1.0 | INTRODUCTION

      GREETINGS, live being or creature. Welcome to “Naruto & Co.” Here, you shall expect to see quite a lot of things, but of course! I, the author, am only here to give the very basics of anything you will come across or encounter while reading this book. 

       WARNING:

I, BY NO MEANS, AM A PROFESSIONAL OR EXPERT ON THE MATTER OF MENTAL HEALTH AND TRAUMA. I AM JUST A SENIOR HIGHSCHOOL KID, NOTHING LESS, NOTHING MORE.

​​​​​​READ WITH CAUTION. PLEASE DISENGAGE IF YOU THINK THIS BOOK WILL HURT YOU.

       DISCLAIMER:

I do not own Naruto. If I did, it would probably not exist. Some of these characters are of my very own creation such as Eiko, you belong to you. I do not wish for any part of this book to be copied from, reproduced, distributed or transmitted from in any form without our express permission.

       Seeing as that's out of the way, I'll start on said basics.

       Naruto has Dissociative Identity Disorder (D.I.D.) formerly known as Multiple Personality Disorder (M.P.D.). In the first chapter, you will first find (and be led to think) that he has five (5) Alternate Identities (Alters) or Headmates. Three of which are Introjects; one, a Little, and the other, a supposed time-travelling, dimension-hopping, future-telling, balance-disrupting You (the Reader). You get to decide if Naruto really made you or if you really did come from another world.

       Dissociative Identity Disorder is the condition of having two or more persons living in one body with dissociative amnesia in between switches. D.I.D. is developed when a child before the age of 7 is exposed to repeated trauma-inducing situations or events. For the child to cope with said trauma, the brain decides that it is best to split the consciousness into two.

       One consciousness will be completely unaware of whatever had happened to cause the split (that they will also be unaware of) and will continue to live life as they had before; they are called the Host. The one who fronts the most and is protected from trauma and bad memories.

       The other consciousness will be the holder of the trauma memories. This split may or may not come with memories of a life before and have their own identity and personality. Thus, they are their own person, living alongside the Host in another's body, and tasked with protecting the other.

^^^N.B - A person with D.I.D may refer to themselves as a part of a system and to everyone on a whole, as a system.^^^

...D.I.D. LOOKS DIFFERENT WITH EVERYONE, NO TWO (2) SYSTEMS ARE THE SAME‼️...

       There can be many alters, over thousands because there are different types of alters. Alters can speak entirely different languages from the host and come from completely different backgrounds and as all alters are different people they all have their own specific traits, looks, illnesses and disorders, religions.

Some key terms are:

Front(ing) - This refers to when an alter is in control of the body, or "at the front".

Co-conscious/co-con - When two or more alters are at the front, or in control of the body together.

Near/close - an alter, or alters are close to the front but not in control of the body. Only able to see or hear what the fronting alter(s) is/are doing or what is happening.

Switch(ing) - this is when an alter or alters enters or leaves the front. That transition is called a switch. They either switch in or switch out.

Rapid switching/cycling - it is in the name.

Dissociate - can be described as either an out of body experience, or being in an unfamiliar/unreal world.

Inner world - most systems but not all, have what is referred to as an inner world. It is where the alters live when they aren't fronting. There can be other people who are not alters in the inner world for the sake of having a world similar to the background/memories an alter was made with.

Trigger - this can be positive or negative. A positive trigger is something that an alter likes and it forces them, or coaxes them, to the front. A negative trigger brings back bad/trauma memories of one alter and forces them to come forth.

Integration - This is when two or more alters, sort of, kind of fuses with another, or others. The amnesia barriers between them will fall and they become one person. It is basically the opposite of a split when they separate and the amnesia barrier goes up. When this happens, the person they integrated with will either become a new person altogether with the memories or one identity ultimately dominates over the other but with newly added traits and memories.

Dormant - Dormancy is a state that an alter enters when they are no longer needed by the system. This is another way for a system to cope with an alter no longer being required. A dormant alter is a sleeping alter. It could be described as a coma but that alter would be completely unaware of everything when they are dormant.

We will now look at some types of Alters:

Host - The Host is the Alter who fronts the most and most likely resonates more with the body but not all time. They are the ones protected from trauma memories and are mostly unaware of what goes on when they aren't there. They control day to day life activities.

Co-Host - The Co-Host is much like the Host but falls in just behind as being the one who fronts the second most. They are mostly also protected and control day to day activities when the Host is not around.

Protector - Protectors are in the name. They may or may not hold trauma and they protect the Host(s) from any danger they might find themselves in. There are different types of protectors, such as Caretakers, who mostly stays in headspace and takes care of everyone whilst also occasionally fronting to take care of the body or another outside headspace; persecutors, who are willing to put up a physical and/or verbal fight for the system's safety. Some of them may seem cold and harsh but that is just a part of their defense mechanism; sexual protectors are created to cope with sexual abuse/assault (but you won't need to worry about this one).

