I don' own Naruto
READ THIS PU-LEAZ: Konan is 6 years older than Kakashi, as stated on Wiki, she was 35 in part two and Kakashi was 29-31 in part two. So I think when Ame Co. met Jiraiya they were around seven? I dunno. Whatever, just know they're all little ass kids right now.
She woke up, her face pressed against something soft, yet wet.
The subtle scent of indigo flowers tickled her iced nose. Her vision swam, and as her limbs slowly began regaining feeling with consciousness, her body registered that she was being jostled slightly.
The shower of rain went off in the background, and she was soaked down to the bone, small cold droplets sliding down the back of her neck and pelting her spiky locks.
Her face was pressed gently at the side of someone's neck from over their shoulder.
She was being carried on someone's back.
The jostling stopped alongside her carrier's movement.
"Ah, so you're awake?" Came a soft question, instantly notifying her she was being carried by a young girl.
"Mm." She grunted.
There was a faint chuckle.
"Do you remember anything?" The girl asked, beginning to walk again.
Images flashed behind her eyes, pink hair fading away, collapsing to dust. Black eyes widening, duck styled hair soaked with the blood of dead friends, a lack of expression shifting in alarm, red pouring from a gaping stomach wound, shot through by the milky white bones of an undefeatable enemy.
Swallowing hard as a stinging sensation welled up behind her eyes, the smaller of the two girls shook her head in the negative, lying without speaking.
Oh she remembered alright.
She remembered looking down at her own hands as they crumbled to dust from an attack she hadn't bothered dodging after the deaths of some of her very last precious people, looking up into the white eyes of her enemy, and staring with absolute hate as the woman's perpetually blank expression stretched, lips lifting into a small victorious smile.
And she remembered her internal rage, her body breaking down on a molecular level, knees lost beneath a viscous swamp of blood, littered with her comrades' corpses.
"Enjoy living in an empty world, Kaguya."
She had just enough time to glimpse the Rabbit Goddess' widening eyes before a breeze slithered past, scattering her collapsing form into the arms of death.
"Amnesia huh?" The older girl murmured. "Hm, I guess it's better you don't remember. Lot's of ugly things happen to little girls under these rainy skies."
"Yeah…" The littlest agreed softly.
There was a small bridge of silence, the only sounds around were the showering rain, and her savior's careful footsteps.
"Hey, where did you find me?" She suddenly asked, removing her chin from the comfortable position on her carrier's shoulder, eyes taking in the sight of soaked, short blue locks.
"Ah, I was picking fruits for my friends, and I walked by a flooding lake. You were lying face up, floating along." The blue haired girl said, shaking the basket full of orange-red berries to catch the smaller girl's attention. It was a small basket, the handle slung over the blue haired girl's right forearm, jostling every so often as she took a step, her hands tucked under the littlest girl's thighs to keep her safely on her back.
'Doesn't make any sense…' She thought, mind's eye glimpsing her own hands falling to ashes. 'I should be dead. I know she hit me… and how… how could someone so much younger than me be carrying me so easily?'
"What's your name?" The blue haired girl asked, veering off the muddy main road and into the entrance of some trees on the left.
"Naruto," She said, for the first time, noticing how soft and young she sounded herself. She lifted her arms from their safe position around the blue haired girl's neck, peering around the girl's head, unintentionally pressing her cheek against the soft cold skin of her carrier.
Naruto lifted her hands. They were slick with rain, and existed. The palm of her right hand was marked by a bold circle, the Rikudo Sennin's parting gift. But beyond that, she could see her hands. They weren't scattered dust particles across a bloody ocean of war torn battlezone, and they were so very small.
Naruto could not remember a time when her hands were so small. So small and frail.
'Damnit.' She cursed.
She cursed Kaguya, and herself, and her situation (which she wasn't sure she had completely grasped), and she cursed whatever force made her have to do this again. Whatever force allowed that damn seal to work.
And if she recognized that particular shade of blue hair, despite the significant age difference between the woman she had first seen it on and the girl carrying her, then she would have to live childhood in a place of the unknown.
