NARUTO 2

[AN: Some people expressed confusion or disgust as to just why Carl lost his memories in the Naruto world. It's because the Diapers and…Sunshine? drawback says that he lost his powers and would slowly get them back until at the starting age he chose he'll have all his powers back. Well, the powers are an intrinsic part of him now due to Spere 037's cheat. So the Jump Chain temporarily suppressed his memories of the powers so he won't be able to use them, thus fulfilling the drawback's purpose.

The perks are still there under the surface, which is why he learns so quick and has such an amazing memory still. And it's why he has all these thoughts about how nasty schemes to control a clan work.

Although I gotta say this: Getting angry because a drawback that Carl picks ends up giving him unexpected complications seems a bit silly to me. That's kind of the nature of drawbacks.

Even if it feels like he's taking a step back in his advancement, that's part of the process of him growing and living through these worlds.

Sometimes Carl is more bold and willing to deal with enemies and problems a drawback gives him. Sometimes he's more conservative and wouldn't touch some drawbacks with a 10 mile long pole.

Just some of my thoughts on the matter. Anyway, thanks for all you who read and review! Now I'll shut up and get to the story.]

XX

That first day and night took a long time to pass while they were waiting for Hiashi to do what he needed to do to clean up the plotters and poisoners.

Carl found himself in a unique position. He was an adult in mind, but he was only a kid in body. And while he had the magic perk from the Buffy the Vampire Slayer world and had trained up his skills in magic quite a bit, he was still pretty green when it came to the ninja world. More likely than not, he would just get in his father's way if he tried to do anything proactive.

And he didn't feel like provoking a hostage situation with ninja that could kill him before he could react.

So, he waited with his sisters and mother in their safe room, waiting for his father to finish clearing out the traitors. He and Hinata played some training games that focused on increasing hand dexterity and finger strength. Sort of the young ninja training version of "Patty Cake". The game focused not just on dexterity of the hands and fingers, but memorization skills. It incorporated the hand signs and various ninja specific code words.

Their mother Himari mostly took care of Hanabi, but occasionally joined Carl and Hinata for a game or two.

They didn't leave the room for meal times, instead they ate what appeared to be dried rations that were checked carefully for poisons. The small family unit had a bathroom attached to the room, so there was no reason to go anywhere while they waited.

Occasionally a branch family member would come by the room, passing a verbal message to Himari. Because of the Hyuga's special eyes, trusting important messages to paper was a chancy thing, since it was so easy for any Hyuga in the area to be able to read a note from across the compound with their eyes. It was important for ninja to have good memorization skills to verbally pass on messages.

Carl's senses were keen enough that he clearly heard the status reports that Hiashi sent to reassure Himari. However, even though Carl heard the messages, he still didn't understand what the code words meant, so he was still in the dark.

Finally after 36 hours, Hiashi returned to the rooms looking exhausted as he walked in. Alongside him was their cousin Neji, to Carl's surprise.

"Father!" Hinata jumped up when she saw Hiashi walk into the room. Carl was only a moment behind her in jumping to his feet and greeting his father.

"Hinata, Carl." Hiashi greeted them. "Have you been good for your mother?"

"Yes, father." Carl nodded seriously.

"Of course!" Hinata chirped in a good mood. "Carl and I have been training our hand sign speed, as well as our Byakugan and chakra control, since we couldn't leave. Mother even let me watch over Hanabi for a while. She's sleeps a lot! But, since you're back, does that mean we can go outside again?"

"Yes, you can go out soon, Hinata." Hiashi smiled warmly while ruffling Hinata's hair.

"How is it, Hiashi?" Himari asked while cradling Hanabi in her arms.

"I have taken care of many problems, and found some additional issues that they had been hiding." Hiashi sighed before looking around to spot Neji.

Carl had kept half an eye on Neji and noticed that he was standing uncertainly and was hanging back, seeming to not want to intrude.

Hiashi sat at the head of the table in the room, and motioned the rest of them to sit. Himari sat next to Hiashi with Hanabi in her arms, looking concerned for her husband's state. There was a tea set with still warm tea, so she poured a cup for Hiashi.

Hinata beat Carl to his usual place next to his father, and sat down, leaning into Hiashi. Carl sat next to her without complaint but with a smirk for her. She stuck her tongue out at him, causing him to cough to hide his laugh. Neji sat down next to him warily.

"Neji." Hiashi began with his stern countenance in place. "I called you here because there were some things you needed to hear. Reserve your judgment until you hear the whole tale."

Carl thought that was a polite way to say 'keep your mouth shut until you hear everything'. Neji soberly nodded his head. The six year old was quite the Hyuga, very stern and stoic.

"Two years ago a Kumo ninja came to Konoha, posing as their ambassador. He was ostensibly here to sign a peace treaty. After signing said treaty, he attended the party we were having here in the clan compound, since we were having a birthday party for Carl and Hinata. He and the Hokage thought it would be a good method of introducing the man to the various clans of Konoha and open up more friendly relations with Kumo."

Neji clenched his fists tightly. He knew what the ultimate result of that night was. His father was killed to save his brother, Hiashi. It was because of that night he lost his father, and it was because his father was of the branch family that he was forced to die to save Hiashi. That's why he hated the situation with the clan so much.

Hinata also clenched up at hearing about that night. She still remembered being bundled up and carried out along with Carl. She felt so helpless while being kidnapped. She was so afraid of never seeing her family again, and of what horrors were in store for her. It was an event that still occasionally gave her nightmares.

