Note: Hi, there. How nice of you to read this. Well, if you have read New Dawn, you'll find the first part as the same. This story, Back to Zero, is actually my first Naruto fan fiction, however, being the careless I am I accidentally deleted the original of this, so I re-wrote it. It wasn't the same except the first part, but I assure you that this is better than its former before I accidentally deleted it. I hope you guys will enjoy the story and I'm looking forward for your reviews. Let me know what's running in your minds while reading. It will be appreciated.
I
The Fourth Great Shinobi War, unbeknownst to majority, had started roughly two decades ago in the shadows, and now like an erupting volcano it ensued.
The Five Great Nation fought as one against their sole enemy, Uchiha Madara, who manipulated the hearts of people to fulfil his goal of eternal dream where everyone won't feel hunger, hate, sadness, but happiness; the Tsukuyomi. One might have asked if it was not because of this war; will the Great Five Nations come to an alliance? Possible, but it would take time, however, there was this lone man who would and will even if it takes longer than he thought.
The Fourth Great Shinobi War that cost so many lives of both innocent and not had been gone too long and every single soul were growing tired by the time. They wanted to rest already, but they could not and will not. They have to fight until their very last breath in the hopes of saving the world from the dream no one could escape. They have to protect the kings.
It had been so long, but they knew the war was coming to its end.
They knew it in their hearts.
Uchiha Madara fell from above and crashed down the earth, creating a huge crater. Uchiha Sasuke had managed to dispell the Moon's Eye by countering it using both his Sharingan and Rinnegan, however it took a lot of him and now was lying on his back with Haruno Sakura healing him while Hatake Kakashi was beside them, guarding. The Five Kages took the chance to regroup to a safer place and heal the injured ones while Uzumaki Naruto was engaged in a taijutsu fight with Madara.
Madara was weakening after the failure of his project because of Sasuke. He needed to recharge, but was not able to as Naruto appeared out of thin air right before him and just an inch away, which took him in surprise. Using the opening, Naruto plucked out both his eyes without haste and crushed it before going after the third one that was on his forehead.
Everything happened in a fast paced; the fight of Sasuke and Naruto against Madara was one of the greatest, or perhaps the greatest fight of the greatest and will become a legend that will never die.
Standing before the prone figure of Madara were Naruto and Sasuke, looming over him and watching him intently. Sakura and Kakasi approached them and stood at either sides of Sasuke and Naruto. Black Zetsu, who was still stuck in Obito's body, stood from afar, recording everything like he was supposed to.
"He's still alive. Barely." said Sasuke, earning a bewildered look from Kakashi and Sakura.
"W-what do you mean...he's still alive?" asked Sakura.
"He's alive, though only barely." Naruto replied for Sasuke. "He has the Shodai's cells that keep him alive. We can't kill him."
"Why?" asked Kakashi.
"Because..." Naruto scrunched up his face, thinking before resigning. Nudging the Uchiha, he said, "Hey, Sasuke. You explain it."
"You're hopeless." Sasuke sighed.
"Shut up!"
Sakura hid a chuckled behind her hand as she saw them bickering over a small thing just like before. She missed it; the days they had together before as a team.
"Calm down Naruto." Kakashi held his hand, placating. He then turned to Sasuke and motioned for him to explain.
"Hn. It's simple. We don't have enough to keep him dead because there's a possibility of him recovering while killing him by sucking our chakras through a slight physical contact and Black Zetsu may intervene. But there is a way to make sure he won't escape."
"All I have to do is restrain him though there's no need to do it since he's unconscious enough to do the sealing that will drain him his remaining chakra and life force and convert it into mine." finished Naruto.
Sakura was not sure about it, and so she asked the blonde. "Is it safe Naruto? I mean what if it'll turn you into someone like him?"
Naruto smiled widely. "Don't worry Sakura! Just trust me, you know!" exclaimed the blonde, puffing his chest and making the young lady small.
Tsunade, along with the other four Kages, the troops, and the four reanimated previous Hokages, sat on the ground, assisting the injured ones. She was relief as she could no longer sense the foul intensity of the war and was sure her comrades can feel it, too.
"Did they...kill him?" asked someone from the background.
"I don't know, but...it feels lighter." replied the other.
"Yeah! I'm sure they won the battle!" and soon the group cheered that made Tsunade, who was standing in front of them all, smiled though it soon ended as someone, a kunoichi, reprimanded them.
"Cut it off! We aren't sure if they succeed until they get here alive!"
Tsunade nodded.
