Chapter 1: Unsealed

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Avatar the Last Airbender

Summary: Naruto is turned into a 5-year old during his training period with Jiraiya and found by the Akatsuki. Now, Itachi is stuck taking care of the little jinchūriki who thinks Itachi is his daddy!

Tsunade sighed as she looked out the window of the Hokage tower. The mission with Sasuke had not gone according to plan. Sai had been given a secret order to assassinate Sasuke but chose not to for his teammates' sake. Sasuke was as crazed as ever with the need to kill Itachi.

Tsunade sighed again, rubbing her forehead. She could understand his obsession to kill his brother, still she thought it was extremely self-destructive. I met a lot of people during the Great Shinobi wars; they were truly reminiscent of this fool. Much like them, the Uchiha was also so consumed by revenge and hatred that in the end, it would only end up causing him more misery.

Outside, the sun was setting, basking the peaceful village in beautiful golden-orange rays, the birds playing lazily in the sky. She turned back to her desk. Sometimes I wonder why I ever agreed to become Hokage. This is annoying. Tsunade was mentally ranting about the bane of every Kage's existence: paperwork. She spotted Yamato's report and her thoughts went back to Sasuke, expression grim.

He is going to end up causing everyone grief; his need to eliminate Itachi borderlines insanity. She intertwined her hands in front of her, elbows on her desk.

Naruto and Sakura were so determined to bring him back, desperate to get back to the good old days of Team Seven, that they were blinded by what their former teammate was becoming, had already become—a traitor.

They couldn't see past their own desires and she worried about the damage it would cause if they were to face Sasuke in battle or tried to drag him back. He won't hesitate and they will get hurt one way or another.

The time of day had most of the villagers heading home to their families. An orange blur flew over the rooftops above the marketplace. The smell of homemade food was making its way up the ninja's nose.

Man, I can't wait to get to Ichiraku's! What ramen should he have today? Beef? Pork? And there was always the delicious miso ramen. But before the hyperactive ninja could celebrate, a sudden thought entered his mind. Oh wait! I promised Shikamaru I'd go for a round of Shogi with him!

"NO!" Naruto Uzumaki grabbed his hair and panicked as if on cue, when an idea popped into his head. "Oh, I know!"

A foxy grin replaced his once panic-stricken expression as he brought his hands together and made the hand seal for his signature jutsu. Poof! Another orange-clad ninja appeared in a cloud of smoke.

"Yo, boss!" He waved.

"Hey, you mind going over to Shikamaru's place? I promised I'd play Shogi with him. He always wins so what's it matter if he plays the real me or my shadow clone."

His clone gave him a thumbs-up, "Right!"

The two parted ways and Naruto went back to thinking about ramen, almost drooling. Not far ahead in the street below, a merchant was on his merry way after a hard day of work.

"W-why do I have an awful feeling all of a sudden?" The merchant took in his surroundings cautiously. But unfortunately, he had not covered the roofs. As he was double-checking his surroundings, he spotted an orange blur in his peripheral vision heading in the direction of his cart a second too late.

CRASH!

"My cabbages!"

The man looked at the-less-than-decent shape of his cabbages…but wait! He spotted the only undamaged leafy green vegetable.

"Ugh... What just happened?" Naruto looked around, rising on trembling legs, disoriented. Accidentally, he slipped on the old man's last precious vegetable.

"Noooo!"

The scream of pure horror snapped Naruto back to his senses; it vibrated his eardrums. He looked to see the damage he had caused; an elderly man was crying over the destruction of his pride and joy.

Oops! Better get out of here before he notices. He inched away subtly. Without a second thought, he slipped out of the sticky situation as fast as he could before it could get any worse.

Yeah if it were my only sticky situation. He mulled over what had happened moments before his, um, dynamic entry. I guess ramen will have to wait. He found his appetite had disappeared and that more than anything else worried him.

With a heavy heart, he made his way toward the Hokage tower, mind overcome with fears. He was a healthy young man, a jinchūriki. Thinking about the tailed-beast locked up inside him made him speed up. Naruto's hand touched his stomach, over the seal. Damage to the seal was not something he was willing to risk.

He could hear Tsunade's voice as he neared the door. He barged in, "Hey Grandma, what's up?"

"Naruto, how many times do I have to tell you to refer to me as per my title?"

When you stop being old was going to be the response but Naruto stopped after he saw a rather murderous glare being sent his way, self-preservation kicking in. He wasn't that big of an idiot.

"Now what do you want?" Tsunade asked.

"Well," he scratched his cheek before directing his blue eyes at the woman in front of him, "I was wondering if you could give me a physical or whatever."

