Disclaimer: Of course I don't own Naruto or any of its original characters, Kishimoto does duh!.
Blah….normal narration/ character talking
Blah….normal narration/ character thinking
Blah…. Kyubi/summon talking
Blah…. Kyubi/summon thinking and Jutsus
Chapter 3
When Naruto first gained consciousness it wasn't in the real world. He was standing in a familiar sewer like place except for the gaping fact that a 50 feet tall fox was missing from the scenario along with its cage. As Naruto slowly wandered the hall of his mindscape he came to a place that seemed to be built like a library. He was actually surprised as it hadn't been there before. The doors to the place seemed to have a sort of seal. He moved forward and touched it as the seal suddenly glowed in a golden light before the doors were flung open.
The memories of the last conversation he had with the fox came back to him. 'I am transferring all my knowledge to you…' he remembered Kyubi's words as another memory washed over him 'Kurama, that's my true name Naruto. Remember it brat.'
'Thank you Kurama' Naruto muttered softly as he walked inside. He saw many scrolls littered on the floor as if they have fallen from a shelf. He picked up one of the scrolls and opened it to read. As soon as he had finished reading the scroll glowed and vanished making Naruto gasp.
But what shocked the blond was the fact that he was able to perfectly recall each and every word he had read in the scroll. The scroll had been for a wind jutsu called Fuuton : Daitoppa and the seals for using the jutsu as well as its details were now etched into Naruto's memory.
'This is awesome, Kurama you magnificent bastard.' thought Naruto.
He picked up another and this time it was a fire jutsu, Katon :Karyuendan. The same thing happened once again and Naruto actually began wondering how much time would it take him to study all of the material lying there. He concentrated for a few moments and thought about the changes he would have to make to the room. When he opened his eyes he definitely liked what he saw. The once littered scrolls were now stacked in two shelves which were compartmentalized into various subjects. He saw that Fuinjutsu occupied quite a lot of space.
'I guess these must be from the memories of Mito Uzumaki. To think despite being sealed by Kurama was able to glean all this knowledge.' He mused and actually laughed a little imagining a growling Kurama shouting about being the strongest and most prideful being.
Something suddenly caught his eye, a lone scroll placed into the corner. To his surprise it was marked as summoning. Naruto thought for a minute 'Hmm I don't even know whether the toad summoning is still effective or not, but for the safe side I will actually take this.'
He picked up the scroll and began reading. Soon he finished and it was absorbed like the previous scroll.
'Yosh! The scroll gave me the details of their location. I will have to form the pact with the clan myself. But that's cool, I would really appreciate if I could get along with them as well as I got along with toads.' He thought 'I will have to summon a familiar to get the contract started, till then I can't do much about it.'
He picked up a few more jutsu scrolls and learned them. He had picked up Raiton: Rensa Raikou, Raiton: Shina no Kourin, Katon: Hibashira no jutsu, Katon: Zukkoku, Suiton: Suiryudan and Fuuton: Tatsumaki Rendan. Feeling satisfied with his work he willed his consciousness to go back and suddenly the world turned dark again.
Next time his eyes opened, he found himself in a white room lying on an uncomfortable bed with a pungent smell of disinfectants filling his nose. He groaned as he realized it was one of the places he hated the most, a damn hospital. But, given his condition he knew he would either wake up in one of these or end up dead. Being in a hospital sucked but it was still better than being dead.
Gathering his senses he gave himself a quick look over he noticed that he was dressed in a hospital gown, but was free of bandages. There were no visible injuries on his body and the only discomfort he felt was a little soreness which he attributed to being lying in a bed without any movement. He closed his eyes and thought back to all the things he had learned in his mindscape. He was genuinely surprised and pleased when he was able to perfectly recall everything he learnt earlier. Before he could fathom any more details the door of the room suddenly opened. The person walking into the room almost made him think that he was either dead or was in a genjutsu for now standing in front of him was none other than Hiruzen Sarutobi, the third Hokage of Konoha.
'So I wasn't hallucinating when I saw the hokage monument earlier. I have been probably knocked back into the time.' He pondered as Hiruzen came over to stand near him with a blond haired ANBU with a hawk mask accompanying him.
"So you are finally awake?" Hiruzen gave him a curious look.
"It's an honour to meet you Lord Hokage. If you don't mind me asking how long was I out for?" Naruto asked in a monotone addressing the Sarutobi formally. He had to beat down the urge to call him 'old man' as he did back in his own world till the Hokage's death at Orochimaru's hands.
