NARUTO 3

Carl and Hinata were standing with their parents at the reception line at the entrance to the banquet hall where their birthday celebration was being held in their clan compound. Guest after guest had already come through the line with gifts for the twins. A family of three blondes stepped through the door.

"Thank you for coming to our celebration Inoichi Yamanaka, Noriko Yamanaka, Ino Yamanaka." Carl politely greeted the blond father and daughter Ino's brown haired mother.

"Thank you for the gifts." Hinata politely said.

"Oh, that kimono looks so good on you, Hinata!" Ino said while bouncing all around Hinata to look at the kimono from all angles. "The color really suites you."

"Thank, you Ino. You too look wonderful in your dress." Hinata replied with a blush at being complimented so frankly.

Carl smiled on the inside at seeing Ino and Hinata interact. It obviously wasn't Ino's obsession with getting Sasuke to notice her that started her on the path of a fashionista. She apparently had that tendency almost from birth. She liked pretty things.

After exchanging a few more words, the Yamanakas passed by to join the rest of the party while Carl and his family, minus Hanabi who was too young, remained for a bit longer to greet the last of the guests.

"That's the last of the reserved guests." Himari commented. "Let's go mingle. I'm sure our children would like to spend time with their peers, dear."

"Be sure to maintain politeness, but enjoy yourselves. It is your party." Hiashi instructed before releasing them from their reception duties.

"Come on, Hinata. Let's go see what everyone is up to." Carl led the way, smiling at seeing his sister in such a good mood.

"Sounds good." Hinata also wanted meet with the kids their age and kept pace with him as he walked quickly.

The two five year olds made their way inside, dodging through the pack of adults who were chatting each other up. Carl found it funny that there were more adults invited to a couple of five year old's party than there were kids. Eh, politics.

When they entered the room the kids their age were at, Hinata was almost immediately grabbed by Ino and dragged off to where there were several girls, including Yakumo, to talk. Carl shook his head at the sight.

A moment later he chuckled in amusement at seeing the divide by gender, the girls in one corner and the guys in the other. The bunch of five year olds seemed to be quite honest in their likes and dislikes. And the things the little girls enjoyed talking about was annoying to the boys, and vice versa.

He casually walked over to where the guys were. He soon found that the conversation was being dominated by two boys while the rest were simply looking on in either amusement or worry for how strongly the two boys were arguing.

He walked over to the side where Shino, Shikamaru, and Choji were leaning against the wall while watching the argument going on between Sasuke and Kiba. A short time later, Neji came by and leaned against the wall near Carl.

He greeted the arrival of his cousin with a smile. He had really taken a liking to Neji now that his mind wasn't being poisoned by the schemers in their clan with that fate B.S. Being a part of a family had really changed his outlook and attitude, and he had responded by trying to become a good big brother.

"So, what's that argument all about?" Carl asked.

"Bothersome." Shikamaru mumbled, causing Carl to chuckle. He had expected the young boy to say 'troublesome', but apparently the 't' word was reserved for girls that annoyed him.

"Sasuke was bragging about his older brother being an amazing ninja." Choji supplied between bites of food that he had grabbed from the nearby buffet. "But apparently Kiba thought he wasn't giving enough credit to other ninja, especially the Inuzuka nin-animals, like his sister's three hounds. So they started arguing about which was cooler."

"It's a pointless argument. Why? Because we are all allies and require to work together if the hive is to survive." Shino deadpanned.

"You got a point there, Shino." Carl nodded at the boy. "Guess their pride and competitiveness is overcoming their reason."

"They should be more concerned with their own skills and training than bragging about their relative's abilities anyway." Neji offered his own two cents, which was generally accepted as a statement of truth by the group of boys.

Conversation lapsed a bit after that, Neji, Choji and Carl occasionally continued talking about food, snacks, and some of the training they did, with Shino and Shikamaru occasionally adding in a bit here and there while they watched and laughed about Kiba and Sasuke's continuing argument.

Both Shino and Shikamaru were generally not talkative individuals, but they seemed to feel comfortable enough to engage in conversation here and there when they didn't have to carry the load of conversation.

Eventually the arguing got a little too heated between Kiba and Sasuke, and their respective siblings had to step in to separate the two before the argument devolved into a fistfight.

It was pretty amusing to see Hana angrily bop Kiba on the noggin on one side and Itachi poking Sasuke between the eyes in annoyance on the other.

"Hey, guys! Want to play a game?" A cheerful Kiba asked while approaching Carl and the other guys, completely forgetting the argument he was just having with Sasuke moments ago, not to mention the chastisement from his sister.

Carl was amused to see such entertainment at his birthday party. While it wasn't anything especially impressive to watch an argument between two five year olds, for him it was seeing a group of fictional characters that he liked come to life in front of his eyes, to have so many of the ninja clan heirs here at his party and interacting together.

And especially seeing Sasuke act like such an excitable kid before his emo phase kicked in was amusing.

"Well, what kind of game are you thinking of, Kiba?" Carl asked the hyper boy.

"We can play ninja!" Kiba almost yelled. "Ow!" He then cried out from the bonk on the head he got from his sister, who was still standing behind him to keep an eye on him.

"Mom said no rough housing at other people's party." Hana Inuzuka sternly reminded her brother.

"Yeah, yeah. I got it." Kiba sullenly replied.

