A/N: I present my first ever attempt at writing. It is not canon compliant and will be AU since I will be manipulating the timeline as i wish. English is not my first language. Constructive criticism is welcomed but don't be rude. I am writing for fun and hope you enjoy as well.

I don't own Naruto and never will.

"Emphasis"

'Characters thinking'

a simple narration

"Characters speaking"

If you have any confusion, feel free to ask.

Without further ado, let's continue. Enjoy.

CHAPTER 22 : TAKING THE FIRST STEP

'That nasty little dog' Orochimaru thought, expression going flat implying his dislike with the Hatake's sudden offer of sparing because he did not want Naruto to lose control of herself anymore. And the only way to stop the Hatake from asking will be to bruise his ego (he knows because he was also similar to Kakashi when he was of that age)-

"Really?" He drawled. "and why would you want to challenge a child that is not even an academy student right now?"

Kakashi bristled (ahh how he loved that angry cat look on the genius Hatake, well Orochimaru never denied he wasn't a sadist) and was about to retort when Minato interrupted with a hand on Kakashi's shoulder giving a strained smile to Orochimaru.

"Well i think it's better to go back to our mission first, and Kakashi, Orochimaru-sama is right, lets wait for her to at least graduate the academy first okay?" Minato squeezed Kakashi's shoulder a bit while thoughts were running inside his head a mile per minute.

'Why would kakashi even challenge her? is it because she confessed that she took down Obito "just like that", even though it was a surprise, no child who is not even in the academy yet should be able to take Obito down when i know Obito has got potential. Well that can only mean that either she has been trained before she even learnt to walk or she is a prodigy with great reflexes which typically occurs when someone is subjected to an extremely severe environment, such as bullying or abuse, or that they come from a strict clan, such as the hyuuga. But i haven't heard about any Uzunami clan. whatever it is, but i am sure there is something wrong, or maybe i am not seeing the whole picture yet, there are many puzzle pieces still left, is there even a clan with such a name or could she be using an alias, but Orochimaru-sama is her mentor and a loyal shinobi serving under the Third, so he must know the truth, is he also lying? or am I looking into it too much?

Minato's eyes narrow upon the blond child and the sanin as soon as that possibility occurs to him.

Naruto feeling that gaze turns to him, but quickly avoids his eyes again (definitely hiding something! otherwise what is the reason an unknown child of konoha can be afraid of me? or is she uncomfortable? i will have to find out...wait, i don't think she is from konoha, because that hair color stands out and I would have noticed at least once, a child with similar coloring as mine) minato's eyes sharpen and zero in on her person when he notices the child is about to speak.

"Kakashi Hatake" even though she spoke quietly, Naruto's voice is heard loud and clear. Even saying the name aloud is physically hurting her, but she forges on-

"I will spar with you, but not today as you have a mission to complete and i have to train"

While knowing that his host is not prepared for the fight, she nonetheless agreed to it, Kurama shuts his eyes and grimaces. A disaster was avoided today thanks in part to the snake's intelligence, but chaos is his host's middle name, and the people in this new time line won't take long to figure that out as well. His only wish is that it takes as long as possible before that chaos ensues.

"Well then, take care everyone, and Tachi-kun" Naruto turns and picks up the toddler and everyone was left a little wide-eyed when there was a laughter heard in the air and saw a blushing and beaming Itachi with his hand on his right cheek with the blond child holding the toddler as if he is the most precious thing in the world.

"this nee-san and that nee-san" Naruto said pointing to herself and then to Orochimaru and snickering (because Itachi had misunderstood his gender, and she will never let the chance to irritate the snake go) "have to go right now but-" she pressed their foreheads together when she saw the toddler was about to protest.

"-but we will come to meet you again soon, and play with you, alright?"

Itachi looked at her, deep black obsidian eyes peering at her as if searching her soul. Naruto got scared for a moment of what this innocent child will find, because all that is left of her soul are the shattered remains of her dreams and people, with darkness as the constant companion encompassing her whole being.

To distract the child first, because she is afraid to ruin his naivete (or of the warmth shining in his eyes is reminding her too much of someone, she does not know or care to find out) she reached out her pinky finger towards the toddler who in turn just tilted his head and gave two slow blinks.

