I normally will stick with a project until it's finished, but it seems the more I think about this story the more it crowds out my other stories; so this is more of a form of release for me so that, when I finnish this of course, I can go back to writing my other stories. Hail Tetrixeus, Lord of Blocks, weaver of fate!

The idea came when I was reading "The Devil's Arithmetic", how the grandchild goes back to the time of the holocaust in someone else's body who looks like them.

Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto I wouldn't very well be writing fanfiction for it.

Antithesis

"Push!" he yelped as her grip on his hand tightened to bone-breaking proportions.

"I'M PUSHING!"

"Ano, eh, well then push a little harder!" he said, trying to sound enthusiastic and encouraging. There was an audible snap from his hand . . .

"YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I'M GOING THROUGH!" she snarled; he flinched back at that. Oh the joy of child labor; it can, and did in this case, turn normally soft spoken women into shrieking banshees before the night is through. This was the scene of the birth of Naruto's first child.

(Line Piece)

A twenty-two year-old Naruto stood outside of the hospital room his wife was currently in, nursing his broken hand as it started to heal. His hair was slightly longer, but his wife wouldn't let him grow it out like his dad; everything he was wearing was almost like it had been when he was young—well, younger—unless you count the black and red trench coat with the kanji for 7th embossed on the back. Indeed, the seventh hokage, he would have rather been the sixth, but Danzo had taken that title no matter how short his reign was.

Naruto had been in dozens of bloody battles, and walked away almost unfazed, but this was on a whole new level of psychological disturbance. Blood and fluids and something squirming around in them. How do women do it? The prospect terrified him to death!

His thoughts were cut short by the door opening beside him, the old fifth hokage walked out. Her blond hair was unkempt due to the unreasonable time it was, but her eyes hosted a light that shined; she was happy for her surrogate grandson.

"It's a boy." Tsunade said, smiling and holding her bloodied hands up in mock-celebration; Naruto got one good look at her crimson stained fingers before his eyes rolled back into his head and he keeled over, passed out. Tsunade just laughed; oh the joy of child labor, it can turn battle hardened ruffians into blubbering idiots before the night is through.

She left him laying there and walked back into the sterilized room. There lay the mother, breathing deeply in sleep, with her child bundled up close, he was sleeping just as soundly. He'll be a quiet one, Tsunade thought to herself as she walked over, wish I could sleep that deep. She started moving her equipment to the door, taking it to be sterilized, but turned as she reached the door and looked back.

Might as well get his checkup done while I'm here, the old woman walked back to the hospital bed once more and picked up the little bundle that she'd just helped deliver. She pulled open his eyelids and looked at his eyes, they were creme green with pupils. Kushina had green eyes, so it must have skipped a generation. She sighed in relief, no political matters associated with dojutsu would arise. Tsunade then examined the infant's head, the little stubble of his dark hair tickling her hand; there were no disfigurations in his skull, a common condition with newly-borns. She looked back at the mother, and then at the child, yup, definitely looks more like his mom.

The Fifth neared the finish of her examination, only the torso remained unchecked. She moved two fingers along the babe's chest, checking rib placement; the right side was fine, but as she felt for the twelfth bone on the left there was nothing there! She checked again, anxiety building inside of her, nothing was where that rib should have been. She explored a little bit further down his torso and her hand found resistance. There! It was about an inch below its placement, like it had broken and grown together wrong. The misplaced rib wasn't in any position to jab any organs or muscles, but that didn't change that it was in the wrong spot. I'd have to break it and reset the bone, but I can't do that from outside the body, but children can't survive open chest surgery—GAH, what can we do then! Tsunade was a little at war with herself, but she knew that she had to leave it be for now. Let's just hope it doesn't cause any problems, we can take care of it when he's a little bit older.

There is a law, a theory if you will, that has yet to be proven totally wrong. "Anything that can go wrong will go wrong" was the saying, and things went very wrong that night . . .

(Line Piece!)

Ikotsu Uzumaki – age 4

"Okaa-san, why are your eyes white?"

"Well . . ."

"Why don't I have white eyes?"

"Ano, because . . ."

"Otou-san, why is your hair yellow?"

"Now that I think of it . . . I don't know! Hinata-hime, why is my hair yellow?"

"Because your father's hair was yellow, dear."

"Well yeah, but where did he get it?"

The boy who was named Ikotsu grew up with two loving parents, Uzumaki Naruto and Hyuuga Hinata, with the exact behavior you would expect from a four-year-old, but as the years passed they gradually noticed a change . . .

(Line Piece!)

