Disclaimer- I do not own Naruto. I am only using itto vent my creativity.

Another Try- Chapter 2

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After regaining consciousness Naruto huddled in the corner of the bathroom unable to do anything but shake for almost ten minutes. Finally, her years of training kicked in and she began to get her bearings. 'Okay, I guess this is what Tsunade did when she messed with my necklace. What was she thinking doing this? Did she think this was a favor, making me go through this all over again?' Naruto thought. She decided to save those thoughts for after she got a firmer grip on the situation. First things first-her appearance. She got up and made a move towards the bathroom mirror. She didn't make it two steps before she fell over and banged her head on the toilet bowl (Naruto hadn't pulled her pajama pants up). She rolled around a bit on the floor cursing for a bit before pulling her pants up and completeing the trek over to the sink. After pulling herself on top of the counter, which took the better part of two minutes (Naruto cursed her obvious shortness and weak limbs. Just how old was she?) Naruto finally got to see what she looked like.

She was obviously in a child's body Naruto saw when shelooked ather face.It wasn't that different from when she was young the first time, except for a few things. Her nose was a little smaller and she still had her bright blonde hair, though it wasn't as spicky and was much longerthen how Naruto remembered it to be when she was little. Her one of a kind bright blue eyes were there as well. On a closer look Naruto saw that there were tiny crimson specks held within the pupils, though they were so small that she had to lean close to really see it. Another person would be hard pressed to notice unless she was looking her directly in the eye from a very close distance. Her skin was very pale. This Naruto obviously didn't go out much. If it wasn't for that and the way her skin on her face seemed to sag a bit in seeming exhaustion she would probably be classified as 'cute'.Naruto removed herpajama's and threw them into a pile in the corner of the bathroom in order to give herself a complete lookover. She was definitely a girl she thought as she posed in front of the mirror, with that slender body, thogh some of that slenderness was due to malnutrition since she could see the faint inprint of her ribs on her chest and above her stomache. Her flat chest Naruto noticed with relief. She would apparently be given a few years reprieve before being forced to endure the 'femenine developments'.Yay for small favors.

"One step at a time Naruto. But speaking of food, or lack thereof..." she murmured to herself as her little stomache growled loudly. Her mind immediately focused on the thought of food as she hopped off the sink counter and made to go find the kitchen, completely ignoring the pile of her pajama clothes still piled in the corner.

It was the same apartment she grew up in the first time around, that much was obvious. Down the hall to her right was her bedroom and between the bathroom and her bedroom was a closed door marking the spare bedroom. In her past life she had turned it into a combination of a training room and a storage room for all her scrolls and weapon's she recieved from Tentenover the years they were together (Though Naruto secretly suspected she used gift-giving as an excuse to buy weapon's she wanted. Not that Naruto cared. She was just ecstatic spending time with her.) and other gifts from his other friends. It didn't look like it was training room in this version though. For one thing when Naruto really looked around she saw nothing of shinobi quality at all. Given it was only the hallway and the only two rooms left he had to check were the kitchen and the living room which were to the left of the bathroom around the corner. But in his other apartment the walls were covered with posters and as the years went on and he entered the acadamy it became even more obvious from all the school scrolls lying around. The walls were bare in this apartment. The floors were covered with dolls though, even more then she thought there would be for a child here age.

She headed over to the kitchen and gave it a quick once over. There was a table and two chairs and thefridge and stove looked okay, though the stove looked like it hasn't beenused in years. Didn't she have a caretaker or something? Naruto remembered in her oldbody that she had quite a few, cause they kept leaving in disgust. Maybethe caretaker was gettingfoodto drop off? Naruto let out a moan at the thought of having to wait for food when she was hungry now. She opened the fridge and to her dismay saw that there was nothing there but a carton of milk and some sort of...thing...that looked like a collection of fungus's.

"Not in a million years." Naruto said to no one in particular as she carefully picked it up and carried it over to the trash can in the corner. She was a little disconcerted at how heavy it seemed to her. Her body must be weaker then she thought, and she already thought it was pretty bad. She dumped the foul thing in the trash and pulled a chair over to the cabinets.Maybe she would have better luck there.

