"You fail!" Why did he have to be so animated about it? She didn't think Iruka-sensei hated her, but it was even more disheartening when he goes out of his way to make it a big deal. She steadies her breathing and leaves. She didn't want to stick around to hear the words of congratulations for the other kids. So what if she couldn't perform the stupid clone jutsu? So what if she wasn't ladylike enough to be a good kunoichi? So what if her Taijutsu was mediocre at best? And so what if she wore a bright orange jumpsuit? None of that should matter. The jumpsuit can be changed as soon as she has the money to change it. The Taijutsu was mediocre but that was still better than half the class. She never got to attend her kunoichi specific lessons, and who cares, just because she's a kunoichi doesn't mean she needs to be good at seduction! And who the fuck needs the clone jutsu! It's easy to see through and worthless in combat. Just because she can't perform one stupid jutsu she's not good enough? It was stupid.

She sat on a swing outside the academy, listening in annoyance as the adults talked bad about her. What right did they have to be happy that she failed? It was unfair. Why wasn't she allowed to graduate? Why wasn't she allowed to be happy?

"Hey Naruko!" She turned and saw Mizuki-sensei. He was smiling at her, she offered a forced smile in response.

"Yes?"

"I know you're probably down in the dumps, about failing and all." Way to rub it in.

"You're right."

"Well I wanted to let you know there is a secret bonus test."

"A bonus test?"

"Yep, it's harder than the real test, but it also looks at different skills. I think you might actually have a better shot at it!"

"You're saying there is a chance I can pass?" Hope swelled within her. Why had no one ever told her this before?

"Indeed. All you need to do is take the large scroll from the Hokage's office, and learn a Jutsu. Then perform a jutsu from the scroll for me, of course I'll need to check and make sure that it's a Jutsu actually found in the scroll." She nodded, that was reasonable enough.

"Okay!" She didn't have time to wait, she needed to pass and become a ninja!

"Hashi-Nii."

"What's up?" He asked looking at his younger brother, Tobirama.

"Are you going to visit Madara today?"

"That was the plan, wanna tag along? Izuna might be there, you never know."

"I do, I have a new seal I want you two to try out."

"Oh? What's it do?"

"It's an experimental teleportation seal."

Hashirama whistled, that was impressive. Considering his younger brother wasn't even ten years old yet. But his brother had always been a prodigy when it came to learning and using Jutsu, and Fuinjutsu was no exception. Truth be told Hashirama would have believed it if someone told him his brother was part Uzumaki. "That's incredible."

"It's supposed to make it so people with the seal can go to the location with the partner seal. So I thought I would have you and Madara test it with your clearing." He nodded, it would certainly make things more convenient for spending time hanging out.

"Have you made sure to test it on animals first?" The younger boy nods. "Alright then, what are you going to call it if it works?"

"I was thinking Flying Thunder God." Hashirama laughed, of course his brother went for the over the top name.

"Right well let's go. I'll try and convince Madara, you can just work on setting things up." His younger brother nodded and they set out.

"Ha! Iruka-sensei I found you!"

"Idiot! I found you!" He bonked her on the head and she winced. It didn't really hurt, but the action still made her flinch, clearly he was mad? Was he still upset about her initial failure?

"Hey Iruka-sensei, no need to be angry, I've mastered some Jutsu from the scroll. I can pass now right?" He looked confused.

"You learned a Jutsu from it?" She nodded, that was the whole point of the hidden test right? "Why do you think that would let you pass?"

"That's what Mizuki-sensei told me." He seemed to go into thought before suddenly pushing her down. A sickening squelch sounded through the clearing. A fuma shuriken was lodged in Iruka-sensei's back.

"Of course you beat me here Iruka, always gotta show me up, don't you?" Mizuki-sensei appeared in the clearing with a sneer.

"Mizuki tricked you. Take the scroll and run," He coughed a bit of blood, "Run, Naruko!"

"Now now, let's not be hasty. If you stay for a minute I might just let you know why the village hates you." She froze, he knew? And would willingly tell her?