"She's right." said Minato as he walked and stood by Tsunade's side that then turned around to face the man, the Fourth Hokage. "Though I can feel it, too." he smiled.
The Fourth and Fifth Hokage both stood, watching the horizon and the beautiful dawn. Then, from afar they saw four shadowed figures. Tsunade squinted her eyes and gasped, gaining the attention of everyone. The rookie nine, or what was left, and Sai joined the two Hokages, and they two gasped.
Naruto, Sasuke, Kakashi, and Sakura were approaching the troop with huge smiles plastered on their faces.
And the whole Shinobi Alliance cheered at the news upon seeing Uchiha Madara's withering body. Naruto then explained to them the seal known to Uzumaki clan as Sealing Technique; Art of Life Force, thus the result of him having those black intricate designs all over his body with the Uzumaki crest on his chest.
Minato was so proud of his son that he couldn't help but cry in joy. "I'm so proud of you son...Naruto. I'm sure if Kushina is here she would throw you a big hug. And... Naruto..." he paused as he looked at his son's own azure eyes; two pairs of sky blue eyes, which resembled the cloudless summer sky that hid the darkness to bring happiness to individual who looked up at it, locked at each other. "Happy Birthday." said the Fourth Hokage with a proud smile in which his son returned with his own foxy grin and pulled his father in a tight embrace.
Naruto whispered, "Thank you...dad. And, I love you. Both you and mom." before falling on his knees and succumbing into darkness.
Everyone froze after Naruto fell on the ground, unconscious, and the markings on his body were glowing blue. And, Sasuke, not knowing why felt light headed before following suit. The last he heard were the frantic muffled sounds of the people around him and Naruto.
oOo
Pain. Excruciating pain shot through his body as though he was squashed by two boulders the size of one of the heads carved on the side of the mountain known as the Hokage Monument. Apart from the numbing senses, he also felt like there were smouldering rods piercing through his nerves.
He felt like shit.
It might be a year or so already, he thought as he stayed still on his bed, willing his heavy eyelids to open. After so much failed attempts, he finally did it only to shut it close immediately when bright light burned his eyes.
He groaned.
He breathed in and out, trying to relax as much as he possibly could before forcing his eyes open again to meet a pair of sharp blue eyes, a mop of sunny blonde hair, and scar-free tanned face, staring at him.
The blonde one was a young man in his early to mid twenties, wearing Konoha's Elite ninja uniform. He was sitting on a wooden chair next to the window, reading a scroll, when he heard a groan coming from the raven haired teen on the bed next to the blonde one. He rolled the scroll on his hands close and put it on the table as he stood up and made his way to the raven haired teen. He stood there, bending a little forward as he expected for the teen to open his eyes. He watched as the teen struggled to see the world and knew it won't be long before it happened.
To the man's surprise, what he saw was something he himself could hardly believe. Those eyes, mismatching eyes were intriguing though the right one was a normal shade of black. What caught his interest was the left one.
Rinnegan.
There was only silence as the blonde and the raven haired one stared at each other with the former lost in thoughts while the latter was racking his brain for an answer as to why the blonde he knew as Konoha's Fourth Hokage was looking at him and did not look like an Edo Tensei summon.
"What..." the raven haired blinked in confusion.
Despite the surprising surprise upon seeing the legendary eye, the blonde smiled at the teen and straightened up. He said, "I see you're awake. That's good since the Hokage wanted to know how come you two broke in our village and I am tasked to ask you some with additional questions."
Ignoring his protesting and screaming muscles, the raven haired pushed his body up with a grunt and the man with him helped him up. "What do you mean 'you two'?" he asked whilst finding a comfortable position to sit.
"Well, I mean you and him." the man jerked his head to the teen's right who followed his gesture and saw his blonde comrade lying unconscious on his bed.
"Oh. Him..." he said as he looked back at the man.
"So, is it okay to ask you some question now? Or do you need more rest?"
"No, it's okay."
The blonde nodded and grabbed a nearby chair to sit on. "I'm Namikaze Minato, Elite of Hidden Leaf Village. What's your name?"
The teen did not answer immediately, which did not go unnoticed to Minato. From what he had gathered in his short observations, he first thought he was under an illusion, however, his left eye told him otherwise. So, he decided to play it safe first until he knew what was going on. "Indra."
"Indra?"
"Yes."
"No last name?"
Indra, who was truly Uchiha Sasuke, hesitated for a second before he nodded in confirmation.
Minato caught his hesitation, but did not push it any further and went onto the next question.
"Hm. Where were you from?"
