Ripple

Chapter 2

The Yondaime stared in astonishment at the boy before him. Naruto looked mutinously back, not sure what there was to be so shocked about.

"You said Naruto, right?" the man said, his voice low, a tremor of anger present in the tone.

"Yeah, the one and only," he said bitterly.

A range of emotions seemed to flicker through the man's eyes, his expression remaining neutral until he decided on his final emotion, suspicion.

"I have to look in to a few things," he said, walking towards the door. "You will remain here, under constant ANBU supervision until you recover sufficiently enough or until I state otherwise."

Naruto opened his mouth to protest, but shut it when the man looked at him piercingly.

"I have a few questions for you. Be glad I'm giving you time to recover."

He swallowed nervously, the words dying in his throat.

"We'll talk more soon, Naruto."

Said boy winced as the door slammed behind the fuming Hokage.

--

He stared idly at the ceiling as a beetle bounced off the main light of the room, causing small tinkling noises as it hit the glass globe, the buzzing somewhat soothing. True to his word, the Hokage had posted two ANBU at the door and one at the window. He didn’t even manage a step out of his room before he was pushed back into it. And not too gently either. His stomach wound had opened again thanks to Bear-face at the window. He scowled, muttering darkly to himself.

He’d also tried to negate any Genjutsu around him, like Jiraiya had taught him to do. It had had no effect, although, he noted to himself grudgingly, he had never been good at detecting and dispelling the damn things anyway. The problem was that, as much as he hoped it was, it didn’t feel like a normal Genjutsu at all. He knew that the eye that had caught him was the Mangekyou Sharingan, but he was under the impression that the illusions created by those eyes would have been torturing him from the start. And yet, nothing had happened. Were they trying to bore him to death?

He scowled again, forcing himself into a sitting position. There were a couple more options of course. Maybe he was dreaming. It was possible, but not really likely. It didn’t feel like a dream either. Plus he was under the impression that it was impossible to know when one was dreaming, at least for the most part, and he was more than aware. And then there was the other option, the one he kept stamping on furiously each time it popped into his head, because it was too crazy to even consider a possibility. And yet, it kept coming back, more insistent every time.

What if this wasn’t a dream or a Genjutsu? What if it was real and he’d somehow managed to wind up in the past?

He had kept trying to deny this explanation, kept telling himself that it wasn’t possible, and yet it would probably explain a few things. He had gone to that window earlier, more to confirm where he was than to actually escape, and had seen the Hokage monument. Thing was, there were only three Hokage heads up there, with the fourth one undergoing construction. He’d also noticed many buildings he didn’t exactly recognise at first, but had familiar features here and there.

The most unnerving bit had been when one of the medics had come to check on him again. She had smiled nicely at him, chatting animatedly about goings on in the village, his vastly improved condition and had told him that he wouldn’t be eating for at least another few days, before exiting as cheerily as she walked in. No stranger, in his entire life, had been able to smile like that at him knowing full well that the Kyuubi was sealed inside of him, which was common knowledge in Konoha amongst the older generation.

So far the option for ‘past reality’ had the most support in its favour, but he was unwilling to let go of the idea of it being a Genjutsu just yet.

Deciding that it was too much to worry about just now, Naruto turned and fluffed his pillow before easing himself back down to lay down, pulling his blanket up under his chin. Maybe things would be back to normal when he woke in the morning. And with that doubtful thought, he turned out the light.

--

Minato sighed as he closed the door to his apartment behind himself. It had been a long day. He eased himself into a chair at the dining room table, dropping a report folder in front of him.

“Uzumaki Naruto, huh?” he muttered, his brow furrowing in slight confusion.

It couldn’t just be a coincidence that not even one week after he and Kushina had decided to name their child after the protagonist from Jiraiya’s book, that a boy would show up bearing that exact name. Even his appearance showed a close resemblance to his own. His first conclusion was that the boy was a spy. It was the obvious conclusion and he hadn’t exactly endeared himself to many foreign ninja, taken his past history. And yet, he held another nagging doubt. The boy had appeared seemingly from thin air, right before his very eyes three days prior and had been severely wounded. What’s more the boy had recognised him, and instead of fearing him, which would be a normal reaction from an enemy in such a vulnerable situation, he had appeared to hold him in a position of great awe, even in his delusional state.

Minato was aware of the affect his reputation had on people, but he was more accustomed to that being due to his Hiraishin no Jutsu, whereas the teen had by all appearances, held him in awe due to his status as the Yondaime Hokage. As of yet, he didn’t deem himself to have done anything significant as Hokage, so he was baffled as to why the boy held him in such high esteem in that regard.

There were other things about him that puzzled him too. Like his astounding healing ability. Tomi was definitely right about it not being natural. He filed that away to question the boy about. Something else he had also noted was how the boy had flinched right before he made contact with him. An involuntary movement on the boy’s part, but important none the less as it indicated that he was not fully in control of his every action while his guard’s up, putting him below Jounin level in that particular area at the very least.

Probably the most important part though, was the boy’s certainty that he was somehow trapped in a Genjutsu. He could be faking of course, pretending to think so, or he could really think that it was all an illusion.

He frowned further, running a hand through his hair in frustration. He just didn’t know what to make of the boy.

“You look like you’ve got the weight of the world on your shoulders.”

