You feel dizzy and confused, as if someone put your brain in a blender and turned it to full power.

But you are at least laying somewhere comfortable. Someone is humming nearby, and though the tune is unfamiliar, the sound is comforting and eases some of your anxiety. You open your eyes. Your vision is blurry and you can't really make out your surroundings. You rub at your eyes as you sit up, the dizziness increasing with the movement before easing again.

"What's," you pause at the childish voice, frowning in confusion.

"Oh, good, you're awake." The humming has stopped, but the voice sounds familiar. "How are you feeling?"

"Not well," you pause again at the unfamiliar voice speaking your words, and squint as you try to focus on the other person in the room. "I feel like throwing up. Where are my glasses?"

"Hold on a second." You hear paper swishing and something heavier clattering onto the floor.

"Here," a bucket is shoved in front of you, and you grasp it quickly, stomach heaving. You empty the contents of your stomach into the bucket.

"Let me help you a bit," he leans over you to wipe your mouth with a wet cloth. "You don't wear glasses, Sota. Your eyes are probably just a bit fuzzy right now."

"Thanks." Your vision is already clearer than it was. The man has his back to you now, and you hear running water. His hairstyle is unique, a high ponytail sticking out in all directions, and he's dressed like a character from an anime. "Why did you call me Sota?"

"Huh?" The man returns to your side with a glass. You feel weirdly small next to him. "That's your name. Don't you remember? You should rinse out your mouth."

You take a sip from the offered glass, swishing it in your mouth to wash away the taste of bile. You spit it in the bucket before taking another sip and swallowing it. "I think you're confusing me with someone else."

"I think I know who my students are," the man says, frowning. He puts a huge hand on your forehead, it feels cool against your skin. "I'm going to find someone to take a look at you. You must have hit your head harder than I thought. Will it be okay if I leave you alone for a few minutes? Do you still feel dizzy?"

"I… I feel better now." Except that you're not sure what's going on. Why is a Umino Iruka cosplayer telling you you're his student and your name is Sota? Why don't you recognize where you are or remember how you got here?

"I'm okay, you don't need to get anyone to check on me," you tell him. You don't want to get anyone else involved until you know what's going on. Is this a dream? But you threw up, and your head is still aching. You wouldn't have felt so awful if it was a dream.

"I can't just let you go home," he says, "Hold onto the bucket in case you feel sick again. I'll be back as soon as I can."

He doesn't give you time to protest again, and you find yourself alone. You look around the room again and see light glinting off a piece of glass in the corner. When you get to your feet, you realize the mirror is set higher on the wall than your head, so you push a chair in front of it to get a proper look at yourself.

Everything in the room is oversized or higher than you expect it to be. You climb on the chair and peer into the glass.

You aren't as surprised as you should be to see the face of a freckled child staring back at you. He has green eyes, cheeks still chubby with baby fat, and sloppy bandages wrapped around his forehead, partially covering a blaze of red hair. You have never seen this kid before, but when you move your head and pull a face, the image does the same.

There is a hair clip holding your bangs back just above the bandages. It's made into a leaf symbol out of some blackish metal. You remove it, letting a bit of hair fall over the bandages and into your eyes in the process. You turn the hairpin over in your fingers, frowning, there's a tiny cap on the end of the pin, which you remove to see a fine needle tip. You flex it slightly and a drop of clear liquid beads on the needle tip. You suspect poison, because what else could it be, but why would an innocent academy student be wearing a poisoned hairpin?

"What the hell is going on here?" You ask, frowning up at the face in the mirror, the childish voice matches the young face. "Who are you, Sota?"

You hear voices outside in the hallway, and quickly recap pin. You have never worn a hair clip before, so you fumble with it as you struggle to pin up your hair again, and the door opens behind you.

"Hello, Sota-kun, do you need help?"

You turn around to see Iruka and two other people in the doorway. Yamanaka Inoichi is in front of the group, already approaching you, while an unfamiliar woman in a white robe hangs back beside Iruka.

"I can do it myself," you turn back to the mirror to try again, this time managing to capture the locks of your bangs and pin them back. You hop off of the chair and turn your attention fully to the newcomers, uncomfortable with the way you have to tilt your head back to look up at them.

"Iruka-sensei says you hit your head, but it looks like you're feeling better already," Inoichi says.

"Yes, I'm fine," you smile. You don't want him to poke in your head at all. You still don't really know what's going on, and you have no idea what he might find in there. "You must be busy, Yamanaka-san, you don't need to bother with me, it was just a little bump."

