So how'd ya'll like the last chapter? I liked it too. Unfortunately, though, I have yet to figure out why you people like this story so much. I mean, I don't mind you guys liking it and all, but that still doesn't help. I'm reading it like you guys, though it still hasn't occurred to me why…But, there are a lot of reviews, favorites, and alerts, which is, like, really cool. As of right now, there are:
Reviews: 14
Alerts: 32
Favorites: 19
C2s (I don't have any idea what this means. So, if anyone can tell me, that'd be great, thanks.): 1
Well, enough of my ramblings (There's too many of them. ("Dattebayo!") You'd ex out of the screen before you got to the actual story.). But, depending on how this chapter flows out, there may be an Omake, just a heads up. And also, for this story, I don't think I'll kill Obito, unless you guys want him dead, which you better tell me now, before its too late. Now, onwards with the story. Review and enjoy!
~Recap~
"Who're you?" He asked the man bluntly, scratching the back of his head, giving up the search to find the man's identity. Kyuubi sighed, and muttered something about 'dense, blond brats.' There were several other reactions to his question besides Kyuubi's. Jiraiya laughed out loud; Inoichi almost did, but he put his hand over his mouth; Tsunade smiled as did Shizune; and Obito, Rin and Kakashi stared at him with wide eyes.
The unidentified man himself smiled sheepishly, and scratched his head, in a manner such as Naruto's. "Well… I'm Namikaze Minato, Yondaime Hokage.
~End Recap~
Naruto stared at him. He blinked owlishly. "Who?" He asked again.
Jiraiya laughed again, even harder this time. Naruto watched Minato shot his sensei a glare, but said person was laughing too hard to notice.
Minato looked at the boy again with a sigh. "My name's Namikaze Minato, kid. The Yondaime Hokage." He observed Naruto, and it looked like it got through to him this time.
"Oh," He scratched the back of his head, noticeably paling a bit. "That would explain why you were so familiar." He gave off a shaky, somewhat nervous laugh.
Minato smiled lightly. "No problem, kid." He was silent for a few moments, before asking, "So, where'd you get the giant hole in your chest from?"
Naruto looked confused for a second, looked down to his chest, before remembering what happened, and winced.
"Well, to put it simply, a friend and I got into a fight, where he put the hole in my chest. Unfortunately, I didn't get to see if I nailed him or not, but I think I did. God knows the bastard deserved it. And when I woke up, you all were here." Naruto explained, trying to give away as little information as possible.
"I see," Minato said, looking to Jiraiya, who nodded slightly. It normally wouldn't have been noticed by anyone in the group, but Naruto's sharp eyes caught it. He had trained his eyes to pick up the small things, lest he suffer for in the future.
He looked out the window on his left and thought about his village. He thought about what would have happened if he hadn't landed the killing blow to Sasuke. What was happening to his village right now? Were they being attacked? Were all his precious people dying protecting the village because he wasn't there to help them?
As he pondered these questions, the occupants of the room observed him, unbeknownst to him. They saw not the eyes of a thirteen year old boy, but of a war-torn man who had suffered, who had lost what he loved. As they looked into his eyes, all could clearly see the unshed tears that he couldn't cry, because he had cried too much.
Tsunade, who had experienced some of what the boy had, put a reassuring hand on his shoulder, causing the boy to turn around and face her.
"You're too young to have eyes like those, gaki," She said with a small smile. "But don't worry, as long as we're here, nothing'll happen to you." The boy looked surprised, but then he gave a brilliant, if not small, smile to those in the room.
"Thanks, baa-chan," He said to Tsunade, who bopped him on the head. Everyone, including the still angry Tsunade laughed.
"By the way," Minato asked, causing everyone in the room to look towards him. "What's your name, kid?"
Said boy looked at everyone in the room before answering, "Naruto." With a smile.
0o0
"Well Naruto," Tsunade said, a week after he had woken up. "You're free to go now," Tsunade told him, smiling at the hyper boy.
"Yatta! Arigatou, baa-chan!" Naruto exclaimed with a big grin, running out of the hospital before he could be held back, and get hit by Tsunade.
Naruto had been waiting to be released for that whole week. During that time, when he had pretended to be sleeping, he was in his mindscape, practicing, talking, and planning what he was going to do. As he walked down the main road of the village, he thought back to his first conversation with the Kyuubi after the conversation a week ago.