But it was not to be as the only thing in the dust filled shelves was a box cereal. Cereal shaped like little ponies. It would have to do for now, as Naruto got it out and poured herself a bowl she found. She felt so hungry she would even eat those kami forsaken green vegetables at the moment. She smiled hungrily as she retrieved the milk and began to pour. The smile soon turned to a frown as the milk oozed out and collected itself on top of the cereal without pouring between it. Naruto cursed life in general yet again as she threw out the contents, drop kicked the milk in a rage, screamed again as the expired contents fleweverywhere and she had to clean it upand finally after washing the bowl out she tried again. Since breakfast today wasn't going to get much better then this she stood on her chair, since it was adult sized furniture, and began to eat her dry meal.

With the distraction of sustanence satiated for the time being Naruto refocused herself on her crisis. From what she could tell that jutsu that Tsunade instigated and an unknowing Sasuke executed removed his soul and sent it back in time to another reality. She only guessed that because first off she was a little sickly looking girl so that counted out just being sent to another reality. Also, before she hit that light she saw a image of the great Hokage monument and it only had four heads. That must mean something. Naruto's head was rapidly starting to throb. All this time-space continuum crap was starting to fry her little brain. She took a breath and decided to look at things from a different angle.

"Ok, Naruto." She told herself. "Your young again, really young, and you have absolutely no idea how to get back. Not thatyour going totry anyway. Anything's better then that hellhole I just got thrown out of." Her mood instantly darkened. If she was looking into a reflective surface she would have seen the crimson dot's in her pupils grow and become fox-like slits. "Never mind that. Since there isn't any other sign of other people living here, hell there's little more then doll's all over the place and since your all alone it's probably a safe guess to say you got stuck with the fox again. The best course of action at the moment would be to just blend until you figure out your next move. Now, where do you stand?"

Ok, now that shegave herselfa tactical-like scenario her brain was really starting to wake up now. Thank's to her 'past' life she has a store of knowledge and jutsu rivaling a Hokage, which was perfectly natural since that was what she was being groomed for before Sasuke came back and decided if he couldn't be happy no one could. The problem was that since her body was so young and has obviously never trained itself at all, using practically any of her vast store of jutsu would make her body go off like an explosive note. Even if she dedicated herself entirely to training this fact wouldn't change for quite some time. This left her with her non-chakra reliant skills. He was an excellant infiltrator, a trait she earned in the later years of her lastlife when she served Tsunade as one of her special ANBU, so this wouldn't be a complete disaster. The first thing that you were taught about infiltration in ANBU was to know your cover. That shouldn't be to hard right? This was a little girl persona.

Her course of action clear now, she made her way back to the bedroom. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all!

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Naruto looked around her sparse bedroom for a moment. Aside from the seemingly ever present stuffed doll's there was little else of interest. She had a bed, the blanket's still strewn over the floor. She'll clean that later. Other then the standard-in-any-household cabinets there really wasn't much to see. She scanned again and her eyes lit up as she made her way over to the far wall, where a calander was hung. Ignoring the agonizing cute puppy pictures on it she scrolled through the months. After going halfway through it she finally hit what she was looking for.

"Okay lets see...my birthday is on the day of the Kyuubi festival...no surprise there... and it say's it would be my...THIRD BIRTHDAY? Son of a bitch that makes me now..." She counted back the month's to the current date. "Two and a half! I shouldn't even be moving around this well!" Even with the Kyuubi changing her, she didn't have anywhere near this level of motor control in her past life. No child should.

"Is it because i'm a girl?" Naruto remembered her eyes in the mirror before. Those red dots were new to. She wondered just what else would be different this time around.

After tearing her room apart the only other points of value she could find was confirmation that her name was also Uzumaki Naruto this time around and some scattered clusters ofmoney. Naruto resolved to thank whichever person thought it was a smart move to give a girl a guys name...right after she removed his eyes and replaced them with ones that could tell a wee-wee from a slit. This would make life a little easier since she wouldn't have to learn to respond to a different name so she might let the jerk live.Maybe.

