Nattō (なっとう or 納豆) is a traditional Japanese food made from soybeans fermented with Bacillus subtilis (Wikipedia). In other words, it's brown beans with some kind of sticky and stretchy… thing. It has a strong smell, slippery texture, and strong flavor. Tastes awesome with rice and sashimi though.
"What business do you have here?" the man repeated emotionlessly, sharp eyes expecting an answer. He felt more than saw his childhood friends' bemusement, happiness and suspicion towards Jiraiya's sudden appearance, mostly because he had also felt the same. What was the man, their teacher, doing here? After all this time?
The white haired sage grimly gazed back at him. "We're here to save the Akatsuki, Nagato."
"Our organization is not in need of any help." The red haired man's brows drew close in confusion, and the corners of his lips slightly curled down. "Furthermore, if there were any problems, we'd be able to fix it."
"Even if it were a well-planned ambush?" The Akatsuki's attention was caught by the young, blonde girl. Many eyes widened in incredulity at what she was sprouting.
Before anyone could shout in outrage, Yahiko spoke, and Naruto noticed that his voice had some sort of warmth to it compared to the cold, dead flatness she remembered. "What do you mean?"
"Your meeting with Hanzō. It's soon, isn't it?" She asked with a dark look on her face. "I know you have your suspicions, Nagato. He's changed. Hanzō does not wish for peace as much as he did before. The power he had over his village, the power he has to beat his enemies; that all got into his head and changed him thoroughly. He loves his position as ruler of Ame, and knows that this group, Akatsuki, is quickly gaining the people's favor over himself." Naruto's lips curled downwards into a disgusted sneer. "He plans to take it out of the picture using a little help from Danzō. You know who that is, don't you?"
Yahiko's eyes widened and narrowed. He also had his doubts, but how could he believe the words of a little girl? "That may be true, but how would we know if you're not one of his subordinates?" Konan had spoken before him, her eyes angry and accusing. "You three are clearly from Konoha, and Danzō's actions wouldn't threaten your village. In fact, it would benefit it."
Kushina sighed, "This may make Konoha sound rather soft, but we and the Hokage do not wish for another village's suffering. This organization is the hope of Amegakure's peace, and possibly the world's." Yahiko's eyes widened at that. World peace? Naruto stared at him for a moment, which did not go unnoticed by the other two Akatsuki founders, and sighed.
"What Hanzō intends to do is take Konan hostage, and make Nagato kill Yahiko. I'm guessing that it'll end with one of you three dying, and if it was Yahiko, Nagato's idea of peace would be tainted. He'll most likel start believing that world peace can only be obtained by force as the years pass by," most likely charged by Tobi's plan, Naruto didn't say, for the sake of keeping her identity as time traveler a secret. "This may only be a prediction, but I believe it would turn out like this, especially if other people have the same thoughts."
Konan kept her eyes on her. "Introduce yourself."
Having not expected the command, the girl blinked. Now that she thought about it, she hadn't actually said anything about herself and just got straight to the point. Oops. "Uzumaki Naruto," She said, but noticed a another gaze on her. She turned to Nagato and stared back, waiting for him to talk. She noticed how recognition sparked in his eyes at her given name and grinned.
"You," he began slowly, "do not look like an Uzumaki. Your facial features are similar to the woman, who I presume is one from her red hair, though. Who is your father?"
"Namikaze Minato," She sighed, "We prefer not to use his last name for the sake of my safety and my mother's in the future since he'll surely gain more and more fame by then."
Konan still did not look away. Just who was this Naruto? This young girl, who looked no older than four or five years old? If what she had predicted was all thought up on her own, then she would have a lot of potential. If Naruto were to join the Akatsuki when she had grown older, she would make a wonderful addition. Not to mention, the woman can tell that the blonde is a chakra powerhouse. You didn't have to be a chakra-sensor to realize that.
Jiraiya watched his three old students with a hidden smile. He couldn't believe it. They were actually here, alive and kicking as he had hoped. The reason they hadn't sent a letter was probably due to the busy work of running a group as large as the Akatsuki, and in consideration of him and his village's safety as well as their own. If their connection had been found out and misunderstood by Hanzō, he would think that the Akatsuki were planning something behind his back with Konohagakure. Well, he wanted to think that that was what's going on in their mind; otherwise they simply grew tired of contacting him.
He really hoped that wasn't the case.