"We've got some other games that we can play." Carl interrupted. "We've got some throwing games, some board games, and some card games. Which one you guys want to do? You're invited too, Sasuke!" Carl called out, but the amazing pouting Uchiha just humphed at him and walked off.

Carl just shrugged. It wasn't like he could force the anti-social little brat to join them for fun.

The guys ended up playing one of the throwing games in a corner first, since that was the most active and Kiba kept bugging everyone to pick it until they gave in.

While hanging out with the guys, Carl kept one eye on Hinata, to make sure she wasn't being overwhelmed or bullied by the other girls. He was amused to see that Neji was doing the same thing. But he soon saw that she was doing fine and holding her own in the group of girls, and even making friends. His worry was for naught.

The difference between his Hinata's attitude and behavior compared to the one from the show still somewhat shocked him. Seeing Hinata cheerful and confident was the absolute opposite of what he expected, but he was glad that she hadn't had her confidence damaged by the scheming and despicable traitors of their family.

She was his sister and of course he didn't want her to have to go down that miserable route of being a nervous, unconfident wreck just because that was how the original plot had gone.

There were a number of other Hyuga that had been accomplices of the traitor Elder, and it was highly suspicious that he was able to accomplish everything on his own, but even Hiashi's investigations had not been able to discover any evidence that anyone else was involved in the plots.

Carl highly suspected that particular elder was set up as a fall guy. It didn't mean he wasn't guilty of what he was caught at. It just meant he was the cutout in the chain of evidence that would lead to the rest of them being caught.

And aside from any other traitorous Hyuga, there were quite a few ninja outside the family that had participated and helped him in his pans. But surprisingly enough they all turned up dead shortly after Hiashi began his investigation. That alone caused Carl to suspect there were more people involved in the whole conspiracy, like maybe Danzo.

But since there was no evidence, the investigation stalled. With no new evidence, things returned back to the status quo of before.

After another round of throwing lawn darts out in the yard, Carl looked around the party, happy in this life he had, and in this moment. He was bound to a Jump Chain that tore him out of every world he was in after a short 10 years.

He would have happily stayed in the BtVS world if he had been given the choice. He had found a group of friends and lovers that made his life complete. But he wasn't given any choice in the matter. And after that world, he knew he could have found happiness in the Pokemon world. At least if he could have brought everyone with him to that world so he wasn't leaving so many that he loved behind.

He guessed it would probably get easier to handle the memories of leaving them all behind the more batches of his memory he restored. But at least in this new life he had family here with him and new friends that he could get to know and have fun with.

He was just kind of sad that he couldn't have Naruto, Sakura, Tenten, and Lee here at his party too. Apparently they weren't part of the social caste that would get an invitation to an event like this.

'Note to self, find some time to go out to some parks with Neji and Hinata and see if we can find Naruto, Tenten, and Lee.' Carl thought to himself. 'Naruto especially could use a friend. I dunno if we can make friends with him early on before the Academy, but a little early help will make a big difference to him.'

Carl was thinking about how Naruto had a lot of potential and could make a really kick ass ninja, but no one seemed to teach him the basics or help him accomplish anything. Even just having a friend would let him know he wasn't alone in the world.

He's seen how big of a deal it was for Neji when he was returned to a good and loving support environment after living for nearly two years in a cold and friendless environment. And Naruto hadn't ever had someone like that in his life, except maybe the third Hokage and the Ichiraku ramen stand father daughter duo.

Carl figured if he could make friends with Naruto and include a bit of guidance and help from some friends early on, it would help Naruto come into his own a lot quicker than would originally happen. The early intervention may even help him avoid being the dense bonehead that a lack of teaching and social interaction while growing up caused him to be.

Of course Carl wasn't sure just how close to depicting the real person the show had come. There seemed to be a lot of pratfall type humor at Naruto's expense in the show, to showcase how much of a knucklehead he was, but that he powered through it with grit and determination, and finally made something of himself.

So while Carl realized that, for literary purposes, Naruto or Hinata's suffering led to a particular path of character development that added to the overall story, he felt that leaving them to walk a lonely and miserable path served no purpose for a real live person. Especially if that real live person was related to him, or was his future friend.

'Now that I think about it, there's a lot that I can do for Lee as well.' Carl thought. 'I'm sure my medbay can fix his undeveloped chakra coils. But I gotta get him to the medbay without letting anyone know about it, even him. Maybe some magic will help me there. Ah well. I'll keep it in mind for possible future plans.'

Rock Lee was an unfortunate soul at first glance. He wasn't able to actively mold enough chakra to do any jutsu. But he found a mentor in Might Guy and focused completely on Taijutsu, becoming a very strong combatant ninja purely through taijutsu.

'I wonder when it was that Lee met Might Guy? I really like the duo, as cheesy as they were with their bowl cuts, green spandex suits, and overdramatic cries about the Springtime of Youth. I wouldn't want to deprive him of having the amazing mentor in Guy that he did in the show.'

Eventually the party wound down, the kids that had come for Carl and Hinata's party were gathered up by their parents and left for their own homes, and it was time to go to bed for the Hyuga twins. They would be up early in the morning for training.

XX

With their successful party now complete, the Hyuga twins and cousin resumed their normal daily training routine.

