Mochi looked at the clock, eager for her class to end. The Haruno bint was getting on her nerves. The way she ripped into Naruto because he happened to be much better at seals than her and the Uchiha boy gave her the urge to stick a senbon into the brat's eye.

To the collective shock of the other teachers, Naruto was the best student she had. His grasp on seals were practically prodigy level.

About a month before the genin exams were to be held, Mochi got an...interesting...summons from the Hokage.

Apparently there was activity in the forest. Activity from the seal that she came from. But first she had an assignment to issue to the brats who insisted on treating Naruto like crap.

"Listen up maggots! The following students will line up to receive a special assignment. You have one week to complete it!" she barked.

Sakura Haruno, Ino Yamanaka, Sasuke Uchiha, and four others stood in front of the class.

"Alright, each of you will be given a special seal. You have one week to figure out how to either reverse it or get it off. You are allowed to tell one person about the seal and that's it. If you can get the seal to go off, then you will be allowed to stay in the class. Fail, and you will be kicked out. Am I clear?"

The seven unlucky participants nodded miserably. Seals were the most interesting class in the Academy and none of them wanted to be kicked out. Mochi was different from the other instructors...she taught them all the same whether or not they were from a clan, and she took the time to help them out.

One by one they all received a strange seal, but they could tell that it was a benign one. It seemed to mostly be a transformation and voice changing one.

With a single hand sign, all seven transformed.

"Your secondary assignment is to go through your day to day lives. I will explain to the other teachers about the assignment, but you are not to ask for help from them. Now scat!"

The seven left the classroom under a genjutsu, unaware of what the seal actually did...until they reached the market.

They were quite shocked to find themselves kicked out of their favorite stores, or even jeered at by people they thought they knew. The civilians glared at them or whispered cruel things behind their back. They couldn't understand it at all.

It was Sasuke who found out the cause, and that by looking in a special mirror.

The seal which Mochi placed on them...turned them into total copies of Naruto Uzumaki!

Looking down, all Sasuke saw was the seal placed on his neck. Mochi had placed them somewhere that they wouldn't have to replace it and could cover it with their clothes.

"Why would Mochi-sensei place such a seal on us? And why didn't we notice the effects sooner?" said Sasuke to himself.

For the next week, only three of the seven figured out how to take off the seal. It was Sasuke who figured it out first, and that partly because of Mochi's intervention.

The way to break the seal...was to have sympathy and be kind to Naruto without treating him like crap. Haruno was the last to figure it out, and that only by accident.

"Ow...where the hell are we?" asked Naru.

"I don't know Naru-kun," said Hinata.

"We appear to be in the Forest of Death," said Hizashi.

"Alright, let's take stock of what we do know. Whatever that seal residue was, it reacted specifically to Naru. Anyone holding onto him, I/E us, would be dragged into the seal. We don't know whether it would allow us to go back the same way we came here, but it does appear that we are still in Konoha."

"You are partially correct. This is indeed Konoha, just not your Konoha," said Anko amused.

"Anko-nee-chan! What are you doing here?" chirped Naru cheerfully.

Anko gave her usual insane grin.

"So she was right that you could tell us apart. I'm afraid you four will have to come with us, at least until Mochi comes to verify you."

They went without complaint, and Anko observed the group.

While the Hiashi-look-alike was the senior shinobi, the four all seemed to follow the blond's lead without question. Naru seemed to be the seal expert, while Hinata was the healer. Sasuke appeared to be the range specialist.

It was an interesting set up. The blond would lay out the traps and seals, the not-so-emo brat would keep the enemy on their toes while the Hyuuga girl would keep the enemy away with her Jyuuken. Then Naru would let loose massive damage and take out the enemy in one fell stroke.

They waited half an hour before a familiar face came into the T and I room.

"Mochi-nee!" shouted Naru, tackling her.

"Heya brat. So you four were the ones to get dragged into my mess?" grinned Mochi.

"Some of us were holding Naru when he touched the seal. We got dragged in after him."

"Right, so what's the situation back home?" asked Mochi.

Naru stood at attention.

"Everyone is really worried about you, but as far as we know the seal is a transport type. At the moment, only we have been able to get to the other side of it."