"I believe you." He finally smiled, surprising some of his subordinates. "I doubt Jiraiya-sensei would be so underhanded as to team up with Hanzo and betray us, anyways." Kushina visibly showed relief, her shoulders losing their tenseness.
She had feared that there would be a fight—a fight that would definitely result with them failing—and was glad—terribly glad—that it had been the opposite. Everything was fine and dandy. Kushina was glad that Jiraiya had been there, otherwise they might have to reveal Naruto's big secret.
They decided to keep it that way, a secret, so that there won't be a possibility of it leaking out to public. A shinobi like Naruto didn't, if not never at all, come often and would surely peak other village's interests. After all, how many jinchuuriki were there who have the ability to time travel? Never mind the fact that Naruto had only done it once—and it would probably stay that way unless she studied the seal—she still had knowledge of what would happen at about twenty-five years into the future! Of course anyone would want to use a person like her for money.
Yahiko sighed, and a wide grin was now on his face. "A girl as young as you shouldn't put on such an adult face! Smile, smile!" His joyfulness had made the others chuckle and shake their heads in amusement. "Well, come on inside. Hey, Tsukiko?" A random lady, probably in her teens, perked up with a surprised squeak, "would you mind switching on the lights upstairs? The darkness is a little offsetting."
"N-No, sir!" She squeaked again with a fierce blush, before scurrying off.
Konan smirked, turning to the man. "Did you do that on purpose?" Though the question was supposed to be a light one, Naruto could hear a slight strain to her voice. Jealousy, maybe?
"Do what?" yahiko asked as innocent as day. He was answered with a light smack on his arm.
Kushina and Naruto blinked, not sure how to react at the sudden change in their behaviors. Were the two now lowering their guard around them? Jiraiya looked utterly relieved.
"I think I get what she means now," Mika said to them, snapping Kakashi out of his thoughts. He had began eating with the group, telling himself that it was only for the time being, until he fully learned the arts of stealth.
Shizuka raised a brow, "Who?"
"Naruto."
"Oh. What did she say?"
Mika grinned, first taking another chomp of her rice-ball. "Oh, just a few things on how to make pranks more successful. I swear she's a genius."
Genma rolled his eyes. "Of course she is. Not every four year old can suddenly catch up with a class meant for kids much older than her."
"You talk a lot these days," Mika noted happily, sipping some of her apple juice. "And didn't you say she was an idiot?"
"She acts like an idiot." Kakashi blinked.
The orange haired girl furrowed her brows and tilted her head in confusion. "You never said that."
"Of course I didn't. It wouldn't be wise to spoil her fun."
Kakashi frowned; what did he mean? Inwardly shaking his head, he asked, "Is she good at it?"
"At what?" Mika raised a brow, before smirking. "You mean at pranks?"
He nodded, and her smirk widened. "Good isn't enough to describe her skills, young one." Genma scoffed at her words. "She's a pro. A pro, Kakashi."
Shizuka didn't look up from her book as she spoke. "I suggest learning, if you could even call it that, from Naruto instead of Mika. She's probably smarter than her, anyways."
"Hey!"
That set a scowl (fortunately hidden by his mask) on Kakashi's face, but, nevertheless, he nodded. Now that he thought about it, the orange haired civilian's pranks seemed a bit minor compared to Naruto's. What the blonde did was always… big. Like the time she had blasted the classroom orange and scribbled all over the windows, tables, chairs and the blackboard. None of the teachers knew who did it (and didn't suspect that it was her), while the students congratulated the girl behind their backs. In fact, whenever Naruto did or at least participated in doing a prank, she and the group weren't found or ratted out. The reason they weren't exposed was the teachers hadn't gotten enough evidence that it was them, though they did have an inkling of suspicion. The group wasn't told on either since the class had been eternally grateful; they had gotten to miss class, after all.
While she was still on the goody-two-shoes list, Kakashi was currently sinking further down the troublemaking-brats list. Flown away was his 'perfect student' status.
One thing he was surprised (and secretly glad) about was that his father didn't look the least bit disappointed. Rather, the man looked absolutely relieved. When the homeroom teacher had suggested for little Kakashi some counseling, Sakumo merely waved away his concern with a laugh.
Well, he guessed pranking had its good points. But that didn't mean he would keep doing it; no, he'll get rid of that daily routine once he's fully mastered the skill. His father would surely get upset when he's had enough.
But to fully master the skill would mean waiting for Naruto's return.
What exactly was he missing? What did he need to do to make his prank absolutely foolproof?
