AN: Thank you for all the wonderful feed back! ^^

Warnings: Read chapter one.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Peeking around the corner, Menma narrowed his eyes the two Shinobi lingering in front of the door he wanted to go in. They both had green vests on so they were probably Chunin, either way there was little chance he'd be able to sneak past, especially at his current level.

"Is there anyone over there?"

He held back the urge to jump at the loud voice and turned his head to look at the blond beside him, Naruto grinned sheepishly as he pressed a finger to his mouth and instantly asked the same question again but quieter this time.

Menma nodded. "There's two Chunin at the moment, we're going to have to wait until they leave."

His brother's eyes narrowed in annoyance and the other boy huffed.

Honestly he couldn't blame him, since the villagers were so against them it was hard to enter stores or even the Library without people whispering and glaring. Menma couldn't believe that a whole village would be so against two children that were only four years old. Barely even old enough to start training he and his brother weren't much of a danger at the moment. Yet people insisted on treating them like they were demons threatening to destroy the village.

In a way he understood, really he did, but there was no way he sympathized for them.

To have to go through so much trouble to just visit the Library was ridiculous, the Shinobi wouldn't try and stop them, that would be too obvious. No instead they would stare and judge and that was even worse then them outright attacking.

Sticks and stones and all of that yeah, but their words still hurt Naruto even if the young child stopped being so obvious about it. His brother had started using his facade early in life it seemed, to keep everyone from seeing how their actions truly affected him. Now instead of a excited child full of smiles Menma's hands were full of a determined, loud, Naruto from canon. After growing up with Naruto and being so close Menma was easily able to tell when Naruto was faking his smile and when it was actually genuine.

Thus the reason he had taken to sneaking around like a criminal and trying to avoid any conformation with Ninja. He'd rather not have Naruto be harassed by someone who could kill them both in a blink of an eye.

"How much longer are we going to have to wait here?" Naruto whined, kicking at a random rock. "Let's go play Ninja or something, Libraries are boring anyways."

Menma had to agree with him on that, they'd been lingering for about forty-five minutes and the Shinobi had yet to leave. He had planned on sneaking in to get some books on Taijutsu and Chakra control but it didn't seem like it would happen anytime soon. He wasn't a genius, things like fighting and instinctually knowing where to aim didn't come to him naturally so he needed to learn. Being in a child's body meant people would probably think he was some sort of genius and while he would catch on faster there were somethings he had no clue how to deal with.

Like wielding Chakra for example, he could feel his own burning through his body like a raging fire but when it came to trying to use it he didn't know how. Honestly he was a little hesitant to try since he didn't want to hurt himself permanently and wasn't one to just try something that he knew nothing about. Of course it wasn't like anyone was willing to teach him since he was apparently a demon terrorizing the village, so what choice did he have?

Maybe he could make up his own fighting style? He had taken a little Karate when he was younger in his past life so he could use that knowledge to just make up something?

Learning how to fight shouldn't be this hard in a universe like this, normal people were able to ask their parents or even have another Shinobi train them. Menma highly doubted that many people would train them without trying to sabotage them and of course they had no parents.

It's the villagers fault.

"Aniki?"

Menma broke out of his thoughts to turn to his brother who was looking slightly nervous and calmed down a bit. Though he was normally a peaceful person he tended to accidentally scare the crap out of people when he started to get upset. He supposed it came from having Kushina as his mother with her infamous temper.

He sent a small smile toward his brother. "I'm fine Naruto, let's go back home I don't think we'll be able to get in today."

The blonde grinned happily and put his hands behind his head, obviously happy that they were finally leaving.

Making up his own fighting style couldn't be that hard, right?

Of course it was.

Menma didn't know a thing about fighting besides the few years in Karate, but he had been so young back then everything was a little fuzzy to him.

But that didn't stop him from trying.

Naruto was once again running around the village while he found a little spot in the forest to try and train. He couldn't find himself minding the fact that the blond was probably terrorizing one of the shopkeepers who had once again over-priced their food. The Hokage had given them a monthly allowance once he was sure they knew their way around the village, but even that money was quickly disappearing since things were two times as much as they should be.

