Same Yet Wildly Different

by TessaDoesFanfic

[Time-Travel] Our heros may have come from a future gone wrong, but they never planned to have a second chance. While they race against time to get a similar(yet willdly different) outcome of their lives, who says that behind closed doors, the Kohona 12 and a half can’t have more fun the second time around?

1. Prologue

Edit/Revised - 2/26/19

Added the dictionary of terms, fic recommendations, updated author's note at the end, and misc edits (fixed ages, some grammar things).

Before we begin - a quick note to the readers. Hello, and welcome to my first attempt at writing on this platform! I've got great plans for this little baby, and I intend to see it all the way through. However, I do also have a life, and unless this story takes off in a way I currently don't expect it to, you can expect it to be updated once a month if we're all lucky. Another warning, this story is going to feature a large cast, (similar to the original Naruto), but rather than focus on the story of one, it will be split between all of the cast telling parts of the story between them. If you feel that a character isn't being given the proper focus, just let me know, and we'll work on that! Also - I intend to do my best to keep to canon, but I make no promises, and I absolutely will take my creative liberties in order to make the story flow better.

o - o - o - o

Timeline: Alpha (Canon)

Those In On The Secret: N/A

Current Location: Ruined City (?)

Current POV: N/A

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Prologue

In which children steal and use a forbidden scroll

The boy's short, spiky blonde hair whipped around his face as the 16-year-old ran what looked at first glance like a forest, with so many trees intertwined that they very nearly blocked off any sunlight reached the floor where the boy ran. The trees quite effectively cut off any escape upwards for the time being for the young blond as he ran down a once familiar trail, a scroll attached to his back. The teen had a determined look set deep on his face. The determination had set itself is his shockingly bright blue eyes, which stared at the now wooded path that he had once known like the back of his hand. The blond was moving quickly, yet still cautiously, making as little noise as he could each time he planted his feet into the mulch one the ground, a layer of dead and decaying leaves over what had once been a busy market street.

Behind him, the teen could faintly hear the sounds his pursuers were making, they were more concerned with catching him than masking their presence. The sounds, to his growing concern, were growing ever closer. He threw himself around a corner, making a left. As the faint sounds became individual footsteps, he threw more power into his run, wincing at the resounding crunch that now came with the contact of his foot pushing off against the crumbling leaves. His eyes swept the forest, but what he saw was totally different. His careful eyes picked up ruined street signs, long covered with leaves and vines, as well as empty buildings that had once been business he knew well. The boy was searching for a place to hide, or to make a diversion. This brightly covered jacket flapped in the wind at the speed he was reaching, a frown set on his face, looking out of place against the old smile marks that were set under the whisker marks on his face.

The boy could pick out individual voices now, a mix of unfamiliar and soul-crushingly familiar. He was running, perhaps faster than he'd ever run, making another left, but he still needed to be faster. He applied chakra to his feet, hoping to go ever just the little bit faster. He couldn't risk much - it would light up his location better than a signal flare if he used too much. In his haste, as the boy rounded the next corner, (another left), he cut it a little to close. With a loud rip (Which probably let everyone within 10 minutes know where he was, dangit) the magenta and black fabric of his left sleeve caught on what looked to be a destroyed hunk of something that had once been someone's roof. The traitorous fabric tore straight off at his elbow, entangling his hand and yanking the arm back with it. The force of that was just enough to throw his momentum in a different direction, and the blonde soon found himself flying face-first into the soil. He had just enough time to grabbed the strap that secured the scroll onto his back, so he was unable to break his fall. A small cry of pain (A resounding oof, but he'd deny that) escaped his person as his face dragged across the ground, the fabric of his pants ripping several places, the largest of which exposed his knees, and a handful of smaller rips appearing along his intact sleeve, which was shielding the scroll he had bet his life and future upon.

He considered just laying there in the dirt for a brief moment, but quickly shoved those thoughts to the side, and forced himself to his slightly shaking feet. He was breathing heavy, but he had almost reached where the wall had once stood, and once he got there he would have the advantage, he knew that terrain far better than his pursuers did. Suddenly, a voice cut still the silence that had formed itself rather than the sound of feet - both his and his tails, the teen realized too late. The voice was terrifyingly familiar, but the boy could swear that its true owner was dead - had been nearly 7 months now.

