A/N: Hello all, and welcome to the second chapter of Future Memory! It's been a long time in coming, but like I state on my profile page I haven't abandoned any of my currently in-progress fics. But enough of my rambling; you came here for a new chapter, so I'll give you one, after the key and disclaimer of course!

Disclaimer: ZariGS does not own Naruto, or any other work(s) this ficlet happens to cross with. Those belong to their respective creators. I make no money off of this fanfiction; you could sue but you'd get nada for your efforts.

Key:

"Talking"

'Thinking'

"Demonic talking/Bijuu speech"

'Bijuu thinking'

And now on with the show!

Previously on Future Memory:

His final task completed, Minato Namikaze closed his eyes for what would be the last time, but not before uttering three heartfelt words.

"Be safe...musume..."

. . . . .

Timeskip: approximately 6 years after the Kyuubi Attack

It was the dawn of a new morning; birds were chirping, squirrels chattering, and the people of Konohagakure no Sato were just waking up to another normal day. For most civilian families there was nothing particularly special about this date, but for the ninja families it marked the start of the Academy, where their children would head to begin the journey towards becoming full fledged adults. Of course, this was often also seen as a sort of celebratory date, as it marked a turning point in history for the new generation. Children celebrated the start of their ascension with their friends and family, oftentimes throwing parties for each new entrant into the Academy. And even in the orphanage there would be a small party after the introductory ceremony for those members who entered as budding shinobi or kunoichi...with one notable exception.

Uzumaki Natsuki.

Said girl would be forced to sit—all alone—in her room as the rest of the orphanage's inhabitants trooped off to the Academy, and then got to open presents or eat sweets when they got back. Of course, even when it wasn't a special day she would still be forced to stay put like some sort of prisoner, which, in reality, she probably was.

Not that she had any choice in the matter, having been placed in the orphanage by the Sandaime shortly after her birth.

She supposed she should hate the man for putting her in a place where everyone loathed her very being, but Natsuki found it hard to do so; after all, he was one of the few people in Konoha who actually cared about her enough to check up on her wellbeing every once in a while. And besides, it wasn't like he could force people to like her, even if he was the Hokage...

Sighing lightly, the young girl debated whether or not she wanted to go back to sleep for a moment, before eventually deciding that it was probably better to stay awake. Even if she didn't have anything to do other than ponder the mysteries of the universe, keeping her internal sleep cycle on time would allow her to at least have some semblance of a schedule. Not that it made much of a difference one way or the other, given her predicament.

Still, despite all the hardships she had to put up with on a daily basis, the young Uzumaki retained an optimistic—if slightly jaded—outlook on life. After all, unlike in her past life, in this timeline she was still alive.

Yes, she remembered everything from her time as Uzumaki Naruto, but unfortunately there was little she could do to correct her current standing in life; it wasn't like she could tell anyone about what was going to happen in this timeline's future, as that would do little more than earning her a one-way ticket to an insane asylum. No, she most likely wouldn't tell anyone about her past—or was that future?—life, because that way she could try to influence events as they happened.

However, before Natsuki could continue further down that line of thought one of the matrons came by with her morning meal. Natsuki ignored the sneer that accompanied it, already having become long since used to that type of treatment, opting to wait until her door was once again closed before getting up from her cot and silently making the short trek over to where her meal had been set down. Granted, a small serving of bread, cheese and water was hardly an adequate breakfast, but at least it contained a reasonable amount of calories for her undernourished body.

. . . . .

Once she was finished eating what little had been provided for her, the young girl returned to the warmth of her cot, intent on continuing the train of thought she'd been following before being interrupted.

In all honesty she knew that telling anyone—with the possible exception of Kurama—about her past life would be a very bad idea. There was no telling what people would attempt to do to her when they learned of that particular bit of information—if they even believed her at all, that is. And as much as the idea of keeping secrets from the Sandaime pained her, she was forced to remember that he had and was currently doing the same to her with both her parentage and the fact that she was a Jinchuriki. Of course, it wasn't quite the same since she already knew those two particular facts, but still. Speaking of her tenant, though, perhaps she could try contacting him sooner rather than later...

