Hi. I haven't posted in a long time and I am thankful so many people have followed and favorited me after all this time, and continued to read my works. I am trying my hand at writing again, and I'm hoping for a multi-chaptered, long length story. I will try my best to write fast, finish quickly and write it as well as I can. The first chapter may be a bit rushed. I wanted to get into the action and the main plot quickly. This came to me recently and after many sleepless nights, I decided to put words to the paper. Please, any constructive critiques are welcome and any flames will not be tolerated. I may not be the best writer, but I still strive to better myself and if someone is willing to point me in the right way when I mess up or when I can do better, please do so. I'm rusty on writing and it may take time for me to get back into the groove. The main plot will be jumped into and I think the story after the first chapter will be a lot better. Again, thanks for your support and I hope you enjoy. All the other author's notes will be at the end. I just wanted to let people know before I jumped into the story. I plan on writing up the second chapter now, after posting this story. It should be done by the end of tonight. This story will have both F/M and M/M. If that is not your thing, please do not complain and simply exit out. Thank you.
When I died, I would have preferred the bright lights, angels and the rest. Instead, I was told, "You're not done, yet." Not quite in those words, but along those lines. So I showed up in a place where I couldn't speak the language, I was a baby again, I felt weird stuff coursing through my body, and eventually, I realized I was Konohagakure. The Konohagakure.
The baby years…were terrible. And honestly I'd rather not look back at them. I was born in a family of two chunin in their twenties, and that was that. I was a single child, or am so far. The family was normal, except my parents would probably never know that I once was a fifteen year-old in a previous life. And, counting both years of experience, I'm now twenty-seven. However, twelve of those previous years were actually experienced as a child. A child growing to be a soldier, sure, but still a child. So I guess I'm not sure if you'd really count the added age.
I thought things were going well. Somehow I found myself in Naruto's class by a lucky, or unlucky mistake, but by things going well, I meant my grades were fine.
I wanted to become friends with Naruto when I was younger. It was a goal of mine originally, but my parents…they were difficult on the subject. I was a very obedient child on the worst of times, but when it came to Naruto, we fought. I tried to approach Naruto myself, but found that when I came home, I was punished severely for it. I decided if I could find a way to work with Naruto on a regular basis, they couldn't complain all that much.
So I came to the conclusion around age eight that I needed to take Sakura's place. Nothing against her.
My reasoning was a little complex. I have future knowledge of events – I needed a spot within "The Group" to guide them towards a good ending. I'm sure they could get along fine without me, but I honestly couldn't sit in the same classroom as Naruto and the rest and not do something. It was immoral.
So someone had to go. Sakura could always become a medic and then a field medic, especially when Tsunade comes to the village later.
So everything was going fine. It took some sleepless nights, coffee mornings, broken bones and tears, but I was ahead of all of the other girls.
And then the day of announcements came. Helplessness hit me, sitting there, waiting for us to start the announcements of teams. I was worried, would we be on the same team? Would something go wrong?
I watched for Naruto, I waited, and just before class began for announcements, he appeared, along with a long list of questions.
Naruto was dressed the same, orange jumpsuit in all its glory, but what was really different was his face. His face was tight with stress and eyes wandering the room with wonder before his face closed off and he became solemn and tense.
What's going on? What happened?
I nearly stood. I clenched my hands tightly under the table. I followed him with my eyes a little longer, waiting for him to get his bearings. I didn't know why he needed to get his bearings, but it was obvious he needed to. He took a breath, not minding the rest of the class since Iruka hadn't made his appearance, and made his way to an empty spot.
He ignored the incessant classmates informing him he was in the wrong place, his mind obviously occupied and stuck in his thoughts.
I had no idea what to do, so I just let him be. I turned the problem over in my head. No, there wasn't any clear reason. Except for the reveal of the Kyubi yesterday/Mizuki. I bit my lip in thought before relaxing my tensed body. No, no idea. I tossed the first idea. But I'll find out.
Iruka scrambled into the classroom with team announcements. He moved stiffly and was wrapped from his injuries, just like canon. It eased a little of my worries, but it still made me feel bad for the man.
He pulled out the list of the announcements and I immediately froze in fear.
I didn't stop myself.
I listened intently as he read, sighing in relief briefly after team six.
"Team seven: Naruto Uzumaki. Yuna Aino."
"Wait!" Naruto shouted. We all turned to him. "Who the hell is this Aino? Why is she on my team?"
I gaped for a second at him before turning to Iruka desperately. He didn't seem to catch my gaze, but he turned on Naruto anyway. "She's the female rookie of the year. You were deadlast. You need people to even you out. Sasuke Uchiha is also on team seven."
Naruto's jaw was clenched in an obvious way. Surprisingly, he wasn't upset about Sasuke, or didn't seem to be. Just me. Or perhaps I was reading him wrong. This Naruto was different than the Naruto of yesterday.
I kept my eyes on Naruto, watching, searching for what I was missing. He met my eyes and in that moment I saw something – wisdom. Not only that, but an unmoving, stern gaze. Somethings that a twelve year-old Naruto really didn't have at this age. Where did he get it?