Carl clenched his teeth in frustration, hearing about that night. He had the memories of that night, of being helpless to do anything against the adult ninja. That was another reason why he was so hesitant to do anything rash in this world. Feeling that helplessness had made a big impression on him.

He knew that it wouldn't have been nearly as much of a problem if he had his magic available back then. He could have done any number of things to the Kumo ninja, from binding him, to burning him, to hiding him and Hinata. But he hadn't regained his memories until a year and a half later.

Carl returned his attention back to his father when he continued talking.

"After the party was finished, the ambassador snuck back into the compound in the middle of the night. He slipped past all our guards and was able to kidnap both Carl and Hinata out of their rooms."

Neji had a look of shock on his face. The idea that some random ninja, even if he was highly skilled, could just waltz into their clan home and steal the twins away was shocking. Their dojustu was especially good for standing guard against intruders, making the feat of sneaking in unseen incredibly difficult.

Carl had a similar reaction, along with the realization that there had to be some inside man who opened the way for the Kumo ninja to make it all the way to their room.

"Thankfully I came by their room to check on them at that time. If I had come any later, I would not have spotted him making his escape when I saw my children weren't in their room. I gave chase and soon caught him, ending his life in order to save your cousins."

"It was only when we examined the body that we found out he was the ambassador that Kumo had sent. The very next day a message came from Kumo. They threatened a resumption of the war unless Konoha gave them the ninja responsible for their ambassador's death. Me."

Carl frowned in thought. He had seen maps of the Elemental Nations. There was no way for Kumo to have gotten the information of the death of their ambassador that fast under normal circumstances. And to be able to send such a demanding message the very next day implied that someone had deliberately leaked the information to Kumo.

'Traitors." Carl internally snarled at the realization.

Neji was gritting his teeth and clenching his hands. He had heard this tale before. This was the part where Hiashi gave up his brother, Neji's father, to Kumo to gain peace.

"I immediately began sending out messages so that I could consult with the other clans of Konoha to build a consensus to go to war. If Kumo would act in such an underhanded way to try to steal our dojutsu for themselves in the midst of their peace negotiations and Konoha gave in and forced us to hand over one of our clan members, what would Konoha do the next time?"

Neji's shocked face told Carl all he needed to know. Neji had no idea of what really happened that night, but whatever tale he was told, it was all lies.

"I felt I had a good chance to win over the other clan's support. After all, what if it was one of their clan members that were targeted the next time? Or what if it was one of their clan secrets that Konoha demanded be handed over to secure peace? I knew this reasoning would gain me their support to take a stand and teach those backstabbing kidnappers from Kumo a lesson."

Neji's shocked face was so completely apparent. This wasn't how the story he was told went! Hinata was gripping Carl's hand tight. Because she still occasionally had nightmares of that night when the two of them were bound and dragged from their room, she had a fear that she would be kidnapped and never be able to come home. Both of them didn't have very kind thoughts for the village of Kumo.

"Unfortunately, someone talked to my brother behind my back. I don't know if it was the Hokage, or one of his advisors. They convinced Hizashi that Konoha was in no shape to resume the war. They convinced him that the only way to resolve this issue was to sacrifice himself to appease Kumo for the time being."

Judging from Neji's expression, Carl didn't think that the Hokage or his advisors was going to be one of his favorite people.

"That night I was to meet with the other clan heads to discuss the issues. Hizashi intercepted me before I could leave my rooms. He attacked when I was least expecting it, and hit my chakra points, knocking me unconscious. When I woke up, Hizashi was already dead, and his body was already on the way to Kumo." Hiashi paused to let them process his story. The anguish in his face and voice was obvious as he recounted that horrible time.

Neji was struggling greatly with his emotions, far from being the stoic Hyuga. Tears were leaking down his face. Carl realized that both he and Hinata were also leaking tears. Damned young body emotions!

After gaining control of his emotions, Carl shook his head inside at the ploy that Konoha pulled. He was actually very surprised that there hadn't been a resumption of hostilities with Kumo in the past couple of years if Kumo was so underhanded to pull that kind of crap. Maybe there was a change in leadership and their policies?

"Your father left me a letter explaining his decision to take my place and attempt to mend the peace. He believed it was his destiny and his choice." Hiashi handed over a letter to Neji and let him read it.

Neji's eyes continued spilling tears as he read his father's last words. The tears spilled silently down Neji's cheeks, falling on the letter. Hiashi waited until Neji was ready once more before resuming his tale.

"Your father exhorted me to wait until you were a chuunin yourself, at least, until I told you these things. But something I recently discovered caused me to change my plans and inform you now, despite his request."

Neji's face got a questioning look, wondering what it was. But he had promised Hiashi he would keep his counsel until he heard the whole story.

"You see, my wife almost died in giving birth to Hanabi. It was only by luck that she survived, but it was discovered that she had been poisoned."

Hinata clutched Carl's hand tighter when Hiashi said that outright. She had known about it already, but hearing it once more still shocked and frightened her.

"Who would dare?" Despite his promise to reign in his questions, the information was so shocking Neji couldn't help but burst out. His eyes were hard and angry.

"It was one of the clan elders. He's being dealt with as we speak." Hiashi's hard face matched Neji's so much at that very moment. Looking back and forth between the two, Carl came to the conclusion that the two Hyuga were very similar. Given half a chance, he was sure that Neji would also be a great and protective father one day, if he could get past the issues he had being a branch family member.

"What's more, my entire family was poisoned with different poisons. They intended my wife to die in childbirth. They poisoned me to affect my emotions and cause me to distance myself from my family. They poisoned my twins to lose their coordination and confidence so they would make poor ninja."

