Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The ambush had been sudden, yet not entirely unexpected.

Naruto’s team had been on the beach, in the ruins of an old village, when it happened. Metal flashed through the air, at their client, clanging off of Kakashi-sensei’s own blades when he leapt between them.

Their client screamed, stumbling back, Sakura jumping to his side.

More kunai flew, their attacker- attackers leaping from the trees to strike. Naruto had leapt between them, her pigtails whipping through the air with her kunai as she blocked the first strike.

Three kage bunshin popped into existence, Sai summoned a painted tiger, Naruto struck.

Two of the enemies focused on her, their battle drifting as blades clashed and jutsu flew. The wind howled as she released a blade of wind, the air heated rapidly as they sent a blast of fire back. The ground shook under the crashing of a suiton jutsu and Naruto slid under a doton one.

She was separated from the group at that point, the battle there distant as more enemies converged on her, the first two dead on the ground.

She battled fiercely, kunai blocking one strike as she kicked out at another. Wind flew from her fingers to strike one down even as fire licked at her side. Water split under the force of her wind storm and fell on them gentle as rain.

They were in a different section of the ruins at this point, Naruto kicking off of one block to avoid a tanto and then spinning in midair to block a kunai. She hit the ground hard and rolled, wind slicing the ground behind her. She flipped over a wall, sending two shuriken behind her.

She wasn’t sure why these ninjas were attacking; the client was just studying some ruins from the second war and wanted a guard. There shouldn’t have been much of value here, it was just near Kiri.

But these nin had Iwa headbands.

What did Iwa want with the ruins? Or the client? Had the client lied?

Naruto forced the thoughts away as one of the nin slipped their katana past her guard. She just barely dodged a deadly strike, the blade slicing into her arm and splattering blood across the stones.

She dropped under the next strike, pushing off the ground rapidly to come up with a kunai and striking the nin’s throat.

Her next strike was blocked, and a something slammed into her head with a flash of white across her vision.

Naruto crashed to the ground, her vision blurred. Her breath stuttered as she tried to push up, a foot pressed onto her chest.

There were three above her all connected to the foot, katana’s raised.

They said something, but it was distant, through water. She struggled to push up and fight back. She yanked for her chakra, drawing as much as possible. She could do a jutsu, something big to blow them back.

Kurama lent his power to her attempt, the bijuu chakra burning through her as her fingers stumbled through the signs, shoving the chakra into the air—

And the chakra fled her, leaving her grasping at nothing.

The ground was glowing, intricate patterns shining beneath her in the same red of her blood.

The katana was descending, three blades that were one lowering for her chest.

And

The

World

Went

Dark

OO OO OO OO

Naruto woke in the ruins.

The sun was setting, a brilliant red sunset casting a red lighting on the ruins and herself. The ruins themselves seemed… more put together. There was less sand dusting them, the shapes more distinct and less wind-blown. The air was colder as well, as if the seasons had passed in an instant and landed in winter.

She looked around in confusion, seeing no one around her. Where did the attackers go? Where was Kakashi-sensei and Sakura-chan and Sai?

There were no signs of a fight, nor any sounds of one. There was… nothing.

She stood up and frowned. The ruins seemed bigger, she could’ve sworn that that wall wasn’t nearly that tall when she kicked off of it earlier. Had she been imagining it?

“Kit”

Naruto paused, “Kurama?”

“Come ‘ere.”

Naruto ducked into one of the crumbling homes, still sturdy enough to work as temporary shelter, and claimed a relatively clean spot on the floor.

She settled cross legged and closed her eyes, breathing evening out as she fell into meditation and her inner world.

The sewer water splashed her legs when she landed, Kurama’s cage yawning ahead, the bars removed.

“Kurama?”

The large fox stepped forward.

“Kurama! What happened? Why are you so thin?” She hurried forward, looking him over frantically.

His normally lustrous golden-orange-toned fur was thin and ragged, and much redder than before. His sides were so thin she imagined she could see his ribs. He sank down to her height and she hugged his snout.

“These ruins,” he grumbled. “They’re Uzushio ruins.”

