Falling In Reverse

Chapter 2: Same, yet not the same

Drawing a blank, Naruto stared at the three familiar but at the same time so different people.

There was no way... No way that his father was truly alive, that Kakashi had both his eyes intact, that Obito was apparently considered comrade by those two.

...Or that all three were Konoha's missing-nins.

It made no sense at all and was utterly impossible.

"Snap out of it, boy!" Kurama roared in his mind. "Stop spacing out in front of possible hostiles!"

"But... Kurama, that's–"

"I know. I can see it myself," the fox replied in a growl. "Now, focus!"

And focus Naruto did. When he calmed down and his brains restarted, he suddenly felt a surge of anger. That certainly couldn't be his father or his sensei! They wouldn't be standing nonchalantly next to that despicable Uchiha! How these bastards dared to pretend to be them!

The Jinchuuriki stood up, his fury pushing all the pain to the side, and met the glare of those cold azure eyes with the matching glare of his own. "Who the hell are you?!" he demanded. "You do a bad job impersonating the Yondaime and Kakashi! They would never allow that particular Uchiha come even close to them!"

Kakashi shot a fleeting glance towards Obito who frowned at his words. Minato narrowed his eyes, but didn't move them from the teen. "It appears that you know who we are," he spoke in a calm and measured tone, but with a hint of steel. "But you have us at a disadvantage as we don't know who you are."

Naruto couldn't suppress the hurt flitting across his features at hearing those words. "You don't...?" he more mumbled than asked. He felt so confused. If these were impostors sent to deceive him, they wouldn't state that they don't know him, right? Absolutely nothing made sense from the moment he woke up.

Maybe the Uchiha had put him under a genjutsu?

It seemed that Kurama had the same thought, because the young ninja felt a disrupting burst of chakra coming from the fox. It changed nothing though.

"Your name, ninja," the Yondaime ordered, his soft tenor holding a startling amount of authority.

The Jinchuuriki scowled. 'You should know it! You named me myself!' he wanted to scream, but instead, what left his mouth was a quiet, "Naruto Uzumaki."

If possible, his father's gaze got even colder and his already balled fists tightened further. "Is this a joke?" A question came out in a dangerously low voice that sent an alarm throughout Naruto's mind. "Does that man truly believes that this," Minato jerked his hand at the younger blond, "will somehow mislead me into thinking that–" he abruptly cut himself off and closed his eyes, taking in a breath and composing himself.

"...What man?" Naruto blurted out, getting even more baffled, his mind already reeling with possibilities. Madara? Kabuto? ...Obito? He glanced at the Uchiha. "What are you talking about?"

"Enough of this charade!" When Namikaze looked at the teen again, his face remained completely emotionless, except a smoldering rage that burned deep within his piercing blue eyes. "I will not stand it any longer."

The Jinchuuriki's eyes widened as suddenly there was a familiar three-pronged kunai flying towards him with a speed he could barely match in his current state. Not to mention, he was weaponless – his entire ninja arsenal had been used in a previous fight with Uchihas and the Juubi. Not even a single shuriken was left on his person.

He successfully ducked the kunai to the side. Naruto and Minato sparred and trained a lot during that one year, and thus the young Uzumaki knew his father's fighting style like the back of his hand. He knew that the older man would flash right behind him with a blade in his hand or the Rasengan already formed, but also realized that there was no way he would be able to dodge that attack in time. So, Naruto instinctively reached for the second active beacon he could feel nearby and teleported several steps away to the first kunai that was sitting embedded into the spot where he previously had been lying.