It was late in the night, probably midnight and Naruto Uzumaki was sitting inside his family's manor's library, with the massive book of history in front of him.
Flipping through page to page, Naruto couldn't help but smile because of what happened this afternoon. Even though he had to act more negative around Minami and Naruko, his younger sister hadn't returned from mission yet, he could still foresee a very happy life ahead of him.
For the first time in his life, Naruto understood the feeling of having your parent cared for you feel like.
It was truly heartwarming.
Naruto felt bad for the other Naruto but he couldn't blame his family either. What mattered now that Naruto got a second chance in life, as well as Naruto Namikaze, whose emotions merged with him. He got the chance to make things right while his other half got a chance to be loved from his family, Naruto would make sure to live for him as well.
Naruto read the history of Elemental Nations and saw that mostly everything went the same like before. There were many things he didn't understand like the history of Rikudou Sennin was still the same tale every Shinobi known about, while Kurahime said she was the Queen of Makai, a whole country of demon, meaning that she and the rest of the Bijuu wasn't originally separated from Juubi.
When he asked her about that, Kurahime kept her mouth shut and changed the topic faster than he ever could.
But what shocked him the most was that Sarutobi Hiruzen, the Sandaime of Konohagakure no Sato was the one who sealed Kurahime into the children of Namikaze after knocking his father out when he was about to sacrifice his life. Yet another confusion popped up when he read that Shikku Fuin wasn't the technique he used to seal the golden Kurahime, which remained unknown till this day, all they knew about it was the Ying and Yang part of chakra was sealed inside the girls while the boy got the soul, at the same time creating a link between them in order to keep the chakra exist and filled up every time Minami and Naruko used up the chakra, which also explained why it took Kurahime so long just to regenerate a fragment of the original amount of her chakra.
The downside of this technique was that it couldn't separate Youki from Kurahime but over all that must be one of the most powerful Fuinjustu Naruto had ever read about, if not wanted to say the strongest.
The reason why Kurahime attacked Konoha on her own was still unknown, it was stated in the book that the golden Kitsune travelled thousands miles before arriving at Konoha and unleashed the might of her power.
Surprisingly, the Uchiha massacre never happened in this universe. Uchiha Itachi and Uchiha Shisui were his mother's students and they were currently working at his father's most trusted and personal bodyguards, being one of the strongest and most talent Anbu in the history of Konoha.
But this wouldn't stop Orochimaru from aiming for Sasuke.
About his family, Minami and Naruko were called Uchina Shisui and Uchiha Itachi's second coming. Graduated from the Academy at the age of seven at the top of their class, with Minami being the more extraordinary one, at age ten they passed the Chunin Exam and Naruko was promoted to Jounin just a few days ago. He heard that his father stripped Minami off her position at a Kunoichi of Konoha, which was kind of harsh in his opinion.
Then again, he would do the same thing if one of his children treated the other like what she did. Minami had to understand that they are a family of Shinobi.
Closing the book, Naruto yawned tiredly Naruto closed the book and headed back to his room.
How this future was going to turn out for him, Naruto didn't know, but all he cared was making it better than his world.
There were deaths he could prevent, life he could save, things he could stop.
And most of all, he could return Hinata's feeling from this point.
"Perfect" Naruto Uzumaki, now Namikaze said with a wide smirk, crossing his arms on his chest while nodding his head in satisfaction, looking around the room used to belong to his counterpart. The blank white wall of his room was replaced with orange color wallpapers, which he found last night the storage house of Namikaze Residence. It took Naruto sometime to put them on the wall with his tiny size, but after two hours of working since four in the morning, the blond finally changed the room to his liking.
"Orange?" Kurahime asked inside of his mindscape.
"Yep, best color ever" Naruto said with a smirk, crouching down to gather the unsused wallpapers to roll them into rolls.
"The other you like yellow more," Kurahime informed him "and please tell me you're not going to wear orange." Kurama let out a small chuckle at the irony.
"I won't, no need for getting the attention from everyone now" Naruto shook his head "But of course, an orange pants or clothes with orange stripes aren't going to hurt, right?" Kurahime groaned.
