Hello! Summer boredom took over, and for some reason I wrote this. I don't know why, but I figured I may as well go with it, post it, and share it with everyone else. I don't know where this plot will go, how long it will be, or if I'll ever complete it...but...yeah...I hope it is enjoyable since it basically came out of my rear end! YaY for my rear end! lol, jk jk. Yeah, it's just...Random/serious/I don't know.

Anyway, it's an Alternate Universe Naruto that sort of involves the ninja world I guess. I tried to keep somewhat to the personalities, but I probably failed at that. FYI, Naruto and Sakura never knew each other as kids, and never met each other before this. Naruto has also never met Tsunade or Shizune, and if the story goes on, I will inform you whether he knows certain other characters or not. Here is the Original description: Beaten to a pulp, Naruto falls to the ground from exhaustion, and becomes unconscious...only to wake up a few days later...[AU][NaruSaku]. In case you missed it before. Also, if you don't like what you end up reading...THEN DON'T READ IT! It's that simple.

Disclaimer: I DON'T OWN NARUTO!!! IT BELONGS TO HIS RESPECTABLE OWNER SO DON'T SUE ME! I'M A POOR COLLEGE STUDENT! YOU'LL JUST GET THE LINT UNDER MY BED! I merely used the characters for my own personal means. THIS IS FAN-MADE! Also the title of this chapter belongs to the respectable artist as well. If this sounds like a story you read somewhere else, THEN I AM SORRY! PLEASE TELL ME AND I WILL GIVE YOU PROPER CREDIT! I rarely come on this site these days, so I wouldn't be surprised if these ideas were elsewhere. On that note, I OWN THE FREAKING PLOT! IF YOU READ THIS STORY, LIKE IT, AND WANT TO USE SIMILAR ASPECTS OR EVEN PARTS OF IT THEN PLEASE INFORM ME! We'll figure it out from there. I'll also ask that you put my name somewhere saying that you were INSPIRED BY ME OR SOMETHING! YOU WOULD MAKE MY DAY!

*cough cough* Now that that is cleared up, ON TO THE STORY!!!

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The Contour of the Heart

Chapter1:

Hero/Heroine

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'Noise...all there is is noise...a steaming kettle...footsteps...mumbled voices and...Warmth?...Am...Am I dead? The rest of my body feels cold...except...'

Within another second, the warmth was gone, and he returned to the eternal blackness behind his eyelids. His body was on a smooth yet hard surface, but his head he assumed was on a pillow since it was much softer. With some strength, he was able to force his eyes open just enough for light to get through his pupils. Though everything was a bit blurry, he could make out a wooden ceiling fan rotating above him. Tilting his head to his left side there looked to be various medical supplies in his peripheral vision as well. He soon became more aware of the rest of his body, and noticed a rough material around his chest as well as it being slightly harder for him to breathe than he remembered. He turned his head to his right side where the warmth on his cheek had been what seemed like an eternity ago.

A female with shoulder length pink hair, at least a few yards away, was standing in front of a window looking out at the sunset. He guessed she was around his age of 15 or 16 years old from how developed her body was. Looking a little more around the room, he came to the conclusion he was in a kitchen. A tea pot on the stove was ready to whistle, a refrigerator was humming in the corner of the room, and several chairs were around where he was laying. He looked back to the girl, but found that this time he held his breath at the sight of her. Her body was faced forward, angled slightly towards the window, but he had a clear profile view of her head as she looked out the window. From his angle, she looked to be glowing in her red vest, pink skirt, and black spandex as the light illuminated her curvy form, and her green eyes glittered from the sun striking them. She had the most stunning green eyes he had ever seen.

'She's...beautiful...' it was his last thought before he closed his eyes and was once again out cold from exhaustion.

