Heya guys! Before the second chapter starts, I just wanted to let you know a few things:

1. In terms of POVs, some characters probably won't be getting that much spotlight, sorry! (You'll probably realise as you read.) I'll try to include as many as possible, though, here and there.

2. Warning: This story might actually contain OOC-ness, FYI. I'll try keeping them as in-character as possible, though.

Edit: 2/1/18

One moment the figures were laying peacefully in their respective beds, dormant, and the next, they were gone.

Somewhere high up in the sky, 12 pairs of eyes snapped open. Each pair glanced around before realization hit them.

"Woah, what-! "

"Eep-!"

"Holydfgsbzsdfvzs—"

"You have got to be kidding me…"

"Uh oh…"

"I'm...!" 12 panicked voices were heard. "FREEFALLING! AHHHHHH!"

Naruto was the first to hit the ground. "OOF!"

He had been using his arms to support his body in slowly getting up when a new weight forced his arms to quake and give out. Twisting his head to look behind him, he found this new source of weight to be Sasuke. "What in the world, Teme—ACK! GAH—WHAT—NO—STOP—HEY! OUCH—QUIT IT—OOMPH!"

One by one, each member of the Konoha 12 had fell, landed, and piled on top of him. Naruto groaned. He couldn't move an inch and his back hurt.

"Guys, please, get—ah..." Naruto had managed to slightly turn his head around again to face his friends when out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a large shadow getting bigger, and bigger.

"WAHHHHH!" The owner of the shadow screamed out.

"Well, that's it for me…" Naruto mumbled. "…URGH! Ehh…" He had passed out from the lack of oxygen the moment Choji landed as a new object of the pile.

Soon, everyone was shouting at each other to get off. They managed to unscramble themselves not a minute later.

"Gosh…" Sakura sighed, as she dusted herself off. Turning around, she saw an unmoving lump of orange on the forest floor. Panic seized her.

"Naruto! Are you alright?!" She rushed to his side, flipping him over. The others heard her shout and formed a circle around the unconscious Naruto.

"Naruto-kun… He must've been right at the bottom when we landed," Hinata looked down and twiddled her fingers guiltily.

"You guys were heavy," Sasuke pointed out bluntly. He had been right on top of Naruto and felt majority of the impact too.

Sakura was prodding around Naruto's ribcage and was relieved to find no broken bones whatsoever. "Phew. Good news: He's unhurt. Now we just have to wake him up."

"NARUTO-KUN!" Lee drop to his knees beside him. "PLEASE, OH PLEASE WAKE UP!"

Tears were leaking out of his eyes and Lee clutched his hands together in a prayer, head bowed.

"…Lee. Clearly, Naruto is still alive. Why? Because we have confirmed his breathing status. Yet, you make it sound like he isn't," Shino pushed up his sunglasses. A round of sniggers were heard.

"Troublesome," Shikamaru yawned.

A groan brought their attention back to Naruto, who was slowly opening his eyes and rubbing his right one with a fist. "Guys? Wow, you all look so small. I feel small… And in pain... OH."

"Sorry, Naruto! Though you really did us a favour by acting as our cushion," Tenten grinned sheepishly. "Hehe."

"Gee," Naruto rolled his eyes and sat up with the support of Sakura, "My pleasure."

"Moving on," Neji started. "It is apparent that we have successfully made it back into the past. I can remember our 'previous life's' memory... And technically, this one. I am unsure about the rest of you, but Hinata-sama and I are supposed to be having breakfast with Hiashi-sama in… I daresay 5 minutes, or less. I suggest we hold our discussion at another time, perhaps later around midnight, for Hiashi-sama is sure to send out guards to find us if he finds us nowhere to be seen."

Right after he said that, a few more pairs of eyes widened.

"Shoot!" Sakura cursed. "I'm supposed to have breakfast with my parents, too!"

"Same here!" Ino panicked. "Oh, Daddy's so not going to be happy. I agree. We better get back! C'mon Shikamaru, Choji!" With that, she grabbed the two by their wrists and dragged them off, ignoring their protests. "We'll meet at midnight!"

Nods and see you later's were given before the group dispersed quickly.

