Chapter 6: Chapter 6
"Naruto that necklace belongs to Dan. You've seen him wearing it forever."
Naruto felt himself reeling, straightening on the bed as he stared at her. "That Dan guy's alive?'
Now it was Tsunade who's face seemed to go slack with shock. "That Dan...Naruto, he took you and Shizune to see Koyuki Kazahna's latest movie last week!"
The two sat in mutual disbelief for a moment before Tsunade huffed, resuming her scan. "When they find whoever screwed with you kiddo they better give me ten good minutes alone with 'em."
Naruto sat confused and bewildered. Now he knew something was wrong! Even if Tsunade hadn't left until after he was born, something he highly doubted, and they simply hadn't met before there was no way that Dan guy should still be alive right now!
His mind wandered back, trying to recall all that was said when they were designing the seal. Wishing, not for the last time that he could have someone smarter than him that he could talk with!
They were supposed to be a team!
Could...could things have changed?
Sasuke, Sakura and he spent months talking about all the changes any misstep could bring...but their discussions had only been about changes after the point of their arrival, not before.
But could just them coming back in the first place, by itself, change things?
It was unnatural! Something like this had never happened before so trying to theorize about its effects had been something akin to shooting at the sky praying to hit something on the way down.
It'd been a miracle they got as close as they did.
If things had changed, how many? How far? How drastic? How the hell could he prepare for Tobi or Obito or whatever the hell he called himself without his friends? without Kurama? And without even the goddamn security of at least having an idea about what could happen!?
"Naruto!"
He came back to the waking world with Tsunade hovering over him, his heart pounding in his chest and blood rushing through his ears, the gentle eddies of her healing chakra washing over his small body
"What the hell is wrong with you?"
"I have to get out of here!" He said moving to sit up again when Tsunade's hand shoved him back down.
"You're a four year old kid who all but had a panic attack not two feet away from me! You're not going anywhere until you explain what you're thinking about right now!"
He let out a laugh, a quick bubble of hysteria that threatened to keep going before he reigned it in.
Explain?!
Oh yeah he'll get right on that! Just give him twelve years to get back to the point they've got to do this again and he'll jot down all his notes for her!
He laughed a little more.
Tsunade's face showed genuine concern. "Come on kid stop. You're really scaring me now!"
That sobered him up, but the lack of illogical euphoria left him only with the crushing anxiety of this whole debacle. "I'm sorry baa...nee-chan."
-0-
"We've found nothing."
"That's not like you Inu. Do you need another twenty four hours?"
"There is nothing Hokage-sama." Inu assured. "He spoke to no one unusual, the toxicology reports came back negative, Hyuuga have looked over his chakra network to check for any recent manipulations, all visitors within the last week have checked out, everyone he spoke to checked out. The only lead we have to go on is that minor barrier fluctuation and no one in the corps knows what that could be."
"I cannot ask you to stop searching."
"I understand. I'm just informing you that at this stage, the likelyhood of us finding anything is nearly negligible.
"Just do everything possible. Leave nothing unturned. In the meantime I want you to devote yourself and your best ANBU to guard Naruto at all times until further notice. You'll work in shifts. The rest of your men, will hunt down a list of all possible mind manipulators outside of Konoha. Someone on this continent knows something!"
"Understood." Inu vanished in a swirl of leaves.
"You're pushing him hard." The Sandaime's second and remaining student commented with a grin as he stepped out of a nearby wall with a smirk.
Sarutobi kept walking, approaching the door. "There has to be an explanation. If not, they managed to infiltrate every layer of our village defenses completely undetected. Even I would have trouble to do something like that and I designed the system!"
-0-
Her eyes moved to the door for a second and it was enough to warn Naruto that someone else was coming a second before the door opened.
"-not they managed to infiltrate every layer of our village defenses completely undetected. Even I would have trouble to do something like that and I designed the system!" The Sandaime said to someone before stepping into the room, smiling gently at the boy on the bed. "Naruto-chan."
Naruto smiled, genuine relief filling his face at something wholly familiar and long missed. "Jiji!"
Then the smile dropped from his face, the fear gripping him as the unmistakeable form of the snake sannin stepped through the doorways, a gentle little smile tugging at his own features. "Hello Naruto-kun."
It didn't take Inoichi to see the sudden tension that gripped the boy, and it was Tsunade that spoke. "Naruto...you remember Oro-kun don't you?"
Naruto licked his lips, swallowing as he nodded still glaring at the man. "I do."
Tsunade frowned. Turning to look over her shoulder. "These memory issues seem to range and, whoever did this was really good."
"Other than his hostility to me what other odd behavior has he shown?" The snake sannin questioned, crossing his arms with one hand on his chin, curious.
"He thought Dan was dead, seems to have completely forgotten about him..like he never even existed for the last four years."
That made the snake sannin raise a slender eyebrow.
Tsunade nodded. "My reaction too. The only one who's memory seems to be unaltered is sensei. Even that might not be true on further inquiry."
"Be glad sensei. Your enemies haven't stooped so low as to turn the aggression of a toddler on you."
Sarutobi gave a short chuckle from somewhere in his throat.
"Ok look." Naruto said scratching at his head in frustration. "I remember Ero-sennin so lets just bring him here too!"
"Ero-who-now?" Tsunade glared.
"Jiraiya!"
Immediately, Naruto knew something was wrong. All three of the rooms occupants went stiff with shock, Tsunade went pale and even Orochimaru seemed as though he'd just been sucker punched.
"Naruto..." Sarutobi began, choking on the words. "Jiraiya's been dead for almost twenty years."
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