"Hey" - Normal speech

"Hey" - Thoughts/mentally speaking

YEAH - Exaggerated feelings/actions/Jutsu

Story beginning

PAIN.

That was the first thing to come to mind. The first experience once he was conscious. Blue eyes as deep as the ocean opened up to the night sky. An unfamiliar night sky now that his eyes cleared up a little.

"Wha- what happened to me? Where am I?" He thought staring at the stars trying to stop his mind from reeling.

PAIN. Soared up and down his body as he tried to move, to even catch a glimpse of his surroundings.

"Shit shit shit shit! Okay. Bad idea, really bad idea." He thought to himself.

"Kurama what the fuck happened to us? ...Kurama? Furball?" Nothing. No response from the one person who's been with him from the beginning.

"Furball forreal, quit playing around here. Now is NOT THE TIME. I'm serious...KURAMA PLEASE SAY SOMETHING! PLEASE!" Nothing but the fast beat of his heart in his ear drums answered. Tears streaming down his face, not that he could currently feel them. Everything was numb unless he was trying to move.

"Okay. Think think! That's right! Let me check, what if he's just asleep because he's hurt as well." Hope. He clung in to it like a lifeline and focused. Just like second nature he closed his eyes.

Mindscape

He opened his eyes to see the same sewer he'd visited hundreds of times to talk to Kurama. Gone we're the bars that caged his best friend. A pact that solidified their friendship and bond.

Every step he took he could feel that small hope in his heart fade. Every step that beating in his ears got louder.

"Where the fuck is Kurama?" He refused to lose hope, he needed his best friend now more than ever.

HOPE!

Gone was the giant beast that was Kurama's normal body instead all he found was his best friend sleeping. His fur has lost a lot of the shine and usual groomed appearance. His had never seen Kurama look so, so tired. He couldn't believe it. The endless source of power and sarcasm that was his friend was reduced to akumaru's size from when he was fresh out of the academy. Sleeping still.

"Hey furball, wake up." He nudged Kurama but there was no response.

He lowered his head to Kurama's chest. His heart beat was still going strong. Good. He hadn't lost him yet.

Open Field

So there was a bright side, he wasn't alone. If there was one thing Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze could work with, it was hope. He'd being working on determination and hope his whole life. At least he wasn't alone, wherever he was.

"Okay. I'm not alone. Now that just leaves me with the next small task. Moving."

PAIN. "Shit Shit shit shit...okay, this might take a little longer than I thought. I guess I'll just have to wait here a bit till my body fixes itself enough to move." He thought calmly now that he knew he wasn't completely alone. Only one problem with waiting. Naruto was used to having someone, anyone *Cough* Kurama *Cough* to speak to anytime. Now all he can hear is the sound of crickets, wherever he is.

"Sigh. This is gonna be troublesome. Damnit shikamaru!" He yelled mentally, glaring at the stars. "Well at least I have an amazing view while I wait." BOOM. Lighting stuck on the edge of his eyesight.

"Fuck you too kami." Was the last thought to pass through his head before he decided to go to sleep. He was used to sleeping in shitty conditions anyway.

The next morning

When he next opened his eyes the sun was high in the air. "Holy shit, sleeping actually worked. I guess I had a good idea after all, right Kurama?.. oh right. I miss you already buddy, please wake up soon." He thought sadly.

"Okay, first step. Wiggle your big toe." Ha! It worked! No searing pain just trying to move his digits. That's a huge plus in his eyes right there.

Slowly after 20 minutes of slow movement, as he didn't want to feel that pain again, he was sitting up and finally noticed the state he was in.

First off, he had no shoes. His headband was ripped and the metal was pretty much broken leaving just enough for the leaf symbol to still be seen clearly. His orange pants ripped into somewhat shorts barely covering his privates and also just holding on. His favorite jacket was gone, leaving just tattered remains of a mesh t-shirt left clinging to his skin. Exposing all the scars and markings on his arms and upper body. That was another plus, the intricate sealing arrays on his arms and chest were still intact so he had some money, spare food and a few weapons, but he never figured he would have the need for more clothes. "Whoops, at least I know to buy some extras for next time." He thought to himself with a sweat drop. The next saving grace, in his eyes, was that he still had Tsunade's necklace around his neck. "Heh, cursed my ass. I'm still alive and kicking! There's no way I'm gonna kick the bucket this early! Now I just gotta figure out where here is exactly" he thought with a smile. Small victories right? "first things first, I gotta get some new clothes" He picked himself up slowly, steadying himself on a nearby tree. After gaining his balance he heard sounds in the distance to his left. "Might as well see what's there, it's not like I have any other options." Storing what's left of his headband in one of his seals he shambled towards the sounds.