Unlike Uzumaki Naruto, the pranking King (because she certainly did not act like a girl), he can never get all of his pranks to hit its mark a hundred percent accurately. Sometimes, when he's alone, his ideas would backfire and Kakashi would end up with a rotten fish, honey, and nattō in his hair.
Taking off the smell and the stickiness was absolute hell. He also had trouble finding and getting out the eyeball, since it got stuck all the way to his scalp.
Genma's voice thankfully prevented him from the horrors of reliving his worst prank. "So are you sure you don't know where she went?"
"Yes." All he knew was she was off to a high-class mission. He hadn't listened to her after that part of her announcement.
"Do you know what she's doing now?" The older boy stared at him, and truthfully it was starting to annoy Kakashi.
"Yes. She's on a mission."
Genma raised a brow, "A mission? Missions for academy students don't last this long." All D-ranks are often two to three days at maximum, and those are rare. Not to mention, all D-ranks are done in groups.
Kakashi shrugged, not bothered to answer any more. Mika noticed his sour expression (it was hard not to, even with the mask). Now that she thought about it, Kakashi never really did seem to like the Naruto. She had thought it was just a little façade since he was embarrassed, but was she wrong?
"Do you not like her?" Shizuka had beaten her to it, but she hadn't particularly wanted to ask the question anyway. She waited for the boy to answer, expecting him to nod a 'yes' immediately, but was surprised to see that he had actually taken some time and consideration with his reply.
The boy disliked—maybe even along the borders of hate—Naruto. He was sure of that. So why couldn't he answer? Why was he hesitating? Normally, when the blonde was around or spoken of it would set a scowl to his face. How was now, when the question had been practically thrown out of nowhere, any different?
Kakashi realized he was being silent for too long and the other three had been still waiting for his answer. He began eating his rice-ball again slowly as he pondered.
Without meaning to, his thoughts had drifted to the flashbacks of Naruto bringing him back to his house after their secret midnight training sessions. He had fallen asleep again, and woke up for a brief moment because of the particularly chilly wind. Naruto was carrying him up the wall of the house with undeniable effort that time, but from the way she had been hustling him onto her back with his arms around her shoulders, it seemed like she had done it a few times—which explains how he woke up at his own bed without being able to recall how he got home in the first place.
Another thought that showed up in his mind was when Naruto had given him a notebook during class. He had been absent the previous week due to sickness, and missed out on a lot of classes. She was downright tired, even the sensei had chastised her for it, and when he looked inside the book he realized why.
The pages were written fully with notes, all in clean, neat handwriting. He had also noticed the way some parts of the paper were worn, as if she had erased it numerous times. The places where she had drawn diagrams in particular.
He knew the girl never really listened in class since she already learnt everything, but when he read it he knew that the notes were their teacher's exact words. He frowned in bemusement; why on earth would she go so far for him? He could have just borrowed a random guy's notes and copied from them, so why did she take on such trouble?
Kakashi clenched his fists, confusion warping his mind. Did he like her (as a friend, of course)? He appreciated the care she literally showered him with… and recently (although he wouldn't openly admit it), he enjoyed her company (when she wasn't being loud and idiotic).
The more he thought, the more confused he became.
"Oi, don't worry your little head over it." Genma said exasperatedly, ruffling the younger boy's hair. "Just think of the answer later. Class is going to start soon, and I really don't want to be late."
Mika eyed him. "Yup, talking a lot more these days…"
"Shut up."
Naruto blinked down at the dog, tiny with mostly black fluffy fur and eyes that shone like sapphire orbs. Its paws, like the bottom of its snout to its chest, belly, and the underside of its tail, were white, and the puppy's little ears were folded cutely. The puppy also had white spots right above its eyes, almost like eyebrows.
She crouched, watching the little ball of black and white fur stare back at her. It seemed to glare. She slowly reached to pet its head, and pouted when the little doggy growled.
Konan had noticed the two of them and walked over. "Ah, that's a dog Yahiko found in an alley; apparently his owner threw him away. Poor thing," She sighed, getting the puppy's treat. "He's only a few months old, too."
"Why would anyone try to throw away a puppy as cute as him?" Naruto asked, irked. No wonder the dog was so standoffish towards her and Konan.
"I think it was because the owner had plenty of its other siblings, and he was just the weakest one out of all of them. When Yahiko found him, the dog's physical and possibly mental state was horrifying." Konan shook her head in dismay at the memory. "If he had found that dog a day later he probably wouldn't have brought it alive."