"Naruto huh?" The blue haired girl murmured, turning her head for the first time, so that Naruto could see the bright orange gems she had for eyes.
"That's a very strange name." The girl smiled gently. "But strange in a good way."
Naruto blinked at that pale, familiar face, mind already catching on to what her heart was hoping wasn't to be..
"My name is Konan."
And she broke.
They'd spent a lot of time running from Kaguya, planning, slaving over her father's and Jiraiya's fuuinjutsu notes.
Naruto had summoned a toad long ago with the task to bring the notes onto the battlefield, because she knew. She knew they could not win a war with hope and what weary strength remained after three years of fighting.
Kaguya was in no rush to kill them, and reclaim "her" chakra from them. She allowed them their planning, and she waited, just until they thought they scraped together something that would work before swooping in, a force shooting bones that reduced whole people to dust, forcing others into dimensions with no oxygen so they suffered before their lungs ceased contraction in their chests.
Naruto had always come up with some of her best plans, and best thoughts while fighting. Under immense pressure, she did her best, because she knew that their was no other option but to fail, which she refused to do.
Under the pressure of war, with so many lives on her shoulders, Naruto became a fuuinjutsu master.
After watching Kakashi-sensei get peppered with bone projectiles, and fall to nothing before he could even scream, Naruto decided enough was enough. Without his or Obito's Kamui, she knew it would be near to impossible to keep up with Kaguya.
So she caught Sakura's and Sasuke's attention, and all three of them ran with a handful of survivors.
Kaguya didn't chase them.
She never did.
She just paused, hanging in the air in perpetual flight, and watched them go with emotionless eyes.
She would wait, as she always did when the allied shinobi forces fled to plan their next course of action, because Kaguya knew, just like everyone else did in their hearts.
Whatever they planned, would turn to nothing.
Naruto and her remaining comrades fled to a resiliently standing forest, and they huddled up, everyone all ears on the blonde, but also in tune to their surroundings, in case Kaguya wasn't intent on waiting.
Naruto pulled out a seal. The Time Respawning Seal that she, Sasuke, and Sakura had slaved over for an entire year of hiding from Kaguya.
It was perfect, and with Kakashi's death, the blonde thought it was about time they all start thinking of the options they had.
In case they couldn't win and simply seal Kaguya away like originally planned, then someone would have to go back.
Someone would have to bear the pain and knowledge of the future and go back to change it.
Everyone agreed that it should be Naruto. They all agreed she was the only one who could make a difference. Because she was The Child of Prophecy. Their savior and shining beacon of hope.
Naruto had wished selfishly that she didn't have to. The thought of going on to live while everyone in her time was erased crushed the inside of her chest. She knew she would remember them, their time together, getting closer during the time of fear and war. She would remember the dark humour and inspiring words exchanged regarding their situation. And she would remember how many of them had died, their faces as they were turned to ashes, stabbed, or dragged to some far away dimension.
Even so, she created a Kage Bunshin, and had them take the blood of Sasuke and Sakura to mix into her own, as well as some of their chakra, and etched a seal over her left breast. Over her heart.
The way the Time Respawning Seal worked, was with three prongs made up of hopelessly complicated fuuinjutsu matrixes and bases. It's most basic form was modeled after the Hiraishin, a space time jutsu. But it branched off after the jumping part.
You jump through space-time to appear in another area, but you did not need a seal to anchor you to wherever you were jumping, like a three pronged kunai. The anchor to whatever time you were jumping to was the erasing of the existence within the time you came from. In other words, death.
If Naruto's heart stopped, and she simultaneously activated the seal, her existence would jump through space and time, and she would land in a different time. The is way, the jumper created an existence for themselves within the time they were jumping to. The two chakra sacrifices from Sakura and Sasuke served as small barriers that would keep the journey through the technique from tearing Naruto apart.
The chakra from her teammates kept time from rewinding her all the way to the point of not existing at all, and as a result, she would be a small child in whatever time frame she landed in.
Knowing the last result was the Time Respawning seal, she asked permission to place seals on every survivor who fought beside her.