"No Mizuki, it's forbidden!"

"Tell me." She glared at him, she needed to know.

He smiled viciously at her. "You were told that 12 years ago the fourth Hokage killed the Kyuubi. This is a lie. The beast could not be killed. He had no choice but to seal it within an infant, that infant was you! You are the fox! You are the demon!" Her breath hitched. She did the only thing she could. . . She ran.

He glared at his rival. His rival grinned in response. They were best friends, sure. But the mere fact that the other boy could match him annoyed him. He was the heir to his clan and a talent unseen in generations. Yet this brown haired nobody could match him. Well it's not fair to call him a nobody. They didn't share their surnames, as was common when meeting strangers. But unless his friend was somehow one of those Senju bastards then there was no way he should have any chance of matching him.

Of course the idea that he's a Senju is ridiculous. Madara was sure that he would have never been able to stand his presence. No, Hashirma and his little brother, Tobirama, had to be from some other clan. He didn't pry though. In the same manner they didn't either.

"No."

"What, come on Madara it will be fun."

"I refuse."

"I refuse your refusal."

"I hate you."

"No you don't."

"No I do."

Hashirama stuck out his tongue in a pout. "Come on you know it will be fun."

"I'm not going to let your mad genius brother mark us with an experimental untested seal."

"You'll be fine, Tobirama is smart!"

"Smarter than you for certain. But I'm not stupid enough to agree to this."

"Come on it'll be fine! If he's right we'll be able to come back here any time! Don't you want to be the one of the first people to see a teleportation seal in action?" He'd be lying if he wasn't curious.

"Fine, but if we die I'm going to kill you." He knew that was redundant, but he said it anyways.

"You're right, that is what a demon would do." Naruko felt her heart wrench. Of course that's what Iruka-sensei thought. She was just a demon. "But that's not what Uzumaki Naruko would do! She's far more than the demon she contains." She gasped. Did he really mean it? She could feel her heart swelling with warmth.

Mizuki snarled and threw several kunai at Iruka-sensei. Naruko couldn't help herself as she leapt in front of him and deflected them. She growled at the traitor. "If you hurt Iruka-sensei, I'll kill you!" She placed her fingers in a cross and said. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" A cloud of smoke puffed through the clearing as hundreds of copies of her appeared.

She pointed at the traitor and as one her clones charged him.

"Are you sure this will work, Tobirama?"

"Stop worrying, you'll be fine. . . Probably."

He laughed as he watched Madara squirm. His friend had never trusted seals too much and that hadn't changed. But Hashirama couldn't help himself. How cool would it be if Tobirama's experiment worked and allowed them to teleport to the clearing. He had apparently already tested it with animals and they were fine, so Hashirama chose to trust his brother. Plus it allowed him to spend more time with Madara.

"There, all finished. I've already set up a seal in the clearing, now we just need to activate yours and it should link!" Hashirama knew his way around a seal, but his younger brother was a real prodigy when it came to the stuff. Truth be told he bet the boy could rival an Uzumaki no problem. Tobirama placed a hand on Madara's and his own seals and applied his chakra. The seals flashed blue for a second before fading to the regular black ink. "Now try pulsing your chakra through it?"

They nod and do so. Nothing happened. They didn't so much as move. Well that was disappointing.

"Looks like it failed."

"Try to not seem too happy Madara." He grinned as the other boy sputtered.

"Hmm, maybe you need to put your chakra in the receiver seal." He shrugs and does so. Madara rolls his eyes and follows suit.

Naruko rolled her shoulder. As it turns out beating the shit out of jerks is more tiring than expected. She looked down at the unconscious Mizuki. She hoped Jiji would understand that she was tricked. Maybe he'd even see how cool she was for beating a chunin and let her pass anyways.

She noticed something odd under the jerk. There was dirt under him. Not too strange normally, but it was one small section and the rest of the forest had plenty of grass. She unceremoniously rolled him away and spotted a strange set of symbols on the ground. Actually now that she looks at the she sort of recognizes them. They were in that scroll. She had tried to learn the jutsu that went with them, but when she activated it before nothing happened. She had figured it was a waste of time and moved on.

