Note : Kon'nichiwa min'na-san!

I heard that exam weeks are finally over! Yay! ^-^ So, to celebrate, I present you this painstakingly woven beautiful little story! (Shade : Hmph. Narcissist much? SN : As if you're one to talk... ) I have been working on this for a couple weeks now, and I'm really proud of it. Oh... um, maybe I should've been studying too..? Ahahah... maybe, but I regret nothing! ...Okay, perhaps a little. /looks down guiltily/ It's only the fact that I may have distracted my beta during her studies though, that's all.

But I couldn't help it, I had to write it. Had to.

Anyways, constructive criticism and/or just plain reviews are all welcomed. I'm an open-minded person. Of course, a huge, huge thanks to my beta, the first one yet, for helping me in the grammar section! They are wonderful! TT-TT As you can probably guess, it's actually my second language (third if I include the native one, but I don't really speak that even though I do understand it), and I don't pay much attention in language classes, contrary to the literature ones.

Another thing is that I don't own that awesome poem below! The poem —Shooting Star— is written by Mooseman55 from The similar titles are plain coincidence by the way, I somehow found the perfect poem with matching title.

Thank you for reading this!

P.S. This fanfic was actually supposed to be humorous/fluff but... you can see that I tragically fail at it. /embarrassed laughter/

Warning(s) : AU [Major]. Some characters may act slightly different from their original personality.

Pairing(s) : None. [GEN]

流れ星/Nagareboshi/Shooting Star.

First Star : Falling Through An Hourglass

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Author — Codename-SN

Beta — justanothertree.

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~My heart's on fire,

A flaming stone.

A shooting star,

Flying all alone.

Falling to earth,

Falling for you.

So say your wish,

And I'll make it come true.~

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Year XX41 : Seventh Month

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"Really, Obaa-san?!" An excited voice of a five year old could be heard among the summer song of cicadas.

Evening was quickly approaching as the two figures made their way towards their home in the Uchiha compound. Before in the day, Obito had stubbornly insisted that they should go to the playground. He was very bored inside and wanted his grandmother figure to walk with him, since he could not go alone. She never stood a chance against those formidable, wide-tearful eyes and had to concede after a short time. While playing with his friends in sandbox, after they got bored with the slides and swings, the raven-haired child had heard a couple of girls talking about wishes and stars. So, naturally, he would question his most trusted, and only guardian about it. Somehow, the thought of wishing upon a star appealed to him like no other.

"Hai, Obito-chan." The elderly lady confirmed, with laughter in her voice as she ruffled his already messy locks, eyes warm even when the said child tried to push the offending hand away from his head. "They say that if you wish upon a shooting star, your wish will come true." Her voice had gained a nostalgic tone to it, but Obito disregarded it in favour of listening attentively to the words. "It is a very old tale though, so even I'm not sure if it's true or not."

"But you know everything!" His eyes widened in horrified disbelief as if anything else was preposterous. She only huffed out an amused chuckle at his adorable antics, as she replied. "So you say, Obito-chan. But I'm just an old woman you know, nothing more."

At the same night, sleep evaded Obito as he laid awake in his darkened room. He was too restless to sleep. When thirty-minutes of tossing and turning to find a comfortable position bore no fruit, he finally decided to sit up. Frustration crossed his childish face as he tried to think of a way to fall asleep. Looking around the room his gaze landed on his open window, or more specifically, the night sky. It reminded him about the shooting star and he wondered if he would see one anytime soon. Realizing that trying to sleep was a lost cause now, the young Uchiha fumbled around for a while before making himself comfortable on the window sill. A thin blanket wrapped around his small frame.

Gazing at the starlit sky, he did not realize when the time passed, but it was almost an hour later that a shooting star fell from the darkness. His reaction was instantaneous. Clutching his hands together, he closed his eyes in hopes that his wish would be heard.

That night, he thought he was lucky to see a shooting star for the first time, and was not even deterred when his wish did not come true. He supposed that his wish would take many more stars before coming true. It was, somewhat, unrealistic after all. It would only be after several months, and numerous shooting stars, later that he will realize that wishing on a star does not actually work. It was, like his Obaa-san had said, just an old tale.

Year XX46 : Fourth Month

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Uchiha Obito was not punctual.

It was something that, perhaps, the whole Konohagakure no Sato knew. What they did not know however, was the fact that it was not his own fault, most of the times. The second thing that escaped their observations, was the fact that most of the excuses he gave were actually not mere excuses, but the actual truth. Not that anyone believed him, not even his sensei. In fact, Minato only smiled in indulgence, whenever he would try to tell them that he was not lying, as if he were listening to a toddler claim something ridiculous but not having the heart to correct him. Which, to be honest, ruffled the Uchiha's feathers like no other.