I let the rest of the announcements roll off me, not listening, just eyeing my tabletop as I contemplated just what that momentary catch of gaze was.
All too soon people around me were getting to their feet, chairs loudly scraping on the floor as the kids – ninja now – carelessly pushed their way toward their sensei.
I glanced toward Naruto and saw his lazy look toward the evening out room.
I stood and made my way toward Naruto. I stood in front of his tabletop before I decided I was looming and that was too threatening. I bounced to crouch in front of him, my arms just barely holding myself atop the tabletop.
I looked him in the eye again. His eyes were hard but curious and something had changed.
"Can we…can we talk?" I glanced over toward Sasuke, quickly, hoping he caught my implication.
"Fine." He said in a grumble.
I let out a low sigh.
I turned to Sasuke. "We'll be just outside the door, Sasuke-kun. Obviously we're just working out our differences." I granted him a small smile – to which he grunted – before turning to Naruto and giving him a more apologetic smile.
I made my way through the door, holding back all of my worries by the tight grip of my clenched fist. When Naruto and I stood facing each other, I saw something different about him. The way he held himself was beyond what he had in the days previous, his eyes were dark and unsurprisingly, his body was tense. He didn't look at me, staring off over my shoulder.
I squared my shoulders with a deep breath in, then let it out, quickly saying, "What happened, Naruto-kun?" Almost grudgingly, his eyes met mine. "Why are you so different? Why don't you remember me?" He kept quiet, eyes smoldering in anger – and is that worry? I gave a breathless laugh. "Are you even Naruto-kun?" I wished to throw my hands upon my waist, glare heatedly at this person. The Naruto-kun before me twitched and I felt dark satisfaction in getting him to respond.
My hand reached for my pouch, but I didn't dip my hand in it for a weapon just yet.
He rounded on me instead. "Who are you?"
"Naruto-kun knows me. We played a few times as children and I've helped him with homework before. Either you're not Naruto-kun, or something is different – no, you're different." I paused, contemplating, before blurting out incredulously: "You're a different Naruto!"
He pursed his lips as he turned on me, his gaze steady and heavy. "What do you mean by that?"
Perhaps I should blame myself for all the fanfiction I read or an overactive imagination, but I began to realize after noticing his chakra signature was the same that this was Naruto and obviously not the fox either. "Are you – are you from another universe?"
He jerked in response and my eyes widened in surprise at the response. "No way." I murmured in both confusion and interest. I'd always been very good at reading people and I knew that there was something different, but it had to be Naruto.
"What do you know?" He growled at me.
I fought not to take a step back in surprised fear. "You're Naruto. You're not someone or something else, but you're different. Did you use space-time ninjutsu? Did you mean to travel here or just back in time? Where did you come from?"
He just stared at me warily and I knew that his lack of response or lack of denial meant I was onto something.
"Did you come from somewhere bad? A future so bad that you had to go back?"
He took a deep sigh, clenching his eyes tight and his body more tense than before. "I don't even know who you are."
"We're teammates now. We're meant to be there for each other – to help each other. Whatever it is, or wherever you came from, I'll help you." I lowered my voice, putting a more calming tone to it, making it more kind and encouraging.
He opened his eyes and watched me closely.
"Naruto-kun, I can help you. Let me." I hesitantly grabbed his hand carefully, giving it a quick and small squeeze. "I know you don't remember me, but we've been there for each other in the past and we're teammates now. If you don't tell me, that's okay, but I will not let you go through whatever you're going through alone. Those who abandon the rules are scum, but those who abandon their friends are worse than scum." I smiled grimly.
"How do you know that phrase?" He asked, his tone disbelieving and confused. He pulled his hand away from mine.
"Perhaps, I may know more than I should as well, Naruto-kun." I led, hinting at something that a younger, twelve-year-old Naruto would not have picked up on as well. His lips firmed, pursing them while he thought. "How about after Kakashi-sensei shows up we talk privately. We can play twenty questions or just share what we know?"
He frowned again at me, thinking hard and then turned his stern, hard gaze on me. "We'll talk after we see Kakash-sensei and then I'll hear you out. How the conversation goes depends on what you will share."
Deciding that was the best I could do and that there really was not much of a choice otherwise, I nodded in agreement. I knew that while I could be wrong, this Naruto was different and I needed to find out who he was and what I could do to help him. After all, after I entered this world, I promised myself to give them all the best ending possible.
I smiled tightly at him and turned my back, taking even strides into the room after opening the door. I glanced up at Sasuke and gave him a nod when he looked our way. "Sorry, Sasuke-kun."
He gave another grunt and I decided that we'd work on that. Everyone's a work in progress and as long as we stuck together, we could face anything together. We'd grow together, help each other and make this ninja world a better place even if it killed me. Which it very well may. I took my seat and decided to wait, glancing down at the tight ribbon on my wrist; my soul mark.
My soul mark was not like others – whose probably said funny or kind things. My soul mate's first words are definitely from an enemy ninja, and considering all the enemy ninja we run into, I was not excited to find out. The words burned in my mind: "Run away, girl, we have no issues with you."
In the back of my mind, I couldn't help but think desperately, I hope it isn't Orochimaru.