"Found him! Over Here!" The blond turned, a single tear forming in his right eye and sliding down his cheek, although he wasn't sure what it was for - fear, the stupid vain hope that the voice's owner was alive, or some strange mix of the two. He brushed it away with his left hand, now freed from the fabric it had been trapped it. He spared a glance at his left wrist, which was already beginning to swell, before turning around.

"Sensei?" His voice was gravelly, as though it might give way at any moment, but it held hints of once being high, especially for his age, and even now, you could hear the faintest tingle of a once ever-present laugh. He could hear reinforcements coming to their ally's call, and, catching sight of a too familiar face that he couldn't bear to see his enemy wear (not again, he was so sick of this) he slammed his eyes shut and attempted to continue fleeing away in the direction away from his Sensei (no no not his sensei, this was someone else, something was wearing his face, his sensei was dead), when he felt a sharp kick to the back of both his legs, and he was falling again. He fell onto a patch of asphalt he was sure had once been a road, now clear of leaves thanks to his previous fall. He could feel blood begin to creep down his right leg, the skin on his unprotected knee broken by the second fall. He had also taken a blow to his head and could feel the blood dribble from his mouth confirm that.

Still, the boy attempt to climb to his feet again, stopping only to quickly snatch the scroll from his back and into his arms to protect it when the man who looked like his sensei made a pass at it to grab it.

"Hand over the scroll." The look-alike of the blue-eyed teen's sensei demanded, towering over him as he panted in the dirt, curled around the scroll.

"I'm sure you know, Konohamaru-sensei, why I can't do that." The witty retort was barely out of his mouth when the older man lunged from where he stood, his blue scarf shifting around his neck due to the sharp movement, as he pulled out a kunai knife faster than the boy could go for his own, and true fear began to flash before his eyes, filling him from his head to his toe, freezing him in place, one hand wrapped around the scroll, the other reaching for his own kunai, albeit too slowly. There were more tears in his eyes now, and he knew why there were tears-

he shut his eyes-

ohgodsI'mgoingtodieandeyeoneelsewilldietoobecauseIfailedand-

"Boruto!" His eyes shot open again at the familiar clang of metal on metal, and the teen saw the pale bluish hair and even paler skin of his best friend. His hair was sloppily pulled back by the ever familiar hia-te, Boruto having forgone his own for the sake of this mission.

"Mitsuki! What are you-" The blonde began to address his friend.

"Go Boruto! There's no time!" The newcomer cut him off. As Boruto rose to his feet, he knew the other boy was right, he could hear the reinforcements called by his (former?) sensei coming. Once he was to his feet, he called out to his best friend.

"Alright, Mitsuki, let's blow this popsicle stand!" The blue-haired boy looked back, and Boruto felt like someone had dropped a rock into his gut.

"You go Boruto. I'll hold them off." Boruto saw a quiet acceptance in the golden, snake-like eyes of his best friend. The eyes which had once led them across the world for the sake of finding truths now betrayed the final decision their owner had made. In an instant, Boruto understood that only one of the two of them could leave this place. However, he would not accept this, he was the son of the Hokage, and he did not want to give up on his friends, even now.

"No! I'm not leavi-"

"Boruto! Go! Get that scroll to your sister and Sarada, there's no time!"

"Don't argue with me Mitsuki, we NEVER argue! It's... it's so uncool!" Boruto was grasping at straws now, slang from what felt like another life breeding into his speech in his desperation, and he knew it.

"Then you know how important this is," Mitsuki said in his soft-spoken voice, and Boruto could barely hear it over the sound of Mitsuki's kunai blocking a renewed attempt from his opponent. "Good luck... my sun." He commented, and Boruto had to actually strain to hear it, but he didn't have time to ponder the strange boy's even stranger speech pattern, as Mitsuki's free arm extended, grabbing Boruto's collar and forcing to begin running in order to avoid being dragged on his heels.