Introject - these are Alters who are based on a real and living person. It can be an abuser, a friend, a role model, etc. They may be the exact person they were based on or they may change into their own person, different from the one they are based on.

Little - Littles are child Alters between the ages 0-11. They might not even have an age, but they act, think and even talk like the children they are. 

Trauma Holder - These Alters could be anyone. From protectors to Littles, to Fragments. As the name suggests, these Alters carry trauma memories.

Teen - These are teenage alters. 

Disabled - These are alters who are mute, deaf, blind, etc. 

Fictive/Factive - Fictives are alters created and based on fictional characters. Factives are alters created and based on historical (real) people.

Gatekeeper - These alters oversee and/or keep track of every memory the body has growing up. They may also have some amount of control over switches and are able to distribute trauma memories to different alters.

System Manager - We do not know much about this role but I believe this alter manages all switches and the entire system and/or the inner world.

Fragment - Underdeveloped personalities/alters. They either have no emotions whatsoever and may only exist to do one task (i.e. do the dishes), or they are only made up of a single emotion, or they are only there to hold one memory, good or bad, etc. 

Non-Human/Dead - These alters are either ghosts, animals, robots, supernaturals, mutants, objects, etc. 

...MEET THE ALTERS‼️...

...Uzumaki Naruto...

...- 12...

...- Host...

...- Male...

...- He/him...

...You, the Reader, Y/N...

...- Ageless...

...- System Manager, mostly...

...- You decide. ...

...- They/them, he/him, she/her...

...Eiko...

...- 6...

...- Little...

...- Male...

...- He/him...

...Haruno Sakura...

...- 12...

...- Persecutor type protector, Introject...

...- Female ...

...- She/her, they/them...

...Uchiha Sasuke...

...- 12...

...- Persecutor type protector, Introject...

...- Male...

...- He/him...

...Umino Iruka...

...- 23...

...- Caretaker type protector, Introject...

...- Male...

...- He/him, they/them...

^^^N.B - To avoid confusion, introjects will be referred to by first names and the sources they are based on, by surnames.^^^

       Finally, this book will mostly follow canon by manga. Enjoy!

1.1 | Enter: Naruto & Co

      “What the hell are you doing during class time!?” Naruto froze at the sound of a very familiar voice screaming at him. “Get down here, you moron!” The blond winced at the name calling. He knows his sensei doesn't mean it but it makes him highly uneasy. The boy quietly got down from where he was defacing the Hokage monuments.

       Umino-sensei gave him a look of pure disappointment that really did hurt him somewhere. He hated that look. He hated being on the receiving end of it and he was determined to change it.

       On the walk back to school, the man silently boiled. In an iron grip by his side, the child was much busy trying to not think about the hand on his shoulder.

       “I'll handle the rest of today for us.” Sasuke's voice sounded from behind him. Naruto's steps faltered as he turned to look behind him, finding no one before he realized that the voice was coming from inside his head.

       Naruto slowly relaxed, nodding his head in agreement. It sounded like a good idea. For now at least... So he let the Sasuke replica in his head take over, vaguely feeling his posture change as he faded out of awareness.

       They walked into the class that immediately quieted as soon as their presence was noted. The protector shrugged off the teacher's hand and proceeded to stand in front of the class, making an aborted movement to put his hands in his pockets. He leaned onto the chalk board behind him and propped his foot up on the wall as he crossed his hands over his chest. His blue gaze stared straight ahead, lazily rounding up every face of his classmates, though lingering on the face that looked like his.

       “Tomorrow is the Ninja School's Graduation Exam and you!” The adult began, pointing an accusing finger at the persecutor. “You have failed the last two times so this is absolutely no time to cause trouble, moron!” Sasuke's grip on his forearms tighten at the sound of the degrading name. If it weren't for the fact that it wasn't worth it, he'd have thrown hands as soon as the man breathed the first syllable.

       That wasn't what he came out for though. He was gonna go through like a sane person and hopefully, he'll be able to keep his cool and not get into a fight. On a different note, if he knew Umino-sensei, there was probably going to be a test today.

       Most likely seeing his lack of interest judging by the small stretch of silence, the man started speaking once more, this time to the entire class. “Everyone, line up! It's time for a review test on [Henge no Jutsu]. Transform perfectly into me!”

       He called it. There's a lot of grumbling and muttered complaints, but everyone did as instructed. Sasuke was third in-line and was the target of quite a lot of hate glares that he really couldn't care less about.

       As he went to take a stand in front of Umino, the person behind him said something about him being at fault. Again, not like he cared. 