Minato jumped violently. He turned his head to look at the source of the voice. Standing in the doorway was a beautiful woman. Red hair cascaded down her back, its length almost reaching to her knees, a clip on the right-hand side holding the bangs out of her face the only personal touch. She wore a white t-shirt with a zip up to the collar, which was underneath a plain but elegant black dress. Her green eyes sparkled with mirth and a radiance only pregnant women seemed to possess as she rested her left hand on her swollen stomach gently.

“You’re supposed to be a ninja and yet you can’t sense me walk into the same room as you?” Kushina said, and eyebrow cocked in amusement as she walked forward, pecking him lightly on the cheek.

“Guess I got lost in thought,” he said, grinning sheepishly at her.

“Tough day?” she asked, easing herself into a chair with a sigh.

“You have no idea,” he said, shifting his chair around the table so that he could be next to her. “How are you doing?”

“Fine, although my feet are killing me,” she said, smiling ruefully. “They’ve swollen to nearly twice their normal size.”

“You should relax more,” he said.

“Oh no! Don’t you start that again.”

“But-”

“Uh-uh,” she said, looking at him reproachfully. “I’m pregnant, not sick.”

Minato sighed. Kushina was your typical redhead – fiery and incredibly stubborn. Arguing did nothing but put both of them in a bad mood, usually resulting in hours of coaxing on his part as well as occasional bribes to get her back in a good mood. Being pregnant had made her mood swings a little more… violent. Deciding to avert the coming disagreement, he tactfully diverted the conversation.

“So how’s our boy today?” he asked.

“Restless as ever,” she said ruefully, calming down abit. “He landed a good one on my kidney earlier.”

Minato grinned fondly, resting his hand on her stomach.

“I can see it now,” Kushina said, smiling wistfully. “Naruto’s gonna to be one active kid. He’s really gonna be a handful by the time he can crawl.”

Minato frowned slightly. Should he tell her? He knew it would worry her, but as Jiraiya had taken off for a while doing things he’d rather not think about, she was the only other person who would understand the seriousness of the situation. He hesitated slightly before sitting up straighter in his chair, pushing his nervousness away ruthlessly.

“Kushina, you remember that boy I found the other day?” he asked tentively.

Her expression sobered immediately.

“Is he alright?” she asked, concern evident in her tone.

“He’s awake,” he said, his brow creasing as a puzzled expression crossed his face. “Despite the fact that the medics predicted that he wouldn’t be awake for another couple of weeks.”

She frowned thoughtfully.

“What’s more,” he continued. “Is that he’s almost fully recovered, despite the severity of his injuries.”

There was a pause, then:

“That’s not all, is it,” she said shrewdly. It wasn’t a question.

“He said his name is Naruto,” Minato said, looking directly into her eyes. “Uzumaki Naruto.”

She gaped at him, both hands moving unconsciously to her stomach.

“But that’s-” she said.

“Yeah, I know,” he said, frowning. “I’ve got him under ANBU supervision until he’s fully recovered.”

He sighed.

“I was already going to question him about how he came to be here as well as how he got into that condition, among other things, but now…” he said, trailing off.

“It’s odd though,” Kushina said, looking at her stomach in confusion. “Why would he use my surname instead of yours?”

Minato’s breath hitched. The full implications of the boy using Kushina’s last name hadn’t really hit him until now.

“I guess I’ll ask him tomorrow,” she continued.

“W-what?!” Minato spluttered. “What do you mean tomorrow?”

“My appointment, remember?” she said testily. “You’re supposed to be coming with me.”

“Yes, I know, but you can’t-”

“Can and will,” she cut in firmly.

Minato stared at Kushina, taking in that defiant expression. He wondered minutely, what had possessed him to fall for such a stubborn woman. Jiraiya often had a lot to say on the matter. He sighed. He’d have to tread carefully if he wanted to avoid a full blown argument.

“But he could be dangerous,” he said reasonably. “And you’re five months pregnant.”

“I’m also a ninja,” she said, glaring at him. “Pregnant or not, I know how to look after myself. And it’s not like I’ll be by myself in that room. You’re coming with me.”

He took in her ever stubborn expression, her arms folded across her chest stiffly; her eyebrows furrowed with her bottom lip thrust up obstinately, and sighed again, this time in defeat.

“Alright.”

She grinned cheekily at him, knowing that she had won this round.

“No more than ten minutes though,” he put in. A flash of annoyance crossed her face at that, but she caught the pleading look in his eyes and caved.

“Have it your way,” she said, sighing as well.

--

Translation Notes:

Hiraishin no Jutsu: The technique that got Minato his famous nickname of ‘Konoha’s Yellow Flash’. It allows him to move instantaneously from one point to another using his special kunai with special seals attached to the handle. He can also do this in rapid succession, depending on how many of the special kunai are thrown. It is also possible for him to manually attach a chakra marker to living/nonliving things and teleport to their location. This ability of his was so infamous that it earned him a ‘Flee on sight’ order issued by the enemy leaders to their troops during the Third Great Ninja War.

Author’s Note: Wow, I wasn’t really expecting such a good response to this. 13 reviews, 16 favs, 29 alerts, added to 2 C2’s and has 555 hits, all for the first chapter! -is overwhelmed- All I can say is thank you so much for your support! :D

I hope the chapter length isn’t too short. Just seemed like a good place to end it. Remember to let me know if you feel it’s rushed. I think I went back to flesh this out more about 3 or so times before I thought it sounded good enough. :P

Until next time guys!