"You are Shinobi and yet you like to wear orange, bad choice Uzumaki"
"Hey Kurahime, since when you start to care so much about me anyway?" Naruto asked with a sly smirk, catching the golden vixen off guard "Last time I checked, you're not very cooperative with me and Kurama. What with the change of heart?"
"Don't get the wrong idea human!" She spatted before huffing "I don't want to waste my chakra in healing you when you get yourself injure, that is all."
"Yeah sure," Naruto chuckled "You know all you need to do when something like that happen is letting Kurama channel his chakra to me."
"Only need to bump our fist together, simple" the orange Kurama nodded his head but this time Kurahime didn't reply, keeping the huff on her face.
Naruto used a rope to tie the wallpaper together before heading out.
To say Namikaze Residence was massive was a huge understatement. Back then while he was still living his childhood in his original timeline, Naruto still remembered the day he crossed this mansion everyday, wondering what kind of people rich enough to purchase these kind of residence and imagined himself living in the same place. After the Fourth Great Shinobi War, Tsunade finally revealed the truth about his parent to the village and returned all of his father and mother's inheritance to him.
Even though the Uzumaki decided to live outside, Naruto and Hinata constantly returned to the place and do some cleaning and maintaning work so Namikaze Residence could keep its best shape, to honor the memories of Naruto's parent and let the next and then the next generations of Shinobi to always remember two of the greatest heroes of Konoha.
And now Naruto was living in the same place, only in a different world and timeline. He didn't know how Naruto Namikaze felt about this, but this place was very much a place he could call home.
When he was about to head down to the first floor, the door to his right was opened and his father stepped out, fully dressed up in his hokage's attire.
"Oh, hey dad" Naruto greeted him cheerfully, making the Yondaime Hokage to widen his eyes in surprise.
"Naruto...what are you doing so soon in the morning?" Minato asked before glancing his eyes to the rolls of paperwalls in his hands "Is that my old paperwalls?"
"This is yours? I used them to for my room." Naruto asked and the Hokage nodded his head "Cool, so you like orange too?"
"Yep, but that was before your mother decided to tear them down with her own hands" he chuckled "don't let your mother see it, she is a serious kunoichi so she hates orange."
"Uh yeah, I will..." Naruto nodded "see you later dad" he then turned around and was about to walk down the stair when his dad suddenly appeared beside him and took most of the paperwalls away.
"Here, let me help you" Minato smiled before walking ahead of them. Naruto was confused at first, but it didn't take him long to realize his father's intention, which he couldn't help but smile.
"But wait dad, you don't have work today?" He asked, catching up to his father.
"Don't worry, Shikaku can handle things for me for a few hours" Minato smiled "to tell you the truth, I don't really want to go to work these days" Making up for his son Naruto was part of the reason he didn't want to go to work around these times "But...oh well, I think I will have your mother's breakfast before heading to my office and burry myself into paperworks again."
"Good luck dad" Naruto couldn't help but chuckle. He knew that feeling of working with paperworks. While he would like to take care of the more important job himself, if not for the help of his clones Naruto would never be able to finish MOST of them on time to return to his house
Sure, with the Chunin exam coming in near 4 months, I will be extra busy soon" he opened the door of the storage house but turned back to his son with a grin "But don't worry, I will make sure to spend as much time with my family as possible."
But that wasn't something he was concerning about.
"Wait wait dad...the Chunin exam is coming near in 4 months?" Naruto asked in surprise. He checked the calendar last night and was sure that there was still at least two months till the Chunin exam according to his original world time line which was not enough time for him to prepare and get back to his best shape.
"Uh huh, you know what the Chunin exam is all about right?" Naruto nodded his head slowly before stepping into the storage house, still couldn't believe the Chunin exam was going to take place in 4 months
While he was still wondering how he was going to get stronger than a Sannin in just a 4 months, not to mention he needed to get pass the Academy graduate exam, finishing enough missions and get his teacher's approval, his eyes then picked up a training dummy lying at a corner of the storage room.
"That's Minami's old training dummy" Minato informed when he saw Naruto's eyes "She used to train with it when she was three years old" he trailed off at the last part with a sad expression on his face. He didn't know if Minami would try to become a kunoichi again, but if she decided to do so, he got nothing against it because Konoha needed young talent like her. He knew that it was kind of harsh stripping her off her rank like that but after what she had done to make this family fell apart, punishment needed to be done, daughter of Hokage or not.
