Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Moving Forward

It is blinding. All I can see is bright, white light. Where am I? How did I get here? I cannot remember. "Manami", a deep, firm voice calls. I whirl around so fast that my hair whips around my right shoulder and hits my cheek. In front of me stands a transparent version of my father. But how?

"But you are dead." I said, not trusting my eyes.

"It is time to get up Manami. You have a lot to do today." Father said like I did not say anything at all. He words make me flinch. Those are the words he would say whenever I failed to wake up before him, which was most of the time.

I shake my head, trying to clear it. "This is not real." Ghost father takes a step closer. "You are not real!" I yell.

But still the ghost father does not or cannot hear me. He takes a step forward. "I know you are tired from yesterday but work worth doing never stops." Father said that a lot too.

I clamp my hands over my ears and shut my eyes. "You are not really here! You are just in my memory."

I can no longer see ghost father but I can still hear him. For some reason, my hands over my ears do not muffle the sound of his voice at all. "You have learned a lot Manami. You are almost there." Father never said that when he was alive, never. I open my eyes but this time all I see is black. "Manami, Manami", father's voice calls over and over again, and slowly it starts sounding less and less like father's voice each time, and more and more like someone else.

I blink once and see blue eyes, blink twice and I see spikey blonde hair. A third blink and Naruto, forms above me, comes completely into view. Where did he come from? I turn my eyes away from Naruto and look both left and right. This is not the ghost district. What happened to Akio? "You finally woke up." Naruto said loudly, drawing my attention back to him. He leans back and puts his hands behind his head in his usual casual manner. "I've been trying to wake you up since you got here," he said as I use my elbows to brace myself as I sit up.

"Where is here?" I asked Naruto. But the moment I finish asking I know the answer. We are in a white, pristine clean room that has one window and door. There are two beds with a curtain in between them.

"Hospital." Naruto said with a slightly more serious look on his face than the one he had when I first woke up. "The chunin that brought you here said that he found you knocked out with your… um… your friend… um…, what's he's name?" Naruto asked himself as he stares off in space, trying to recall the one time that he met my friend.

"Akio", I offered quickly, wanting Naruto to finish his explanation. Where is Akio anyway?

Naruto nods his head. "Yeah that's it! Anyway that chunin said that he saw Akio dragging you around the village asking for help. He told the chunin that you just passed out. What were you two doing anyway?" Naruto asked with curiosity.

And in a rush everything comes flooding back. Iruka-sensei's strange response to my doodling. Akio's and my trip to the ghost district. All of the fans, and most of all, the house. The abandoned house that is identical to the one that father made back in the land of Earth. I spring up into a full sitting position and said, "I found my house!"

Naruto eyes widen in surprise at my sudden action, and his arms that were behind his head fall to his side, revealing that his right lower is wrapped up in a bunch of bandages. Though before I can ask him what happened he said, "How can you find your house? You already know where our apartments are!"

I shake my head. "No not the apartments. You know that my father used to live here before he moved to the land of Earth right?" I asked, leaning closer to Naruto in excitement, because I just remembered that I have found something that everyone else had to this village that I did not until now. Something that ties me to Konoha, something that gives me a much as a right to belong here as Naruto, Akio, Izumi, and pineapple head.

Naruto nods his head slowly with puzzled eyes. But what he's puzzled about I do not have the foggiest idea about, nor do I really care right now. "Well Akio and I found where he used to live. I know because it looks exactly like my house in the land of Earth!" That house is going to be to me like family is to Akio, Izumi, and pineapple head. And that house is going to be the same as the fact that Naruto was born in Konoha. That house is where my roots are planted in this village. It is prove that I belong here. Maybe I have belonged here even when I was living in the land of Earth. "And do you know what else we found out?"

A bit more hesitant, Naruto shakes his head and said, "No what?"

"My father's clan is the clan that has the fan shaped symbol." Which means that now, all I have to do is find people who have that symbol on their person, they I will know who I am related too, and what my last name is. Every riddle will be solved. And the best part is that, "And then no more Ninja will be able to keep that a secret from me ever again", I finished with a point look at my adoptive brother.

Naruto flinches and sits straighter. He raises his arms and starts waving them in a negative motion, making my eyes notice his bandaged arm again. "What secret? I don't know what you're talking about!"

Sure, I think as I stare at Naruto as he frantically tries to get me to believe him. "Then what's my last name?" I asked trying not to laugh at the panicked look on his face. I'm not really upset with Naruto for withholding information from me like I am Pineapple head, Iruka-sensei, and that Tsunade lady. How could I be when Naruto calls himself my brother, keeps the apartments from feeling so lonely when he is there and sometimes buys me ramen? Naruto is just too important to be angry at him. But that does not mean that I cannot mess with him.

