Summary: Creating a jutsu is dangerous. Too bad an eleven-year-old Naruto didn't know that. AU, Naruto with MPD.
Warning: Some bad language.
Disclaimer: Not mine, apart from the parts that are.
A/N: Wooh, new edited Chapter One. I'd advise any of the old readers to go over this, because the characters have changed slightly. Thanks to martinique, who betaed. (And anyone who's looking for a good slash fic, check out her story, 'The Little Things' and leave a review.) :D. To be honest, I've had this done and betaed for the past week, but I... sorta forgot to put it up. Oops.
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Chapter One
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('My head,' a voice said deliberately, in reply, 'Is killing me.'
Naruto froze.)
There was something to be said for the academy. Despite all its flaws, despite the fact that after all those years of training it still turned out genin who were unprepared for the reality of life as a ninja, despite the face that the teachers had a tendency to concentrate on the 'prodigies', despite the fact that they assumed a person's parents would have taught them such necessary skills as reading and writing, and made no allowances otherwise – despite all of that, it gave very precise instructions on how to deal with such problems as intruders on home territory.
Of course, Naruto couldn't actually remember the instructions. He knew he should have paid attention in class more often, but he just kept on getting distracted. So. Think this through logically. Someone had said something, when there should be no one else but him in his apartment. He glanced over his shoulder warily, and then up at the ceiling. No one was there.
Okay. Maybe he had imagined it. He did have an vicious headache, and it wasn't like the so-called intruder had said something particularly threatening. He waited a few moments, and when nothing spoke up, moved over to the cupboards to grab a packet of instant ramen.
'Having ramen for breakfast isn't healthy,' someone chirped up. 'Maybe you should have some fruit or something instead.'
Pause. Naruto thought this through, his heart thudding slowly. It was unlikely that he'd just imagine voices twice in a row, but still... Not really sensing the evil intruder vibes off that voice. Seriously, who broke into someone's apartment, just to give them instructions on what to eat? Now that Naruto thought about it, the voices had been different – so at least two intruders then. Mentally, he named them Grumpy and Chirpy.
Someone snickered. Naruto twisted his head to look around his kitchen warily, looking this way and that. He couldn't see anyone. This was getting... kind of creepy. Not scary creepy, but what-the-hell-are-these-people-up-to creepy. This was the kind of thing some of the ANBU who helped him out from time to time when he was being chased by a mob would do; hide in his apartment and throw their voices around. Most of them went in for the whole 'faceless persona' thing, but there were a couple who just liked to take the piss out of everything. Like Dog. He was a bit weird.
...Major off-topic there. This was the kind of thing that stopped him from getting good grades at the academy. He just couldn't concentrate on one subject for more than a minute or two.
"Dog?" Naruto called uncertainly. "This isn't funny."
Silence, and Naruto thought of something, running the voices through his mind again. "And since when did you sound like a kid?" Those voices were definitely not the ones of a fully-grown male. He looked around again, trying to catch the tell-tale shimmer that signified someone hiding behind a jutsu, but – nothing. This was really starting to confuse him.
'This is taking too long,' another voice snarled, low and feral. There was the sound of a short scuffle, while Naruto spun desperately, not so sure that this was a joke anymore. There was a jolt low in his stomach, then a feeling, like he was being wrenched forward-
His body collapsed to the ground, knocking against the kitchen table and sending pieces of paper flying-
'...Couldn't you have been a little more patient?' was the last thing he heard before everything faded into black.
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"Is he awake?" a voice said, and Naruto groggily identified it as the growling voice, sounding distinctly disgruntled.
"No, he isn't," Chirpy said, exasperated. "If you had waited, then he would have been able to adjust himself-"
There was a silence, in which Naruto could imagine Feral just looking at Chirpy, as if he had said something undeniably stupid. Naruto knew that look inside-out – it was the one half the class turned on him when he chose to ask what chakra was, or something to that effect.
He blinked, slowly, watching as the ceiling came into view. Well, that was weird. He felt like he was seeing everything through orange lenses, casting a distinctive glow over – a stone ceiling? Huh. He wasn't at home anymore then. No big- wait.
He tried to exclaim something along the lines of 'what the hell, I've been kidnapped!' but it came out closer to "Whtllvbinkgrh!"
The pause that followed indicated that everyone was staring at him with a variety of expressions on their faces. Naruto pushed himself up to see the people around him, and nodded to himself. Yep, he was right. Uzumaki Naruto was amazing when it came to reading silences.
