19 reviews, 28 favourites, 44 followers, 665 views, wow… I can't believe that so many people have liked, favourite, followed, viewed and even reviewed something written by me. Thank you!

To be honest if it wasn't for the fact that I've have so many reviews this probably wouldn't have been posted for at least another week so enjoy and review if you want faster updates. They really do motivate me you know.

Chapter 2

Blood, there was so much blood. He could see it everywhere. On the dry, crackly leaves of autumn, on the bright green shoots of a soon to be spring. To some it would have seemed as if barely anything was there, but to him there was so much. Too much. Because it wasn't just anyone's blood; It was his blood.

Continuing on his quest to follow the bloody trail to its source he continued to advance through the forest, paying no heed to the forest animals that were observing him from the shadows. After a while he stopped and frowned. The drops of blood were getting bigger, it was worrying.

Quickening his pace he began to run through the forest, his heart starting to beat faster and faster as he did so. Following the trail he continued with his quickened pace. Then he stopped. The source of the blood had been discovered; a bush.

Staring at the bush, he slowly approached it, careful not step on any leaves or twigs that might give his presence away. Having finally arrived at the bush he stood before it. Mentally counting to three in his mind he slowly breathed in a deep breath before parting away the leaves of the bush, revealing its hidden contents.

There he was, with his frail little body and hair as bright as the sun. With his little whisker marks and tanned skin; tanned skin that was marred by the sickening colour of bright red that coloured so much of it. It made his stomach lurch to see those colours clash into a nauseating ensemble especially when there was so much red. Red that was pooling out of the slash wound on his right thigh, from the stab wound on his chest, from the small cut on his cheek and from so many places the gushing of red, bright red blood never seemed to come to an end.

But why? Why did this sight make his stomach lurch and want to spend the next thousand and one nights vomiting in the nearest blood-free bush so much? Why? Why was it that although he had seen the blood and deaths of so many others be they men, women, children or even babies the sight of this particular child's blood made him want to scream to the heavens in anguish like never before? Why?

The answer was simple. So blindingly simple. It was because the boy in front of him wasn't just any old boy.

It was him.

His-

RIIIIIIIIING!

Eyes shooting open to reveal sky blue orbs Minato shot upwards in order to sit up, panting frantically in the process. Regaining his composure after a few minutes of panicked confusion he quietly growled to himself. For the last two days ever since he had brought the young infant to the hospital he had been getting nightmare's, exaggerations of the situation in which he had found him in.

He was a ninja; he didn't get nightmares unless there was a reason behind it. Something was definitely up. Pensively contemplating the situation to himself he frowned before relaxing as his lips began to twitch upwards into a small smirk.

The nurses had told him that the boy wouldn't be waking up for at least another few days, however that didn't mean that he couldn't pay a visit in the meantime and perhaps do a little bit of research in the process.

…

Sighing Minato looked at the clock. Ten minutes had passed since his arrival at the hospital and the only thing that was stopping him from doing a thorough investigation on everything to do with the boy was Tsunade.

Tsunade; one of the legendary sannin and most probably one of the best medics to have ever existed. When he had first arrived at the hospital the nurses had informed him that Tsunade wanted to speak with him about the boy. To think that she , who was an extremely person wanted to take the time to see him about the boy specifically was… intriguing to put it simply. Intriguing enough for him to refrain from starting to do a bit of personal snooping… for the moment at least.

Looking at the clock once again Minato lightly shook his head from side to side in order to pull himself from his reverie. Looking at the boy that was the cause of so much mystery and intrigue that lay beside him Minato began to study the boy, trying to for the answer to his questions.

At a first glance there was nothing extraordinary about the boy. Blonde hair, tanned skin. At a first glance he seemed to be perfectly normal, however as he continued to study the boy like he had never studied anyone before he began to notice things. He began to notice how the boy's little whisker marks seemed to be too perfectly formed and symmetrical to be simple birthmarks. How the boy seemed too small, too weak even for someone his age. How every time he looked at the boy's face alarm bells seemed to start to ring in his mind; as if there was something blatantly obvious that would explain everything yet he just couldn't seem to put his finger on what.

