"Er, Hokage-sama, " interrupted Young Iruka, "I don't mean to barge in on you while you're paraphrasing me but could you say my adult self instead. It sounds kind of strange having to hear my past self referred to my present self." asked, Young Iruka in a plea to his village elder leader.

Sarutobi sighed, and smoothed a hand over his face wearily,"Chibi, what other way can I explained it without saying you, to describe both my teacher and you, his child self image."

Iruka, "Well, I suppose your way makes more sense-"

Sarutobi, "Hmph, fine, I'll try it your way than."

"Hokage-sama?" Young Iruka titlted his head up, lips parted in an "O" and a bit taken a back by the grief pouring from the ancient leaders voice. He stared mournful eyes at his Hokage for causing such a russ, "I'm sorry, I just-"

"It's very understanable, chibi but please bare with me. I am, after all, just an old man on his last leg," joked the Hokage.

"Huh?!" reacted Iruka, startled by the badly phrased joke.

"Youth's these days," shook the Hokage's head, a small curve to his lips, "but let's see if I got this correct so far on what you've told me. If I am mistaken, please speak up and I'll correct myself. Does this sound good to you, chibi?" inquired the Third.

Iruka nodded and a waited for the results. He was a bit nervous by what will become of him but was glad he was standing in the Hokage's office than lying dead and chopped up in the forest; since he couldn't possibly see any good use of a kid to an enemy soldier in his abduction scheme.

"While my teacher was sent out on duty, " began the Hokage thoughtfully, "he was surprised-attacked by an enemy ninja, whom performed a technique that separated you, his inner half from his original self and afterwards, to both the user and my teacher, you appeared, while Iruka, my teacher, was put under a spell that compromised him and that's how he became this ninja's possession."

"Uh, more or less, Hokage-sama, Sir. " agreed Iruka.

"- and because you were too powerless to do anything, which you were, your best defense was to retreat and get as far as you could to escape capture. You headed towards the village and came to me."

Iruka, "... That's about right."

"Hmm,..." The Third stroked his white beard thoughtfully and stared sympathically at Iruka.

Iruka locked onto the Hokages gaze and began to fidget, especially when the old man's expression turned steeper while he remained lost in his collective thinking about the situation. In return of his nervousness, Iruka stupidly confined in a thought that had been eating at him since his hasty trip back to the village, "Uh Lord Hokage,..."

"Yes, chibi," replied the Hokage, still reflecting. Absent-mindly, he took a puff of his tobacco pipe and then lowered his chin to his chest. His sedge hat came down over his eyes and masked his troubled expression, so not to upset the boy any further.

"Do you think this will be permanent?," asked Iruka, uneasily. He emphasized his question by pointing his thumb to himself of his status and lowered his eyes in self-doubt. He concluded that if that wasn't the case, would he disappear from existence if something was to happen to him and what would happen of his adult self? Would he be altered and not remember him at all,,....

Disquieted by the thought, Iruka dropped his hand away and hung it back by his side. He stared down at the green floor tiles of the Hokage's room and resolved that he would think about that when it became a issue if it came up. Instead, he gathered the nerve to ask the question that was really bothering him.

How could he put it, he thought, at a loss. He lifted his eyes, starring defiantly yet helplessly at the Hokage and asked, "No, that's not it. What I really wanted to say is, do you think my adult self and I will ever be our former selve's again? As a whole person." He finished.

Don't get him wrong. He thought it was cool he materialized but then, he also felt out of place. You know, like the past being dropped into the future unannounced with strings attached and then there was,... the memories of his adult self.

Some of them were intimate and some were one's he wish he didn't see at all. He seemed to gain them all. The good and bad to his chargin. In a way, he supposed it gave him an edge in this time but everything he himself knew of, stopped when he was just entering puberty, so it was kind of hard for him to differenate between the shared memories when they merged together.

At his age, which he was currently now, 12, he knew Naruto as an infant still in a crib but his adult self knew Naruto growing up and the attachment he felt towards him. For him, he remembered the pain of losing both his parents from the nine-tails incident and the loneliness of growing up alone. It was fresh for him unlike his adult self, whom seemed to have buried that hurt.