Finally accepting what his best friend had understood when he had engaged in the fight, the blonde teen launched himself up, through the hole in the tree canopy that had been undoubtedly made when Mitsuki had crashed down through it, the blonde spare a final look over his should as he slung the scroll back where it belonged. He saw Mitsuki, a now familiar green aura around him, strike a killing blow on the thing that wore their sensei's face, and a tree shot up from the corpse. It was one of the few remaining White Zetsu, then. He turned to move as the Zetsu's reinforcements swarmed the street, slipping away unseen by any other than Mitsuki.

He snapped his attention back in front of himself, jumping between treetops and ruined rooftops. Most of the enemies were drawn to Mitsuki's fight, he couldn't sense any others. He added a little chakra to his feet to speed up his movement, then brought his fingers up to create a diversion that would only work now that he knew he was losing his tail. His fingers formed a long-familiar handsign, and he whispered a quick Kage Bushin no Jutsu under his breath. Immediately, three more Borutos sprung into life around him, each with what looked like a copy of the scroll. They each shot in different directions, with the original making a sharp right to veer towards a once-proud wall which now lay in ruins. He made it to the wall without too much trouble, so he assumed the other guards were engaged with one of his bushin. He slipped out of the ruined city through a small hole in the wall which had been there for years. As he was climbing clear, he felt the long familiar rush of memories coming back to him that accompanied a clone being dispelled. The enemy had chased the clone that doubled back for Mitsuki, then. He supposed that made sense, years ago that was what he would have done. Yet, he didn't - he no longer lived in a world that could afford to do so. Casting one final look at the ruins of Kohonagakure, Boruto Uzumaki vanished into the night.

o - o - o - o

A pair of young women waited outside a rocked cave at the base of a mountain, the older of the two with bright red eyes swirling, a black pattern where her pupils might have been, was tapping her foot. The 18-year old's red shirt shifted as she crossed her arms impatiently. Her red eyeglasses were tangled in her long black hair, but she didn't seem to care.

"Honestly! Where is your brother? He left hours ago, and he still isn't back! We don't have much longer!" She exclaimed angrily.

"I know you're angry Sarada, but please, keep. it. down. You'll wake everyone who's sleeping and then we'll have another different issue to deal with, besides the ones my brother makes." The other girl, who was about 5 years younger than the girl next to her, had waist-length black hair, although it had more of a blue tint to it than the girl next to her. She had bangs that framed her face, and a network of visible veins protruded from her pale, lavender eyes. The older girl took a long, deep breath, and exhaled.

"Yes, you're right. You have the patience of a saint Hima. Sorry about that." She whispered. The younger gave a nod of acknowledgment. Suddenly, in the corner of her enhanced field of vision, she spotted something. A boy, moving through the forest at high speeds, chakra going to his feet as he jumped from tree to tree.

"There, he's almost here." Himawari hissed.

"Is Mitsuki with him?" Sarada barely dared to ask. Himawari looked again, before slowly shaking her head. Sarada drew a shaky breath, then steadied herself. "Okay. Focus Sarada, it isn't like you won't join him soon." Himawari placed a steady hand on the older girl's shoulder, before her older brother, Boruto, burst through the treeline into the clearing where the cave entrance the two were guarding stood. His eye caught Sarada, and in an instant and a look, the two shared a thousand words. Handing the scroll that Mitsuki had sacrificed himself to get off to his sister, Boruto wrapped his last surviving teammate into a hug.

"We'll see them both soon - him and sensei, and..." Came the start of the whispered comforts. Taking her cue, Himawari turned and unrolled the scroll to the jutsu that Sarada had seen once before with her Sharingan - the Jutsu that had sparked this crazy hail mary of a plan. She worked quickly, using her Byakugan to check the seals on the scroll against the ones Sarada had remembered (She hadn't wanted to gamble lives and discover they lost because of an incorrect seal, but the Sharingan never forgets). They had inked them up along the walls where the other shinobi slept, and she looked once more, checking for any discrepancies. There weren't any.