They were forced to get atrocious clothing much to Naruto's delight. His brother adored orange and was happy to get neon orange shorts and a white shirt with a spiral on it. Menma couldn't' figure out how to talk the other boy out of the color, since the brightness of it would surely get them both killed, but Naruto was so happy wearing it he didn't push it too much. As for himself he had to settle with a orange shirt underneath a bright red jacket and black shorts, a pretty bad combination of colors.

One couldn't be too picky though, especially when they were low on money.

But back to trying to teach himself how to fight.

It wasn't going all that well obviously. He was basing his attacks on Karate which was focused on striking the opponent and was going to need enough force to actually affect his opponent. His body wasn't made for strength though, unlike his past one it was almost delicate and light, mostly because Minato had been similar and he had inherited that from his father. His attacks needed to be focused on speed and accuracy instead, so the most obvious thing to work on was how long he could keep up his pace and how swift it was.

Since he didn't have anyone to practice with trees became his best friends. Menma focused on basic punching first, making sure to make contact with the tree despite the pain his hand went through as it hit the bark. He was good with ignoring it though, if he forced his mind to think of other things his fist hitting the tree was nothing.

His motivation was becoming strong enough to protect his brother, that's what drove him to practice endlessly and push past the pain each training session. Gai and Lee did the same thing, though they were different then he was, they too had to ignore the pain to become stronger.

Of course he made sure to pace himself, it wouldn't do to overwork his body so soon in the game. But he did push himself a little, things like running instead of jogging every morning and starting to achieve push ups and sit ups in the evenings was something he worked on. Time to time Naruto would join him, excited to take part in the apparently 'secret' training he was putting himself through. Naruto being Naruto lost interest quickly, as he was known to do, and settled for joining sometimes while running around the rest of the time.

If he were anyone else Menma would have tried to talk his brother into exercising as well, heavens knows Naruto would need it, but he didn't force it. Naruto was his own person when it came down to it, an excitable, loud, child who enjoyed pulling pranks and making chaos. Menma made sure to keep an eye on him and help the blonde if he got into any trouble but otherwise allowed his brother to do as he pleased. It wasn't like he could help anyways, he had no idea how to use Chakra and was still trying to figure out how to defend himself with the little knowledge he had.

Besides training he made sure to spend time with his brother as much as possible. If there was anything he wanted to accomplish it was to make sure Naruto wasn't lonely, they were family and there was no excuse for Naruto to feel alone when he had a brother.

Which of course meant Menma needed to assist him when it came to pranks.

(A small part of him relished in the feeling of preying on unexpected villagers, though he'd never admit it. Must be the mischievous streak all Uzumaki seemed to have.)

Near their fifth birthday Menma is finally able to get into the the library, of course it wasn't easy. He had to spend the little money they had on a scarf and hat to cover his red hair and whisker marks, otherwise they wouldn't have welcomed him so warmly. Thankfully in a Village of Shinobi it wasn't uncommon for someone to walk around so covered up so he only gained a few odd looks but no one approached him to question his intentions.

It was odd to be around people that usually glared death your direction and have them not mind that you were around. His disguise was simple but enough that unless someone knocked off his hat no one would recognize who he was.

Of course he had to talk Naruto into waiting outside for him in a nearby tree, heavens knows his brother wouldn't be able to stay quiet enough and once he opened his mouth everyone would surely realize just who they allowed into the Library.

It was still irritating that he had to go so far to check out a book while others could come and go as they pleased, but there wasn't anything he could do about it. No one would listen if he tried to tell them him and Naruto were no danger to the villagers so why even bother being irritated about it?

Because he knew what it felt like to be a normal person in the world.

Shaking off the quickly rising anger, that if not controlled would end badly for everyone, Menma continued his search for the books he and his brother needed. He opted to not ask a librarian where the books were since she may recognize his face and instead was trying to find the books by himself.

Which was rather hard when the Library was huge.

