The darkness receded slowly at first and then uncomfortably quickly. Naruto made a short groan of discomfort and closed his eyes once again to shield his apparently tender cornea from the blinding natural light that filled the room. Too bright, too white. Not a moment passed before the boy heard a similar groan come from beside him- then the shuffling of chair legs on a ceramic floor. Curious- the boy once again opened his eyes to see who was in the room with him.

"Naruto?" Apparently, the other person had been swifter to recover from their own sensitive vision- but he immediately recognised the voice.

"Iruka-sensei- is that you?" There was a hum of agreement and a soft hand landed on top of the boys head.

"How are you feeling, Naruto?" The voice was- naturally, full of concern and the boy felt his stomach swell with a foreign but not unpleasant feeling. Just as naturally- he hid it, and stretched from his lying position, and yawned to hide the smile he couldn't bite back. Odd- he thought, considering his current position in the Konoha hospital.

"I'm tired more than anything." The boy downplayed his injuries and threw back the covers that concealed his body, with obvious intent to climb from the bed. As he did the hand on his head became more firm-

"Not so fast, if you're so tired you should stay in bed. I'll get a nurse- You had better be here when I get back, Naruto." As he spoke the man pushed Naruto back onto his back and pulled the covers over his body once again. "I'll be right back, don't worry." And with that, the man pulled the door open and stepped out into the hall.

It left the boy with a few moments to consider his situation. He was in the hospital a lot, he knew he was there a lot more than other kids- but then other kids had parents to teach them not to climb trees too high, or not to walk in front of the swings. It was mostly down to his own silly mistakes- this time had been different though. That damn Sasuke.

The boy scowled at the thought of his classmate and rubbed harshly at the bruise on his cheek where one of the other boys superior punches had landed, was it really possible that the gap between them was that large? Sasuke was only a little older than Naruto too- how had he gotten so far ahead. The boy puzzled for a few minutes then gave up and stared out the window- he probably should have given up when he'd seen how outmatched he was, Sasuke would have probably let him walk away with a derogatory comment- at least he wouldn't be in the hospital though!

He growled to himself and grabbed at his hair. That wasn't it at all, he couldn't have just walked away- damn smug Sasuke- with his superior techniques and fancy fighting style. He'd wanted to prove himself, so he kept getting up even when he knew he shouldn't. The boy frowned at his memory, then a short-lived smile fell upon his face- his grip on his hair slackened and his arms fell beside his head onto the soft pillow.

Sasuke hadn't held back- not for a second. Even when he'd been barely standing the boy had come at him with everything, no less than 100%. He remembered the last time he stood up to Sasuke they made eye contact for a moment- the boy had that same smirk as always... But it was also different, Naruto was smirking too.

"Is that all you got, Teme?" They were the same- Sasuke refused to hold back, and Naruto refused to back down. The Human equivalent of the immovable object vs the unstoppable force. He wasn't going to insult Sasuke by giving any less than 100%, and the other boy knew it. In that second they both knew it as well.

Then the door reopened-

"I already told you- he can't be awake alread-" The female voice was not one that the boy recognised, but her tone was one that he heard a lot in hospitals. The staff were always using that tone. It's as if worried families bothered them more than anything.

"Just- look will you, I just spoke to him." Iruka's voice was somewhat on edge as if he was worried that the woman would just walk right past the room without a passing glance. There was a feminine sigh that followed, "Thank you, he's just here." The man sounded relieved and opened the door fully to reveal the blonde now sitting up in the bed.

Naruto observed the woman who swiftly walked into the middle of the room and grabbed the chart from the foot of his bed, her eyes ran across the page and then glanced at the boy- something similar to concern flashed across her expression. Then she walked around Naruto's bed until she came to the IV bag that hung from the wall behind the bed, she examined it- and then flashed another look at the blonde, though this was more of confusion than concern.

"I'll have to fetch a doctor, please wait here." The confusion on her face was reflected in her tone, and with concern Iruka allowed her to pass him out of the door easily. He then picked up the chart and examined it.

"What is it, Iruka-sensei?" Naruto was starting to feel a little worried as he stared at the serious expression his teacher was wearing. But the man just held up a hand as if to silence the boy, a few more seconds passed and then he too examined the bag hanging above the boy's bed.

"You shouldn't be awake." His voice was quiet, and the confusion in it caused the boy to feel even more scared than before.

"What do you mean?" The man glanced at Naruto's face for the first time in a few minutes and saw the fear on it- he immediately relaxed and smiled disarmingly. Then gestured to the bag hanging above him.

"That's a sedative, Naruto- do you know what they're for?" The boy shook his head, feeling slightly better now that his situation was being explained. "They're made to help people sleep, usually they're used to treat exhaustion- like the kind you faced after fighting Sasuke." The boy nodded slowly and glanced up at the bag.

"Why is that so bad then?" The fear had disappeared from the boy's voice, which made Iruka smile further.

"It's not bad at all Naruto- what's interesting is that you're not asleep." The man ended with an odd smile and gestured at Naruto as he spoke again. "Something inside you is making you immune to its effects... That's pretty useful for a ninja- doncha think?"

The effect was immediate- the blonde felt that same foreign swell in his stomach as before. He smiled broadly at the praise he received, "Well what do you expect Sensei- you're looking at the number one ninja!"

But then Naruto opened his eyes.

"-you're not asleep." Iruka's voice echoed in the back of his mind as he shook himself awake-

His mind raced as he remembered the day before-The pink haired girl, the explosion, Mizuki had been chasing him, something about a scroll, and... Iruka-sensei? Had something happened to him? He couldn't remember, he shook his head again but couldn't reach the memory.