She crept forward, slipping the scroll into her father's pack, along with a white envelope. Stepping back, she cast her eyes over what was left of the shinobi alliance. A small portion of the command units from each village, and a few random jounin who'd been on missions the day the civilian and shinobi camps had been taken out in two simultaneous attacks in the middle of the night. There were more Kohona and Kumo shinobi left, 12 and 7 respectively, not counting the three teens. Iwa had suffered the most, they were down to just two shinobi. Kiri wasn't much better, they had 3 shinobi, one only a few years older than Boruto and Sarada. Suna had 4 remaining, and Mifune's samurai had 5.

Himawari crept back to the mouth of the cave to wait for the signal, when a resounding clang broke the morning silence, followed by Sarada's pained cry of "Kabuto!"

Himawari's father was awake in an instant, others shooting to consciousness at varying rates behind the Nanadaime Hokage. He moved towards the narrow mouth of the cave, but surprise and years of training allowed her to knock her father back into the others, sending them staggering. She could hear the fighting outside (They couldn't win, not against Kabuto, they had barely escaped last time when he had claimed Boruto's sensei's life in exchange for theirs), and saw the hurt in her father's eyes as he climbed to his feet. She saw the hurt in her mother's as well, and closed her eyes to block them out, she had to follow through now. She pressed her hands downwards, pressing her left against the activation for the space-time seal she'd trapped the 33 surviving shinobi and samurai inside off, which caught their attention as it lights up the room, glowing a faint purple. Her right hand found the detonator for a series of paper bombs that would bring down the entrance to the cavern. Peaking her eyes open, she saw that the 33 packs and the 33 humans (and one nin-dog) had begun to glow a faint purple. Her father was staring at her and the paper bombs, frozen. Himawari closed her eyes a final time and whispered a final farewell.

"Goodbye." Her world was entombed in stone. "Gomen, Mina."

o - o - o - o

Well, that was my first 3000-word chapter - please do not expect chapters of this length every time, but I am aiming for over 1000 every time. After this, the chapters are going to be more entertaining and cheerful, but I felt that the starting was a bad time in the world, and they needed to carry themselves in a way that would make sense for that.

Dictionary of Japanese:

Sensei (Honorific): Occasionally used on its own, attached to the names of a teacher

Gomen: Sorry

Mina: Everyone

Kage Bushin no Jutsu: Shadow Clone Jutsu

For those curious, Himawari's final words translate to "Sorry, Everyone." An earlier draft included Boruto and Sarada's final words, which were, "We're coming everyone" for Boruto, and Sarada's were "We're sorry we couldn't avenge you in this life." Mitsuki's would have been "I have found my will".

Questions? Write a review, and I'll answer it in the next chapter, or shoot me a pm!

Fic Recommendation: Unexpectedly, by Nath Tsubaa Evans - a WIP time travel story that is still only 2 chapters in yet somehow I find myself reading over and over again, set just weeks before Boruto is born, and featuring an accidentally time traveling Team Kakashi.

ALSO, would anyone here be interested in either of the following story concepts:

Boruto 2.0, The Naruto Sequel We Actually Wanted

"Follow the cast of Boruto, (Now with personality outside their parents!) as they navigate the world the changing world they live in, especially as the fragile peace they were born into crumbles away while tensions mount between the 5 Great Nations and the smaller villages left floundering their wake. (There may also be moon aliens but I make no promises.)

OR

Naruto Movies, Written with 20/20 Hindsight

You all know how it goes - you see the synopsis for the latest movie and think "Maybe this one won't be trash!", and then walk out fo theater with the painful feeling of wasted potential in your guts. Well, with the power of the magic known as hindsight and fan suggestions, I will suffer through all of these many movies and rewrite them so that they live up to the standard set by the anime, and are unafraid to use all of the characters to their full potential. (Also there will be more Kakashi in all of them. Just a warning. Kakashi is awesome.) (Did we ever find out wtf his history was with Yuki in the snow movie? NO .)

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Timeline: Beta

Those In On The Secret: N/A

Current Location: Lost in the spacetime

Next POV: Tenten