Now that they were five years old, they were being officially introduced to more of the specifics of using chakra with the Gentle Fist style, rather than just the forms. They had sort of been cheating, since Neji had already been introducing to them the subject of using chakra to disable an enemy's chakra network over the past few months.

The Hyuga's martial arts style had two main components that made it such a devastating art. The first aspect of course tied into their Byakugan eyes. With specific training for their eyes they could clearly see the entire chakra network of their opponents. The second aspect of their martial art was attained through hard training, the ability to wield their chakra to attack the chakra network of their opponents.

Instead of doing physical damage, they were very good at attacking and blocking chakra passageways, which could lead to incapacitation or even death, depending on which pathways were blocked. Which is why their martial art was called the Gentle Fist, since they weren't focused on doing physical damage.

Being able to see the chakra pathways of their opponents had both offensive and defensive applications. Since they were able to see an opponent's chakra pathways, it was really hard to fool a Hyuga in a taijutsu match with feints or moves designed to confuse. They could also see the buildup of chakra leading to the use of jutsu, so catching a Hyuga off guard with silent or hand seal-less illusions or ninjutsu was very difficult.

And being able to see the flows of the opponent's chakra could allow the Hyuga to judge how and where the opponent was attacking so they could defend better. Some of the more skilled Hyuga could tell what kind of jutsu the opponent was about to cast based on the chakra movement alone, they had become so skilled in the Byakugan.

During their morning exercises, after the exhausting strength and endurance training, Carl and Hinata also began practicing their Gentle Fist skills against actual opponents, instead of simply going through the Katas they had been learning or attacking dummies.

As the weeks passed by, Carl was really sinking into his role as a big brother. His twin sister was lively and always tried to make their day a bit brighter, even in the midst of hard training. Carl made sure she got plenty of positive reinforcement so she wouldn't feel like she wasn't living up to some impossible ideal.

His younger sister Hanabi was adorably chubby in that way that all babies were. She wasn't even a year old so there was a limit to how interesting a conversationalist she was. But from what Carl had seen at his and Hinata's birthday party, he would take Hanabi over Sasuke as a conversation partner anytime. She was certainly a lot cuter than the Uchiha. And that had nothing to do with clan rivalry, or family bias. Nope, not at all.

So much was Carl sinking into the daily life of his ninja family that it came as a shock to him that he hadn't noticed another three months had passed and he received another batch of memories three months after his fifth birthday.

Just after waking in the morning, Carl remembered his visit from Spere 037 and his time in the Farmville world.

After the memories had been unlocked and he remembered all his time in that game-like world, Carl was left staring in the mirror once more.

'Well, that explains why I have the urge to keep a tiny portal to my Warehouse open at all times.' Carl thought. 'It lets my farms continue producing all the goods and products they do.'

At the call from Nuo that it was time to get up, Carl quickly finished getting ready for the day before leaving his rooms.

'Hmm. Maybe I should use a magic spell to keep anyone from paying attention to my room so I can go explore my Warehouse again. I can use the number of farms I have to figure out just how many worlds I've been to, 'cause it seems like every three months I'm getting a packet of memories. If that trend continues I can figure out when I'll get my pre-Naruto memories based on the number of worlds.'

Despite Carl's new memories and intentions to go look at his farms, he had training to do. When he arrived at the training ground and began his training, he so completely sank into the training that it was days before he thought about exploring his Warehouse once more.

So he popped in his Warehouse at night and quickly counted how many farms he had and figured out the number of worlds he had visited. Once he had that information, nothing really changed for him. He couldn't rush the recovery of his memories, he was enjoying growing up with his new family, and he had nothing pressing happening.

Carl decided that unless some emergency came up that he would simply wait until the memories revealed themselves in their own time. He was enjoying his life too much to care too much about it.

Because he was the clan heir, he didn't really have any needs he couldn't have met by a simple request so he felt no urgent need to go grab his farm resources for anything. He was also too young to go gallivanting around the world with his admittedly good skills for a five year old. He really needed to grow up more to be effective in the ninja world.

That was one thing that always blew his mind about having 8 year old chuunin or jonin ranked ninja. Even if those little kids were the smartest and most genius kids around, they were limited by their physical capabilities.

If they faced off against a similarly skilled, but adult opponent, the fact that they had shorter arms, and a shorter reach, would put them at a huge disadvantage in a fight. They would have to be much more skilled than their opponent to overcome the reach disadvantage. And since they were just several years old, it meant they didn't have the wealth of experience needed to develop that kind of skill.

By the time they did develop enough experience, they were already grown up.

'Huh, now that I think about it, that could explain some of Naruto's teacher, Kakashi's laziness. Supposedly he was fighting highly skilled opponents from when he was really young, which meant he had to struggle a lot to overcome that reach disadvantage. But with his physical growth, that meant that he was finally fighting on an even playing field, so it would probably have felt like his opponents were getting weaker as he grew older. And with how much weaker they felt, he didn't feel the need to push himself to learn and grow as much as he did when he was a kid.'

Carl thought about that idea for a while and shook his head in disgust. 'But just because he had all kinds of head trauma doesn't really excuse him for not being a good teacher. Even just being tardy all the time was a huge sign of disrespect. How did the Hokage tolerate that kind of insubordination?'

So overall, with how dangerous the ninja world was, and how he had all his needs provided for, including training resources, Carl felt no real need to fast track his life or rush things. He would enjoy this nice life while he could.