       He took one look at their teacher, committing every detail to memory whilst slowly forming the hand sign for the transformation jutsu. “Transform.” The ravenette-now-blonde breathed. There was a poof of smoke and when it cleared, a perfect replica of Umino-sensei stood in his place.

        The man before him blinked in blank shock before noting something on his clipboard, probably a grade, and giving him a small praise and a smile. Umino was used to the behavior. It was like, sometimes, Naruto seemed like a completely different person but then the boy would return to normal before he could think anything of it. He had long since accepted it as a part of the blonde's own unique personality.

     “I won't let you go home until you clean all of it.”

       The rest of the day had progressed swiftly with no other switches and surprisingly, smoothly enough that Sasuke wasn't so twitchy nor was he close to having an outburst. Currently, scar-face was sitting above him, looking down on him and going about the wrong way to encourage him to work faster on cleaning up the mess the host had left behind.

       “Aren't you forgetting something, sensei?” Sasuke questioned lightly, trying his best to imitate Naruto's voice.

       Silence followed. Not once did Sasuke look up to see whatever may be wrong with his teacher, nor did he halt in his repetitive movements in washing off all the paint.

       “Hey, Naruto.” Sasuke hummed in response, focused on the task before him. “Well, umm...” The man stuttered. Still, Sasuke carried on, only now, he was actively listening.

       “If you clean all this up, I'll buy you ramen tonight.” Now, Sasuke did falter. He tilted his head, fighting a switch. His left eye twitched. Of course Naruto would come forward at the mention of ramen.

       For the sake of Naruto and not drawing unwanted attention, he finally looked up at Umino-sensei who was red in the face and awkwardly scratching at his scar. “Really? Then I'll work hard, I will!” he managed a face splitting grin that would make both you and Naruto proud.

       As soon as he finished washing the last bit of paint off, Naruto switched out while he turned in for the night. 

       When the final exam came around, Sasuke attempted to take over for it once more but you stopped him. Sakura wanted to do it if Sasuke wasn't allowed to, but you also shot that down. Both persecutors were assured of Naruto’s pass. Not traditionally, but they will be wearing a forehead protector by the end of the night. Something about not changing major events.

       They were not convinced, but you were weird like that. None of them might not be able to understand what you are saying half the time, but most times, it made sense later on. So they all kind of trusted you.

       And so, Naruto was left to fend for himself the entire day.

       “No one is allowed to talk about the fact that you are the Demon Fox.” The white haired man dramatically revealed, blatantly ignoring the entire existence of his, now, ex best friend who was screaming protests at him.

       Naruto froze. You froze. For two very different reasons. Naruto was remembering and piecing this new information together to process it and see why it made so much sense.

       You, in turn, felt Naruto's entire consciousness shift in such a way. If Naruto realizes how Mizuki worded the rule, there would most likely be a split and you can almost see just who and what the other split would be.

       “Naruto, no!” You started, sternly. Naruto blinked and stepped back. “You are most definitely NOT the nine-tailed Fox. Trust me on that.” Because, no way on Earth would you and the rest of the system be able to host another Nine-Tailed Demon Fox. Nuh-uh. Nope. And in truth, it wasn't wrong. Naruto and Kurama were two different people–creatures even!

       “Naruto, give me the scroll.” Mizuki ordered, smirking.

       “You... You used me... For this?” Naruto began slowly; his fists clenched at his side, shaking. “I see. I understand everything now, Mizuki-san, Iruka-sensei. I do.”

       “Naruto...?” Umino-sensei asked, confused and a tiny bit fearful. You watched on in curiosity. There wasn't going to be another split from what you can feel but you had no idea what was going on in Naruto's mind.

       “That you do, now give m—"

       “No.”

       “What?” The grey haired man looked gobsmacked. So did Umino. 

       “I said no. I will not give you the scroll.” Naruto watched his face contort into ugly rage. As he opened his mouth to speak, Naruto completely cut him off before he could start, “[Kage Bunshin no Jutsu]!” he yelled, forming the correct hand signs. Thousands upon thousands of clones appeared. All of them leering at the man. 

      “I understand that you are wrong about one thing, Mizuki-san.” The blonde continued, “I am Uzumaki Naruto, future Hokage! Not Kyuubi, believe it!” All the Naruto's finished as one.

       As if on cue, all existing clones attacked. You smiled, satisfied. Naruto went over to check on his teacher and seeing as your presence was no longer needed, you left.

       You thought the day ended rather nicely opposed to the alternative that could've happened. You sat in the library of your inner world (which is really just the memory chamber) around the librarian desk. In front of you, on the desk, a single blue book appeared which documented the entire day.

      There was no reading involved when it came to the books in the memory chamber. It only took a person opening the book to be able to see the memory it contains. You are going to lend it to Sakura and Sasuke to look over. When it's done writing itself, that is, because Naruto still hasn't gone to bed yet.::