Chapter 2: Same old... What the...

Naruto woke up feeling a bit groggy as he opened his eyes. The last thing he remembered was Junibi...

It's Momo!

Sorry, Momo had just opened an odd swirling hole in the sky and then he had passed out. Next thing he knew was waking up here to the sound of her giggling like a fangirl.

I'm not a fangirl!

Whatever!

No he was laying in what looked like his old training ground outside Konoha, the one he had secretly used as a kid. The field, a small meadow really, had looked so much larger when he was little. Now, as a seventeen year old, it looked tiny to him. It was hard to imagine when running around the edge of the meadow had taken him several minutes, where now it would take seconds. Still, those were some of the few good memories he had of that time in his life, even the old man and ramen hadn't been able to cheer him up as much as the peace of this meadow had.

"A good place to start a new life," he mumbled to himself, walking to the center of the meadow and sitting down. "So, Momo, tell me about this world."

This world is larger and slightly denser than your old one, Naruto-kun. It also has a larger abundance of Nature chakra, so it can deal with your massive reserves, easily. Atmosphere is slightly thicker and the average temperature is a few degrees higher, but nothing to be worried about. It is an alternate version of your original world, which you probably already figured out. Tobi is long dead, but unfortunately so are your parents. Danzo is long dead, never having created ROOT. Sasuke is not a cross dresser, nor is Itachi, but Sakura is still a bitch.

"I don't even want to know why you found it important to mention that Sasuke and Itachi aren't cross dressers," groaned Naruto, flopping down on his back to look up at the clouds above. "If my parents are dead here, does that mean they sealed Kurama in me here as well?"

Kinda yeah, kinda no.

"What does that mean?"

Well, your father did seal Kurama in someone, but it wasn't you.

"So, some other poor kid had to suffer through what I did?" asked Naruto, already feeling bad for the kid.

It wasn't a kid. Your father used the Dead Demon Consuming Seal here as well, but he sealed Kurama in your mother, Kushina. Seems he lost the argument after she threatened to beat the shit out of him if he tried to seal Kurama in their child. Using that seal, and sealing half of Kurama in himself, when Kushina died she took Kurama with her in death.

"Even winning, I lost here in this world," murmured Naruto as he listened.

This world's Sarutobi made the same decision as your world, keeping the parentage of the child a secret until they could protect themselves. As in your world, he died when Orochimaru attacked the village during the Chunin Exams, with Tsunade taking over for him as the Fifth Hokage.

"What about Sasuke, did he turn traitor here as well?" asked Naruto as he unzipped his track jacket, it really was warmer here than back home.

No, in this world it was Sasuke that was born first, with Itachi being the youngest son. Like his brother from your world, he attempted to wipe out his clan, but was killed by his mother before he could kill her or Itachi. With Sasuke's death, Itachi did manage to activate the Mangekyo Sharingan, but with his mother's support and a transplant from Sasuke's body, he became a powerful protector of the village. When Orochimaru attempted to brand him with the Curse Seal after the Chunin Exams invasion, Itachi killed him with Amaterasu before the snake could escape.

"Nice, good for him," Naruto said with a smile. "I'm glad he got some peace in this world."

He's currently engaged to Ayame, your favorite little ramen waitress.

"Isn't she a bit old for him?" asked Naruto.

They seem happy, so I wouldn't worry about it too much. Anyway, with the lack of any major threats, Konoha has been extremely prosperous over the last few years. Your counterpart in this world has been a key player in much of that prosperity. Many of the same alliances you formed, they formed as well.

Naruto thought about that for a moment, remembering all the people he had met in his life and the great friends he had gained. "I'm glad he did so well, but how did he die?"

Die?

"Well, yeah, you wouldn't have brought me here if I was already alive in this world, would you?"

Your counterpart in this world is very much alive, Naruto-kun. Trust me, no one will mistake you for them, that I'm sure of.

"What's that mean?" asked Naruto, getting a bit suspicious.

You'll see. Just head into the village, but remember to hide your headband. You aren't a shinobi here, so no need to draw attention to yourself.

Grumbling as he got to his feet, Naruto removed his headband and sealed it away inside a storage scroll. Turning towards the nearest road leading to the village, Naruto wondered how he was going to explain his presence in the village. He couldn't use his own name, not if he already existed here, and he couldn't use his father's name. So, what options did that leave him.