"You have been unconscious for a week. When you arrived here you were almost dead due to chakra exhaustion. I must say that you are a man of many surprises even for a complete stranger." Sarutobi commented as he took a puff on his pipe.
Naruto simply raised his eyebrows showing he didn't comprehend what Hiruzen was implying.
Sarutobi seeing that look continued in a stern tone "I want you to know that I am not here for exchanging pleasantries"
"Did I do something wrong to have warranted such enquiries?" Naruto asked politely.
"Technically you have done nothing wrong till now otherwise you would have woken up in a prison cell. But somehow you managed to gain entry into my village without alerting anyone. Now that's what I call being a suspicious activity." Sarutobi elaborated.
"I see." Naruto replied curtly.
"Many people are suspecting that you are a spy." Sarutobi waited for a response from the blond.
"I don't care what people think but I can tell you for sure that my chakra signature cannot be hidden even from a mile. I would be a pretty lousy spy even if I were to be one." Naruto replied without humour.
"This might be an elaborate scheme of the enemy. Send someone too unpredictable to be a spy." the ANBU standing next to the hokage finally spoke.
Naruto chuckled slightly before answering "I am sure Lord Hokage would have had my mind searched before I gained consciousness."
Sarutobi eyed Naruto curiously before replying "You know very well that Konoha operates with a code of honour. We wouldn't do such a thing even if you were a spy. I suppose it's possible that your chakra levels were too low for the barrier to detect you"
However what Sarutobi said was complete opposite to what he had done. He had asked a Yamanaka to actually check Naruto's consciousness only to realise that it was empty as if he was dead.
"I am not going to argue with you Lord Hokage, however believe me when I saw I am not a spy" Naruto said "I am currently lying here on a hospital bed in front of the God of Shinobi with only 10% of my chakra and no chance of escape, makes me a quite sloppy spy doesn't it."
"You are lying you brat, there is no way in hell that you are at only 10% of your chakra." the blonde ANBU cried out in outrage.
"ANBU-san why do you say that?"Hiruzen turned to the ANBU.
"Because Hokage sama right now he is showing chakra equivalent to half of an average jonin." replied the ANBU operative surprising the hokage.
"Yes I have large chakra reserves, all Uzumaki are supposed to have great chakra pools." Naruto calmly replied.
"You are an Uzumaki? Sarutobi questioned.
"Yes hokage-sama , my name is Uzumaki Naruto." said Naruto.
"Well you were found with an insignia of Uzumaki clan on your jacket. Am I to presume you are a member of that clan? Your appearance doesn't match any in the Bingo Books of any ninja village. And to make things even more complicated, a quick analysis of your blood showed that you have several characteristics unique to the Uzumaki clan. Given that you recovered from a near death state so quickly shows that you do have a very strong life force. If not for that characteristic, you would still likely be comatose."
Naruto let out a small laugh in response, shocking the Hokage. "To be honest, I never even knew there was an Uzumaki clan until just recently. I was orphaned the day I was born, and I just found out that my mother was a member of the Uzumaki clan."
An eyebrow was raised at that. "You didn't even know that there was an Uzumaki clan?" Hokage's tone was incredulous.
A nod was received in reply to that question, though it seemed that it was not an acceptable answer.
"How can that be? The Uzumaki clan and the Village Hidden in the Whirling Tides were only destroyed ten years ago at the start of the Second Shinobi World War," Sarutobi said, looking at Naruto carefully. "How could you not know of a clan as famous as the Uzumaki clan? Where have you been? Hiding under a rock?"
'Hmm he just confirmed my suspicions, I have indeed come to an alternate universe although way back in time. Maybe history will be different for this world I wouldn't disappear anytime soon.' Naruto pondered as he thought for a satisfactory answer.
"Civilians don't talk about shinobi clans often. When they do, they talk about Senju, Uchiha or Hyuga, not Uzumaki," Naruto replied, careful not to lie. He knew that Hiruzen Sarutobi would spot a lie even faster than a Hyuga. "I'm only a ninja if a ninja is someone who uses ninjutsu." That was completely true. If he was in the past, then he certainly wouldn't be a Leaf ninja unless he attempted to join them. "Is it really that hard to believe I never heard of them?"
Sarutobi sighed upon hearing Naruto's words. He was unable to detect any lies, though he could see that there was more to the story than Naruto was revealing. That was to be expected though.
It seems that you are versed in shinobi arts though, even if not fuinjutsu of the Uzumaki clan." Sarutobi commented dryly.
Naruto nodded with a ghost of a smile. "Yeah, my godfather took me on as an apprentice. I guess he wanted to make up for not being there when I was growing up." Naruto said, a frown making its way on his face. That was the first time that he had thought about the fact that his godfather had essentially done just as he said. "He was a hermit. He liked to travel, and he was always trying to find the answer to peace."