But like his wife, Minato knew that he was the one at fault here, not just his daughter.
"Can I borrow it?" Naruto asked, walking to the dummy and look at it.
"Sure, go ahead" He then got a brilliant idea "I got some kunai here. Want to test your throwing skills?" a massive smile spread out on Naruto's face when he heard that.
Now be careful Naruto, you've just recovered" Minato said loudly from the sideline, he got no doubt for Tsunade's skills in treating his son but it wouldn't hurt if he felt a little worry about this.
"Sure dad" Naruto said with a smirk, swirling the kunais he was holding around. He got three of them in his left hand and one in his right, readied to launch. Like with his previous condition, his counterpart was also a dead last, not just any dead last but the worst ninja in the history. Naruto failed his exams because he didn't know how to control the massive amount of chakra inside, but his counterpart failed even before reaching Ninjutsu test. After all, Naruto Namikaze was too busy to get his family's attention and dodge Minami.
But of course, Kurahime was the one who was KIND enough to fill him in those informations.
"Here go" Naruto took a deep breath and tried to recall the way of throwing a kunai. He didn't have his muscle's memories with him so he would have to let his mind guide him.
Bringing his hand back Naruto threw the first kunai toward the target's head. It was nowhere as fast as his original throwing speed, but still quite fast for his age. The kunai hit the center of the target.
"Good" Minato nodded his head with a smile but he couldn't help but feel a little strange about his son sudden grow in skill. He read the old report from the teachers at the Academy about his son last night and knew that Naruto was a dead last in his class in all subjects, including weapons throwing.
It seemed that his hair and eyes wasn't the only thing that changed. He needed to tell Tsunade about this soon, to see if that poison Mizuki used on his shuriken had any side effects.
"Let's do this!" Naruto suddenly said and to his father's shock, he threw all three kunai in his left hands at once and all three of them soon found its way to the target's center "Awesome" the younger blond muttered with a wide smirk, this could only mean that his mind wasn't as rusty as he thought.
This could be something so normal with a more skilled Gennin, but to someone who was a still one of the worst Shinobi in the history two months ago, this was something absolutely abnormal.
"How was that dad?" Naruto asked, pointing his hand at the dummy.
"Good, Naruto" Minato nodded his head slowly "I didn't know that your aim is...extraordinary." Not only that but he could see that Naruto took very little time to aim, something not a normal Gennin could do.
"Dad...you think I will be able to make it to Chunin exam in upcoming 4 months?" That question left Minato completely lost for words. Did his son seriously just ask that?
"Sorry son, but that is impossible" Minato shook his head sadly "you're still not even Gennin yet and I can't use my position to lend you any help." He then walked to his son with a smile, kneeling down in front of him and put a hand on his shoulder while the other on the top of his head "But don't worry Naruto, next year I'm sure you will become a splendid ninja".he smiled "Would you like to let me help you Naruto? If you want, I can train you."
"Really?" Naruto asked brightly "Thanks dad!" he moved forward and hugged his father tightly, like any child would do.
However, his mind was currently working overload, trying to figure it out the best way to sneak into the forest of death to prevent Orochimaru from aiming his fangs to Sasuke.
"Breakfast is ready!" They heard Kushina's voice and turned around to see her standing with her back leaning against the door with a smile on her face, wearing a yellow apron around her waist "Minato, Naruto."
"C'mon, we shouldn't let your mother waiting" Minato chuckled and walked with Naruto into the house.
Naruto sneaked out of his house as soon as he finished breakfast and his mother, who literally filled his plate full of foods right after he finished it, took his eyes away from him.
Naruto ran as fast as his legs could carry him on the streets of Konoha, taking in every details of the village he always loved and swore to protect. Everything was more or less exactly like he remembered it to be, the annoyed glares, the way the people whispering to each other behind his back...he almost forgot that this was the way the treated him before he became their hero.
But Naruto didn't care, only wore a smile on his face as he waved his hand cheerfully to each and every single one of them, getting a lot of confused looks from the villagers.
