Chapter 3

He was dead.

Dead killing Hattori Hanzo

The "True Shinobi" of Ame and the last Toad Sage, cut each-other down in the final days of the last great war.

He'd asked how but neither Tsunade nor Orochi-teme seemed to be willing to cough up information.

So he'd gone to the library hoping to find something on public record.

He found very little. The bare bones of a romanticized account that depicted the old pervert fighting Hanzo to the end in order to defend his injured teammates.

In the end they mannaged to kill eachother...

If he didn't know any better he'd say the old bastard wrote it himself.

He sniffed, closing the book with a snap before pushing it aside.

Shinobi records were sealed...and public records sucked they didn't say how he died...what techniques were used they didn't even say where the man was burried...

He pulled closer another book.

This one on history.

He needed to find out just how many things stayed the same and how far this 'ripple effect' thing went.

-0-

"Jiraiya!?"

"Calm down!"

"You fucking calm down!" she screeched, still pacing the length of the Sarutobi's office. "Someone stuck...they...how the hell did they-"

"Just shut up!" The snake sannin barked, his own agitation shining through. "Lets stop and think before you bust down ten walls with no purpose and actually make use of this."

"Indeed." Sarutobi agreed, stepping into his office, a file under his arm. "Naruto-chan's revelation narrows down our list of suspects considerably."

"Anyone who was close enough to Jiraiya to know his personality and appearance." The snake surmised.

"Exactly." He opened the file as he sat down. "That almost certainly means a domestic enemy."

"We'll look into it" Tsunade assured, her clenched fists cracking as she tightened her grip. Saru would pity whomever they eventually tracked down, if he didn't feel exactly the same way.

To use Jiraiya to twist a boy's memories and simultaneously betray the village...

This person, whoever he or she was, had gained three very powerful enemies.

"I'll be making some inquiries into my spies from Ame in the meanwhile." Orochimaru nodded. "Many of their countrymen still hold a great hatred for what Jiraiya did and could have strove to do something like this."

"Do it. Even if you run a dead end we've been too lax on Ame's activities recently. We need more intel. Either way I'll make my next statement to both of you, in your mutual investigations, do not forget about Naruto himself. He'll need our help after what he's experienced and I can't be there as often as I'd like. You two were always close with him. Have faith that he'll remember that soon."

Tsunade nodded. "Yeah. I'll bring Dan to see him when he gets back maybe that'll jog something."

Orochimaru smirked. "He might throw one of his toy kunai at me if I get too close."

"Getting scared of a toddler Oro-kun?" The female in the room laughed.

"Terrified" He quipped smiling for a moment before becoming serious again. "Don't worry sensei, the boy's strong for his age. He'll be fine. In a few days he'll be right back to normal."

"I hope so." The old monkey confessed as he lit his pipe, then he waved them both away. "Go. You have your orders."

-0-

"Taichou."

Inu's head turned ever so slightly finding the new arrival through the slit eyeholes of his mask. "You're here early."

"Before I assume my duties, it would be best if I were fully briefed on the situation." She said, kneeling beside him assuming a perch on the tall library bookshelf to look down at the for year old child.

"He's suffering memory issues...and we might be seeing the first ramifications of it."

"How so?" She asked.

"When was the last time you saw a four year old reading through history books in the library?"

"Hmm."

"Furthermore he's comprehending. Evidently the experience of these false memories might have given him an increased intelligence."

"Our experiences shape us." She affirmed. "Adding experiences, even false ones, must have affected him."

Inu nodded, then leaned a little forward. "Looks like he found something that doesn't really match up with what he knew."

The blond boy picked up the heavy book, struggling with its weight as he all but ran towards the librarian's desk.

-0-

"Is this right!?" Naruto all but shouted, pushing the book up onto the desk, startling the elderly man sitting by piece of furniture.

The older man blinked, pushing his thick reading glasses onto the bridge of his nose leaning forward and taking the book in hand. "Err, which part young man?"

Naruto marched around the desk pushing through the swiveling doors to stand next to the man as he brought the book down to his eye level.

He pointed a little finger, pressing it against a paragraph.

"This part right here!"

The man brought the book close to his face, reading over the identified paragraph.

After a moment the man nodded. "Yes it is. What seems to be the problem?"

Naruto swallowed, smiling after a moment as he held out his hand to take back the book. "Nothing...just wanted to make sure!"

The old man nodded, handing the book back.

-0-

Inu's head tilted. "Wonder what he found that's so interesting..."

The woman beside him shrugged. "We can find out later."

He nodded, his body beginning to vanish into wisps of smoke. "I'll leave to get some rest, be seeing you."

She set herself onto a more comfortable position watching as the little blond sat down once again in his previous seat.

-0-

Naruto meanwhile smiled as he sat down, reading over the paragraph once again just for that smile to stay on his face.

"It was Hashirama Senjuu and Uchiha Madara that founded Konoha, allying the powerful Senjuu and Uchiha clans and uniting the clans that were based around the continent's central region. While their respective Mokudon and Sharingan bloodlines were extremely powerful, it does not appear at this time that any of their descendents have inherited their Kekei-Genkai!"

An Uchiha clan without the Sharingan?

It was no guarantee Tobi hadn't manifested the thing or stolen it but this had the potential to make things far less complicated!

He kept on reading.

-0-

It was night when he finally stepped out of the libraries halls, shivering in the cold evening air, regretting the fact that he hadn't brought a jacket with him.