Good thing too, as she needed those Shadow Clones to beat Mizuki. She shrugged, might as well give it one last try now. She goes through the hand seals and tries to direct her chakra outwards, into the seal on the ground. It suddenly starts to glow and she backs away.

"Are we really doing this again, I'm fairly certain nothing will happen."

"It's worth a shot." He rolled his eyes, Hashirama was ever the optimist.

"Fine."

"Flare our chakra on three?"

"We didn't count down last time."

"Come on, indulge me."

"One." Hashirama smiled.

"Two." He gulped, he was more nervous than he'd like to admit.

"Three." They said it in unison. He flared his chakra into the seal on his arm and a flash of light consumed his vision. He shut his eyes in order to avoid being blinded.

When he opened them next the world had changed. They seemed to be in the forest, but no longer was it midday. It was night time and the trees around them were larger.

Not only that, they were no longer alone. A girl around his age was staring at him in confusion. Not only that there was an unconscious man to his left and another man who seemed to be injured further back in the clearing. He looked to his right and spotted Hashirama, who looked just as confused.

"Woah! The thing on the ground made two kids appear! Iruka-sensei come check it out. Wait no you're injured. Wait you're injured! Iruka-sensei I'm sorry! We gotta get you to the hospital quick!"

Madara turned his attention back to the girl. She had long golden blonde hair tied in two pigtails. She wore a bright orange. . . thing. What kind of clothing was that? It didn't look like civilian clothing, but it certainly wasn't something a ninja would be caught wearing, and that's not considering the color choice. She had three whisker marks on each cheek. He wasn't sure if it was a clan mark (if it was then she belonged to a clan he had never heard of) or a scar or something else entirely. She had blue eyes that seemed to be made of the clearest sapphire. "Who are you?" He needed information first and foremost.

"The future Hokage." She grinned cheekily at him. Great she was like a female Hashirama.

"What's a Hokage?" She looked at his companion and gasped. Did she recognize him?!

"You don't know what a Hokage is?"

Did she somehow summon country bumpkins? How could anyone not know what, or who, the Hokage is? It's only the coolest thing in the whole world.

"I've never heard the term before, no." She felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to look at Iruka-sensei.

"Naruko, who are these kids?" She grinned at him.

"I dunno, I found a seal on the ground and activated it." He glared at her and her smile wilted, he was probably upset that she went and activated some unknown seal. "These two came out. Apparently they don't even know what a Hokage is!"

She turned her attention to the two boys. The boy that spoke first had spiky black hair and black eyes. He sort of reminded her of Sasuke-teme. There was nothing special about the way he was dressed, it was really rather bland. Although that could be said for both boys. He had tan skin, but his complexion seemed like it leaned towards being pale, he probably spent a lot of time in the sun. He was looking at her and Iruka-sensei with distrust evident in his eyes. Probably a good thing, given that he somehow appeared here without any idea why.

The other boy had a much friendlier appearance. He also had a tan complexion, but unlike his black haired companion it seemed to just be his natural skin tone. He had a friendly appearance and also seemed as easily excitable as she is. Something about him made her feel like his face was familiar. He didn't have a super common face, but it felt like she saw his face, or something similar every day. Maybe he was just an idiot and lived in the village without know who their leader was? That didn't seem right.

"Well I guess it's okay. Oh Naruko!"

"Hmm?"

"Close your eyes for a second." She didn't think this was a good idea with strangers here but she shrugged, Iruka-sensei knew what he was doing. She did as told and felt a cloth wrap around her forehead. When she opened her eyes Iruka-sensei wasn't wearing his forehead protector. "You pass! Congratulations Naruko."

"Fuck yeah!"

"Language!" She sheepishly rubbed the back of her head. She flicked her eyes to the two boys and both of them seemed a bit put out by her foul language. Weirdos. Iruka-sensei followed her eyes. "Right, I've been meaning to ask, who exactly are you two?"