Goof! Just use your own name. Tell Tsunade the truth, the whole truth, and let her deal with the rest. Trust me, when you mention who your parents were and show them that you can enter Sage Mode, they'll believe you fairly quickly. Sure, there they might be suspicious at first, but you'll be fine.

"Can I even enter Sage Mode here?" Naruto asked as he reached the road and turned towards the village. "I mean, I never signed the Toad Contract here, so will I still be able to summon?"

You may not be able to summon toads here, yet, but Sage Mode is a function of collecting Nature chakra, not summoning. That's got nothing to do with the contract, so you can still do it perfectly.

"True, I kind of forgot about that," admitted Naruto as the gates came into view. "Is Ero-Sage still alive here?"

Yes, he's still alive here. In fact, he's married to Tsunade.

Naruto stumbled when he heard that bit of news. "Seriously? How drunk was Tsunade when she accepted his proposal?"

I don't know, but I bet it was pretty drunk if he's half as bad here as he was back in your old world.

"How do you know so much about this world, Momo-chan?" asked Naruto, unaware that the affectionate name caused his tenant to blush.

W-well, I did a lot of research before picking this world for our new home, Naruto-kun. Still, I couldn't get all the details, so some things will still be a surprise.

What she didn't tell him was that all the information she had was from the piece of paper she had found. Momo thought about telling him about that bit, but didn't want to admit she had based her choice of worlds on a scrap of paper that mysteriously appeared out of nowhere. Luckily, they had reached the gates before Naruto could ask any other questions. Neither of them recognized the guards, but that was to be expected as it was a new world, so there were bound to be new faces around the place. Still, they were both surprised at the way the guards were dressed.

Rather than the standard Chunin attire Naruto was used to, these two guards were wearing shorts with a mesh shirt under their vests. In fact, looking past the guards Naruto noticed that many of the people were wearing oddly modified outfits. Most of them looked better suited to beach attire than regular day wear. Even the few kimonos he saw seemed to be made out of light linen fabric or silk rather than the heavier fabrics he was used to seeing. Naruto assumed it was due to the warm weather, but then remembered Momo had said the average temperature this planet was higher than back on his old world.

"Nature of your visit?" asked the younger looking of the two guards.

"Looking to settle down and maybe join the shinobi forces," responded Naruto, getting a suspicious look from both guards.

"You have shinobi training?" asked the older of the two. "What village are you currently associated with and where did you get your training?"

Naruto knew they were just following procedures, being on guard against possible threats to the village, so he had no qualms about answering. "Yes, I have shinobi training, but I'm not currently associated with any village, nor am I a missing-nin. As for my training, I was apprenticed under a wandering hermit who taught me the majority of what I know."

It wasn't exactly a lie, even if it wasn't the whole truth. "I ask for a meeting with your Hokage to plead my case."

The two guards nodded, the older of the two signaling for an ANBU escort to take Naruto to see the Hokage while the younger just glared at him. "Know this, stranger, if you lie you will die."

"I understand," acknowledged Naruto as two ANBU landed on either side of him.

Once again he was shocked to see the variation in their uniforms, especially the female of the pair. The male agent was once again wearing shorts and a mesh shirt under his vest, but the female was the real eye catcher. Her shorts were VERY short, almost to the point of being bloomers, and her mesh shirt was just as sheer as the male's. Back on his world it was not uncommon for kunoichi to wear mesh, but their's was specially made to give the appearance of being sheer while actually having a flesh colored second layer. It was a distraction technique that most kunoichi used, well all of them except Anko, but she was an exhibitionist at heart.

"Got to be the heat," muttered Naruto, trying not to look at the female ANBU's chest.

Maybe, but then again they've lived here all their lives, so wouldn't they be used to the heat?

It only took a few moments to reach the tower once the ANBU realized Naruto could keep up with them. Then it was just a matter of jumping to the roofs and avoiding the civilians. Naruto was surprised to see from this vantage point that the village seemed larger than his old one by at least a factor of three. There were also larger parks spread across the village, along with several numerous public pools spread around. He also noticed a large number of people seemed to be sunbathing on the roofs, male and female. Sure, he had see the like back in his old home, but not to the extent he saw it here. The fact that the people didn't even flinch when he and he ANBU passed by indicated they were not overly concerned with modesty.