She barely had time to group together her meager living funds before a loud knock soundedon the front door of her apartment made her nearly jump out of her skin. She kicked herself for her un-shinobi like behavior as well as the timing of the interruption. Naruto really didn't want to deal with anyone right now so soon, but it looks like she would just have to wing it. She smiled suddenly. So what else is new? As she made her way to the door her slight paranoia, yearned from years of being the taget of her own home's aggression, kicked in and she picked up one of the doll's on the floor, holding it behind her back. Yea, it probably wouldn't do much against some drunk and vengeful villager or whatever the hell she had to deal with at the moment, but she felt more comfortable having at least something in her hands. She opened the door just enough to peak her head through, doll weapon held ready to give the beating of a lifetime just in case her visitor turned hostile.

"Yea, can I help y..." The words stopped coming out of her mouth as it suddenly became as dry as a desert. The doll fell limply out of her hands as she gazed in open mouthed shock at the figure standing in front of her door.

There in all his wrinkled was the third Hokage.

He smiled warmly down on her. "Good morning Naruto-Chan. And how are you feeling today."

Naruto might as well have been a statue for all the movement she was showing. It wasn't until the Third began to frown a little that she realized he probubly wanted a response. "I...uh...erm...uh...fine I guess." She finally managed to squeak out.

"Good, good that's fine. You gave me quite a scare yesterday."

"Really?" Naruto said. Curiosity and a chance to get some information was overriding her initial shock at seeing a man that was dead to her for the last fourty or so years show up at her doorstep.

"Yes. Your injury from the...incidentwas serious and I came to see how you were doing and to take you to the hospital. I'm not intruding am I?" The Third asked.

"Incident?"

"The heavy blow to your head yesterday." The Third responded.

Naruto's eyes bulged. "BLOW TO MY HEAD! I'VE BEEN WALKING AROUND WITH BRAIN DAMAGE?" Naruto shriekedas all the reminders of keeping a low unassuming profile promptly fled her head for the one brief moment. Naruto cursedmentally as she saw the Thirds face twist in mild surprise at her outburst. She promptly took steps to salvage what she could of the situation."Why wasn't I taken to the hospital?" She asked. She already knew the awnser of course. Watching the Third as he lowered his head slighty in shame just confirmed it.

"There was a misunderstanding from the chuunin I requested to take you to the hospital.You remember him don't you?" Naruto had no idea who he was talking about but nodded anyway. "Well, hetook you home instead. When I found out about it I came immediately to bring you there to get your wound examined. How about it? We could get something to eat afterwords."

He had her at the word eat. This would be a good chance to see parts of the village without having to fear reprisals. It probably wasn'tmuch different then what she remembered but she didn't want to take any chances out there alone yet. Her treatment in her past life destroying any faith she would have had in it's people.

"OKAY!" She cried, putting up her fake cheerful smile, something she hasn't bothered todo in so long. "Let's go!"

Naruto opened the door and rushed past the Third. She stopped, though, as she heard him clear his throat.

"Naruto-Chan?"

"Yeah?"

"Shouldn't you put on some clothes on first?"

Naruto blinked at that and looked down. She realized to her growing horror that she was buck naked and flashing the goods to a perverted old man. The Third chuckled as the little blond let out a scream of embarrassment and rushed back into her apartment. He was still laughing when the door slammed him in the face.

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The Third wasn't smiling twenty minutes later, where the two found themselves walking towards the hospital where Naruto had an appointment waiting. He wasn't happy at all.

In truth he was very concerned for his small charge.

The girl was acting like a completely different person in the short time he's been with her today. She usually would be running down the street's laughing, swinging around whatever doll she got her hand's on at the moment talking her little head off. Today by contrast Naruto was moving with a quiet grace he only saw in trained shinobi. Talented shinobi. She didn't even give the doll's that she treasured so much a glance as they left and she also hasn't said a single word to him since they left her apartment when she would always be chatting his ear off.