Suddenly he felt a weight settle on his shoulders stumbling forward a little as it settled before he looked to see someone had placed a thick, orange coat over his shoulders.

He looked to thank whoever it was when the words died on his lips, replaced by a frown and a glare.

Orochimaru raised a slender eyebrow. "Should I assume you don't like this coat anymore?" He asked, a note of glibness in his tone.

"What are you doing here?"

"When I heard you were out here without a coat I was behooved to bring one to you."

Naruto blinked. "Behooved by who?"

"Tsunade of course." He pointed and Naruto turned to look, finding a slug resting on the branch of a nearby tree. "She's busy at the hospital or she would have come herself." He commented. "Come. I'll walk you home and you can answer some of my questions. One of which being how you know what 'behoove' means?"

"No thanks." Naruto said turning to walk the long way home. "I'll-"

Snakes slithered around his waist, coiling tightly and lifting, leaving his little legs dangling in the air.

"I insist, lets talk you and I." The snake drawled, pulling him up to his side as he marched down the road.

The youth struggled, hands pulling and pushing at the snakes but with the limbs of a four year old he might as well have been trying to bend steel.

"So what did they stick in your head that's gotten you so riled up about me Naruto-kun?" He asked as though commenting n the encroaching winter.

"You're a creepy bastard, that's what! Let me out of this."

"Evidently they also taught you some more colorful words to go along with 'behooved' to your limited repertoire. Alright then. Lets not talk about me. What fabrications did they stick in your head about Jiraiya?"

"What's it matter to you anyway!?" Naruto glowered, arms crossed now, having given up on freeing himself. "Don't pretend like you gave a da-"

Orochimaru stopped, standing still in the road as he turned to look at Naruto, the serpentine yellow eyes boring a hole into the boys skull.

"Naruto-kun. You're young, and confused. You can count that as your saving grace or you'd be in a great deal of pain right now."

The blond met the serpent's gaze blinking in curious bewilderment.

Orochimaru turned and kept on walking, waiting for a moment before speaking again. "Now tell me. What was it they stuck in that head of yours about Jiraiya?"

Naruto looked down considering whether he should answer or not.

Finally, he did speak. "Ero-sennin was always peeping on girls in the hotsprings."

"Hah!" The snake barked out a laugh. "That does sound like him. What did he look like in these memories of yours?"

"Big, taller than anyone else in the village, 'cept maybe Chouji's dad-"

"Chouji?"

"Akimichi."

"Ahh."

"-white hair that he could make into a personal shield. Dressed up like a kabuki, wood sandals and everything."

A smirk graced the pale man's face one born of seemingly fond remembrance.

"He was also the first one that taught me the water walking and summoning-"

Orochimaru stopped again, turning to look at him. "Taught you? You learned how to manipulate chakra?"

That made Naruto pause hesitating for a moment before his mind came to a hasty decision, a quick plan forming in his head as he deduced where this could lead.

"Yeah!"

The snakes set him down, uncoiling from his waist.

"Show me." The man demanded.

With a thought Naruto pushed chakra to his feet

-0-

Seeing that her charge was in the safe hands of Konoha's snake summoner, the young woman that had been tailing them pulled away, doubling back towards the librarian who was beginning to gather his things as she approached, making as much noise as possible so as to not give the man a heart attack.

When he looked up, he was visibly startled to see one of Konoha's normally unseen special operators standing infront of him.

"The boy who was here. He asked you about a book, what was he inquiring about?"

-0-

Naruto struggled to focus, his underdeveloped coils trying to adapt to this new strain he was putting on them. He raised up his foot, about to place it on the wall before the sannin's voice stopped him.

"You're using too much."

"This is what I always used." He protested putting his foot down.

"Your memories are on the right track...but your body doesn't know what its doing." He shot back placing a hand on his chin. "Still...this is interesting. You mentioned summoning, show me the seals."

And Naruto formed them, watching Orochimaru's curious face as he did.

The sannin knelt, getting himself at eye level with the youth pulling out a kunai from his pouch and offering it hilt first.

"How well can you throw one of these?"

Naruto grinned and Orochimaru could tell it was false. The boy was manipulating him...or trying to. Failing miserably but the effort was there "How bout you and I make a deal?" He asked.

The snake raised a slender eyebrow he had a feeling he knew where this was going.

-0-

It was the next morning that Sarutobi found himself in his office, reading over a series of files discussing a zoning dispute between the Hyuuga and the Akimichi clans when the door to his office opened, revealing his pale skinned student.

"Orochimaru, what can I do for you?"

Not mincing words the man smirked in that familiar way of his. "I'm here to nominate Uzumaki Naruto for early academy enrollment."

-0-

Alright, my next update will definitely be for Souls of Heroes, BUT in regards to this one since I can already hear the questions.

No, Naruto doesn't like or trust Orochimaru he wants into the academy early, and with sponsorship, in my mind, would be the only way to get it. Orochimaru, he figured was his quickest way to get there since Saru and Tsunade would be too concerned for his safety.

He wants to get into the academy early so he can rise through the ranks early. I've always noticed in a lot of time travel fics Naruto tries to adhere to what happened originally so he can predict what will happen and change specifically what he wants to change, but seeing as how the whole "able to predict the future thing" was thrown into the meat-grinder at go, now what he wants is the freedom to move through the village and get what he needs, as fast as he needs to get it, which a gennin, much less an academy student would never be able to do since they either A. wouldn't have the clearance for it or B. Wouldn't have the skill or knowledge to acquire it without being seen which he definitely can't do since he can't even mold chakra at the moment.