Um...what can I say? College is driving me INSANE! I've never worked so hard in my life 0.0

Well let me begin by saying I'M SO SORRY! I know I have been absent for a very long time but that's also 'cos I didn't know where I was going with this story, I only know how to end it but I don't know how to fill the gaps. Plus, lately I've been obsessing with zutara fics instead. I hope you haven't lost interest anyway :(

If anyone out there has ideas, please don't hesitate to share :)

For those who keep giving me negative reviews, please just get the hell outta here. I'm not FORCING you to read the damn story! If you hate it, then why did you read this far?

As for the rest of you guys, thank you so much for your support and constructive criticism! Every review made my day! No, seriously.

Thoughts

"Speeches"

"Whispers"

Flashbacks:

Disclaimer: If I did, Yondaime would still be alive.

Chapter 13: The Water Exercise

Previously on Flash to the Future:

The Uchiha knew he didn't feel comfortable talking about the event, especially to someone who he barely knew, "Tch. You'd be better off without knowing." With that he left with the slight annoyance of bringing the massacre back into his memories.

"Sasuke..." Naruto felt some sympathy towards his team mate,

"Naruto," Yondaime began, "I have a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach. Can you please explain the situation? What happened?"

The blond took a deep breath, it wasn't in his right to talk about the event, but his teacher was in basis of need. And after all, he was a Konoha Hokage, he has to right to know too. He sighed, "A Massacre, that's what."

"Um hello? Are we gonna train or what?" Naruto asked, irritated as he watched the blond Hokage drift off yet again.

"Huh?" Yondaime looked up, snapping back into reality, "Oh, I apologise," he sheepishly grinned, "We will resume with your training." Minato watched as a wide smile spread across the young boy's face.

"Alright! What's it gonna be today? I hope it will be one of your super-ultra-special moves!" Naruto enthusiastically beamed, "I remember reading about your awesome techniques in history class. It was the only lesson I paid attention to!" he continued to grin.

Minato chuckled, "Be patient, you'll get there. Besides, I had something else in mind..."

Naruto raised his eyebrow, "Walk on water?"

"That's right," Minato grinned. Both were now standing near the river within the forest training grounds. Minato continued, "It involves emitting a constant stream of chakra from the bottom of your feet and using the repellent force to walk across the water's surface."

The blond boy paused for a moment, then burst into fits of laughter, "You're crazy, old man!"

Yondaime felt a vein pop onto his forehead, Again with the old man!

Naruto's laughter died down, "I'll see it to believe it."

Minato raised his eyebrow, "Very well. Prepare to be amazed!" Stepping forward, the Hokage lifted his heel and lightly placed it onto the surface of the river. He repeated the process with the next foot and no sooner, he was easily able to tread across the river similarly to how he would with the floors of the earth.

"Whoa!" The young blond gaped in awe, "That's incredible!"

Minato smiled satisfactorily, "Am I a crazy old man now?"

"Tell me how you do that!"

"Alright," The blond Hokage made his way back to his fervent student, "First of all, have you had the tree climbing exercise?"

"Yeah, with Kakashi-sensei, what of it?"

"This technique is more difficult to master than the Tree Climbing Practice, because the amount of chakra that needs to be emitted changes constantly. This training method will help you gain better chakra control."

"I see, so all I have to do is focus my chakra onto my feet?" Minato nodded as he watched his student lifting his fingers to form a sign to gather his chakra. Once Naruto had focused on his feet, he lifted both his legs to prepare to step onto the river, but only instantly to find himself falling into it. He then risen into the surface and spat the remaining water in his mouth. Minato sighed. This was going to be a long day.

Splash.

Splash.

Splash.

"DAMN IT! Why can't I get this right?" Naruto growled in frustration, "Concentrate on your feet and-"

SPLASH.

"ARGH!"

"Naruto, getting frustrated will distract your control. You need to relax if you ought to manipulate your chakra dominantly. I know it's proving to be difficult at first, but you will get there." Minato explained.

The blond boy whirled through the waters until he reached the earth grounds. He took off his jacket and squeezed the water out, "What about you? How did you do when you first tried this?"

"Me? It didn't take me too long. I got it on my second try, but that's only because I, at that time, had a good sense of control with my chakra. You on the other hand, are a different situation. You seem to struggle because you have an abnormal extent of energy, and thus, the more chakra you have, the harder it is to control."

Naruto raised his eyebrow, "I think I get it. So I guess I'll just keep trying."

"That's the spirit," Minato smiled.

"Why have you returned?" He solemnly asked him.

"I received a message from the old man himself."

"I see. What are you planning to do once you see him?"