He stared at the closest one to him; the one who was staring back with his head half-cocked to one side and a bewildered look on his face. The boy was glowing, a sort of soft blue compressed into his skin, which disturbed him faintly. Naruto began to feel that there was something wrong with this situation. Something very wrong. His stomach was twisting, which either meant the milk was off again, or he was in trouble.
"Why," he finally said, "Do you look like me?" The boy did look like him; same eyes, same whisker marks, his hair was tied back in ponytail (which looked ridiculous because the spikes still stood out, and frankly, it gave him the appearance of some kind of spiked bush) but that was the only difference.
Why the hell are you glowing? he wanted to add, too, but he decided he was pushing it with getting one question out ungarbled.
"Oh, that's easy," the boy said, blinking a few times before smiling widely. Chirpy, Naruto mentally identified him. "I look like you, because I am you!"
...There was something off about that statement.
"That doesn't work," Naruto said slowly. Chirpy looked at him, as if expecting him to elaborate. Naruto did so. "You can't be me," he continued, "Because I'm me. And there can't be two mes, because then we wouldn't be me." He was confusing himself with that, and decided to stop there.
"Actually," a different voice said – Grumpy. "There aren't two of you. There are six."
Naruto swivelled to stare at him – and ooh, there was himself staring back at him, almost identical except a bit taller and more muscular, with a deep yellow glow emanating from him. Man, this was confusing. He could feel his headache, which had oddly dissipated, returning in full force, throbbing behind his eyes.
"I don't get this," he finally complained. "If you're me, then why did you kidnap me?"
"Kidnap?" Chirpy asked, then his eyes widened in comprehension. "Oh, of course. You wouldn't know where you are, because he," he nodded towards a third figure, who could only be Feral, crimson glow added to crimson eyes and a gaunt, pale face staring at him, "Dragged you in without saying anything." There was a note of reproach in his tone, and Naruto got the feeling that this was the closest Chirpy ever came to real disapproval.
"Not my problem he's stupid," Feral growled challengingly, his eyes fixing on Chirpy as if daring him to say something.
"Enough," another voice said, monotonous. "Arguing will get us nowhere." Naruto turned again (this was starting to feel like a fricking roundabout) passing over one boy lounging back against a wall, and stopping on another him; a boy with his hair cropped within an inch of his skull, emotionless face and suppressed grey glow, hovering across his skin. He met Naruto's eyes without concern, apparently evaluating him, then spoke.
"We did not kidnap you," he said. "We are aspects of your personality; in effect, what you could have become. This," he here gestured around the cave, "Is inside your mind. Your body is still in your apartment."
Naruto bit his lip. "Uh," he said. "What?"
The other hims exchanged glances, and it was Chirpy who sent a pleading look to the final boy; the one who had been leaning against the wall. Green light was flowing around him in odd patterns, more... free than the others' lights, for lack of a better explanation. There was something foxy about him; his grin was sly and his eyes guardedly amused. They were blue though, Naruto was glad to see. Feral's red eyes had disturbed him.
"It's like this," Fox said, finally. He didn't seem too enthused at having to explain, and the look he sent Chirpy was clear – you owe me. "Remember that jutsu you were screwin' with last night?"
Naruto nodded slowly.
"Yeah, well. That created five different sets of memories, each with a new personality. We," he moved his hand to encompass all of them, "Are those personalities. We're basically who you could have become, yeah? Y'know, the whole, what would have happened if someone had done somethin' else?"
"Yeah," Naruto said slowly. "I get that. How do you know about the jutsu I was working on though?"
Fox rolled his eyes. "We have access to all your memories, 'cause you're the host body." He looked around at the others, and then shrugged. "I reckon that's all you need to know."
"Wait!" Naruto exclaimed. "What about- How do I get you out of my mind?"
Fox grinned viciously at that, ignoring the mumbles around them. "That's easy," he said. "You don't. You're stuck with us."
"What?" Naruto squawked. "But-"
"It's not that bad," Monotone interrupted. "We've been comparing lives while you slept. We each have our own skills which we can add to your arsenal." His voice didn't change, but he tilted his head slightly. "That would prove a huge advantage to you."
"And," Fox drawled out. "With us here, you aren't ever goin' to be alone, yeah? Doesn't it get lonely for you? All the villagers glarin' all the time?" His voice altered slightly, almost sing-song hypnotic. "Do you want to be alone again?"