Naruto's face goes blank for a few seconds before he stares off somewhere over my head, and with his injured free arm he scratches the back of his head. "I… I don't know. You never told me!" He said very quickly.

I smirk. For a ninja he's not very good at deception. I know that he knows what my last name is, but I don't feel the need to try to get it out of him like I've done with other people who I know, know what my last name is. I have come this far already so I guess it would only be right if I figure it out for myself. To give Naruto a break I ask a question that has been in the back of my head since I woke up. "What happened to your arm?"

Happy for the change of topic Naruto quickly latches on to it. He tells this long story, with many gestures, of how he had only twenty-four hours to complete his new jutsu before he had to go on this mission help Pineapple head, Chouji, and Ino stop Asuma's killers. Pineapple head took care of one of the guys, and Naruto and the rest fought the second guy. Who apparently had five hearts that he stole from other people. Naruto had me so interested in his adventure and I was hanging onto every word. Then he got to the part where he ended the fight with his new jutsu, the rasenshuriken, before Kakashi finished the job. But his new jutsu put such a strain on his arm that it is now injured.

After his tale Naruto leans back in his chair to catch his breath, and I blink twice letting everything he said sink in. "How long have I been out?" I asked.

I ended up having to stay overnight at the hospital with Naruto, because the doctors could not tell what had caused me to pass out. And that whole night Naruto spent a lot of time complaining about "stupid hospital food", mostly because it consisted of lots of vegetables. So when we got released the next day Naruto was quick to drag me with him to go eat ramen with his teammates, ignoring the fact that I should go to school, even if I was already late.

I barely notice the streaming bowl of noodles in front of me from my spot on Sai's right as I watch Naruto's latest antics unfold. With his bandaged arm and dominate hand resting in a sling Naruto realizes that he cannot eat his precious ramen after failing to eat using his left hand. We watch him pout a little before Sakura pulls her stool closer to his, drawing all of Naruto's attention to her. "It can't be helped", Sakura said as Sai also Moves closer to his handicapped teammate. Sakura has her unused chopsticks raised over Naruto's bowl as she smiles at him. Naruto, who cannot seem to believe this moment is happening, has his mouth hanging open in shock.

As those two take up time staring at each other Sai has the opportunity to actually grab noodles from Naruto's bowl and holds it up my adoptive brother's face and pokes him in the cheek with it. Feeling my lips twitch I try not to smile as Naruto faces Sai to see the offered food, and Sai said, "Here you go."

With discomfort and annoyance on his face Naruto crushing his chopsticks in his uninjured hand and raises it above his head, getting ready to pound Sai. "You're not supposed to be the one to do that!" He exclaims as Sakura grabs on to his bicep to prevent him from hitting their teammate.

I allow myself a small chuckle as Sai said asked, "Huh?"

Followed by a "Hey" from a new comer. I turn my head only slightly to see that the new person is Kakashi, as I do not want to miss how this scene is going to play out.

"Sakura was gonna feed me! You should have stayed out of it!" Naruto seethed and Sai just blinked at him confused.

I heard Kakashi sigh as Sai said, "But a good friend helps out his friend when he needs assistance. That's what my book said." It is too bad Akio is not here. He would love this.

Naruto leans in closer to Sai, and said "Learn to read the situation instead of that stupid book!"

"But how can I read something I can't see?" Sai asked with his arms out in an 'I do not understand' gesture.

There's a slight pause as Naruto said, "I can't believe this guy", and I start snickering. "And what are you laughing at Manami!?" He asked, glaring at me.

I smirk at him, "You". I said, short and sweet.

His eyebrow twitches and he ordered, "Eat your ramen", before adding under his breath, "Some little sister you are, making fun of you big brother."

Turing back to my meal I fight the urge to snort into my ramen bowl. One should not snort will in the presence of food, I hear my mother's voice in my head. I wonder why there was no ghost mother with ghost father in that weird dream.

"You guys have a problem", Kakashi said from behind us, making his underlings turn around to face him.

"Kakashi-Sensei", Sakura said in surprise before continuing, "Naruto can't feed himself because of his hand so we're trying to figure out how he'll eat." In the background I nod my head. That's a kind summary compared to what actually happened.

"Oh?" Kakashi said in a questioning tone. I look up from my almost completely untouched ramen just in time to see Kakashi squeeze in between Naruto and Sakura. He grabs Naruto's bowl and a pair of chopsticks and said to my adoptive brother, "eat up", which causes Naruto to look away with an extremely put out expression on his face. That is the last straw for me. Through my nose I start laughing before sounds finally come out of my mouth. Though I do try to keep them in by biting my lips.

"So Kakashi-sensei is going to do it?" Sakura asked.

As Naruto said, "Shut up Manami! It isn't funny. You can't laugh at you big brother".