Neji was actually shaking in anger at the news, gritting his teeth. Even though he had been drifting away from his cousins the past year, he still cared for them a great deal. To hear that they had been poisoned to fail as ninja offended him greatly.

"When I investigated who had been behind plot, I learned many secrets. I learned that there was a main branch elder behind the poisoning plan. He intended to discredit me as the clan head of the Hyuga by showing my heirs as weak and me incompetent as a father. He plotted to overthrow me and place Hanabi as the puppet leader who would marry his son and make his grandchildren the future leaders of the Hyuga."

Hiashi paused for a deep breath. This was hard to say.

"And I also learned that he had been poisoning you, Neji. He was putting a narcotic in your food that would make you susceptible to suggestions. He was filling your ears and mind full of his take on 'fate' to make you act the way he desired, as well as his own doctored version of how your father died."

Carl suddenly realized that it was one more instance of the Elder betraying them and conspiring to make Hiashi look bad and lose power in the clan. With Hiashi's twin brother's own son distancing himself from them and showing his hatred of them, Hiashi would look like a man who couldn't maintain order in his own family. How could the clan trust him to handle other matters?

"And I found out that he was the one who opened up a hole in our defenses that allowed the Kumo ninja to penetrate into our clan housing and kidnap my children, which led to your father's death."

"I'll kill him." Neji growled angrily. Hiashi didn't chastise him for his words. They were ninja, after all. It wasn't surprising that they would be predisposed toward killing an enemy.

"He will die, and I'll allow you to be there to see it." Hiashi allowed. "And so we come to the why of it. Why would one of our own elders do such a thing?"

Hiashi sighed. Carl kept an eye on his mother and sister, and was wondering if and how he should comfort them. Hinata seemed to be holding up okay, though. Even though they were young, they were being raised as ninja, with a couple years of early training already under their belts. Part of that training was reading about the roles they would play, so even at a young age they were aware of what kind of conflicts they would come across.

So while Hinata may not understand all the intricacies and ins and outs, she understood enough to understand that someone betrayed them and her father ferreted out the information. That they were traitors, and traitors only deserved death.

"The reason this elder worked so hard to ruin me as the clan head, is that I've been struggling for years to change the tradition of putting our family members in the Branch House and putting the Caged Bird seal on them."

Neji, Carl, and Hinata all sucked in a breath in shock at hearing that admission from their father, the clan head. How he was trying to subvert the way the clan had worked for so many years.

"My twin brother and I were very close from birth." Hiashi reminisced, looking off to the side as the memories were playing out in his mind. "We shared everything. We were inseparable. Until the day that our father had the Caged Bird seal put on my twin's forehead for the simple reason of me having been born first."

"I was furious! They took my brother away from me! They didn't let us train together anymore. They lectured him on his duties as a Branch Family member, beating him down; forcing him to believe that he needed to be subservient to me, to give his life for me. Why? He was my brother, my friend, my companion. Why should he have to serve me? Just because of a few damned minutes and some old men who blindly adhered to tradition!?" Hiashi gritted out from between his teeth. "It was stupid. And I was determined to end that pointless tradition."

Carl saw that their mother wasn't shocked at all. She obviously knew and supported him in his efforts. Hinata was looking at their father in adoration. The goal of getting rid of the Caged Bird seal and uniting their family was something that she was proud of her father for pursuing.

Neji, on the other hand, had a very shocked face. The idea that the clan head himself could so despise their traditions had never occurred to him. It was…validating, for him to have his feelings over the matter echoed by someone who should by all rights love the power and benefits that it gave him. But instead of wallowing in the power and prestige their traditions gave him, Hiashi hated them and wanted to tear them down.

And Hiashi showed through his lack of stoic Hyuga composure just how much he hated those clan rules and laws. How strongly he felt about the matter.

Carl got the impression his father was barely keeping himself from destroying furniture in his anger at reflecting on those memories and what could have been. He was actually impressed, seeing the anger and bitterness in his father's face, since it showed how much he cared for his brother. For a man so used to keeping his emotions in check and adopting a stoic face, to show that much emotion meant he really felt it strongly.

"So because I had long been seeking to gather enough influence in the clan to abolish the tradition of inscribing the Caged Bird seal into every branch family member, and because I was seeking a means to take the seal off my brother and the rest of the branch family members, that elder decided he had to oppose and destroy me. He had to tarnish my reputation, destroy my influence, and cast me out so that I couldn't accomplish my goals."

"And he came so very close to accomplishing all his goals." Hiashi bitterly said. "So now you know…the rest of the story."

Carl exchanged glances with his sister, and a moment later the two of them bracketed Neji on either side. Hinata gave Neji a hug, while Carl patted his back. The little bit of kindness and gentleness almost seemed to cause Neji to break down, as he cried some more.

He cried for his father's senseless death, for the pain he had been living with, for the lies he had been embracing. For the family that was surrounding him, giving him love and care.

Ever since the death of his father, he had been living in such a cold environment. The people that surrounded him were cold, and they always only talked to him about his fate as a slave. That he was no better than a meat shield for the main house. But they offered him no care, no comfort, either. Even in the midst of his own clan he felt so very alone. He was a simple tool to be used.

And in the sudden presence of such sudden caring concern, Neji, who had been experiencing such coldness for so long, finally broke down and vented his emotions.

Himari placed Hanabi in a crib and joined them in hugging Neji, while Hiashi placed a hand on his head, rubbing his hair in comfort. Which was surprisingly like what Neji's father used to do to him.

