still, clutching a pillow. Hmmm…pillow. This has….potential. I smirk. Operation: Wake Using my skills, I craftily sneak a pillow off the bed that was near his head. I quietly jump up on to the side of the bed frame.
"Hey, Dad. It's time to wake up."
"Nm. Un uh. Don' wanna." He rolled over to the middle of the bed. He sounds like a little kid…..this's gonna be great!
Stealthily raising the pillow I whip it down, yelling "Wake-up call!!! RISE AND SHINE!!" (a/n. don't worry. Hospital pillows are really thin so they don't hurt….much)
FWAP. Ha ha ha. ………he's not moving. Oh, crap. I didn't hit him too hard did I? Panic. Wait, movement.
FWAP. A pillow. In my FACE. Ohhhhhh this is war. I remove the white thing from my face, grinning so he won't guess my sadistic plot. One of the pillows had opened on contact.
"Gooood morning. Sleep well?" I smirk.
"I was, keyword WAS."
He glared and I smirked. I was also, he he (I'm so evil sometimes) gathering the feathers that had fallen out of the pillow, and as I did I infused each one with a little bit of chakra and drew them to him. Suddenly I grinned, forcing the feathers into the air around me, I give my war-cry "AAAEEEEEEEE!!!!" and send the feathers to work; poor dad. Didn't have a chance.
Five minutes and one thousand feathers later we had to call a truce, both of us laughing too hard to continue. Flopping back onto the bed, we relaxed.
"I take it you're feeling better?" Arashi asked me.
"Yeah. Why am I in the hospital, Otou-san?"
"You collapsed in the store."
"Oh. Then… can we go home?"
He laughed. "Always the impatient one. Yeah, get dressed and we can go."
"Matte!" I jump up and grab my clothes that were lying on a chair across from my bed. Quickly shunning the butt-ugly hospital gown, I donned them. Black pants, a black shirt with the Uzumaki name going down the back with flames on the hem, and the standard ninja sandals. As soon as I was ready, I nodded to him.
"Ready to go home, Naruto?"
At the word 'home' I broke out into a huge smile. "Hai!!"
"You are one weird kid, you know that?"
I grin, "I guess it runs in the family."
"Yeah, your mother's side. My side is perfectly respectable." He straightened his robes.
"Uh huh. Riiiiiiight."
We laughed together as we made our way through the halls, stopping at the front desk to sign me out.
"Feeling better, Naruto?" the nurse asked.
"Much better. Arigato."
"Domo. I don't want to see you for a good long while you hear?"
I smiled. "Hai."
Arashi finished signing out and turned to me, smiling. "All done."
We had just walked out the doors when suddenly …… thud. A small cloud of dust rose into the air, surrounding the man lying on the ground.
"Geez, Dad. You need to watch where you're going more often. It's not good for your reputation if a ninja of your caliber is seen tripping on his own feet."
"Right you are." His eyes crinkled in a smile "if they were my feet but since they weren't, there's no need to worry!"
"But if it wasn't your own feet, than what was that caused you to fall? I didn't see anything in the way." I pointedly start searching the ground, purposefully turning my face away from him so he can't see the struggle I'm having with keeping my laughter in. He twitched.
"Oh I don't know. Maybe it was a foot that belonged to a certain son of mine."
"I'd never…" I choke and can't seem to say much beyond that. If I did, my control would break.
Oops. I think perhaps now is a good time to run judging by the look on his face. He lunged at me and I took off in the direction of our house. All the villagers we ran into just smiled and went on their way. They were used to the sight of me being chased by the Yondaime and there was really no point in trying to get out of their way. The pair would simply move around the citizens and they all knew it. Of course, everyone knew that Arashi could catch me in a second if he really wanted to, but it was just one of those father-son things. Besides, it was more fun this way. Arashi noticed something different today though. Naruto was just a little bit quicker, and his movements were smoother. Not quite so….raw. He thought it was strange. He tucked this tidbit of information away in his head to be examined later, but for now he had a certain blonde son to catch. His eyes narrowed as he thought of ways of revenge for being tripped.
"GET BACK HERE YOU….YOU….YOU….ARRGGGGGG!!!"
"What's the matter? Can't keep up…" I mocked over my shoulder. "OLD MAN?!!"
Arashi's eyes narrowed to slits "UZUMAKI NARUTO! YOU GET YOUR BUTT OVER HERE NOW OR NO RAMEN FOR A MONTH!!"
I pause in my tormenting and think about it……..nah. I laugh over my shoulder and just keep running.
As I turned a corner, I can see a ladder with a man on it painting the front of a store. I chuckle evilly; I'm sooo gonna pay for this later, but as they say: nothing's free in life. Quickly making the calculations in my head, I sped up a bit to create time for the can to fall off the ladder. Coming to the foot of the ladder, I move so that my leap will take me right by the paint can and as I pass I gently tip it over…
SPLOOSH……. I guess he was expecting me to jump straight to the rooftops. I tsked. Never follow directly in your prey's footsteps no matter who or what it may be. You never know what they'll do, as I've just proven. Snicker. I land on top of the neighboring building in a crouch. Turning around, I can see that the paint-can I tipped landed squarely on his shoulder; coloring him a nice shade of indigo.