The third, not that it would be the last, was the fact that his own clan made his everyday life nigh unbearable. They knew, of course, that he was the 'Black Sheep' of the Uchiha clan. So, it was normal that he would be met with disapproval. In all actuality, Obito felt no shame in admitting that he was different than everyone in the clan. He would rather be himself, than those stuck-up people with a 'holier than thou' attitude. What got on his nerve however, was that they would take every chance to rub the fact that he was different, weak they said, in his face, and treat him as if he were an outsider. As if he was beneath them. Moreover, they would not let him move out of that compound either, no matter how much he wished so, since that would not be an easily erasable mark against the clan records.

The young child could not help but curse those rotting elders with every vulgar words he had in his vocabulary. Which was actually quite impressive for a ten year old, but I digress.

At this current hour, our favorite Uchiha was making his way towards the Team Seven's training ground. It was quite a nice morning, the warm sun rays of early-summer felt soothing to his skin as he walked the wooded path. The small birds whistled a merry tune as they went about their life, even if it was too early for doing anything remotely 'happy'. In an atmosphere such as this, a person should have smiled, but at that moment a frown marred his pale features. It was quite obvious that he was late, again, but that was not what troubled the young boy. It was the reason he was late today.

However, to know the said reason, we would need to rewind the past hour.

You see, today, he was determined not to be late by more than half an hour for their team meeting. So, to accomplish that, he had set the alarm clock to ring exactly two hours before the meeting time, as opposed to his usual routine. After an hour of waking up, all was going smoothly. He had freshened up, took a bath, put on a fresh set of clothes and then went to prepare breakfast.

Moments like this, made him very grateful for his grandma's presence in his early years. He would not have known what to do, if not for her. At first he had been quite nervous about doing anything in the kitchen, having zero knowledge about cooking, but he had been determined to help her. She was, after all, the one who cared for him when no one did and Obito did not want to be a burden. He could still remembered the surprised expression that took over her features, when he had shyly asked to learn cooking from her.

She only smiled pleasantly after that, and ruffled his hair. In the way, only she knew that he liked. Since then it had become quite common to find them cooking together, or doing other miscellaneous house works. He had, secretly, loved every time she would smile warmly at him as he learned something new. He really missed her... It has been almost three years since she passed away, and he still felt sad at the thought that he would never see that smile again.

Shaking his head to get rid of the depressing thoughts, he walked towards his room to get his genin equipment. Fortunately, he still had half an hour to reach the training ground. Just as he was thinking that he could make it today, everything went downhill. It all started, with the trio who loved to pick on him. They had, apparently, decided that it would be a nice idea to hide his shurikens, again, along with his goggles. They, and almost everyone, knew that it was his most prized possession after all. What they did not know however, was that he had found their hiding spot just months ago. A small fact that made all the difference. Not that he was about to tell them, since as long as he waited for them to leave, he could easily get his things back.

The following minutes found Obito sneaking around the compound, and towards one of the clan's private training grounds. It was, surprisingly, nothing fancy and seemed to be one of the old ones. It held a few training dummies, painted targets hanging on the trees and a forgotten wooden sword, that lay on the side of the clearing. He waited with baited breath, as the trio of snickering teens exited the said clearing from the opposite direction he came through. He was glad they had not noticed him. Walking quietly to one of the trees, that had a painted target hanging slightly low on it, he pushed the plank aside to cautiously peer into the hollow of the tree.

The sharp edges revealed it to be a handiwork of a human, and the darkness hid the actual depth from prying eyes. He doubted that anyone among the three could have made it, maybe they had stumbled upon it accidentally, just as he had. He had been delighted, when one day he spied the three of them hiding his things in that hollow space. Which quickly turned into disappointment, when he actually caught a glimpse of it. It looked as if the hollow was endless. Not one to give up so easily however, he had stuck a random stick inside it to see if it could reach the bottom surface. Of course, after making sure that the clearing had been empty.

Imagine his surprise, when he found that the hollow was not as deep as he had previously assumed, and it was actually the black paint that made it seem like it was. Moreover, over the course of years plenty of moss had also grown inside it. Making it difficult to hear any kind of sound when something landed on the wood. He supposed he was lucky, that his bullies did not choose to check the hiding spot thoroughly, and he was too content with the way things were to rectify their ignorance.