"I'm never too busy for you, Sota-kun," the man assures you, "Besides, I'm an expert when it comes to brain injuries, and Iruka-sensei said you were having trouble remembering some things. Iruka, would you please wait outside while we examine him?"

"Oh… I think I should stay with Sota," Iruka protests, "Us teachers act as guardians for the orphans in our class."

"I appreciate your concern," Inoichi replies mildly, "But the Yamanaka mind techniques should always be done in private, for the sake of the patient."

"Oh, okay," Iruka mutters, "Is that okay with you, Sota?"

"It's fine," you agree. If you weren't getting out of this, it would be better for fewer people to be present.

"I'll call for you when I'm done," Inoichi says and watches Iruka until he leaves the room. He doesn't turn back to you until the door has been closed for several moments. "Now, let me take a look at you, Sota-kun. I'll put my hand on your forehead, you won't feel anything as long as you relax."

"I'm really fine," you insist again. "This is too much fuss over a minor injury. I just want to go home."

"Sota, you have nothing to be afraid of, your secrets are safe with me. Forgetting your name is a bit unusual, but there is nothing to worry about," Inoichi says, "I just want to make sure you've only suffered a short-term memory loss, and there isn't brain damage."

"Oh." You think about what he said as he puts his hand on your forehead. Shouldn't it be a bit more concerning that you couldn't remember your name? And what secrets did Yamanaka Inoichi know about you? How much could you ask him without making him suspicious?

"It looks like you're healthy enough," Inoichi removes his hand, and you hadn't felt anything, which was a relief. "There was some memory loss, but not much damage, and it's already well on the way to healing. I think you'll recover your memories, so it should not be too much of a problem."

"Until I regain my memories, can you at least tell me about my friends and family?" You ask.

"I don't think you were assigned a family," Inoichi answers, "But you could ask Iruka about your friends. First, Yui-san will take a look at your head wound to ensure it's healing okay."

You nod.

The medic unravels your bandages carefully. "Did you or your teacher tend to your wound?" She asks.

"Umm, I think he did it, it was like this when I woke up," you tell her.

"Alright, I'll talk with him. Your head is fine. You heal fast, as expected, Uzumaki-kun. Do you feel any pain?"

You shake your head, latching onto the new piece of information about your identity. Uzumaki explained the red hair; did that mean you were closely related to Naruto?

"Iruka-sensei told me you were feeling nauseous earlier, is that still a problem?"

"No, I feel fine."

"Alright, if your head starts hurting again or you feel confused or dizzy, please tell your teacher and I'll take another look at you, okay?"

"Okay. Thank you for your help."

"Yui-san, please let Iruka know he can come back in now," Inoichi says as the medic puts away her tools.

The door barely closes behind her before Yui and Iruka return.

"When did you last attend a first-aid course?" The medic is asking as they reenter, "Your bandaging skills are atrocious."

Iruka's face is red. "Oh… I'm sorry about that… When was the last time… I can't remember, actually. We had it scheduled in January, but I think something happened and..."

"I'll schedule a course for all the academy teachers next week so we don't have to worry about you teachers not being able to tend to the student's injuries properly," Yui says sharply. "Perhaps the older students can attend, too, since they'll be graduating soon and will need first aid, anyway."

Iruka laughs uncomfortably, "Thank you, Yui-san, but you don't need to worry. Sota is fine, as you said."

"Thanks to his Uzumaki blood, not to your medical skills," Yui retorts coolly. "Try not to get any more students injured before next week."

"It's not like I'm trying to get them injured," Iruka mutters.

"I hope you're not being soft on them," Inoichi interjects.

Iruka looks between the two of them and sighs in exasperation. "There is no winning, is there? Don't worry you two, I always try to push my students while not getting them injured."

You can't help but snicker at Iruka's expense, feeling a little more at ease with the playful banter averting the attention from you.

"I'm just messing with you, Iruka," Inoichi chuckles. "Ino sings your praises, so I'm sure you're a great teacher. We'll take our leave, then. Let me know if Sota-kun shows any other symptoms or doesn't seem better in a week or two."

They had only just left when there is a knock on the door. The boy that enters must be Uchiha Itachi, although his headband is unscarred and his hair is shorter than normal. You feel yourself tense up, but Iruka doesn't seem bothered with his appearance.

"Oh, hi, Itachi-kun, what can I help you with?" Iruka asks, "Is Sasuke-kun feeling better now?"

"Yes, mother's tea perked him right up," Itachi confirms, "But father sent me to pick up his homework so he doesn't fall behind in class."