Ikotsu Uzumaki – age 7

"Alright Ikotsu, this is a technique that will help you your whole life long," said a twenty-nine year-old Naruto, forming the ram seal, his son formed the seal too. They stood in the Hokage's personal training study.

"It's called Kage Bunshin (Shadow Clone), and what you want to do is channel a lot of chakra through this hand-seal" he continued, forming the cross seal with his fingers, six shadow clones poofing into existence. Young Ikotsu was ecstatic at his father's performance.

"Ooh, do it again, do it again!" Ikotsu demanded excitedly, clapping his hands. Six more Naruto clones popped up.

"Now it's your turn." Naruto said, watching his son expectantly; he had been teaching his little boy about chakra for the past year, though his son seemed to like his stories better, now was the time to test his knowledge. Ikotsu nodded, forming the cross with his fingers, his cute little green eyes narrowed and his brow furrowed in concentration.

"Kage Bunshin no juts-" little Ikotsu was about to finnish when an indescribable amount of pain wrenched in his chest, the "-u" never came, he gasped in pain and blood spattered from his mouth. The little boy collapsed as more blood poured from his mouth, pooling on the hard-wood floor, soaking his dark blue hair.

"Ikotsu!" Naruto cried out, not knowing what to do, this had never happened before. Ikotsu looked up at his father trying to form the words "I'm sorry I couldn't do it", but they wouldn't come. His vision faded to black.

That was the day that they found out what was wrong with the poor child, a defect that only a Hyuuga would see.

"When he was born, I found that he had a rib that had grown in wrong. I hoped that it would just reset by itself and didn't think much of it, it wasn't really life threatening, but upon inspection it seems to be tapping the main tenketsu of his central chakra system. So when he tried to use a high-level, high chakra technique, his outer chakra system couldn't handle the strain without trying to pull chakra from the central system." Hinata and Naruto couldn't believe their ears as they stood in the hospital room next to their sedated child's bed, listening to the slug sennin. The boy was breathing shallowly and he'd cough up a red mist every now and again. Hinata looked at her son, sadness in her eyes.

"It can't be fixed at this age, can it?" Hinata asked, knowing from her general medical education that the child was still too young to undergo such a surgery. Naruto looked at his wife in dismay.

"You mean . . . That he . . . he doesn't have any chakra?" he asked, scared of the answer.

"No, he has chakra, quite the amount for his age, but it's capped, it's stagnant." Tsunade said, taking a moment to come up with an analogy that the semi-dense Hokage could easily understand, "Think of your chakra system as a series of pipes with water in them, tenketsu are where they intersect and they determine where the water flows. Now think, that if every pipe of the system would intersect at one point and if that point got plugged, what would happen?"

"That's easy Baa-chan, the water would stop." the realization hit Naruto like a very pissed Sakura-chan on a bad day "But how! Chakra flow is required to live isn't it, if his is stopped, then how is he alive still!"

"There are two chakra systems, baka! The inner, or central, system and the outer system. The inner is comprised of chakra that the body's internal organs and tissues produce, while the outer is made up of the chakra produced by the muscles and other cells in the dermis and epidermis; the outer chakra system produces barely any chakra at all, but apparently it was enough for Ikotsu to survive on." Tsunade explained scientifically, smacking Naruto upside the head for the first part.

"Dirmus? Sounds like something Ero-Sennin would say in his porn novels." that statement earned Naruto another smack to the head.

(Line Piece!)

Ikotsu Uzumaki – age 8

"Otou-san, will you tell me a story? I haven't heard one for a while . . . and I thought . . ." Ikotsu asked shyly. Gonna have to get him to stop mumbling, Naruto thought to himself as he sat down next to his son's bed. The boy had slowly increased his chakra reserves in his outer system, he could do one full kage bunshin now, though he'd never tell his father that he'd been using chakra like that again; his dad was scared to death of the possibility of him killing himself with chakra depletion. Even with the boy's caution, there would always be days like these, when he couldn't get out of bed; after all, mother knows best.

"It's fine son. So which awesome tale would you like to hear from me today?" Naruto asked, putting on a strong front for his son, though his insides were churning with sadness. He'd never get to teach his son the Rasengan with as little chakra he had, he'd never get to watch him make dazzling explosions to impress people, but what he feared worst of all was that his son would try. He had heard the boy say "I'll make you proud, don't worry", it drove a kunai through his heart to hear that; that even while little Ikotsu was suffering, he still wanted to make his father proud.

"I want to hear how you kicked akatsuki's asses again!" the boy energetically cried, his previous quiet destroyed.

"Tut, tut, little Ikotsu, where did you learn such language; your mother wouldn't approve." Naruto warned, but still smiled at his son's antics.