Outskirts of a Town

Walking towards the sounds had taken him forever with his injuries until he finally rested and let his injuries heal more until he could move normally. He finally made it to the outskirts of what looked like the biggest city he has ever seen. "Where the hell am I?!?" He asked out loud as he gazed toward the multitude of lights on the horizon, the giant buildings piercing the sky, and especially the fast moving bricks of metal going faster than what most jonin could dream of. "I don't think I'm in the elemental nations anymore Kurama" He thought to his friend as he was just trying to absorb all that he's witnessing.

He looked around to see if there was anything that could tell him where exactly he was. "Coolsville huh? Well time to find a clothing store first." Determined to get home he took his first step into a strange new place.

Coolsville

He wandered around for a bit feeling all the eyes directed at him. After all, how often is it you see a 17 year old pretty much naked walking down the street wide eyed and actually not on a cell phone? He soon realized he wouldn't get very far if he kept drawing all the attention he had. Too many questions and he didn't have enough information on where he is to give any answers. Luckily, so far no one has tried to speak to him. All the whispers sound like gibberish to him. "Man they're either really quiet or I can't hear shit well right now" He thought to himself as he hid in an alleyway.Seeing how people dress here, he was able to think up an outfit until he could get some actual clothes.

Henge no jutsu!

Naruto looked at himself once he finished the technique. Now he was wearing baggy blue jeans, white shoes, a large green long-sleeved shirt, and a big brown beanie. It was also only then he realized how much more taxing it was to henge than usual. "Damn the colors are more dull then what they were supposed to be." He realized that meant he didn't use enough chakra but that's crazy. It felt like he'd been through at least 10 Rasengans for just a simple henge. "Maybe I'm more messed up than I thought" He thought with a frown. Wondering just where was his limit now, he'd need to find out. Especially if he were to get into a fight.

Putting that thought aside for later he walked out of the alleyway and decided to try and ask for directions to where he could get clothes. "Hello sir. Uh excuse me ma'am? Hey man. HELLO" He tried asking a few people and now he was annoyed. "No ones talking to me and looking at me like I'm crazy. What's going on?" It's official, he's losing it. "Excuse me, sir?" He spun around quicker than an Amakichi for a buffet. Only for him to quickly forget his previous train of thought. In front of him was probably one of thee most beautiful woman he's every laid eyes on. Green eyes, Nice skin, and a beautiful face. The thing that caught his eyes the most though, was the beautiful red-orange waterfall that was her hair. He was blown away by this woman he only saw her mouth moving. Wait. "Hello? Excuse me" she said finally snapping her fingers in front of his face " ah what's up? Sorry I got lost on the road of life for a second" he said confused and instantly mentally face palmed at his sensei's lame excuse. The same excuse that he just said to the prettiest woman he's ever met.

"Oh it's okay sweetie, I'm Nan Blake. It's a pleasure to meet you." She said sweetly staring right into his eyes.

"It's my pleasure to meet you ma'am" "Just Nan" "sorry, nan. I'm Naruto and no one else will talk to me." He complained

"Well that's because not many people know how to speak Japanese sweetie. You're lucky I speak Japanese because I was a model over in Japan for a year." She said, the last part looking off reminiscing.

"Shit what the hell is japanese!" Frantically his mind races to come up with a back story like kakashi taught him. "Ah well that's awesome! I'm from the rural area of japan and just arrived so I didn't realize that everyone spoke, uh. What is it?" He said shyly hoping his story would somewhat work.

"Aw it's English sweetie and I'm sure your parents will have you learn it in no time if they're here, they probably speak it." She said smiling "Lady if only you knew" "yeah you're right nan, thank you." He said smiling

"Well sweetie what was it you wanted to ask so badly?" Again, that sweet smile was gonna be the end of him!

"Well I'd like to know where I can get new clothes. As you can see these are old and faded but I don't know where to go here." He said as a huge sweat drop formed on his head seeing her face light up light tsunade's did looking at a bottle of sake.

"OH sweetie the mall is what you're looking for and exactly where I was heading! Please follow me!" Sure it sounded like a request, but nan was currently dragging Naruto by his arm leaving a cloud of dust where they once were.

