They had done it. They had finally done it. Kaguya had been sealed away. Sasuke and Naruto had finished their fight. They both had lost an arm. Sasuke concedes and finally humbly accepts Naruto's friendship. The infinite Tsukuyomi ended. However, Naruto was bleeding out. He was dying. Sakura came to them at the Valley of the End as fast as she could with Kakashi. She began to heal them, but after finally achieving peace Naruto's body wanted to rest. Unknowingly to him in his last moments, his soul complied with his body. He thought he could he hear shouts from Sakura- shouts from all of team seven. Despite their persistent yelling, Naruto finally had his hero's rest. Like many shinobi before him, Naruto died from battle.
While dying, the world seemed to slow down. Everything was one big dream. In the moment of his death, he felt a surge of Kurama's chakra leave him all at once. Suddenly, he was thrust into a wave of time. Red, purple, and black chakra surrounding him into a tunnel shape. Naruto was able to run miles but go nowhere. Realizing his predicament, he sat down and focused. He absorbed the chakra around him and entered Sixth Paths Sage Mode. He could concentrate as hard as he could, but he could not sense anything beyond the tunnel. Then Naruto noticed something different. The tunnel was playing the outside world. No, different versions of the outside world. Once more, he sought what was happening.
There were multiple realities playing before him, but which was real? In one reality, he saw himself lying in a hospital bed to wake up to Sakura waiting on his bedside. The first thing she realized after almost truly losing him was that she had loved him. She loved Sasuke too, but she decided a real future and family would be with him. Naruto drooled slightly noticing how affectionate Sakura was. In another reality, he saw himself on a mission under the 7th Hokage, Tenten, who had developed and grown into a woman that resembled Tsunade in every way. Yet another Naruto saw where he was born an Uchiha. One where Sasuke was a female, and although he hated to admit it, the man who was his brother was oddly attractive as a woman. He saw another world where Jiraiya acted like a godfather from birth. Among others, he saw: the world where his parents were alive, the world where Sakura was the jinchuriki of nine-tails, and a world where Obito became the 5th Hokage with Kakashi and his wife Rin as Obito's advisors, as well as much more. However, he came to find two that caught his attention. All these others were mere possibilities, ones that could not happen unless changes were before this war, as well as some before his birth. Yet these two caught his eye. In one Naruto was the 7th Hokage, with his wife Hinata at his side, and two children. He created a lasting peace. He never thought Hinata could ever love him in a romantic way, but apparently, she could. Despite this notion that seemed strange to him, the only way he could describe this world he was watching as what is meant to happen if the flow of time went as planned- or written by fate itself.
In the other, he saw Kaguya succeeding with her plan. Everyone but Sasuke was trapped in the Infinite Tsukuyomi, who was lying dead on the ground after having to face Kaguya alone. Naruto had Kurama being extracted from him, causing his heart to fail and start to pass into the next world. Once more Naruto gathered all the chakra he had left to send a pulse beyond the chakra tunnel. What he felt was disturbing. Being distracted by all the different worlds, he didn't even notice Kurama was gone. He felt Kaguya's immediate presence. He felt his body, yet one that he didn't have control over, go completely numb without sensation. He saw his own last breaths. He had died. This was the reality he lived in, or rather died in. Suddenly, the chakra tunnel around him began to change shape as if a living organism and speed up. He continued to watch his body in reality. When Kurama had been pulled out, an enormous beam of bright orange and red chakra had exploded from Naruto's body. Kaguya looked unhappy, as thousands of shinobi began to wake up. The power from Naruto's burst had disrupted the infinite Tsukuyomi. For a minute, Naruto was glad, until he witnessed Kaguya to simply redeploy the genjutsu and kill those who had enough resistance still. Naruto punched the tunnel in rage. In many times of his life, Naruto would quickly have regretted it since the wall of chakra was harder than any material on earth and broke his hand after impact. However, his rage towards the sight of everyone failing- no, his failing- made the pain not even noticeable.
As his rage spurned on, it abruptly stopped, as he began crying uncontrollably. He had lost. He continued to watch the life that should have been with Hinata, as well as the others, as tunnel's ground began to move like a treadmill at top speed. Naruto wishing to hold onto his last moments of consciousness as long as he could, he began to ran as fast as he possibly could. No, faster still. He pushed beyond his limits one last time.
After what felt like hours and possibly even days, Naruto crashed into the wall of dark chakra head first, like a bumbling idiot who became so used to running he didn't realize the "treadmill" slowed down and came to a stop. Naruto quickly got up, gasping for air. He reached towards his head wincing in pain and began to scream, yet after a second the pain was gone. Naruto opened his eyes. He couldn't believe what he saw. He was back in his old apartment, sleeping on his bed in his blue pajamas with a frog hat on top. He looked around incredulously. He got out of bed and ran outside before he even thought to change clothes. He climbed to the top of his building and saw the entire village while focusing on the Hokage stone faces. "There are only four: Hashirama, Tobirama, the old man, and Dad", Naruto thought to himself. Now he had to figure out what happened.
