Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

AN: Here is a long chapter as an apology for me being lazy and not updating for so long. Longest one so far! 4582 words!

Also, I edited the assistant's name in "Ch20 Letters" after realizing his name crashed with the new character's name...

Warning: some bad language (grins)

Chapter 23 A New Friend

"Stupid boss, slaving us poor clones to do his stupid work," grumbled Naru as he scuffed on the sandy track, kicking small pebbles as he went.

For a clone, everyday's routine was practically the same: wake up, or rather, come into existence, read and reply the fan letters, then one clone would have to deliver a children's story to Playhouse. Today unfortunately was this clone's turn. The job wasn't tedious, but the fact that he couldn't stay indoor and laze around irked him.

Naru let out another string of grievance but was cut short as a familiar scent halted him in his track. The aroma was absolutely divine. The pungent soup base mixed with the aromatic smell of freshly cooked meat filled up his nostrils. His body shivered with excitement as his olfactory senses immediately identified the smell as his favorite food, ramen, the only food in the entire multiverse that he'd prefer over his second favorite, cup of noodle. It had been a long time since he tasted anything ramen-like. The last time was when he had a cup of noodle competition with Kohina and emptied her stock, and that was 16 loops ago (1).

The pedestrians walking after him grumbled in annoyance as they skirted around him. The street was filled with merchants on their way home after a tiresome day. The sun was setting and the shop owners were closing their shops. Naru wasn't worried though, because he knew that Ichiraku Ramen opened till late at night.

With anticipation bubbling inside his chest, the clone darted his way through the throng easily, leaving a faint silhouette behind for the stunned passersby to goggle at. He mentally thanked Hiruma for making, aka forcing and blackmailing, Naruto do the agility ladder exercise. The ability to change directions quickly without losing momentum during a sprint was one of the only practical skill he learned from being on Devil Bats (2).

"Woah!"

The scene he was seeing shifted and a second later, Naru found the sandy ground inches away from his eyes. He promptly extended his arms and planted his hands onto the ground. Kicking his legs up and swinging it down, he pulled himself into a crouching position.

"What just happened?" He found the answer rolling a few feet away from him. It was a bouncy ball about the size of a volleyball. The clone picked it up with one hand and threw it into the air. Mud and broken pieces of grass separated themselves from it before it landed on his other hand.

He squeezed it.

It was soft, but not at a tomato's level where it could burst in one squeeze. It was more like a...

A ghost sting on his cheek pulled him out of his reverie. He'd rather not delve into his dark past...at least not yet. Now wasn't the time to regain his gynophobia.

Naru focused his attention back onto the item in hand. There was a brand imprinted on the ball, which he could barely see due to it's being hidden under the dried mud. It was the brand of Konoha's biggest toy shop, where most children bought their toys at. Next to the brand was a barely visible word written in a childish messy scrawl. Squinting his eyes, the clone could barely make out the name 'Aki' (autumn).

"Hold him down!"

A yell came from a nearby playground. A group of boys were huddling together.

Through the gaps in between the useless fats, Naru saw a bruised up child been held in a headlock by his more tough-looking tormentor. His wobbly legs seemed ready to give out under him if not for the muscular arm encircling his scrawny neck, which looked as if it could be snapped in half with only two fingers.

The group of boys looked to be about 9 or 10 years old. But physically speaking, the red-haired child looked much younger. His limbs were like branches while the bullies' were like trunks. Through his stained, torn t-shirt, which looked way too small for his size, one could see his rib cage protruding his skin.

The disturbing and heart-wrenching sight made something inside the clone snap. Old memories resurfaced in his mind. A scrawny boy hanging desperately onto a tree branch as if his life depended on it, while a large, raging dog barked at him from below. The owners of the dog watched the scene from aside with extreme interest and satisfaction. A high school girl locking herself in a restroom stall and eating her already-cold bento slowly, her eyes empty and lifeless. A young girl wearing nothing but a thin dress locking herself in a dark shed in the middle of Winter, in an attempt to escape her abusive mother...

Naruto's experiences in different worlds, encountering different people, had shown him not only the light side, but also the dark side of humanity. He had learned how evil, mean, and indifferent children could be, how they could spit a lie without batting an eyelid at the dire outcomes. He had seen too many innocent children who ended their own life because of the bullying and abuse they received from school, classmates, or even their family.