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_=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=_ A Day Later _=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=_

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It was hard for him to determine what had awakened him from his slumber, however his nose was the one to decide. It picked up the scent of his favorite food, ramen, causing his stomach to growl. He felt as if his body was suddenly energized, and his eyes cracked open again. Instead of a pink haired, young adult watching the sunset another female was in her place at the stove. The woman had long blonde hair in two pony tails that cascaded down her back, black pants that went to the middle of her calf muscle, and a green jacket with a red circle encompassing a symbol meaning 'Gamble.' Curious as to the time of day, he focused his eyes to the window only to conclude it was night since it was dark outside.

As if sensing his restoration of energy, the woman turned her blonde head to look in his direction, "About time you woke up. You've been out for three days since we found you," she commented.

"I have?" he croaked out. His mouth felt dry, but he figured it was probably due to being out of use for a few days. He began to sit up by pushing his body up with his arms. A sudden pain shot through his chest and flowed through the rest of his body by the movement causing him to slide back into his previous supine position.

'Why does my chest hurt so much?'

"Yes, and you should feel lucky that my pupil found you while she was out on an errand, and decided to bring you back here."

He slowly sat up this time, minding the pain emitting from his chest though it wasn't as bad as when he had initially tried, and turned his body to face her. He let his legs dangle over the edge of the platform.

"We'll talk more about this in a moment. Now get off the table so we can eat!"

'...Huh? Get off the...table? I know they put me in the kitchen...but the table?'

Looking down he realized a few things: he was shirtless, his chest was wrapped in bandages, smaller bandages were on his arms, and he was indeed on a table. The blonde-haired woman was now standing in front of him holding a large bowl of ramen and confused by his stillness. He held is breath as he looked into the woman's brown aged eyes. Though she looked to be no older than 25 years old with a purple diamond marking in the middle of her forehead, her eyes held that of experience and wisdom.

"Didn't you hear me?"

"Oh, right!" He jumped off the table. As his feet hit the ground, he felt his knees give way, and the momentum of his body propelled his face forward into the ground smashing his nose.

"Owe..."

The woman chuckled as she put the bowl of ramen onto the table and removed his pillow before looking at him, "You are probably the clumsiest person I've met in a number of years. Anyway, I hope you like ramen, because that's the best we have right now." She then leaned down and grabbed his arm, pulling him up so he stood next to her, "And I think you should take it easy for a bit. Your wounds were rather deep."

"Thank you," he said with as big a smile as he could muster, "I love...ramen," he commented as he slowly walked to the end of the rectangular table and sat down in the chair at the end. He continued to examine the bandage on his chest, recognizing it was also harder for him to talk since his lungs didn't feel like they were functioning properly while she stood between him and the bowl of ramen. She began serving him a bowl while the conversation continued.

"You're probably wondering why your chest hurts...aren't you?" the woman asked as she looked down at the bandage.

He nodded in response, though he somewhat already knew the answer, but wanted to hear about his state of being in the last few days from another person.

She began to explain her side of the story, "I don't know what you went through, but when my pupil brought you here there were several cuts on your arms and legs. The major damage seemed to be to your chest. One would gather that you were hit with an intense attack to that area...and judging from the looks of it...it seems like you were even luckier to have survived that fatal hit."

Her last few words seemed to trigger a recent memory in his head. There was a flash of a man's face in his mind. Black, spiky hair, red eyes, pale skin, and a black cloak with red clouds that was high enough to cover his mouth. He shook his head, but that wasn't the best of ideas since he suddenly felt lightheaded.

"Easy there," he heard her say as she grasped his shoulder to balance him and placed a bowl filled with ramen in front of him, "Eat some ramen. It should help out with whatever dizziness you are feeling." She then poured a bowl of ramen for herself, and moved to the other side of the table to sit across from him.

"Anyway, as I was saying. My pupil brought you back here on a whim. She spotted your blond head in a mud puddle, and she thought you were already dead. However, she was able to find a weak pulse, and though there was quite a bit of damage to your lungs you were still breathing. You're also lucky since I am a medical ninjutsu specialist, and so are my two pupils. She did as best as she could at the time to heal your lungs, and then made the excruciating journey back here carrying you on her back."