“Uzushio ruins?” she asked, uncertain what that had to do with anything.

“Probably an outer village, or one of their experimental lands. I’ll bet a Kashiko ran the damn thing.”

“Kurama?”

“When you bled on the ruins, you activated some sort of seal matrix.”

Naruto swallowed, that didn’t sound good.

“And when you called up your chakra and mine for that last attack, the seal matrix drained it all.”

That really didn’t sound good.

“So uh… what did it do?”

“The nature chakra… the state of the ruins… the number of bijuu I sense… we’re before you were born kit.”

Naruto stared. She blinked. She opened her mouth. She closed it again.

“WHAT!?”

“I’m not sure exactly when, you should probably find some sorta landmark, but there’s another me here—”

“Couldn’t that be in me?”

“Doubt it, if you were here too I think you would’ve been absorbed into your past self.”

“You think?”

“Well I’m no expert in time travel, brat!”

Naruto tugged at her hair.

“Oh, also you’re like five again.”

“What?”

He motioned to her and she looked down.

…

…

She was short.

“Oh no.”

Kurama waited a long moment for her to freak out to settle a bit, which took some time as she was busy checking herself over and realizing that her being small will be a big problem, then cleared his throat.

“You uh, might also wish to check your hair.”

She yanked a handful of her hair into view and blinked.

It was still yellow, but now had… streaks in it.

“Why are there red streaks?”

It didn’t look bad per-se, and reminded her of her mom’s hair, but still yellow like her dads.

“I believe from both of our chakra dragging you back, and it eating at your body to make you survive the change… and possibly your Uzumaki genes activating.”

“Oh…” Naruto decided of everything that happened her hair getting red streaks was the least of the problems and was honestly probably a bonus.

She liked having a bit of her mom in her appearance too.

She sighed and flopped against Kurama, draped over his snout. “Well… what do I do now?”

Kurama shrugged, “Start a war?”

“Kurama!”

“Yeah, yeah, hush, kit. I don’t know what you should do now. You could go back to Konoha but depending on when we are… it might be wartime.”

Naruto chewed her lip, remembering how Konoha was getting as the fourth war began. If it was the third war right now… she probably wouldn’t be able to enter the village.

“Maybe you should start with getting properly fitted clothes,” he said. “And some food.”

She hummed, deciding that probably was for the best.

“Can we go back?”

“Doubt it, this matrix is definitely going back,” he rumbled soothingly when she ducked her face into his fur. “And going forward in time is very different from going back. It’s possible your time line doesn’t even exist anymore.”

“Oh…” she whispered. “Then the others-“

“They’re not alive yet… except the adults, they’re probably alive, but the kids probably aren’t.”

Naruto mused over that for a moment.

“Then…” she tried to reconcile the fact she’d never see Sakura’s bright smile and strength, and Kakashi-sensei’s steady presence, and even Sasuke-teme’s glares and hatred again. Oh, and Sai… and Yamato-sensei.

She didn’t get along with all of them, but to think that they weren’t born yet, that they may never exist—

The thought ached.

“Kit?” Kurama rumbled softly.

She nodded, determined. They weren’t born yet, but they would be. Probably. So—

“I’ll just have to make sure they’re alive again in the future!” she declared.

Kurama chuckled, “Never one to do the easy thing, are you, kit?”

Naruto hopped off of him, offering a beaming smile and ignoring the grief welling up. “If they’re not here with me yet, I’ll just make sure that the world they come into is better than the one I left.”

Kurama nosed her, “You’ll have to be bigger for that, kit. You’re small right now, and your body untrained.”

She scowled at her tiny body. “I’ll get taller, and stronger. We can do this!”

Her stomach growled.

“After I eat.”

OO OO OO OO

Naruto managed to walk on water to catch some fish in the ocean, a bit suspicious at how easy it was to do so.

The walking on water bit, she’d been catching fish since she was five before.

“You’re low on chakra at the moment,” Kurama mused. “Dangerously low. Don’t take this ease for granted, it may not last when you recover.”

Naruto nodded distractedly, bringing the fish back to shore to cook them.