"I'm Hashi-"

He was cut off by his friend covering his mouth.

He pried the hand off his mouth and glared. "Why?"

"We don't know who these people are, even giving out your first name is dangerous in this situation."

Why did Madara have to be distrusting? Even if it was well placed. The two of them had yet to tell each other the clan they belonged to. Though he had a suspicion about Madara's affiliation and he was sure Madara had his own, likely correct, suspicion of his. He sighed and acknowledge his friends point.

"I guess it's not safe to say, not until we know where we are and who we're talking to."

"You're in Konoha." The girl said helpfully, Naruko the man had called her.

"Konoha?" He'd never heard of it. He looked to Madara for help, the boy shook his head. "What country?" Surely Tobirama's Fuinjutsu hadn't backfired so badly that they ended up in another country right?

The girl answered again, "Fire Country." He and Madara breathed a sigh of relief. Okay, getting home would still be reasonable then.

The man cut in now, and said, "I'm afraid we're not going to be able to talk more. I need to go report to Hokage-sama, our leader, and once I'm done giving my report, Hokage-sama will decide what to do about your situation."

"No."

"Mada, we appeared from thin air in their land, it's only right that we at least give the courtesy to see their leader." He at least remembered to hide the name, but they would likely be forced to say it soon enough.

"This could be an elaborate trap from an enemy clan. I don't trust it."

"Do you intend to fight then? I know you're strong, but you can't expect to win this deep in unidentified enemy territory." That got him. The boy saw reason and sighed.

"Fine, but if we die I'm going to kill you."

"You've said that twice today."

"I don't care."

"Right so we'll go with you."

She smiled sheepishly as Jiji rubbed his temples. "Naruko."

"Yes?"

"Must you make my life miserable?"

"Not on purpose." He sighed.

"So you ousted a traitor, learned a forbidden technique, and then using a different forbidden technique accidentally summoned these two?"

"That about sums it up, yeah."

"Well Congratulations on becoming a Genin."

She smiled brightly, "Thanks Jiji!"

"Now then. As for you two."

"Do you mind explaining to me why you look like two of the most well known Ninja in history?"

The not Sasuke looking boy blinked in Surprise. "We do?"

"Yes, In fact you look just like them. To such a degree I can only suspect you to be very bad spies, or long lost relatives."

"Who are they? These legendary ninja?" The black haired boy asked.

"You don't know?" Jiji seemed surprised. She didn't even know who he was referring to.

"Afraid not."

"Uchiha Madara." The brown haired boy looked at the black haired boy in shock. Of course the boy himself seemed floored as well. Jiji turned to the other boy. "And Senju Hashirama." This time the shock went the other way.

Both boys looked at each other with uncertainty for a moment before asking simultaneously, "How do you know who we are?"

"Well considering Hashirama-sensei founded the village alongside Uchiha Madara, it's only right that I know who they are."

"We found a village together?"

"Yes, you two had dreamed of creating a village where children can grow up without the need to fight, so you ended the dispute between the Senju Clan and the Uchiha Clan."

Madara looked surprised. "We really did it? How? They killed my brothers, I could never forgive those Senju Bastards."

"It took an unbelievable amount of work. Now then, I've been speaking under the frame that you two are indeed our founders. But I'm not going to simply accept your word as proof."

Hashirama spoke up, "That's fair, of course it's not like we believe we're in the future so easily either. That is your implication right, that we've somehow moved forward in time?" Jiji nodded.

Madara spoke now, "So how can we confirm our identities."

Hashirama responded quickly, his voice was teasing, "My Madara, you're accepting this rather quickly."

"The faster I accept what they've told me, and see undeniable proof that we've moved forward in time, the sooner we can look into getting back home." Hashirama nodded, seemingly accepting that. "Plus if we really did found this village, and if this man really was a student of yours in the future, then surely he would be willing to help us."

"You're correct. For as long as you're here in the present, your future, I'll make sure you're treated well. Of course this is working under the assumption that you are who you say you are."