Iruka rummages through some papers on the desk behind him. He slips them into a folder and hands it to Itachi. "Here you are. Oh, and Itachi, can you do me a favour and help Sota home on your way out? He hit his head earlier and I want to make sure he makes it home safely."

Itachi's eyes flick to you and his frown deepens. "I'm sorry, but I need to hurry home. I promised Sasuke I would help him with his homework and kunai throwing. I also need to help my mother with dinner, and then I'm supposed to meet up with Shisui for my own training later this evening. I don't have time to go out of my way."

"Please, my assistant is out sick, and I still have a lot of work to get through before I can leave. It shouldn't be much out of your way, so..."

"I'm sorry to hear that, but, as I said, I'm busy, Iruka-sensei. Isn't there someone else who can help him?"

Iruka frowns and shuffles on the desk for another paper. "Itachi, look at this."

"Sasuke's test. What about it?"

"He was sick the day of this test, so he took it at home." Iruka says, "I was surprised that his score improved so much when he wasn't even feeling well."

"He's been working hard," Itachi interjects.

"I'm not finished," Iruka says, "I took a closer look, and he shouldn't even have been able to answer some of these questions. Unless someone helped him."

Itachi frowns and says nothing to confirm or dispute the claim.

"I'm willing to ignore it this time," Iruka says, "I know that Sasuke struggles to live up to Fugaku-san's expectations, and I can understand your motives. I just want you to consider how lucky Sasuke is to have a brother to help him, while Sota does not. Please, reconsider taking some time to help him today. He lives in District 1, so it shouldn't be too much of a detour."

For a moment, Itachi looks like he'll refuse again. At length, he sighs, glancing at me. "Alright. I know where that is, so it shouldn't be too much of a problem."

Iruka smiles, "Good. And, I'll give you some money so you can buy takeaway for you two."

Itachi frowns again, "Iruka-sensei, I don't really have time for…"

"I'll give Sasuke a day's extension on his homework to make up for you being late," Iruka interrupts, "So, I hope you'll share a meal with him, and make sure he seems okay before you leave him alone." He offers Itachi a few paper bills.

With another sigh, Itachi takes the money, "Alright."

"Thank you, Itachi-kun," Iruka smiles, turning back to you, "Here is your bag Sota, see you tomorrow. And don't worry about your homework tonight, you'll have an extension, too. Just focus on getting some rest and feeling better for tomorrow."

You smile back at him and take the bag by its strap. "Bye, sensei." You follow Itachi out of the room and down the hall until you step outside. Then you pause, taking a moment to look around. Everything towers around you: buildings, street signs, even other people. You pick out the familiar Hokage Tower just down the street and, behind that, the Hokage Monument.

So, you really are in Konoha, it seems. And it isn't a dream. How could something like this have happened?

"I really am busy, Sota-kun," Itachi reminds you, voice terse with impatience.

"Sorry," you turn to follow him again, "Thank you for your help."

The buildings get taller and more squished together as you approach the main street branching out from the Hokage Tower. The street begins to feel narrower as shops and diners spread out into the road with racks of goods, tables, chairs, and colourful signs.

"What do you want?" Itachi asks as you stare at a group of rowdy young men on the other side of the street, crowding the counter of some restaurant. By their dress, they are all shinobi.

You tear your eyes away and look around. A lot of the food is familiar to you-gyudon, yakisoba, ramen, okonomiyaki-but others you've never heard of. "Um…"

Itachi sighs impatiently, "I'm going over here. Try to decide before I'm back." He winds his way through a group of people walking in the opposite direction as you to the counter of a small shop squeezed between a curry store and a knife vendor.

You don't particularly care for sweets, so you pass up the dango shop in search of something savoury.

"Hello, Sota, how are you today?"

You turn to find a young woman leaning across the counter of a fried food stand, smiling at you. She looks like she could have been your mother if it wasn't for her dark brown hair, and while you don't recognize her, you feel at ease from her motherly expression.

"I'm fine. Just getting dinner," you tell her.

She waves you closer, "Of course you are. Do you want the usual or are you going to try something else?"

"Uhh…" You lean to one side to catch a glimpse of the menu posted behind her, "The usual...?"

"The usual, then," the woman chuckles, making the oil sputter as she drops a basket into it. She looks up at you with a frown, "You don't seem like yourself today, Sota. Did something happen?"

"I hit my head, so I forgot a few things," You explain awkwardly.