A short while later she was feeling much better, with a full stomach and roughly resized (translation: tied off in a bunch of spots to be tighter) clothes. She pulled her hair into a set of pigtails, short though they were, and then got ready to go.

She was gonna head back to Konoha. She didn’t know what state the village was in at the moment, but it was her home. If she couldn’t enter now she would try and figure out what to do then, but… she wanted to at least see it.

And thus she started through the ruins towards the distant forest.

OO OO OO OO

Naruto determined rather quickly that it was much harder to survive in the wilderness with a tiny body and no supplies at all.

She had to find nuts on the trees, or catch the odd animal, which was hard as it was winter and also, she had no weapons.

She didn’t have any water either and was struggling to find a safe water source to drink from.

She’d gone longer without food before. While she generally needed more food than average, cause of how much chakra she had, she could also survive longer thanks to Kurama.

Another negative was that as the days passed, her chakra slowly recovered. And Kurama was right, her ease on the ocean was not a thing anymore.

She’d blown up more than one tree trying to jump on them and stick to them and had to give up after she’d gotten knocked into a thorny bush.

It didn’t even have berries in it, what a waste.

She’d managed to find a small stream on the fifth day and had stayed there for a day resting. There were fish in the stream, though small, and she caught a whole bunch to snack on while she sipped the water.

Kurama was a constant companion through her traveling, a comforting distraction as he spoke about the nature chakra around them, or played word games with her, or argued with her over what type of tree she’d just blown up.

She was glad she had him at least, she didn’t want to think about what she’d do without Kurama.

She continued on, following the stream as long as she could but reaching it’s end where it bubbled out of the ground. She wasn’t sure exactly where she was in regards to Konoha, she knew roughly the area she was headed in and she could track, but the forest was different from what she remembered, younger, and it was hard to figure out where exactly she was.

The stars offered some guidance, but it was very slow going and she wasn’t entirely certain she was going the right way.

OO OO OO OO

It was nearly two weeks after she’d arrived in the past at this point. Her clothes were in bad shape, too loose despite her best efforts and catching on things and tearing. Her hair was a wreck as well, and she was hungry almost constantly.

There wasn’t nearly enough to eat at the moment.

She was studying the river she’d come across, trying to see if there were any fish in the fast current and if she could catch one when a familiar presence caught her attention.

She peered down the river with a frown, knowing that she recognized the presence but uncertain as to who it was.

“Kurama?” she muttered. “Who—”

“I think that’s… that’s the toad.”

The toad? She wondered for a moment. It clicked as the figure came into view and she squeaked, stumbling back as the figure dropped in front of her.

He looked exactly the same as he did in the future, hair still spiky and white, clothes still red and grey. The markings on his face as familiar as ever.

Jiraiya the Toad Sage was peering down at her.

“What’s a kid like you doing in the middle of nowhere?” he asked, looking around with a frown. “And where are your parents?”

Her voice stuck in her throat as she stared up at her Godfather. She hadn’t seen him since—she couldn’t believe he was here.

He was alive.

“Oi, brat! Are you listening?”

She swallowed hard and nodded.

He huffed, leaning back, “What’s your name?”

“N-Naruto,” she choked out. She swallowed once more and took a deep breath. “Who’re you?”

He grinned, straightening, “I’m Jiraiya! The Toad Sage and one of the Sannin!”

She giggled as he struck a pose. He was just like he was in the future. She missed her Jiraiya with a terrible ache, but he was here now.

“What are you doing out here, kid?”

Naruto licked her lips and looked away, staring at the water.

“I—” this was time of war, right? Even if the war hadn’t fully started yet…

“Are you alone?” he asked, softer this time.

She nodded, clutching at her torn shirt.

Jiraiya, for his part, was considering her curiously. She’d looked right at him when he’d perched in the trees, hidden from view, though she hadn’t seemed to realize it.

Was she some kind of sensor? He wasn’t exactly hiding his chakra, but he was keeping it close and low. Most wouldn’t notice him without looking for him, and certainly not with such pinpoint accuracy.

“Where are you going?” He asked, interest piqued.