When Itachi did nothing but stare at her finger "He must not know what it means." Obito said, after a few seconds of silence, with a steely edge to his voice while coming closer to her, and she had to fight back her reflex of hiding Itachi from his eyes, . Although she did strengthen her grip on the toddler and frowned a little when she inferred the meaning behind Obito's words. (this Uchiha clan! I know they have this urgent desire to suppress their emotions but a child not even knowing what a pinky promise is? - before she could continue thinking her breath froze in her lungs, and she felt as if her heart was squeezed by someone so painfully that she will faint then and there...because, because -

Two little fingers had just tapped her between her brows (little Itachi did that to remove the frown from the kind nee-san's face) and her peaceful surroundings turned into a battlefield raging with anguished cries with her standing in the middle of all of it with her of soul brother dying in her arms while tapping her forehead and saying - "...I will love y-" she falls on her knees trying and trying to keep pushing her sage of six path's chakra into Sas-

not again, not again please, please, please work, she started trembling and the people around her were growing increasingly astonished and worried over the blond child's rampantly panicked state when they don't know what caused it in the first place. Naruto very carefully placed Sas- (Itachi) on the ground. Feeling a hand on her shoulder, she did not register the unfamiliar chakra in this state and yelled-

"SAKURA, HELP, WHY ARE YOU JUST...(she looked up) OROCHIMARU! you do something, he is not, he is not, HE IS NOT GETTING BETTER! LOOK!" Itachi was looking at the nee-san with rapidly blurring vision and-

His bleeding body was lying unresponsive with one one eye closed and the other black pool looking at her, pulling at her to get lost in that deep, deep ocean of regret and love and sadness and fondness and so much warmth that it took her breath away and she wails. Black spotting her vision she doesn't realize that Kurama forcibly released his chakra in her body, to make sure she can come out of her panic induced state but in his haste he forgot that Naruto's child body was already hosting full nine tailed beasts chakra and did not foresee Naruto getting knocked out because of the immense shock and pain (mental and well as on her chakra coils) and...

CHAOS ENSUES

...

Its been 10 days since the meeting with team Minato and Itachi, and today is the first day of the academy. Naruto has only been training and meditating to gain more control of emotions in her child body. She was deeply ashamed of how she allowed herself to lose control and had become so vulnerable in front of strangers (but were they strangers though?) that she thinks that staying in one of Orochimaru's underground lab would be better than facing Team Minato again. Plus Naruto doesn't know if she she can ever see Itachi the same and she has a sneaking suspicion that Itachi would also be afraid of her now since Kurama had told her about his blunder, but he would not explain on what transpired after she passed out from pain.

Naruto also tried asking Orochimaru but he was only seething quietly and told her in very, very controlled tone to go and grieve first which led to a round of yelling from Naruto's side and hissing from Orochimaru's.

"As you are now, you are not even capable of lasting 3 seconds in front of your enemies" Orochimaru dissed.

"Do not forget that I had cut your arm down in a mere second and could have taken your life if I so wished. Do you still want a go at it, again huh? come on then, let's..."

"NO! NARUTO CALM THE FUCK DOWN!" Kurama yelled in her mindscape and she flinched at the loud voice.

Kurama continued "Do not try to mold Chakra for at least 9 months as this is the minimum amount of time it will take to heal your damaged chakra network even with your Uzumaki longevity, the sage and all my brothers' tailed beasts constant healing chakra" (in other humans they would not have been able to continue their life as a ninja, he thought but did not tell her that, for his host was already very upset)

"What!? How come? I thought it will take only 3 months, why did it increase by so much?" Naruto asked confused, upset and angry at the same time.

This led to Kurama explaining to her how the release of his chakra had an adverse influence on her already overloaded coils. She was astonished by the magnitude of the damage and trembled at the possibility of not being unable to utilize chakra again because the entire network had apparently been completely fried. Well Naruto had already learnt to accept any curve ball that life throws her way and this was nothing she cannot handle, it just needs time. (time which she can't afford to lose, a dark, obsessed part of her mind whispers, she ignores it because it is not like she has any choice in the matter)

Naruto is very angry at herself and at Kurama for setting her back by six months. Therefore it will not be too far from the truth to say that she is in a very sour mood and not at all obliged to communicate with anyone politely while only wanting to plot on how to kill madara, black zetsu, danzo and setting the tailed beasts free while bring peace to the elemental Nations.