And all agreed with complete faith in Naruto's abilities as a fuuinjutsu master.
As soon as Naruto's heart stopped, she would jump through space and time, her existence respawning somewhere new.
Everyone would spit in Kaguya's face one last time as Naruto's death triggered the seals placed on them, reducing them into bright beams of light, instantly killing them. The beams signified the light of hope. Naruto. They died, but Naruto would live on, and create a better future for them, so they would never know such despair. Dying once to be given a new better life was a small price to pay.
And everyone knew the only one to remember those dark times would be Naruto.
It hurt, but it was all anyone could think of to help.
Naruto accepted this.
She would do what she had done the day she was born.
Persevere.
'It worked.' Was her first coherent thought.
"Oh, you woke up again,"
Konan's soft tenor had Naruto turning her head to the side, squinting in the flickering lamplight in the otherwise dark hideaway they were in. Naruto was lying comfortably in worn blankets, a lit candle a foot away from her left, bathing her young whiskered face in fleeting warmth.
Konan sat on her knees at her right, having been in the middle of wiping the little mist of sweat lining Naruto's furrowed brows while she fitfully slept.
"You fainted after I told you my name." Konan said, placing the rag with Naruto's sweat on it to the side, gently brushing a few unruly tufts of damp blonde out of the child's face.
"Ah… I… sorry for the trouble." Naruto mumbled, heart squeezing at the blue haired girl's gentle touches. They reminded her of Sakura, who had been around to the very end to patch up everyone with gentle yet trained medic hands.
"No trouble, you're probably exhausted." Konan assured her. "I'm glad I could help before something bad could happen to you out there in the rain."
'She's still the same.' Naruto thought. 'Alot more talkative at this point, but she still protects with all of her heart…'
Naruto turned her gaze back to the leaky ceiling of the blue haired girl's hideaway.
The blonde felt empty.
She couldn't feel Kurama's chakra anywhere in her coils or locked away in a seal. In fact, the seal was entirely empty, devoid of her favorite ill tempered bijuu.
Of course, Naruto had known that there could not be two Kyuubi in the same time frame, so, one of them had to be absorbed into the other. You can't just make the power of a bijuu disappear, so both Kyuubi would combine into one entity in the time frame Naruto was in. Kurama had told her as such when she first began exercising the idea of time travel.
Because Naruto was an intruder in the current time, she forfeited the status as Kurama's jinchuuriki, and her Kyuubi was torn from her, combined with the one of the current time within her mother, Kushina.
Well, she wasn't her mother now anymore was she? She could never know who Naruto was. And the same went for Minato. They could never know, because it would throw the time off even more than her appearance would.
Naruto wasn't going to change too much. If she had learned anything during war, it was that you couldn't save everyone, and no matter how much she hated to admit it, she could not protect everyone the way she wanted to. The blonde was one person, and she could only do so much.
But Naruto knew what she could do.
She was going to save Obito and Rin. They hadn't deserved what they'd been given. But Naruto couldn't just push Obito out of the way of the boulder that would crush him.
The eye he had given to Kakashi lead to many important events in the future, and was responsible for nearly her sensei's entire name as a ninja.
He'd never master the chidori if he didn't get that eye. And if he didn't master the chidori, many people he was supposed to save with the technique would die.
And then, there was Yahiko. If he died, Nagato would lose it, leading to the death of Pervy Sage. There was no way in hell Naruto was letting that happen again.
The blonde felt a plan formulating in her head, and everything she was planning to change would lead to the death of Zetsu, keeping Kaguya from ever being revived in the first place.
She couldn't save everyone, but Naruto would be damned if she didn't save as many people as possible.
Even with this such resolve, Naruto knew she was utterly alone.
Her hand absently feathered over her abdomen beneath the cover, her heart squeezing with pain.
"Where are we?" The blonde asked after a moment, turning back to Konan, bright sapphires meeting twin fire opals.
Konan blinked at the sudden question, before her face shifted in realization.
"Oh, I guess you could say this is home for me, but my friends call it 'the hideout'."