The building itself was two stories and each level packed with nearly ceiling high bookshelves full of books the village had collected over the years. Menma couldn't help but be impressed by the sheer volume that they managed to receive and wished that he'd be able to spend more time to simply wander around and check everything out.

But of course nothing was that easy.

"-and I told him that if he didn't back off-"

Smoothly Menma slipped behind the closets bookcase and allowed the two girls to pass keeping his head low just in case they glanced at him. They paid no heed to him though, why would they he was just a normal child at the moment, and continued their journey through the building without care.

He turned his head up to watch them go, his fingers tightening their grip on his hat.

That wasn't so hard now was it? I didn't attack you when you weren't looking and I'm not planning to anytime soon. Why can't you just walk past us like that every time?

Tapping his fingers in a random rhythm on the rim of his hat Menma turned right and headed deeper into the books shelves, eyes scanning the titles for anything to do with Chakra.

He wasn't quite sure if he'd be able to learn the basics of Chakra control by reading a simple book, he wasn't counting on his genius (ha) to suddenly awaken and have him be able to learn anything he wanted. Menma may be an adult in a child's body but he was still that same adult, the normal everyday human who struggled to learn things just as anyone else did.

But at least reading about how Chakra worked would help him and Naruto not be so behind when they entered the academy.

Well he hoped so, but with their brain powers combined he wasn't too sure.

After what seemed like an hour he found a book on Chakra control and eagerly grabbed it up. With practiced ease he opened it and started flipping through the pages swiftly his gaze trying to take in as many pages as it could. He didn't want to spend too much time here since Naruto was waiting for him and he doubted it was patiently.

He closed the book silently and held back a grin, the book looked like it was useful, there was diagrams of the Chakra Pathway System that would surely help him out if only a little bit.

Now to get back to his brother.

...

..

.

Staring wide-eyed at his brother who proudly held the book in his hands Naruto grinned, though he wasn't too certain why Menma wanted to do something as boring as read a book, he was happy his brother made it out okay. Menma thought the book was important enough to risk being seen by the villagers in such a popular place so Naruto couldn't help but be excited.

His brother was usually similar to a shadow, quiet and mostly invisible except for the shock of red hair that caught everyone's eyes. He was sure if Menma had black hair everyone would look him over because of how much time he spent in his head instead of talking out-loud.

Naruto couldn't imagine being so calm all the time, everything was so exciting that he'd surely end up exploding because of all the build up that gathered as he tried to contain himself.

"I know you don't care about books Naruto, but this one is very important to us. It's going to help us become Shinobi." Menma's dark eyes were alight with excitement unlike the usual bored look he had on his face.

Naruto jumped up and down, feeding off of his brothers excitement. "Really? That's awesome! We're going to be stronger then the Yondaime in no time!"

His brother rose a brow and a small smile formed on his face. "The Yondaime?"

The blonde nodded looking up to the Hokage monument to stare at the fourth face carved into the mountain. "Yeah! He saved the village from the Kyubi, that means he must be super strong!"

He closed his eyes when the red-head tapped a book lightly on his head. "It's going to be a while before we even reach that level Naruto, we don't even know how to use Chakra yet."

"Who needs Chakra when you can just beat them up with your fist!"

Menma shook his head and pinched the bridge of his nose. "We have a lot of reading to catch up on."

Since being spread by Hagoromo, better known as the Sage of the Six Paths, chakra has become a form of life energy that all individuals produce to some degree; those who run out of chakra will die. Produced within the "chakra coils" that mainly surround and connect to each chakra-producing organ, the energy circulates throughout the body in a network called the "Chakra Pathway System", which is similar to the cardiovascular system.

Rubbing his head which felt like it was about to be split open thanks to the massive headache he had, Menma internally cursed himself.

He wasn't very good at reading Japanese in the first place, but to try and understand the ancient symbols of the Naruto world was near impossible. It took every ounce of his concentration to even start to comprehend what was in front of him while learning how to use Chakra.

In the Fan Fictions he read everyone seemed to be able to understand the language so easily, as if they had some sort of learning curve that the Gods forgot to gift him with.