Not long after that the five of us leave the ramen stand with choruses of, "Thanks for the food".

Naruto leads the way, but he does not get very far. Standing in front of us is the spikey haired genin with a shadow clone and his teammates who evacuated Akio and me when the village was under attack.

Naruto and the boy stares at each other of a little as the rest of us come to stand behind Naruto, waiting to see what will happen. "So you finally mastered the shadow clone jutsu?" Naruto broke the ice.

What does he mean finally mastered? The spikey haired boy is a genin. I thought it was required to master the shadow clone jutsu in the academy.

"Okay Konohamaru! Show me how much you've grown!" Naruto exclaims as the boy and his clone start to move. Why does he always have to be so dramatic?

Konohamaru forms some hand signs before shouting out some jutsu that I do not know. He and his clone are surrounded by smoke, and just as quickly as it appears it starts to clear. All I see I some bare skin before I hear Sakura gasp, and a hand flies in front of my eyes. Why? What happened?

The next thing I hear is Naruto saying, "Cool! You're doing that?" What did he do?

There is a poof sound before the hand is removed, and I have just enough time to see more smoke clear, revealing the boy and his clone once more as Sakura goes storming towards them. So I guess the hand blocking my view was Sakura. "How was it Nii-chan?" Konohamaru asked Naruto. Nii-chan? I thought I was Naruto's unofficial sibling. Does he have more than one? What's going on here?

Sakura pushes up her sleeves, getting ready to hit the boy, but the girl on his team beats her to it. The girl punches him so hard that he goes flying into a nearby fence. My eyes focus on the girl. How can I get to be that strong? I'll have to ask Neji to train me to be able to punch like that.

"Don't do that in front of a lady!" The girl screeches at Konohamaru, as he tries to calm her down.

With the genin occupied Sakura turns to Naruto and asks with warning in her voice, "You two don't use this jutsu every time you two see each other, right?"

Naruto starts to wave his one good hand around in the air. "No. You see… that jutsu is for distraction", and he gets interrupted there.

"And what were you doing encouraging a jutsu like that in front of Manami!" Sakura said, shaking her fist in front of Naruto's face.

As Sakura continues to yell at my neighbor I look up at Sai and Kakashi and ask, "What type of jutsu was it?"

Sai opens his mouth to answer but Kakashi stops him with a nervous laugh. "Don't worry about it", He said as he makes a move to ruffle my hair, but I step out of the way and glare at him. Why do adults always want to mess up kid's hair? Do they not know how demeaning that is?

"Looks like you guys are as active as ever", a new voice said, breaking up Naruto and Sakura from their argument.

"Pervy-Sage!" Naruto welcomes excitedly. What does pervy mean? I asked in my head as I got a look at the new guy. Or rather old man, the 'pervy sage' has long white hair with two long red lines running down his cheeks.

"You're looking well Naruto", the man said before gesturing to Naruto's damaged arm, "better than I expected anyhow."

"Oh this is nothing!" Naruto said, gesturing to his own wound now, before he causes himself unnecessary pain and winces.

The white haired man throws his head back and laughs. "You haven't changed a bit!" How does this man Know Naruto?

Before any introductions can be made, or any questions can be asked the two adults make some excuse and leaves the rest of us. The next to depart are the three genin, saying that they need to meet up with their jonin sensei. And finally Sakura starts for home and Naruto and I head for our apartments. It is during this walk that I take the time to ask, "Naruto nii-san, what does pervy mean?"

It must mean something very interesting because as soon as I asked Naruto stops walking and starts acting like the he has lost the ability to speak. Before he forces out, "Uh... Uh… I forgot I have to go… go do something! I'll see you at home!" And he takes off in the opposite direction.

Now I have another riddle to solve. I think as I watch Naruto's figure get smaller and smaller. Now I have to figure out what pervy means.

By the time I get back to my apartment, and am finally alone, two things float to the top of my mind. What pervy means, and my father's house in the ghost district. With a weight on my shoulders that for some reason I do not have when I am with Naruto I wander to my bed and fall on top of it. I am glad to know more about this mysterious last name of mine, but why does learning about how I am be so hard? It would save a lot of time and effort if someone would just tell me my surname. When can I go back to the house? If I go back right away I might raise suspicions that do not already exist. And I want Akio to come again, but I am not sure if he will be willing again so soon.

I turn my head to see the wall where a homemade calendar is pegged on it. I found the house yesterday which was May 10th. Which means that today is May 11th and tomorrow is May... I stop, how could I forget? I sit up and get closer to the calendar. How could I be so stupid? Tomorrow is my tenth birthday, tomorrow is May 12th. How could I not remember? How could I forget that I am moving forward when my family is stuck at the same age and in the same life before they were killed, because they only exist in my memory? I flop back down on my back and stare up at the ceiling. Why did I let myself forget?