"If you're talking about my home village, I couldn't tell because I do not know. I've been travelling with my old man as far as I can remember. As for my comrade, I met him in the woods near the border of Fire Country a few days after my old man passed away when I was eight."
"I'm sorry-"
"Don't be. It was in the past."
Minato smiled. "Can you tell me where you were before breaking in here? From the looks of it you were engaged in a battle. What happened?"
"I'm not sure..." he looked at his comrade. "We were just passing by when a group appeared out of nowhere and attacked us." Sasuke was not sure whether Minato was buying his lie or not, but he still went on. He guessed if he was in the past then he could be in around the time of Third Shinobi War, so better make his story vague but plausible. "I'm not sure what happened, really, but they did something to Ashura, my comrade, and I lost it. I don't know what happened next."
Minato nodded. "You probably hit your head or something. Now, as for the additional question... Can you explain why you have the Rinnegan in your left eye?"
"Rinnegan?" Sasuke raised a brow, feigning ignorance and confusion. "What is that?"
"You don't know?" asked an incredulous looking Minato.
"No. I don't know what you're talking about. Care to elaborate?"
"Ah! Never mind about it. It's something you needn't to worry about."
"Is that so?" Sasuke asked, earning a small nod from Minato.
"It's good to spend time with you, Indra-kun. If you don't mind, I have to go now, but before that... Do you have any questions?"
"Yes. How long have I been out?"
"More or less three hours probably as my team found you unconscious already."
Sasuke did not say anything and Minato told him to rest before walking out.
Sasuke then looked at his blonde comrade whom he introduced to Minato as Ashura though in truth he was Uzumaki Naruto.
oOo
It all started roughly four hours ago. Minato was in a ramen shop, about to take a bite when two small hands shot up, grabbed him by his arms, and pulled him away from his lunch. He did not know what was happening and when he asked the two boys, one had a spiky black hair and orange goggles over his eyes and the other one had a gravity defying silver hair and mask covering the lower part of his face, all they told him was there was a flash of bright light in the training ground 44 or the Forest of Death and they wanted their mentor to come with them and check it out.
It took them a while before they found two battered bodies that were now in the hospital.
Minato had just come in the Hokage's office to report about their visitors.
"Want did you find out?" asked the Third Hokage, who was sitting behind his desk; his pipe forgotten.
"Their names... Indra and Ashura."
The Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, raised a brow questioningly. "Indra and Ashura?"
"Yes, Lord Hokage."
"Aren't those the names of..." Hiruzen trailed off. It might be a coincidence, but he never thought someone had those names; much less those two were acquainted with each other.
"Yes, Lord Hokage. Indra was the only one who woke up, so I asked him. He said he and this Ashura are travellers and no village affiliation so far. On their way they were attacked by a group of people, probably thieves or missing nins, and... He seemed to not remember what had happened."
"Do you believe him?"
Minato did not answer as he thought back to their conversation in the hospital. He could not feel any false in Indra's tone and body language; however, there was something he was not telling. Minato had a hunch that Indra was not telling the truth, but could not prove it.
"Well?" Hiruzen prompted.
"...Well... I can't say I do believe him, but I can't sense him lying, too."
"A good actor, then."
Minato nodded in agreement. "Lord Hokage. There's something about this Indra that reeks...trouble."
"Please, do tell me."
"Yes, Lord Hokage. Indra had Rinnegan in his left eye."
Hiruzen was astounded.
oOo
In one of the spare training grounds were three fourteen-year old children, two boys and a girl.
The masked silver haired boy perched on a tree branch, waiting for someone while the black haired one sprawled on the ground with the brown haired girl treating his scrapes and other minor scratches.
The black haired boy sat, thanking the girl. "Hey, Rin. Let's go see those guys!"
"I want to see them, too, Obito but our mentor forbade us until he said so." the girl, Rin, replied as she stood and dusted herself.
Obito whined. "C'mon Rin. What's wrong 'bout that? We're just going to visit and see how they are."
"Idiot." the masked boy commented and hopped off the branch, approaching his teammates.
Obito had been ridiculed by the other boy because of his clumsiness. Calling him 'idiot' was only a scratch, however, he won't let it slide. Glaring at the masked boy, Obito snarled. "What did you say?"
The boy sighed dejectedly, aggravating Obito. "Idiot. You're an idiot. Sensei told us not to visit them unless he said so."
Obito scowled, muttering about how the silver haired boy was obsessed of ninja rules and whatnot. "Admit it, Kakashi. You want to see them, too."
"Maybe." Kakashi shrugged. "But, they're irrelevant."