Ten minutes later, after carefully leaving the compound so as to avoid accidentally bumping into the trio, he was merrily making his way towards the training ground. The shurikens in his pouch, and the goggles firmly placed over his eyes. It pleased him that even if he walked leisurely, he could reach on time! Albeit a few minutes later than he had planned, but that would not be so bad as his usual time. However, that thought went down the drain when something, literally, crashed onto him. Something living, breathing and human, to be more specific. Coughing out the dirt, that had accidentally entered his mouth upon roughly landing on the ground, he turned around to sit up and give whoever had landed on him a piece of his mind.

It was way too early for pleasantries.

The words died in his throat however, when he only saw a small child, not that he was one to talk, holding up his head in his hands for, what he supposed, getting his bearings together. He concluded, that the fall could not have been nice for him either. Upon closer inspection, even though the sunlight was kind of dim he could still see, Obito confirmed that he was not an Uchiha. His brilliant red hair was a dead give away, but at the same time it made him curious about the boy. After all, there were not many people with that kind of hair. The only one he knew was his sensei's girlfriend, but she was an oddity in herself, so he did not suppose that helped.

"Hey... you okay? What are you even doing here?" The dark-haired boy inquired as he slowly got up, dusting his clothes in the process.

Even though it was certainly a bizarre kind of encounter —I mean who prefers crashing into one another for a first meeting?— and the kid should not really be anywhere around there since it was too close to the Uchiha clan's compound, but that did not mean he could not be nice.

"I... I'm- I'm fine... um..." The kid nervously stuttered.

The redheaded boy looked unsure and hesitant for a moment, before his eyes widened. Obito was not sure if it was a good thing... He was proven correct not much later, when in the next moment the child all but flew at him, thin arms wrapped around his torso all but crushing his rib-cage in a tight hug, and practically crying in relief. He could not fathom why, because as far he knew, he had never seen the kid before in his short life.

"Waa... onii-sama! I knew you were alive! Those mean villagers were wrong, you didn't leave me..! I knew you wouldn't- you wouldn't break your promise..." The redhead's cries were occasionally interrupted by quiet hiccups and sniffles and he continued babbling incoherent things. The young Uchiha almost groaned when he felt tears soaking the fabric of his shirt. He was not angry at the child, it has to be just a misunderstanding, but at the world in general. Why was his luck so bad? It was too damn early for this kind of shit!

That, was what led to our current scene.

Sighing heavily, the ten-year-old boy adjusted the sleeping child on his back as Team Seven's training ground came into view.

After his initial outburst the kid had cried himself to sleep. Which left a very uncomfortable Obito with an awkward situation. After all, what was he supposed to do? He could not go around carrying a kid now could he? Well, he supposed he could, but doing so would be kind of suspicious. He was somewhat tempted to just forget about all this and go on with his life. However, he could not, in his good conscience, leave the kid in the middle of the forest. So, he did what any young child would. He decided to take him to his sensei, keeping in mind to avoid going through the village even if it would take longer, he should know what to do. He was the sensei after all. Which, to him, was all the explanation one needed.

He was immediately greeted by the said sensei, even before he had left the shade of the forest path.

"Ohayo, Obito! It's good to see you're, kind of, early." The blond practically chirped.

"Ohayo, Minato-sensei." Barely stopping himself from rolling his eyes in exasperation, he greeted back with a sigh. It was received with worried expressions, by both his sensei and his female teammate. He supposed he would be too, if his rock of a teammate suddenly became cheerful. However, the disturbing mental image aside, he doubted that would ever happen.

"What happened Obito? Is... is something wrong?" A brunette asked.

That was his other teammate, sweet and caring Rin, but she was only being her usual-self, nothing new there. In response he only walked towards one of the thicker roots rising above the ground, which was oddly shaped like a long folding-chair, and carefully placed the redhead on it. When he turned around, he was met with varying looks on his teammates features. Rin looked torn between being shocked and incredulous, and Kakashi was... just Kakashi, naturally blank. Minato-sensei however, had a expression that was even more blank than his silver-haired teammate, if it was possible.

"Obito... did you... You didn't kidnap that child, did you?" The blond started slowly, his tone queer, as if not sure what to make of the situation and worried for his mental health. He huffed, not bothering to refrain from rolling his eyes this time as he shot back, slightly offended. He was perfectly fine, thank you very much! He promptly ignored the small voice, in the back of his mind, that remarked snidely that every mental patient thought so too.