"Friends?" Naruto prompted, already knowing who the older girl was referring to.
"My best friends." Konan clarified, lips tilting in a small fond smile. "Yahiko and Nagato."
"Hm." The blonde hummed.
As a comfortable silence settled between the two girls, Naruto's keen ears picked up on light footfalls.
She heard a few planks above shift.
She looked at Konan, noticing the girl's eyes were bright.
"They're back!" She said, smiling at the little blonde before standing up and moving out of Naruto's line of sight to greet them.
"Konan, tadaima." One of them greeted.
"Okaeri." The girl murmured.
Naruto was almost envious of the trust expressed between themselves with so few words.
"Konan, who's here?" Another soft voice spoke up.
"Calm down Nagato." The blue haired girl assured him. "It's just a new friend of mine. Naruto-chan."
The blonde inwardly winced at the girly honorific.
"You brought someone here?" Nagato went on, low voice tinged with worry and suspicion.
"I told you she's my friend."
"Ko-chan, there's no friends during war." Yahiko stepped in, tone chiding.
Konan just huffed, and Naruto could imagine the girl crossing her arms in subtle irritation. "If there are no friends, then what on earth are you two?"
"That isn't fair." Nagato mumbled.
"I know." The blue haired girl answered firmly. "And it's not fair for you to judge Naruto-chan before you've even seen her."
"Alright alright you two." Yahiko soothed. "Ko-chan? Show us Naruto?"
"Sure." Konan said, tone telling of her soft smile.
Naruto closed her eyes, feigning sleep as she heard three separate footsteps approach her in the flickering darkness.
"She's just a kid." Yahiko muttered, surprised.
"What in the… you mean like us?" Nagato asked, shooting the orange haired boy a look behind the screen of his hair. "We're kids too Yahiko. She's probably around our age."
"Yeah yeah." The boy harrumphed, probably pouting.
Naruto could sense the three gazes studying her relaxed expression, and it took everything she had to keep herself from stiffening and spring up to try and snap their necks.
She hadn't closed her eyes and relaxed entirely since the fourth war began.
To do so now felt… unnatural.
"I found her floating in that lake near the forest. I thought she was dead at first, and only went to her so I could bury her properly." Konan explained, tone telling of her worry for the blond. "She was so cold, but when I held her, I felt her breathing. I couldn't just leave her, so I carried her back to the hideout."
"Konan, that was really dangerous." Nagato said.
"Yeah, what if it had been a trap? You know the traffickers aren't against using dirty tricks to lure in young girls." Yahiko said.
"I didn't sense anyone." Konan rebutted carelessly. "And even if that was a possibility, it wasn't the case, so why are you two saying any of that?"
"To keep you from doing anything foolish in the future." Nagato said.
"We're just concerned Konan." Yahiko told her softly. "We don't want you to get hurt, so please be more cautious."
Naruto heard the blue haired girl sigh wearily.
"Alright you two." Konan murmured. "I'll be more careful in the future. I promise."
"Good." Both boys said, pleased.
Naruto took that as her cue to open her eyes.
"Wah! Lookit that!" Yahiko exclaimed, grinning like he was the sun incarnate itself. "Naruto's awake."
The blonde was totally taken aback by the 360 degree turn the orange haired boy's mood had taken, blue eyes meeting sparkling brown.
"Hello little lady." Yahiko greeted, waving cordially. "I'm Yahiko, and this red haired guy next to me with the emo bangs is Nagato."
"Um, hi." Naruto mumbled, sitting up, eyes traveling to said sickly pale boy, his bangs too shaggy to see his eyes. But Naruto sensed what he had hidden behind that poorly trimmed hair.
The Rinnegan.
Specifically, Madara's rinnegan.
Madara.
White hot loathing burned through Naruto's chest. She was going to enjoy thwarting that man's plans.
"Hello to you too, Nagato-san." The little blonde said after a short pause.
"Ew, what's up with all of this respect?" Yahiko butted in, dropping into a crouch and waddling over to the little blonde. He threw his arm over Naruto's small shoulders, and hugged her into his side. "You've got to be as rude yet friendly as possible."