Sakura quietly ran down the road leading to the civilian section of Konoha. Though it was still early in the morning, she didn't want to raise suspicions on why a young child such as herself was wandering about the streets alone when she should've been asleep, by waking someone up with thundering footsteps. Her years of shinobi training helped with the theory, and she found that she still had great chakra control. 'Phew, wouldn't know what I'd do without it. Note to self: Something to ponder and improve on. Hmm…'

It didn't take long before she arrived just two blocks away from her home. She hid behind a lamppost, peeked out, and when she was sure no one was around to see, darted to the side of her house, just below the window of her room. Thank goodness they lived pretty near the shinobi section, or she'd probably have taken a longer time to get home and that was definitely not what she needed right now.

Sakura tried to steady her slightly laboured breathing, back pressed against the wall. Turning around, she glanced up at her window, then back down to her feet, concentrating chakra there and spreading it as evenly as possible. She experimentally placed a foot on the wall and broke into a triumphant grin when it held. Slowly placing one foot before the other, she managed to reach her window in record time. 'Heh, not bad for a three year old! Teehee!'

She tried lifting up her window and was relieved when it gave way easily. Sakura silently thanked whoever it was that decided to leave her bedroom window unlocked. In a matter of seconds, she was in her room, window closed once again, tiptoeing to bed.

She strained her ears and when no signs of activity was heard from anywhere around the house, pronounced it safe to go to sleep until her parents came and woke her up. She snuggled into her blanket.

Neji groaned to himself as he noticed the guards stationed at the entrance of the Hyuga compound. 'Way to make life difficult… Guess we'll have to use that secret entrance I found last time. Does Hinata-sama know of it?' He chanced a glance at her. 'She should.'

"Hinata-sama, do you know of the underground…" He trailed off while staring in said entrance's direction.

Hinata followed his gaze and gasped quietly in surprise. "Neji-nii-san, you know of it too…?"

He nodded. "I do. I suggest we use that as our point of entry into the compound. I would prefer not to get caught."

"Indeed," She concurred easily. "Let us go."

They made a roundabout and discreetly entered the trees behind the compound. Neji looked around to make sure no one was looking when he singled out a particular tree. Though it did not have the same identifying yet inconspicuous scratch he made the first time he saw it at an older age, he had already remembered its position by heart from the number of times he'd used it in the future. He gently slid into it, Hinata following suit. He had been shocked to find out that the key to entering was to be extremely gentle so that one could pass through. If he pounded on it, it would have a solid feel. Truly spectacular.

They were now on what seemed to be a slide; Neji and Hinata hugged their knees to their chest, rolling out smoothly onto the ground when they saw the opening. The tunnel they were in didn't look like much – brown, yet seemingly clean, dirt all over. Neji activated his byakugan and scanned the area he was underneath. They walked a bit further before he spoke up. "Hinata-sama, it seems that we part here. My room is to the right from our current position and yours is left. I trust you'll be able to get back into yours unnoticed?"

She nodded, byakugan activated as well. "Of course. I will see you later then, nii-san."

As soon as they parted ways, Hinata used the technique Earth Release: Hiding Like A Mole to manoeuvre her way through the ground, instead of actually hiding in it as the technique's name suggested. She was glad Kakashi decided to teach it to Sakura who in turn had taught her. It was certainly useful.

Hinata concealed her chakra as tightly as possible and when she was sure there was no one close by, popped out of the ground right in front of her room. She quickly tiptoed to her door, sliding it open without a creak, then stepping inside. Just as she was about to close her door, she saw Neji, directly across the compound from her, doing the same. When they caught each other's eye, she smiled and nodded, before fully shutting her door.

Ino's eyes darted between her family's flower shop and her two friends nervously. "Now what?"

Shikamaru heaved a sigh and rolled his eyes. "Roll ourselves in mud."

"What?" Ino squawked loudly. "Why on earth would I want to get myself muddy?"

"Because," Shikamaru emphasized. "Your dad would probably be too frantic about his little baby girl being all dirty to ask a truck load of questions."

"Oh," Ino said plainly. "Oh!Okay! Let's do it!"