"What the—" The girl stared down at the puppy with wide eyes full of shock and disbelief, "That's horrible!"
"Happens a lot, especially in tough times like these."
"Oh…" That sadly made sense. The puppy in front of her was probably a husky, and would grow up to be big. The owner might have been breeding dogs to get an extra hand—paw—at work, and chosen the strongest out of the bunch.
She wrinkled her nose in disgust. Couldn't the guy just give the little pup to a neighbor or at least sell him to a nice, loving home?
"Well, I'm glad Yahiko-san found him."
Konan smiled slightly, "I do too."
Naruto suddenly got up, eyes blinking, as if she just remembered something. "Darn, I forgot I had to go to Nagato-san!"
"Oh, I believe he was somewhere around the second floor. He's still discussing a few things with the other members for the… upcoming event."
"Ah, so he's busy?" Disappointment was clear in the little girl's voice, causing the young woman to wince.
"No, he's most likely finishing up, so go check up on him. I believe he'll have some time open for you."
"Oh! Okay, thanks, Konan-neechan!"
Said woman blinked at the affectionate term, watching Naruto hurriedly run off, stop, and wave goodbye at her and the dog. She rolled her eyes, but a smile was present on her face as she tossed the puppy behind her its snack.
Naruto eventually slowed down to a walk when she entered the floor Konan had told her to go to. It was dark, but the closed door she heard deep, muffled voices come from had light seeping out of the gap between it and the wooden floor.
She opened the door cautiously, just enough so she can peek her eye through the room, before she immediately jumped away. She shuffled across the wall, pressing herself against it so that the men filing out of the door wouldn't see her. When the last one was out, she inched closer, knowing that Nagato was still inside.
Poking her head in, she saw him seated in a dark wooden chair, reading through papers and scratching some notes with his pen.
"Nagato-san?"
The man jerked his head up in surprise, before a small smile was on his face. He beckoned her to enter with a downward wave of his hand. "Ah, come in, Naruto. What brings you up here?" It fell at seeing the girl's serious expression. "Did something happen?"
"No," She said slowly, as if thinking up her words carefully. "I just have a few things I wanted to discuss with you."
Nagato raised a brow, setting down his pencil and leaning back into his chair. "Oh?"
Naruto was stumped in her mind. What words should she use at a situation like this? There never was a manual or lessons on time travel in her academy days or with Kakashi-sensei.
After a moment of racking her brain out, she finally asked the young man, "Have you ever met an orange-masked man that goes by the name of 'Tobi'? Or possibly Madara?" She inhaled and exhaled rather deeply. Just the name had her blood boiling in her veins.
"Madara?" his eyebrows shot up as he repeated the name disbelievingly. "Well, no, I have not."
"He might not even be wearing his mask, but he has the Sharingan on his left eye—I'm not sure about his right. He has black hair, and I believe its short. He originally planned on taking advantage of the result of the ambush Hanzo set on the Akatsuki—of you."
"How would you know all of this?"
"That's not important," she ignored the fact that that was a common line many used to avoid a certain topic, "Don't let him join the Akatsuki, or even cooperate with him."
Naruto clenched her tiny fists tightly, barely holding back a growl. "If you ever meet him, be on your guard."
Nagato stared after her as she left without saying any more, taken aback. What on earth was that? He filed away her words in his mind, making sure he'll take note of it. She didn't seem to be lying. But…
Just who is Tobi? And what did he do to make Naruto hate him so much?
Kakashi's stare slowly began to, quite frankly, creep Minato out, making the man skip through his pages faster than he usually would unconsciously. Does he have something on his hair? Face? Maybe the boy was smirking under that mask of his after ruining the back of his pants? Oh, the jounin knew all about the formerly perfect student's recent behavior. Well, maybe behavior isn't the right word to use. More like actions.
He had often seen an irritated chuunin or two come by to lecture his sempai into setting his child straight. While they ranted and raved, he'd discreetly listen in on what Kakashi was up to these days, and what he learned had him grinning from ear to ear as they got more and more amusing.
But now he was definitely not grinning. No, he was sweating buckets, watching his back—literally—self-consciously to make sure that he hadn't been the boy's target. Minato knew about Kakashi's dislike towards Naruto, which made him all the more anxious. It wouldn't have been so bad if the two had started getting along after spending more time together…
He shook his head; no, he would not risk getting an extravagant makeover by asking Kakashi about their social progress.
