Naruto sat on the step with his head in his hands for a while. He finally looked up when he felt a warm breeze caress his body in spurts. His eyes went wide with terror at what he saw before him. "Akamaru," he breathed.
The dog was sniffing him eagerly. "Bad dog! Go away!" Naruto yelled hopefully. Akamaru did not listen.
The big dog swiftly took Naruto up into his mouth and then trotted off. A panicked Naruto struggled to free himself from the jaws that held him securely. He was unsure which direction the dog was taking him but did realize they had entered the forest. Naruto tried to wiggle out of the dog's grasp, afraid of what was in store for him. Akamaru bit down with just enough force to hold Naruto in place. Needless to say Naruto was extremely uncomfortable and the dog's drool was causing him to get soaked once again. Naruto tried to calm himself and think of a plan as he was brought farther and farther from the people who could potentially help him get back to normal.
Finally Akamaru stopped trotting and Naruto wondered what would happen next. He felt sick when the dog began to dig a hole in the ground. He was not about to be buried like a bone without a fight. Naruto reached up to try to grab a whisker. It took a few tries before he was able to latch on to one. Naruto yanked on the whisker with all his might. Akamaru yelped which caused Naruto to drop to the ground, and then the dog ran off.
"Owww." Naruto stayed where he fell on his back as he figured out if he had broken anything. "Damn dog, that was a long fall. I think I'm okay." Naruto managed to sit upright. "The next time I see Kiba I'm going to tell him to muzzle that stupid dog."
Naruto stood up and brushed himself off. His dress was damp from dog drool, but there wasn't anything he could do about that. He looked up at the trees looming overhead like giants. Even some of the grasses and flowers were twice his size.
"Great. I'm three inches tall, in the middle of a forest, and I have no idea which way to go. I don't even know how far I am into this forest. I could be five feet in and end up walking the opposite way forever." Naruto decided to head over to the nearest tree and try to climb it. If he could just get high enough to see over these weeds he might see which way to go. The task was not an easy one; the stems pushed him back as much as he pushed forward.
"Why? Why? Why is this happening to me? Why doesn't anyone recognize me? Even Akamaru didn't recognize my sent. Am I forgettable? Did everyone wish for me to be gone? Where am I exactly? It seems like all my friends are here somewhere and they all seem to understand this world, so why don't I? When is this going on? Maybe when Sakura hit me she put me in a coma and years have passed. But that doesn't explain why I'm in a dress and have no chakra. What am I going to do if Tsunade doesn't recognize me? If she doesn't understand that I don't belong here. What will I do if she can't fix this?"
Naruto finally pushed himself out of the grass and stood between two roots of the tree. The right root had a bunch of mushrooms growing on it in a step like a pattern. Naruto could see someone sitting up on the highest mushroom. He felt like he was about to choke on the air he had just breathed in. Could it really be the Third Hokage sitting up there? Naruto scrambled up the mushrooms as fast as he could. At the top he sucked in shaky breaths as he stared at the Sandaime.
The Third was sitting on the mushroom smoking his pipe. He smiled at Naruto. "I believe you had "who" next my dear child."
"Excuse me?" Naruto looked at him confused.
"You went through why, where, when, and what, but you haven't asked who yet. As in Who are you?"
"I am Naruto?" he asked quietly.
"That's not right. You can't ask me who you are, only you know. Who are you?"
"I, I don't know. I know who I should be, but that doesn't seem to be who I am here. No one recognizes me, no one remembers me. They all think I'm something I'm not. I'm so confused; I don't know what to think." Naruto felt so overwhelmed.
"Other people should not be the ones defining you. You are you, no matter what anyone else has to say about it. Now tell me, who are you?"
"I am Naruto Uzumaki, future Hokage of Konoha!" Naruto yelled.
"That's it! Have conviction when you say it. If you express your desires meekly no one will respond. You must have courage and faith in yourself if you expect others to put theirs in you," the Third Hokage said.
"Do you recognize me?" Naruto asked, afraid of the answer.
"If you are asking whether I remember ever meeting you before this moment then no, I do not. But I know who you are now and in the future I would recognize you as the one who makes me feel like I can reach my impossible dreams when you express yours with conviction. I'm afraid my time with you is drawing to a close now, so I will let you in on a "how." One side will make you grow larger, and one side will make you grow shorter."
"One side of what?"
"Of the mushroom." The Third faded away in front of Naruto after that.
Naruto shivered; the person he had been speaking to had been dead for years now. He wondered if what he saw was a ghost or a figment of his imagination. He pushed that thought aside and looked at the mushroom. It was basically a half circle sticking off the side of the tree root. "I wish he was more specific on what side meant. The left side and the right side don't seem any different from each other, so I don't think they would affect me differently. However, there is a top and a bottom which could also be considered sides. I bet that's it."
Naruto dug his fingers into the mushroom and ripped off as big of a piece as he could. The piece was nearly half his size and heavy so he had to drag it to the edge of the mushroom. He jumped down to the next mushroom and tugged his piece down to him. Then Naruto reached under the mushroom and tore off a big chunk from there. He set the pieces next to each other and looked at them. The one from the top was lighter in color and smooth whereas the bottom piece was darker and wrinkly.
"Okay, so which is which?" Naruto asked himself. "I think the bottom one will make me shrink and the top one will make me grow. I'd better do a test first though." Naruto broke off a crumb from the bottom piece and popped it in his mouth. It tasted bitter but he chewed and swallowed it anyhow. Sure enough he soon found himself to be half an inch shorter. Naruto took a mouthful of the lighter mushroom and grabbed on to the pieces. His assent was quick and he compared himself to the rest of the forest. Feeling just a tad too large he ate a sliver from the dark piece.
"There, that seems about right. I'd better hang on to these, I may need them again." The pieces that now fit snuggly into the palm of his hands were placed into his apron pocket. Naruto realized that he was dry again and wondered how that worked. Food and drink will change his size but what force instantly dries his clothes? He shrugged it off as one of the many mysteries of this place and looked around once again. Happily he spotted the edge of the forest and headed for it.