"Ah," she frowned at you a moment longer, then reaches down to adjust the basket in the boiling oil. "Well, I'm Hanako, if you've forgotten. You often stop on your way home from the Academy, although…" she scowls at something across the street, "Sometimes you get yakitori from Fuyuki-san."

You look in the direction she was leering to a crowded grill across the street. A middle-aged man with a white cloth tied around his hair was almost completely enveloped in steam and didn't notice the attention.

"Hurry up!" You turn in the other direction to see Itachi approaching with a stick of colourful dango.

"Who is that?" Hanako asks, "A friend?"

You turn back to her. "Not really. He's just helping me home today." You pause, frowning, "Hanako-san, have you seen me bring other friends home this way?"

She smiles. "Don't worry, I'm sure everything will be fine again tomorrow. Perhaps my spring rolls will help you remember."

She didn't answer your question, but before you can push the subject, she's already turned back to her work, fishing the basket out of the oil and tipping its contents into a small paper tray.

"Here you go, it's on me today," she says as she hands you the food.

"Thank you," your mouth waters at the aroma in the steam, and you inhale deeply.

"You can eat when you're home," Itachi interrupts, "Come on."

"Alright," you sigh, setting the spring roll back in the container. You wave to Hanako as you leave before turning to follow Itachi.

Itachi picks up speed as you move, and you have to run just to keep up, focus is divided between trying not to trip and keeping all your spring rolls safely in their basket. You want to look around, especially as Hokage Tower looms tall over the both of you as you pass, but you don't want to annoy him any more than necessary.

As you move further away from the Tower and the main street, the shops disappear and the crowds thin out, until it's practically the two of you alone on the road.

At last, Itachi slows, drawing out the paper Iruka had given him. He frowns at it and you take the moment to ensure you haven't lost any of your dinner. You're satisfied to find all four rolls sitting right where they're supposed to be, still warm under your fingers.

"It should be this way," Itachi said, turning to walk swiftly up a side street, "Though I didn't think there was any residential housing here…"

You speed up again on the narrow street. A fence towers up on one side of the road, almost as tall as the buildings it replaced. You hear metal against metal and frown, but Itachi doesn't react, so you keep moving. Then comes the sound of a small explosion and you stop in your tracks, turning to stare. You can't see anything through the fence, but you can see the reaching branches of trees over the top, and if you can somehow get up there…

"Come on," Itachi says, looking at you impatiently.

"But…"

"It's just someone sparring," the older boy dismisses, "Let's go."

You want to stay and get a better look, but you don't want to get left behind, so you reluctantly follow him down the street again.

Itachi slows again as he turns another corner, this one a narrow staircase leading away from the training area. You catch up to him when he slows, and are surprised to see two fully-armed men standing at the top of the staircase. They're masked, so you can't see anything but their eyes, but they don't react when you and Itachi approach.

The older boy frowns and then picks up his pace again, and you hurry to follow.

"What was that about?" You ask once you think you're out of earshot from the ninja behind you.

Itachi shoots you an unreadable look but says nothing.

He stops abruptly, checking the paper one last time."That's where you live. Let us hurry in." He leads the way across to the yellow-sided building to a small green door, then holds out his palm. "Your key?"

"My key? Oh..." you quickly check your pants pockets, then start patting around your other pockets.

Itachi sighs. "Don't tell me you forgot it at the Academy, I really don't have time for this."

"I'm sorry," you say.

"If you'll excuse me." Itachi slips two pieces of metal from one of his pockets and begins to fiddle with the lock.

"What are you doing?" You ask him.

"I'm opening your door," he says without looking up. Before you can ask more, he pockets his lockpicks again and pushes the door open.

Itachi steps inside like he owns the place as you hesitate in the doorway, peering inside.

It's small and looks cramped, like someone just shoved everything that belonged in a house in the one room you are looking into. To your left is a kitchen area, complete with a fridge too tall for you, a gas stove that seems unsafe for a child your size, and a table way too tall for you with a chair next to it. Directly across from you is a bed, with a small desk crammed in the corner next to it. To your right was a sliding door that you hoped led to a bathroom.

"Aren't you going to come in?" Itachi asks, looking back at you expectantly.

"Oh… yeah," you enter awkwardly, feeling like it's someone else's home. The walls are bare, with no photos or posters.

You place your paper tray on the table, scanning the small kitchen briefly. There's a second chair, but it's shoved up against the counter.

"Do you remember anything else, now that you're home?" Itachi asks.