"Good job brat. Alright, here's the situation as I have been able to tell. The only difference I have been able to find between our world and this one is...Me."

"Care to explain?" asked Hizashi.

"The only thing missing in this world is me. There are no birth records or anything, and from what I can see, the change is pronounced. For example, you Hizashi, are dead. Sasuke, you witnessed Itachi's killing of your parents, and Naru you're the village pariah."

Two of the four winced.

"What can we do?"

"For now let's try to get you settled until we find a way to reverse that seal. Naru, you should change your hair color, at least for now. Hinata, I want you to keep the red hair dye in, and Sasuke you should use a henge to make your hair longer at least."

"What about me?"

"Pretend to be Hiashi. Just keep that scar where the seal used to be covered. Naru, in about two weeks we're going to make a special trip to Redpool with Naruto, so he can meet his grandparents if they are still alive. From what I've found, the seals are almost identical to the ones back home, aside from the fact that we aren't keyed into them."

"Woohoo!" cheered Naru.

Mochi grinned evilly. Since she doubted that Naru and the others would be able to hide for long, and they certainly wouldn't pass as genin at the moment, they were enrolled at the Academy for a while.

"Everyone, I would like you to meet my apprentices. Naru, Nozomi and Kisuke. I expect you to treat them with respect, or you will answer to me," she said calmly.

Everyone stared at the three new students. They weren't taking any of the other classes aside from seals, because they were all apprenticed to Mochi. As far as they knew, the three were her assistants.

Nozomi had bright crimson red hair and pale lavender eyes. She was confident almost to the point of brashness. Naru had deep blue hair and was cheerful. Kisuke was calm and collected, and had an air of arrogance about him. All of them looked so familiar, but no one could figure out why.

"Right, I'm going to pair some of you with these three, so you can understand seals better. I expect you to give your all!" said Mochi cheerfully.

Sasuke, Shino and Shikamaru were paired with Kisuke. Ino, Sakura and Hinata were paired with Nozomi. Chouji, Kiba and Naruto were paired with Naru. Those nine were her best students, not that it came as any surprise to Mochi.

With Kisuke...

Kisuke tested them for their skill level, and wasn't surprised in the least that the three he had were at mid level seals. They could probably take the standard test for seals mastery and possibly pass.

Shino and Shikamaru were easily some of the better seal masters. Shino specialized in storage, while Shikamaru was good at binding seals. Sasuke, it seemed was good at elemental ones. Kisuke set them at improving their drawing, giving pointers when needed.

With Nozomi...

Nozomi had to fight the urge to smack Ino and Sakura. Their bickering was enough to make her punch something...or seal their voices away. So she focused on Hinata instead, telling them that she wouldn't teach them a thing till they learned to shut the hell up.

Nozomi tried not to let her rage show when she noticed how Hinata flinched whenever she laid her hand on her shoulder. The girl was good, but her confidence needed a lot of work.

Nozomi had an evil idea on how to help start that process. She knew Mochi would love it when she found out. In the meantime she would have to help Hinata with her seals.

With Naru...

Naru cheerfully helped Naruto tighten up his seal designs while he also helped Chouji with his food seals. Kiba just needed to practice with his under an experienced master. Naru kept half an eye on him while he worked with the other two.

"Stop, stop, stop! Kiba, that seal is written all wrong. You have to paint it like this..." said Naru suddenly.

Kiba's eyes lit up with understanding, and suddenly the seal made a hell of a lot more sense. The seal he had painted had seemed very scattered, but he had no idea how to fix it.

"Like this. You have a good concept, but the seal design looked a bit half assed..."

Kiba normally would have taken offense, but Naru was too cheerful and might give as good as he got. He was almost like Naruto...in...that...fashion...

Kiba's attention was suddenly completely on Naru. He hadn't noticed it, but now that he thought about it, Naru's underlying scent was almost identical to Naruto's!

"Can I help you Kiba?" asked Mochi. It was after class, but she had given them full permission to bug her if they needed anything.

"Sensei...why do Naru and Naruto smell identical? Akamaru noticed it too, so it's not me."

