Okay, I'll be honest. I have no idea where I'm going with this story. For some reason, I felt like doing another time-travel fic, that's why I started this in the first place. When I write my chapters, I just wait till something clicks my head. Sometimes this takes a lot of time, hence, why I don't upload a lot.

Well anyway, I finally managed to get through a new chapter of this story.

Enjoy :)

Thoughts

"Speeches"

"Whispers"

Disclaimer: -Cries- You enjoy doing this don't you? T-T


Chapter 1: The recognizably unknown stranger


Silence.

One word to describe a scene of either awkwardness or apprehension. At this moment, fretfulness filled up the thick atmosphere within the middle of the woodland. No noise escaped, except the sound of audible footsteps coming from the two leaf ninjas.

"It…can't…be true…" a soft, concerned voice whispered out of anxiety. The pink konoichi searched around the vicinity desperately; trying to find a small clue or even some indication to prove her blond teammate was still there, still alive. "Where are you?" Sakura mumbled, still trying to convince herself that he is, nonetheless, out there.

"Naruto?" Another subtle yet eager voice called out for a simple reply or even a small grunt to show his friend is still within this area. Searching the forest, Kakashi rolled his eyes to the section of crushed trees due to the early explosion. He then spotted something as he passed a trampled branch laid on the floor. The jounin reached down to pick the object wedged onto the end of the tree branch.

"Naruto? Where are you?" Sakura's voice almost cracked at the thought of never seeing her blond friend again, "Please answer." Her eyes almost began to water. She couldn't bare the fact that she would lose both her teammates.

"Sakura…!" Kakashi called, waiting for her to respond.

The pink-haired ninja walked towards her sensei, "Have you found him?" she asked keenly. Kakashi said nothing as he lifted his arm with an object being carried in his hand. Sakura gasped as she slowly took the object from her sensei's hand, "No…" Her eyes were kept in contact on the Shinobi headband, which originally belonged to her teammate.

"He can't be gone!" Sakura cried out, "Maybe he escaped an-an-and is probably on his way to find the crooks."

As much as Kakashi wanted to believe Naruto is still alive, it's unlikely to survive an explosion that big. However, "You're right,"

"Huh?" Sakura looked puzzled at her sensei,

"You're right," Kakashi began, "Naruto's not one to die that easily. He's out there somewhere," Sakura looked at him in surprise, "And we've got to find him. If it's the last thing we do."


"Kakashi-sensei!" The familiar young blond boy spoke in eagerness, "Teach me a new technique!"

The silver-haired jounin sighed, "Naruto-"

Naruto tightened his fists in enthusiasm, "C'mon sensei, I'll train everyday. 24/7 if I have to!"

Kakashi placed his hand on his student's shoulder, "Look Naruto, I'll teach you a technique some other time," he turned his head to his other students, "That's enough training for today. Let's go hom-"

There was a sudden, brief, perceptible thump that caught Team seven's attention. They turned their heads to their surroundings.

"What was that?" Sakura spoke.

Naruto grabbed a kunai from his pouch and closely listened to the atmosphere. Something suddenly caught his eye; forcing Naruto to throw his kunai towards the tree to his side.

"Naruto, what are you doing?" Sakura began,

"Shh…I thought I heard something," Naruto responded,

"It must be your imagination, 'cause I didn't hear anything."

Ignoring Sakura, Naruto made his way to the direction of his thrown weapon. Cautiously, the blond boy reached for the bushes and carefully pushed them out of his sight. Something really caught him off-guard as he was left standing frozen, "Um…sensei," he began, "I think you better take a look at this…"

Kakashi and the rest of the team made their way towards their unmoving teammate. All gasped as they saw a young boy, preferably in his teens, fatally covered in blood. There was something exceptionally eccentric about this. The boy looked very, very familiar. Even Sasuke was a little taken back.

"Naruto, isn't this one of your clones?" Sakura asked, facing her blond friend,

Naruto shook his head, "No. I dispelled all my clones several minutes ago. Besides, he doesn't look that much like me…does he?"

Kakashi placed his hand on the teen's neck, to check for any pulse, "Whoever he is," he began, "we should immediately take him to the hospital. His pulse is becoming very faint by the second."

All three of his students nodded while Kakashi grabbed one of the teen's arm and swung it over his shoulder.

A few hours later, team seven sat waiting for any current news due to the stranger's fatal injuries. All were in deep thought as they were attempting to figure out where the kid came from in the first place.

"So…"Sakura began, "who do you think he was?"

All three students turned to Kakashi as he spoke, "I don't know. He may be an outsider, and I didn't spot any shinobi headband being carried with him, although he was wearing a jumpsuit. So we are in no decision of stating whether he is a ninja or not."

"He could've lost his headband," Sakura stated,

"That may be true too. However, like I said before, we don't know whether for sure if he's a shinobi or whatnot."

"I see…"

Team seven then caught a glimpse of a nurse passing down the waiting room. "Excuse me," Kakashi began,

"Yes?" the nurse replied, "Can I help you?"

"Yes, could you please tell us the current news on the boy we brought in earlier?"

"Well, we are still trying to help the boy as much as we can. Turns out, he had extremely strong poison running through his system and if it wasn't for you bringing him here on time, he could've died in about a couple of minutes,"

"Okay, and do you have any identification of this boy?"

"Presently, no. Conversely, we did take a blood test and it turns out that he has the same DNA to a genin in this village,"

"And who might that be?"

"A boy named Uzumaki Naruto."

TBC


Well, I would really appreciate it if you review :)

Many thanks,

Mrs-N-Uzumaki xxx

Um…the chapter wasn't that bad…right…RIGHT?