And he was tired of it.

(POV change)

It hurt. Everywhere hurt.

He curled into a ball, trying to defend himself from the punches and kicks that rained upon him.

"Hold him down!"

A rough hand grabbed his arm and pulled him up, another went around his neck, almost choking him. He was actually thankful of that, because without the arm, his weak legs would gave out under his weight already. Cracking open an eye, he stared at his classmates expressionlessly. He knew that glaring, crying, and/or attacking them would only give them even more satisfaction than they already had. He would never be able to take on even one of these fat pigs, let alone all of them at once.

"So how're you doing these days, A~~ki?"

He stayed silent.

"You know, I've always wondered," the fattest pig started as he folded his hands behind his back, walking circles around him in a failed attempt to look cool. "Between you and that blond demon boy...who's more evil?"

Demon boy? He had heard of him. The village pariah, the one whom every adult hated for some reason. He didn't know him personally, but he had seen the blond running around Konoha pulling pranks here and there. How some trivial pranks had earned him the title 'demon' was still a mystery to him.

"Everyone hated him! My mother said he had killed my father twenty years ago!" The pig's face twisted into a look of horror as he paused in his steps dramatically. The footsteps he left behind created a circle in the dirt. "And here comes you. Even your parents named you 'Akki' (demon). How evil can you possibly be?!"

'Akki'. He hated that name. His stupid parents decided to name him when they were drunk. And somehow their misspelled 'Aki' (autumn) and gave it one extra 'k.' Afterwards, they thought it was funny and decided to leave it as that. He hated that name. He hated his oblivious parents even more!

Akki dropped his gaze onto the ground. The shadows of the pigs constructed a giant shadow octopus, he mused, in an attempt to divert his attention from the current situation.

"I truly pity your family. I can't even imagine having to live with a demon, having to sleep under the same roof as a demon, knowing said demon can sneak up to me and kill me in my sleep!"

The shadow octopus seemed to be growing larger... Its head looked as if it was swelling like a balloon. Slowly, its body too began enlarging itself, in both width and length...

The arm strangling him suddenly fell limp. Without the support, Akki's leg gave away and he fell onto the ground with a soft thud.

What's going on?

"A...ah...aHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

The pigs suddenly howled as if someone had just stepped on their tail, if that was physically possible. The shadow octopus quickly disbanded, leaving one lone shadow standing next to Akki's shorter one.

He turned to look at the source of the scare.

It wasn't a demon.

It was just a boy who looked not much older than he was. A boy with blond hair, three whisker marks on each cheeks, and a wide, shit-eating grin.

(POV change)

Naru didn't want to seriously injure the bullies; that would cause Naruto a lot of trouble from their parents. He only wanted to give them a little scare.

It only took him a few seconds to find the perfect method.

When Naruto and Sasuke inherited magical blood in the Harry Potter universe, they discovered two key aspects about it. One was that even after they triggered another loop, the magic would still remain in their body (3). It's as if their magical abilities had been bonded to their soul and no matter which universe they were transported to, they still had the ability to perform wizardry. The other was that magic was the same in all magical universes. For example, they could learn the unique forms of magic in the Fairy Tail universe by using the magic that'd been bonded to them in the HP universe.

Gathering the magic in his body, Naru prepared himself for the transformation. This ability was one of his favorite because it could be used as both a powerful offensive move and a playful prank. Perhaps that's why Master Makarov learned this ability in the first place, Naru thought, so he could use it to pull a prank on his fellow guild members (4)!

The change was immediate. As magical energy boiled throughout his body, it began enlarging itself. Naru watched with enjoyment as the bullies drop their jaws in both fear and disbelief. Staring up at the now over 10 feet tall jinchuuriki, the bullies let out a loud howl and ran away to the other end of the playground as the clone was blocking one of its exits. He immediately canceled the technique when they were out of sight; he didn't want the passersby to see him and ruin his already-pretty-low reputation.

The boy seemed stunned at the sight of his tormentors scurrying away with tails between their legs. He turned around slowly, his frightened expression disappearing when he saw the clone's harmless grin.

"Hello," the clone began. "My name is Uzumaki Naruto. What's your name?" Before the boy could answer, he held up a hand and said, "Hold up! Let me guess!"

He began pinching his nose and furrowing his brows. The boy watched him with narrowed eyes.