She shrugged, eyeing him carefully. “I don’t know. I don’t have anywhere to go.”

He nodded seriously. He was headed back to Konoha himself, having finished his mission and needing to report. He really shouldn’t bring a random kid in. That would be irresponsible. But wasn’t it irresponsible to leave a kid wandering through the forest?

And… she was small.

She was small, with blonde and red hair that almost looked orange with the mix of colors. Her eyes were a vivid blue, almost purple really. And she was rail thin.

She looked pitiful, and had looked at him with such awe and hope when he’d introduced himself—

Well, Orochimaru always did say he had a bleeding heart.

“Hey kid,” he said, her gaze locking on him. “If you don’t have anywhere to go, do you wanna come with me to Konoha?”

Her eyes widened, hope and awe and joy shining in them.

“Yes.”

Chapter Text

She didn’t end up traveling with Jiraiya for more than a few hours. He’d simply scooped her up and taken off towards Konoha.

It was odd, she’d never been carried when she wasn’t very badly injured. She couldn’t remember a time someone had carried her… just to help.

It was nice.

It was also nice to talk to Jiraiya. She couldn’t tell the truth, obviously, but she didn’t want to lie too much. So, she just… fudged some facts.

Her parents died in an attack on her village when she was a baby. No, she didn’t know their names, and only vaguely knew their appearance, having no memory of meeting them and no pictures. Kurama grumbled that he could fill in as a parent and she’d had to hide a giggle.

She’d been on her own for a few weeks, since her village was attacked and destroyed. No, she didn’t want to talk about the attack. She’d survived by being away when it happened, only returning to see the village burning.

She’d been wandering alone since, living off of the odd nuts and fish. She was good at foraging, she’d done it a lot for her village and it was why she’d been gone when the village was attacked. She didn’t know if anyone else survived. She couldn’t give proper directions for which way the village was.

Jiraiya seemed satisfied with her answers, and Naruto knew that that was one of the hardest hurdles. He was a spy master, he excelled at picking apart the details of stories. If he wasn’t worried with her story, she was probably safe.

She considered, briefly, telling him she’d traveled in time. She knew him well enough to prove it even.

Kurama voted firmly against it though. He didn’t want to risk the ones who had attacked them in the future getting even the faintest hint, she wasn’t able to fight them off yet.

She thought of the malicious tree man, of the masked man Madara, and agreed.

She also did not want them to catch a hint. That would be unpleasant.

Kurama and her agreed that they would work quietly to start, just improving things as best as they could. She wanted to make the world better, safer, but it would take time.

And so, she twisted the facts, sprinkled in a few lies, and smiled at Jiraiya as he told her about Konoha.

She didn’t have to fake her fascination, hearing it from his point of view. She didn’t have to pretend to not be excited, she was returning home.

Naruto did make sure to ask questions. She didn’t know what all was different, but Kurama had already pointed out this was before the Kyuubi attack and thus at least one part of the village would be very different.

Apparently, he destroyed a lot.

Grumpy old fox.

Jiraiya mentioned his favorite restaurants. He spoke of the cherry blossom path that led to a beautiful garden. He talked about the Hokage monument towering over the village.

Jiraiya mentioned he was a jonin, explained he was one of the best jonin (to which Naruto nodded sagely to and agreed that he sounded very strong) and was taught by the Hokage.

He spoke of the Hokage, Jiji… Naruto didn’t know how to react with him. This wouldn’t be her Jiji, the one who brought her out for ramen, who helped her learn to read, who’d gotten her the apartment or gave her allowance or ensured she had enough to eat.

Their relationship would never be the same again.

She ached at the thought and listened quietly while Jiraiya spoke of him.

She hoped, at least, that she would get to be close with Jiraiya again. She wanted, she wanted dearly. It was selfish, perhaps, but she wanted Jiraiya to be family once more. She wanted him as a teacher, as a confidant. She wanted to be able to look to him with a bright smile and get one back.

She missed him.

He was carrying her through the trees, chatting about Konoha, and she missed her Jiraiya with a fierceness that stopped her breath in her lungs.