Uh oh. I think that may have been one trick too many too soon. I turn and jump to the neighboring rooftop, looking back to see where he was when…..wham… thud. That would be me running into him and falling on my butt.
"What was that? I couldn't hear you clearly so I came closer."
"Eh…he he. That was awesome how you kept up with me. Really good. I can see you have potential. Now, if you'll excuse me. I have some…ah…business….to take care of." I try to leap away, but there's no running this time. He snagged my shirt and tossed me over his shoulder, making sure I got as just as colorful as he was.
He smirks "Indeed. Well, I'll just have to make sure you get home safe and sound then won't I. Wouldn't want your mother to needlessly worry now."
I sighed and tried to think of a way out. Maybe if I …..yes, that could work. My eyes get an evil glint in them.
"Don't even think about it, Uzumaki. Or I'll make it two months with no ramen."
Well, there goes the THAT plan, I sigh and prop my elbow on his back resting my chin in my palm, and my dignity. I sigh again. We got the weirdest looks walking through the streets. You'd think they'd never seen a purple man with an equally purple boy on his shoulder before. Geez, these people need to get out more.
Finally! Home. My stomach was starting to get a little sore from his shoulder bone. Expecting him to put me down when we reached the door, I was a little surprised when he just kept walking after he had opened the door.
"Tadaima, Kishi!"1
"Put him down, Arashi! And take a both, BOTH of you. You're reeking up the house with the smell of paint." This came from the kitchen in an obviously feminine voice.
He grumbled but set me down anyway. It seemed like this was a daily ritual for them……us…aw heck. I wonder who she is. Oh well, I can figure that out later. There was only one thing that mattered right now…..FOOD!!
I grin. "Race you to the shower." I zoom up the stairs, down the hallway and fling open the door….to see him standing in front of me after transporting in. Smirking. "Beat you."
"……..CHEATER!" my eye twitches. Violently.
"Yep!" he grinned. "now go back downstairs. I'm sure your mother would appreciate you at least washing your hands while waiting."
I turn to leave, but not before sticking my tongue out. He just lifted an eyebrow at me.
"I'm going! I'm going! Sheesh."
I trudged my way down the stairs to the kitchen to see the woman, 'Kishi' I think it was. She had brown hair that was currently tied into a bun at the nape of her neck. She must have been just a little shorter than Dad with an athletic figure, though I couldn't see anything else. She was standing at the counter, back facing me chopping some ….orange…substance. I stare for at least ten minutes trying to figure out what it was, and then it hit me. They aren't…they wouldn't be….they ARE. They're CARROTS!
She turned around at the gagging noises I'm making.
"Something wrong, Naruto?"
Oh just kill me now and get it over with! I make more gagging noises and quickly throw my arm over my eyes, pointing to the ….the thing in her hands.
"That's….that's…" I shudder. "…..carrots." I whisper the last word.
She looks at the thing in her hand. "Well. Would you look at that. It is so. Huh. I never would have guessed." She gave me an innocent smile but I knew better. Oh yes I did.
"You're trying to poison me aren't you?" I accused.
"However did you guess?"
"…..you're very sadistic, did you know that?" my eyes narrow.
"Why, no. Thanks for telling me that. I never would have figured it out on my own."
"Sarcastic too." I mumble.
Arashi came into the kitchen and walked over to his wife, wrapping his arms around her midriff. I guess that makes her my mom. How am I supposed to act?! Aw, shit. This just complicates things. If I don't know how to act, I won't be able to keep this charade up for very long while I think things over.
"Careful, Dad." I send a glare in the carrots' direction. "she's trying to poison us."
"Wha?"
She showed him the hand with the orange objects in it.
"Ah."
She just snorted.
Sending one last glare at the…the…things hoping to burn them with my eyes, I head off to the shower.
------after shower------
Standing in front of the mirror I study my face. My whisker marks are still here just thinner than what I remember. My hair is still blonde, my eyes still blue. I'm a little scrawny though; I'll have to fix that with training. I grin. The son of the Yondaime cannot be seen as weak. Which brings me back to my dilemma.I ran my hand through my hair. I had yet to think about the recent events. Things were so confusing right now. Should I tell Yondaime about my situation or not? Should I let people know my true skills? Should I become Silver for the Yondaime? And most importantly, do they know about my relationship the fox? Wait, do I even still have the fox?!!! Shit, don't panic Naruto. You are Silver, the unknown ninja of the Leaf. Ninja's of your status don't know the meaning of panic. Finally calmed I lift my shirt to bare my navel. The seal wasn't visible but I knew how to change that. Concentrating on masking my chakra signature, I call a little chakra to my hand. I sigh in relief; it was still there. I drop my shirt and set about getting dressed for dinner. Sending chakra tendrils through the floor, I check up on downstairs. I can 'see' dad setting the table and mom preparing the dishes. Now he's sneaking up behind her again. He pounces and she screams. I can hear it all the way up here. I laugh. I should go save him; it's never pleasant being on the receiving end of a woman's wrath. My eyes glaze over and I shudder, remembering past experiences. Yep, definitely a good time to go down. I shut off the bathroom light and tramp down the stairs, tripping on the third step up and falling flat on my face with a resounding thud. sigh. And I thought I was an elite ninja.