And so, when another three months passed, the memories of his time in the History's Strongest Disciple Kenichi world were unlocked.

His newly restored memories of his training with the Masters of Ryozanpaku restored to him the Ki senses he had developed in that world. Which made him aware of just how powerful his little five and a half year old body was, now that he had his memories restored of how to properly use his Ki and training.

Later that night after regaining his memories of the HSDK world, Carl couldn't wait any longer. He needed to train!

So he once more cast the SEP field that would prevent anyone from paying attention to any unusual happenings in his room and made his way inside his Warehouse. The Dojo that was attached to his Warehouse was too small and designed for disciples and expert level martial artists, not master or grand masters.

So he made his way to the Hunting / Grazing Grounds to find some large space so that he could really let loose with his skills and abilities.

He still stood by his decision to limit the skills he displayed in public to what Hinata and Neji were capable of. He still didn't want the attention getting labeled a "genius" would bring him. But now he felt the need to really stretch himself and push his training to the limits.

He felt somewhat like Might Guy and Rock Lee, those martial arts nuts. He needed a challenge!

"And if I can't get a challenge, then I will walk up the Hokage mountain on my hands, backwards, 500 times!" Carl said out loud from where he was standing in the hunting lodge looking out at the hunting grounds. He paused for a moment, contemplating what his imitation of Might Guy and Rock Lee sounded like. "Yeah, I'm not saying that kind of thing out loud again, even just to motivate myself."

Carl shook himself, getting rid of extraneous thoughts. He stepped out of the Hunting Lodge and into the world of dinosaurs. He had been too nervous to explore the Hunting / Grazing Grounds before because he was afraid that even with his new ninja skills that he wouldn't be able to handle some of the dinosaurs. But now he had at least a master's skills in martial arts, and he didn't think he would have any problems with any normal beast, even if they were giant lizards.

Keeping his Byakugan up so he wouldn't be taken by surprise by any ambushes, Carl began running through the forest, really pushing his speed and endurance. He would pause every now and again to practice his various martial skills, blasting apart trees and boulders here and there.

He spent almost the whole night pushing himself, and dragged himself back to his room in the morning before Nuo would come to wake him for the regular day of training.

That evening when he was once more in his room, Carl spent a few hours sleeping before he woke and entered the Warehouse for training. Even with his master martial artist's physique he needed at least some sleep.

He then entered the Hunting / Grazing Grounds once more, and was surprised to see that the land that he had torn up had already healed up and was whole once more.

"Oh, this is even better!" Carl grinned at his new training ground. "I don't even have to clean up after myself."

During the day he continued his ninja training. And at night Carl added at least four hours of training a night to his schedule. He enjoyed his night training where he wouldn't hold back at all as he pushed himself while running around and fighting with dinosaurs.

But even with his great powers and skills, there were some areas of the Hunting Grounds that he avoided. Some of those huge beasts were powerful, and Carl wanted nothing to do with them right now. He figured when he gained some more memories, they wouldn't seem so terrifying as they were now.

Three months later he regained his SAO memories.

With his new memories and looking at what he knew about Konoha, it seems he wouldn't have a chance anytime soon to introduce his virtual reality technology from the World Seed to the Naruto world. With how paranoid ninjas were, he couldn't see them embracing it unless they could understand how it worked and be sure it was safe.

And it would take quite a long time explaining just where he got the technology, let alone teaching them the scientific knowledge they would need to understand it.

So, no thanks. It was better to just leave that little bit of tech in storage for now to avoid being sent to T&I, Torture and Investigation.

So he continued his routines of training.

On his and Hinata's 6th birthday, he recovered his memories of the Monopoly Gauntlet. Carl spent an extra amount of time that night blowing stuff up to work out the resulting anger he had lingering in his mind from so vividly remembering that…annoyance.

But since the day was his and his twin's birthday, he had to hold on for the entire day before he got a chance to get away at night and do some stress relief.

Carl thought about getting Hinata a feather dragon from SAO as a pet for her birthday present. On the one hand, he would probably have to answer questions about where it came from. He might be able to get away with "found it". Maybe.

But on the other hand, his sister would like it a lot.

On the third hand, she was going to be an active ninja, so the feathered dragon would have to be useful in some capacity for a ninja to warrant taking it with her.

And on the other other hand, it would probably be targeted by ninjas if she brought her pet out into the field. Leaving the dragon home alone without her wasn't really an option, since the feather dragons refused to be left behind for too long. Which would happen on long missions.

After tossing the idea back and forth in his mind for three months, Carl finally decided to say "Screw it". He gave Hinata the feather dragon as a pet. It should be fine as long as he doesn't produce anymore of them. And if something bad happens to her pet, then she'll have to deal with those feelings. She was training to be a ninja, after all. It's not exactly an easy life.

Hinata was incredibly happy about her cute present, and became the envy of all the other girls at the party when they saw how cute the little feathered dragon was.

And Carl didn't even get sent to T&I for "finding" some random flying beast and giving it to his sister as a present. Being a 6 year old member of a clan was great for getting away with things under the very noses of the ninja of Konoha!

He knew there were limits to what he could get away with, but there was no way someone would make a big deal about one little insignificant pet. The ninja world was full of stranger things. Heck, some of the ninjas had summons contracts with beasts that were 10 stories tall. A little feather dragon was nothing.