"Ah I know!" He snapped his fingers, "It's Aki isn't it?"

Aki widened his eyes in response.

"You want to know why I know it? It's because I know magic!" Aki's lips curled into a sneer. Naru pouted. "You don't believe me? Here, let me show you a trick."

He raised his hands, palms opened, indicating that his hands were empty. Then, he clasped his hands and began rubbing them together.

"Watch carefully."

Slowly, his hands began glowing in a bright, white gleam. When he separated them, in between his glowing hands was a shining white ball. It was revealed to be Aki's dirty bouncy ball when the glow faded (5).

"How's that?" The clone smirked proudly as he handed the ball to the stupefied boy. "Pretty cool, huh?"

Aki remained on the ground and stared down at his treasured ball in his hands. After a long awkward silence which made the bored clone pull two beer bottles, three coconuts, and a can of root beer out of seemingly nowhere and juggle them with ease, Aki finally looked up and spoke, "W-why did you save me?"

"Because you looked like you needed some help." The words escaped his mouth before his brain could come up with an answer. Aki stared at him in disbelief before settling his gaze onto the ground.

An awkward moment passed. Naru scratched his cheeks, What should I do? What should I do? What should I do? Dammit I'm not good at these things!

The decision was made for him when he saw the bruises on the redhead's body. Naru knelt down and raised his hands quickly when the redhead was startled by the action. "I'm not going to hurt you. Let me take a look at your injuries. I know some healing techniques."

Aki looked undecided, but perhaps because Naru didn't seem like a threat, he uncrossed his arms and allowed the blond to gently lay him flat onto the ground. His lips were pursed as his gaze tracked Naru's every move. He watched as the blond waved a hand across the empty air above his body. Whatever Naru had done had no visible effect on his body, but the content look on his face showed that he had obtained whatever he was seeking through the wave (6).

"...So?" The redhead questioned when the blond's expressions darkened.

"How many times have this," Naru's voice was low as he gestured to Aki's battered body, "happened?"

The massive killer intent that was spilling out of the trembling blond was making Aki difficult to breath. He suddenly remembered the shadow octopus from before and how his tormentors were scared shitless of this seemingly harmless blond. Fear overtook his body again, making him scramble away from the raging clone.

Soft whimpering reminded Naru of the current circumstances. He openly face-palmed when he saw the boy who he was supposed to comfort looking terrified of him, the comforter.

"Sorry...I just...abhor seeing people being tormented for something they had no control of."

Seeing the genuine emotions swimming in those cerulean orbs, Aki felt his chest tighten, the difficulty to breath returned, but for a different reason this time.

"Malnutrition, broken ribs, sprained ankle, swellings... Hell, how could you just allow them to do these to you? Why don't you fight back!?" The blond continued to rant as he placed his hands above the injuries, a yellow glow enveloping the areas (7).

A faint smile crawled onto Aki's face. He closed his eyes, reveling in the warmth that's relieving him of his pain.

"...you're only nine...ten? Yet you're nearly bones and skins! Do your parents even feed you? How come no one noticed? Well, obviously those brats noticed. What's the fun of beating up someone thirty pounds lighter than you? Not to mention..."

The frustrated blond's voice brought a chuckle out of the younger boy, which immediately turned into a full-blown laughter.

"What?" Naru scowled, a little miffed to be cut off from his tirade.

"This type of thing has been happening to me since I was a child," Aki ignored the blond's muttering 'You're still a child' and continued. "Nobody ever stepped in. To everyone, I'm just an unfortunate child among the hundreds of children in Konoha. In a ninja village, personal gains are always placed first above all other reasons. Why would others help me if they can get nothing out of it? And yet, you saved me. You, the 'demon' in other's eyes, are the first one to lend me a hand. Isn't that ironic?"

"You're not afraid of my 'reputation'?"

"Well, considering my birth name is 'A-kki' (demon)," Aki paused in between his name deliberately to show the double 'k', "and you're only nicknamed the 'demon boy', I am the one whom people should be more terrified of. And besides, you have done nothing even close to what a real demon is capable of. Thus, I have no reason to be afraid of you."

Naru was stunned at the amount of maturity the young boy was displaying. This hadn't been the first time someone wasn't afraid of him despite his 'reputation' (e.g. Teuchi and Ayame), but this amount of understanding coming from a child? This was definitely a rare occurrence.

