Ahem, I know that most of you would like to see Iruka at Hogwarts updated. Hell, I'm more interested in seeing that one updated. Somehow my muse would not cooperate, it spat out this fic instead.

And yes, dear readers, another experimental fic.

Disclaimer: The characters belongs to Kishimoto-sensei, the story line belongs to me. Also any OC you see belongs to me.

Warning: Slight gore. Not for the faint hearted. Do not flame me for this. You have been warned!

Her name was Noriko

not seeing

the room is white

until that red apple

Anita Virgil

Her name is Noriko. She is six years old and wishes for her life to end.

His name is Naruto. He is fifty, maybe sixty years old and is facing death in the form of Uchiha Matsuri, Sasuke's daughter by... someone.

She was a demon vessel with a pretty name.

He was a demon vessel named after a hero.

The years had not been kind to them, Naruto had thrived despite all odds, had persevered on a dream. He had moved on beyond his comrade's memories, lived past villagers who once shunned his money and his presence. Noriko was similarly pressured, yet, life can be even more cruel to a girl, especially beautiful little girls.

On a night of full moon, Naruto faced the angry, swirling Sharingan eye with detachment. Revenge ran deep in the family, it would seem. He was surprised it took this long for her to find him, actually. Then again, he looked nothing like the last time rookie nine took a group picture together, when Iruka-sensei was alive, when the sky shone blue, when Kakashi still arrives late for everything.

Shining beautifully under the bright moon, Noriko takes off her shoes; she had put on her prettiest dress. Had washed and scrubbed until her skin felt raw. The doctors had looked at her and said nothing was wrong. Had flashed a penlight… down there and proclaim her a naughty, lying girl. With the comfortable shoes set aside, she clapped her hands three times and prayed.

Naruto laughed at Matsuri. He couldn't help it. Her words, her expressions, by Gods, her very snarl, all identical to Sasuke-baka. He laughed and laughed, clutching his side with one good hand, the stub of the other arm scrabbling against a large rock to remain standing. Matsuri screamed again, spouting more revenge garbage in that exact same way as Sasuke-teme. He lost his balanced then, wobbling off his crutch to roll about the gravelled floor.

Noriko breathed in once, took one step forward, closed her eyes and her body tipped forward.

Naruto drew another breath in, inhaling the burnt ozone smell of lightning and smiled to himself.

Underneath their seal, the Kyuubi howled.

xxxxxx

Sarutobi chewed his pipe thoughtfully, eyes roving through the throng of paperwork spilled over his table. He stamped one of them and reached for another. It was a quiet evening, with only the swish of papers being shuffled about as his companion. Oh, and the hidden Anbu lurking in the ceilings. Work went on steadily, even as his candle burned low, and the moon grows higher. And then…

And then it all went to hell.

The sudden surge of chakra was his first clue. The earth rumbled threateningly, like a powerful doton jutsu, or an earthquake that rattled the frames of the hokages in his office. A dirty orange glow bloomed like sunlight somewhere north of the village. The Anbu had leaped down from their perch to surround the hokage, all the while staring fearfully at the light. They all recognize it. It was Kyuubi's aura.

Sarutobi shook himself from the trance of the orange light and reached hurriedly for his scrying crystal. He forced himself to look into the transparent orb and focused to the area north of the village. For a few worrying minutes he saw nothing but the dirty glow and a scramble of panicked shinobi scouting out the area. Then, on the very edge of a steep, jagged cliff, he saw a small pair of shoes placed side-by-side to each other.

For a moment, his heart stopped.

In his mind's eye, he saw the pale face of a stricken child blinked up at him.

"…please, help me?"

Sarutobi had sighed and gave the girl a stern glare, "Noriko-kun, you know the villagers don't like it when you play pranks on them,"

The small lips had wobbled, but the old hokage was just too busy to bother with one naughty child, the girl had caused his paperwork to triple over her pranks! It was not the first time the child came to seek refuge in his office once a prank had gone off spectacularly, Sarutobi knew the motives behind her attitude, but she had chosen a bad time to come crying. A group of chuunin had gone missing without explanation just a week ago and the mounting tension from the Uchiha and Danzo's claims had not helped any.

"Listen, Noriko, you should think about your actions more thoroughly. Have you ever thought anything through? If you get into trouble, perhaps it is what you deserve,"

The blue eyes had watered, and the girl ran out sobbing quietly, Sarutobi had been sorry for being so harsh. But then, a worrying report from Itachi just came in, and the problem was set aside…

And now, all that was left of the cheerful little girl was a pair of shoes and the menacing aura of the Kyuubi. Hurriedly by passing the shoes, Sarutobi quickly skimmed down the hill to look for, he swallowed, to look for the remains of Yondaime's legacy. Half expecting to see a giant orange fox with nine tails, he was both horrified and secretly relieved to see a broken body washed up against a pair of boulders. Quickly, he snapped out the directions to send Anbu Hound and Anbu Cat to retrieve the Noriko. Kakashi was the best shinobi at hand, and Yamato was the best candidate for backup with his Mokuton ability.

As the two black ops leapt into the centre of the aura, Sarutobi scanned the body as best as he could with just a scrying crystal. Part of her skull seemed to have caved in, her lips were blue from blood loss and cold, numerous broken bones protruded from her shattered arm. An instinctive move to protect her head perhaps?