They found an area with plain soil and Ino quickly performed a water jutsu, aiming a stream of water onto the soil. "Yuck," Her nose wrinkled as she stared at the mud. "I don't want to do this anymore."

"It won't be too bad," Choji reasoned.

"Yes, it will!"

"Troublesome," Shikamaru commented. He hopped into the dirty puddle, splashing mud onto all three of them.

"Eww, eww, eww!" Ino shrieked. "What have you done!"

"Well, at least you're muddy now, aren't you?" He replied nonchantly. "C'mon."

Ino dashed into the flower shop, the bell ringing as the door opened. Inoichi was holding a watering can, standing over a pot of flower when Ino had entered, with two small boys trailing behind her.

"Daddy!" She wailed.

"Wha- Ino, baby? What-" He looked at her, at the stairs that would lead up to their home and back at her. "Weren't you in bed? Why are you all muddy?!"

Ino sniffed. "I… I wanted to play with Shikamawu and Choji! You and mama were asleep, so I didn't tell you. But Shika-kun got mud all over me!" She yelled out the last part, bursting into tears.

Shikamaru was initially impressed with her acting skills, though he shouldn't have needed to, all things considered - before he realised that no, her dramatic crying was no act at all. Suddenly, Inoichi turned a glare to him 'Well shoot.'

"Shikamaru!" Inoichi yelled. "How dare you get my baby girl all dirty! No, HOW DARE YOU EVEN GO NEAR HER?!"

"B-but, sir-"

"NO BUTS!" Inoichi cut him off.

Shikmaru inwardly cringed. 'She was the one who always wanted to play with me and Choji! She was the one that first came near me!' His yelled in his mind indignantly. 'Troublesome woma- girl…' He shivered as Inoichi's glare intensified.

"Yes, sir. I'm sorry I got Ino muddy, it won't happen again," He said meekly.

"Good," Inoichi nodded. "But you haven't-"

"Now, now, old pal," the bell rang as the door opened and Shikaku walked in. "I think it's perfectly fine if Ino wants to play with the boys, don't you think? Besides, I know Shikamaru is a good boy." His eyes were on Shikamaru, taking on a strange glint.

Without outwardly showing any signs of panic, Shikamaru drawled lazily, "Hey dad." 'He's probably suspicious, if only slightly. And over such a small thing… Typical dad. Troublesome.'

"Oh, yeah, a good boy that got Ino-dear all muddy!" Inoichi turned to Ino and showered her with the watering can. Ino's face grew red.

"Daddy!" She yelled angrily.

"Oh-" Inoichi took a step back. "I'm sorry, baby girl! I didn't mean to! You just looked, so, well…"

Ino clenched her teeth, hands balling into fists. "I'm going to take a bath!" She roared, stomping up the stairs.

Shikaku was howling with laughter. "Inoichi, haven't you learnt? After all these years? Never mess with anyone of the female gender, even if they're a little girl."

Inoichi huffed and crossed his arms.

Shikamaru shared a quick look with Choji. 'That went well… I guess.'

"Sasuke-chan, wake up, it's time for breakfast."

Sasuke slowly cracked open his eyes to see his mother smiling at him. His heart clenched. He felt tingles and suddenly, crocodile tears were rolling down his eyes. He hiccupped. 'What! Why am I crying! Hn, must be this amateur child body. How dumb,' He thought. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to stop the tears.

"What's wrong, Sasuke-chan?" Mikoto asked worriedly.

"…Nightmare," Sasuke quickly thought up.

"Don't worry," Mikoto smiled at him, gathering him into a hug. "None of it is real. Focus on mama, okay? Don't cry," She soothed, slowly stroking his hair.

Sasuke was stock still. Ever so slowly, he brought his arms up to wrap around his mother. This time, he cried. Really cried. It had been so long… So long since he had ever been encompassed in motherly warmth. It was no longer about a nightmare – he was pouring his heart out… With tears.

Just to clear it up: For whatever 'mistakes' I may make in this story, please take it in stride and go along with it! It's kinda to help play a part in making my story work - I won't be following exactly how the show goes, after all. So yeah! (:

That's it for chapter two! I hope it was at least sub-par. Do favourite, follow, or leave me a review if you have anything to share! Until then~