Chapter 1: End of an Era

Deep in the forests of Fire country, there is a shinobi village known as Konohagakure, the village hidden in the leaves. Widely acknowledged as the strongest ninja village, it was the home of many legendary ninjas, including the Sannin; Orochimaru, Tsunade and Jiraiya, and their sensei Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Sandaime Hokage and God of Shinobi. However, there was a shinobi who stood head and shoulders above the rest. Someone known as possibly the greatest ninja who had ever lived. The only ninja to have had a flee on sight order issued about them, known to have destroyed an entire battalion of enemy ninja in mere seconds singlehandedly. His name is Minato Namikaze, Konoha's Yellow Flash and the Yondaime Hokage.

There are things that even legends have trouble facing however. For the Sannin, they met their match in the leader of Amegakure, Salamander Hanzo. He soundly defeated them, but let them live after being impressed with their skill, and gave them the title of Sannin. For Hiruzen, it had been his sensei, the Niidaime Hokage, Tobirama Senju. For Minato, it was slightly different. His greatest adversary was a tag team of a man wearing an orange mask riding atop the Kyuubi no Kitsune, the greatest of the Biju. The Kyuubi was bad enough in its own right, but it seemed to be being controlled by the bizarre man on its head. What made things worse was that the man also seemed to be able to predict and defend against any attack that Minato could throw at him, even with the help of Gamabunta, the chief toad. Realising he'd have to use the emergency technique he'd developed in case a Biju was released upon Konoha, he used his Hiraishin no jutsu to get his newborn son. When reports of the Kyuubi reached Minato he prepared a last ditch defence, a seal to create a Jinchuuriki. Knowing that the Kyuubi had never been sealed in a Jinchuuriki before, he had to design a seal that drew on the most powerful source of chakra possible, the Shinigami itself. Drawing on the power of a god is hazardous, and the main drawback was that the Shinigami was unlikely to cooperate without a sacrifice. He'd worked in coordination with one of the most knowledgeable toads in Gamatora, a scroll-toad, and they inscribed the workings of the seal on his scroll. The theory behind the seal was to split the Kyuubi's chakra into yin and yang, and permanently seal away the yin half, while leaving the yang half accessible to the host. Unwilling to curse another's child when he could use his own, and believing that his own son would grow up to defend the village against the unknown man, he drew the seal on his own son.

Sending a message toad to the Sandaime with his last order as Hokage, to treat little Naruto Uzumaki as a hero, he activated the jutsu, using his willpower to draw the Kyuubi into the seal on his son. The masked man realized that the battle was lost and used a strange technique to disappear. The last thing Minato saw, as his sight grew dim and he grew ever colder, was the face of his son marred with six whisker marks.

The first thing he knew was the cold. There wasn't a single part of him that didn't feel it. Awareness came slowly, but with it, came more questions. Whatever he was touching was rough. It scratched at his bare skin whenever he moved, causing a sensation he vaguely recognised as pain. He could hear a faint whistling sound that relaxed him and the high pitched chirps of a small bird. He tried to open his eyelids, but reflexively closed them when a bright light hit his eyes. He tried again, this time slowly, allowing his eyes time to adjust. He was curled up in a hollow in a tree, which for some reason was faintly glowing. As he looked around he realised he was naked, and he shouldn't let people see him like that, though he couldn't say why. As he looked out, he realised he was rather high up the tree, and there was a large village bigger than any he'd ever seen before spread out in front of him. Slowly, the sounds of people drifted up to him, laughing and singing and talking. He couldn't make out any recognisable words, but he understood that people were making the noises. A thought slowly lodged itself in his mind, that it would be better to move at night when there were fewer people around and he was less likely to be spotted. Besides, he felt tired and would be better off with rest before he attempted to get down. Upon thinking this his eyes drifted closed once more, and he fell into the darkness once more.

As he woke again, the scenery had changed. The sky had turned from bright blue to black, with small pinpricks of light twinkling here and there. A large crescent bathed the surrounding area with some light, though the tree was giving out a brighter glow. Forcing his body to move, he winced as sharp pain shot up his arms and legs, forcing him to move slower. He stepped out of the hollow onto a nearby branch and started to descend. With every movement, his muscles protested, causing him to stop several times as his breath came out quickly and raggedly. Near the bottom his strength gave out and he fell the rest of the way, landing heavily upon his back. His breath was forced out of him, leaving him gasping for air. After he recovered, he crawled over to a nearby bush, covering himself as best he could before he fell unconscious once more.