Yes he was a child, and sure his mind was 'young' but it was also full of information from his past life. So trying to cram new information into the already tightly packed storage space wasn't an easy feat, he couldn't just erase memories to create room so he was having a tough time.

Sure living with people who spoke the language helped him learn how to speak it himself, but reading was another thing entirely.

Shinobi, have learned to generate more chakra and release it outside their bodies through pressure points called tenketsu in order to perform jutsu. Chakra is not normally visible to the human eye, though it can be seen in situations where a person releases as much of their chakra as possible.

Chakra is created when two other forms of energy, known collectively as one's "stamina", are moulded together. Physical energy is collected from each and every one of the body's cells and can be increased through training, stimulants, and exercise.

Maybe he didn't have enough Chakra and needed to train more? That was a possibility though he didn't think so since he apparently had the Kyubi inside of him.

But then again who knows what type of seal Minato put onto him, it could have been one that completely blocked Kurama from affecting him in anyway which left him with the Natural Chakra he was born with.

That was also possible, but Menma didn't think the Yondiame had enough time to create two different seals while Kurama was rampaging about.

Spiritual energy is derived from the mind's consciousness and can be increased through studying, meditation, and experience. These two energies becoming more powerful will in turn make the created chakra more powerful. Therefore, practicing a technique repeatedly will build up experience, increasing one's spiritual energy, and thus allowing more chakra to be created.

In order to have good chakra control, a ninja should only mould as much chakra as they need to perform a given ability. If they mould more chakra than is needed, the excess chakra is wasted and they will tire out faster from its loss. If they don't mould enough chakra, a technique will not be performed effectively, if at all, likely creating problems in a combat situation.

Perhaps he needed to find an ability he could perform and then focus on forming his Chakra to create whatever affect the attack made? He supposed instead of trying to force his Chakra to just appear for no purpose when he hadn't used it at all was foolish.

But shouldn't it be easier for him to control? More natural even since he was born from two very powerful Shinobi?

That probably wasn't how Chakra worked but he could dream, right?

Turning a few pages he studied the diagram of the Chakra pathways, tapping his fingers on the wooden table thoughtfully.

It was really amazing to see that everyone really did have Chakra running through their body, and it was everywhere. Even the civilians had Chakra though not enough that they'd be able to perform Ninjutsu, they still had a good amount. Coming from a world where Chakra was just a thought and not something tangible it was still hard for him to comprehend he could actually use it.

Just imagining himself spitting out fire made him feel like a child again. That sort of stuff was only in books and daydreams, no one actually was able to do that in his past life without seriously maiming themselves or someone else. Yet here anyone could do it and not get so much as a scratch on them as long as they were well practiced.

And spitting out fire was only the start.

Placing his head on the open book with a sigh Menma closed his eyes for a moment.

Everything was so different here, the way people acted, the beliefs, everything. And here he was pretending to be perfectly fine with with and go along with whatever anyone else was doing but in reality he was panicking.

Soon he was going to learn how to kill someone.

If he was born in the Naruto-verse originally he would probably have no problem attending the academy. But growing up and watching as people who committed murder where sent to jail or worse he saw killing as something bad. Taking a person's life wasn't right, no one should just end a life because they were paid to do it.

Yet the people here killed without hesitation. Sure there were characters like Naruto who didn't like killing, but the vast majority didn't give a damn and that was the scary part.

What would it be like to come across someone like Madara? A man who wanted to put every living human under a Genjutsu that made them believe that they were living in a peaceful world.

Someone who could summon a meteor from space, but wait not just one but two gigantic space rocks.

How was that even possible?

Groaning Menma could literally feel his mind sputter as he tried to come up with an explanation. He needed to take a nap, a very, very long nap.

AN: So there's a lot of 'Menma should be in team 7' and 'he shouldn't be in team 7' I'm still deciding but if he does go onto team 7 it wouldn't be a four man team. I'd figure something else out and maybe add Sakura to the Medic Nins. But that's if Menma is in team 7.

Anyways I hoped you liked the chapter! Sorry for any mistakes.