Naruto watched Fox with wide eyes, and it felt like something inside him was swaying to his voice. To never be alone again. To have people who'd always support him. The thought of it was... unbelievable, making hope well up inside of him.
Grumpy was hissing something at Fox, the yellow glow flickering with his anger, but Fox seemed to slouch back further, his mouth taking the shape of an easy grin as he shrugged elegantly. Naruto watched them for a few moments, and then shook his head.
"You're right," he said. "I guess you can stay, if-" He hesitated over the words, not wanting to say them, but somehow, desperate to. "If you promise not to leave me alone."
It was Feral who spoke up first, shifting slightly in a threatening manner as he tilted his head backwards. He stared at Naruto for a long few moments, then grunted. "I promise," he growled out, and Grumpy looked slightly indignant as he turned from hissing at Fox.
Fox was grinning wickedly, and Naruto felt a shiver run through his spine as he purred out his promise; Chirpy spoke uncertainly; Monotone's words were precise, his blue eyes sharp and finally Grumpy muttered out his own promise, shifting the shirt he was wearing slightly.
Naruto felt himself smiling widely – he had friends, and they were going to be here for him, whatever happened. A thought struck him suddenly. He couldn't keep calling them by the nicknames he'd come up with. For one, they were ridiculous, and for another, Naruto suspected they might take offense at them. Grumpy in particular.
"So..." he said, forming the word carefully. "What are your names?"
It was Chirpy who answered, cheerful smile on his face. "Naruto!"
Naruto stopped. "What, all of you?"
Chirpy nodded. Naruto blinked. "Can't you... have different names instead?" he asked, and the five looked at each other.
"It's possible," Monotone said finally. He looked contemplative, but even so, it was Chirpy who decided on a name first.
"I guess you can call me Naru," he said, brightly. "Won't be hard to remember, at least."
Grumpy grumbled slightly under his breath, before shaking bangs out of his eyes and changing the pose he was standing in to a more militaristic one. "Legacy will do for me," he said, and there was a hint of self-importance in his voice that started Fox snickering insanely and Feral made his opinion clear with an incredulous look. Legacy glared at them, as Fox managed to suppress his laughter, and spoke up.
"Red's good with me," he said, and there was a sort of what-are-you-on silence as everyone stared at him.
"Why Red?" Legacy asked. Red shrugged.
"I dunno," he said. "I just felt it was appropriate, yeah? I mean," and here he threw a glance Naruto's way, as his words became mocking. "Obviously a super-cool ninja like me has to have a super-cool name, too. I just think Red is... cool."
Naruto tried not to bristle at Red's tone, and succeeded only in sticking his tongue out. Naru looked disapproving, but it was Feral that broke the tension.
"Shi," he muttered, and Naruto really couldn't help but compare his voice to a dog or something. There was a pause, and he shook himself out of his thoughts, instead settling for looking confused.
"Shi?" he questioned, and Feral sneered.
"My name," he said. "You can call me Shi."
It was Legacy who seemed to put things together, but Naruto honestly had no clue what Legacy was looking indignant over. "You were laughing at my name, when you wanted to use that?" Legacy asked. "Subtle. Really subtle."
"C'mon," Red said, his eyes dancing. "Even you have to admit your name was more pretentious than Shi's, yeah?"
"At least mine wasn't such a blatant reference-" Legacy snapped.
"Enough," Monotone said, and Legacy fell into silence. Monotone looked at them all, and glanced down at his faintly glowing arm, before sighing. "Grey will be fine for me."
Naruto perked up at this, the name reminding him of a question he had ages ago. "Why are you lot all glowing?" he asked, and Red raised an eyebrow.
"You're glowin' too," he said, and startled, Naruto looked down at himself, catching a faint aura of orange.
"Oh," he said slowly. "Why?"
It was Grey who answered – Naruto got the feeling that Grey was more willingly informative than any of the others. "The colours represent our inner souls. They reflect who we really are. As we are in a soul room – the area within your mind – the colours are more obvious, due to our actual essences being present."
Naruto sort of got it, but he hoped there weren't going to be any tests on the stuff like that. His mind was spinning from overload of information. "Okay," he said after a while. "I understand. Is that all?"
"No," Grey said firmly. "There's several facts you should know about us."
There was a subtle shifting among the others, as if they were wary of what Grey was going to reveal. Red, in particular, was sharp-eyed, his mouth sealed in a flat line. Naruto tensed, but listened.
