Should really do the disclaimer right about now.

Disclaimer: We all know I don't own Naruto, sadly. I just stole him for now. But I do claim Natsu as my cute little puppet.

Chapter 2: To Tomorrow, With Hope

I'm starting to think that the Shinigami's a damn bastard with a sick sense of humor. I knew it was very unlikely that he was controlling everything like Fate or something, but it was nice to have someone to curse at when things just couldn't be easy for me.

Besides, if he was watching, I bet he was laughing himself silly over my misery right about now.

Seriously though, why did the Hokage need to see me? (I could think of a couple reasons, being close to Naruto, ending up relatively unharmed in an area destroyed by Kyuubi, potentially being a prodigy. I wasn't very good at being subtle, so for all I knew I was acting completely different from the child whose body I was in.)

Alright so there were reasons why he might need to see me, but complaining, even if I had to do it internally, did make me feel slightly better about the whole thing.

I was very careful to keep any sign of my extreme nervousness out of my actions the next day. I was supposed to meet with the Hokage after the Acedemy had let us out for the day.

It was next to the Academy so I wouldn't get lost. Despite trying my best, I think Itachi still noticed something was off about me that day. He, bless his heart, only eyed me critically and didn't ask questions for which I was thankful.

When we were let out, I bid goodbye to Itachi and headed towards the Hokage Tower. I took a deep breath. There was really no reason for me to be so nervous. I was working myself up because of half-guessed assumptions about why I was getting called over to meet the Sandaime.

So I exhaled, and chilled the fuck out. Getting so riled up would do me no favors.

I was led into a waiting room, but I didn't have to wait for long. A Chunnin retrieved me and led into the Hokage's office before leaving with a bow.

I kept just the right amount of nervousness on my face. As far as they knew, I was a child meeting the leader of the village. It was probably expected of me to be somewhat nervous.

"Suzuki-chan," he greeted in a grandfatherly way. I was a bit startled. He looked so much like he had in the show that I was a bit thrown of gaurd.

"Hokage-sama," I greeted back, with a small bow. The Sandaime motioned for me to sit and I did, resisting the urge to fidget in my seat. He didn't look threatening at all. He looked like a kindly old man, but I knew for a fact that he was so very dangerous.

At least, I reassured myself, he doesn't really have any concrete reason to suspect me.

"I'm sure you're curious as to why I've called you here," he began and I straightened to attention with a small nod. He smiled. "The academy instructors tell me that you're a little too advanced for your current classes."

I shrugged, not really knowing what to say. So I was here as a potential prodigy then. Can't say I was too surprised. I did suck at holding myself back, and my mom had always taught me to never be anything but my best. And knowing why I was here was a little relieving.

"They're a little boring," I admitted. "But I'm not very good at Taijutsu or weapons yet." And it was true. I sucked at throwing things and my aim was bad enough to probably make a weapon's master cry. My Taijutsu was better, good for an orphan but it wasn't too special.

Itachi still kicked my ass every other day. Though I supposed that he wasn't a good basis for my current level. It was Itachi after all, a genius among geniusis.

The Sandaime chuckled, lighting up his pipe. I wrinkled my nose slightly but said nothing.

"Would you like to take more advance classes?" He asked, blowing out some smoke from the pipe. I blinked. This was...unexpected.

It made sense in a way. The war was technically over. No one was actively fighting, but tensions were high. There were many hoping for peace but things could still take a turn for the worse.

The village could now take more time training their children, but having as many capable ninja as possible was common sense. Not to mention the Kyuubi attack had devastated the village.

I thought for a moment. Should I?

I'd be branded as a prodigy, and I wanted to be under everyone's radar.

Should have thought of that before getting close to Naruto and Itachi, I thought wryly. I was pretty fond of both of them by this point. I wasn't ashamed to admit that I was using them as anchors, reminding myself that this place was real now. It wasn't just a story anymore.

Spending more time than necessary in the Academy would be just be wasted time. I had the mind of an adult, and all the potential of my new body. I wasn't about to waste it.

Getting strong as fast as possible was kind of the whole point.

I took a deep breath and straightened in my seat, looking directly at the Sandaime.

"I'd like to take more difficult classes," I said, my young voice as firm as ever.

He smiled.

0o0o0o0o1o0o0o0o0o

I went to visit Naruto right after, a little dazed. The care lady eyed me indifferently before just leaving the room, glad to be able to get away from the little blonde.