Naru decided right there and then that this boy deserved his respect.

They spent the rest of the afternoon talking. The more time they spent with each others, the more Aki opened up to Naru. Naru discovered the origin of his (badass, in his opinion) name, his family life, what civilian school was like, which led to his main problems: bullies.

"Sometimes I even wanted to kill myself to rid myself of the suffering. Every time I go to sleep, I hope I would never wake up so I don't have to face my dreaded life. My parents are both busy with their shop so they're almost never home. They probably know about my situation, but they never consulted me about it. School teachers are useless too. They only teach so they get their pay. What happens outside of teaching is not of their responsibility. I thought the world would be better off without me... In fact, I had been gathering up the courage to do this," Aki took out a rusted kunai from his pocket with a resigned smile. Probably picked it up from the training grounds, Naru thought. "But my mental prowess failed me every time I made an attempt."

The consultation came to a halt. Naru scrunched his brows. I have to approach this carefully so I don't cause the last straw. Suicidal people are all timed bombs. One mistake will cause them to explode. I already failed once when I let Kate jump off the roof (8) and I'd promised to never make the same mistake ever again.

Naru took a moment to gather up his thoughts, then he began hesitantly.

"I had a friend named Yarimizu Sawako. She was a kind girl. Hard-working, friendly, easy-going, and always had a bright smile on her face. She had a lot of friends and a nice boyfriend. Her life up to a certain point was great. Then, something happened that turned her life upside down. Her boyfriend betrayed her trust, her friends turned their backs on her, and everyone ganged up on her (9)."

"...What happened to her?"

"She was bullied every single day. Each methods crueler than the other. Physical abuse, mental abuse, verbal harassment... All came from the people she considered 'friends.'" Naru clenched his fist in anger. "They took pictures of her naked body, forced her to do humiliating things, destroyed her treasures, toyed with her feelings over and over again... No one understood her. The teacher practically said 'just endure it. Time can solve everything.' Her parents weren't supportive either. And one day, Sawako was finally fed up with everything. And she attempted to kill herself."

The silence was unsettling. There wasn't even the sound of breathing.

"...And?" Aki said slowly, as if fearing the answer.

"She was stopped by her mom. Her parents finally realized how much pain she was in."

"And did they help her fend off the bullies?"

"No," Naru shook his head. "She did it herself. She found a way to escape from the bullies."

"Where did she hid?"

Naru grinned at the boy's naivety. "By 'way' I mean a 'method.' She was talented in drawing and had once dreamed of becoming a mangaka, so she decided to draw everything into a manga. At first her mom doesn't agree with her career choice, but she gave in after seeing how much Sawako loves to draw. In the end, she stood up for herself against her bullies, and the manga she drew became an instant hit. I'm sure you know what happened afterwards."

"She became a popular mangaka."

"Yes."

"And you're telling me this because you want to motivate me into standing up for myself?"

"Hm...that's part of the reason. The main point I'm trying to convey is that a window will always open for you when a door closes. She, just like you, was bullied to the point of wanting to end her life, and she found solace in drawing. Maybe you can try it out sometimes. My other friend often say 'when you're feeling down, write a poem!' (10) Why don't you try that next time you're feeling down? Put your thoughts and feelings into a poem, and maybe you will feel better." Naru added with an afterthought. Why not do a little advertising here? "You can even publish your poems, and maybe you'll ended up becoming even more popular than Nakamura Tenzoi!"

"Who's that?"

"He's a very popular poem writer. He often post poems on Konoha's News. You should check it out sometimes."

"Oh..." Aki seemed to be contemplating the suggestion. Therapy-no-jutsu...success! Naru mentally cheered. "That sounds like a good idea. Thanks."

"No problem. Any time!"

"If I feel suicidal again...can I talk to you?" The boy seemed hesitant with his question, but his face broke into a grin when the blond smacked his head.

"What'd you take me for!? Of course we can talk! We're friends, aren't we?"

"Yeah, we're friends."

And so, a beautiful friendship was formed. But neither of them was ready for the event that will happen in two weeks of time.

(1) Kohina: From the anime Gugure! Kokkuri-san. She considers herself a "doll", and loves cup of noodle.

(2) Devil Bats: From the anime Eyeshield 21. It's the name of their school's American Football team (though in this case, it's not exactly American lol). Hiruma is the captain and quarterback of the team. He is also extremely evil, aka sly. Hell, he even looks like a devil!