Fuming at Kakashi's attitude towards other people, Obito was ready to retort or strangle him had Minato not appeared via Hiraishin, surprising Obito, and interrupted them.
Like what he used to do, Minato sighed at his subordinates' antics before greeting them and asked what was up.
It was Rin, the rational one, who filled their mentor of what had happened in the duration he was not around.
"C'mon...sense~i... I wanna see them~..." Obito whined as he shook his mentor.
Said mentor only smiled sheepishly. "Stop it, Obito. You're making me busy."
"Nuh-uh. I won't until you say 'yes'." he said firmly.
"I'm sorry, but maybe next time."
"But, next time is too long!~..."
"How do you know it's too long?" asked Kakashi and Obito snapped his head to the former with a scowl plastered on his face. He said, "Because you never knew when the next time is." then he turned back into shaking his mentor and whined.
Minato sighed tiredly, begging to any deities listening to him to make Obito stop.
At last, nobody seemed to hear or listened to him.
"Alright, alright."
"Yes!"
oOo
Sasuke, who had been holding Naruto's right hand with his left, frowned as he settled the blonde's down and went to sit on his bed.
He sighed inaudibly.
Apparently, he had talked with the tailed beasts via Naruto's link with them and found out some disturbing news. One, they travelled back in time. They had just won the war and now they came back to face another war. How troublesome, he thought. Two, Naruto won't wake up unless Sasuke supplied him enough chakra to make him to since the tailed beasts merged with their past selves, which only means they left Naruto's body, leaving enough traces of their chakra to keep the blonde teen alive and breathing. And three, they did not know what really happened, so there was no way to tell how to return to their timeline.
How very inconvenient, Sasuke sighed once again and this time, it was loud enough to hear that he was frustrated.
It's best to give Naruto at least half of my chakra to keep him conscious for a whole month and tell him our situation.
Sasuke stood and was about to touch Naruto when he felt someone approaching. He decided to do it later when no one was around and sat back on his bed, closing his left eye and waiting for a knock.
And it came.
"Come in."
The door opened, revealing the man from before and three new faces.
"Hello. How have you been?"
"Good."
Minato nodded his head in contentment and introduced his subordinates. "This is Hatake Kakashi, Nohara Rin, and Uchiha Obito." he gestured at each one of them as they nodded back in greeting.
Sasuke was not surprised to meet Kakashi again even though he was younger this time. He already expected it though not soon. When he heard of the other boy's name; Uchiha Obito, he hid his amusement. He knew Kakashi and Obito were teammates, but to see the latter grinning at him... He could not help but noticed the big difference between the younger Obito and the older Obito and how he resembled Naruto.
"I'm Indra." said Sasuke.
Minato averted his gaze to Naruto and noted how deep his sleep was. "He's still not awake?" he pointed at the blonde and the other occupants of the room turned their heads to Naruto's sleeping form.
"Yes." was Sasuke's bland answer, making Minato frown a little.
Being the medic nin she was, Rin walked over to Naruto with Obito, who was curious, following behind.
Rin, concern painted her face, examined Naruto; her hands glowing green. "He seems to be alright. All acquired previous injuries are healed and no other problems. Though his chakra is...a little off or something. I'm not sure whatever this is, but I think it's the reason why he's still unsconscious." she frowned and turned to her mentor. "What do we do, sensei?"
"We can call the doctor. I hope Princess Tsunade was here." Minato whispered the last sentence to himself.
Obito volunteered to call the doctor, but before he could reach the doorknob, Sasuke said, "There's no need to."
The visitors looked at the raven haired teen incredulously.
"What're you talkin'bout? Doncha care for him?" asked Obito only to receive silence from the one in question. "Fine. Be that way, but I care and so is sensei, so I'll call the doctor-"
"I said 'there's no need to'." Sasuke repeated firmly.
Minato narrowed his eyes, suspicion was growing inside.
Kakashi, who was silently watching the scene unfolds, got curious, and so he asked. "Why?"
"He won't wake up no matter what unless I supplied him half of my chakra monthly." Sasuke explained.
"Has the attack had something to do with Ashura's current state?" asked Minato.
"I think yes." Sasuke lied.
Stepping closer, Rin asked Sasuke to do it, but the latter said he was still weak and needed to recuperate.
"Then, I'll do it!" Obito declared as he marched towards Naruto, but was stopped abruptly when Sasuke said it would poison Naruto if he did not know how to match the blonde's chakra signature.
"Just give me time. Maybe tomorrow I'll be able to do it." he informed them.