Eventually Neji finished venting his emotions, and they returned to their positions, once more composed. Even through the blotched faces from crying.

"I still don't have a solution for removing the Caged Bird seal, unfortunately." Hiashi admitted. "I've been trying to find the information in the clan records, but someone has hidden or destroyed the records on its creation. But I would like it if you would join our family on a more regular basis. You are all that is left of my brother, and I would like to take you in and care for you in his place. What do you think, Neji?"

Neji spent a long moment searching each of their faces, eyes, and expressions. Carl tried to put all the sincerity he could in his gaze, telling him without words to join them.

"Yes, I would like that." Neji eventually whispered.

"Good. There is already a room prepared for you next to Carl and Hinata's. I had hoped you would join us."

"Father. Is there any way I can add the study of seals to my lessons?" Carl abruptly asked. "Maybe one day I can learn enough to remove the seal from Neji. To remove it from all the branch family."

"An admirable goal." Hiashi said with a hint of pride in his voice. "When the time in your training is right, I will have the books sent for you to study. Seals are a very dangerous area of study, so promise me you won't go trying to learn them in secret."

Carl could tell from his father's stern warnings and countenance that it was important, so he gave his promise.

"Your goal is a worthy one, Carl. But don't tell anyone else in the clan that is what you are trying to do. As you have seen from my example, there are always some that would fight against your goals, no matter how noble they are. And they would stoop to anything, to sabotage your efforts. Keep your goals secret for now until you can accomplish them in one swift act."

"Yes, father." Carl nodded seriously, liking the advice he was given.

"Could I study the sealing arts too?" Neji asked.

Hiashi grimaced at the question.

"Unfortunately, there is a trigger in the Caged Bird seal that is not often spoken of. If a person who has the seal attempts to study seals beyond the basics, the seal will cause their death."

Hinata gasped in horror, while Carl and Neji ground their teeth in anger.

"I don't know how it was designed that way, but it was done on purpose so that anyone who suffers under the seal will not be able to try to learn the knowledge that would free them from the seal." Hiashi shook his head gloomily. "And unfortunately Konoha and clan politics prevents anyone from outside the clan from attempting to work on or remove the seals. So I have only been able to work on trying to learn the sealing arts on and off. I have not been successful, to my dismay."

Carl and Neji exchanged gazes after hearing that. Neji was thinking that his future depended on his uncle and his family. He was at least comforted in seeing the determination in Carl's face to beat this and free him.

Carl nodded seriously at Neji, affirming his promise to learn the sealing arts and free his cousin from his chains.

"Do you have any questions at this time?"

"Um…is it dinner time?" Hinata tentatively asked just as her stomach growled. Her face turned red when first Carl began laughing. Followed by Neji, Himari, and finally Hiashi.

"Stop laughing!" Hinata hissed as she smacked Carl on the shoulder in frustration.

"Sorry, Hinata." Carl struggled to stop laughing. "It's just that I couldn't agree with your stomach more. I'm hungry!"

"Carl!" Hinata growled, poking him in the stomach. "Don't think you won't pay for making fun of me!"

To most, it would seem that Neji didn't show any expression on his face at dinner that night. But Carl could see the general good mood and returning cheerfulness that had been missing from his face for so long, ever since his father died. It wasn't an immediate fix, but they were on the right path.

Neji had rediscovered that he still had family. And for now, that was enough.

XX

Now that Hiashi had tracked down the clan elder that had been responsible for the poisoning of his family and death of Hizashi, Carl's days returned to the routine they had been before, with the exception that Neji joined them in their daily training.

Neji was a bit more than a year older than Carl and Hinata, so he took it upon himself to begin showing them little tricks and tips he had picked up in the extra year he had of training over the twins. He was trying hard to make up for the time he had spent since his father's death blaming them for what happened, when they were just as much a victim of the plot as he was.

So they continued training their physical skills and combat in the mornings, then after lunch they studied and trained in the scholarly arts, and in the evening trained their Byakugan and chakra control.

After a few weeks of training together, Carl learned that his sister and cousin had their own specialties where they excelled. Neji was a natural at the Gentle Fist style. It made sense to Carl, since in the original story Neji had advanced incredibly well without any specialized training. But now he was getting the same training that the Main house got, and he was learning quickly.

Hinata was a little frustrated at first that she couldn't seem to learn and perform the Gentle Fist with near the same skill as Neji and Carl. So Carl talked to his parents about Hinata's seeming to have a different body type that made it hard for her to perform the Gentle Fist.

After checking their elemental affinities, they learned that Neji had an Earth affinity, which was normal for the Hyuga and conformed to the standard Gentle Fist style.

But Hinata had a Water affinity, which caused her to have issues with the standard style. Their mother had the same affinity, so she began instructing Hinata on a non-standard style of the Gentle Fist that worked better with a Water affinity.

Before he channeled his chakra into the chakra paper that would tell him his elemental affinity, Carl wondered just what affinity he had if any, since he didn't remember filling in any jump document that would have given him an affinity. It would be horrible if he came to the Naruto world and ended up not having any elemental affinity at all!

Much to his relief, he found that when he channeled chakra into the paper, it crumbled to dust, indicating that he too had an Earth affinity. So he and Neji ended up practicing the standard Gentle Fist style, while Himari and Hinata practiced their non-standard Flowing Gentle Fist.

Once Hinata found the style that suited her body type, she started advancing at a rapid pace. She was determined to catch up to Neji and Carl as soon as she could.