As he came to, he immediately knew something was wrong. He was warmer, and could feel something lightly touching his skin. Subconsciously he lay unmoving, letting his other senses detect how many people were in the room. His hearing picked up the breathing patterns of two people, one of whom was asleep and breathing regularly. There was a slight floral scent which grew stronger as sounds of rustling started and got louder. Female then, most likely a nurse or a doctor, which meant he was either in a hospital or a prison cell. Neither sounded particularly appealing right now. The sound of footsteps accompanied the rustling, followed by two soft clicks of a door being opened and closed. As the footsteps grew quieter, he opened his eyes. Light was flowing in through a hole in the wall, covered with glass. A window, or more appropriately, an exit. He saw the figure of a boy not older than fifteen lying in a nearby bed, his head wrapped in bandages. When he saw a face look at him he ducked, only for the face to duck as well. He realised it was a mirror, and he looked into it, seeing spiky blonde hair and bright blue eyes. There was something wrong with the face though, he looked... younger than he expected. For some reason he expected a thirty year old face to stare back at him, not a teenager's. As he moved towards his exit, he realised that most of the boy's clothes were a similar size to him, and while they wouldn't be perfect, they'd at least cover him up. He quickly dressed and as he'd expected, the clothes were too large, hanging around his body rather loosely. He emptied the pockets, finding a square of leather and a cold block. The sound of approaching footsteps startled him, and he realised he had to go. He opened the window and jumped out, landing on his feet and diving into a nearby bush. As he did so, he realised two things. Firstly, the window he'd jumped out of had two more windows underneath it, and was rather high. Secondly, diving into that particular bush was a minor mistake, as it had rather sharp spikes sticking into him. Nevertheless, he burrowed into it, making sure his hair couldn't be seen. He was quickly getting used to pain, and learning to ignore it well. Safely hidden in the bush, he watched as a woman with long blonde hair and glasses looked out, seemingly searching for something, most likely him. When she withdrew her head, he waited a little longer before leaving his temporary haven and making a dash for the tree line.

After running deep into the trees, his survival instincts started screaming at him. He had to disguise himself and turn invisible to the casual observer. He needed new clothes, since whoever looked for him would have a description. He also needed food and water. Well that was easy enough at least. He could hear running water nearby, and so he headed towards it. He stumbled across a decent sized river, the water looking cool and inviting, with fish swimming and jumping. Cupping his hands, he drank deeply of the water; slaking his thirst and making him feel ready to fish. He waded into the shallows, and stood with his hands poised to snag any fish that came too near. He managed to snag four fish in an hour, before deciding that he had enough for the time being. He built a small fire using dry brown wood, and gutted the fish with a sharp rock he found on the riverbank. After devouring the fish, he set about the next important part of his survival strategy, a disguise. For now, all he could really do was change his hair, as it really was too distinctive. Using a mixture of tree sap, blood from the fish, mud and juice from some dark berries he made a temporary brown hair dye that would keep his hair slicked down as long as it didn't get washed away. Applying it was unpleasant, but at least he didn't stand out as much as he did before. The slight odour would also keep people from paying too much attention to him. Feeling more confident now that he wouldn't be spotted easily in a crowd and that he wasn't hungry, he decided to try his luck at getting replacement clothes.

This village was mad! He'd been walking around for about ten minutes and the sheer number of people out was mind-blowing. The shops were heaving with teenage girls and for some reason he was glad he'd changed his hair colour. He had brief flashes of memory; of being followed by hordes of giggling girls. That would be a real pain since he was trying to be as invisible as possible. He snagged a pair of sunglasses in the first shop he visited, his hands moving faster than the untrained eye could follow. They were good for hiding his bright blue eyes, and allowed him to check his surroundings unobtrusively. When he went into a large shop with lots of clothes in it, he noticed they had weird tags on them. Deciding to check a gut instinct, he slipped a pack into a passing boy's bag. He felt slightly guilty when a shrill alarm went off as the boy left, which was washed away when he tried to run and dropped various clothes from the bulky jacket he had on. Using the distraction, he quickly left the store, deciding that there were easier places to acquire clothing.

Two hours later, he was back in the safety of the woods. He'd snagged a dark green top, a blue pullover and a pair of loose black trousers. He'd managed to get turned around at one point and gone a little too near to the building he'd woken in. He'd caught a glimpse of a sign that read 'Mahora Academy' before a dark haired man in a suit and smoking a cigarette exited the building and started walking towards him. He seemed to lose the man easily, but the nagging feeling of being followed started to get to him. It had taken nearly an hour to lose that feeling, and even now he was uneasy. Every instinct he had started screaming at him to keep moving and not to stop until he was far away. Unfortunately, he'd lingered too long, as the man came strolling out of the undergrowth with his hands in his pockets. He tensed to run, but was suddenly hit in the face by an invisible force which sent him sprawling to the floor. He was up in a flash and settled into a basic stance as surprise flickered across the face of his adversary. He was struck by twice more but stayed on his feet, as he noticed that the man didn't seem to move a muscle. Deciding that it would be better to close the distance, he charged forwards trying to get to his opponent, but ran straight into another strike which pushed him back. The man finally pulled his hands from his pockets, and though he felt his instincts scream at him to not get hit, he couldn't react quickly enough. The blast came fast and hard, smashing him clean through one tree and embedding him into another. As the light faded from his vision, he saw the man pull a square from his pocket and talk into it. 'What a disgrace, being beaten by someone obviously insane,' he thought before slipping into unconsciousness for the second time in two days.