The silver haired academy student didn't notice Minato's obvious discomfort at being scrutinizingly watched. Kakashi was much too deep in thought, as he only registered the neon-like yellow and blue features of the man, so similar to a certain girl's. Hidden underneath the dark navy blue cloth, his lips curled down further while his brows drew closer.
To inquire or not to inquire, that is the question. If he did choose to, then he might seem too curious. But then again, it's something other people would do since they have nothing better to discuss. He inwardly shrugged, deciding that it won't do much harm to ask an innocent question.
Minato twitched when the boy finally talked. "Where's Naruto originally from?" Blinking, he rubbed his chin at the boy's question, quite unsure himself. The girl hadn't said it, and he doubted she remembered.
"I don't know, and I don't think she knows either. She and her former sensei had been moving around and about to numerous different towns after all."
Kakashi blinked, before nodding. "Where's her sensei?" A small, sad smile reached Minato's lips.
"Well, we're not sure; he's currently missing. But there's a high chance that he's been killed." The blond sighed, "He told her to run to Konoha if anything happened to him, so here she is."
"Is Naruto related to you?" Kakashi honestly couldn't see how the two weren't related, though he had heard Naruto was adopted. He had seen the man spar with his father, and the expression Minato had then had been the same as the ones Naruto would often have on during their training sessions.
"Anything can happen, though I doubt she is." Minato rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "But I guess we look undeniably similar. Funny, huh? She even looks like Kushina, too."
"Kushina-san?" Kakashi blinked. He barely remembered the woman, and the only thing he can recall about her and Naruto being similar was that they both had long, smooth hair (except the blonde had spiky bangs framing her face).
"Yep, their faces look very similar. It scared me at first, really." Minato chuckled lightly, "I guess coincidences really do happen."
Sakumo, who had just come out of the kitchen, wiped his hands on his black apron as he watched the other man curiously. It was a little difficult, but he spotted it; the strongly veiled doubt hidden in blue eyes. Do you not believe your own words, Minato? He knew that the Namikaze didn't believe in coincidences. He wondered what the Minato suspects of Naruto. Her being him and Kushina's real child?
No, Sakumo decided in his head, because that was absolutely impossible. Maybe he should get a mental health checkup?
Naruto furrowed her brows together and cocked her head to the side in confusion as she stared at the large, familiar scroll in front of her. "I thought I wasn't supposed to learn the Summoning Technique yet." She raised a brow questioningly at the tall man before sitting on a tree stump. They were at the Akatsuki's training ground, waiting for the man spying on Hanzo's meeting with Root to return.
Kushina had gone back to the tower to get some snacks they can eat, and would be returning some time soon. From the corner of her eyes, Naruto could see the puppy she met the day before, sat down with its blue eyes staring at them observationally. Sighing exasperatedly, she pointed at him and asked Jiraiya, "Does that dog hate me or not?"
"He probably hasn't decided yet," The sage eyed both of them in amusement.
She scowled at the pup, her eyes squinting smaller and smaller as the dog continued to stare back at her unchangingly. "For some reason, he reminds me of someone. Very much."
"Well, we'll talk about him later, and focus on your training."
Naruto raised a brow and looked back at her mentor, "Yeah, about that, why now?"
"He's probably just worried about the ambush, and wants you to be prepared for it, Naruto." The two's heads looked back to see Kushina, holding three lunch boxes. "I believe you won't over do it. You understand that, right, Jiraiya?" She smiled, setting down the bento packs on a stump as she sat on another one, and crossed her legs threateningly.
"Of course," the man chuckled nervously, "Who do you take me for?"
"Just making sure, Jiraiya. What are you getting so worked up for?" The woman smirked, crossing her arms.
Naruto sighed at them, before picking up the scroll. She unraveled it while biting her thumb and drawing the blood out. Smoothly she wrote her name down.
Namikaze-Uzumaki Naruto.
She grinned, looking down at it proudly.
"Oh, I see you're done." Jiraiya grumbled, before waving his hand at her when he walked off to get a rice ball. "Now try summoning a toad. No tadpoles."
"I know that," she muttered back, before getting into work.
After slamming her hand down on the grassy ground, she waited for the smoke to disperse.
When she saw the tiny tadpole (though it did have tiny little legs attached), she glared with contempt.
"Oh! Look, it's a frog!" Kippei held up the little green critter by one of its legs, before being assaulted with indignant screeches and screams of horror from the girls. His ears rang painfully, and not long after he was hit in the face with a heavy pencil case.
Shizuka rolled his eyes, "What an idiot."