(3) Magical Blood: I will later post a one-shot of their adventure in the HP universe. If you want to understand more about how they gained magical abilities, you can read that and hopefully it'll answer your questions.

(4) Master Makarov: From the anime Fairy Tail. He is the 3rd, 6th, and 8th Guild Master of the Fairy Tail Guild, as well as one of the Ten Wizard Saints. He often use his titan magic to stop the guild members from fighting.

(5) Magic: This is the requip magic from the anime Fairy Tail. This magic allows the user to store items in a pocket dimension so they can easily summon it at any time, even during battle, which gives them a high level of flexibility in combat. It's like the 'backpack' feature in MMORPG games.

(6) Wave: This is a Diagnostic Charm from the Harry Potter fandom. It's not an official spell, but it's commonly used in HP fanfictions. It tells the user the status of the patient's health.

(7) Yellow glow: It's the Regeneration Magic that Kim Diehl had used from the anime Soul Eater. Since she's a witch and can use this magic, I suppose their counterparts, the sorcerers, can also use it. And as said before, magic is the same in all universe, therefore, Naruto has the ability to perform this. This magic allows the user to heal or restore others from injuries, ailments, poisoning, etc.

(8) Kate: From the game Life Is Strange (a game based on choices). Kate Marsh was bullied and in one part of the game, you will have to talk her out of jumping off a building. There are 2 choices, you fail = she dies, or you succeed = she lives.

(9) Yarimizu Sawako: The main character from the manga "Vitamin" by Suenobu Keiko. Strongly recommend this manga. If you're bullied, or ever have suicidal thoughts, please take a moment to read this (only 1 volume) and I hope you can become inspired by Sawako's story. You can read it on kissmanga. It's licensed on mangafox :(

(10) Poem: In one episode of Soul Eater, Maka told a depressed Crona to write a poem and that can help him feel better.

There is also a Terror in Resonance and ERASED reference in there...not sure if you guys have caught them.

Gynophobia: fear of women (I'm surprised Naruto didn't get this after being brutally beaten up by females all the time in the anime. Seriously, anime females are scary...)

AN: Annnnd that's it. That's all for this story. I don't know how long the rewrite will take. Maybe years. So I'm just going to spoil you a few key points of this story here. The trigger for Naruto and Sasuke's looping is a kiss. The first time they accidentally kissed triggered both of them to loop. Soon they find out they're tied together and when one of them kisses someone, it'll trigger the loop for both of them. That's why in the introduction chapter, they said they won't lose their kiss until the other does.

I was also planning on having their first concert be in the sky, they'll be playing their musical instruments (ARMS) which can be used as a weapon if people attacks them... Yeah.

The detective story I have planned is "Dondon Bridge Is Falling Down" by Yukito Ayatsuji. It's a story with so many twists that'll make you pull your hair in frustration and want to rip the book into pieces by the end of each story. It has five individual cases in the story.

The first culprit is an animal, but the author narrated it as if it were a human so no one ever guessed it.

The second culprit is a human, but the author narrated it as if it were an animal, so no one guessed it either.

The third witness is Ferrari, narrated as if it were a car. And surprise surprise! It's the name of a horse. And the culprit is just a random side character who appeared for like a split second!

The fourth culprit got rid of the murder weapon by using a cat!

And the fifth culprit is the narrator (of the previous four cases) himself!

Let's end this author notes with some recommendations!

"Hakumei" by Pryotra: Danzo had successfully assassinated Sandaime, but he didn't expect 6 children to witness the event and escape Konoha before his reign of terror begins. In which Naruto, Sasuke, Hinata, Neji, Sakura, and Sai became wanted runaway children who raised themselves, became a family, and trained to become powerful enough so they can return to kill Danzo, the Godaime.

"True Potential" by DryBonesKing: It all started with Shikamaru and Hinata supporting Naruto's Hokage dream during one class discussion, which changed their lives forever. Together, they will work hard, push each other, and unlock their true potential.

"Shadow and Wind: New Legends" by Sir-Shun: Naruto and Shikamaru's lives take an unexpected turn. Follow the eccentric hero and the lazy genius on their journey to become legends. In which Naruto makes new friends, puts Sakura and Sasuke in their places, and...became legendary, basically (along with a lazy ass).