Even more noticable was her clothes. Most of the time the Third spent waiting for Naruto was because she was tearing her wardrobe apart. He heard several comments about 'God forsaken pink' and 'fangirl wardrobe' before she finally settled on a dark blue shirt with a hood with green pants. The hood was up and her hair was tucked under it. Simply put she looked like a mushroom. He feared that blow to the head she took yesterday might have made her color blind before he noticed the rest of her clothes lying all over the bedroom floor. Except for what she was wearing, all of it was bright attention getting colors. Naruto always ways trying so hard to just get a second glance. Now it looked like she was avoiding attention.What could have caused such a drastic change? Surely not the injury? He resolved to keep a close eye on her.

'That someone so young has been burdened with something so great.' He thought dejectedly. He knew from reports about how isolated and miserable the girl felt. Part of the reason he was doing this personally was that after yesterday's incident he found he couldn't trust any one else completely for something so delicate. Sure the ninja he had occasionally check up on her did their job, but they made no move to assist her during the many times she found herself on the end of undeserved mistreatment. The main problem was the villagers. He had hoped that they would honor the last wish of the Fourth and treat Naruto with respect or at least courtesy. That was not meant to be apparently, as many of the inhabitants of Konoha, villager and shinobi alike, chose to hate her. The shinobi, at least were able to keep their hostile feeling's to themselves for the most part, the profession demanding that one have high tolerance for action's that one despised, especially at the higher ranks. Villagers didn't have such mental training benefiting them and often went out of the way to belittle the poor girl. They were getting even more aggressive lately, as the injury Naruto was getting checked up on was caused by some drunk putting a lead pipe to the side of her head while screaming 'Kyuubi'. It was only a combination of a bad angle in the swing, as well the demon's influence he suspected that kept Naruto from being killed immediately. The Third didn't know how much Naruto heard before she lost conciousness after that first swing, but he intended to find out today if she did as well if she put the pieces together.He hoped that when the time camewhen she learned of her prisoner the grief wouldn't come bubbling up and consume them all.

The pair finally arrived at the hospital and were immediatelylead towards a room where a doctor was waiting, the combination of the Third's busy schedule as well as the desire to get the demon child out of their hair getting them out of a stay in the waiting room. The doctor stepped forward.

"Hello." The man smiled. He looked to be in his late twenty's with long brown hair tied in a top knot and warm brown eyes. He was dressed in a standard doctor's uniform, though that could only be expected since he worked in a hospital. "My name is Dr. Tuta. Am i correct in assuming that your here to inspect an injury you sustained yesterday?" he asked as he looked at Naruto.

"I guess so." She muttered. Naruto didn't have anything against hospital's per-se but she really wanted to get this over withso she could get that lunch the Third promised and get back to the crisis at hand.

"Ok then!" He replied cheerfully and made a move to remove her hood. Naruto suddenly swungher hand out and slapped it away. Tuta stepped back in surprise, rubbing his hand.

"Naruto!" The Third exclaimed from where he had been slightly watching the proceedings. "What are you doing?"

Naruto blinked,rubbed the back of her headsheepishly "Sorry. I guess I was just being rude." She pulled her hood down and bowedslightly to Dr. Tuta. "Can we try again?" She asked.

He smiled. "Of course." And so he continued the examination with no furthur incidents.

The was silence as Dr. Tuta did his thing for several reasons. Dr. Tuta was consumed in his work, as he performed several diagnostic jutsu all over her body and prodded her all over. The Third was troubling over the fact that a two and a half year old with no training just used what looked to be a basic taijutsu nerve chop to disable Dr. Tuta's hand for a split second. Naruto was cursing herself for her behavior in front of the Hokage. Naruto didn't want him becoming suspicious of her or freaking out that the fox was breaking out or controlling her actions. Spending the rest of her life in a padded room or worse was not on her to do list. Finally Tuta stood up straight.

"And that's it. I am happy to say that your head is fine. There's no permanent damage that I could see." Tuta picked up some of the paper's that had Naruto's test results on it. "Hokage-sama? May I see you outside for a moment?"

"Of course." The Third followed the doctor out.

When the had made it to the end of the hall Tuta stopped and turned back to his leader. "We have a what could be a problem sir."

The Third's face became grave. "So her head is in worse condition then you told her?"

"No. There is no damage to her head but there is a problem with it."