They soon learned that Hinata excelled in one area beyond Neji. She was a natural at training her Byakugan, making incredibly rapid progress in her efforts to improve her Byakugan's skills. Especially in the distance her activated Byakugan could see, she was a natural.

The realization that Hinata was much better at the Byakugan training than him let Neji realize that he wasn't the big genius that certain scheming elders had been telling him he was through whispers just inside his hearing range.

While he was very good at the clan's taijutsu, he found that he wasn't the best in every area of training. But instead of discouraging Neji, that bit of self knowledge pushed him to train harder to try to keep up with Hinata's Byakugan training.

Carl found that he was an anomaly. He was excellent at all areas of their training. He figured he must have some amazing perks hiding in the depths of his mind, since everything he did came very easy to him. But instead of racing ahead, he kept himself at about the same pace as Neji and Hinata, since once again he didn't want to get a reputation as a "genius", or leave behind his sister and cousin.

He wouldn't become a ninja for about seven years anyway, so he had plenty of time to master all the basics before he would be going on missions. And having a solid foundation and mastery of the basics would ensure that he could more easily learn the advanced techniques.

After several weeks when he inquired once more of his father about the sealing arts, Carl learned that his father wouldn't let him start learning until he graduated from the Academy, at the very least. When Carl asked him why, he soon learned quite a bit about just how dangerous seals could be.

He had to endure a lecture and graphic descriptions of just how people have killed themselves by attempting to learn the sealing arts in the past. The only two branches of the sealing arts that had any amount of known stable matrices were storage seals and explosive tags.

And even with those two "relatively safe" fields, a handful of ninja die every year when they make a mistake on those seals when they weren't paying enough attention. Even though those two fields were relatively known and "safe", the sealing arts were still an exacting and dangerous topic of study that wasn't forgiving of mistakes.

A storage seal done wrong can turn a ninja inside out, shuck them out of their skin, or pull their lungs up out of their nose, among other horrors.

A faulty explosive note could easily destroy a moderately sized house, if it cascaded out of control. And that was the smaller version of an explosive seal. The larger explosive seals would level a large part of their clan compound in one go.

So despite his desire to learn the sealing arts and get the seal off Neji's forehead as soon as possible, it would be a long time until he could actually get started on the actual art. For the time being, he was assigned calligraphy work. Since his handwriting needed to be precise and accurate at all times when working with seals, he could only start building his foundation for now. And the only way to do that was to practice, practice, and practice his calligraphy even more.

Neji and Hinata got the whole danger lecture right alongside Carl, so they too were aware of how the project to get rid of the Caged Bird seal would be a long term one. Despite being depressed that there was no quick solution, Neji found himself comforted when he saw just how seriously Carl was taking his calligraphy practice to prepare himself for the project. It let him know how seriously his cousins were taking the matter, that Carl was so determined to master such a dangerous subject for his sake.

During the weeks and months of training and normal daily routine that followed the incident that uncovered one of the clan's elders as a traitor, one of the things that Carl wondered about was that his parents never mentioned his Warehouse again. They didn't ask him about it, nor did they inquire about looking through the many things they had seen stored that day in his dimensional pocket space.

Carl had no idea if there was some kind of psychic field around the Warehouse that made them forget about it, or if they just wanted to keep it as secret as possible by never mentioning it.

It didn't take a long time for Carl to realize that a Hyuga had to go to ridiculous efforts to find a bit of privacy in the clan, what with the whole clan having the ability to develop their X-ray eyes, and add on to that the skill of mouth reading that practically all ninja were adept at. So maybe they just didn't want to chance word of his Warehouse getting out by some guard "overhearing" them?

'Was overseeing a word that applied in this case? Over-snooping? Over-reading-lips doesn't even sound similar to the original phrase of overhearing that I was going for.' Carl shrugged off the random thought and refocused on the important topic: his Warehouse.

With thoughts of caution in mind at being spied on, Carl began testing the use of his magic and Someone Else's Problem spells, or SEP fields, to keep any Hyuga from peeking on him while he accessed his Warehouse.

On a scroll he wrote in large letters, "Hinata, if you can read this, lick your finger and stick it in Neji's ear."

With an SEP field around it, he hung the scroll in a very visible place in their study room and kept an eye on Neji and Hinata, to see if either of the two noticed the scroll.

While the Hyuga could easily look around without appearing to, he was sure that his sister and cousin would have some kind of reaction to seeing the scroll telling Hinata to give Neji a Wet Willy. Even if Hinata didn't give Neji a wet willy, she was bound to stare incredulously at the scroll if she did see it.

He got no reactions from that test or several others that he performed. He even set up some low level pranks while under an SEP field to test it further. Some of the arrogant and bullying main branch Hyuga ended up the butt of everyone's humor when they fell for some simple pranks.

One Hyuga ended up with eggs being smashed on their faces before flour was blown in his face. Another ended up accidentally dumping an entire salt container in their soup. And one really annoying guy didn't see the cellophane that was wrapped across his toilet seat until it was too late.

The arrogant Hyuga had to take an extra shower that day, much to Carl's amusement.

So with all the tests complete, Carl felt reasonably sure he could get into his Warehouse without being noticed by the other Hyuga and their cheat-like eyes.

Later that night, he set up an SEP field and entered his Warehouse.

The shelves were absolutely packed with storage boxes that he couldn't figure out how to open. So much stuff and he couldn't even look at his own property!

"Moving on." Carl sadly shook his head.