It was only Kurama’s soothing rumble in her mind that allowed her to drag in air, to smile at something Jiraiya had said, and to ask a new question.

This wouldn’t be her world, it wouldn’t be her home.

But she would make a new home.

She had no choice.

OO OO OO OO

They dropped in front of the village gates when the sun was just starting to set behind the trees. There was still a few hours of daylight left, the trees were so tall they brought an early dusk.

Jiraiya signed in quickly, speaking briefly with chunin on duty, and stepped into the village, swooping down to put Naruto on her feet.

She stumbled slightly, her small legs shaky after so long being carried, and tangled her fingers into the sleeve of his haori as he led the way into the village.

It was… the same yet different. Kurama hadn’t been joking when he said that he’d destroyed a lot. The buildings were different, older and more worn, yet still sturdy and their shapes an echo of what she remembered. Or perhaps, what she remembered an echo of what she saw now.

There was a flower shop that wasn’t there in the future. And there was a restaurant she’d never seen.

She was looking every which way, taking everything in with wide eyes, and couldn’t quite bring herself to care even as Jiraiya chuckled at her.

She wondered at jewelry shop, glittering with gems, and then drew her gaze to a clothing shop filled with brilliant colors. She’d never seen that shop before, but Kurama perked up at it.

“That was your mother’s favorite clothes shop,” he murmured. “It is run by survivors of Uzushio.”

Naruto swore to herself to check out the shop sometime and mourned the loss of it in her own time. She wondered if they had anything in orange. She wondered if she could buy clothes like what her mom had worn.

Naruto wondered why survivors of Uzushio were important to the situation, she didn’t know much of anything about Uzushio, other than the odd grumbling from Kurama.

“Oh… yes… Uzushio—"

“Orochimaru!” cheered Jiraiya, waving ahead.

Naruto’s breath caught, her attention dragged harshly from Kurama and her thoughts to snap to where the familiar voice was replying.

It was smooth like silk, curling through the air in a sibilant manner that sent shivers down her spine. Orochimaru greeted Jiraiya back with a polite smile, pausing next to the weapons store he had just exited.

Jiraiya pulled Naruto over quickly, making sure they were out of the way of the entrance.

Orochimaru looked different from what Naruto remembered, yet also the same. His face was no different, smooth and pale with those markings on his face. His hair was long and black and spilling down his back like ink.

He was dressed different, in a silky blue kimono that was deceptively light, but Naruto had no doubt was shinobi quality. It was lined with black, gold tomoe trailing down the lining. His hands were tucked into his sleeves as his head tilted to study Naruto.

His gold eyes locked onto Naruto, sharp and calculating.

“And who might this be?”

Jiraiya patted her head, “This is Naruto, I found her in the forest and decided to bring her to Konoha.”

Orochimaru blinked slowly at her, then tilted his gaze back to Jiraiya. “Did you steal her?”

Jiraiya spluttered, “What!? No! She…” he glanced at Naruto, gaze softening as she ducked her head. “She lost her family and home, not too long ago.”

“Many have lately,” Orochimaru pointed out lightly.

“Well,” Jiraiya’s voice dropped, low enough that if Naruto hadn’t had enhanced senses from Kurama that she wouldn’t have been able to hear. “She also seems to be some kind of sensor. I thought it best to bring her here, her chakra levels seem fairly high too, enough that I can sense it despite her age.”

Orochimaru’s gaze sharpened, flicking back to Naruto who blinked up at them, pretending as if she hadn’t heard every word.

He thinks I’m a sensor?

“Makes sense, kit. You are one after all.”

Not a good one.

“You’ll improve. We have time to focus on that now.”

Naruto mulled over that thought. They did have time to focus on it now, so she could improve her sensory abilities.

“Well,” Orochimaru said. “Why don’t I watch her while you go speak to the Hokage?”

Or she’d die before she could even try. That worked too.

“You’ll be okay,” Kurama growled. “I’ll kill him if he tries anything.”

She was comforted by the murder threats. And it was good that Kurama was angry, because she couldn’t afford to show any real dislike of him else she’d risk her place in Konoha. So, she offered a smile, her stomach twisting into knots.