"Hey Teuchi-Oji san, Ayame-nee chan!" Naruto greeted the chef of Ichiraku ramen and his daughter cheerfully while running pass the small stand. He got no doubt that no matter world it was; Ichiraku Ramen would stay the same as well as the owners of the place.
"Naruto-kun, watch out!" Ayame called out to him but it was too late, when he returned his eyes to the front his whole body crashed onto someone and as soon as that happened, they wrapped their hands around his body and turned around, throwing Naruto away several feet.
The blond gasped out in shock and tried to turn himself around, landing roughly on his feet and fell on his ass.
"Oi! Watch where you are running blondie!" he heard a shout and looked up and almost dropped his mouth to the ground in shock.
It was Anko Mitarashi but she wasn't the Tokubetsu Jounin he remembered.
It was a much younger version of the sadistic purple haired girl, sure she was still wearing the same kind of revealing attire but other than the different in age, probably about the same age at Minami the oldest between the three siblings but he was sure that it was Anko.
And standing around her was no doubt her best friends and to his shock again, they were younger.
Kurenai Yuhi, Hana Inuzuka and Yugao Uzuki...these were the four most dangerous Kunoichi during their time, absolutely powerful in their very own way.
"Well, isn't that the son of Yondaime-sama?" Anko recognized him and bended down to his level.
"What with that?" Naruto asked, rather annoyed by the way Anko was looking down on him.
"We're wasting our time here" Kurenai muttered emotionlessly, crossing her arms underneath her chest. Yugao just looked away while Hana kneeled down and patted her ningen softly on his head.
"I heard your hairstyle changed but didn't think that you could become this cute" Anko commented, smirking at Naruto "Yellow and red sure suit you"
"Oh okay then" Naruto nodded his head and stood up, dusting himself.
"Run while you still can Naruto" Kurahime suddenly said inside of his mindscape "Those fours are Minami's best friends, or should I say your sister's loyal puppies and they took great pleasure in picking on you, especially Anko. And before you decide to open a blood path to escape, they're a lot stronger than Chunin level."
"Oh shit" Naruto said in his mindscape, glancing down he saw Anko's hand twitching slightly and a very familiar hissing sound could be heard "Well, if you excuse me, I need to..." he turned around and about to turn away when suddenly Anko appeared behind him with a kunai at his cheek.
"Oh no, you don't" Anko smirked, caressing the flat edge of her kunai against his cheek "It's quite some time since our last fun and you're just way too cute to resist right now..."
"A little help here Kurama, Kurahime!" Naruto said inside of his mind, last thing he needed would be having these fours prank him in the middle of the street or get bitten by a poisonous snake, which he got a feeling one was getting into his shirt from the inside of Anko's sleeve.
"Oi vixen, show me your fist?" Kurama demanded, raising his fist "Our vessel is in serious trouble here"
"You sure?" Kurahime flicked Kurama's hand away "On the second thought..." she suddenly put a finger underneath her lip and said, going in a thinking pose "I don't like snake that much so I will help you guys this time" Naruto widened his eyes at her speech and immediately appeared inside his mindscape, standing on top of Kurama's head next to the golden Kyuubi.
"Now that is how things work" Naruto said, nodding his head and brought out his fist.
"Don't get the wrong idea, human" Kurahime said, crossing her arms together and bumped her right fist onto Naruto's, showing the other to Kurama "this is the onetime thing, a onetime thing...remember that"
"Tsundere, I see..."
"What was that?"
"Nothing" Naruto chuckled "Let's do it, Kurama, I only need to get away from them so 0,0001 percent should be alright" Kurama nodded his head and bumped his fist against Kurahime.
At the outside world, Naruto smirked when he felt the familiar power of Kurama's chakra flowed within his body.
However, before he could transform and disappear before any of them could even hope to see, Anko suddenly released him and stepped back.
"Huh?" Naruto asked, turning around to look at the snake user.
"Oh my, good morning, Hyuuga Hinata-sama" His eyes nearly fell out of his socket when he heard that respectful greeting from Anko, and even more surprised when he saw the four kunoichi lowered their head down a little.
Taking a deep breath, with his heart pounding against his chest, Naruto turned to his right to face the reincarnation of the love of his life.
To be continued...