Filing that thought away for later contemplation, Natsuki returned her focus to the room around her as the sound of footsteps grew closer. Now, considering that the orphanage's rooms were practically built back to back, she was fairly certain that whoever was walking down the hallway wasn't coming for her; the matrons tended to avoid contact with the 'demon child' whenever possible, and as far as she knew it wasn't time for the Sandaime's monthly visit, so that ruled out the two likeliest possibilities. That being said, she could do little more than eloquently raise an eyebrow when the footsteps seemed to stop outside of her door.

However, before whoever it was could open said entrance into her small haven, another set of footsteps approached, this time more rapidly than than the first. Natsuki merely rolled her eyes at this, bringing her legs up against her torso and wrapping her arms around them. Judging from the lighter footsteps, the second person was most likely a matron coming to dissuade whoever the first was from entering her room. And while she was already used to this kind of behavior from the orphanage staff, given that it happened almost any time someone got curious, that didn't make the pain of loneliness any easier to deal with.

Shifting her gaze to the wall opposite where she sat, Natsuki couldn't help but tune out the muffled argument that had sprouted like a weed on the other side of her door. It was always the same story, what with the civilian council blocking any and all attempts at adopting her, regardless of who the adopting party was. It was exactly the same in her past life as well; considering that she hadn't really made any changes to this timeline yet, why should this be any different?

Surprisingly enough, though, when she came out of her musings the two on the other side of her door were still going at it. And from the sounds of multiple pairs of feet converging towards her door, they were rapidly drawing a crowd.

It was at this point that Natsuki finally decided to start paying attention to what the people were saying, only to catch the tail end of a sentence that made her heart skip a beat.

"—don't care; I will see my goddaughter, head matron's rules be damned!"

Her eyes went wide. It couldn't be. Could it?

A few seconds and one open door later, and the young Uzumaki was staring at a sight that she never thought she'd see again.

. . . . .

Jiraiya of the Sannin prided himself on many things; being a Super Pervert was obviously one of the more known ones, but there was also the fact that he was able to retain a cool head in basically any situation. However, when he opened that door he was not expecting to see a malnourished child who looked like she would keel over from the slightest gust of wind. Of all the things he expected, that was actually last on the list. So it was with a small degree of shame that he nearly lost control of his temper—in actuality, it was only the sight of Natsuki recoiling in terror from his snarling visage that allowed him to reign in his anger, though it still smoldered dangerously.

It took all the self-control he had to stop himself from just grabbing the child and shunshin-ing to Hiruzen's office to demand an explanation as to why his goddaughter was not being properly taken care of. After all, her malnourishment looked to have been going on for some time now, which completely contradicted the bi-weekly notifications he'd been receiving from the Sandaime. As it was, he had to close his eyes and count to ten before he could properly form a smile on his face.

When he managed that, though, it came out as more of a sheepish grin than anything else. Because honestly, let's face it, not being there for your goddaughter for six years and then trying to suddenly enter her life would make you feel rather sheepish. The grin did a good job of destroying her fear of him, however.

"Sorry about that Natsuki-chan; I didn't mean to scare you, I was just...frustrated over something."

Said girl merely sweatdropped at the lame excuse, but didn't say anything to contradict his statement.

"...Who...are you?" She asked finally, after a few awkward moments spent finding her voice.

Now, obviously she knew the answer to her own question, but the fact remained that she wasn't supposed to be privy to that sort of information yet. Although it irked her to no end, she'd have to play the part of the attention-deprived girl for a while...

Jiraiya, meanwhile, furrowed his brow slightly at the question. From the curious look on her face she really didn't know who he was, despite that sort of information being mostly common knowledge in Hi no Kuni. That, combined with the fact that she had seemingly been locked in this room while the academy introductory ceremony was going on, made him question whether his decision regarding leaving her in the Sandaime's care was really the correct choice.

Because just from the way she looked—her blonde locks matted and tangled, her clothes unwashed and disheveled, and her frame slightly gaunt—it most certainly wasn't in his eyes.

However, while he very much wanted to go beat some sense into the Sandaime for his negligence of what he promised, getting his goddaughter out of this...prison of hers took priority over all else. But in order to do that, he first had to introduce himself; so, deciding that he would forgo his usual extravagant introduction in favor of a more...simple one, he knelt down until he was at her eye level.