“I don’t wanna be a bother.”

“Want to,” Orochimaru corrected. “And I wouldn’t offer were it a bother.”

“Would you?” Jiraiya asked. “I still have to give my report too and was debating having her stay with the secretary while I did that.”

“It’s no trouble,” Orochimaru assured. “I was going to get lunch, I can get her something to eat.”

“It’s dinner time,” Jiraiya said, his eyes narrowing.

Orochimaru hummed, glancing up at the sky, “So it is. Then I will be getting dinner.”

“Orochimaru,” Jiraiya said slowly. “Have you eaten today.”

“I do believe you have a meeting with the Hokage to get to. Don’t forget to inform him of the child you stole—”

“I didn’t steal her!”

“—so that he can handle her integration.”

“When did you last eat?”

“Best hurry along,” Orochimaru said, his smile a mockery of innocence. “Wouldn’t want to be late.”

Jiraiya glared at Orochimaru who simply raised an eyebrow.

“Fine. But you’d better actually eat your dinner. Brat, make sure he eats.”

Naruto blinked at Jiraiya and Orochimaru in confusion. They… were friends.

She knew, intellectually, that they had been friends. But it was odd seeing it in person. Seeing them act like Sakura did with herself, or Yamato-sensei with Kakashi-sensei, was odd. They really were friends.

She wondered what happened.

And then she wondered again, because even this small interaction showed Orochimaru acting very very different. And it didn’t feel fake either.

“It’s not.”

She wondered, baffled by the change. Had the third war changed him?

“War changes people,” Kurama rumbled. “For good or for ill. He’s still a snake though.”

“Come along, Naruto-chan,” Orochimaru said, holding out a hand. “Time to get some food.”

Naruto swallowed and hesitantly took his hand. It was warm, she’d expected it to be cold for some reason. His hand was a lot bigger than hers too, easily folding over hers as he lightly tugged her along until she hurried up to match his pace.

“Do you have a favorite food?” Orochimaru asked as they walked.

Naruto blinked at the unexpected question. She had figured he’d just pick the place, or maybe he was but was also trying to find out her favorite food? What did that matter anyways?

“Ramen,” she said, sneaking a look at him.

“Awfully subdued, kit.”

Well I dunno how I’m supposed to act with him. He’s… not evil?

“I vote kill him but knowing you you’re gonna do something like trying to keep him from going evil.”

Naruto perked up at that. Hey that was a good idea! She didn’t know why he went evil in the first place, but she was in the past, and maybe she could stop him from going evil. She’d brought several enemies to their side in the past, maybe she could do it again.

“That was not a suggestion!”

“What’s your favorite food?” she asked, drawing herself up a bit and peering at Orochimaru, ignoring Kurama griping in her mind.

He tilted his head, eyes sliding to Naruto once more.

“My favorite food? Hmm… I enjoy takoyaki, but ramen is very good as well.”

Naruto perked up, she’d never had a chance to have takoyaki. The stands didn’t like to sell to her, and she didn’t know how to make it.

“I’ve never had takoyaki,” she said.

“Oh? That’s a true shame, we shall remedy that,” Orochimaru looked rather pleased, leading her down an alley and to another street. She recognized a few of the stands, though they looked newer at the moment. Her breath caught when she saw the familiar ramen stand.

Ichiraku.

The smell coming from the stand as they passed was as heavenly as ever.

She swore to herself she’d return to the stand soon, Kurama chuckling in her mind.

“Ah, here we are,” Orochimaru murmured. “Hello, Enatsu-san.”

They were at a stall Naruto didn’t recognize. It seemed to serve primarily takoyaki, along with okonomiyaki. It was simple, but the food smelled delicious.

Orochimaru exchanged pleasantries with the owner of the stall, who seemed to know him well, and then ordered four sticks of takoyaki.

The stall owner seemed amused at the order, which Naruto didn’t understand. Orochimaru hadn’t made a joke or anything? Maybe it was just that he was a regular and there was some inside joke?

Money changed hands and Orochimaru led Naruto to one of the small parks to sit and eat.