"Once again, how can we confirm our identities."

"Well your bloodlines would be proof enough."

"I have a bloodline?"

"Ah that's right, you hadn't unlocked it at that age, had you." It wasn't a question.

"I haven't unlocked my Sharingan yet." Jiji smiled kindly at the two. And then snapped his fingers. All at once Anbu surrounded the two boys.

"Then I'm afraid I need to work under the assumption that you're spies." His voice was laced with killing intent, but Naruko found that there was no real intent behind it. It was well crafted but it was an act. Of course she could read him like an open book so she knew better than to think he would really kill these two.

Madara tensed. He hadn't even sensed the shinobi hidden in the shadows of the room. He had let his guard down. He had to stop himself from beating himself up over the mistake. He didn't have time to worry about that. What mattered right now was getting out of this alive, and maybe getting Hashirama out of this too.

"We're not spies, there's gotta be some other way to prove it!" Hashirama was loud but he was clearly calm. It worked to calm his own nerves.

"Of course there is, but I was hoping I could frighten you into using your bloodlines. It's far faster than calling Yamanaka-dono here this late at night." The Yamanaka Clan had joined this village too? Perhaps he and Hashirama had been more impressive than he thought. "Of course once we have someone probing your mind I hope you realize the consequences of lying. And be warned should you fail to cooperate with that then I'll assume you're spies. So if you don't want your mind probed then use your Bloodline limits right now."

"There's no way we can just activate it on the spot. Read my mind if you must. If you are who you say you are then there is no harm, and if you're not you're just going to do it anyways." It was the truth. If he was caught by enemies pretending to be allies, then he would be interrogated and killed. But if they were really allies then it was better to cooperate. As much as he preferred not to, the situation called for agreeing to the old mans terms.

"Fetch me Yamanaka-dono." One of the animal masked men nodded and disappeared. The room was engulfed in silence.

"So are you really the first Hokage?" The girl, Naruko said to Hashirama. Wait Hashirama got to be the leader of their village first? What kind of nonsense is that?

"He is the leader first?!"

"Actually you never get to be the leader, or any Uchiha for that matter." He grit his teeth, was this some elaborate trap then, to weaken their clan? And make them subservient?

"Why not?"

"If the history books are true, then you go crazy, betray the village and your clan and then tried to destroy it with the Kyuubi." Books could be falsified. That didn't seem like something he would do, he would never betray his own clan, if nothing else. He filed away the way she said Kyuubi for later, something about the beast held significance to her.

"But why then would another Uchiha never be the Hokage?" Sure it might make sense for him not to, but no others of his clan?

The Hokage speaks up, "That's mainly my fault."

"What did you do."

"I've been Hokage for far longer than I should have been. Believe it or not but I'm our third Hokage. I had a successor, but he died prematurely and there was no one else close enough in strength to take the role. So I've been the Hokage for so long no one else has really had a chance to take the seat. In fact outside of my own clan and the Senju, no other clans have ever managed to take the seat."

"What other clans are in the village?" Asked Hashirama curiously.

"Well as you're probably aware, the Yamanaka are. Alongside them the Nara and Akimichi as well. We also have the Inuzuka, Aburame, and the Hyuuga." That. . . Is a lot of very powerful clans, and none of them had managed to put forth a candidate to take the seat from him? "There is of course my own clan as well, the Sarutobi." He flicked his eyes to the girl and hesitated for a moment. "There are a few other minor clans as well, but those are the largest."

The girl must be from a minor clan, or another clan that he simply didn't want them knowing of, for reasons beyond him. A knock on the door ends the conversation and the masked Shinobi from before walks through the door with a man who definitely fits the description of a Yamanaka.

"You requested me, Hokage-sama?"

"Yes, I need you to scan these two boys minds. They claim to be our founders." The mans eyes widened subtly, before he nodded his head.

"Well?"

"They are who they say they are." Jiji let out a sigh.