"You can call me Jiraiya. Or, if you prefer a title, your godfather."

"Jiraiya-kyōfu...?"

"That's right, and you're going to be coming with me, regardless of who might try to stop us." He cast a pointed glare at the matrons who were standing behind him, mouths agape in shock.

Natsuki merely giggled at their expressions, before doing her best impression of a rocket, practically throwing herself at him with delight at getting out of this place. Of course, given his extensive training as a shinobi, the toad sannin's reflexes were fast enough that he could shift his position enough to capture the young girl in a two-way hug instead of having her merely latch her arms around his neck. However, because of how her face was currently buried in the crook of his neck, the young Uzumaki couldn't see Jiraiya's face as his earlier frown returned.

Little did she know that he had just made a promise to himself; a promise that would turn her life almost completely upside-down.

. . . . .

Roughly ten minutes later and the pair were standing just outside the Hokage's office, Jiraiya having shunshin'd both of them to the base of the tower after leaving the orphanage. The elder of the two would have liked to walk the distance instead, in order to get to know his goddaughter better, but he had a nagging feeling that whatever reason the matrons had for their odd insistence about keeping Natsuki in that place had some connection to his Sensei...and he intended to find out exactly what that connection was. The glares the young child received upon stepping out onto the street did nothing to dissuade his choice, either.

Casting a sidelong glace at his goddaughter while he talked to the Hokage's receptionist, he couldn't help but marvel over how much she looked like her parents—even through her disheveled state. Though Natsuki's hair was messy, he could tell that once clean and combed it would have the same sun-kissed color as her father's, but without the same sort of spikiness. And her eyes...they were a perfect blend of both parents; the vibrant amethyst color was inherited from her mother, yet the slight oval shape came from Minato. She also had her father's facial structure, though Jiraiya could see a hint of her mother in the way her jawline completed her heart-shaped face. Just based on those observations alone he suspected that, if given enough time and care, she would grow up to be a stunning young woman with many men after her hand in marriage. That is, if they could differentiate between the container and tenant...

"Ne, Jiraiya-kyōfu...are we going to see Jiji or not?" Natsuki asked, breaking him out of his musings.

"Hm? Oh yes, we will, but first..." He knelt down so they could see eye to eye, his expression quickly turning serious.

"I want you to promise me that no matter what happens in your Jiji's office, you won't think I'm angry at you. Yes, I probably will be angry when we go in there, because some bad people did some bad things, but I'm not angry at you specifically. Can you do that for me, Natsuki?"

"Un! I promise!" She chirped, somehow managing to sound both cute and yet serious at the same time.

Chuckling slightly at her upbeat reply, the toad sannin stood back to his full height, taking one of her small hands in his own.

"Alright then, let's go."

. . . . .

Sarutobi Hiruzen was not having a good day. The reason for this was quite simple; he was currently sitting in his office, absolutely swamped with paperwork. And not just any paperwork, mind you, but stacks upon stacks of trivial matters that should have been delegated to the civilian council, but weren't. So he was quite glad for the distraction when his secretary paged him through the intercom, telling the aging Hokage that there were two people here to see him.

"Send them in." He messaged back, grumbling slightly to himself as he shifted some of the rather large stacks of paperwork to the side.

Of course, the Sandaime's face immediately brightened when Jiraiya came through the door, though he was slightly confused as to the unusual method of entrance, seeing as the toad sannin almost always used the window when he dropped by. The reason for this atypical approach quickly became apparent to the aging Kage, however, when the second person passed through the doorway.

"Natsuki?! Is that you?" he asked, almost falling out of his chair in surprise at her unkempt appearance.

"Un!"

Hiruzen took a few moments to compose himself, then motioned for the young girl to come sit on his lap. She did so without a shred of hesitation, sighing contentedly as he started combing her hair with his fingers.

"Child, what in Kami's name happened to you...?" He asked, working his way through the many tangles in her long locks.

"The orphanage happened." Jiraiya said, his face set in a grim expression.

"Explain."