"I did not 'kidnap' him Minato-sensei! I met him when I was coming here!" Obito's tone carried a hint of indignation as he said that. He internally grumbled about stupid teachers, as he left out the part that the kid had fallen from somewhere he was not sure of. "When he saw me, he started babbling about a 'onii-sama' of sorts, and meanies and villagers. Then fell asleep on me while crying." He knew that he was kind of irritated at that moment and it showed. Not that anyone could blame him, what with the ruined morning of his. They still looked somewhat unsure about believing him though, and his irritation only skyrocketed at that.

"Oh, come on guys... I'm not lying! You can ask him when he wakes up." He offered exasperated.

The blond's expression wavered for a bit, before he finally came to a decision.

"I think it would be better if we postpone today's training for the moment. Why don't you guys wait at my apartment, while I go and see if someone has filed a missing case, hm?" After spending almost an year with him, one learns not to question Minato when he uses that tone for suggesting something. It was, after all, not much of a suggestion as it was a command.

Year XX55 : Ninth Month

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A dry wind blew across the land, whispering the end of the carefree summer and the beginning of the wistful autumn. It was a late afternoon, or early evening depending on one's perspective, and temperature was perfect for outdoor activities such as cloud gazing. After all, there was still time before the sky would turn into a beautiful blend of various shades, namely orange, red, and violet, seamless in their nature.

With a soft sigh a young boy, not even eight, looked down at the bustling village from his comfortable perch on the Nidaime Hokage's stone-head figure of the monument. The scene had become quite familiar to the aforementioned boy after watching it for years, and he honestly preferred to watch them from above rather than to walk on the streets. At least then he could pretend that he, too, was just a normal citizen of this peaceful village and not some kind of abomination that everyone tried their best to avoid. It was admittedly harder to do that when their glares practically burned holes at his small back.

Moreover, he did not have any wish to test his patience. Even if his brother had said that he had almost unnatural amount of it, his patience has always been short whenever these citizens were brought into the equation.

(Arms crossed over the chest, shoulders tense, a gruff unpleasant voice spoke in clipped sentences, filled with thinly veiled venom—)

If he were to be honest with himself, he found their attitude utterly moronic and despicable. Years and years of putting up with them could do that. After all, even an infant knows not to deliberately attract negative attention from someone deemed dangerous to itself. The citizens of Konoha however, were the epitome of stupidity. Who else constantly and intentionally tries to provoke a sleeping beast? He would— could not leave though, no matter how many idiots he had to suffer through, since it was the only place he knew. It was his "home". In any case, where could a five year old even go in this merciless world of shinobi?

(Jaw clenched, eyebrows furrowed in agitation, a hand moved only to point to a sign above. He turned around, not even bothering anymore, he could guess what it said anyways—)

The one thing he was thankful for, above all else though still at impasse with his ANBU friend, would be finally knowing the reason for all that immeasurable contempt directed towards his person. He had tried to ignore it in his younger years at first, but it was simply too much. He also remembered wondering, again and again, just what was it exactly that made him so different than the rest. Was it his unnatural red hair? It would make sense, since there was not a single person with hair the same shade as his. What if it was not though? Then... his whisker marks? That was even less convincing however, since he had seen many people, children, and adults alike, with weirder markings on their cheeks.

Moreover, he thought that his whiskers were somewhat cool. He did not know what he would do if they hated him because of it. Was it just appearance or something else? Why would anyone not tell him? The questions kept piling up and he did not know what to do. No one would tell him! The utter lack of knowledge on his part was agonizing, and sometimes he wished that he was someone else.

(His chest constricted, teeth clenched, tears of frustration gathered in his eyes. Why? ...Why me? What did I do?! Stop! Stop looking at me like that! I'm not—)

It was a blessing, even though sometimes it feels like a curse, that he had accidentally accessed his mindscape when he fell unconscious during training one day. Meeting the supposed strongest bijū in existence could be a terrifying experience after all, without adding the fact that the beast was actually sealed inside of him. As he gazed at the frightening visage of the demonic creature he distantly made a mental note to study the obscure art of fuinjutsu, because from whatever he knew of it — it was beyond impressive. The meeting, of course, had not been a pleasant one. The redhead did not blame the bijū though.

At first he had wanted to since he had to go through so much so early in his life just because of its existence, but he later, many meetings and a lot of nonsensical ramblings later, realized that it was not really their fault that the humans were so narrow-minded. He listened to the ravings of the fox with as an unbiased opinion as he could, while trying not to cringe away from the volume. If nothing else, he could do that at least, and contrary to his expectations he actually learned several things about his prisoner. Such as the fact that ever since the vile creation, in it's own words, of the hidden villages the bijūs had been forcefully ripped away from their peaceful lives and sealed into a containers. Some were unlucky enough to get stranded into an object, which is worse than being sealed into a living human.