The first 3 days after the meeting with team 7 were spent in seething anger. However, she was grateful that at least Kurama was healing her as fast as possible. After she calmed herself down enough to think with a clear mind, Naruto realized that while she did humiliate herself in front of team Minato by showing them her mental breakdown, it was Orochimaru who declined Kakashi Sensei's offer of the spar hence saving her from another episode of embarrassment because only through training at a later date did she grasp the difference between her current and past?future? self where her child body was unable to keep up with Orochimaru for more than 10 seconds without the use of six path or tailed beast chakra. (she compared it with their first encounter in that cave and arrived at this conclusion)

On the day before starting the academy Orochimaru was sent on a mission and left her with "i will most probably be back by next week, do not cause any trouble or go near anyone that will remind you of your past because your actions and reactions near such people risk an exposure to your true identity, i am 100 percent sure that sensei (third Hokage) must have heard about what happened the other day, and no I am not telling you and that is why he is sending me on a mission so early after i just successfully completed my last. He might want to test his theories, so be careful. Also don't just eat ration bars, go and hunt in the forest or catch some fish till I come back. For tomorrow, eat the leftovers that i have stored in the refrigerator and stay away from the Uchihas."

It took a long second to infer that Orochimaru of the Sanin was worried about her eating habits (but she quickly put that aside when she heard his last sentence)

"What the hell! I should be saying that to you!" Naruto said without even considering the reason behind such thought. (her childish brain once again overriding her rational thoughts)

"Don't you start on that again child, I told you because of this only! Just look how you react every time the name Uchiha springs up." He arches a brow and waved his hand in the air as if what she was saying was nothing of importance, although he did send her mind a bit aback when he pointed that out.

"Exactly" kurama agreed.

"you are agreeing with the snake, you remember that right?" Naruto instantly replied in her mindscape.

"so what? I can agree with whomever I want to! hmph! now go and let me focus on healing you"

"whatever. tell me where are you going? and what are the mission parameters?" She asked after taking a deep breath, and a plan was starting to form in her mind depending on the place Orochimaru's mission would land him in.

"rescuing a konoha spy from kirigakure ,(village hidden in the mist)" Orochimaru informs the future Hokage(ignoring all the rules about mission being confidential and if leaked voluntarily the shinobi shall be branded as a traitor) and crosses his arms with an annoyed look on his face as he watches Naruto moving back and forth while muttering incoherently.

"what? are you finally going to tell me something useful?" Orochimaru asked sarcastically but inwardly he was curious as to what she will reply because living with the women in child's body, he has found out that he is not getting as annoyed as he used to get at his sensei and the villagers. (or maybe that seal on his tongue was corrupt but then that will mean Danzo was already a step ahead than him in planning...)

he was about to continue his train of thoughts when he felt chills travel down his spine at Naruto's next words.

"the fourth mizukage is under a genjutsu casted by madara uchiha for years." (who is also alive by the way, but she refrains from saying that)

The silence was telling.

Orochimaru swallows but doesn't question anything (does that mean the civil war going on...the bloodline hunt...was that all to remove obstacles, enemies from a future war solely instigated by this ghost of the Uchiha?) , his forever curious personality is seriously itching to ask.

"I have to rescue a spy, that means I can't show my face to the mizukage or his shinobi. You understand that right?" Orochimaru wanted to confirm if what her words are implying is actually what she wants him to do.

"have you finally gone mad? i am not saying that you have to show your face but rather take this with you." Naruto retorts and gives him a seal. Since, Orochimaru has some knowledge of seals, he can tell the seal that Naruto handed him was of a high quality and some sort of clone making one.

"Are you gonna show him your face?" (Because they both know you can't henge in front of a Kage as they will be a able to detect that in a millisecond)

"Yes! but don't worry about that, if I could, I would have called all the 9 tailed beasts in my mindscape right now, but as you know my chakra system... (here she makes a face and sighs, ruffling her hair) well whatever just make sure that blood clone is able to touch Yagura, rest will be handled by the Clone itself, and don't be surprised if the clone has a slightly different personality from mine" She continued and if her voice didn't sound so tired all of a sudden, Orochimaru might have taken the opportunity to irritate her once more, seeing he also sighed in the end but really his snake-like personality does love to hold grudges and he just could not resist commenting-

"I know, since I have already observed that at least they are more decisive than you" He mutters a bit loudly to only get a head shake and strict "No, just do not start this again."

He gets serious this time now and merely nods at her and finishes with one last - "don't forget to reach on time tomorrow for the academy" and shunshins out of their- his apartment.

TBC

Sorry guys I am so late! i was very busy with my law internship recently so I was not able to focus on the story properly. However worry not! i will compensate all of you by updating the next chapter a bit early than usual. Do tell me how you feel about this chapter. And finally in the next chapters we can head on with our story.

If you have any doubts feel free to ask in the comments section! Take care and see you later! Ja ne!

Signing out

Yuki Race