"Elaborate." The Third said, face becoming all business.

"Look at this." Tuta handed him a piece of paper with an x-ray version of a head, presumably Naruto's, on it. Normally it would take quite a while to obtain such a detailed diagnostic, But a medic like Tuta is trained to get the information with a jutsu and 'burn' it onto a blank sheet of paper. "This is her brain. While physically it's in perfect condition, notice what I show you now." He performed a quick series of hand seals and all of a sudden there were little streaks of yellow flashing all over it. "These are the electrical impulses that run through every person's brain."

"What are you getting at doctor?" Asked the third.

"What i'm getting at is thereis far to much activity! The human brain takes time to mature and develop. A child usually has a small level of impulse. Naruto however has many times more then even someone twice her age! The level belongs more to an older adult then a child."

The Third frowned. "Will this hurt her?"

"Normally I would say yes. Such rapid development on a relativly new mind should have destroyed it. That's not happening in this case, in fact the brain has adapted itself perfectly to take the strain. The only reason I can think of is the...you know." For the first time in the whole check up Tuta looked uncomfortable.

The Third scratched his beard. He knew who Tuta meant. This was a troublesome development. "What will this result in?"

"She'll get smarter, sir. Rapidly. Beyond that...you know her better then I do. How will she see the world now?"

The Third didn't awnser, merely staring into space. This was not what he needed rigth now. There was already a lot of resentment towards the girl. If certain people found out that the Kyuubi might be engineering this kind of change in the girl...

He suddenly turned towards Tuta. "Thank you doctor. I will be taking the files now. No one is to know of this am I clear?"

Tuta nodded. "Of course. One more thing. She is also showing dangerous signs of lack of nutrition. I know that given the child's history there is chance that this might be deliberate but please try to improve her eating habits. This village has no shortage of food. It pains me to see one so gaunt looking."

Tuta handed the folder with Naruto's information on it over to the Third. He to was concerned with the young girl's health when he saw her condition that morning at her apartment. He looked at the contents of the folder with a combination of apprehension and dread, for it was a sign that there was a big change in the future but for good or bad even he didn't know.

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Chapter 2 done!

I was originally going to make this longer but since i'm leaving for a two week vacation to florida I didn't think I could finish in time. So, I chose a point where it wouldn't look completely rediculous to stop at. On the positive side though It means I got a bit of chapter three already in my head. I won't really be working on this in Florida but if i am hit with inspiration i'll write it down.

I know it seems a little boring but to tell the truth My initial thoughts were about situation's Naruto would get in while already a little girl. Unlike some otehr authors on fanfiction I couldn't just send Naruto through time and turn her into some kind of god like figure. I wouldn't feel rigth unless I gave Naruto some back ground first. When I get back it will really get going and i'm confident that the Naruto I will make is not like any other's on this site yet.

Speaking of god-like figures, Naruto is not all powerful. She is still a kid and she won't recover completely for quite some time. She does however have over four decades of war experiance to draw on so she has some surprises in store.

Okay time to awnser my reviews...all four of them.

sigh

ZWngDragon- I might make it a NaruTen even though their both girls. It's really to early to decide and a same gender relationship that wasn't NaruSasu (I have nothing against pairings like that but for god sakes their everywhere! Put some detail into it.) would be different.

As for Sakura yes I havn't given much background but it was only the first chapter and I intend to put more detail into it in the form's of flashbacks. I will tell you that there were reasons for such behavior on her part, not all of them under her control. I'm even toying with the thought of having Naruto turn Sakura into a Sasuke hating tomboy as a way to pass the time.

Yes a jounin would say wee-wee cause it's Naruto and she will always have that piece of immaturity in her.

The Phantomhokage- Thank you though if there is anything you wish to see please tell me.

LiquidAsh- I'm glad you liked it. My next few chapters will have more action in them I swear.

kitsune-chaos- Nice to see another Sasuke hater out there. The punk won't make a appearance for quite a while but I do intend to put Itachi in there real soon. I almost pity him.

Thank you all again and please review again. If you do it before saturday I could read it and go over it in my head during the 17 hour drive down to Florida. Thank god for gameboy.