She eyed the takoyaki curiously as he handed her two of the sticks. It smelled good and looked tasty. She bit one off the stick and her eyes widened.

It was delicious!

Not as good as ramen of course, but she liked it a lot.

“Do you like it?” Orochimaru asked, leaning back on the bench and watching her.

She nodded quickly, “It’s good.”

“If you kill him quickly they might not realize you did it.”

She stuck a mental tongue out at Kurama. She couldn’t kill Orochimaru. She was going to befriend him, make sure he didn’t turn evil and crazy. That meant that Sasuke wouldn’t go crazy and then things would be okay.

Probably.

She needed a bit more of a plan than that… but that was a start.

“Good,” he ate one of his own, gaze drifting over the park.

There were several kids playing there, parents watching over them quietly.

Naruto didn’t particularly want to join. She was older than them, for one, even if she looked their age.

“And you are in all the important ways their age.”

What?

“Biology,” Kurama said, radiating amusement. “You’ve got the chemical balances, growing chakra coils, and all that nonsense of a tiny human. As far as everything is concerned, you’re a kid just with extra memories and adult chakra that’s still growing.”

Naruto did not like that.

Kurama seemed to find her dislike of that very amusing. She just hoped she’d be able to behave right so no one got suspicious, being a child again meant having all those childish feelings. She remembered her younger years well and didn’t particularly want to relive them.

“Do you want to go play?”

Naruto jolted out of her thoughts at Orochimaru’s question, peering up at him.

He’d finished his takoyaki and was lounging back. He looked graceful and put together, gold eyes locked on her.

“Huh?”

He dipped his chin towards the playground, “Do you want to go play?”

She glanced at the kids. They were having fun, but she’d never been welcome in those games. The parents didn’t want a monster around their kids, and the kids didn’t want the weird orphan with foreign features hanging out with them.

She shook her head.

Orochimaru seemed to be considering her, and Naruto knew he was dangerously smart. If anyone could guess she was from the future, it would be him. She wondered what he was drawing from her actions so far.

“Where was your village?”

“Huh?” Naruto said again, thrown by the shift in conversation.

“Your village, the one you are from. Jiraiya said you are alone now, so I presume that it was destroyed?”

Naruto swallowed, nodding. She wasn’t entirely sure what to say for her village, she knew the country fairly well but if there was nothing there then they’d be suspicious if they checked.

“By the ocean,” she said, finally, deciding to go with the ruins rough area. “A bit closer to Kiri than Konoha, but… still in Fire Country.”

“What was it like?”

Naruto took a bite of the takoyaki to give herself a moment to think. She’d go with something like a cross between the towns she’d been to, and the ruins. Kurama murmured in agreement at that plan.

“It wasn’t a large village, just… just a small group of us…”

“Say you don’t know your parents, it explains the lack of family name. You were taken in by a nice family there.”

“I was taken in by…. A nice family,” she said, quoting Kurama. “They took care of me.”

“What about your parents?” he asked, a slight frown on his lips.

“They died when I was a baby.”

“What were their names?”

Naruto just shrugged, “It… never came up.”

Orochimaru didn’t look very happy with that answer, but he moved on.

“And how did you avoid… the attack?” He seemed to be double checking it even was an attack that killed her village.

She nodded, “Yeah… it was an attack… I was out foraging—I was out foraging for food at the time, I came back to find the village… gone.”

Naruto thought of the attack on Konoha by Pein and swallowed hard. She’d been in time that time, sorta, but now she was here pretending she wasn’t, at least not for this particular village she’d made up.

The thought ached.

“And then you went into the forest.”

She nodded, blinking quickly.

“I know how to forage, I figured I could survive long enough to find another village, but I didn’t want to use the road because… well… I don’t know who attacked or from where or where they were.”

“A wise move,” Orochimaru murmured. “You are very lucky Jiraiya found you though, I’m not sure you would have lasted much longer.”

One of his hands lightly tugged at one of her pigtails, catching immediately in a knot. Naruto flushed and ate another takoyaki.

“I know,” she whispered. “I’m very grateful and hope I can make it up to him.”