Three months after his 6th birthday, Carl recovered his memories from the Harry Potter world.

"Rover?" Carl called out, hoping to see his Phoenix familiar show up, but he was disappointed when nothing happened.

'Damn, what happened to Rover?!' Carl thought in worry. His memories of the Monopoly Gauntlet didn't include anything after he finished the game, but now he remembered the fun little pewter dog that turned into his Phoenix familiar. And Rover wasn't anywhere around.

Even when he spent the whole night looking around his Warehouse, he didn't find anything to tell him just what happened to his Phoenix.

"Dammit, I really should have kept some kind of written journal." Carl lamented just before exiting the Warehouse to start his day. "Or maybe leave a clue to myself just what the password for the computer was."

Even though he had found plenty of computers in the Warehouse, including the one in the Space Station, he hadn't been able to access them. If he didn't have the memory of the password, how could he possibly guess what he set the password as?

Carl resigned himself to waiting for the rest of his memories to be recovered before he found all the answers.

Now that they were a bit older at 6 years old, Carl and Hinata's parents agreed to let them meet with their friends for some "play dates" and go to the public parks. Since they were meeting up with Ino on the public playgrounds, it was inevitable that Shikamaru and Choji showed up too, since the three's parents were such good friends.

And while Neji's life had changed greatly and he was no longer on the path to becoming a fate obsessed emo like he was before, he declined the invitation to join Carl and Hinata at the park. He only had a year left until he started the academy and he wanted to be as prepared as he could be for it in the time remaining.

So Carl and Hinata were escorted by their guards Nuo and Ko to the park once or twice a week for a few hours to spend time with the other clan heirs that were their friends.

From the first day when they arrived at the park, Carl was somewhat excited because he knew there was a possibility to meet the rest of the cast of young future ninja at the park. Sakura, Lee, Tenten, and Naruto were the ones he was especially interested in meeting.

Carl's excitement to be allowed to go out and do something ironically helped him act more like a kid, similar to how excited Hinata was to get to go out and do some fun things with the friends they had made.

After the several worlds that Carl had gone to, that he had memories of at any rate, he had somewhat become inured to the novelty of interacting with fictional characters come to life. So while he may not act like a super excited fanboy to finally be meeting more of the key characters of the Naruto story, he was still excited to be able to go out and start interacting with his current peers.

So when he and Hinata arrived at the park to see a bunch of scenes playing out from the story, Carl's smirk grew even bigger. It was fun to see it playing out in real life in front of him.

Over in one corner of the park Shikamaru and Choji were standing among a bunch of boys that were about to "play ninja". Carl had no idea what the game consisted of, except picking teams was apparently part of it.

In the other corner of the park Carl saw Ino confronting a group of girls that appeared to be making fun of a pink haired girl's forehead. The pink haired girl was Sakura, and she was standing meekly behind Ino. A far cry from her aggressive and forward personality of later years.

'Well, if a lively and carefree girl like Hinata can be ground down into a timid mouse, then a timid mouse like Sakura is early in life can be bolstered up into a confident young woman.' Carl reflected momentarily.

And in a final corner of the park, Carl saw the blonde head and orange jumpsuit of Naruto, sadly looking on while the other kids played without him. All the other kids were very obvious in how they shunned Naruto.

"Why don't you go join Ino and her friend there, Hinata? It looks like they could use some company." Carl suggested.

"Okay." Hinata agreed after a moment of frowning thought while looking at the situation. "I'll meet back up with you in a bit, okay brother?"

"Sounds good." Carl replied to her back as she jogged over to join Ino and Sakura. Carl turned his attention back over to see Shikamaru and Choji walking away from the group of boys that were playing ninja. None of them had wanted to have Choji on their team because he was big and not sneaky enough, so they claimed. So Shikamaru had declined playing with them to hang out with Choji.

Carl made his way over to the corner where a sad looking blonde was sitting alone on a swing. Now if he could only come up with a clever means of endearing himself to the blond and making friends.

"Hi, I'm Carl. Wanna hang out?"

Eh, he was a six year old. He didn't have to be subtle. He could go with blunt and straightforward.

"Are you talking to me?" A look of disbelief appeared on the blonde's face as he pointed at his own face with his finger. Carl chuckled a bit inside; he didn't think anyone would actually react by pointing at themselves like that outside of a cartoon. Guess he was proven wrong.

"Yeah, you look like you could use a friend." Carl shrugged as he sat on the swing that was next to the one Naruto was sitting on. "So, you wanna hang out?" He repeated his question.

"Sure! Whachu wanna do?" The blonde jumped up in excitement, but then slumped a bit later. "I don't think anyone would let us join their game…"

"Eh, don't worry about those bunch of wierdos." Carl shrugged as he got up from the swing, ignoring Naruto's muttered 'wierdos…?' question.

"Come on, let me introduce you to a couple friends I met at my birthday party a while back. They were pretty laid back, so it'll be fine." Carl finished with assurance when he saw the hesitation on Naruto's face.

"Okay…" The blonde muttered as he followed Carl.

He began leading Naruto over to where he had seen Shikamaru and Choji going, a small hill in another corner of the field.