He closed his eyes, "Expose to you that he has to be an imposter. My student is dead. And nothing or no one can change that."

The silver-haired ninja stepped forward, "Believe me. When you see him, you'll know. I felt like that at first, but now..."

"Kakashi, don't let your guard down. That's just what he might want you to do. Don't get your hopes up over some illusion."

Kakashi sighed, "I don't believe he's an illusion. There's something about him. Something familiar, and you will know once you see him, trust me."

"Hey! I did it!" The young blond smiled in triumph, "I did it! I did it!" Naruto twirled and hopped repeatedly to ensure he mastered the technique flawlessly.

Minato grinned, "I'm impressed, I didn't think you'd get that far in little time. Good job!" He walked towards Naruto and patted his head, "Ramen on me!"

"Yeah!"

Staring into the bowl of miso soup, the blond Hokage continued to wander into his trail of thoughts. He sighed, how could it have happened? Who did it? Why? While he repeatedly asked himself the same questions, he had not known Naruto has already finished his third bowl.

"Another bowl, old man!" The blond sunshine beamed.

"Alright then, coming up!" Teuchi replied. Naruto sat waiting while his fourth bowl is making its way. He turned curiously towards the Yondaime.

"Hey, you still haven't finished you first! If you don't want it, I'll have it!" Naruto smiled.

Minato broke his thoughts, "No, no, I'm still eating,"

"Okay, what's wrong? Why have you been so distant today?"

Yondaime sighed, "No reason."

Naruto pouted, "You're like Kakashi-sensei, always keeping things to himself,"

Minato chuckled, "Got that from me, did he?"

"So are you gonna tell me or what?"

"Maybe later."

As both blonds made their way to Naruto's apartment, Minato called off his henge and looked up at his student, "Naruto," he began with a serious tone in his voice.

The young kyuubi container turned as he stared at his teacher, "What?" He responded with a similar tone.

"Was there anything else?"

"I don't know what you mean," Naruto replied, puzzled.

"I mean, an event like the massacre,"

Naruto's eyes widened slightly, "Um…I don't exactly know what to tell you."

"Well do you know any details about the massacre, why it happened?"

"I don't know much, I eavesdropped on the Hokage's office about it once, and all I heard was that the truth about the massacre must be kept top secret."

Yondaime sighed, "I'm sorry for asking, I shouldn't bring stuff like this up to you," What was I thinking? He thought, bringing a twelve year old kid into this drama? I'd be better off asking Sarutobi himself. "Let's get some rest for now," He continued, this was followed by a sneeze. Minato turned to his student.

"Ah-Ah-Achoo!" Naruto moaned slightly.

"Oh dear," the Yondaime turned to the young blond, "I think you're getting a fever," He laid a hand onto his forehead to check his temperature, "Maybe we should skip tomorrow's training,"

"What? No! I'll be fine-ACHOO!" Naruto sniffed, "I'll be fine by tomorrow morning, I promise!"

"Come on, get some rest and we'll see how you feel by tomorrow." Naruto groaned slightly as he sniffed repeatedly. He dressed into his pyjamas and collapsed onto his bed.

"Goodnight, Naruto." When there was no reply, Minato realised that his student already drifted off into sleep.

It surprised me that Naruto seemed to avoid the cold during his water exercise in the hot springs when he made his way outside with his clothes and hair dripping wet (they should have been wet anyway, they seemed to have dried ridiculously fast. Ninjas can't do that, can they?). A normal person would actually get a fever the next day, unless you have an incredibly robust immune system.

Anyways, sorry it's short but it's all I could come up with after for a while. I hope you find it in your heart to forgive this tired writer for not updating for like a year. Again, if you have any ideas, please contribute :)

Love always,

Mrs-N-Uzumaki xxx

P.S. I KNOW ABOUT THE KYUUBI! PLEASE STOP WRITING ABOUT IT IN THE REVIEWS! Yes, I remembered the Kyuubi and the healings abilities straight after the I published this chapter, and I was just too lazy to write about it until now because it got irritating as HELL!

P.P.S. Another thing, STOP HARASSING ME PEOPLE ABOUT UPDATING! You have no idea how busy my life is! But I do appreciate the minority of you who actually UNDERSTAND what its like to go through College. But for those who have yet to go through that, I suggest stop leaving negative, sarcastic comments about me being not updating cos I'm lazy and I just don't care. On the contrary, I LOVE fanfiction and I LOVE writing it. It's not cos I'm lazy, it's either cos I'm busy doing work or on a writer's block or just continuing to write the stories that I plan to publish for my future! I am thankful on the other hand about how much you love this story enough to harass me about it, cos that at least makes me think it's worth writing, it makes me feel good about myself, so arigatou for that! :)