There were several large machines that he didn't have the slightest clue on how to boot up or what they did. One of them looked like a vending machine, but what did it vend? Why would he need a vending machine? This was supposed to be his stuff!

"Moving on." Carl shrugged in bafflement.

His house in the Warehouse was well stocked with food, movies, books, and games. His Book of Kelsor was on the bookshelf in the living room.

Looking in the kitchen, he thought his purchase of Basic Food for the warehouse would have got him something bland but filling. But his kitchen was filled to the brim with delicious foods. And there was his Root Beer Keg!

Carl had himself a couple of mugs of frosty cool delicious Root Beer. It was the best.

"Well, no real clues here. Moving on." Carl left the house with a mug of Root Beer in hand.

Looking around the warehouse he first found a door that led to a dojo. It was a well equipped dojo, with all kinds of equipment and training areas.

"But it's not like I lack a place to train at home." Carl surprised himself with how much he felt like the house he lived in at the Hyuga compound felt like a home. "Well, let's see what else is here. Moving on."

He then discovered a door to a farm. Looking around the farm at the crops and the animals on it, he shrugged. "What am I supposed to do, spend my time farming instead of training? Moving on."

Carl found a door leading to a farm that had some crops and various items made from animal parts around. But no clues about anything, and it was only a single boring farm.

"Moving on." Carl muttered as he left.

Carl didn't see the managing VI copy of the farm hand he had hired back in the Farmville world teleport in just after he left the Farm. The artificial farm hand looked around for Carl, but not finding him shrugged and teleported back to what he was doing before.

Carl next found an airlock that had a ship docked in a base, but none of the machines responded to him. It was a freaking space ship! Right there! And it didn't do anything but sit there!

"Moving on." Disappointed that he didn't know the trick to activate anything, he disconsolately left the space base.

A bit further on he found a museum of dinosaur bones. The huge T-Rex in the entrance hall was animated, scaring him at first when it moved.

"So cool." Carl drooled over the skeletal display and continued exploring. But after seeing how big the museum was, he decided he couldn't waste too much time there. It seemed like every dinosaur that ever lived had left behind a set of bones in that pace. "Moving on."

He then found a door leading to a cold storage room that had DNA samples from dinosaurs. The room looked exactly like the one in Jurassic Park that stored the Dino DNA. Since he couldn't do anything with it, he soon left the room after oohing and awing at it.

He then entered a door with the label "Hunting / Grazing Grounds". Carl soon discovered that it was an enormous land with dinosaurs and all kinds of animals running around. To be on the safe side, he didn't go exploring, sticking close to the hunting lodge where the door opened to. He didn't fancy getting in a fight or survival situation right at that moment.

The door with the label Dinosaur World made him wonder why he had two dinosaur lands. He peeked into the inside of the house that was set up for a very large animal. It was a bit intimidating, to be honest. He knew it had to be his, but he wasn't sure of the story behind it. After poking around a bit, he made his way back to the Warehouse, not wanting to get lost in the forested land outside the dinosaur house.

"Moving on." Carl muttered as he approached the last door that was labeled "Dragon Flight".

Upon initially entering, he saw he was in another enormous room, sized for creatures much larger than him. There were some futuristic looking equipment in one corner, as well as a more human sized desk.

Well, human sized but for someone the size of Andre the Giant. Looking at the big chair and desk, Carl wondered what it would be like to be so much bigger than everyone else. Could he intimidate people just by looming over them?

After poking around a bit in the enormous castle like building outside the entrance room and not finding anything, Carl shrugged and returned to his Warehouse.

"Well, that was less than enlightening." Carl muttered. "So all I really figured out was that I visited somewhere that gave me a farm, a futuristic space age world, a dinosaur world, and something to do with dragons. I can't even access any of the tech beyond the DVD player in my house."

"Well, even if it was a general waste of time right now, it was cool seeing some dinosaurs in the distance."

Carl shrugged at the experience and left his Warehouse behind to get some sleep. He was sure that at some point in the future he would regain his memories and feel really silly about this. But he was also excited at the hints of worlds he would "rediscover" once his memories came back.

XX

Before he knew it another three months had gone by and it was Carl and Hinata's birthday. The time seemed to pass pretty fast while he was sinking himself into training. Not watching the pot made his subjective sense of time wonky and let the water boil faster.

Carl had gotten up as usual on the morning of his birthday and prepared for his day when he froze in front of the mirror. While looking into his eyes in the mirror, memories suddenly burst into his mind.

A flood of memories of the Pokemon world ran through his mind. He remembered his life there, growing up with Claire and Clark, and getting Fiona. Meeting Rhona, and continuing on his training journey. Meeting more pokemon and training together. Talbot, Shenron, Selene, and Calibur joining his team as they worked to train up to being Legendary pokemon.

The innovations he and his father in that world worked on together. The social events his mother dragged him to.

Meeting Serena and hanging out. Going on dates with her, getting to know her, and eventually making love.

The confrontation with Lysandre and killing him with a bullet when he threatened to kill anyone who opposed him.

He remembered all his time in the Pokemon world.

'Huh, so that's what the vending machine is for.' Carl thought. 'My pokemon!'

After the flood of memories abated, Carl found himself still looking into the mirror at himself. He was now a Hyuga, but he remembered being a magic using hunter of vampires and demons in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer world, and now he had the memories of being a pokemon trainer in the Pokemon world.

"Carl, it's time to wake up." A voice called out from beyond his door.

"I'm up, Nuo." Carl automatically replied.