Genma didn't even take his eyes off his manga, flipping through the pages, clearly bored. "Isn't he always?"
"Hey, you two," Mika frowned, "we finally get to go out here by the river instead of suffering from classes and this is how you waste time?" She waved her arms around and whined, "Come on, let's play!"
"Why don't you go with Kippei?" The Hyuuga girl had dug her nose back into her new book, completely dismissing her friend.
"Fine!"
Shizuka subtly watched Mika stomp off, and turned to see Kakashi sitting against a tree, making paper planes in boredom. She slowly blinked, and Genma, who had noticed her looking around, recognized the small action as her remembering something.
"What is it?"
Shizuka looked back at him blankly. "Nothing," she said at first, before adding, "I was just remembering the fact that he didn't answer my question."
"Your question?" He took a second to understand what she meant. "Oh, that. He probably doesn't want to give an answer."
She expected him to explain but he didn't. Slightly annoyed, she scowled, "What makes you think that?"
"Well, the fact that he's unsure must mean he likes her on some level, doesn't it?"
"Yes...?"
"Then that might mean he just doesn't want to admit it."
Shizuka stared for a while, before sighing and looking down at her book. "I guess that could be right."
"You're just saying that to end this conversation, aren't you?"
"What do you think?"
Mika, who had been catching frogs with Kippei and showing them off to the other boys down by the river, glared up at them. Huffing, she stomped her feet once again, making the tiny frogs in her hands escape. She stomped again.
Kippei raised a brow at her, wondering how much longer she can remain sane. Hopefully after they graduate and be separated in different teams? But the other classmates weren't as fun to be around as Mika was, though Naruto would be an exception to that. Speaking of which, "when is she coming back? Naruto, I mean." He asked Mika, a jealous frown on his face. "No one's ever allowed to be away from the academy this long! Why her?"
"Oh quit your whining Kippei and help me catch the frogs again!" Now that he thought about it, the girl has been pretty bossy recently. He can only hope that it wouldn't last until their last five months left of their academy life, but from the way Mika's going...
"Fine, just stop nagging all the time." If there was one thing he hated more than women's nagging, studying, and homework, it would be Mika's punches. "Ow!"
"Well, we should end here," Jiraiya said, eyeing her as if to make sure that she won't collapse any time soon.
Naruto closed her eyes as she wiped off the sweat under her nose; as she had expected, she would need more chakra. "It's fine, I can still continue."
"Your chakra—"
She sat down and began meditating, trying to enter her mind.
She now stood in the sewer she was familiar with; the warm water around her feet, and especially the bars that kept the giant demon within her caged. "You know what I'm here for, don't you?" She smirked, raising her hand almost demandingly.
"What did you call it again? Rent?"
"Good thing you're not naturally losing your memory, eh, old fox?" Naruto pulled her long boots higher up her thigh, smiling nostalgically as she did so. "I sure miss these. Being younger again does have its disadvantages especially with circumstances like mine, huh?"
"Don't you have to hurry?" The beast asked dryly, and in a second, red chakra whirled around the young teen's feet and the water. "Just this once, I'll let you waste my chakra. It's annoying how you're so weak even with my presence."
"Hey, you know it's not my fault." Naruto smiled knowingly, "And even if you act like you hate meーyou probably do though, since I'm locking you up here with nothing to doーI know you're actually a nice guy! And no, you can't deny it!"
Kyuubi didn't bother retorting. "How's that seal coming along?"
Naruto raised a brow, settling her hands on her hips. "What do you think?" she deadpanned. "Well, unlike the previous one, I don't have headaches. In fact, it feels... I feel a lot better than I should."
When he didn't respond, she explained more. "How should I put this... It's like I feel lighter? Like maybe a weight's that's been on my shoulders has been lessened?"
"Well, I guess that's what happens with your memories getting erased."
Naruto furrowed her brows in concern. "Just how much of my memories are gone now?"
"I don't know the exact percentage, but it's not that much." Kyuubi huffed, "Nothing to die over. You've probably just lost the memories of the first few years of your life. So the ones you can't even recall is fully gone."
"Huh?"
He sighed exasperatedly. "What I mean is, the memories you don't remember was still there, in the very back of your mind. You can't see it again, but it still exists. You can see it as an invisible bunch of memories." He stared at her eyes, slightly amused at how it suddenly shined in understanding. "And since that ancient seal takes much more time to destroy memories unlike the... Age Sucker, it's still in the process of erasing, again, those invisible memories."