"Damn, should have guess an Inuzuka would figure it out first..." she muttered.

Mochi looked Kiba dead in the eye.

"Naru, Nozomi and Kisuke aren't from this world. They're from mine. Hell, those aren't even their real names."

"Then Naru is really..."

"The alternate version of Naruto, Hinata and Sasuke. Back home they are Team 7."

"No way. That red head is Hinata? But she's so..."

"Confident? Back home my nickname is Mochi the Kidnapper. I rescued her and her cousin from the abuse she's been subjected to at home by her father. She decided to follow in the path of her idol, Kushina Uzumaki as her ninja path."

"Hinata's being abused?"

"Oh relax dog-boy, we're about to do something about it," said Nozomi.

"No way...a red haired Hinata?"

Nozomi grinned.

"Well Kushina was known as the Red Habenaro."

"Right. Nozomi, take Hinata's place. You know how to piss Hiashi off enough that he'll be forced to bring her in."

"I'll go get Naru. I suppose this will be little more than a practice run, Mochi-nee?"

"Give him hell. If worse comes to worse, use the summon seal to bring Hizashi to you. That ought to give him a heart attack," grinned Mochi.

Nozomi vanished to release her henge and went on a date with Naru. Naru looked so much like Naruto without his henge that it wasn't any surprise that Hiashi found out.

While they were pretending to be their alternate reality selves, Mochi took both of them aside to improve on their ninja skills. Hinata helped Naruto with his taijutsu and he helped her with her seals.

"You disappoint me Hinata," said Hiashi.

Unaware to him, Naru and Hizashi were up on a nearby roof watching the spectacle with popcorn and a camera.

Hinata tried to explain, her voice stuttering. Oh how Nozomi hated that stutter since she grew out of it.

Hiashi took a stance, and Hinata did the same. The second she saw the sneer on his face, and the disgusted look on Hanabi and Neji's, she let her real persona take control.

She shocked everyone by slipping and then striking without once using her Gentle Fist.

"Hinata! Where did you learn that...?"

"Oh shove it up your ass old man. You really think we didn't notice the abuse you heaped on your own daughter?" snapped Hinata.

"Kai!" barked Hiashi. To his shock, nothing happened...aside from her hair turning a bright red.

"I use hair dye, but little else," she said calmly. Almost amused by his shock.

"Who are you?"

"My name is Hinata Hyuuga, adopted daughter of Hizashi. You lost the privilege of being called a father years ago when you decided to ignore your daughter's talents. For the good of the clan and all that bull," growled Hinata.

She pressed a seal on her left arm, and it glowed. Hizashi appeared at her side.

"It can't be..."

"Hello brother. Or that is what I would say if I were the same Hizashi who lived here."

Hizashi removed the headband that hid the scar.

"Removing seals...is my specialty," said Hizashi amused.

"What the hell is going on here?!" demanded Hiashi.

"Mochi, you want to take this one?" asked Hizashi.

"Fine by me. You two go check on Hinata-chan," said Mochi.

"So how did it go?"

"I may have removed the stick from the ass of Neji, but you two will have some issues later on. Now that the Elders know that someone from our side who knows how to remove the Caged Bird, you're going to have some followers."

"What else is new? We can still kick their ass," snorted Hizashi.

"We aren't at home, no matter how much it looks like it. However I think people will look the other way if you rob the ROOT idiots," said Mochi.

"ROOT? It's still around here?"

"Apparently my presence had a rather...drastic impact on our home," said Mochi.

"Alright kiddies, I've done my best to get you kids up to date on the most basic of sealing. Those of you who took initiative and actually studied more that the basics, let me know when you want to take it up a notch. I can set you on the right path. If you only remember one thing from my class, remember this. In jutsu and in life...there are no short cuts. If you take the long way, you are sure to reap the results no matter what you do, even if you fail."

"Hai, Sensei!" the class replied. She was easily their favorite teacher, and some were sad to graduate since it meant that they wouldn't be spending as much time with her.

"Good luck...and don't get killed! Dismissed!" said Mochi.

If there was one thing she was good at that Anko wasn't, it was teaching. She considered it a hobby.