"Firstly, your chakra supply will be a lot lower than you originally remember it as. This is because it has been split between all of us; not definitely evenly. You should still have the major part of it, but you may need to do some chakra building exercises before you go running off to do very high-level jutsus." He levelled a look at Naruto, as if hearing his thoughts (which were running somewhere along the line of 'They stole my chakra!') and continued. "This is not necessarily a bad thing. At your previous power-levels you were incapable of accomplishing many low-level techniques. Now, however, they should be within your range."
Naruto was simply moving his mouth up and down, as if trying and failing to find the right words. Grey seemed unbothered by this.
"Secondly, we are able to take control of your body."
This was all Naruto needed to explode, shouting out "WHAT?" at the top of his voice, not noticing Red clasping his hands over his ears, or Shi growling, the noise rumbling away like a lawnmower.
"We can only take over if you let us!" Naru exclaimed, trying to head off the fight before it truly started.
(Or if you're asleep, unconscious or otherwise occupied Red muttered, but Naruto didn't hear him)
"Still-" Naruto tried to protest, but Grey kept speaking, implacably.
"This may come in use, as each of us are able to deal with certain situations. Red, from what he says, is reasonably adept at using genjutsu. For a situation requiring subtlety, it might be best to allow him control." Grey paused and seemed to think for a moment. "Finally, you will be able to hear us and talk to us in your mind – silent communication, effectively."
"I-" Naruto began, and then screwed his face up in an approximation of a pout. "Yeah, whatever. That everything?"
"No," Red said. "'Cause we had to explain all this crap to you, I'm sayin' you owe us a favour."
Naruto looked uneasy at that, as did several of the others, although Shi seemed more interested in running his tongue over elongated canines purposefully and looking intimidating. "What favour?" he asked.
"Orange," Red said. "Why are we wearin' it? It's like a walkin' target."
"I like orange," Naruto protested.
"That's obvious," Red said. "Doesn't change the fact that someone's even painted a handy 'please hit here' spot on the back with the spiral, yeah? Get rid of it."
"It's my body!" Naruto yelped, and things went downhill from there.
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"Can't believe... making me get rid of my jumpsuits... bastards..." Naruto grumbled, his voice fading in and out of audibility as he walked down the streets, hands shoved in his pockets. Eventually, all five of the other hims had put their feet down and declared that orange was henceforth banned and that they were going clothes shopping. As if that wasn't enough, Red had made him stand in front of a bathroom mirror and change his appearance as well, using stupid henge over and over again until they'd morphed into a skinny brown-haired boy of the same height and weight as him, but lacking the whisker marks.
Naruto still wasn't sure why he'd been told to change his appearance, but he accepted it anyway. He suspected Red made a habit of winning every argument he got into.
''Course,' Red said lazily. 'There's no point in fightin' if you aren't goin' to win.'
Naruto mumbled something under his breath, causing a couple of people passing by to look at him with faint consternation. He ignored them, and was walking past a large clothing store when Naru called his attention to it.
'Why don't we go in there?' Naru asked, and Naruto shrugged.
"The owners don't really like me," he whispered – whatever Grey had said about talking within his mind, Naruto hadn't quite got the hang of it yet. "I kinda pranked them a while ago."
'That's why we're in henge,' Red said in a patronising voice, and Naruto made a face.
"Oh. Yeah. Cool," he muttered, and slunk into the shop as if expecting someone to appear and throw him out. Instead, much to his surprise, the shopkeeper materialised in front of him, all smiles and how-may-I-help-you? "Well, now," she said with a beaming smile. "What's a fine young boy like yourself doing here? I'm Akirashi Emi, one of the owners of this store."
Naruto nearly feel over at the effusive welcome, his eyes widening. "Er," he said, and then Red was grumbling and instructing him on what to say (although, he was quick to point out, if this wasn't for his benefit too, Naruto would have to pay for his help).
'Your name,' Red instructed, 'Is Seito Daichi. You are an academy student, and you're here because your mother says you need some new clothes – preferably some that will help you in blending in.'
Naruto repeated all this, and the woman clapped her hands together. "I know just the things," she said, pulling him over. Naruto was slightly overwhelmed by this woman, when he remembered her throwing whatever was nearby at him and screaming at 'that demon' to get out of her shop.She pointed him at a rack of clothes with a smile, saying that they 'should be about your size', and then left to greet another customer with an effusive 'Morino-san!'