It made me angry, but I squashed it down in favor of leaning over Naruto's crib to peer down at him.

"Hey," I cooed. My hand reached in and his pudgy little hand grasped my finger almost immediately. He greeted me with a gurgling giggle and I smiled.

"Looks like I'll become a ninja faster than expected," I told him, pulling my finger from his hand to rub his cheek. He let out a little high pitched laugh, something he had only started doing recently.

"Yeah, I am pretty cool," I said, relaxing. My nose wrinkled when I smelled the little present Naruto had apparently just left in his diaper.

His laughter died out into uncomfortable whimpers. I carefully picked him up, with a bit of a grimace before going to go change him. It wasn't a pleasant smell.

"You're a bit of a handful, y'know that?"

The only response I got was another gurgle.

I sighed.

0o0o0o0o2o0o0o0o0o

The next day, Itachi wasn't in class.

I couldn't really do anything without causing a scene, which was frustrating. I doubted the teacher would appreciate that though. So I held my tongue and waited until lunch.

I found my friend sitting in our usual spot. I plopped down next to him, noticing he seemed to want to say something.

"I have been moved up in classes and will be graduating this year," he told me, voice steady. Despite often being portrayed as expressionless and monotone, Itachi was just a rather calm person, albeit a bit reserved.

"Huh," I said, not too surprised. I vaguely recalled that Itachi had graduated in a year or something. He had been in ANBU by the time he was twelve.

I liked to think our friendship- if he even considered us friends- was a fairly comfortable one. I could understand him, knowing his future like I did, rather well and he was just good at reading people so I think he understood me fairly well too.

"I'm going to be moving up too," I told him after a little pause. He was the only who knew the actual extent of my intelligence. It was another reason we got along. It was pretty obvious, even at this age, just how much smarter than me he was. Even with a decade or two head start. I could, at least, definitely keep up with him.

"I'm not going to be graduating this year though," I said, and I might have been pouting. My chakra control, understanding and theoretical knowledge might have been leaps and bounds ahead of the other students, but I wasn't caught up in the physical department.

Which meant I was only being moved up a year, starting next week. Itachi was probably being sent straight to the final year. That meant I was only going to be able to see Itachi during lunch.

We only really rarely trained together after school. I don't even think it counted as training together. It was more of Itachi batting me around while I tried to keep up.

But those 'training' sessions were useful. I got some experience and I was improving, if ever so slightly.

"I hope you know you're not getting rid of me even when you graduate this year," I said lightly, pulling out a book. I had just become friends with him, and he was a cute kid (I was completely ignoring that we were technically the same age) I wasn't about to stop just because he graduated.

Besides, once I was friends with someone, I was a persistently loyal person. Come hell or high water, I stuck with my friends. And Itachi was a good person, so my decision to stick by him wasn't a difficult one.

He let out an amused scoff.

"As expected," he said. I smiled.

Life was good.

0o0o0o0o3o0o0o0o0o

I adjusted to my more advanced classes well. They were interesting and much more stimulating than my previous ones so I was enjoying them.

My classmates seemed a bit resentful of me, but I didn't really care for their opinion.

Everyday I trained diligently to catch up physically. It meant I spent less time with Naruto, which made me feel guilty, but I promised to make it up to him in the future. My time was also sometimes taken by my Uchiha friend, though that was rare and far in between.

Months passed in that manner. Before I knew it, it was graduation time. For Itachi at least.

I managed to catch him alone before he left with his parents, of who I caught a brief glimpse of waiting outside. There was a little baby with them that I could only assume was Sasuke in all his really cute glory.

"Congratulations," I said, giving him a sunny smile. He was getting out of this dump, lucky him.

I knew he would have a hard life, a bad future was waiting for him. But...well, I was going to change things, wasn't I? I hadn't given up on finding a way home, but my faith was waning.

Mother had always told me to not live in the past or wallow in things we couldn't control.

I was determined to give this the best ending I could. I would make sure Naruto and Itachi made it alive. I was too fond of them by now to allow anything else.

He tilted his head in acknowledgement. The headband around his forehead had been a good reminded that I needed to step up my game.

Time stopped for no one. And it was bound to run out for me soon.

I pulled a necklace out of my pocket, placing it in my friend's hands, smothering a grin at his slight surprise.

I had wanted to give him something for his graduation but I was a little stuck on what to give him. Eventually, because I wasn't the most creative person ever, I just decided to recreate the necklace he often wore in the show.