“You will be questioned by the Interrogation, before you’ll be allowed to stay in the village, though likely not too much as you’re a child.”

Naruto nodded, head tilted up to look at him. Orochimaru’s gold eyes weren’t nearly as creepy as she’d always thought before, though maybe that was just because he wasn’t being a creep about Sasuke. They were actually kinda pretty, but intense. Sharp like a blade.

His gaze swept over Naruto briefly, lingering on her dirty tangled hair and tattered and tied jumpsuit.

“You should fix your hair,” he said. “Presentation is important.”

Naruto spared a brief spot of envy for how smooth and silky his own hair was, before pulling the hair ties out and grimacing as they tugged at knots.

She hadn’t really bothered to wash her hair thoroughly, just dunking it to get dirt and leaves out. There were a lot of knots though.

She hissed as she dragged her hand through her hair, tugging at the knots to pull them out.

Orochimaru’s tongue clicked, “No, little one. Don’t yank, you separate it carefully.”

She paused, looking up at him in confusion.

“Allow me,” he said.

His fingers quickly and smoothly pulled apart the tangles, plucking at them like a delicate knot and unwinding them.

It didn’t hurt at all, his actions smooth and careful, each knot removed before he moved on. It was a bit tedious, with no brush he did it all by hand. But soon enough her hair was knot free.

He smoothly gathered the hair into pigtails as she had earlier and held out a hand for her hair ties. In deft motions he’d tied her hair back once more.

She fingered one of the pigtails, not clean but at least knot free.

“Thank you, Orochimaru-san.”

He nodded, languidly standing even as Naruto noticed a familiar presence.

She hopped up as well, head swiveling to where Ero-sennin (and she mourned that she couldn’t call him that yet) was coming from.

“Not a sensor you say?”

Shut up.

Jiraiya appeared in a whirl of leaves, beaming at them.

“Jiraiya,” Orochimaru drawled.

“Orochimaru!” he turned a smile to Naruto. “Naruto. The Hokage has agreed to let you into the village. You’ll just need to answer a few questions for the records and we can take you to the orphanage.”

Naruto took a deep breath and nodded. She was gonna be back here, back home. She’d been gone only a short while, less than gone if one considered the time travel, but she’d dearly missed Konoha despite that. She would do a lot of things if it meant she could come home.

“I can do that.”

“I wish you luck, Naruto-chan,” Orochimaru said. “Do try to avoid stealing any other children along the way, Jiraiya.”

Jiraiya turned an offended look to Orochimaru but he was already leaving.

“Asshole,” he grumbled. “I don’t steal kids!”

Naruto giggled. He had kinda stolen her, not just this time either.

“What did you get to eat?” Jiraiya asked, scooping Naruto up to carry her to where she’d be checked on.

“Takoyaki!” she chirped, brightening. “It’s almost as good as ramen!”

Jiraiya scowled, “That obnoxious—he always gets takoyaki.”

Naruto hid a grin as he started griping about it always being takoyaki, and there are other foods too! It was a painfully familiar situation, except it was her with Ramen and everyone else chiding her for it.

She wondered if he’d use her never having had takoyaki as an excuse for why he got it today, just as she had to excuse taking Gaara for ramen.

“Make sure you eat other things too,” Jiraiya said. “I won’t be around to make sure you eat right, I’ve got… research to do.”

Naruto grimaced at the mention of his research, but just nodded. She knew the orphanage would have food, though she wasn’t certain if she’d get the allowance again.

She hoped so but worried she wouldn’t.

There was so much she had to do. So much to consider. She’d made contact with Orochimaru, which hadn’t been in her plans (not that she really had solid plans yet, but she was figuring that out), but it could work… probably.

She wasn’t sure why he went crazy and evil, but he didn’t seem like it yet. Maybe she could stop him from…. doing all of that.

She wanted to do a lot of things but didn’t know where to start. She needed to finish this up and get to the orphanage, so she could start planning properly.

“We’ve got this, kit. They’ll never see you coming.”

Naruto smiled, leaning into her godfather and basking in her grumpy foxes comfort.

We’ll save them, she promised herself and Kurama. We’ll make the world better than it was before.