Would he have to keep himself a secret? What would Hokage-sama say to the others... He wondered if he would be forced to live a lie, change his name, go through the academy a second time for appearance sake, even though he retained all his skills and his adult selves to boot. He just couldn't contend with that, if it was the scape goat ticket. Once was enough before his existence started to fade and his adult self took over. But still, he did want to have a chance to exist. Maybe experience trials his adult self had, while he himself just remained a sore memory. One where his adult self thought on the lines where he should be blotted out, because of the the mental anguish and failure he seemed to bring down on their family name by his helplessness in not improving the situation while harvesting loneliness by the death of his parents.

Saddened by this realization, Iruka clenched his fist tight and fought back tears of self-loathe.

"..." The Hokage remained wordless, not knowing how to reply back to that. He was at a loss, really. He took his trusting pipe and puffed at it, slumping his shoulders down in defeat. He placed his arm behind his lower back, and closed his wrinkled hand into a tight fist; his distress at the boys conflictment, rising. He looked up sharply, caught off guard as Iruka continued, the boy's own shoulders tense and stiff like his own.

Iruka, "Or is there a possibility that I'll remain this way and grow up as I would if I was a normal part of this time. And if that does occurr, what will happen to my adult self?" The Hokage remained impassive by the boy's concerns, "As it is now, we're split up by the technique that was cast out. I, as his inner child or when I was 12 and he, his grown up self, his true age, 25. I would exist still, but spiritually inside of him but now, from that man's technique, I also physically exist in this time."

Sarutobi, "..."

Iruka, "What I'm trying to say, won't this cause some type of time conflict?"

"How do you mean, chibi?" asked the Hokage, puzzled.

Iruka, "It's not that I don't like being able to speak to you but I do know for a fact that there can't be two of us in the same time frame."

The Hokage brow twisted in sorrow. The solution that Iruka was seeking was easy. As soon as the technique is unravelled, his teacher will be back as "one" and there won't be any more need to be concerned of counter reactions to time-contigency of two existing selves. "Chibi, we'll come to that when it becomes an issue. For now, I want to place you under protection by one of my jounins."

Iruka, "You're placing me under protection. Why? Do you think that man will come back for me?"

Sarutobi, "Maybe but I don't exactly know why my teacher was targetted personally in the first place. But as it is, there's nothing much that can be done about this until I figure out what type of spell was placed on the both of you."

"I understand." replied Iruka, bowing his head, 'I wonder whom it'll be?' thought Iruka to himself , "So what's my cover?"


Sarutobi, "Most likely a transfer student from another village but'll I'll have to refine it to look believable to the jounin I'll be assigning you too. He has a knack of sniffing out the obvious and unusual."

Iruka, "Huh,..so you already have someone in mind?"

Sarutobi, "Hai, but for now, I want you to go home and remain there. . A message will be sent to you as who will over see your protection, and instructions of what to do then after. To make it less noticeable, I'll send my personal messenger to you. Only a few know of him since I only send him on errands."

Iruka, "You mean, that old white owl of yours or that hawk?"

"The hawk is for the jounin," the Hokage sighed, peeked to his limit. He pinched his 2 fingers at the bridge of his nose "and my owl friend is now off-limits for 'personal' assignments or urgent matters," he grumbled, his pipe falling almost from his frowning lips.

"To be honest, I thought it died. It's as old as you, isn't it?" wondered Iruka, innocently, secretly smirking inside. He knew which was for which already, but he liked to rile up the Hokage, just like he had in the old times.

Sarutobi bristled at the comment made by young Iruka, "That's all, Iruka. You're dismissed."

"Hai, Lord Hokage," Iruka chuckled, his spirits turning for the better.

After a moment, there was a cloud of smoke and the boy was gone, shown leaping out of his residence and back into the night.



Sarutobi sighed, and kneaded the corners of his forehead with his fingers. Relieved that was over and also because he hadn't wanted to inform Iruka that his pet-friend owl had died 5 years ago. That's why he had pre-maturely dismissed the young dolphin boy from his side. Then, he would be entitled to explain about the new one that replaced his old owl's dismised form, which he didn't want to do since that thing was driving him up the wall as it was!

Five long years and he still kept it instead of getting one that was more compliable.

Why, he would never know... he just knew he missed his old one... too bad owls didn't have long life spans like humans. Sigh.




TBC...






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