Satisfied at the answer, Minato deemed it enough and ushered his subordinates to let Sasuke rest.
The door clicked close and Sasuke resumed what he was about to do before when he could feel his visitors no more.
Hovering over Naruto's still form, Sasuke mumbled, "Time to wake up, Naruto."
oOo
They were walking down the street, passing by the shops in the midst of the growing crowd when Obito stopped abruptly as he realized something. His teammates noticed this and halted their pace to turn slightly and look at him questioningly.
"Something wrong, Obito-kun?" asked Minato.
"I forgot something."
"What is it?"
"Well, I forgot to ask Indra why his left eye is closed."
"Maybe he just doesn't want to open It." said Kakashi, not caring at all as he found it uninteresting. However, Minato thought otherwise as he saw what was behind it first hand and was silently thankful to Indra for not letting the three see it. He did not want complicated things to be exposed yet.
Kakashi's input made Obito scowl. "I'm not talking to you, fool!"
"Who said I was talking to you?" Kakashi retorted and Obito snapped.
"That's IT! YOU'RE DEAD!"
Minato had to hold back a struggling and flailing Obito before he got himself in a pinch for trying to beat Kakashi. He just hoped Kakashi would stop provoking the other.
"LEMME GO, SENSEI! I'M GOING TO CASTRATE HIM AND CHOKE HIM WITH HIS OWN INTESTINES!"
"Calm down, Obito. Don't make a scene."
"But he started it!" whining, Obito pointed accusingly at Kakashi. And, Rin could only send an apollogetic look at their mentor as Obito kept on thrashing against his hold.
"You can't beat me, cry baby." said Kakashi and left.
Obito stopped his thrashing only to shake in rage for being insulted, stepped on, and ignored. "How dare he..." he growled, grinding his teeth and glaring daggers at Kakashi's retreating back.
oOo
Staring at the stark white ceiling was Naruto as he lied on his bed; he had been filled in by Sasuke about their little predicament and it felt like Sakura had landed a punch square on his face with her chakra-infused fist. The war they were in just ended with them in the upper hand only to be dragged back in time where the real enemy who was cultivating the will-be Great Fourth Shinobi War was alive and kicking.
Naruto wanted to scream, but could not as he was not out of his mind to do it in the hospital.
"What do we do now? We're in the past; we can change it to avoid it." Naruto asked Sasuke, who was tying his doctor's eyepatch he requested from the nurse.
"We can't. Doing it will alter everything no matter how small it would be. And, there's a possibility in there that people we knew might not be born this time around. I suggest to lay low until we figured out how we are here."
"Nah." Naruto rolled his eyes. "Just being here did change a lot. So, why not make the most out of it?"
"Point taken, but think about it. You must understand that some things are better left the way how it supposed to be."
"I understand, but you can't expect me to sit idly while watching people in a dire situation die. If I know I can be of any help then I'll do it. And, don't lie to me, Sasuke." he turned to look at Sasuke, who returned his hard gaze with a confused one, and Naruto continued. "I know what you are feeling. You said it before... Your goal in life. And, now you knew the truth..." he trailed off as he let his brother figure to sink it in.
Taken aback, Sasuke averted his gaze to his lap. Naruto was right, he realized. He had a chance to fulfil his goal and give his brother, Itachi, the life he had given up in order to stop the civil war and protect his younger brother.
Sasuke liked it. He loved it; the idea of being able to alter the past for a better future.
But, he was torn in between. Should he let things flow as it was or risk everything to change the horrible future that may come?
"Sasuke." Naruto broke Sasuke out of his trance as the latter looked at him again. "Remember that our main objective here is cut the curse that manifested in every single soul; the cycle of hatred. It isn't easy, I know, but think it this way. If we somehow stop whatever conflict is going on this time, we can diminish the bloodshed and save more lives. Let's form an alliance with village by village slowly, so that we can stop the war and gradually bring out the peace everyone is longing for the next generation. It will be a very hard and long road, but will work on it...together this time. Just imagine, without conflicts, he can't manipulate ones heart like what he did to Obito. You can already picture out the future if he has no one to continue and carry out his plan."
Sasuke was silent. He could not tell where the idiot Naruto had gone to, but could only think that life lessons did a number on the blonde. "Just bear in mind we could not save everyone and the risk of someone we did not know not be born and other more circumstances that you could think of."
Naruto smiled. "So, you agree with me?"
"Yeah, but let's keep a low profile and observe first. We are in the past and things here had already happened, so if there's a way to return to our own time we're going back."
"Sure!"