Beginning to look through the clothes, Naruto wasn't entirely sure what he should go for. He'd never had this much choice before. He pushed some pairs of dark grey shorts across the racking, and then stopped at Grey's call.
'The shorts,' Grey pointed out. 'They'll be good.'
"Grey is lame," Naruto muttered softly. "Black would be better, wouldn't it?"
'Grey blends better,' Grey said firmly, and with a sigh, Naruto pulled out a pair of the knee-length shorts and held them against himself. They looked like they would fit, and the price wasn't bad, even if he assumed the shopkeeper would hike it up a bit. They always did.
"There's only one pair of grey," he said, barely moving his lips, and Grey sighed.
'And a pair of black then,' he said reluctantly, and Legacy laughed at the emotion in Grey's voice.
Moving onto t-shirts, Naruto hovered between a dark green and a dark brown, both plain. He was trying to query the others when he became aware of a man's presence behind him, and slowly turned to look. Unconsciously, his eyes traced the two diagonal scars slashing across the man's face, and the cold expression he wore, and Naruto felt himself wilting for lack of a better word.
'Switch with me,' Red said, and it was with relief that Naruto felt his spirit 'jump', Red's sliding into place in the space of a split-second. The man's eyebrow rose a fraction of an inch as Red slouched slightly, now apparently unconcerned with his presence, when before, the boy had been tense and frightened. Turning away, Red hummed as he grabbed both the green and the brown shirt, and then, on second thought, another green shirt as well.
Checking the prices, he relayed them to Grey who added them together carefully and approved the cost. Still humming, Red moved as if to pass the man by, but the man blocked his way. Red glanced up, amusement clear on his face as he spoke. "There a problem, Morino-san?"
"You were talking to yourself," 'Morino-san' said bluntly. Red looked at him.
"Was I?" he asked, and Morino frowned, making his face even more forbidding.
"You were," he said, and Red shrugged.
"Guess I was then," he said. "Can I pay for these please, Akirashi-san?" The woman came over to the counter and Red winced as he withdrew the frog wallet. A frog. There were going to be words about this. Morino didn't seem happy about being ignored, and Red resisted the temptation to grin as he paid, taking the plastic bag offered and thanking Akirashi politely, ignoring her murmuring of 'what a sweet boy' as he left.
'Were you trying to annoy Morino?' Legacy asked, and Red nodded faintly. They all considered this. 'Why?' Legacy finally asked.
'He's a jounin, yeah?' Red said within their head. 'If we can interest him enough, we can get him to teach us some stuff. I'm gettin' him interested by annoyin' him. He's followin' us now, and when we're out of-'
His thoughts cut off as Morino's hand clasped down on his shoulder, hard, disrupting his henge and leaving Red staring up at Morino with bored blue eyes. "Y'know, this probably counts as stalkin'," he drawled. Morino's eye twitched.
"Why were you under henge?" Morino demanded, and Red shrugged.
"Why're you stalkin' me?" he replied. There was a long silence.
'Switch back,' Red told Naruto, and Naruto didn't have time to protest otherwise as he was suddenly shoved back into control of his own body.
"You were talking to yourself, and you feel the need to go under henge. That's suspicious behaviour," Morino said bluntly. Naruto blinked at him. Morino tightened his hold. "What's your name, boy?"
"Uzumaki Naruto," Naruto said, keeping his voice steady. "You're crushing my shoulder." With a startled blink, Morino released him, and there was something odd in his gaze as he looked at Naruto. "Hey, hey," Naruto said, "What's your name, anyway?" The man really freaked him out. Maybe he could distract him and run.
"Morino Ibiki," Morino said. "Care to answer my first question?"
"Not really," Naruto said, slowly, hesitantly. Morino bristled slightly.
"Why were you-" he began, but was interrupted.
"Left the stove on, got to run!" Naruto shouted and sprinted away. Morino was left behind, looking as though he wanted to strangle someone, but couldn't really be bothered to drop his dignity to run after some bratty eleven year old – some bratty eleven year old with two completely contrasting speech patterns.
Red was snickering all the way home. Naruto thought he was getting another headache.
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It was with some horror that Naruto discovered, upon waking up the next day, that all his orange jumpsuits had been burnt. The voices in his head were noticeably silent, and Naruto spent quite a few hours sulking.
Then he got a visitor.
That was when he stopped sulking and felt like crying instead.
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END CHAPTER ONE
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If you have any questions, feel free to ask them and I'll try to reply. Wooh. -waves flag-