Flashback Start
Going into his mindscape, Naruto walked down the corridors he knew by heart to his tenants residing place. When he got there, he nodded to the Kyuubi, who nodded in return. Kyuubi turned into his human form, and followed Naruto into their meadow, where they trained.
Walking towards the giant tree that stood tall in the grassy meadow, there were no words spoken between the two. Upon arriving at the tree, the two sat, and nothing was said for a while. Naruto was the one to break the silence.
"What have I gotten myself into this time?" He asked, to both Kyuubi and to himself.
"Unfortunately, I know not, Kit," Kyuubi said. "Although, I do have a theory as to why this has happened." Naruto looked at the Kyuubi intently. Kyuubi continued.
"The kami are fickle creatures," Kyuubi began, choosing to ignore the eyebrow raise from his jailor. "They rule this universe, as well as the many universes we have yet, or may not even discover. Everything has a reason for which it happens, thus creating the tale we call our existence. The kami watch as the fates of many intertwine and create the many paths to which have been already seen.
"Now, if the kami find that the paths that have been set are changed to where a person is suddenly erased, they will intervene. Though this rarely occurs, it sometimes does happen. In this case, the kami have decided that your life must continue on." The Kyuubi paused, letting the information sink into Naruto's somewhat thick head.
When Naruto nodded to the Kyuubi, he once more continued. "Thus, it brings us to what has happened. I theorize that we have been sent into the past." Naruto's eyes widened, but he didn't object to the theory.
"I guess that going to the past can happen, even if it's weird. I mean, everyone in that room, except for Shizune and Inoichi, are dead in the future. But here, they're all alive. It's hard to accept, but I guess its true." Naruto said, to which Kyuubi nodded.
"And this means we're going to have to be careful here, otherwise some things will be totally messed up. I just pray to god nothing happens to where all my friends end up not being born. That'd be way too troublesome." Naruto said, smiling as he thought of his lazy friend Shika.
"I agree," Kyuubi said. "It is best to be on guard. Otherwise, you'll slip, and then things will be very complicated, and as you said, troublesome." Naruto nodded, and the two got up and began to train Naruto once more.
Flashback End
As he was thinking of this, Naruto's stomach grumbled, demanding food. 'I wonder if Ichiraku's is open…' Naruto mused to himself, heading towards the place where his favorite ramen stand should be,
To his delight, it was open, and he could smell it from ten feet away. 'Yatta! Its actually open!' Naruto thought as he quickly made his way to the ramen stand.
'You and your ramen,' Kyuubi grumbled from within his mind. 'I swear, I honestly don't know how you got to be six feet. You're petite and were hit on a lot once you were in the villagers good graces.'
'Hey! I had a growth spurt while- Wait. I was hit on?' Naruto asked in disbelief. He had had no idea. Though now that he thought about it, the villagers would sometimes look at him funny.
'Of course you didn't notice. You're too dense to.' Kyuubi told him, knowing that he'd rile his blond jailor up.
'Hey! I'm not that bad!' Naruto cried, but was only left with laughs as Kyuubi fell asleep.
Grumbling, Naruto entered the stand and took a seat. Shortly after, a woman with fire red hair and green eyes came in and sat next to him. They both waited for someone to come out and get their orders. When someone did, it was Ichiraku.
"What can I get you?" He asked them, his same kind smile on his face, albeit younger looking.
"One miso ramen with pork please, old man!" The two customers ordered at the same time. The two blinked, and looked at each other with obvious shock.
Ichiraku just laughed. "Alright then, your orders will be out in a couple of minutes, you two." He said, going to make the ramen.
The two were still staring at each other when he left. Naruto blinked a few times before he smiled widely. "Hi, I'm Naruto!" He greeted, putting out his hand.
The woman didn't hesitate as a smile as big as Naruto's came onto her face. "I'm Kushina, 'ttebane!" She replied in kind.
"I have a friend who said that someone who likes ramen can't be bad, dattebayo!" Naruto exclaimed, already liking Kushina.
Kushina nodded eagerly. "I know! And Ichiraku makes good ramen." She told her new ramen-loving friend, who she immensely liked.
"No, Ichiraku's doesn't make good ramen," Naruto told her. Kushina looked at him funny. "They make the best ramen, Dattebayo!" Naruto exclaimed with a giant smile on his face, which Kushina soon had as well, in that bass ackwards way we all know so well by .
"Well, I'm glad you think our ramen is so good here, Naruto," Ichiraku said, having heard the boy's name earlier. He placed the bowls in front of the two.
