Yes?
"Anyway to make it so I'm not cheating so much?" asked Naruto. "Not that I mind cheating if it's cool."
Yes, you are a ninja. Cheating if you can get away with it is part of that image.
"Damn straight," agreed Naruto. "But if I change overnight, isn't that gonna get me more trouble?"
Not necessarily, but okay. So what do you want?
"You can actually do that, so everyone knows ahead of time that I'm skilled?" asked Naruto with all the eagerness a twelve year old boy could bring to bear. Which was actually considerable.
Oh yes, admitted the cat. Consider how much would change if this point in your past diverged.
Things blurred around Naruto, and when it stopped he recognized the Hokage tower. He didn't recognize the kid on the floor until he saw the whisker marks. "WHAT?!"
Yes, that's you. Yes, this never happened. Yet. Watch.
"-and so he was beaten nearly to the point of death," said the Hokage. "You said you found something?"
"Yeah," said Jiraiya. "The seal is a masterpiece, the best Minato ever did. That said, it is flawed."
"Flawed?" asked the Hokage, concerned.
"Oh, you don't have to worry about the Fox getting out and going on a rampage," said Jiraiya quickly. "No, there's some leakage. He's constantly healing but he's constantly getting damage. To his brain in particular."
The fox is making me stupid?! screeched Naruto.
"What kind of effect would that be?" asked the Hokage, puffing thoughtfully at his pipe.
"Short term memory loss, some attention-deficit, lower intelligence," said Jiraiya. "I'm working out a patch that I can add that will act as a filter. Actually the person who beat him like this did him a favor in a way. I would never have noticed unless I'd been able to watch the way his body healed. That Hyuga girl who spotted the fight was a big help there."
"Yes, a favor," muttered the Hokage darkly.
"Well, the ANBU dealt with him, so I can speak a little more nicely of the departed," said Jiraiya. "I thought the villagers just shunned him because they were idiots."
"No, actually, there have been a few incidents where he was beaten on, this is the worst so far though," said the Hokage.
"I'm going to try and get more help from that Hyuga girl who spotted him," said Jiraiya. "Her father was very resistant to the idea initially, but I pointed out his daughter had a chance to learn something of seals and healing at the hands of an expert."
"An expert at healing?" asked the Hokage.
"All the times Tsunade punted me through a wall or flattened me? I had to learn a fair amount," pointed out Jiraiya.
"Point," admitted the Hokage.
"Besides, I have an ulterior motive," said Jiraiya.
"Oh? Isn't she a bit young for you?" asked the Hokage.
"She's a LOT young for me," said Jiraiya. "On the other hand, she likes Naruto."
"She does?" asked the Hokage.
"Naruto could use a friend, and I think she could too," said Jiraiya.
"Waitaminute," said Naruto. "I'm going to have a friend growing up?"
Unless her family forbids it. In which case she'd simply appear to distance herself from you until after you'd graduated the Academy.
"Huh," mused Naruto, squinting his eyes up as he looked over the frozen image. "Don't suppose you can make Sakura my girlfriend."
I freely admit that humans continue to make little sense to me. In answer to your question though - yes. Now for my question. Which role did you find the most interesting of those you were most recently inspecting?
"Hmmm," hmmmed Naruto, scratching his chin. "That holy warrior was kinda cool. That 'ranger' type was nice. I kinda liked that thief version of me too."
If you want to see what it would look like if I simply altered your past to produce that outcome, I really do need for you to choose ONE outcome.
"Oh," said Naruto as he scratched his head. "Okay then. Let's see what __________ looks like!"
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(Posted Fri, 11 Feb 2011 16:09)
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