Then the room around him caught his attention, and he stifled a confused cry- He was sitting on top of a four posted bed with very thick luxurious covers. There was a candle sitting on top of a low table in the middle of the room to his right and a door on the wall opposite that. Where was he? He didn't know- he searched his memory for a few moments and found that he remembered a tower surrounded by a stone wall- maybe he was inside? He glanced out of the window to his left and felt his luck change- he could see the tower which meant he was inside of the wall... right? He didn't know but swiftly climbed to his feet and pressed his face against the glass in an attempt to find out.

Rewarding his efforts he saw the familiar grey stone wall stretch in both directions away from his current position- he must be at a corner tower or something. A floorboard creaked behind him, and on instinct, he span around… too quickly. After a second he climbed to his feet and found the source of the creak- he looked no further than a few feet as the girl stood beside the low table, with a shocked expression on her face.

A few awkward seconds passed in silence whilst the two observed one another- It seemed to be the same girl from the day before. Her pink hair was quite distinctive after all, the boy felt relaxed though if she had meant to hurt him then wouldn't he already be hurt? He felt his head throb. Wouldn't he be hurt more- he corrected.

"Era ouy yako?" Her voice was laced with concern- but it was veiled in a tone that reminded the boy of Sasuke. The only problem was that he couldn't understand a word. An uncomfortable silence passed, and for a few moments, Naruto stared at the girl with confusion.

"Uh, what?" He knitted his brow in further confusion as he shrugged slightly to try and put across his confusion to the pink haired girl. She seemed to pick up on it as she repeated the words again, more slowly, and with more of that tone that reminded the boy of Sasuke-teme. Her concern was wearing in favour of annoyance, it seemed.

"Okay, should I just leave?" Naruto punctuated his sentence by gesturing at himself then the door a few times and began to step forward. As soon as he stepped toward the door, which happened to be in her direction, the girl stumbled a few steps back, and the fear that she had apparently been fighting to keep under control erupted in a startled squeak like squeal. Taking her eyes from Naruto, the girl fumbled around in her robe for a small stick, which was then pointed threateningly at the boy.

A few more moments passed in silence as Naruto, from his position, tried to examine the stick that was being wielded at him. Under the intense gaze, the girl began to feel her nerves fray once again and she swallowed hard, trying her best to keep her hands from shaking.

Again she spoke, emphasising her words with stabs of the stick, and again it was ignored as Naruto took a cautious step toward the girl, showing her his palms as he did so. In response she barked what seemed to be commands, or maybe curses at him, he ignored her words and instead focused all his attention on the would-be-weapon.

Despite the fact that this stick seemed to be, from all available evidence, just a stick, Naruto was not comfortable taking chances. As soon as it had been drawn he had been on edge, lessons and lectures from Iruka pumping through his mind like blood through veins.

"Careful, Naruto. The most dangerous weapon you'll face in the field are weapons you've never seen before." Iruka grabbed the red and white paper card from Naruto's grip as he spoke. It had been the first time Naruto had seen an exploding tag, he shook the memory from his mind.

Focus.

As Naruto got close enough to touch the girl, she screwed her eyes shut and barked once more.

Light filled the room as an enormous crack of energy erupted from the end of the stick-like-weapon, Naruto felt his body reacting, as it had been trained to do by countless hours of practice- but too slowly. The cross-guard he brought up against the attack barely formed before he felt the momentary weightlessness of flight, then the crushing loss of air from his lungs as his back made forceful contact with the stone wall behind him. His senses swam as he pulled himself back to consciousness, he groaned to himself and rolled from his back onto his hands and knees and blinked the blackness from the corners of his vision, chasing the last of the unconsciousness away.

"Just what the heck was that, huh?" He muttered out loud, he felt his mind churning… Whatever had just happened was affecting him more than a simple slam against the wall, there must have been some gen-justu element. Feeling anger rise he threw his face up to make eye contact with the girl, "You trying to kill me or somethin'!?" He raised his voice, hoping that even if she couldn't understand him she'd be able to understand his outburst. Her response only served to confuse the boy though, her eyes widened in shock and… surprise?

"You… just spoke." Her words were strangely absent emotion like she was still processing what was happening. "You mean, all this time you could talk!?" She was suddenly shouting- Naruto felt the air escape his lungs as she did.

"What the heck." Fear was gnawing at the boy as he tried to figure out what had just happened, the girl seemed to be using the same language as before, but now- why could he understand her? His eyes widened in fear as he climbed to his feet and took a cautious step backwards, "Just- what the heck did you do… huh? You bastard." his voice quivered as he uttered the sentence realising as he did that the words that spilt from his lips were also in the foreign tongue, the growing fear venting his previous confidence. Just how powerful was this girl? To be able to erase a language from someone's head and replace it with another- he'd never heard of a jutsu like it.

The girl took a moment to calm herself down, after seeing the confusion and fear flash through the boys eyes. She breathed in, steeled her nerves, then pointed at the boy before her, causing her robe to flurry behind her.

"I am Louise de la Valliere, and you." the boy blinked "Are my familiar."

"What!?"

Notes:

Okay, so this got quite a lot of follows from just one chapter, and I'm happy with that! People have asked a few questions regarding Naruto's techniques, and the nature of the relationship between Naruto and Louise.

First: Naruto already has access to the shadow clone technique, as for summoning contracts and other techniques like rasengan and rasenshuriken… I gotta say, it's looking unlikely at the moment that they'll make an appearance. Naruto is already OP in the Narutoverse, let alone in this world. With shadow-clones, the Gandálfr sigil, and the 9-tails he'll be plenty powerful.

Second: Naruto and Louise will not have a romantic relationship, especially to begin with. This fic will be focusing on Naruto's development as a child dealing with the death of Iruka, when he remembers it. Louise will be taking on more of a sisterly/motherly role.