They seem to be very comfortable with their own bodies.

"That or they're all exhibitionists," thought Naruto, trying not be distracted by the plethora of skin he was currently passing through.

Possibly.

Naruto pushed that thought from his mind, mainly because it wouldn't do to have a nosebleed when he arrived at the Hokage tower. Speaking of which, he and his escort leapt down to the main entrance to the tower and made their way inside, getting several curious stares form the people around them. Naruto was quickly coming to realize that these people did not seem to have a taboo against showing off their bodies, at least if the numerous examples of revealing uniforms among the shinobi was anything to go by. From what he could see the ANBU wore the most clothing of any of the active shinobi. Regular shinobi wore even less than the ANBU, with the older they got the less they wore.

"At least the Genin are wearing enough to cover themselves," Naruto thought as he saw one team of youngsters wearing more sensible clothing as they stood next to a Jonin that seemed to only be wearing enough to hold his weapons and supplies. "Don't think I could deal with seeing kids running around wearing next to nothing. That would just be wrong."

It looks to me as if light linen clothing that covers them fully is the rule of thumb until they reach fourteen or fifteen. After that it looks like they can where whatever they want.

"Old enough to kill, old enough to run half naked through the streets," was his silent reply. "Doesn't seem too practical. I mean some of these outfits provide zero protection in a fight. Look at that girl, sure she might distract an enemy, but shorts and a bikini top isn't going to stop a kunai."

I detect a great deal of chakra saturating the material they use for their clothing, along with an almost constant flow to their skin. The flow to their skin seems to be natural, almost like a natural adaptation to harden their skin and protect them. As for the clothing itself, it's probably made from materials saturated in chakra to make it more resilient. Maybe that's why they don't need as much armor?

"Doesn't explain the civilians," countered Naruto as they reached to Hokage's office.

Civilians always tend to mimic the shinobi when it comes to fashion. Now, remember, act respectful to Tsunade, because she's not the one you remember. Once you explain your presence, then you can be yourself, but not until then. Got it?

"Yes, Momo-chan."

After the ANBU was granted entrance, they all stepped inside and Naruto tried not to let his jaw hit the ground. Yes, this Tsunade looked like the one he knew, but she sure didn't dress the same. While he couldn't see her legs as she was sitting behind her desk, he could see her chest. All of her chest. Where his Tsunade had word a kimono blouse under a green haori, this one wore a translucent green haori over a mesh bodice. Like all the other mesh clothing he had seen so far in this village, the Hokage's mesh served only to support her rather large chest while hiding none of it.

"Damn! Do you have any idea how hard it's going to be to look her in the eyes?" Naruto groaned to himself, receiving a giggle in reply from Momo. "Sure, I'm a normal teenager and had a few dreams about seeing Baa-chan like this, but to actually see it!"

"My eyes are up here, stranger," commented the Tsunade, eliciting a spectacular rosey hue from Naruto.

"Sorry, Hokage-sama," looking up from her chest and locking on her eyes. "I'm just not used to all of this."

"All of what?" asked the Hokage, leaning forward and resting her chin on her clasped hands.

Groaning, Naruto glanced to either side at the ANBU that had escorted him here. Opening his senses to take in the room he could also detect two other chakra signatures in the room. He recognized two of them immediately. One was Neko, or Yugao Uzuki, an ANBU agent he had worked with a few times during the war. The other was Hebi, or Anko Mitrashi, a close friend of his that had mysteriously vanished towards the end of the conflict. Both women were considered to be two of the most beautiful women in his village and Naruto was a little leery of seeing either of them given the nature of the ANBU uniforms he had seen so far. It just wouldn't do to pass out from blood loss if his nose started bleeding.

Realizing he was going to really be pushing the bounds of Tsunade's ability to trust him, what with the nature of his story, Naruto knew there was only one thing to do. Dropping to his knees and lowered his head till his forehead rested on the floor, Naruto took the most vulnerable position he could before he started to speak. He heard several gasps from the room's occupants, not surprising given it was rare for anyone to make themselves this vulnerable if they had any shinobi training at all. Still, he needed Tsunade to listen to him and if this was how he had to do it, so be it.

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze and I am not from this world," he stated, getting a gasp from Tsunade as well as the others.