It wasn't accurate, considering it'd been almost a year since I'd last seen it, and I'd never payed it too much attention in the first place. The necklace had the three silver rings I'd remembered and little gems inside them.

Orphans got something like an allowance every week. It wasn't much, but I'd saved enough to buy the things I'd needed and made the necklace myself.

"Train hard, 'Tachi," I said, when it seemed he didn't really know what to say. Ah, cute, socially unsure good ol' Itachi. "One of these days, I'm going to beat you," I added in a friendly rivalry way.

That seemed to snap him out of his little daze. He raised an eyebrow at me, obviously not taking my words seriously. It was nice, comforting, when we bantered. I wondered what he would do if he knew about the things that I knew.

If he knew I wasn't who I appeared to be.

I pushed those thoughts away. They were surprisingly bitter.

I nudged him towards the doors. His family was waiting for him.

"Thank you," he said finally, turning to walk out. He gave me one last look before he left. My smile slipped off moments after he was gone.

I sighed. I wasn't a kid. Getting upset over not being able to spend more time with a friend was a bit childish. I didn't have time for thoughts like that. I had to train, and look make more concrete plans.

I had been reminded of everything that was coming. The time for preparing was now.

I sighed. There was so much to do.

Bonus: An Insight into Itachi's Mind

Uchiha Itachi was known as many things.

He was a once in a lifetime prodigy, the genius among geniuses. He was the heir to the Uchiha clan, a pacifist, and an older brother. As of recently, he was a friend to one Suzuki Natsu.

His classmate was a bit of an enigma, something of a walking contradiction. She was friendly and could talk for hours on end, but so easily made the transition into silence as well.

Natsu had a competitive streak, but never held a grudge against Itachi despite the fact that he constantly bested her during spars. She was a prodigy in her own right, that much Itachi was sure of, but could hardly hold a kunai well, let alone throw it properly.

She was never bothered if Itachi didn't speak, or when he did, answered in short sentences. She was also insanely persistent.

Despite the fact that he had obviously not wanted a friend, Natsu had kept joining him for lunch, continuously showing up to talk to him.

It wasn't too long before he had, with much exasperation, begun enjoying her presence. The topic of history had one day been brought up, and she had proved to be good for intelligent, insightful debate based on many history texts.

When Itachi had been informed of being placed in the most advanced classes, he wasn't surprised. What was even more shocking was the fact that it had taken so long.

Those days he recklessly trained under the Academy had paid off.

His new classmates were resentful of him. It was only natural. They were young and prideful. Being bested by someone younger than them was more than likely a harsh blow to their ego.

He had sought out Natsu, wondering if she would also resent him for being so far ahead.

She hadn't, unsurprisingly, hardly seeming shocked at all.

He wasn't very surprised when she told him she was moving up too ( it was only natural she couldn't graduate unit her Taijutsu and aim had improved.

As the months passed, he became rather fond of his contradictively mature, but still sometimes childish, fellow genius.

It had been dreary before. Having a friend was a strange thing, but not in a bad way.

The day of his graduation had been a bit of a relief but there had been dread too. His training would have to be increased if he wished to get strong enough to protect Sasuke and the village.

Getting snatched away by Natsu had been expected. His family did not know of his friendly relations with her, but he doubted they would approve.

She was but a nobody from a civilian family, and couldn't be used to benefit the clan, therefor befriending her would be a waste of time in the eyes of the clan. If anything, his strict father might even deem her a distraction from his training.

Itachi had only expected a congratulations from her. A gift was unexpected. A necklace even more so.

She had been practically beaming, and the necklace was obviously hand made. It left a startling, but not an unwelcome warmth.

What a strange girl he had befriended.

Not too happy with this chapter but what the fuck ever.

I'm going to be sometimes skipping a couple months, so that we can hopefully move this along and get to the good stuff. Sorry if it confuses you, but as I said before, if something doesn't make sense, PM and I'll do my best to explain my thoughts.

I get excited writing and sometimes some thoughts are lost as I write.

In any case, writing prodigal maturity while still showing that for all that genius, Itachi's still a kid, is really freakin' hard.

I drew Natsu the other day, so if you're interesting on what she'll look like a little older, check out my profile for the link.

Excuse any errors, I'm sadly beta-less right now.

Preview:

Holy fucking shit.

With the way I was improving, I might actually make it.

Shinigami could kiss my ass.

Please leave a review.