I can sense my parents peering at me from the kitchen where dad had pulled his little stunt. Now I know where I got it from as a kid. I get to my feet and look at them, eye twitching.
"What?"
"Are you okay, Naruto?" at least she's not laughing.
"Oh, I'm perfectly fine. Can't say the same for the person who put the string there though." She's confused at this while he's trying to keep the laughter in. I had sent chakra threads to tickle his while I spoke. He burst out laughing, clutching his sides.
I smirk "I win."
"HA HA HA HA …..gasp….evil..HA H..child…..gasp." he choked out.
"You know it."
"Perhaps we could sit down to dinner like a NORMAL family for once?" now her eye is twitching.
"Hai!" there's an innocent smile back on my face in .5 sec's flat. I lead the way to dining room.
T.B.CNOTES:
I haven't really given any thought to pairings. I'm not sure if I want any really. However, I am accepting suggestions just in case I do decide to pair the ppl up. Thx and if anyone can think up of some cool plot twists, shout them out ppl. Also, some events may change in the beta'd version. My mind seems to have gone off the track a little with this chapter. My apologies for that and the fact that this chapter is really short. I'll make the next chapter longer, k?
1: short for Kishinara. I don't know the name of Naruto's mom so I had my beta make one up. Don't be angry pls. I think it's a cool name. If anyone knows her real name, let me know and I shall correct it. Thx!
2: a few things to the readers. In the first chapter, Kyuubi helps Naruto, lets just say it was a moment of 'merging' the original Naruto into the alternate Naruto ok? (will be explained later)
----REVIEWS----
NarutoKyubi- hi! Thanks. And yeah I did know that unsigned reviews could not be given, I have changed it though. Although right after I did, I got two really mean flames. I don't like flames. Grrr. Ummm, I can't remember but I THINK I reviewed you but could you let me know if I did or not? And yeah its an AU, rofl. You would not believe how long it took me to figure out what AU meant!! Oh my gosh. I'm still laughing at myself.
MC-88 – YAY! I'm soooo sorry I didn't update sooner. beats writers block. And then when I did overcome the blockingness, my second chapter turned out totally different than what I had planned so I think I'll have to go back and rewrite some parts of it. I wrote most of it at like 2 in the morning so yeah, my brain wasn't exactly thinking straight. Oh well, such is the life of an author. And the Yondaime being alive is THE BEST EVER. Yippee. I hope you really liked this chapter. I really wanted Yondaime to be the joking father and I think I succeeded quite well. Let me know if you didn't like something. thanks for reviewing. It was nice.
Tsubasa- that was such a nice review. I was heading towards the sweetness-meter but not too much you know. Just enough to add a bit of sugar into the story's recipe. (lame metaphor, Fox Kit)
Someone- yay! Another fannie person. Again, sorry I didn't continue sooner. Just to let you all know, chapter 3 does have 3 pages already (its 1:30 in the morning already. My brain is shutting down.) and its an important part. I already deleted like 2 pages cause it sucked. Have to change it. …sigh. Review again pls! Lemme know how I'm doing.
Ghostninja85- ummm.. I did have a plan for Yondaime, but now its gone to the garbage. Sigh, right now I'm just writing as the words pop into my head. It's not really turning out to be focusing on the Yondaime being alive so much but Naruto making an important choice. May change, things never stay the same for long.
VentMonster- yeah. I don't know what to say except thanks for the review. I plan on updating a.s.a.p….keyword plan.
A crazy person –Thanks so much. I can only get better methinks.
BrokenAngel,ForgivenDevil- Yondaime being alive gets explained next chapter. Hope I didn't confuse you too much with this one.
YaoiYaoiYeah- oh wow. Thanks a lot. Really. I didn't expect to get this good of a review. This is just awesome. It really made my day when I read it. Review this chapter PRETTY PLEASE? Let me know when you have a new fic out. I want to review. I have a shounen-ai in the making but its not turning out too well. Help? I think it's a good idea but I have no experience in this area so it sucks. Advice?
SpiritKyuubi- again I'm soooooo sorry for my awful behavior. I really hope it didn't discourage you or anything. I read your third chapter. Its AWESOME. For everyone else it's under SpiritKyuubi and its called a different path given. HIGHLY recommended by me. It's really good.
DragonNoir- thanks. You really think I did a good job on emotions? I thought it was horrid. I suck at emotions. Anyway, there is definitely NO yaoi. And as to Kyuubi helping Naruto, after writing the second chapter I am sooo lost as to how to fit that in. but I'm sure I can do it. It'll just take some creative writing I think. next day. I thought about it in my sleep and I've found out how to fit Kyuubi in. All I have to do is erase one sentence and possibly create a couple more in the first chapter. Ha ha, triumph!
THANKS AGAIN TO ALL MY REVIEWERS. YOU GUYS ARE AWESOME. LOVE YOU ALL. hands out cookies and Halloween candy HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYBODY