In which Hiruzen takes a feels trip and Haruhi take a field-trip.

For both worlds, the day started out like any other.

He leaned back with a sigh, moving the pipe to the other side of his mouth to release a cloud of smoke. Staring out the window, he briefly wondered if he could do anything but the huge stack of paperwork sitting inauspiciously on his desk, but the thought was stolen away with the sight of his village. It had taken many years and plenty of bloodshed in order for this time of relative peace to occur.

From this viewpoint, he could see Konoha's citizens bustling and going about their day.

An Akimichi and a civilian were haggling over vegetables. Families were shaking out carpets and washing window, younger academy children were were running excitedly to the ninja shops, shuriken and kunai glinting in the dappled sunlight, which was filtered by Hashirama trees. Now that he thought about it, the graduation exams were coming up shortly. His thoughts shifted to Naruto. Regardless, all were enjoying early spring.

It was a beautiful day, one that should not be wasted sitting behind a desk.

It was early spring, and he was sure the chunin wouldn't mind some extra help in handling the documents and books.

And with that, The third Hokage, the God of Shinobi, got up from his chair and left the trivial paperwork behind like a bad dream. It was inconsequential anyway, it being a time of peace in all. And while it was never bad to stay on top, most of it consisted of squabbling nobles. Despite that, Hiruzen felt a strange feeling of foreboding...

Harper stretched out on the couch like a cat, a pleased groan escaping her lips before collapsing in a boneless, ungraceful, heap. She hastily tugged the edge of her belly, and Blearily opened one eye. She took the time to appreciate the fact her semester of college was over and that she could at least take some time to relax before slumping over her textbooks.

Winter break had just begun and she reckoned herself to be a lot like the snowflakes drifting lazily outside. Briefly she imagined herself jumping around in the accumulating fluff and sticking out her tongue before the thought was chased away by the boiling metal teapot. Her cat, Patches, Jumped up onto the counter. Oh how clever, a calico cat named Patches. Joke's on them, though. Patches was a rescue animal with a missing eye. Scar tissue covered an empty socket and it reminded her of a pirate.

She was taking a break from the house work. Harper was so busy this semester she had a hard time getting to everything around the house. She had to make a stop at the hardware store to get new pipes for the kitchen sink. The old ones rusted. It had take two trips because the first time around she was in a hurry and grabbed the wrong pipes. Taking a long sip of tea, she sighed in relief.

She wondered how her friends were doing. She had invited them over to just chill for awhile and catch up since they were seeing less of each other due of collage, but they were all busy with something or other. That was okay! She could just do something else.

Ignoring the lump in her throat, she reached on the marble counter and poured the boiling water into the awaiting oversized mug, because if she was gonna have tea it was going to be in a cup big enough to drown a small mammal, Dammit! Honestly boiling water took so long, she wished it was quicker. She reached for a sugar cookie, but hesitated and withdrew her hand. She was chunky enough as it was. With each sip, thoughts of her life slipped back in.

She thought of her studies in college, specifically the psychology major she was going for. Her mother hadn't been happy to hear about that. She believed jobs like that didnt pay, and while she want wrong, its what Haruhi wanted to do with her life. Haruhi could get by, shes been getting by by herself since middle school.

Her mother was part of a large manufacturing company, she just didn't understand.

Haruhi sipped her tea, a frown replacing her smile. So what if she was into the creative arts? It wasn't hurting anybody. If she liked to read more than selling hardware to people did it really matter?

Speaking of which, with being so busy in college, she hadn't had anytime to read any of her old favorites.

She immediately shuffled, in her oversized hoodie and sweatpants, over to the massive shelf and found some of her favorite books of all time.

It had been so long she had last cracked open a Naruto manga and her lips quirked up into a soft smile.

With a happy hum, she cracked opened one of the neglected books she randomly chose and arrived on a page where Lord fourth was creating a seal. Despite her extreme comfort, curled up on the couch with her tea, book, and hoodie, she had a strange feeling. Nostalgia? Maybe...

"Good morning, Lord Third!" greeted multiple ninja as he made his way from the Hokage tower to the library, which was also carved into the mountain. He smiled kindly in his grandfatherly way, and greeted them right back. As he walked and chatted, he noticed immediately his right hand man, Nara Shikaku, slip beside him and match his stride.

The man lazily drifted his gaze over to the Hokage, question lighting them up. Hiruzen tipped his hat and smiled around his pipe, pushing the library doors open.

"Lord third!" came surprised shouts from the chunin workers.

"I couldn't help but think it was a lovely day for some spring cleaning." He replied. And with that, he fluidly fell into a rhythm with the others, sorting books and striking up a conversation.

The chunin were surprised, but delighted that their Hokage would help them with something so tedious. He was acutely aware of this, as his humble interactions with his people was what made him so well liked and beloved, even more so than his battle prowess. Of the Chunin there, one, who he believed was named Mizuki was showing subtle signs of tension. He would have to keep his eye on him, as he had recently shown suspicious behavior.

He chuckled at a joke told by one of the desk nin, sorting through The Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Shinobi and ninja Tricks 101.

He smoked his pipe again and looked around at some of the people here. Ninja of all ranks could be seen, but what caught his attention was the academy teacher sitting and grading papers while doing some last minute research before genin testing took place. Iruka Umino. He was a perfect example of what a Konoha nin should be.

The man was so involved in what he was doing he started with a small yelp when the Hokage stood behind him and cleared his throat.

And for the umpteenth time that day, someone shouted "Lord Third!" He continued to smile before asking about the academy.

Clearly flustered but composing himself, Iruka started talking about the academy students. "There is incredible potential in some of the students, but most have trouble with teamwork."