It seemed almost surreal to hear the story of how he had come to be sitting at this table, in this place, with this woman across from him. What seemed even more surreal was how she dealt with it. She spoke as if this was merely a simple procedure instead of some life altering moment in his life.

"So now that I've explained all this, what's your name?"

"The name is Naruto," he responded sitting up a little straighter, "I'm going to be the future Hokage of Konoha one day."

A small smirk appeared on her lips as she responded, "Naruto? That's an interesting name. Hmm, and future Hokage...it takes someone extremely special to fill those shoes...not some half-dead person who barely survived an attack like that yet alone got hit by one."

His eyebrow twitched, "Humph, you'll see one day. Who are you anyway?"

She let out a soft giggle, then straightened up in her chair, pushing her shoulders back, puffing out her already large chest, and looking directly into his eyes, "I am the great Princess Tsunade, and you are in my home in the outskirts of the Fire Country."

"Never heard of you."

"What?! I'm one of the three great Sanins' of Konoha! And you want to be Hokage someday?! Yet you haven't even heard of ME!?"

Naruto looked up at the ceiling, and crossed his arms over his chest, regretting the motion since it slightly hurt, "You don't sound familiar at all," though in truth he vaguely remembered hearing her name tossed around during one of the classes he had nodded off through when he was a youngster in the academy. He looked back down at her, "So you probably aren't as important as you say you are."

Tsunade's upper lip twitched, as her eyes narrowed, "You Brat. Didn't they teach you anything in the academy?"

"Nothing much about the Sanins...except...," he cast her a look of skepticism, "Of all the things they mentioned, it was that they took part in one of the great Ninja Wars many years ago. Even if you were one, then you should be in your fifties by now. Yet you don't even look that old."

'Freaking brat. This kid is starting to get on my nerves,' she thought to herself as she took a deep breath, and then commented, "Whether you believe me or not, I am one."

"Alright, whatever you say, Granny Tsunade."

It was as if lightning had run straight through her body at the mention of the word granny, "What did you call me?" Her voice was almost frightening as she had basically shoved the words out through her gritted teeth.

"Granny Tsunade!" He said with more enthusiasm than before as he extended his arm to point at her with a big toothy smile, "Because you say you are a sannin who is more than fifty years old. So you must be an old woman who is trying to hide her age!"

Tsunade's eyes widen until the pupils were no longer visible and she pointed at him angrily as she said the next words, "DON'T CALL ME THAT. I JUST SAVED YOUR LIFE! WHAT HAPPENED TO RESPECTING YOUR ELDERS?!"

"You're not an elder, you're just claiming to be one," Naruto responded confidently, "Therefore your name is Granny Tsunade."

There would be no way of convincing him to call her otherwise, so she sighed and gave up, "Fine. So be it, brat." She brought her arm back to her chest and crossed the other arm over it with a grumble, "Anyway, what brought you to around these parts to begin with?"

It seemed as if the lightheartedness of teasing one of his saviors had been sucked out of the air as Naruto felt his heart sink. He recalled the battle that had left him helpless, the face returned to his mind even more clearly than before. The events that had lead to his demise were flashing in front of his eyes. His eyebrows furrowed as he looked into his ramen bowl.

"Granny Tsunade...I thank you for everything you've done...but I would rather not talk about it." Though Naruto was still looking down at his bowl of ramen, he could feel the look of skepticism Tsunade cast towards him, burning through the top of his skull making him feel obligated to speak.

After a few moments of silent thought he continued, "To put it simply..."he sighed as he recollected the memory, "After searching for many years I finally found the person I was after, but I lost the battle. As you can see," he pointed to the bandage on his chest, "he dealt a bit of damage to me, and knocked me out cold. I don't know how long I have been truly out for but...I can tell you this much," at these words he lifted his head so that his blue eyes pierced through Tsunade who leaned back from the intensity of his gaze, "I'm grateful your pupil saved me, and for all the hospiltality you have shown me."