The Mall

He loved and regretted meeting Nan. Not that she was bad company or anything, the opposite in fact! She was lovely. The only downside was her picking an absolute mountain of stuff for him to try out and insisting he model the outfits for her. While he was in the dressing room he dropped his henge and tried on the new clothes. Before he walked out he made one shadow clone with as much chakra as he could muster. The clone then hanged into an ordinary man he'd seen earlier and left the mall. Now recon was started, he just had to talk to Nan to get as much as he could. Which wasn't hard, she hadn't stopped talking since they got to the mall. Not that Naruto minded, she was funny and had traveled all over the world so he not only learned about this world that wasn't his but also her interesting stories. Pulling himself out of his thoughts he exited the dressing room in the first outfit which he put his own spin on.

Nan was having a blast! First a cute young man wanted to go to the mall with her and he didn't complain the entire time about the shopping or the stories of her adventures! He listened and looked her in the eyes as she spoke. It was refreshing! Now she couldn't wait to see him in the clothes her picked since the first outfit she was him in hid a lot of his features, and it also was an ugly outfit. I mean brown, green, and blue? Gross. "I wonder what his parents do? Maybe I could set him up with Daphne." She wondered out loud. "Okay Nan I'm coming out now." He shouted from the room. "Oh yay! Now come out here like it's a cat walk!" She said clapping her hands excitedly. "What the hell is a cat walk?" Naruto thought with a sweat drop.

Nan was stunned. "WOW! He is a cutie! He's also really good looking once he's out of those rags!" Instead of the outfit he had henged into he was now in the perfect clothes that fit him. Now he was wearing black jeans over a pair of brown leather boots with a white t-shirt, that showed off his well defined and built upper body, tsunades necklace on the outside of his t-shirt and a dark blue jacket. On the jacket itself he attached the remnants of his head band to the right shoulder, proudly displaying his villages symbol, and on the left shoulder he burnt the Uzumaki Swirl of his clan. His hair had grown long since he had returned from his training trip with Jiraiya, now looking more like his dad with two long bangs framing his face. Most people hadn't noticed since he was always on missions but if they saw him now they would've thought the 4th Hokage was reanimated, the only major difference was the whisker marks that adorned Naruto's cheeks. "Well how do I look Nan?" He asked smiling brightly. "Naruto you look dashing! Oh I can't wait for you to meet my daughter! Now that's one outfit down we have sixty more to go!" She exclaimed happily "Wait SIXTY!?" Naruto asked confused "yes now go on and change sweetie!" She said smiling but with the same energy Tsunade and Sakura had when there was no room for argument "Yes ma'am! I mean Nan!" He saluted our of instinct and ran back into the dressing room. "Oh yes, I like Naruto quite a bit" Nan said smiling while filing her nails and humming happily to herself.

Once a whole afternoon went by they were finally done trying on clothes in narutos eyes. In Nans eyes they could've stayed till the mall closed. "Whew, I think I have more than enough clothes here nan." Naruto said looking at arm full of stuff in he currently held versus the absolute mountain that was nan's "maybe" pile. "Nonsense Naruto, you can never be sure to have the right outfit for an occasion if you don't have an extensive collection to pull from." "Well I appreciate it but I think I'm fine. Honest! If I need more clothes I can always ask for you to come with me again anyway right?" He said off handedly thinking nothing of it "OF COURSE sweetie, I'll make you look gorgeous for any occasion!" He'd never understand how women could teleport like that out of no where. "Okay, welllllll I'm gonna go pay for this." He said nervously and walked to what he assumed was the cashier. "These items and the outfit you're wearing?" the elderly lady at the cashier not looking up at him and yet had somehow picked the tags off of his clothes and had them in her hand before he noticed "holy shit! How'd she do that!?" He wondered mentally before he realized he still didn't understand a lick of english until "yes ma'am and he'll also take these!" "Oh bless the log for nan being here!" He chuckled nervously looking at Nan "Thank you so much, I totally forgot about the language barrier." "Don't worry about it Naruto. She said it'll be 186 dollars by the way" Nan told him without breaking her smile "Okay cool, first what the hell is a dollar?" Naruto asked confused, again. "Naruto sweetie do you not have any money?" Now Nan felt bad for Naruto and was about to insist she pay for him "No I have money Nan! I just don't know what a dollar is!" He told her confidently, which made Nan chuckle "Well a dollar is the currency here in America Naruto." Hopefully his parents gave him some money and he just didn't know that's what it was. "Well shit, will this work?" He asked pulling out some coins from his village that he unsealed while he was in the dressing room. Both Nan and the cashier were stunned when he opened his hand "Uhmmm Naruto, sweetie, why do you have solid gold coins just laying around in your pocket?" Nan asked in her same sweet voice but very noticeable confusion. Now was naruto's turn to look confused "Because this is the currency from where I'm from? Why what's a dollar made from?" He asked "Dollars are made from paper Naruto." Nan said trying to figure out what he was talking about "What!? But does that mean my money is no good?" "Oh great I guess I really am broke!" He cried mentally until "no gold is very valuable, just not what everyone uses for transactions here Naruto. I'll pay for it this time and we'll take you to get an account and exchange your gold for dollars." Nan told him with a smile "Oh thank you nan! You're the best I've been blessed to have met you on my first day here!" He yelled picking up nan and twirling her around "it's okay Naruto! You can put me down now" she said and when he did she realized how dizzy he made her. Handing the lady her card they paid for the clothes and Naruto carried them out of the mall. Luckily nan had her driver already parked expecting bags in the parking lot which was conveniently on the path to the mall where he met her. "Thank you again so much nan!" Naruto exclaimed in the back seat next to her amazed at her kindness and also the carriage they were in! It was awesome! Better than anything he'd seen in the land of the snow! Nan chuckled "Don't mention it Naruto, you're a sweet kid for willingly putting up with me. Helping you out is just as fun as shopping! By the way where are you parents? Won't they be worried about you? You should call them on your cell phone."