"I see. Thank you Yamanaka-dono." The man bowed and left. She wasn't really sure why she was still here, but Jiji hadn't made her leave. Maybe cause she was the one who accidentally summoned them. "So, Hashirama. . . kun. That is never going to feel right. So Hashirama-kun, Madara-kun, seeing as you two have told the truth I will allow you to stay in Konoha. That being said I have a proposition for you two."

Hashirama spoke first, "Go on."

"I want you two to become Genin for Konoha while you're here in the future. Of course as soon as we can send you back to the past we will, no strings attached."

Madara spoke next. "You want us to serve the village?"

"Truth be told, yes. I would rather secure your loyalty to Konoha sooner rather than later."

"What of sending us to our clans?"

"I can, but that will be. . . Difficult."

"Why?"

"Simply put, each of your clans is down to a single member. Well That's not entirely true."

"How?"

"The Senju simply died out over time. Their prowess in battle made them targets during war time, and the last living member is still grieving over her dead brother and fiance."

"Did the same happen to the Uchiha?"

"No the Uchiha were in full force until recently."

"Then what happened?" Madara was clearly more than a little upset.

"The Clan heir killed his entire family in a single night. Save his little brother." Madara looked, and probably was, floored. It was a hard pill to swallow, no doubt. She didn't know how she would feel if she learned she had a family only to then find out they were all killed at once.

"I think our dream failed, Hashirama." The young future (past?) Hokage nodded solemnly.

"We know, we'll do something. We cant let this happen."

"Indeed."

"So would you two like to be Konoha ninja?"

Hashirama spoke first again. "I'll do it."

Madara sighed, "Well I can't leave this idiot alone. Fine."

Jiji smiled, "Excellent, be sure to show up at the Academy tomorrow for team placements!"

"And where exactly is that?"

"Naruko here will show you tomorrow!"

"Wait why do I have to?"

"Because unless they want to live in their abandoned clan compounds I was planning on placing them in the open apartments next to yours." Oh that made sense. Wait that means she would finally be getting neighbors! Hell yeah! "On that note, why don't you show them to the apartment. You two can decide if you want to stay or move to your clan compounds tomorrow, it's late for now and I think we all need rest."

"Come on it will be great! Oh it's gonna be so fun! I'll finally have neighbors!" She grabbed each boy by the hand and lead them out of the room.

Hashirama glanced at Madara, the Uchiha glanced back. They both noticed but didn't say anything. The structures in this village were far different than the ones from their time. But one thing they noticed was the writing on the wall. Literally. Out side of Naruko's home was a mess of nasty insults. The place looked run down. The word that stuck out the most was the phrase 'demon.' Clearly this girl wasn't very well liked here.

"So which apartment do you two want, pretty much the whole floor is empty!"

"Why is the floor empty?"

"No one wanted to live near me!" She was far too happy to be saying that. He suspected she was so used to the treatment that she didn't even consider the abnormality of it anymore.

Madara practically choked at hearing her answer, he probably wasn't expecting the blunt response. "I-I see. Well I'll take the one to the right then." Hashirama shrugged. Well they'd figure it out. He went to the unit to the left.

"Good night, Naruko-san."

"Night Hashirama, Night Madara!"

"Good night."

A/N Well here's a new fic. I just got sudden inspiration for the idea and decided to go for it. I hope you enjoyed. Also to discuss a few things about timing. I couldn't find anything on the Naruto wiki about when Hashirama unlocked Mokuton, so I'm saying he developed it a little later. I know for a fact Madara didn't unlock his Sharingan until after he found out Hashirama's identity. As for age, well again it's not stated, but I was able to find out Madara's height, so then I just looked at the average height of boys by age, and it was pretty much right in the range for genin graduation, so I don't think the age is a stretch to believe. Honestly the biggest stretch is Tobirama developing an early version of the Flying Thunder God at that age, but he is a genius and it's mostly a plot device.

Anyways I hope you all enjoyed, be sure to leave a review if you have anything you want to let me know, or if you have any particular feelings about the chapter. Until next time.

CM 03/05/2020