"That's my sister Hinata." Carl pointed out where Hinata, Ino, and Sakura were. "She's the nice one with the black hair, she's pretty good with plants and medicine. The blonde one is Ino. She's kind of excitable and likes flowers and fashion, but she's fun. I don't know the pink haired one yet, though. If you ever see my sister anywhere else, go ahead and introduce yourself and say hi. Mention that you're my friend and she should be friendly enough." Carl threw out as they marched off.

"Okay…" Carl could tell from the confused but hopeful look on Naruto's face that he was having a hard time believing that this was actually happening.

"Hey, Choji! Shikamaru! How are you guys?" Carl sat down next to the two kids that were simply eating chips and watching clouds from the little hill they were on. He pulled out some snacks to share among the group of four, motioning Naruto to sit down next to him as he handed over some snacks for him.

"Hey." Shikamaru was too lazy to even look up, since he could tell who was greeting him from the voice.

"Hi, Carl. Who is your friend?" Choji asked between handfuls of chips.

"Oh, this is, you know, I never asked for your name?" Carl turned to Naruto, not wanting to make it seem weird that he already knew the kid's name without being introduced. Naruto had a dumbfounded and disbelieving look on his face as he looked down at the box of pocky in his hands. If even a strange one like Itachi liked the things, they must be alright.

"Hi, my name is Naruko Uzumaki! It's good to meet you!" The blonde finally stated cheerfully while looking a little nervous about whether or not he would be accepted.

Carl mind froze like a blue screen for a moment. 'Did he say Naruko, not Naruto?' Carl thought. 'But if it's Naruko, then that probably means that he's a she.'

Carl saw that the three were chatting just fine and kept an ear out, occasionally throwing in his own comments about his daily life and training, but most of his focus was on observing Naruko.

And without the preconceptions in his mind that it was a boy named Naruto, he soon spotted the signs that it was indeed a girl named Naruko in front of him.

'What the hell is going on here? I guess I'm in some alternate version of the world where Naruto isn't a boy but a girl?'

Carl desperately struggled to keep himself acting normal and conversing with the three new friends. But inside he was worried. If this one fundamental fact of Naruto – no, Naruko's gender was different, then what else was different about this world?

If even the basic information about the world was so very, very different from what he knew, he couldn't trust any of the information he had to be accurate.

"So, you're saying that your mom is the scary one in your family, and that she gets after you worse than your dad, who just likes being lazy?" Naruko fell back on her back, laughing uproariously, but with a tinge of envy that Carl could see.

"Women are troublesome." Shikamaru replied while on his back.

Carl snorted in laughter when he saw Naruko stiffen up in outrage.

"What, you think I'm 'troublesome' too?" Naruko challenged Shikamaru while Choji simply watched like he was at a tennis match.

"Let's just say that Shikamaru here finds even the effort needed to fork food into his mouth as bothersome. Girls like to yell at him because he's so lazy, so that's why he finds them troublesome." Carl interjected to break up the incoming fight.

Naruko paused with her mouth open. She was about to yell some more at Shikamaru when Carl's words caused her to visualize Shikamaru with his head down on the table next to a fork, bitterly complaining that it wasn't doing its job to feed him. The odd image caused her to burst out laughing.

After Naruko explained the thought she had, Carl and Choji joined her a moment later in laughing at Shikamaru's expense.

"Forks are bothersome, they don't do the work for me." Instead of getting offended, Shikamaru ran with the joke, the corners of his mouth twitching as he fought the grin that was trying to materialize on his face while he continued staring up at the clouds.

The four of them continued to chat and joke around for a couple hours more before it was time for Carl, Shikamaru, and Choji to return to their homes for dinner.

As they were leaving after saying their farewells, Carl could see how glum Naruko looked to have her first friends ever leaving. She seemed to want to grasp on and never let go of the nice feelings she had for those short few hours. Since all she had to look forward to was going home to an empty house with graffiti proclaiming her a demon, it wasn't any wonder that she was looking glum.

"Hey, Naruko? Would you like to come visit me and Hinata for dinner?" Carl asked impulsively. Seeing any kid that glum touched his heartstrings. He didn't like the idea that she was living on her own at 6 years old, even if she had the Hokage to look out for her. Well, mostly look out for her. He was a busy man, being the Hokage.

Assuming any of his meta-knowledge applied to this alternate world he found himself in and the Hokage actually cared for her. Which was a big "If" at this point.

"You mean it, Carl?" Naruko looked uncertainly at him. Carl nodded affirmatively. "I dunno. Adults don't seem to like me too much, are you sure it's okay?"

"I wouldn't have offered if I wasn't sure." Carl replied, only having firmed up his resolve that it would be fine when he said the words. He didn't want to break the building hope in the little girl's eyes. "Come on, I want to introduce you to my twin sister, Hinata."

Carl soon found Hinata sitting with Ino and Sakura over by the balance beams and made his way over with his orange clad friend following along behind him.

"Hey, Hinata. Ino, good to see you again." Carl said as he approached. "This is my new friend, Naruko Uzumaki." Carl introduced them to each other, then turned to the pink haired girl. "And I'm afraid I don't know our new friend…?"

"Oh, this is our friend, Sakura Haruno." Ino introduced the girl.

"Nice to meet you, Carl, Naruko." Sakura nervously greeted them. It looked like it was a mix of her not being very confident, mixed with a bit of caution against Naruko. It looked to Carl like her parents or someone had warned her against being friends with Naruko.