How long he spoke was debatable, but he knew his legs had gone numb a long time ago. He started with his childhood, worked his way through his time before leaving with Jiraiya, touched upon his training with the Hermit-sage, and finished off with his part in the war. Silence reigned in the room as he gave the details of his final battle, though he skipped the bit about absorbing the Juubi when Momo pointed out it might not be a good idea to mention her yet. Finally, at Momo's suggestion, he explained that a combination of techniques consisting of Tobi's space-time manipulation and his use of Nature chakra had thrown him from his own world and into this one. Sure, it wasn't the whole truth, but fighting that battle had seen the use of both and had led to him being here, so it was good enough for now.

"Can you prove your story?" asked Tsunade after he finished his story. "And get up off the floor, you're giving me a crick in my neck looking down at you like that."

Standing back up slowly, making sure his hands were at all times visible, Naruto rose back up to feet and looked the Hokage in the eyes. "I can't give you documentation if that's what you want, but I can try to show you anything else you might want to see."

Tsunade seemed to think about that, leaning back in her chair so she could more comfortably look Naruto in the eyes. "Okay, you mentioned you knew the Sage arts, prove it as the first sign that what you say is true."

"Sure, just give me a second to gather some Nature chakra," Naruto said, closing his eyes and going completely still as he started. Given the higher content of Natural chakra in the air it only took him seconds to collect what he needed. "Here you go."

Activating his Sage Mode, Naruto watched as Tsunade's jaw dropped when his eyes changed colors and the orange marking appeared around his eyes. In this mode he now detected a presence just outside the window. This new presence was both familiar and heartbreaking as it belonged to his mentor, Jiraiya. Obviously the man had been summoned by Tsunade when Naruto started telling his story, but after experiencing the death of the man it was hard to stay focused with him being alive here. Letting the transformation fade, Naruto sighed.

"You might as well come in now, Jiraiya," he said with a resigned tone. "I know you're outside the window."

A moment later and an alive and normally dressed Jiraiya climbed in the window, saying, "He told the truth on that one. That was sage mode alright, even better than what I can do with it. Still, if what you say is true, you know another of the Yondaime's techniques."

"I do," agreed Naruto, holding out his hand and creating a perfect Rasengan.

It had taken Naruto a long time to master the Rasengan without need a clone to help him, but he had managed it eventually. Jiraiya stepped forward and examined it closely before stepping back and nodding to Tsunade. She thought about it for a moment, then nodded to the ANBU who all vanished from sight at her signal. Naruto was a bit worried at first, but relaxed once Tsunade opened a drawer and pulled out a bottle of saki. He watched as she took a long swig from the bottle before putting it back on her desk and glaring at him.

"Do you have any idea how much paperwork you are going to cause for me, gaki?" she asked, causing Naruto to smirk. "Not only do you know a S-Ranked secret of the village, you also know two highly guarded techniques. Now I've got to create a background for you, after blood tests and a full physical, but I've also got to have you tested for your ranking in our forces."

"Just use Shadow-clones, Baa-chan," replied Naruto without thinking. "That will solve your paperwork issue."

Tsunade was staring at him open mouthed, whether from what he called her or the solution to her paperwork problem was debatable, but Jiraiya was laughing his ass off. "'Baa-chan!' That's great, brat! I'm so going to remember that!"

"Shut up, you old pervert!" growled Tsunade. "I'll forget the lack of respect, brat, only because you just solved a major headache for me, but don't go thinking you can call me that all the time! Got me!"

"Yes!"

Seeming a bit mollified that she could at least terrorize the young man behind her, Tsunade stood and let Naruto from the room. For his part, Naruto was glad to see Tsunade wearing pants, even if they were shorter than he was used to seeing her wear. Tsunade explained that she would personally do the testing on him, to insure that no one could tamper with the results. That being the case, she led him through a tunnel that connected the Hokage Tower to the Hospital to prevent anyone else from seeing him yet.

"Can I ask a question without sounding too stupid?" asked Naruto as they walked.

"I don't know, kid, can you?" snarked Jiraiya, earning himself a smack on the back of the head from Tsunade.

"Ask," she stated, looking at Naruto.

Thinking for a moment before he spoke, Naruto tried to think of how to word his question without sounding like a pervert or moron. "How is it that so far Jiraiya is the only person I've seen dressing like they did back home? I mean, everyone here dresses so differently than what I'm used to."