You look around the bare apartment with a small frown, "No…"

"You'll probably remember more after you sleep," the older boy offers. He starts moving around your room as you watch. "You don't seem to have many personal items," he notes conversationally, and offers you a half-smile, "Maybe you just appeared out of nowhere."

You turn away quickly so he doesn't see your startled expression. You pick up a spring roll to hide your reaction and remind yourself that he had only been joking.

"Hard to believe you're the same age as Sasuke; his room is a mess," Itachi's voice is on the other side of the room now.

But from the looks of it, it didn't look like you have enough stuff to make a mess.

You feel a bit of guilt when he mentions his brother. Itachi had said he was going to help him today, and instead, he was here with you.

"You don't have to stay," you say, turning to find Itachi standing tensely beside the little desk, staring down at something with a dark expression on his face.

For the second time, he shakes the rigidity off as if nothing happened and turns to look at you. "Sorry, but I really do need to go."

You smile, "No problem. Thanks for helping me home."

"Bye," he mumbles before rushing out.

The smile slips from your face as the door shuts behind him and you take one of your spring rolls from the basket, taking a bite as you walk across the room to the desk.

A small sword is neatly aligned with the right side of the desk, the leather grip worn and the sheath chipped near the end. You glance between it and the door, wondering at Itachi's reaction, and finish off the spring roll in your hand.

You wipe your greasy fingers on your pants and pick up the hilt, adjusting your grip until it sits well in your hand, the wear in the leather matching your fingers. You slide it out of the sheath and examine the blade, it looks carefully sharpened and well kept.

It sits well in your hand, and unable to resist, you swing it around in the air a few times. It feels natural, Nothing you can see explains Itachi's reaction. With a shrug, you slide it back into its sheath. As you set it down, you notice crumpled paper in the dust bin next to the desk. Curiously, you pull out the papers on top.

Setting the papers on the desk, you smooth out the paper as well as you can. It's still wrinkled, but you can tell it's a test. Your name is written in the top right corner, Uzumaki Sota. The writing is much neater than you usually write. Under that, in red, is a big "50/100."

You grimace. Even you would have torn apart a test with a score like that. Had Sota been an idiot, or was there some other explanation?

You read through the pages. As far as you can tell, the answers look correct, and the penmanship is as neat as a copywriter's. Midway through the third page, the answers suddenly stopped.

So that explained it, Sota wasn't stupid or anything, but rather a quite good student. Unfortunately, he spent too much time perfecting every stroke of his writing to finish in time.

You let the papers drop from your fingers and fall back against the wall and look at the desk again. There's a drawer, which you open.

Inside is a stack of loose sheets of paper with the same perfectly crafted kanji written on them as you'd seen on the test. But these were different. The papers were smaller and made out of a different material than the normal white standard-sized paper of the test, and there were only a few kanji drawn with smaller lines that seemed both random and deliberate at the same time.

You picked one up with a smile. You didn't know exactly what they were, but based on the kanji for storage in the middle, you could be pretty sure. Which meant there was bound to be something interesting inside.

You place the seal on the desk in front of you and fold your fingers into the ram seal, surprised at how naturally they settle into place.

Nothing happens.

You reach down to touch the paper.

Nothing happens.

You frown, close your eyes in concentration, and try to imagine what it must feel like to channel chakra.

Nothing happens.

Releasing a huff of breath, you give up, putting the paper back in your drawer. You head back over to the small table and your cooling dinner.

You plop down in the chair and begin eating the remaining spring rolls. It seems like a waste to focus so much on penmanship, and you hope that Iruka won't be suspicious if you don't labour so diligently at your kanji. The biggest challenge is probably going to be chakra. Sota is an Academy student, so you're going to be expected to know how to use it.

Once you've finished the last spring roll, you dispose of the paper container in the small trashcan next to the chair in the kitchen, then climb on the chair to wash your hands.

Jumping down, you walk back across to the table and open your school bag, pulling out the books inside. Hopefully, you could learn something about chakra from your texts. As you draw out the books, your fingers touch something that jingles a little, and you reach back into the bag.

You smile as you draw out a small keyring with three keys on it. The larger one was obviously the key to your door, although you weren't sure what the other two were for.

You place the keys on the table next to your books and scan through the titles. Picking out Ninja Fundamentals, which looked like it had never even been cracked open, you cross to your desk and start reading.

-x-

Thanks for giving this story a chance. This is a rewrite of my previous fic "Sealing My Own Fate". I hope that this will be a chance to avoid some of the mistakes from my previous attempt and create a fresh new experience.