"Oh, I get it now!" Naruto grinned and folding her arms behind her head. "So we really didn't have to make a big deal out of it, huh?"
"It's not so slow as to take months to destroy a day of memories, idiot!" He growled, annoyed at how she was being so relaxed now. "On second thought, try to get Kushina to see that seal!"
"Alright, alright! I'll ask mom to take a look." Naruto twitched, before glancing at her hands, "Looks like I better go. I've stayed too long." She grinned up appreciatively at him when she felt the Kyuubi's chakra envelop her, and waved goodbye.
Huffing, he went back to lying down in the shadows. Glowing crimson eyes slid closed.
Without having her around, it sure is quite boring.
"So how's Naruto's sensei like? Did she tell you?"
Minato blinked, looking up at Sakumo in surprise before setting his book down on the coffee table. "She did. Her sensei's pretty interesting."
"Oh?" The Hatake raised a brow and sat down on the couch across the other man's.
"It's almost as if her sensei is different people stuck in one body from the details she enlightened me with." Minato chuckled at the memory of the girl enthusiastically chatting away when he asked her about her mysterious teacher. "One thing that bothers me is... well, he read 'orange adult books' even in front of Naruto. And giggles while doing so. Thankfully she never read anything on it, and I doubt she understands what 'adult books' are."
Sakumo frowned disapprovingly, "Well, he's not a very responsible man, is he?"
"But," Minato's eyes shone in amusement, "He seems like another Jiraiya. Very serious with her training."
"Really?"
"Yeah. Other than what he taught her, she told me a lot about her sensei's preferences," Minato gave a small, slightly crooked smile. "She misses him greatly. I can tell from the way she spoke."
The silver haired man's face was grim. "Of course she would; she's been with him since she was a little baby."
Minato nodded, before attempting to lighten up the conversation a bit. "I feel like I personally know 'im. Apparently, he likes salt-broiled saury and miso soup with eggplant." Sakumo's brows raised slightly in surprise.
"Kakashi loves that. Funny," the man smiled a little at the thought of Kakashi growing up to be a jounin sensei reading smut in front of his students.
Minato chuckled, also imagining the same, "Yeah, I doubt he'll ever turn out that way," he said to himself in amusement. Shaking his head, he stood up. "I guess I'll get go to bed now. Good night, Sempai."
"Ah, good night."
The young blonde grinned down at the gigantic toad she now stood upon, "Uzumaki Naruto's the name, Oyabun!"
Gamabunta eyed her doubtfully, before scowling at Jiraiya, who could only sheepishly gaze back. "What's the meaning of this?" The toad growled, "That Great Honourable Geezercouldn't possibly mean this brat is the Child of the Prophecy!"
"About that..." Jiraiya was close to pressing his index fingers together, shrinking back. "Well, you can't really judge a book by it's cover!"
"I'm not a book," Naruto muttered expressionlessly.
"That's rich, coming from you, Jiraiya," Gamabunta sneered, before throwing his head back. Naruto nearly lost balance, and would have tumbled down the toad's back had she not immediately flowed chakra to her feet.
She glared up at Gamabunta's head and yelled, "Watch it!"
"Well, you're not too bad," He commented, but still scowled, "But how long can you stay up there for, I wonder?"
"H-Hey, we're in Ame! You can't run around—" Jiraiya was ignored.
Not this again! Naruto groaned, and yelped when the giant toad suddenly jumped. She waved her arms frantically and attached her hands to the rough skin with chakra desperately.
While leaping, Gamabunta could help but to feel a heavy sense of deja vu. He ignored it, but it kept scratching at the back of his mind.
I must be tired, he decided.
A while away from them, Konan sat down and sipped her herb tea before almost jumping when the ground shook, and winced when a few drops of the hot water spilled on her hand. Odd, she thought to herself as she wiped it off and turned on the cold water tap. Amegakure never had earthquakes before.
Hiding under the leaves of various tall bushes and leaves, not too far from her mother and mentor, Naruto took a deep breath. If things had gone as planned, she would be changing the future drastically.
She was confident her chakra was completely hidden. Other than the summoning technique, Jiraiya made her work hard on practicing only that, seeing as she had large reserves of chakra. If she kept calm, she can even mess with a sensor and give them trouble finding her spot.
Taking a sharp intake of breath at the sight of the three Akatsuki founders down below, she shifted on her knees, preparing herself.
Nagato watched the wide group as he spoke. "If what Naruto predicted is accurate, then he'll probably try to take use our trust and come close. They have a shinobi who excelled in the body flicker technique, and might have him get Konan."