"Totally, old man!" Naruto said, digging into his ramen. Kushina did the same. And as they ate ramen to their hearts content, the two ramen lovers talked about many things -mainly ramen- before filing out of the restaurant, Kushina paying for the both of them. At first, Naruto said that she didn't have to (he had already gotten money from Minato to go look around Konoha) but she insisted, saying that it was rare to find a ramen lover like her around here. So, he reluctantly gave in and let her pay.
"Ah, I'm stuffed, 'ttebane!" Kushina said, stretching out her arms.
"Me too!" Naruto replied happily. He couldn't remember the last time he had had Ichiraku's ramen. Hinata, his secretary, had decided that it wasn't good for him to have ramen all the time and (with the confidence that she was lacking as a genin) strictly told him that he couldn't have that much ramen anymore, to which he remorsefully accepted. It had been truly great to stuff himself again, like he used to.
Naruto waved goodbye to her before going back to the Hokage Tower (Minato had wanted him to stop by when he was released from the hospital). And just as he was turning his head back around to the front, someone ran smack dab into him, knocking him to his butt.
"Ouch, that hurt!" He, and the person that ran into him, said at the same time. Naruto looked up to see Minato in the exact same position as him, albeit opposite of him.
"Ah, Minato!" Naruto exclaimed, recognizing his father immediately.
Minato blinked, and noticed that Naruto was sitting across from him. "ah, Naruto. Sorry 'bout that. Actually, I was looking for you…" He explained, scratching the back of his head, smiling sheepishly.
"Actually, I was heading to the Hokage Tower just now," Naruto laughed, scratching the back of his head as well.
Naruto are you all- Minato?" Kushina's voice came from behind Naruto, and the two blue-eyed blondes looked to behind Naruto.
There stood Kushina, in all her glory, looking extremely confused.
"Oh, hi Kushina!" The two blondes greeted in unison, turning to look at each other, wondering how the other knew the red-head.
"Wah! Minato, when'd you get a mini-me?" Kushina asked, watching as Minato helped Naruto up.
"Kushina, this is the kid from the incident two weeks ago." Kushina looked at Naruto with wide eyes. This was the kid that had Minato's blood?
"Eh, Naruto, how do you know Kushina?" Minato, changing the subject.
"Oh, we met at Ichiraku's!" Kushina answered for him. "Naruto's a true ramen-lover!" She exclaimed, with a wide grin on her face. Minato sighed.
"How do you know Kushina, Minato?" Naruto asked, tilting his head to the side, which Minato and Kushina secretly thought was adorable.
Minato smiled, and walked over, draping an arm around Kushina's shoulders which Kushina smiled, if possible, even more.
"This in my fiancée, Uzumaki Kushina."
And that's a wrap people! My god, this was incredibly long! I don't know how I wrote all of this! It's fourteen pages long (meep). But it's all's well that ends well, I guess. On another hand though, the thing we all hate (school) is starting for me next week. T-T So, the chapters will not come as fast, but I promise that I'll do my best to make sure that I update at least once a week, 'ttebane! As said before, though, review! Also, here's the Omake. The story flowed right, and I got to write this! ^-^
Omake
~Recap~
"Who're you?" He asked the man bluntly, scratching the back of his head, giving up the search to find the man's identity. Kyuubi sighed, and muttered something about 'dense, blond brats.' There were several other reactions to his question besides Kyuubi's. Jiraiya laughed out loud; Inoichi almost did, but he put his hand over his mouth; Tsunade smiled as did Shizune; and Obito, Rin and Kakashi stared at him with wide eyes.
The unidentified man himself smiled sheepishly, and scratched his head, in a manner such as Naruto's. "Well… I'm Namikaze Minato, Yondaime Hokage.
~End Recap~
Naruto blinked, frowned, and then laid back down. "Screw this, I'm going back to sleep." He announced, turning his back to the occupants of the room, who were now staring at him openly, except for Jiraiya, who was now on the ground, trying, and failing, to stop his laughter. Fed up with Jiraiya's laughing, Tsunade opened the window, and literally kicked Jiraiya out of the room. Coincidentally, Tsunade kicked him hard to land him in the hot springs a couple of blocks away. The female side, of course.
Screams were heard from the hot springs as Jiraiya was unmercifully beaten by the angry women. Naruto had to stuff his entire fist in his mouth to keep from laughing. So, his whole body was shaking uncontrollably as he listened to the screams of pain coming from his godfather.