"Baa-sama taught me, and I'm not little I'm fun-sized!"

There was a loud sneeze in the hospital, Tsunade looked down at the patient's stitched arm that she had just sneezed on before rubbing an antiseptic wipe over the wound, eliciting a whimper from the patient.

(LINE PIECE!)

Ikotsu Uzumaki – age 11

Ikotsu ran home from the academy, he'd been going there for two and a half years and tomorrow was the graduation exam. Over the years he had made remarkable progress in his chakra, it was now possible to create a shadow clone without his 'condition' acting up, his taijutsu was nothing to scoff at either. He waved to people he knew as he passed through the districts to the Hokage manor; okay so it was not really a manor, it was more like an apartment with a yard, but it was a castle to Ikotsu. He ran through the front door of his "manor" and was greeted by his mother in all her pale-eyed glory.

"I'm home!" he hollered as he came in.

"How did your day at the academy go?" Hinata smiled, she was a tall woman with dark blue hair that reached down to her thighs. Seeing her child reminded her so much of Naruto and herself that it was scary sometimes; his dark blue hair looked almost exactly like hers when she was a fresh genin, only boyish and shaggy.

"Oh it went great! I'M SO PUMPED UP FOR THE EXAM! I know! We should make some cinnamon rolls to prepare, MWAHAHAHAHA!" litt—young Ikotsu rambled while his mother looked on, an amused smile graced her features. And this is what he's like WITHOUT sugar, the Hyuuga maiden thought to herself as her son ransacked the cupboards for ingredients. She wouldn't trade anything, not even all the gold of the world for this life she was living with her one true love. Though her son did not possess the Bayakugan the two branches of the Hyuuga had been dissolved so she was not required to have another child to name heir to the bloodline, but that didn't mean she wouldn't. Hinata was now blushing furiously at the thought of another child.

Later that night, when the Hokage had successfully defeated the bane of all Hokage-ness (that is paperwork) and returned home, the family prepared to celebrate. It wouldn't be that hard to bust out the cinnamon rolls and light of the party explosives, but that was to be saved for the next day, tonight was the night for study. Right now Ikutso was sparring with his father.

"You're so full of openings dad!"

"I'm leaving openings on purpose, I'll start to make it harder to find them as you progress."

When it became too dark to spar, the non-physical study came into play. As much as Ikotsu loved taijutsu his true favorite study was history, reading the stories of what had happened rather than the novels of what could never happen, through they were good too. While Ikotsu sat at the table, studying, the two lovebirds known as his parents took the liberty of a quick dance. Dances are a lot like sparring; there is a pattern, but you can break patterns and make new ones. That's what they did that night, just breaking patterns and having fun. When they came back to the table, Naruto looked down to realize that his sake bottle was gone; he had left it there for when he'd get back, but it wasn't there anymore. Both the parents noticed that young Ikotsu had a drunken blush under his eyes. They put two and two together.

"Ikotsu, why did you drink the sake?" they both asked with different tones.

"Ooh, ish thish wha dish iz, I'z thut it wer soooda." the drunken eleven year-old answered, looking tipsily down at the little white bottle in his hand. Oops. He looked up at his parents before his eyelids became heavy and he put his head down on the table, passed out. Naruto took his son up in his arms and took the little boy to his room, and put him on his boy's bed. He smiled at his son, a true and genuine smile, not just a happy mask. We'd have been best of friends when I was a kid, he thought as he left the room and went back to his wife, and they started to dance once more.

Sake is an interesting liquid, especially its effects on small children. The boy dreamed the night away, or was when he was awake the dream? Was it that he had to sleep to wake himself up? He knew not the answer, but he did know that when he awoke, dream or no dream, this was not where he had fallen asleep . . .

(Squiggly!)

Umino Iruka genuinely cared for each of his students, especially Naruto, so he was genuinely pleased when Renga Ikotsu entered his classroom, even if it Was the day of the final exam and even if he was ten minutes early. The boy had had a sad life, his parents had died in the Kyuubi attack, his psychological health had took a turn for the worse, slowly becoming distant, and soon stopped attending class. He had dark blue hair, in a shaggy style much like the young Hyuuga girl in his class as well, and creme green eyes.

"So nice that you could come Ikotsu, please have a seat and wait for the rest of the class." Iruka's scarred face smiled to the boy and received a confused stare in return.

"Ano, I'm not sure this is my class, I can't find my teacher anywhere." there was an audible cracking sound in the background as Iruka's heart shattered, his student didn't remember him!

"What are you talking about, this is your class, I remember teaching you when you came! I'm your teacher!" Iruka smiled even wider, trying to jog his confused student's memory.