And just like that, with the normality of his daily routine with Nuo, Carl felt himself settle back into his body as Carl Hyuga. He didn't feel displaced, he didn't feel like he was in the wrong place, or lost in his memories. His mind was settled and he was ready for the day.

He finished dressing and joined his family at the breakfast table. Afterwards he, Hinata, and Neji went to train. Just because it was their birthday was no reason to slack.

They continued their usual heavy physical exertion, doing muscle building exercises, flexibility exercises, and stamina training. They had a large field that they ran lap after lap. There was only one way to build up their physical capabilities, and that was to train every day.

Carl had come to the conclusion that they could get away with training so hard everyday because of the amazing-ness that was Chakra. It healed them up quicker, helped them develop faster, and was just overall amazing for what it allowed them to do.

He was already thinking that chakra was just as amazing as the magic he had learned in the BtVS world, if in different ways than magic.

After their morning workout, Carl had a quick bath to clean up the sweat and dirt from rolling on the ground when he would get thrown by Neji or Hinata in their practice. They each took turns practicing moves, which included throws and redirecting forces. So they all took a lot of tumbles in the dirt.

Once he was cleaned up and arrived at the dining room, Carl settled down in his place. It looked like he was the first one to arrive.

With a bit of time on his hand while he waited, Carl began thinking through his new memories of his time in the Pokemon world. Looking at the training that he put his pokemon and himself through at that time made him laugh inside. He didn't know how such laid back training ever got them up to legendary status!

It must have been more due to the nature of Pokemon than it had to do with his skills and knowledge. In just a few years here in the Naruto world he had already learned so much about training and advancing his skills, it was unbelievable.

'Guess that's what comes of having a society of ninja that focus on nothing more than how to get stronger and more deadly for thousands of years.' Carl mused.

Carl heard Neji's footsteps approaching the dining room, which caused him to be briefly proud of his Tier 4 senses. Having those senses would definitely be a huge bonus for him among the ninja world. He knew how softly everyone walked, being ninja in training, but he could still hear their footsteps approaching.

A moment later, he heard Hinata's footsteps pattering as she speed walked toward the dining room.

'She must be hungry today.' Carl mused.

Neji's sedate footsteps and Hinata's hurried ones arrived at the same time, and they both took their places at the table. The three of them chatted while they waited for Hiashi, Himari, and Hanabi to join them for the meal.

Hinata was telling them how she looked in on Hanabi and seen the cute little baby crawling around with great energy. Hinata was quite excited to have a little sister, and was eagerly looking forward to being a big sister by teaching Hanabi.

Their mother arrived soon after with Hanabi, and settled down at her place at the table. The servants placed the food on the table shortly after.

"Your father was called away for a council meeting, so he won't be joining us for the meal." Himari explained Hiashi's absence when she saw the children looking around.

Silence then descended on the table except for the sounds of eating and Hanabi's gurgling from where she was laying on a mat next to Himari.

After the meal was eaten, and they were sipping their tea, Himari began asking the three of them how their training had been going. Hinata was the most active talker among the three, and she cheerfully shared the stories about how she was doing so much better in her combat skills now.

Carl would occasionally throw in a joking or teasing comment, while Neji seemed more content to simply soak in the atmosphere, only talking when he was answering questions. But Carl saw that Neji was simply a more taciturn personality and was enjoying his time with the closest thing he had to family left in this world.

"This afternoon's training is going to be changed up a bit. You will have a shortened combined Byakugan and scholastic training session, then you will get ready for the birthday party this evening. It won't be a big party, but some of the other clan leaders will show up with their heirs to keep up relations." Himari explained before the group left for the afternoon training.

While practicing his calligraphy, Carl was thinking back in his memories about birthdays. He realized that with their birthday today, it was coming up on birthday season. All the clan heirs seemed to have been born within six months of each other. He had memories of visiting the other clans for their heirs' birthdays to reciprocate the relationship they had with their clans.

Ino of the Yamanaka clan was a cute blonde chibi version of herself in his memories. She was very vivacious and got along well with the cheerful Hinata.

Choji of the Akimichi clan was already a big ball as a little kid, and he liked to eat. Carl knew he would eventually grow and build muscles that would make him look like a strong and solid man. But for now he was just a cute little rotund ball.

Kiba of the Inuzuka clan was a hyperactive kid that could barely sit still. On first meeting the kid had taken a big sniff of both Carl and Hinata, and decided he liked the two. Especially Hinata, which had caused little kid Carl to want to protect his sister from the weird dog boy.

Shikamaru of the Nara clan was already looking for ways to be lazy. His mother had to constantly prod and poke him to get him to be halfway social, which was just typical of the Nara.

Shino of the Aburame was a very logical minded kid who had a funny introduction. The kid was already wearing his signature shades, and greeted Carl and Hinata with, "Welcome to my party, it is good to have you here. Why? Because it is necessary for our clans to work together in order to be able to fulfill our duty to Konoha. I look forward to getting to know you."

Looking back on his memories of interacting with the Uchiha at Sasuke's birthday party, Carl could immediately see the tensions and competitiveness between the Uchiha and the Hyuga. They were the two largest clans in Konoha, and they each had an eye based bloodline. It would be stranger if there wasn't any amount of conflict between the two sides. But the Hyuga acted with stiff formality at the party, and the Uchiha acted like they had a stick up their butt.

Some might wonder how acting with stiff formality was any different from acting as if they had a stick up their butt, and Carl would cheerfully explain that he was a part of one group and not the other, hence the different words he used to describe similar behaviors.