Naruto frowned, watching a man walking towards the three Ame orphans. That must be him, she smirked.
"He's a pretty well known flirt," Yahiko began, and a dark look flickered on his face before leaving as soon as it came. "He'll probably try to get physical contact with Konan to teleport back to Hanzo's side."
Although there was a possibility that their predictions are wrong, it was low. Not only did how the shunshin-expert hold Konan's hand while he was about to kiss it almost prove them right, he had a malicious smirk spread across his lips.
The man disappeared in a puff of smoke along with Konan, so now the game has begun. She grinned.
Chapter seven, done!
God, I'm really sorry, I can't keep promises, can I? I said this will be posted in a week, but now a full month's past... I never thought I would update later than three weeks! Well, I made this chapter slightly longer than usual... I think. I'm not sure how this chapter was though. Feedback please? T T
Gotta do something about my organization skills and clubs.
Yeah, I couldn't resist signing up for one which takes practically half of my free time now that I'm in high school (they never had awesome clubs in primary/junior or middle school). Not to mention that studying and homework is now top on my priority list.
So I'm thinking of updating every two weeks. I think the chapters would be cut down to 5000 words then, maybe a little less, but I'll try hard.
Sorry again, and thanks for the support!
Replies to dear reviewers:
Sora Tsuiki: Yeah, though I bet you're disappointed with how late this update is... Truly sorry! Yeah, not much of Yahiko, but I promise I'll add some more of him in the next chapter! I'm super glad you're happy with the seals thing (I also preferred the other name too...)! Hehe, I can't really think of Minato being calm all the time xD Thankyouthankyouthankyou for reviewing!
Prescripto13: Yay! xD Thanks for the review!
Guest: Great! Thanks for reviewing! I'm glad you enjoyed it! And I'm sorry I didn't update in a week as I said I would!
Tsume Yuki: Thank you very much! Likewise, I love your ideas and the way you write! Ahaha, I couldn't help but imagine Minato acting like that... Thank you (again ^^") for you support! Sorry for the very late update...
Guest: Thanks! Hope you enjoyed this chapter!
pizzafan123: Yup, and though this is quite random, I love your penname xD pizzaaa, darn I want to eat a slice now. Thanks for the review!
Shadow Realm Triforce: Thank you for your reviews! Usuratonkachi (what Kakashi called Naruto) means thin hammer, so what it means is useless. Just take it as a synonym for "idiot" or something ^v^
My Name's a Secret: Ohmygosh your review is so long! Thank you so much for taking the time to type it all! And... thank you for going so far as to making an account for this story! Miku89? I haven't, actually. Just found out now! Thanks for the suggestion! Well, Naruto isn't really an idiot in cannon-he just acts like it, so I thought I should change that a little ^^ I'm happy you think so as well (the thing I said in the first chapter's A/N)! Yeah, I doubt it would be very hard for Orochimaru or Kabuto to find an Uzumaki (plus Karin is highly suspected to be an Uzumaki, right? Since she can heal people letting them... bite her, she must be giving them some of her life force-which Uzumaki's have a lot of like chakra). Again, thanks for the feedback!
NaturalSam14: I have Tsume Yuki to thank for suggesting this fanfic! Thanks for giving it a try xD Glad you like it! xD
Dimensiontimetraveler: Yup, Kakashi's learning the wonderful art of pranks! Maybe Minato has something to do with it xD Yeah, I think Kushina should be the first to know. She's the second jinchuuriki of the Nine Tails, after all, and Minato isn't the Hokage yet, so telling him won't do any good... I think. Sorry for the late update!
Shikuroaka: I'm terribly sorry for the late update! I'll try to update sooner this time! Hehe, Minato really does seem like that, huh? Oh, it's Fukasaku! I originally thought it was Fukusaku too until I checked Narutopedia xD Yeah, something's going on with the toads. You'll just have to wait and see Minato's reaction :) Thank you!
Animefreak Amii: Thanks a ton! Glad you like the ideas xD I really like Kushina just as much as I like Minato, so I guess that's why ^^" I'm still trying to give everyone the amount of attention they should have (Yahiko will probably have his spotlight time in the next chapter), so I'm really happy you noticed that!
Oenix: thank you for the review! I'm glad the fighting scene was fine (not much experience with writing those...)!
Theia Pallas: Thanks for the comment, and sorry for the late update!
Thanks for reading! Reviews would be highly appreciated :)