Jiraiya snorted, then with a smirk he spoke. "I'm guessing your world has a similar history to ours, right?"

"I guess," replied Naruto, not really sure if it was true or not. "I'm not really sure, but probably. What's that got to do with anything?"

"During the last war our enemies managed to cut us off from our supply lines fairly early on," explained Jiraiya. "We barely had enough food to keep ourselves fed, but other items like iron ore, chakra conductive wood, and cloth we completely ran out of. It was a bad time for us, we recycled as best we could, but unless something was done quickly then we were done for. Our miracle came in the form of my former students love of seals and his desire to protect a certain tomato from harm. Minato, back before he perfected his Flying Thunder God attack, he came up with a solution in the form of the Iron Seal after someone he cared a great deal about was attacked and her weapons failed her. The Iron Seal was a seal that allowed chakra to coat an object, making it hard as iron or even harder depending on how much chakra was focused into it. At first we used it on wooden weapons, surprising our enemies when wooden swords proved stronger than their metal ones."

"It was a turning point in the war," added Tsunade. "We had wood in abundance, thanks to the forest surrounding us, meaning we had an endless supply of weapons at our disposal."

"The seal used trace amounts of the users chakra to power itself to stay active out of combat, but the seal faded if cut off from the first source of chakra it came in contact with if not near it for too long," continued Jiraiya. "It was made that way so no one on the opposing side could duplicate it. Only high ranking Jonin were allowed to carry a Seal Stone, a stone with the seal carved into it as a stamp, with them to make more weapons."

"That's part of the reason we dress like this now," Tsunade explained as they reached the halfway point to the hospital. "As Jiraiya said, things were tough back then. Cloth of any type was hard to come by and the village was forced to use whatever was at hand. It wasn't long before curtains and bed sheets were being collected to make uniforms for our forces. Even that didn't last long and soon we were running around in rags seeing as how we had no new shipments of cloth. The Nara deer were being used to supply us with leather and meat, but their herds weren't large enough to switch completely over to leather clothing. The Aburame clan was pushing their hives to the limit trying to supply us with as much silk as they could, but over time that was retasked to supply us with surgical thread."

That makes sense, if you think about it, seeing as how that silk would conduct chakra into the wounds and speed up healing.

"I know, I remember Shizune telling me about that one time," thought Naruto as he continued to listen.

Tsunade sighed, looking a bit exasperated as she went on with her story. "One of the Jonin carrying a Seal Stone didn't realize he had a hole in his pocket and the seal was accidentally placed on his skin. He didn't even realize what had happened until being struck with a kunai and watching as it bounced off his bare skin."

"Kakashi always has been an idiot," groaned Jiraiya before picking up the story. "When we figured out what happened and that there were no negative results of having the seal placed on our skin, all our forces received the seal. Believe me, it was not a decision we came to lightly. Minato and I looked that seal over for any possible flaw that could harm someone, fearing it might hurt more then help if we got it wrong. In the end we could find nothing wrong with it, so approved the process with Minato himself being the first to have the seal placed on his skin intentionally. Kushina, knowing he had created the seal ultimate to keep her safe, was the second to wear it and turned red as a tomato when he placed the seal over he heart."

Tsunade nodded to an ANBU guard at the door to the hospital who then let them in as she picked up the story. "The seal only lasted a few months before normal wear and tear would mean it would need to be reapplied. Some of the council wanted it to be branded permanently on our forces, but Minato and Jiraiya stopped that one fast.

"Like hell we were going to let them brand kids with a seal," growled Jiraiya, his face looking dark and angry. "It was the Hyuga Elders that pushed for that one, thinking they might be able to sneak a change in the law in that would allow them to start branding non-Hyuga with their damned Caged Bird Seal. Unfortunately there was a sneak attack on the village and the Hyuga Elder Council was killed. We never did find out how someone could sneak in and kill them, then sneak back out unnoticed."

"And the fact that Minato and Kushina were friends with Hiashi and Hizashi had nothing to do with it," scoffed Tsunade. "Those four were thick as thieves before that attack and afterwards the Caged Bird Seal stopped being used. No connection there at all, but that is another story for another day. While all that was going on the first troops with the seal were noticing that the seal might be degrading, but their skin was still protected. That's when we figured out after it faded our chakra pathways had learned to channel chakra to our skin naturally. We started using it on our new graduates from the Academy, meaning by the time they become Chunin they would also have the Steel Skin technique available to them."