"Right, well, I suppose I should start at the beginning. As you've probably already guessed I returned to the village today for my monthly report, but that wasn't the only reason I chose this date; today was also the introductory ceremony for the Academy, and I'd hoped to give my goddaughter here a gift to celebrate her entrance."

The toad sannin took out a small object wrapped in green paper from his robes, a smile flitting onto his face as he passed it to an overjoyed Natsuki. However, that smile soon disappeared when he recalled what had happened.

"Unfortunately, when I went to the Academy the ceremony was just winding down. That in itself wasn't the problem, though; when I searched for her chakra signature, I had a hard time finding it." Here Jiraiya sent a pointed glance at the Sandaime, explaining without words why that was troubling. "I finally located it back at the orphanage, but when I got there and asked to see her..."

The Hokage frowned, already having an inkling of where this was going.

"To be blunt, Sensei, they basically denied her existence entirely, even though I knew she was in the building thanks to my senjutsu training. I had to sneak past the matron at the entrance, because she tried to bar me entry for associating with the, and I quote, 'demon child', even though she was supposedly not in the orphanage."

"And after that, you know what I found? Natsuki was locked in her own room, in the condition you saw her in when we arrived here. I basically had to break her out of there, before bringing her to you."

The sannin took a breath, doing his damnedest to reign in his roiling emotions.

"What I want to know, if you'll pardon my language, is why the FUCK you were not taking care of my goddaughter like you promised me you would? I trusted you Sensei!"

The eldest Sarutobi visibly recoiled at his student's outburst.

"Jiraiya, I...I did what I—"

"Bullshit! You did NOTHING! You didn't even make sure she was getting a reliable amount of food! I mean look at her! Does that look like a healthy young girl to you?!"

Hiruzen merely looked down, guilt weighing heavily upon his conscience as the toad sannin started to pace around the small room. Unfortunately for the aging Kage, though, his student didn't stop ranting there, instead continuing to list off all the problems he could have—and most likely should have—fixed for the better part of half an hour. Of course, by the time Natsuki's godfather finally started to run out of steam, the Third Hokage was truly feeling his age; slumped deep into his chair, the utter feeling of defeat practically rolling off of him in waves.

The object of their rather one-sided discussion, however, was slowly but surely gaining a tickmark on her forehead at Jiraiya's incessant verbal assault. Didn't he know that whipping a downed horse wouldn't make it go any faster?!

"Jiraiya-kyōfu..."

Both men paused, broken out of their thoughts by the sickly sweet tone Natsuki had used, only to start sweating buckets at the murderous aura she was giving off.

"Y-yes...?" The sannin asked timidly, all of his earlier anger forgotten as he idly wondered how a six year-old girl could sound so demonic.

"Shut. Up."

"B-but..."

"NO BUTS!" she roared, causing papers to start flying around the room as though they were trying to escape her wrath. However, it wasn't long before she followed her godfather's earlier example, taking a calming breath in order to reel in her anger.

"Verbally flaying Ji-chan is not going to change the past, nor is it going to make my life any easier. Yes, he might have made a few bad choices, but if he truly regrets those—" Natsuki glanced at the Hokage, who nodded slowly, "—then there is no reason to go to such lengths. Instead we should be focusing on trying to correct what problems there are. Do I make myself clear?"

Only one thought passed through the two males' heads as they rapidly nodded their acceptance.

'She is truly Kushina's daughter...'

A/N: Tee hee! I'll stop the story there. Slightly shorter chapter than the edited chapter one, and no cliffhanger this time, but hopefully this will appease the masses enough to keep you wanting more. And while some of you might still have questions regarding Jiraiya's early entrance in this timeline, those will most likely be answered in upcoming chapters. :)

I also have a poll on my profile for possible pairings for Natsuki in this ficlet (if any), so be sure to vote if you want to see a certain person paired with her! I'll do my best to make the top voted choice work, but I can't guarantee that all characters will work as a pairing.

And in response to the one guest review I received, I didn't make Natsuki have red hair because this is a time travel ficlet. If I did use your suggestion, then she simply wouldn't be a female Naruto; she would be a Kushina clone, which is not what I want. While I am sorry that this might be a turn off for you, it just wouldn't fit with the story, so I hope you understand.

Peace out and forever writing,

-ZGS