"Shit! Another roadblock. Well two. First what the hells a cellphone? And I need a good story to buy time!" "Well my parents are busy trying to find a place right now" "bullet one dodged" "and I don't have a cell phone anyway!" "Bingo! Also it's not a lie." He thought proudly to himself.

"Oh okay then." NaN said smiling not once questioning him again until they reached the bank.

They left that bank after a few hours of them weighing and seeing how pure narutos coins were. He had unsealed a few more in the bathroom so now he had a hefty amount in his bank account that was available. Even better was that his clone he had sent out earlier had made one more clone before dispelling so he now had a place to get dropped off to as he told nan is was a temporary place till we moved into our actual house.

Once he pulled up his clone had used the little amount of chakra left to henge into his mom so nothing would be too suspicious, even if they were staying in a run down foreclosed home. not that Naruto or his clone could read the English signs anyway.

"Thanks again nan!" He said holding his bags of clothes smiling on her side of the car "man I gotta get one of these car things! They're awesome!" "No problem Naruto, here's my number so give me a call if you need a translator or a shopping partner!" She said sweetly and giving him a kiss on the cheek before driving away. "WOW!" Was all he thought watching her drive down the street before the headlights disappeared and his clone drug him inside the run down house.

Naruto's "House"

Well shit. Not only does he need to figure out what the hell is up with this place, find out where he is, and learn this English language stuff. He also needed to come up with a good backstory because the amount of chakra it took to make one solid long lasting clone took too much out of him to be doing it every day, let alone make two clones to pose as both his parents.

"Well, I better get to brainstorming if I'm gonna get all this done by the morning." He sighed

Then the best idea he had all day popped into his head "Sage mode! How could I have forgetter!" He thought excitedly. It might give him the chakra he needed to pull off a decent plan. He sat down in the middle of the room and focused.

After 4 hours he had finally entered sage mode. "Damn, that took way longer than it did before" He said deep in thought clenching and unclenching his fist. "Not time to think about it now I guess, this stuff first and then finding out what's wrong next. Here goes nothing!"

Taju Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!

POOF!

Naruto opened his eyes to see thirty clones standing there just as shocked as home. "Yes!" "Hell yeah!" "We did it!" He sighed "I forgot how annoying I can be." "Alright boys we have little time to get everything together!" He shouted over the clones

All the clones stood straighter and focused instantly. "Twenty of you go to the library, Learn and practice English as much as you can. Three of you get my parents into an accident so we have a believable cover story. Five go ahead and get our papers and get a paper trail done. The last two and I will fix up this place so it's livable. Understood?" He said seriously

"Hai captain!" The clones shouted in unison and instantly disappeared to accomplish their task.

"Man I'm glad I took those classes from kakashi and shikamaru on being an infiltrator" he thought sadly staring at the ceiling.

It was gonna be a long night of work. "Troublesome. DAMNIT SHIKAMARU!"

And that's the end of the first chapter! I know it's a slow start to the story and not much happened but I really wanted to use this chapter to create a base and show Naruto adapting and realizing he doesn't fit with most people before running into to meeting the mystery gang.

See you next chapter which I'm already writing!