Naruto's blue eyes went impossibly wide, watching Yahiko's brown eyes squint slightly as he grinned hugely.
She'd seen that same lopsided and foolish, yet lovable grin on one other person.
Ero Sennin.
The blonde's heart stuttered, and her breath hitched, remembering that pervy white haired man and the legacy he left behind for her to continue. And now that she was back in time, her name was no longer on the toad contract, meaning she was no longer a toad sage.
Her eyes stung, welling with salty liquid.
"Whoa, what's wrong little lady?" Yahiko asked, grin deflating, expression becoming concerned.
"Naruto-chan?" Konan asked, following Yahiko's lead and kneeling before the blonde girl.
Nagato watched from the sidelines, shifting awkwardly.
"I-I'm fine." Naruto mumbled, blinking away the unshed tears. "It's just… it's been a long time since I've seen someone smile like that."
Both Konan and Yahiko blinked in utter surprise, not expecting something like that to be said. But then again… war made people grow up fast. They knew a few things grim too, so they could understand.
The two young teens shared a look, and Yahiko nodded in confirmation, his mouth tilting upwards when Konan gave him a grateful smile in return.
The boy with spiky orange hair removed his arm from around Naruto's shoulders allowing Konan to scoot closer to the blonde's side atop her mat.
The blue haired girl reached out, not subjecting Naruto to anything. Her arms were open wide and inviting, and something inside Naruto's chest twisted when she realized she couldn't remember the last time she'd gotten a proper hug, or given one.
Without even knowing, Naruto had moved forward, arms lifting up, wrapping around Konan's waist and clinging to her black karate styled top.
The blonde buried her face into the shirt's green trim, snuggling into Konan's comforting warmth as the other girl wrapped her arms around her in reciprocation.
"I will help you smile again Naruto-chan." Konan murmured, lips pressed atop the younger girls long unruly hair. "Stay with us?"
'I really shouldn't…' The blonde thought. 'I have a mission. I've got to take out Madara while he's still weak, and I need to seal away Zetsu.'
Another part of her mind reminded her that she was only a child now. That she would have to train all over again if she wanted to do anything to begin changing the future for her loved one's.
'If I stay… then I can make sure Yahiko never dies.' Naruto thought. 'I can keep Nagato from ever thinking that pain is the key to peace.'
The blonde told herself that her thoughts were the only reason she responded how she did, hugging Konan tighter.
"Staying…" Naruto began, voice muffled into Konan's shirt. "It won't be a burden?"
"We could never see a person as a burden."
Naruto started at the unexpected assurance from Nagato. But then she remembered that he was a kind soul down to his very core, and only his pain had transformed him into the man she had met in the future.
"We'll teach you." Yahiko declared. "You'll get strong with us. You can help us."
Naruto pulled away from Konan, turning her head to meet determined brown eyes. "Help you with what Yahiko?"
The boy gave her another lopsided grin.
"We're gonna bring peace to Ame." He said. "I will become a the leader of our village, and when I do, no one will have to suffer anymore. Then God will stop crying over us, and we'll see the sun."
Blue eyes widened.
'He's… he's just like me.'
Naruto smiled.
"I believe you."
"Yatta!" Yahiko exclaimed, shooting to his feet with an enthusiastic fist pump. "A new ally!"
Naruto looked at Nagato over Konan's shoulder, seeing that the boy had moved his hair to the side, so she could see a single purple ringed eye, as well as his slight smile.
The blonde looked at Konan, who's gem-like eyes were smiling as much as her lips were. Yahiko moved closer just as Nagato made his way over to sit beside Konan. The orange haired boy ruffled Naruto's hair kindly.
"You're pretty awesome, y'know?"
The blonde felt warmth bloom inside her broken heart when Nagato laughed softly, and Konan rolled her eyes fondly at the grinning boy.
'I'll help you reach your goal this time.' Naruto thought. 'Someday I want to see this rain stop too.'
Dunno if I should continue this... I think it's nice as a oneshot.