Tsunade relaxed, and the sides of her lips curved upward to form a smile as she lifted her bowl to drink the ramen liquid. Truth be told, it had been years since she had met someone like him, someone who could switch between joking and seriousness, survive an attack such as that, and still put a smile on his face. She was about to say something when she heard the door to her home open and then close.

Naruto looked over to the doorway to see a dark haired, pale skinned woman dressed in a black robe walk into the room holding a small pink pig in her arms.

"Welcome back," Tsunade greeted, "I made some ramen if you would like some."

"Thank you Tsunade-sama," the woman responded as she took a seat on the side between where Naruto and Tsunade sat, and began serving herself a bowl of ramen.

"Naruto, I would like you to meet one of my pupils, Shizune."

Both nodded and smiled at the other.

"It's good to meet you, Naruto."

"Same to you. Oh! Were you the one who picked me up?"

Shizune was about to respond, but it was Tsunade who answered first, "No, that would be my other pupil. You will probably meet her when she gets back. Otherwise, you're probably still exhausted. There is a room upstairs, first door on the left, which is used as a guest room. You can stay until you recover."

Though the idea was enticing, Naruto didn't feel quite right about it. He gulped down the rest of his ramen, and then slowly stood up.

"You have already done so much for me; I don't think it would be right to intrude much longer. In fact I think it's a good idea if I take off now–"

Just as Naruto had taken a step away from the table, he felt his whole chest throb, and his knees give way once again from the intensity of it. Naruto felt his body begin to fall downward when two arms went directly under his armpits and lifted him back up. He lifted his head to see Shizune standing in front of him.

"With the way your body is at the moment, you may be mostly recovered, but you still have yet to regain your full energy and health. The room is yours for as long as you need it. There are also guest clothes that will probably fit you if you would like to change."

Naruto nodded towards her, "I guess I will be taking you up on that offer." He sat back down in his chair, and shizune passed him the large serving bowl of ramen so he could get another helping.

Tsunade nodded as the bowl was then passed to her and she too began filling up another bowl of ramen, "So do you have any questions for me?"

"Yes actually...How long was I out for again? And why was I on a table?" he asked.

She nodded, then began speaking, "From the time we found you until now you have been out for about three days like I said earlier. You were put on the table since it would have been difficult to work on you using one of the small rooms upstairs. Our supplies would have taken up too much space, and it wouldn't have been a comfortable environment for one or two of us to heal you. Also your jacket was destroyed, you were covered in mud and blood, and being in the kitchen provided an easy access to a fresh supply of water so we could effortlessly clean around the wounds with wash cloths. We would have given you a bath in the the tub, but my pupils and I are all female. If I had a male pupil things would have been different."

He smiled, realizing they were only doing what was best for him, "Thank you..."

"Do you have another question?"

"No, I think I'm good for now. Um, I guess I should go get my rest."

Tsunade and Shizune both nodded as Naruto lifted himself a little more hesitantly out of his chair, and put his bowl in the sink. He then made his way through the door Shizune had come through into the front room where the main exit was, and painfully headed up the stairs to his right.

'Maybe it is better this way...I'm having a hard time walking and breathing as it is...and...where the hell is this place anyway? I wouldn't have been able to get back without the sun.'

He finally reached the top of the stairs, and went into the first room on the left as he had been instructed. The room was small and simple. It had a place for him to sleep, and a small closet. He now comprehended why the kitchen was a better choice since the room was barely big enough for just him to fit in. He found a towel inside the closet, and thought it would be best to go take a shower since he still smelled of blood, sweat, and dirt from three days ago.

Taking off his pants and underwear, he wrapped the towel around his lower section, and went into the hallway. There was a door across from his room, next to his room, and one at the end of the short hallway.

'Damn it. They didn't tell me which one was the bathroom. Hmmm...I'll just try the one at the end of the hall. Most people have restrooms there anyway.'