(That foolish Druid of a shinobi... A rumbling growl. Thought we were his fuckin' property or something!? How dare he—)

The young Uzumaki had to keep himself from fainting when he realized, from different pieces of the fox's cursing, that there were others like him. People who were going through the same isolation of various degrees. Not to mention that he was actually a part of a clan, albeit a nonexistent one but a clan nonetheless, and Kyūbi's previous hosts had all been Uzumaki's. He did not know if he should be glad that he was not as alone as he thought himself to be, horrified, by the fate they had to go through, or enraged, that humans could be such ungrateful and disgusting creatures. In the end, he settled for a mixture of three. All in all, the 'conversations' were... enlightening.

(Uzumaki..? Ha! A condescending sneer. Fat load of help their longevity did when even their allies abandoned them! You want to know—)

So yes, he had wanted to blame the fox, but it was merely a fellow victim. However, that did not mean the beast was not partially guilty. He did not know the details of the Kyūbi attack all those years ago, but until and unless he has more information a part of him would always blame the bijū. Still, if it was a second chance, he had no qualms against allowing that. Kyūbi deserved that at the very least. After all, if he could give it to Konoha, he could surely try with the fox.

Not to mention that he really disliked the fact that he had been grouped with the rest of "moronic monkeys".

The task did seem nigh impossible however, but if he was something, he was patient. His efforts were not in vain as several months of cursing and shouting, mostly Kyūbi, and calm counters along with stubborn persistence eventually won him a reluctant companion. With the beast never failing to remind him that it agreed only to shut him up. Apparently, he was getting annoying ...or so Kyūbi said. Naruto was pretty sure that the fox was actually a tsundere.

(A flash of surprise, or maybe it was shock, hidden behind the menacing grin. Don't get too cocky you little ape—)

The mere idea was kind of laughable, but he could not deny the truth. He did not do that anymore.

(Eyes shut, fingernails digging his scalp. No, no, nonono! Calm down! Deep breaths. That's right, keep doing that. You just have to ignore it all... Damnit—)

The young redhead was glad to have met the bijū. Especially since he could faintly imagine going insane in near future with the higher ups intent on keeping him ignorant and whatnot. He had to admit, that if it was under the current Hokage's control, he would have never learned about being a jinchūriki. He may be 'the Professor' or whatever, but he was practically ancient. Who is to say that he has not gone senile? After all, announcing the existence of a jinchūriki to the whole village, especially without a detailed explanation on the mechanics of the seal when the civilians cannot understand shit about fūinjutsu, was not exactly the brightest idea.

"Oi! Naruto!" A very familiar voice shouted from the woods. Breaking out of his musings, the said boy tilted his head in the general direction of his friend. Not even batting an eyelid when a black clad Anbu-operative landed beside him.

"Sei-niisama." The redhead greeted politely. A happy smile, not quite grin, filtering across his face as the older boy ruffled his hair fondly. The newcomer was not surprised by the formal greeting, if anything, he was more exasperated. He had tried to get the younger one to call him something more informal but, sadly, the efforts were in vain. "You're late. Did something happen?" Naruto questioned, dipping a brow in concern. "Gomen, gomen." The dark-haired teen smiled in apology, though unseen behind the porcelain cover, as he sat down gracefully beside his little brother. "I was held back because of the paperwork. You know how awful those are!"

The redhead could not stop the amused smile that appeared at that childish whine. No matter the day, his brother could always make him smile. He listened attentively to the words, even if they were nothing more than nonsensical chatter, as the older of the two went on and on about the horrors of paperwork. At times like this, Naruto could admit that life was actually good. It was peaceful.

[ EDIT 07/04/2016 : Added year and stuff cause people thought the timeline was confusing... it's pretty, maybe, probably, accurate with Canon, if I say so myself. Although I have to say, that it's unnerving that there were three shinobi world wars —THREE FREAKING WORLD WARS!— in less than half a century! That's as insane as you can get mate. No, seriously, Kishimoto's brand of insanity is totally on another level. (Well, most of it is bullshit anyway.) And about the climate... it's similar to Japan's. Even though I speculate that the Land of Fire has a tropical climate and Japan's falls in subtropical. I think Kishimoto deliberately did that, since he's most familiar with it and most plot did focus on Konoha... Ah, well. /shrugs/ So... anyways, going with that, 7th month is in the middle of summer, 4th month falls under spring, while 9th month is the start of autumn. ]

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