'Just who are you?' he couldn't help but think to himself as he continued to observe the boy. A few seconds later he was pulled out of his reverie as he heard the clanking noise of heels colliding against the hospital floor. Tsunade had arrived.

A few seconds later she entered, confidently striding in "How is he?" Minato asked.

"He's doing rather well. We were able to stabilize his blood levels and his stitches and sprained ankle are healing rather well. He's still suffering from malnourishment though and it should be a few more days till he wakes up." She replied in a clinical, professional sounding voice.

"Oh, that's good" Minato commented. After a few moments of awkward silence between the two he continued "So, what did you want to talk to me about?" he asked.

"About that, have you ever heard of the free range identification law before" She asked.

Frowning slightly Minato answered "Yeah, I have. It's essentially a law developed during the second shinobi war which states that if a stranger is found in a critical condition then if a high ranking member of the medical staff desires to do a DNA test to see if they are related to a certain person within Konoha then they have the right to do so within 42 hours of the strangers discovery. Why?" He finished by asking.

"Look at the boy closely" she said gesturing towards said boy "Does he remind you of anyone?"

"Yes, but I have yet to put my finger on what, why" He honestly answered.

"Ninja's these days… it's just pitiful" she mumbled to herself, sighing in exasperation "The boy looks like you Minato, exactly like you. That's why I took advantage of the free range identification law in order to run a DNA test between the two of you to see if the two of you were related since I know that you were found abandoned at birth and I received the results of the test just before you arrived at the hospital."

"And?" Minato prompted

"According to the DNA test the boy is your little brother" She finished, unsurprised by Minato's Gobsmacked expression.

…

"Could you please repeat that?" Sarutobi, the sandaime asked; doing his best to hide his shock from his former student and Minato.

"You know what I said, Sarutobi sensei" Tsunade calmly said, looking at her former teacher seriously. "The boy is related to Minato Namikaze, end of story"

"But how? We both know that Minato was found abandoned at an early age we spent years trying to find his family. Isn't it at least a little bit suspicious that suddenly someone who is apparently his little brother turns up from the middle of nowhere?" He said, looking at the two people in front on him.

"I know what you're thinking sensei" Tsunade said, sighing in exasperation "However DNA tests don't lie. Whether you like it or not the boy is related to Minato. As for where he came from the most likely theory is that like Minato here, he was abandoned. However for him there was no-one around to find him and take him to an orphanage, hence he's most likely been forced to live on the streets, going from one village to the next. He was probably on his way to Konoha when he was attacked. It would make sense since the kid seems pretty underweight for his age."

Accepting his former student's theory the Hokage simply rolled his eyes "Very well then. I'm guessing that you will be taking care of him when he wakes up, right Minato?" He asked, looking at the young jounin.

"Yes, he is my younger brother after-all" the young jounin confirmed.

"Very well then, you are both dismissed" the hokage said in response, bringing an end to the conversation.

Smiling to himself Minato left the room. To him everything seemed to be perfect.

Little did he know though, that little niche of paradise would soon evaporate…

…

'Urgh… where am I' Slowing waking up , clear blue orbs slowly revealed themselves to the world as Naruto clumsily pushed himself upwards with a groan. Looking around he realised that he was in a hospital, Konoha's hospital to be precise. That was good. However he couldn't help but feel as if something was wrong though.

He didn't know why felt like this. He was in Konoha hospital; He should be feeling safe and at ease, not on edge like was. Focusing on him surroundings he started to notice things that were… strange. It was nothing extraordinarily strange or worrying, it was little things instead. The way in which the bed he was in felt bigger than it should be, how the hospital beds looked at if they were higher off of the ground than they should be, how his limbs felt shorter and weaker than he had remembered them and so much more that when put together sent alarm bells ringing inside of his head. Looking down at his hands in confusion he tried to understand what had happened.

And stared.

His hand. It was… small? Yes, that was it. It was small and pudgy; as if he was a young child.

A young child…

It was at that moment that Naruto remembered why he was at the hospital. His eyes widened as he began to remember everything. He had been fighting against Pein, and losing in the process. He was desperate. Desperate to save his friends, his village he had used it. That jutsu. The Taimuwapu no jutsu. Could it really be though? Could he really be… in the past?