"After the war we started getting supplies in again, but the shinobi were so used to running around half dressed that they never bothered switching back to full uniforms," Jiraiya said with a lecherous smirk. "Over the years they started wearing less and less and the civilians have followed the trend. Personally, I don't mind a bit, but no one wants to see my wrinkly old ass in some of the getups these kids wear these days."

"Amen to that," muttered Tsunade, aiming a playful smirk at her husband. "The constant use of the seal caused several side effect as well. The first was greatly increased chakra reserves in our forces because their bodies adapted to the constant use of the seal. Also a huge savings in the budget thanks to needing less cloth for uniforms. We still require full uniforms for some missions outside the village, but inside it you tend to see the more wild outfits."

"Like your counterpart," snickered Jiraiya.

"Oh yeah, what's he like?" asked Naruto as they entered an exam room.

Tsunade and Jiraiya just stopped, looked at each other for a moment, then busted out laughing.

"You'll see," they chorused.

The examination took a few hours, but that was mainly to run DNA testing to see if Naruto was really who he claimed to be. He pretended not to notice the high number of ANBU surrounding the examination room, but he was no fool even if he sometimes acted like one. He knew the room they were in was one of the few they used when enemy shinobi were receiving treatment. The room had hidden entrances on every wall, ceiling, and floor for fast attacks by ANBU that were standing by. There was even a complicated track system in place that would allow the Hokage to have the room lowered down into the holding cells for the T&I division, conveniently located directly bellow them. He knew all of this and normally he would have been offended that Tsunade chose this room for his examination, but this wasn't his Baa-chan no matter how much she looked like her.

"You know," he finally said after Tsunade and Jiraiya made yet another excuse for why the tests results were taking so long, "you could just have Yamato, Hebi, and Neko keep me company until the blood tests come back. We can play some cards, or something, and you can get back to work. Shizune used to tell me the average paternity test took about three hours and knowing you, you'll run it twice."

As he mentioned the name of each ANBU agent Naruto pointed at the wall behind which they were hiding, then pointed at the floor. "Ibiki-san can join too, he's got a killer poker face and I'm sure you want him to ask me some questions anyway, so why not kill two birds with one stone?"

Tsunade had a look on he face like a kid with her hand caught in the cookie jar for a moment, then glared at Naruto. "You know too damned much about this village, brat! Who are you really!"

"Look who's talking, granny," Naruto calmly replied. "You're the one telling me classified village secrets as we walked here, because you thought I was contained in the tunnel. Even after seeing me in Sage mode and using one of my father's prized techniques, you just assumed you had me beat because you're older and Jiraiya is here. Kinda foolish, really, because you forgot to ask yourself a really important question."

Snapping her fingers and summoning a host of ANBU that suddenly all had weapons pointed at Naruto, Tsunade had a look of utter confidence on her face. Jiraiya on the other hand was looking at her and shaking his head, having already figured out there wasn't a thing the ANBU could do if Naruto really wanted to leave. He knew there kid was powerful and thanks to the old man's own sage training, he knew the kid wasn't lying. He also had a clue as to what the important question was that they should have asked.

"Oh, you think I forgot something, brat?" scoffed Tsunade. "Tell me, what's the question I should have asked?"

Grinning from ear to ear, totally unconcerned about the ANBU around him, Naruto answered her. "You should have asked yourself if I knew my father's other technique."

That's all he had to say for everyone to freeze, giving Naruto all the time he needed to vanish in a flash of yellow light. When the spots faded from their eyes the ANBU all looked to Tsunade for orders, but she was too stunned to say anything. There had been the ultimate proof that Naruto was who he said he was, mainly because Minato had designed the Flying Thunder God technique so only his bloodline could use it without needing at least three people to force it to work. If Naruto could use it, something his counterpart here in this world could not do, then it was proof that he was who he said he was. That thought in mind, not to mention a sense of guilt and dread, Tsunade turned to speak with Jiraiya only to find he was gone as well. Hopefully, if she was really lucky, Jiraiya would find Naruto and make this right before the boy met his counterpart.

"No, that wouldn't be a good thing..."