They had also visited the Kurama clan for Yakumo's birthday celebration. Looking back on the memories, Carl wondered if there was anything he could do to help the sickly clan heiress.

From what he remembered of the Naruto show, Yakumo had some kind of split personality that was fueled by her incredible genjutsu (illusions) bloodline. Her illusions were so strong they could actually affect reality. Her alternate personality was malicious and caused destruction for its own sake and she even ended up killing her own parents in a fire, but thought it was caused by an assassination attempt on her life by the third Hokage because her power was too dangerous.

Carl knew all that was some time in her future, since the storyline had happened after Naruto had already become a ninja. So it probably happened sometime around the age of 12? 13? Maybe around there, but he wasn't sure.

There was a lot of uncertainty because while he had enjoyed the original show, he had never looked into all the background, timeline, and various issues that could fill in a lot of the gaps in his knowledge of what would happen.

He wondered if there was something he could do to help Yakumo overcome her problems before they became problems. Maybe some kind of magic ritual designed to keep her mind from forming split personalities? He wasn't sure if he could really do anything like that to help her, but he would keep an eye on the situation since he remembered her being a nice girl when he and Hinata met her at her birthday party.

And now that he was thinking of problems that he could maybe possibly prevent, the Uchiha Massacre popped up in Carl's mind. He knew that the Uchiha Massacre happened when Sasuke was still young. And he had the impression that it happened shortly after he started the academy, which meant it would happen when he was eight or nine, or around there.

'If the Uchiha massacre doesn't happen, then Sasuke won't turn into the big emo that he does in the show, and I probably won't dislike him as much as I do.' Carl mused while he continued copying scrolls to practice and perfect his calligraphy.

'And yet, realistically there's not much I can actually do to prevent the events leading up to the massacre.' Carl felt depressed about his powerlessness. 'The Uchiha are under heavy suspicion by the leadership of Konoha because of the Sharingan's ability to mesmerize and control the Nine-Tails Fox, which they think is the reason behind the Fox's attack five or so years ago.'

'And as a result of the heavy suspicion the Uchiha are under, they are feeling very aggrieved by what they feel is unwarranted suspicion and they started planning a coup to take over Konoha. One thing leads to another and Danzo Shimura takes Shisui's Sharingan eye that has the ability to hypnotize anyone to do what he wants, but only every several years can it actually be used, supposedly.'

'Then Danzo convinces Itachi that if the coup proceeds, every Uchiha will be killed, including Sasuke, and war will break out among the nations, causing mass suffering and death. So in order to save his brother and prevent war, Itachi massacres everyone in the Uchiha clan but Sasuke. Yeah, real smart there, Itachi.'

'And while all this is happening in the backrooms, here I am, just a talented five year old heir of the Hyuga clan. A rival clan to the Uchiha. Even if I could somehow convince my father to use his political connections to ease the heavy suspicion the Uchiha are under, I doubt that it would work. The Uchiha would just suspect that it was some kind of ploy by their biggest rivals to get them to lower their guard in preparation for an attack.'

'Not to mention that Danzo, who operates his own underground version of ANBU called ROOT is bound and determined to kill the Uchiha so he can take their Sharingan eyes to make himself more powerful. So even if I could pull a miracle out of my ass and somehow divert the Uchiha from the path they are on, Danzo would just cause some other incident to force the confrontation so he could harvest their eyes.'

Carl sighed a bit at being unable to figure out how to do anything about the upcoming rampant deaths.

'Well, even if I can't do anything about it, I can still work on gathering intel. With the party tonight, I can use my telepathy to pick up surface thoughts, at the very least. I'm going to have to be very cautious though. The Yamanaka are a clan known for their mind delving jutsu, so I'm sure the more accomplished ninja around have mental defenses in place. And since I don't know how their ninja mind defenses would go up against my magic, I'll have to be very cautious indeed.'

'Something else I have to keep in mind is that my memories seem to be coming back in chunks every three months. So I might have more skills available as the time of the Uchiha Massacre gets closer. So it's not really something I need to worry overly about just yet. I just need to be a ninja kid and train for now.'

"Carl!" Carl was feeling pretty settled about his decision when Hinata yelled in his ear, causing him to jump and completely ruin the scroll he was practicing his calligraphy on.

"Ow, Hinata!" Carl exclaimed as he rubbed his ear that was ringing. "What did you do that for?"

Hinata gave him an impish grin, laughing at his reaction.

"I called for you five times, and you weren't hearing me!" She pouted. "Was your calligraphy so interesting?"

"Uh. Yeah. I was in the zone and making good progress. So, what did you want?"

"Mother says it's time to get washed up and ready for the party. Come on, race you to the baths!" And Hinata was off like a shot, with Carl close behind.

Carl caught up with Hinata just as they arrived at their family's bathing rooms. After cleaning up together, he got dressed in his formal kimono that his mother laid out for him, and then went to find his parents in the large hall where the birthday celebration / social event would be held.

"Oh, my son is so cute!" Himari gushed when she saw Carl, embarrassing him as she pinched his cheeks.

"Mom!" Carl protested in vain. The pains of being a good looking kid. He was only saved from the torture when Hinata showed up, looking so cute that it enticed their mother away from Carl to hover over Hinata instead.

Carl could only roll his eyes when he saw the amused smirk on Neji's face at the horrible torment he had just gone through. His cousin had enjoyed his discomfort too much! He would definitely get him back later.

A short time later the guests began arriving for the party.

'Well, let's see what I can learn about the people I'll spend the next nine plus years with.' Carl thought, pumping himself up for the social event.