Scrambling out of his hospital bed Naruto began to run towards the nearest window. It couldn't be. He refused to believe it. He refused to believe that he was in the past; all alone, without any of his friends.

Reaching the window Naruto frantically peered out of it, searching for the hokage monument, hoping that there would be the familiar five faces. There wasn't though. There were only three faces.

Three faces.

He was in the past.

Sinking to the floor Naruto curled up into a ball shape. He was in the past, all alone and, judging by his hazy reflection in the mirror, was only three to four years of age. There were so many things that he could do. He could save his parents whose identities had been revealed to him by Jiraya. He could make sure that the future baby him grew up with a family. He could stop the Uchiha massacre. He could save Jiraya. He could do so much!

But what would happen if he did? What would happen if his presence caused someone who was supposed to live to die? What if changing the future meant that some of his friends were never born? Could he really live with the fact that his need to mess up with the worlds timeline meant that some of his friends never had the chance to even exist.

Could he do that? Could he take the risk of that happening for the sake of his own selfish desires? After a few moments of silent contemplation he realised that no, he couldn't.

What could he do then though? He was stuck in the past with no way back to the present after all. After scrunching his eyes up together for a few moments he came to a simple conclusion.

In order to avoid changing the past he would have to disappear…

…

Heading towards his younger brother's room Minato began to whistle a happy tune. Tsunade had said that he would still be asleep however that didn't mean that he couldn't check up on him. The boy was his little brother after all. Entering his little brother's hospital room he looked around, only to come to a sudden stop.

The room was empty.

His little brother was missing…

…

Looking at the view from the wagon he had snuck on Naruto sighed as he watched the village become smaller and smaller as the seconds ticked by. Looking at the view he began to remind himself of his little plan.

It was simple really. Since he didn't want to make an impact on the world he needed to make sure that he didn't stick out. The best way to do that was to hit the streets. There were literally thousands of young children living on the streets; another one could hardly make that much of a difference. Besides, It would probably be kind of fun to travel around the place, seeing the world in the process… right?

Sighing to himself sadly Naruto began to try and cheer himself up. At least he still had the kyuubi. Sure, the creature wasn't exactly the most sociable of beings out there however at least he was still there… Right? Now that he thought about it, he had felt strangely empty ever since he last awoke, as if the kyuubi wasn't inside of him. Entering his inner world in order to check Naruto searched around for the kyuubi. He wasn't there. Naruto looked around for him again. The kyuubi was gone.

As he exited his inner world something broke within Naruto as a myriad of emotion began to course through his body. It was at that moment that the fact that he was alone truly downed upon him. He was alone, completely and utterly alone. With that Naruto couldn't help but burst into tears.

Wow, finished already. Thank you for reading this. But still, onto the notes!

Notes:

The nightmare: Minato's nightmare at the start of the chapter was basically his sub-concious trying to tell him that Naruto was closely related to him. I once heard of a story in which two twins had been separated from each other at birth. Years later when they met as adults with no knowledge of each other, after having found out that they were twins they both remarked that when they had first met each other they had felt an attraction to the other as if their subconscious was telling them that they were related. It was from that story that I got the idea for Minato's dream.

The free range identification law: This is basically a law that I decided to create for the sake of the story. I had originally tried to find some sort of a law that was similar to it in the canon however I was unable to so I had to make one up.

Naruto's decision: Naruto care's a lot about his friends. He basically grew up alone so deep down I personally believe that he is terrified of losing them. That's why he decided to abstain from changing the past, because he doesn't want to lose the people that he cared about, even if it that he has to turn down what could possibly be his only chance of gaining a family. Hence, his determination not to change the future.

Crying at the end of the chapter: Although he is technically sixteen years old Naruto is still stuck in the body of a three to four year old child so that is going to affect the way in which he behaves. For the most part he will still act like more or less like his usual himself however he will have his childish moments, for example at the end of this chapter.

It may seem as if the storyline is going along pretty slowly however I've read far too many potentially amazing stories that have been ruined by the authors need to rush along which is a fate that I intend to avoid. But still, even so that doesn't change the fact that I have quite a few really good ideas planned out for future chapters and things are going to really interesting soon.

Of course, you will have to wait for those chapters to come out first however reviewing will definitely speed up that process so please REVIEW!