Full Summary:

The second Rae realized that no, she wasn't dreaming, and yes, she was really in Konoha, in the days of Naruto's childhood, she swore that she would not interfere. Even so, looking down at the eight-year-old Naruto before her, she couldn't help but hold him close to her for the night. After all, neither of them had a home at the moment, and this was likely the last time she would ever see him, right? A more realistic OC-insert with no special abilities, no desire to interfere, and no choice at all in the matter.

Yo. First story here. Sooo... Nah, that's really it.

I will say this disclaimer once, and I will expect you to realize this throughout the entire story: I do not own Naruto. This is simply some self-indulgent fun.

It was times like these that Kuroda Rae hated herself. Times like these, as in sitting up in a dark, unknown alley with her hands pressed to her head to ward off a splitting headache. Dark eyes squeezed shut in pain. Pretty much expected, seeing how she probably had a nice dent in the back of her head from crashing into the wall in front of her and getting knocked out. Fortunately there was no blood, even as she continuously checked, raking her fingers through her short, dark hair. Unfortunately, she had no idea where she was.

Rae groaned and stood, hand on a nearby dumpster for support. What would her dad say about this? She knew it by heart: "Buy you books, send you to school, and what do you do?"

"Fall through a hole in the wall. A blue hole in the wall." Rae muttered out loud, glaring up at a blue sky above her. The same shade of blue that hole had been.

In retrospect, it really hadn't been her fault. Really. Curiosity was a natural human reaction to a hole in the wall of a nearby alley she had been walking by on her way home from work, dressed in nothing more than a light shirt, dark jacket and dark cargo pants. So it was only natural that Rae would march up to the alley without a second thought and stare thoughtfully at the odd shade of blue it had been, especially considering that the McDonald's it seemed to lead into had nothing to do with such a color. Red and yellow were more likely. This had been her original plan, if not for one consequential factor.

A tiny, brown lab-like mutt that she had tripped over. A natural lover of small animals, Rae had immediately twisted herself from falling and began spouting apologies at the animal, not noticing the wall she was bracing herself against. Or lack thereof. And she continued falling.

In all of her eighteen years, falling through a blue hole in a wall in the middle of Tokyo and crashing into another (much more solid) wall and getting herself knocked out was very easily the most embarrassing thing that had ever happened to her.

Squinting as she reached the road, Rae stared somewhat blankly at the utter lack of pavement and concrete beneath her feet and dimly concluded that something was not right with this picture. She lived in a modern city, one that most certainly did not have dirt roads and colorful, old-fashioned buildings and people falling from the sky—

Rae very nearly shrieked out loud and dove back in the alley as a dark figure fell very gracefully on the ground in front of her. Dashing behind the dumpster, she squeezed herself into as tight a curl as possible before a hand darted over her shoulder and pressed something cold to her neck.

"Don't move."

Rae froze at the hiss, not unaware of the sharp prick her small actions had caused as a small trickle of blood ran down her neck and into her shirt.

Shit.

"Sudo Nagao." Rae felt her attacker stiffen behind her. Must be his name, she idly thought as the same dark figure from before suddenly filled her vision. Another arm clamped across her shoulders and grabbed her dark jacket, drawing her up, sharp object still pressed against her neck.

The man growled a curse under his breath and pressed a little harder, drawing more blood from Rae's neck. "I think you know the drill."

… I'm being held hostage.

The thought was almost comforting in a way. So long as the man before her did nothing absolutely stupid as to jeopardize her health she was relatively safe... Until he got away and took her to some cabin in the woods and—

Rae suddenly found it difficult to breath properly, cold metal nonwithstanding. In an effort to distract herself from the tension she felt rising, she instead took in the features of the figure standing before her.

Despite the seriousness of the situation, Rae nearly rolled her eyes. What is this, a costume party? Wearing some sort of white dog mask and Grim Reaper cloak will get you nowhere in life my friend. In fact, it looked remarkably like... ANBU? From the anime Naruto?

Great. A cosplayer was her last lifeline. Rae never felt closer to hysterics, watching the ANBU-wannabe slowly back away and bring his painted face to meet the attacker, eyes to eye-holes—

And the man dropped like a sack of potatoes, collapsing behind Rae. She gasped as the cold metal that had previously pressed against her throat still dug in as the man dropped the metal object, leaving a jagged trail of pain across her neck and down her collar. Rae swore and clapped a hand to the wound, feeling it spill blood with every heart beat.

Fan-freaking-tastic. She was going to die, and her only witnesses were the unconscious attacker-unwittingly-turned-murderer and the cosplayer that held her up, pressing a gloved hand the wound and batting her own hand away.

Rae didn't even have it in her to do much more than watch with a morbid fascination as the man's hand took on an ethereal green glow, tickling against her skin and dulling the pain that slowly faded to nothing. She stared with wide eyes at the dog mask as it nodded to her, picked up the comatose body behind her and slung him over his shoulder—though the attacker was easily a foot taller—and sprang from wall to wall of the alley, reaching the roofs above and racing away.

"Well... shit." Rae let out a breathless laugh before slumping to the ground for the second time that day.

Light. Bright light. Rae felt it pierce through her eyelids as she slowly awakened to the world of the living.

… Ow. Rae winced as she sat up against the dumpster, uncomprehending of her situation until her hand trailed to her neck, which was completely pain free... Why was that important?

Oh, because some maniac with a knife or whatnot had cut her after dropping from eye contact with a cosplayer... who apparently healed her. Rae rolled her eyes to the heavens. What a weird dream then. Checking down herself, she idly brushed herself off and stood, a small shine catching her eye as she looked down.

Hm. A kunai was laying at her feet. Rae bent down and picked it up curiously, noting how it seemed to be actually made of metal. Was it legal to make them so sharp? And it even had a red liquid on it, still drying apparently. Rae touched the liquid with fascination, noting the texture... Then dropped the kunai as the word blood ran through her mind and she touched her shirt at her neckline.

More blood. Drying blood, making her shirt rather uncomfortable to wear and making her squirm. Ew. Rae decided she'd had enough of this, walking as calmly as possible out of the alley, noting again the dirt roads and the colorful old-fashioned buildings, then taking in something else.

People. People that sported odd swirls on their odd clothing and gave odd glances to Rae herself. She looked past the people for a moment and felt something short circuit her mind.

Four faces, carved out with obvious reverence towards the subjects, looking regally over the people with stern gazes. Four people, four hokages, four characters from an anime that didn't exist; all carved on a mountain that shouldn't exist—

"Miss? Are you alright?" Rae stared blankly at the man that had spoken, one that had a green vest that seemed more like armor and a bandanna with a metal plate on it. She took in the swirled leaf engraved with a solemn gaze, merely nodded in acknowledgement towards the man, and turned and marched right back into the alley.

Rae then curled into a tight little ball behind the dumpster and wondered when she would wake up in a padded cell, because Konoha was easily the last place she wanted to be. With any luck, this was all just some crazy-ass dream.

Not that she felt especially lucky these days.

I appreciate comments, suggestions, and/or a simple fav or alert. Just anything that says you're interested in more (even if this is only the prologue and probably doesn't say much about future content, it's still nice to give it a chance, neh?) :D

PS: Oh yeah, and in case you don't know what 'aberration' means, according to the online dictionary:

Ab·er·ra·tion [ab-uh-rey-shuhn]

–noun

1. The act of departing from the right, normal, or usual course.

2. The act of deviating from the ordinary, usual, or normal type.

So in a way, it's a direct answer to the question in the summary 'It's not like one friend will change anything, right?' I'm actually quite proud of thinking it up, yo. :D