First, any proper ninja had to explore and explore Naruto did. Everyone gave him the glare. The evil glare for being a jinchuriki. Many ignored him. A lot of the kids his own age are off playing. While looking around for his classmates he noticed a large group of girls near a playground with a black haired young boy and thought, "Still fawning over Sasuke. That will never change, will it?" The young Uchiha had left the girls behind running away from them- tired of their stupid antics. He could only think about what happened to his family a couple of months before. Instinctually as his rival and nemesis, Naruto moved out of Sasuke's way on the nice stone path near a playground and a lake. But instinctually as his, Naruto jumped in front of the girls and yelled, "LEAVE HIM ALONE! He clearly doesn't like any of you!" Sasuke looked back, surprised by the blonde idiot's sacrifice, and for the first time in a few months, he smiled out of joy he finally had the girls off his back but also smiled that since Naruto did it he thought Naruto understood that right now he wanted to be alone. Sasuke was out of a sight a second later. The girls now put their anger and vented all their rage with unreciprocated feelings of sadness with Naruto as their focus. After around 10 minutes, the girls ran off looking for Sasuke. However, distracted one was still hitting him. The one who is giving the last few kicks is Ino Yamanaka. After growing tired and realizing the other girls were finished Ino turned her back on Naruto and began to walk away.
"Wait!" Naruto yelled.
"What is it trouble-maker?" Ino said questioning him angrily.
"I know you like Sasuke… But if you keep chasing after him at times like right now, when he wants to be alone, he won't ever return your feelings."
"Is that a warning or an insult?!" Ino yelled with a huge vein popping out of her forehead.
"I'm simply trying to look out for him, but if telling the truth is more effective than deception, I might as well tell the truth", Naruto said exhaustively.
"And what's the truth, Naruto?" Ino commandingly asked.
"If you only respected him more when he wants space, but kind to him when he needs a friend, you might have a better chance with him. He is like me, you know? He is alone. He has no parents, and no longer any family to call home. Don't try to force yourself on him, rather try to understand Sasuke." Ino acknowledged Naruto's wisdom with a blush, while not knowing all the details what had happened a short while ago to the Uchiha clan.
Ino then began to respond verbally, "I can't believe I will take advice from a pariah like you, but it makes sense… So why are you doing this exactly?"
"He's my friend", Naruto declared.
"You two are friends?!" Ino said while dropping her jaw.
Naruto, immediately realizing his mistake, while also mentioning the Uchiha incident before he knew the date, corrected the course of action he still could by saying, "We are a lot alike, you know. He might not see me as a friend yet…" "Oh." Ino said interjecting Naruto while he finished, "But I know we will be friends one day. I want to be his friend. Not many are as unlucky as us, so I'm making it my goal to be his friend when he needs one!"
Ino was shocked at his determination. It held a kindness and selflessness that the girls clearly lacked. "Why would you do all of this though?" she asked.
Naruto responded with, "I know we are way different. I know he grew up and lost a family I will never have, but when he hurts I hurt too."
Ino was too shocked at all of this. The oddball prankster showed signs of genuine selflessness, but also an intelligence even she and Sakura lacked- at least when it came to Sasuke. Not knowing what to say, Ino only muttered, "Thank you" and ran off after the other girls, while thinking, "If Naruto was this cool all the time, maybe he would get a group of girls to like him too one day."
Naruto then noticed Shikamaru was watching the whole thing, while all the other kids left after the other girls besides Ino left.
The young Shikamaru walked up to Naruto and said, "What you did were a waste of time and a total drag. But, I want you to know that you are alright Naruto. That Sasuke guy is a real jerk as far I'm concerned, but what you did was pretty awesome. As well as good for a few laughs while you were being beaten up", with the young Nara giggling at the end. "Anyways, I'll catch you later Naruto."
"See you Shikamaru", Naruto politely responded back.
"Hey, Naruto?" Shikamaru asked before turning a 180 and running off like he normally would.
"What is it?"
"Do you want to come play with us? I won't mind as long as you continue to not be a pain."
Naruto laughed and thought, "This is Shikamaru alright. All I know is, this is definitely no genjutsu I'm in." Verbally he responded, "Not today, I have some things to do at my apartment. Do you mind if I play with you guys some other time though?"
"Sure, but if you start acting like an idiot again I won't care if people decide to stop hanging out with you."
"Same to you, Shikamaru!" Naruto said as he ran off.
All Shikamaru could think is, "As if I would do anything stupid. That requires too much work."