"So, did you girls have fun today?" Carl casually asked as he jumped up on one of the beams, looking over the girls as he balanced on one foot and casually spinning around.

"It was fun, brother. I made a new friend in Sakura here. She's very smart! And Ino is great too! She knows the most amazing things about flowers, since that's what her family does." Hinata then cheerfully told Carl about the confrontation with the other mean girls, and how Ino stuck up for Sakura.

"That's great that you ran off those nasty, dumb girls." Carl offered to Ino, while also smiling at little Sakura. "It wouldn't do to have you argue with the dumb ones, Sakura. They are certainly not worth your time."

He was amused by the bashful look Sakura had. It was very different from the loud and forward version of her later in the show.

"So Ino's knowledge of plants is a good match to talk with you about the medicinal pastes you and mom make? That's great!" Carl agreed. "And I always like meeting smart people to hang out with. It makes it much more fun to learn together! So, we're all friends, now, yeah? We look out for each other and fight off the bullies together!" He proclaimed.

Looking down at Ino and Sakura, Carl noticed their cheeks were pink from embarrassment. Sakura was a mix of having her embarrassing moment being retold and also being praised for her good qualities. Ino for having her actions portrayed in such a heroic light.

"That's awesome!" Naruko shouted, caught up in the moment. "If you ever need someone to back you up again against those jerks, I'll be there!" Naruko, caught up in the moment and desperately wanting more friends, grabbed Sakura and Ino's hand when she fervently promised them she would fight on their side.

Carl chuckled at the sight, having seen that Naruko was riding an emotional high and was swept away in all the positive feelings she had experienced today. In order for it not to turn awkward, Carl moved forward and placed his hand on the group's hands too. Hinata, seeing what Carl was doing, didn't even need a prompt from him to join in and add her hands to the pile.

"Well, since we're all friends, then it's all for one and one for all!" Carl announced in an overly dramatic voice. "If anyone attacks any one of us, then we're all going to fight them!"

And after a bit of encouragement, he got all four girls to repeat the "All for one, one for all" phrase. He was pretty sure they never heard of the Three Musketeers around here, but even if they had, he was ripping off their catch phrase regardless. It was so succinct and useful, he couldn't not make use of it.

After chatting for a bit more to let the four girls get to know each other, they went their separate ways with promises to meet up in the park again in a few days.

After Ino and Sakura left, Carl, Hinata, and Naruko made their way out of the park and back towards their clan housing. Nuo and Ko suddenly appeared behind the group of three just as they exited the park. Eh, ninjas…

"Where did you come from?!"

The way that Naruko jumped and freaked out at the way that the two Hyuga guards showed up out of nowhere was quite amusing. The way that Ko looked at Naruko like she was a bug wasn't so amusing. Nuo kept a more neutral face, but he didn't look happy with her presence either.

"Relax, Naruko. These are Nuo and Ko, part of their duties are to escort us around to make sure we don't get in trouble." Carl explained.

"It's okay, Naruko. You're our guest, so they won't bother you." Hinata smiled and took Naruko's hand to calm her down.

The fact that Naruko was so jumpy and nervous around adults made Carl think that this must be one of those worlds where Naruto…Naruko wasn't treated particularly well.

'Man, it's still hard to get used to the differences of this world having a female Naruto.' Carl muttered in his mind.

"Let's go, dinner waits for no man." Carl announced as he strode forth, manfully ignoring his sister's question of wondering where the man was, which caused Naruko to burst into laughter. With his man dignity he manfully ignored the joke at his expense. He was a man, after all.

And he definitely didn't mutter anything along the lines of 'I'll show you a man!'

Cause yeah, he was still only six years old.

They soon arrived home. Carl casually made sure he was on one side of Naruko while Hinata was on the other side. They had noticed how differently the adults around Konoha looked at her, and they were trying to give her emotional support. That or be in place to grab her if she tried to run away from them due to nerves.

They made a trip to the baths first to clean up before dinner. One of the things that Carl had to adjust to in this world was that his family had a family bath that they all used together if they were bathing at the same time. It wasn't exactly public bathing, since it seemed to go by family units. But getting used to bathing with his sisters, mother, and father had taken a bit of time.

Carl assumed the Hyuga's lack of concern over seeing each other naked had a lot to do with their eyes. With a small application of chakra, everyone looked naked to the Hyuga.

Carl wondered if Superman had that problem…

But Naruko wasn't used to the semi-public bathing, so Carl remained outside while Hinata pulled her inside the baths. Carl had a servant bring an extra kimono that would fit Naruko so they could clean her orange overalls while they ate.

'Seriously, the Hokage isn't exactly doing a great job if he's forcing Naruko to run around in this orange monstrosity.' Carl thought in his mind when he handed off the offending clothes after Hinata and Naruko entered the baths.

The squawks and squeals from Naruko, while amusing to Carl, made him wonder if anyone had ever sat her down and explained how and why to bathe properly, or if the Hokage and the people of Konoha had simply let/forced her to run wild and learn everything on her own. Which was no way to raise a kid.

Once the girls came out of the baths, Carl took his turn while Hinata took charge of Naruko. As he sluiced the water over his body to rinse off the soap, he couldn't help but chuckle at the oddity of his life and position in this world as the Hyuga heir.