Both Anbu arrived at the scene quickly. Sarutobi watched as Kakashi reached for the body, and was thrown back by a sudden surge of chakra. The old hokage could only watched in horror as the broken body attempted to move itself; one of the eyeballs had actually popped out of her smashed skull to dangle haphazardly from her face. The crippled arms hung uselessly as Noriko tried to get up. The dirty orange aura grew stronger, her bones jerked and rippled, diving beneath the skin even as the caustic chakra peeled them off.

Yamato employed his blood limit, sending a careful probing wood tendril towards the girl. The wood remained intact, feeling braver, he send more wood towards the girl, attempting to enfold her within its wooden embrace. The moment the wood touched her skin, Noriko suddenly reacted. She screamed and clawed the makeshift prison, broken arms obviously healed to workable conditions. Caustic chakra flared, burning the rocks around her, scorching the waters. Both Kakashi and Yamato had to back away quickly or risk being melted into a puddle of blood and bones.

The wooden cage warped and twisted from the heat, Kakashi had his sword out, Yamato placed his hand together readying his chakra. They're preparing for the worst. Sarutobi only wished it hadn't come to this. The first of the wooden poles cracked, Noriko's nails had elongated into claws and the nerves of her throat bulged under her flattened head and drooping eye, giving her a terrible appearance. Blood and saliva dribbled from her opened lips as she grinned dementedly, making harsh wheezing noises.

She was… laughing, Sarutobi finally realized, laughing at them.

Then she suddenly disappeared. It was only Kakashi's reflexes that saved his neck from being swiped off. The Copy Nin ducked and took off, keeping a careful distance from the demented creature. Froth was bubbling from her mouth now, the skin under her smouldering clothes bright red with burns. Yamato attempted to catch the Kyuubi again, but one swipe of the clawed hands sent chunks of wood flying. The Kyuubi, it had to be the Kyuubi, was blindingly fast with chakra aided moves, it was also boiling the fragile body beyond its limit, but the fox did not seemed to care. It crashed through Yamato's defences recklessly, sent balls of acid fire at Kakashi and left a burning trail of melting rocks and steam behind it.

The cat and mouse game was dangerously against the Anbu's favour, they had orders to try and capture Noriko alive, but the Kyuubi had no such reservations. It soon managed to knock Yamato into a boulder and was now rounding in on Kakashi. Sarutobi had sent more ninja as backup, but they had orders to observe first before going in. One of the more eager jounin already had his gut ripped open by the Kyuubi when he tried to launch a surprise attack at the beast.

Kakashi tensed as the creature before him stretched and leaned into a pounce mode, with his Sharingan out, he could just about stay ahead of the creature. He could not afford to fail in capturing Noriko. It was the only chance for him to save the girl. Yondaime's Legacy, Minato-sensei's daughter, will die if he fails. The surrounding ninja were already preparing to launch an area affect attack the moment he falters. They could not risk having the Kyuubi escape and attacking the village.

It was with this mindset that Kakashi prepares himself to receive an attack from the beast. He would be the bait for Yamato's trap, Mokuton wood hid itself underneath regular trees that Kakashi appeared to lean heavily against. The moment Noriko attack, Kakashi will hold her down letting Yamato cover them both in thick wood. He would most probably die from the flare of caustic chakra the Kyuubi emit, but that is fine with him. It is the least he could do for sensei's daughter.

The Kyuubi charged, Kakashi tensed, the creature leapt midway and suddenly yelped. It rolled pass Kakashi's location and began pawing on its own head. Kakashi watched in mild horror and fascination as it started to bang its own head against the ground, scrabbling pitifully against the forest floor. Wood shot out from Yamato's hiding place to surround the howling creature, subduing its chakra and hopefully, the creature as well.

000000

I'm experimenting with POVs as well as a different kind of twist for the standard Naruto goes back to time spin. Time and again we see a world weary Naruto who tries to change the world for good or saw Daddy yondaime or degenerated into something like a crackfic. Well, I'm trying for a new type of Naruto here.

Please let us welcome, Jaded!Naruto.

Smattering of polite claps.

Jaded!Naruto: …hi

Naruto: Uwaaah! Who is that, dattebayo!

Katy: Please, tell us, what do you think of Uchiha Sasuke?

Jaded!Naruto: …who?

Naruto: He's my best friend! And I'm going to bring him back from the path of a snake pervert!

Jaded!Naruto: ... sorry, no clue

Katy: Uh, that guy with the sharingan?

Jaded!Naruto: Ah, *Paused* Was he a twin? I'm sure he's a twin, I remember seeing a pair of those brats trying to take over Konoha, once.

Katy: No, there's only one. Left Konoha to kill evil brother Sasuke?

Jaded!Naruto: Oh, that one! Yeah, She has really small boobs. Or was it that runt, with the droopy eye? Nah, can't remember…

Naruto: …

Katy: … moving on! What would you do if you are given a chance to start over?

Naruto: I will save my precious persons. I will save Haku, Zabuza, Sasuke, Hinata, Neji Gaara and protect Grandpa hokage!

Jaded!Naruto: …I will kill that pain in the butt duck ass person.

Naruto gasped in horror. Katy gasped with him.

Katy: Uh, why?

Jaded!Naruto: Do you know how many of those Sharingan people running around swearing vengeance left and right? How many people are dead because of the stupid swirly eye thing? It wasn't so bad when there was one, or two. But then that stupid Kabuto just had to fertilize a whole town of females with the Sharingan sperm…

Katy and Naruto imagines Sharingan eyed sperm and shuddered, "Scary…"

And so ends the brief and rather stupid interview with Jaded!Naruto.

TBC