"Uh, no, you're not, I don't even know you," the boy stated flattly, big anime tears streamed down Iruka's face as he clenched his fist. I'm a failure as a teacher, my student doesn't even know me!

"Well I guess I'm your teacher's substitute for today," Ikotsu's eye twitched at Iruka's statement. Iruka was finding it harder and harder not to cry at Ikotsu's blatant denial of him being his sensei. The lie seemed to satisfy Ikotsu, for now, he took a seat near the front.

As students started filing in, Ikotsu became more and more uneasy; first waking up in an apartment, rather than his home, and now this? Who were these people, they didn't look a thing like his classmates! As his "teacher" passed out the exam, he started to read. This would be a piece of cake! As soon as the written test was finished the "instructor" began calling out names for the ninjutsu portion. No taijutsu? Ikotsu wondered, his real instructor had guaranteed a taijutsu portion with some guy by the name of 'Rock Lee', this was off. He halted his chakra system for a moment, trying to dispel any genjutsu, nothing.

"Ikotsu Renga!" the instructor called. Ikotsu's last name wasn't Renga, what was going on here? He came into the testing room, two judges in chunnin vests sat at a table.

"Please demonstrate the bunshin technique," Mizuki said flatly; only four more to go, then he could enact his plan after class. He had never heard of Ikotsu Renga, but Iruka said that he was a student none the less, just another orphan because of that Demon. The boy just stood there, forming no hand seals.

"Bunshin no Jutsu . . ." Ikotsu murmured in a monotone voice, this exam was not what his true instructors had proclaimed it to be. Seven perfect, intangible clones phased into existence all around him. Both the instructors raised their eyebrows at this. Iruka looked at the boy in wonder, he never showed up for class yet his chakra control was flawless and his ninjutsu perfect. He regretted not knowing that the Renga boy had such skill, he would have forced him to come to class more often.

"Pass!" the senseis declared and Iruka left to bring in the next examinee. The Renga boy left the room when they told him that he was free to go home or chat with his friends.

Ikotsu Uzumaki was confused beyond belief, this wasn't a genjutsu, but yet nothing seemed right, he knew no one, and things looked different than normal. What was going on! He walked out of the academy and climbed up the tree with a swing on it to think; this tree was his spot to think, he had declared so when he was ten, but it seemed smaller than normal, younger. As he sat in its branches he looked towards the academy; the parents of the kids he did not recognize were congratulating their offspring on passing. It was then that he noticed the parent's glares in his general direction,why were they glaring at him? He followed their eyes and looked down at the swing hanging from his thinking tree. There was a boy about his age there, with blond hair, looking downcast, their stares were focusing on him. Not one to stay quiet in these situations Ikotsu decided to make conversation.

"Hey kid, what's eatin' ya?" the blond haired youth jumped at the sound and looked up at him, first in fear and then in sadness. What's with those eyes, they look like dad's eyes.

"I failed again this year," the blue eyed boy answered, his voice heavy with defeat "couldn't make the damn bunshin . . ."

"Personally, and this is my opinion, bunshin are useful, but they can't compare to kage bunshin," the boy looked up at him, his ears pricked up.

"Kage bunshin?" he asked, not understanding, but the name sounded cool.

"Hai, kage bunshin, not the slightest chakra control required to make 'em, but they take TONS of chakra," Ikotsu replied "then again I have almost none, so maybe not tons, but they take a bit."

"How do you make them?"

"Like this," he formed the cross-seal and a single clone poofed into existence; he suddenly felt extremely, but shook it off.

It took a while, almost a whole hour, before the boy could get it right, but when he did the whole tree was covered in blonds.

"THANKS SO MUCH MISTER-um, what's your name?" the boy shouted energetically, before lowering his volume with his question.

"What's yours?" Ikotsu replied, twisting his pinky finger in his deafened right ear.

"Uzumaki Naruto! I'm going to be Hokage some day!" that statement almost made Ikotsu fall from his perch, before he replied.

"Uzu . . . Renga Ikotsu, nice to meet you," he said, stretching out his hand. Naruto took it, grinning, someone had accepted him! Renga Ikotsu looked up to the Hokage monument in the background, there were only four faces . . .

A/N: So this is pretty much the prologue to my story, and this is about the uniform (hopefully) length of my chapters too. If you feel somewhat confused as to the concept, then please read, or watch, The Devil's Arithmetic, or look its summary up. The idea of the book is that the descendant of a holocaust survivor is sent back in time to relive its terrors; she knew what was going to happen and tried to warn people, but they didn't listen.

It would also make me happy if you would review with constructive criticism, complaints, questions, compliments, so that I can in turn make you happy with a better story.