Hiruzen loved hearing about the village's future but their time was cut short when Iruka left, late for class. With him the library started clearing out. But what accompanied his departure was the strange feeling he had felt before he left. It could have just been his imagination, but he felt as if it was tugging him towards a certain point in the library. One thing a shinobi learns is to ever doubt your gut feelings.

Disengaging, the God of Shinobi glided in his robes over to the S-ranked section of the library and disappeared like the ninja he was, inside the room hidden by genjutsu, traps, and fail safes.

He blinked at the darkness, his pipe providing dull light in the secure room. Folding his hands he signaled for the lights to flicker on, revealing rows and rows of scrolls filled with Konoha's forbidden jutsu and hidden secrets. As he walked past the Scroll of Seals, he noticed something.

The feeling was getting stronger.

With a sigh of regret, he was halted from continuing further when his eyes came upon the scroll detailing the Uchiha massacre. There was much that could have been done, but it was done too little too late. All that survived was a double agent and an academy student, who would also be graduating soon.

He continued walking.

And only stopped when came across Minato Namikaze's fuinjutsu scrolls, buried in the very back of the sterile room. Again, he was overcome with regret at the thought of his short lived successor, his pipe since gone out. All he could do was hope Naruto would do well in life.

He shuffled through the papers, and shook his head at The Fourths obvious genius. He would have to contact Jiraiya somehow, these seals would absolutely enthrall him. And while he knew they had not yet been studied because of the pain Jiraiya felt at losing his student, he was sure there was much to learn from them. Just then, the smallest yet of Minato's seals slipped out from between two larger ones.

He stiffened in shock. He knew every single document hidden in this corner of the library, so how did this smaller one slip past him?

He lit his pipe and looked closer at the seal. He was no master but could pick out the general meaning if he looked closely. Instantly he spotted similarities with summoning seals and Minato's infamous space-time ninjutsu. He immediately tucked the slip into his robe and briskly headed out. This would call for much more in depth scrutiny than what could be given by his current standing.

The time for Jiraiya's return was long overdue.

She sighed happily as she read the book. It was very fresh, almost as if she had never read it before. But, she thought, shifting her weight, that was impossible. She knew every book on her shelf; there was no way that she had never read this one. It was simply not possible for her to have missed one! She had to know where it came from.

But Harper couldn't help the nagging suspicious feeling that clouded her mind as she closed the book and studied the cover. It was obviously a Naruto book, but quite different from the others. For one, it was smaller in size and had a huge seal on the front cover instead of characters.

Studying it, she noticed similarities to Minato's space-time ninjutsu from what she had read on the wiki.

She slid off the couch to land on her knees and crawled over to the bookshelf. It wouldn't hurt to do some comparisons with other books.

He regarded the tiny slip of paper with a critical eye, leaning back and humming deeply. During their examination of the slip, they had found a second seal on the back.

Lord third leaned forward with a serious expression and laced fingers. He had practically scoured Fire country to contact Jiraiya. Really, you'd think he'd have better contact with his spymaster but reality said otherwise.

The Sannin cleared his throat.

"It seems the second seal is just for storing another scroll. Nothing should go wrong if we activated it" he said.

Hiruzen nodded his permission as his former student leaned over and activated it. With a pop and a cloud of smoke, a new document emerged and landed on his desk. From what he could see it was signed by Lord Fourth himself. Behind him, he felt Jiraiya inhale sharply. Slowly and carefully he smoothed it out and proceeded to read the letter written in familiar handwriting.

An explanation of sorts:

The original purpose of the seal is a birth gift for my child. Kushina and I may not always be around and he will always be in need of guidance and a companion to help him through life and to make wise

decisions. This is why I crafted this seal and it's my wish that he should receive it upon being old enough to handle some responsibility. Graduation age should be good enough, I think.

- Lord Fourth, Minato Namikaze.

This was a problem.

Naruto was around graduation age. In fact, he failed the test twice. But nobody except the closest people knew Naruto Uzumaki was the son of The Fourth Hokage, Konoha's yellow flash. Giving him his father's gift would be raising a red flag- no matter what it was. Who could they give it to instead?

Looking over, he realized Jiraiya was on the same trail of thought. Reaching over, he explained the inner workings of the seal.

"It's a combination of a summoning seal and a space-time ninjutsu. There is also outlines of a size modifier. Used commonly in sealing scrolls. Whatever happens, it probably won't be big."

And with that reassurance, he leaned over and activated the seal.

Both were still with anticipation, Hiruzen having stopped smoking his pipe.

For a few seconds nothing happened.

Then, quick as lighting and with a puff of chakra, a small figure emerged and landed on the paper.

Looking over the face of her shelf, she became even more baffled as to what exactly this book was. She did not like the feeling of not knowing something. The strange feeling had returned tenfold; it was like an itch that became progressively worse the longer it was left alone. With a bemused groan, she rolled over like a beached whale and held the book right above her face.

Patches kneaded her cheek.

"Go away." She grumbled. Biting her cheek, she let out an impatient groan. Why was this so hard to figure out?

The clock read 2:34.

Harper scrubbed her face with her fist.

Staring at it, she noticed the seams were glowing. Was it because it was laminated?

Her hand hovered over the for a moment, wondering if she should touch it. Her intuition was saying no, but...

She shifted and lifted her hand to reach up and touch the seal against her better judgement.

She regretted it immediately.

The seal suddenly became a circle of swirling blue and despite fitting in her hand it appeared bigger and bigger. Screaming, she realized she was shrinking as the seal got closer and closer, until she was so small, she fit through it like a mouse through a mouse hole, or a late rabbit through a small door.