"Why? What's the matter?" The Hokage's brow furrowed, medical instincts kicking in.

Naruto became serious, well at least tried to, "Okay, at first it was only a headache, but then I started feeling something weird happening in my stomach. Then last night when I was eating dinner, my right hand stopped working for a couple of seconds." As he continued explaining, his voice started escalating. "And just a few minutes ago, I was on my way to Ichiraku's when I slipped because my chakra was acting weird!"

"Calm down, Naruto." Tsunade ordered sternly. "When did this start?"

He took a breath, and replied in a calmer tone, "After my mission."

Tsunade thought it over for a couple of minutes before reaching a conclusion. She stood up and walked over to Naruto. "I don't think this is a physical problem. You me told Sasuke had gone in your head, yes? I think he might have caused some sort of reaction in your psychological state of mind."

"I did get a funny feeling when he looked inside my head with his Sharingan activated." He shuddered unconsciously.

A pair of red eyes suddenly popped up in his head. Strangely, he couldn't put his finger on why he thought they weren't Sasuke's.

Tsunade put her hand on Naruto's forehead and it started to glow a light green color. After a few moments of concentration, she finished with a grave look on her face. "Someone has sealed some of your memories."

"What?" Naruto jerked back, bewildered. "But I don't remember—err, not remembering?"

"You wouldn't if it was done right. Which it was. The thing is, someone went to great lengths to make sure you don't remember. So now the question becomes, who did it? And what are they trying to hide?"

After a few moments of silence, Naruto looked back at Tsunade. "Grandma Tsunade, can you try to bring back my memories?" His stomach felt heavy with unease, uncomfortable with the idea of someone messing with his mind, locking away his memories.

"Hm." She looked carefully at the teen before her. "I can try; it'll probably be easy since the incident with Sasuke seems to have triggered something."

He nodded, eyes glinting in determination, "Right! Let's do it!"

"Very well, but I should warn you, this will hurt."

Naruto grinned a foxy grin and gave Tsunade a thumbs-up. "There is nothing the great Naruto Uzumaki can't handle! Believe it!"

Tsunade gave a small chuckle before ordering Naruto to take a seat and close his eyes. "This is delicate process since we are dealing with the human brain. I have only done this kind of thing a handful of times. Try not to resist, it will only make it harder."

"Okay."

The Hokage sent her chakra to where Naruto's memories were being blocked. The prefrontal cortex was responsible for processing short-term and retaining long-term memories. She had to be very careful, else he may lose his memories all together or become unable to create new ones.

Naruto winced, feeling her soothing chakra probing the block. He tried to imagine it as a locked door, which kept his memories out, and attempted to push it open. With that exertion, he started to feel dizzy but kept pushing.

Finally, with one last big push, his mind went white and his eyes snapped open, his vision going black.

"Naruto, are you okay? Naruto, answer me!"

Tsunade was slightly alarmed when the teen fell unconscious. It wasn't a complete surprise to her. She had expecting something like that to occur. She checked his pulse and ran her chakra through his body, ensuring everything was working properly.

She watched his chest rise up and down slowly. He's only asleep. She smiled, relieved to see he was fine.

The golden sunlight streaked through the window, warm and bright, causing the sleeping teen to wake up. Naruto wanted to snuggle deeper into the bed and go back to the land of dreams but the incident can back and grudgingly opened his eyes. He was back in his apartment, the Hokage sitting at his bedside.

"You're awake," she greeted him.

"What happened?" Naruto asked in sleepy voice, sleepily.

"Here, eat first."

He realized he was starving, stomach growling like a beast, and wolfed down the food gratefully. "Thanks," he sighed happily. "That was great."

Tsunade nodded, arms folded. "Last night, we tried to obtain your sealed memories but you fainted, gave me a little. So, do you remember?"

Naruto's face brightened when he remembered. His expression quickly became an array of emotions.

"Naruto, what is it? What wrong?" Tsunade's voice was laced with the worry of a mother hen, though her sternness was still present.

Naruto looked baffled, afraid, confused, depressed, delighted. He opened his mouth but nothing came out. His eyes watered, causing his vision to blur. Tsunade's brows furrowed, then she pulled the stunned speechless teen into a hug.

"It's okay. You can tell me. I promise you'll be okay," she rubbed Naruto's back. She wasn't one to show physical affection commonly.

After a few moments, his mind calmed and he relaxed, pulling back from the hug.

"Do you remember?" She looked at him with an underlying concern in her eyes.

His eyes were large and full of emotion once again. "Yes."

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