With that thought, he went to the door, opened it, and began to step inside, 'This isn't set up like a bathroom.' Once he was inside his eyes drifted to the middle of the room only to have his jaw drop a full story down and his legs stiffen from shock. The gorgeous pink-haired girl he had seen watching the sunset in the kitchen was in the middle of the room with only her bra and spandex on. Once again he was looking at her posterior side as she had just managed to unhook her bra with both arms, not realizing yet that she had company. Naruto found himself observing her from the ground up. His eyes traced the curves of her figure starting with her muscular legs to her firm butt, up her lean back, and resting on her rosette cranium.

He watched as her whole body froze. Both her arms were still holding her bra from being released as she finally sensed his presence, and slowly turned her head to look over her shoulder to see him at the doorway in his bandages and towel. For a moment, their eyes connected and neighter moved. The world seemed to stand completely still until the full realization finally hit that the person both were staring at was half-naked. The pink-haired girl screamed so loud at the realization of the situation it took Naruto off guard, and he began to yell out of shock as well.

The girl's eyes became huge, and it was as if some sort of inferno had been set off. Unable to react by running, Naruto merely stood in place yelling, lifting his arms up slightly as if trying to defend himself. The girl, however, did not stand still. Holding her left arm in front of her breasts to hold her bra, she charged straight at him like a wild beast, and extended her right arm to punch him directly in his cheek. The hit was so hard, Naruto was sent flying down the hall, and halfway down the stairs until he hit the stairs mid-way, and then proceeded to skid down the rest of them. He stopped only when he finally hit the wall on the first floor after all the stairs. The towel had been thrown upwards, but now somehow managed to float down onto his body, and barely cover his lower private section. The whole world was spinning in front of his eyes as he layed sprawled on the floor in pain.

At the top of the stairs was the pink-haired girl who had covered herself with in her bathrobe. Her cheeks were pink from blushing, but her eyes were full of fire as she yelled at Naruto, "YOU DIRTY PERVERT! SHANNARO! DIDN'T ANYONE EVER TEACH YOU TO KNOCK! YOU DON'T JUST BARGE INTO A ROOM WHEN YOU DON'T LIVE IN THE HOUSE!" She then turned around, and stormed back into her room, slamming the door as a warning.

Tsunade and Shizune were able to witness Naruto's amazing flight through the air as well as their pupil's insults and anger. They had just been about to go upstairs when they heard the screams, and therefore stayed at the bottom. It was a wise choice since Naruto had shot past them.

Tsunade went to Naruto's side, and looked down at his beaten form. There was a huge crimson mark on his left cheek from where her pupil had socked him. With a stoic face in an attempt to hold back the massive amount of laughter, Tsunade commented, "So I take it you met my other pupil already, Sakura. It's good to see you two got started on the right foot." Shizune looked at her master before shaking her head, and walking up the stairs. "By the way, that was the person that picked you up on a whim, and brought you here in case you wanted to know. I recommend not trying anything perverted the rest of the time you are here." She continued to examine him, "Oh, and the only bathroom we have is on the bottom floor," she pointed to the door under the stairs, "It's right there in case you were at all curious," with that she began walking up the stairs, "Good night, future Hokage."

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Oh Tsunade, you are AWESOME! *cough cough* Welp, this is the first chapter. Hope you enjoyed it! If you like it, or hate it: Please leave a comment with your thoughts. It is greatly appreaciated ^_^ Warning: Flames will be treated with cynical responses. If you leave one, I hope you can endure me. Also, more comments = more likely to continue. Otherwise, THANK YOU FOR READING THIS STORY! Until next time hopefully! =D

Revised: 10/9/09 - I merely went through and changed the structure of the sentences so it flowed better as well as moved a paragraph or two so it fit better. The most major change was in one line when Naruto said, "I tried to prevent a friend from leaving the fire country," to "After searching for many years I finally found the person I was after, but I lost the battle." It fits better with the story I am going to portray. I also changed the scene a little where Naruto walks in on Sakura. Better for the effect. =D