Don't worry everyone! I am still working on this story. It's just you can't have a Naruto fic without a few fillers… lol

And on to the actual story…

"Naruto Uzumaki. You must save this world."

The sentence settled into the silence like a too large animal pushing its way into a too small space. It was weighty and suffocating. Shi-Woon felt the uncomfortable press of questions and confusion but still couldn't move, couldn't open his mouth, to penetrate the oppressive quiet. The silence lasted on and Shi-Woon wasn't sure what was expected.

That name… that name fit like an old sweater. It felt comfortable, and something that he owned, but it was loose around the edges, like he couldn't fill it to its brim. Not the way he was now.

He stood in that dark and silent place in a passage of time that felt like hours and seconds, depending on how someone tilted their head.

"No."

The answer was short and simple, and it took Shi-Woon a few moments to realize that it was his mouth that had moved. His voice that had spoken.

The silence settled back into place ruffling its feathers in surprise. It seemed to think the response over, mull out its options.

"I… was not expecting that," It responded honestly. "But, why?"

Shi-Woon's body settled back on its heels, hands shoving into his pockets.

"You said that this would be my second chance. Said that since I went through so much shit in my first life that you guys, whoever you are, decided that I would get a rerun. A reincarnation into something better." Shiwoon let out a caustic laugh. "You gave me a really sucky second chance, you know. A "better life"? A "new world to explore"? More like more of the same! You know what I got? My father died. Again. When I was four. I barely got to know him. My mom works all the time, so I barely get to see her, and I'm alone most of the time, because this idiot's a stupid loser! How is this any better than where I was last time? At least in that world I had a team! At least in that world I had people I could rely on! This? This is worse! What gives, man?"

Shi-Woon's arms motioned out into the emptiness that wasn't empty, the gesture lost in the darkness.

"It was… unexpected." Came a put upon replay. "The child had been set for a simple life. There were no indications that it would be unpleasant."

A snort. "That's one word for it."

"What's done is done. I cannot move your soul to a new vessel. The wait for growth would be too long. The Jyuubi has already caused too much commotion as it is. And moving you to a full grown vessel is out of the question. It would be too much stress on the psyche."

"Thanks, asshole. You told me all the ways you can't help me. Do you have anything useful?" Shi-Woon felt his eyes roll as his hand went to clean out his ear.

"…I forgot how annoyingly belligerent you were." Shi-Woon felt the other spirit in his body purposefully ignore the comment. "We do not get involved with human's affairs," the entity stated, irritated.

"Not get involved?" Naruto parroted back, "Is that what you call this reincarnation bullshit you gave me? Not getting involved?"

"As I explained before, you were a special case."

"Yeah, yeah," Naruto blew a raspberry. "Whatever, you old geezer."

"Can't you have some modicum of respect!" The voice snapped back. "This isn't a normal case, and we are doing what we can with what we got! And as for something useful!" There was a breath as the voice quieted back down, finding it's calm once more. "That man you were with. He is connected to the energy being that came with you. Somehow, if you follow his lead, you will come into contact with the chakra."

"Great…" Naruto groaned, sarcastically. "Well at least this guy is cool, unlike the pervy sage."

The entity hummed in disinterest. "The beast must be captured once more. Taking the chakra within your body will be sufficient to stopping the beast from doing harming the world around it."

"Yeah," Naruto mumbled, "I know."

The darkness started to deepen and slacken, like a pulsing light. A tug started at the back of Shi-Woon's neck, a tingle, a movement. It pushed the cold out of Shi-Woon, drawing him back into something warm.

"Do not worry about your host," the darkness whispered as Shi-Woon was pulled away. "Humans do not remember these talks. To them, it is always just a dream."

Shi-Woon opened his eyes to a white ceiling. It was shockingly bright compared to the darkness that Shi-Woon had been in. It made his vision blur into streaks as his eyes fought to close against the garish light. Shi-Woon twisted his head to the right so he wasn't getting such a direct assault.

"So you survived, huh," A gruff growl hissed from his right.

Shi-Woon blinked back the tears and tried to find the source of that voice.

Chun-Woon sat in a small metal chair. His colorful attire was even brighter in the stark white light, and showed to a neon against the sterile white sheet behind him. It was a privacy partition. One hospitals used in common rooms to let patients rest. There was an IV drip sitting at Chun-Woos left hand, A large machine set up towered over the teacher, the blinking lights and small screens in constant movement next to his utter stillness. The overhead lights made him look haggard.

"I can't decide if you're stupid, or…" Chun-Woo paused in thought, trying to come up with something worse than stupid.

"What happened?" Shi-Woon tried to say. It came out as a croak and a garble.