With a chuckle, he dried off and got dressed in his clean clothes and made his way to the dining room.

"…so, yeah I mostly hang around the edges of the forest, but today I was passing by the park when Carl came right up and bluntly told me we'd be friends, then dragged me off to meet the laziest boy I ever met and another boy who really likes snacks." Naruto was narrating their day to Himari when Carl arrived.

Carl rolled his eyes. Judging by the looks his mother and Hinata were sending his way, he was going to get teased for a while over his impulsive actions where he basically shanghaied Naruko as his friend.

"But it was a lot of fun." Naruko continued. "Then I met Hinata, and Ino and Sakura, and we got along great! It was an amazing day." She finished with a smile and a sigh.

Carl was pretty happy that it seemed his kind mother had a knack for bringing Naruko out of her shell around adults. Even his father had an amused air about him while silently listening to the story while sipping a cup of sake.

Carl took his place between his father and Neji at the table, and soon the food was placed on the table by the servants. Naruko seemed a bit intimidated by the food and the family's manners at first. Cute little one and a half year old Hanabi sat next to their mother as she was fed. So Hinata, who was next to Naruko, whispered explanations of the food, the way they usually eat, and other such things to help Naruko not to feel so awkward around them.

Once the meal was finished, Carl noticed the little nudge that Himari gave to Hiashi. His parents stared at each other for a moment, before his father sighed in resignation. He then turned to Naruko.

"Naruko, you're welcome to stay the night, if you wish." Hiashi offered in his stoic way.

"In fact, we insist. You can sleep in Hinata's room with her." Himari jumped in before Naruko could reject the offer.

"You…you really want me to stay the night?" Naruko had a mess of emotions fighting their way across her face. Disbelief being prominent. No one had ever been so kind to her before.

"Yes, we would love to have you stay over." Himari offered with a gentle and kind smile.

No one was prepared for the tears that started falling from Naruko's face as she began bawling. Himari moved over and hugged the girl, while Hinata patted her back. Hanabi followed the example of her older sister and walked over to pat her back. The caring concern just caused Naruko to cry even more.

Carl, Nejii, and Hiashi pretended to be furniture while the women got the emotional things taken care of. Very stoic furniture.

When he made his impulsive invitation to Naruko, Carl had no idea it would lead to such a scene. But when he thought about it, it made sense. Someone who had lived all their life with the hate and disdain of everyone around them would be hard pressed to remain steady when they finally found an island of kindness to rest in.

Naruko ended up crying herself to sleep, even though it was still early. His mother and Hinata took her to Hinata's room to put her to bed, while Carl picked up Hanabi and followed along. His father left to take care of more paperwork for the clan, while Neji retired to his room to start his Byakugan training before going sleep.

Once Naruko was placed in the bedding in Hinata's room, Himari took Hanabi and left to get her ready for bed. Carl and Hinata moved next door to Carl's room to do their evening Byakugan practice.

"Why did Naruko react like that, Carl?" Hinata broke the silence after a while.

"You remember how the adults on the streets were looking at her when we were coming back home?"

"They looked at her like they hated her." Hinata frowned as she thought back. "Even Ko and Nuo didn't seem to like her."

"Yes, exactly." Carl nodded. "I don't know why, but it seems like a lot of people really don't like her for some reason. It doesn't really make sense, cause she's a nice girl. But if all she ever sees is hatred or indifference in everyone's eyes all the time, being suddenly confronted with kindness so unexpectedly can really touch her. The warmth of kindness is something she is unused to feeling. Since it was so unexpected, it slipped past the guard that she usually keeps up against everyone. It's kind of similar to how Neji reacted when we welcomed him back into the family, only more so."

"Hmm." Hinata thought about it for some time while Carl resumed his practice. "We shouldn't let her go back to her previous life. No one should live like that here in Konoha." Hinata firmly declared.

"I agree." Carl said, looking over and through the wall with his Byakugan into the room that Naruko was sleeping in. "She definitely doesn't deserve to be treated like she has been. She deserves a better life."

Carl was thinking of how the Nine-Tail Fox had rampaged in Konoha a bit more than six years ago, killing many ninja and citizens of Konoha. How Naruko's father, the Fourth Hokage, gave his life to seal the fox inside her so it wouldn't continue its massacre. He thought about how her mother and father protected her from being impaled by one of the Fox's claws just before it was sealed, and how they protected her with their dying breaths.

And as a result, she grew up without parents in a village that couldn't differentiate between her and the Fox. How they hated Naruko because she was the thing they could focus their anger on for the Fox's rampage and death.

If the villagers truly thought she was the Nine-Tail Fox, the last thing they should be doing was abusing her. Provoking a demon fox wasn't the smartest thing to do. So they probably just used it as an excuse to let out their horrible behavior and feel superior to someone who couldn't fight back.

And if they truly trusted their hero, the Fourth Hokage, then they should trust that he did his sealing work just fine and that Naruko was just a kid who was the jail for the Fox.

But people were dumb, panicky animals. There seemed to be no escape from that trope even in alternate universes.

Coming out of his thoughts, and retracting his gaze from looking at the little girl sleeping in the next room, Carl then ignored the smirk his twin sister was giving him as he resumed his Byakugan practice. He didn't want to know what caused that expression to appear on her face. His twin was just too mischievous sometimes, loving to tease him for the oddest things.