"What happened to him?" Hiruzen asked, interested in the story of the young man sitting in front of him. After all he could likely find some clues about who exactly Naruto was.
"One of his students killed him." Naruto said as he looked away. The turmoil within him grew tenfold at the memories of Jiraiya's death.
"I see…." Hiruzen said. The look in Naruto's eyes had reminded him of the look in his own following Tobirama sensei's death. "Did you ever graduate from a ninja academy and become a ninja of another village?"
"No, I didn't." Naruto answered honestly. He had never graduated from the academy. He was essentially given a field promotion, and he became a ninja of that village, not of another village.
"Hmmm…" Hiruzen took a moment to think. "With all of the background checks on you coming up blank, it appears that you're clean. There's only one thing left to do…." Hiruzen Sarutobi was considered a genius, the likes of which came only once a generation. His genius mind was working at that very moment, which is why he chose his next words. The facts that the boy before him was an Uzumaki, trained in the shinobi arts, and possessed an incredible amount of chakra influenced his words heavily.
"I'll give you the benefit of the doubt in regards to your back story," Sarutobi said with another sigh. "You must understand that your sudden appearance is still alarming though."
"How is that?" Naruto asked, his curiosity piqued.
"Well, you appeared inside my village without alerting anyone, and then I find that you are a member of now extinct Uzumaki clan. Furthermore, you are suffering from an extreme case of chakra exhaustion and your body seems to have gone through a great level of strain lately. The medics did not think you'd pull through and have suggested to keep you under observation." Sarutobi told Naruto trying to hide his ulterior motive of keeping him tracked. However Naruto knew the standard procedure and easily understood the ploy.
"Oh, I see," Naruto said, feigning innocence. He actually hated deceiving someone he considered as his grandfather but he knew that if his secrets were revealed it would create even bigger problems.
"I apologize if I came across as rude." Hiruzen said with a deep breath. "Things have been tense lately. Last year, one of our chunin was captured by the Hidden Cloud Village, and we almost lost a very important asset to the village. And then two weeks ago, the Third Kazekage apparently went missing."
Naruto's eyes widened. The first reference made him think of how his mother was apparently captured by the Hidden Cloud Village, and the second comment actually made him realize what had happened.
"You will be released in an hour, actually," Sarutobi said, surprising Naruto once more. "I will arrange for a chunin to give you a tour of the village at that time. Once the tour is finished, you will be brought to my office to meet the person who I am assigning to watch over you. Hopefully, we will be able to figure out how you appeared in the village by the time you are at one hundred percent."
Naruto nodded slowly with a hint of reluctance in the motion. "What will happen when I am at one hundred percent and have figured out how I got here?"
Sarutobi walked towards the window of the hospital room before he answered the question. "If it is determined that you are not a spy and your answer is acceptable, you will be allowed to leave. Your only crime is illegally entering the village, though I don't believe you did it of your own free will. Thus, I offer you a choice. You can walk away and leave the village tomorrow, or you can become a ninja of the village." Hiruzen said.
"Is there a war going on?" Naruto asked carefully.
"No, there isn't a war going on." Hiruzen answered, feeling surprised by the question. "There have been skirmishes between Sand and Rock ninja in the neighbouring countries, but that doesn't mean that there will be a war."
Naruto nodded silently. He very well knew how he got there and probably had the answer to each and every question Sarutobi would likely have thrown in his way but the risks involved were simply too much. He had to be sure before doing something that might change history for the good or worse.
"I will take my leave now, Naruto Uzumaki," Sarutobi said, glancing back at the blond. "I will ask a nurse to bring you the clothes that you were found it. They appeared mostly undamaged when I last saw them. Make sure you are ready for your tour in one hour. My ninja do not like to be kept waiting."
Naruto was tempted to laugh out loud as he remembered the incidents of a cycloptic ninja arriving 3 hours late to almost everything.
Translation:
1. Fuuton : Daitoppa : Wind Release :Great breakthrough
2. Katon :Karyuendan : Fire Style : Fire Dragon Missile
3. Raiton: Rensa Raikou : Lightning Style : Chain lightning
4. Raiton: Shina no Kourin, : Lightning Style : Descent of shina
5. Katon: Hibashiri : Fire Style : Running fire
6. Katon: Zukkoku : Fire Style : Intelligent Hard work
7. Fuuton: Tatsumaki Rendan : Wind style : Tornado barrage
8. Suiton :Suiryudan : Water Style : Water Dragon