"What happened? You mean after you jumped off of that," Chun-Woo struggled to continue calmly, "bridge. You mean after that?"

A bridge? Oh, right, Shi-Woon jumped off a bridge. "You told me-"

"I told you to stay there! I told you to not move! And what do you do? You let go of the railing and jump! Do you have a death wish? Is that what this was all about?"

"You told me to jump!" Shi-Woon argued. "You told me that was the only way that you would take me on as your student!"

"Yeah, I did. And then, I told you to not jump off of the bridge when you were standing on the other side of that partition! But did you listen to me? No, you jumped. You jumped down a 42 foot dropped and knocked yourself unconscious and almost drowned!"

"But…" Shi-Woon struggled, his mind bringing up impossible things, "But we had to fight the monster. We…"

"Monster?" Chun-Woo muttered, looking lost. "What the hell are you talking about. Kid, how hard did you hit your head?" A panicked look crossed his face. "What's your name?"

-My name is Naruto Uzumaki! And I'm going to-

"Kid! You didn't lose your memory did you? I don't think my insurance covers that."

"Shi-Woon Yi." Shi-Woon responded slowly, blinking back audial hallucinations. "I'm Shi-Woon Yi."

"Ah, good," Chun-Woo let out a deep sigh. He ran a hand through his messy hair twice, stopping the second time at his forehead causing the bangs to poke up in odd directions.

Shi-Woon studied the older man again, now that he felt more alert. He first noticed that the older man was no longer wearing the light jean jacket from earlier that night. There were also signs of dampness on the t-shirt he wore, one that was a different color from earlier that night. Actually all of Chun-Woo's clothes were different from earlier that night.

An idea dawned on Shi-Woon.

"You jumped in after me."

Chun-Woo glanced at Shi-Woon before giving a light shrug and returning to staring off into the middle distance.

Shi-Woon looked at how his hair was still a little wet in the back and how his shoes still seemed to drip.

"Does that mean I'm your student now?"

Chun-Woo startled, jumping to his feet. "What?! No, absolutely not!"

Shi-Woon jumped at the outburst. "Wh- What do you mean? You said-"

"I don't care what I said! I am not taking you as a student." Chun-Woo stated, flatly, his arms crossed.

"But I did everything you said! You have to train me! That was the deal!"

Chun-Woo snapped. "Screw the deal! You think I'm going to take you as a student now? You could have died! How stupid do you get to jump off of a freaking bridge! And I don't take stupid students!"

"But-"

"Nope! That's it! End of discussion!" Chun-Woo crossed his arms into an X pattern. "Finite! I don't even understand why I'm still here! You're alive, and you know who you are, at least. I don't need to be here anymore!" Chun-Woo gathered up a wet jean jacket and grabbed a bag. HE almost sprinted towards the side of the privacy partition.

"Please!" Shi-Woon begged.

Chun- Woo stopped as he moved to exit. He took a long slow breath, and let it out in a sigh. When he turned back to the boy in the hospital bed, his eyes were serious, and his mouth was set.

"Look. It's not that I don't want to teach you, cause I really don't," Chun-Woo smiled at his small throw away joke, before his face turned somber again. "But, I can't train you." Shi-Woon opened his mouth to argue, but Chun-Woo plowed ahead. "You jumped off a bridge because some old man you don't know told you to. Like seriously, who does that?"

"I don't have anything left!" Shi-Woon professed, feeling like he was close to begging. "I can't live through this life anymore! I can't take the daily bullshit that goes on every single fucking day! It's so goddamn lonely!" Chun-Woo looked on, as Shi-Woon slowly broke apart. "I don't have anyone! I don't have any friends, I barely have a family… When I saw you last night, I felt like I finally had something. There was a connection! Somehow, watching that fight was like home! Was like nostalgia! It was real!"

Shi-Woon balled up the sheets in his hands, holding onto something as he started to openly sob.

He couldn't have this taken away as well. Not with how unstable he felt. His body felt so alien, even his mind didn't feel the same! The martial art that Chun-Woo had was the closest thing to normal that Shi-Woon could get.

"Jesus, kid," Came a soft murmur.

Shi-Woon felt a hot shameful blush work its way onto his face. He glanced up at Chun-Woo ready for whatever cutting remark he had left.

But the soft look in the older man's eye abated the heat. Those were not eyes of a man in disgust or disdain. Those were eyes of understanding.

"If it means that freakin' much to you, I'll train you. Just don't get so hysterical."

And boom! It is still Wednesday on the Pacific Coast. I finally made it!

You know, I dream but simple dreams. I dream of a day when I finish the chapter early and post it on a Tuesday... It is a far off dream, but now it is one day closer to reality.