Takamichi Takahata had been expecting many things when he'd been asked to track the mysterious blonde boy down. One thing he hadn't expected was for him to have changed his hair colour and clothes, although since he'd seen the boys face he'd be able to find him in a crowd easily no matter of hair colour. Another was not being able to keep up with the boy through the crowds. It wasn't like Takahata was unused to tracking missions, he was actually very good. The boy was exceptional at misdirection and covering his trail, more so than a normal boy. At this point, he'd realised he'd probably have to use force to bring him in. The biggest shock was that after leading him on a merry chase for an hour, the boy had been about to leave when he used his former master's technique, using the motion similar to an iaido sword drawing technique to launch sheer air pressure at the opponent. The boy had stood up instantly, which cemented Takahata's theory that he wasn't normal, and he settled into a martial arts stance that he didn't recognise. This was surprising in itself, since after travelling with the Thousand Master he recognised most martial arts. When the boy took another two strikes without so much as flinching, he knew he'd have to use his more dangerous technique to put him down. Using the strike when the boy charged towards him to throw him back, he took his hands out of his pockets so he could use his kanka technique. Mixing magic power and chi, he created a large blast that took the boy off his feet. Kanka wasn't exactly the best technique to use to capture someone, but he had a feeling that the boy could take it. He was proved right when the boy was still conscious after being smashed through a tree, albeit momentarily. He opened his phone to report success to the headmaster, and set about carrying the boy back to the school.

He woke slowly. As he came to, he realised he was back in the same bed he'd left when he'd escaped. There was one main difference however. This time he was bound to the bed, preventing an escape like last time. There was also a person in the room who wasn't moving, most likely a guard. Realising he had no choice, he opened his eyes to see an old man staring at him. The man had an oddly shaped head with a long ponytail at the back, thick bushy eyebrows which framed his face, a large moustache and a rather impressive beard. All of his hair was white and he was rather old. His ear lobes were unnaturally long and had large hoop earrings in them. At a casual glance he seemed to be a kindly old man who posed no threat. However, there was a glint in his eyes that promised pain to any who wronged him, and he gave off a feeling of knowledge. This was a man to be wary of, so he was most likely in charge of the place.

The old man cleared his throat, then said, "Ah good, you're awake. Takamichi-kun told me that you provided him with some entertainment when he came after you, so I'm afraid we had to restrain you, just in case you tried to escape again before we could have a chat. So, what is your name?"

Silence greeted this statement. The old man tried again, "Come now, we know you don't belong here. You have a rather unique appearance, despite your admirable attempts to change how you look. No-one has seen you before, and there are no records of anyone with your appearance on our files. I think you are lost, if your reaction to being in the nurse's office is any indication. We just want to help you."

The silence continued as the boy weighed the man's words. The old man gave one last try, "Well, my name is Konoemon Konoe. I am the headmaster here at Mahora Academy."

With this, the boy made up his mind. "My name... is Minato Namikaze."

"Well now, that's better. So Minato-kun, where do you come from, and how did you get here?"

"I hail from Konohagakure, and I have no idea how I got here. All I know is that I woke up naked in a hollow on that giant glowing tree."

"The World Tree hmm? Well, this is a problem. The glow only happens once a year, and I'm afraid I've never heard of Konohagakure before. Whereabouts is it?"

"Deep in the forests of Fire Country, though I can't say exactly where. It wouldn't be a hidden village if we were allowed to speak too openly of it."

"True enough. We really have a major problem though. Fire country no longer exists. It hasn't for millennia, and the borders are impossible to point out anymore. I will need research this. If you would please refrain from trying to escape again, it would be appreciated. You are welcome to stay here for now, though we may give you a different room tomorrow just in case anyone gets injured. Is that ok?"

"I don't really have much choice, do I? I'll stay for now."

"Ho ho. Not really. By the way, how did you managed to escape Takamichi-kun for so long? He is one of our better trackers."

"I'm a ninja. Moving unseen and stealth are second nature to me."

"Ho ho. You certainly move like one. A skilled ninja at such a young age. I must say I'm impressed."

With that, the headmaster left the room, more than slightly troubled by how this boy arrived. He resolved to contact the ninja clans to see if they had ever heard of Konohagakure.

Minato lay on the bed, thinking about what he'd heard. If Konoemon could be believed, he was in the future. That at least explained the weird metal boxes that moved on their own, and all of the moving pictures. But how did he get here?

Merry Christmas! This is another potential fanfic that I thought up. I may turn this into a full work, but I could do with some feedback. This is currently set 6 months before the start of Negima. And yes, I do have a reason for de-aging Minato. It's going to be fun to write, that's for sure. So, three separate updates as a Christmas present. Am I nice or what?

If you recognise it, I don't own it.