Naruto ran back into his apartment- with his body in a constant adrenaline rush as much as his mind was- and immediately checked the date on the calendar. It was June 23rd, 7.5 years after he was born. The Uchiha clan had already been massacred. Naruto and his friends were all in their academy days. He quickly wondered what his homework for the previous days was, only to realize he had some vacation time during the summer from mid-June to the end of August. He sat down, crossed his arms, and on special occasions like this he began to think- think hard- in order to understand exactly what has just happened. Naruto proceeded to think, "My memories are still intact. However, the longer I am here the more it seems everything I experienced before was just a dream or felt like a dream, and the more I remember what has actually happened recently- at least to the physical brain of his seven-and-a-half-year-old self- the more familiar it all seems! Yet, I also remember everything with such detail and over such length of time, I know it cannot be only a dream. Thinking it was only just a dream would be foolish by the standard of the age of my current body. Wait, does that even make sense?!" While rubbing his head roughly from confusion Naruto yelled, "Am I seven or am I seventeen? My body is clearly 7, but I remember the next ten years of my life!" After thinking about it more, he figured since he had lived seventeen years in one life, and now seven in another, it was safer to assume he is closer 24-25 years of age. However, Naruto realized his brain has been overloaded at this point by all information he was taking in and recollecting, and…. he fell asleep.
Naruto woke up the next day, still in the same pajamas he wore yesterday on the hard wooden floor he attempted to meditate on. Once more he began to think to himself, "The infinite Tsukuyomi is the most powerful of all genjutsu. It takes away one's place in time and traps their mind in a world where they are infinitely surrounded by their ideal circumstances. If the world Kaguya was extracting the Kyuubi in was the real world, then it's safe to assume everything… Every world I saw in the tunnel I was trapped in was the world someone else believed to be their ideal."
Naruto, pondering a rabbit trail though, "I wish I know whose ideal world had Sasuke as a woman, had Sakura in love me, I married Hinata… What were the others? A responsible Pervy Sage? It must be Grandma Tsunade's. Who else could ever imagine him being responsible? Kakashi's must have him married to Rin, with Obito as Hokage. Who imagines Sakura with Kurama? She already can be a demon on her own right when she is angry enough. Agghh! There's no point to thinking all of this right now!" The young man once again rubbed his hair vigorously out of confusion. Refusing to stop until he understood, he began to talk to himself stating, "Understanding what the infinite Tsukuyomi does, and in my ideal world I died from fighting Sasuke then I could potentially break the pattern of the infinite Tsukuyomi. My ideal world existed with the world without me by some measure of chance, which also may have been caused by my body failing in the real world due to the extraction of Kurama. Whatever the case, I died while my mind was suspended in time in a world which doesn't exist. I observed everyone's' ideal worlds. In my mind, the giant release of chakra sped up the tunnel, where I started running without getting tired. Or was I tired and I just didn't notice? Back to focus… If the release of chakra allowed me to bend the place and time I was in while under the Tsukuyomi, then it's possible my mind and soul went back into time equal to some variable of the distance I had run. Which happens to be three months before I turn eight. But how did I wake up?!" One last time the blonde over thought himself, and despite all his determination… He fell unconscious. He had spent hours thinking about what could have possibly happened and why- which was clearly a first for Naruto- and he exhausted himself from overworking his brain.
It was now June 25th, Naruto woke up once more. He had not eaten anything in over two days. He listened to his stomach and made some of his favorite instant ramens. While gleefully slurping his childhood favorite, he finally realized when after the beam shot out, the Tsukuyomi was disrupted for some ninja participating in the Fourth Great Ninja War. Since his mind was not directly connected to his physical body in the tunnel of chakra, there no need to assume there could be some type of odd delay between what his body had caused and where his mind was. The moment he hit his head was the moment he was sent back. Naruto then lets out a loud burp in childish fashion without care for basic manners- as if anyone would care since no one's there- and realized, "If I indeed did go back. Who knows? Since only my mind went back and I remember everything as a dream state, maybe was just a dream after all. In any practical sense, it was a dream. I know what happens over the natural course of time, but now it doesn't matter! I can change everything for the better! At least, I hope I can", the young blonde said sight fully. Naruto showered, brushed his teeth, and changed into one of his clean black shirts and orange pants. Naruto has decided to set out on his new mission: he needs to make a better future and live the life he aims for: to be Hokage and protect those precious to him at all costs! "But who can I talk to about it?" Naruto screamed in his head. "I know I can't take this path all on my own!"
A/N: I hope you guys all liked it! This is my first attempt at fanfiction!
Pairings are Open! For now, it's going to be a Naruto Harem. There will be a strong bromance-friendship between Naruto and Sasuke. (More like Gon and Killua from Hunter x Hunter).
Poll: I have set up a poll for the Naruto ship! I personally don't have a preference that strongly yet. If you have any other ideas, let me know. Yes, that means this doesn't have to be cannon. After all, Naruto sees he could fall in love Hinata but he neither realizes how much she loves before the war nor does he actually experience those feelings himself.
A/N 2.0 I deleted this story for a while because I didn't like my stories. I'm re-adding them to because a friend thought it was cowardice of me. I don't plan on finishing this story.