Mending The Past To A Better Future

Ch2. Ghosts

*Naruto is in the hospital.

*+*+*

Naru had seen her father during the war, although it had been courtesy of the Reanimation Jutsu rather than some single handed miracle that was to let her keep by his side the way she had wished to as a child. Since her finding out about the Yondaime being her father, she's lost the times people have told her the comparison between them is uncanny. Seeing him now as he is, in a standard jonin flak jacket and dark blue shinobi pants is almost anti-climatic. His face, though, makes her want to reel through a set of tears until she's drowning in the lakes of her own sadness.

Seeing Kakashi as he is now - young and arrogant as he grew out of, is almost endearing. His mask still sits atop his face like he was born with it on, and it startles her to see him without his infamous scar resting over his left eye. His hair is as silver and wild as ever, and he's more fit than any eleven - year old has the right to be.

Minato lets out a light but uncomfortable laugh. 'I'm sorry, but I'm not your sensei. I don't even know who you are.' Naru stares at him in confusion until it clicks - ah. She had said Sensei. Although that had been more aimed towards Kakashi, but she supposed this worked out in her favor.

Who are you? And why are you here?' Kakashi asks sharply, his dark gray eyes fixing her with a hard stare.

'Kakashi.' Minato holds out a reprimanding arm to his student.

'My name is Naru. Short for Naruto,' She speaks up, watching Minato's reaction closely. She knows that she was named after the hero in one of Jiraiya's books. But to her disappointment, he schools his features very well, if the name even means something to him at this point.

'Just Naruto?' Her former sensei asks skeptically. 'What's your last name? Or don't you belong to a clan or something?'

God, her sensei can be scary if he wants to.

Fumbling with her sheets, she mutters, 'I'm an orphan. I don't have a last name. Or no one ever told me if I did.'

Bingo. And it's not even a lie. Well - the orphan part at least.

Minato - the softie that he is - sits aside her bed and gazes down at her softly. 'Well you're safe now, Naru-chan. My name is Minato Namikaze, and I'm a jonin-sensei here in Konoha. This is my team.' He gestures to the three figures standing in the room.  As her gaze travels over them, they all wave (except for Kakashi unsurprisingly).

Her gaze snaps to Obito and Rin for the first time since waking up. Obito... just looking at him makes her heart hurt. He's so young and naive and innocent - everything he's not in the future she's from. His goggles are tinted orange, and his eyes are slammed shut as he shoots her a wide grin that reminds her of herself.

'Naru-chan! My name is Obito Uchiha! Nice to meet you.'

Naru smiles as much as she can without bursting into tears. 'Nice to meet you too, Obito-kun, dattebayo!' She catches in her periphreal as Minato lets out a small smile at her verbal tick.

Hello, Naruto-chan.' The soft voice from earlier is back. 'My name is Rin Nohora.' Ah. So the catalyst for the war. She'll have to pay extra attention to this girl if she wants to make changes to this timeline. Her eyes are brown and soft like melted chocolate, and the purple strips having Naru holding her breath.

'Rin-chan,' She bows her head gratefully. 'Thank you for finding me and bringing me back.' Naru smiles when a light blush dusts over Rin's small face.

'Kakashi Hatake,' Kakashi states, not an inch of emotion on his pale face. Or - at least what she can see of it.