Disclaimer: I do not claim the rights to anything that is property of Masashi Kishimoto or VIZ Media.
A/N New story, still working on old, need to get this out of head for now, so enjoy.
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Chapter 1 – Failures

This was it, the end. Naruto cursed as he dodged another attempted strike by Sasuke, chidori blazing in the Uchiha's hand. Konoha was burning around the two of them as they fought desperately against each other. Naruto sighed, was this how all things were destined to be, two friends, two brothers fighting to the death as their home burned down and was destroyed around them. Spinning his unique kunai around his finger at insane speeds Naruto flung it strait behind himself and disappeared in a streak of orange that ended at the kunai's location embedded in a wall.

"Sasuke please stop this..." Naruto pleaded with the power driven teen who glared at him.

"Shut up and fight dobe." Sasuke drew his sword and charged Naruto murder written clearly on his face, "I don't want to kill you too easily, give me a challenge."

Naruto felt a tear drip down his face as they continued their dance, fighting and parrying, each trying to achieve dominance, they fought for an eternity and for only a moment, time seemed to warp around them, consuming their perceptions. The brothers fought on, each struggling to win that elusive victory, that seemingly unreachable superiority.

She watched the two, her blond hair hung behind her, each one fought at close to a kage level though only sixteen, to say she felt impressed was an understatement. But she still watched, however her eyes always went to the whiskered blond. He was her target, the enigma in her life. He had saved her but she felt hate for him, overwhelming hatred and the desire to kill him, or maybe throw him on the ground and... she desperately stopped thinking past that, she did not want to consider that possibility. She understood that she could not hope to match Naruto in power, not at the moment, maybe never, but she would eventually kill him, or...

Shaking her head desperately she refocused her attention on the two watching them closely, waiting for her chance to strike.

Naruto drew another kunai and desperately blocked Sasuke's sword strike, his fist curling Naruto attempted to uppercut the teenage Uchiha. Sasuke bent backwards to dodge, Naruto swiftly kicked up delivering a solid hit to Sasuke's midsection. Sasuke flipped back landing in a crouch as his hands went through several seals, finishing up he raised his hands to his mouth and spat out forty fireballs aimed at Naruto. Naruto crouched as well and did his own seals in a flash as the fire sped closer, finally finishing Naruto held his hands in position and a wave of blue chakra washed out in a half sphere shape pushing everything away at high speed, the rubble and the fireballs.

Smirking as the wave dissipated Naruto sprang forward and put his hands in the ram seal, four shadow clone popped into existence around him and also ran forward. Naruto and his clones each formed hand seals at high speed, as Naruto finished his seals a fire dragon coiled around him and took shape before roaring at Sasuke and charging forward. The other four clones finished their seals and thrust their hands forward, Sasuke cringed as a ball of pressurized air sped out of their hands before bursting behind dragon in an explosion of wind, the dragon increased in size exponentially until it towered in the size of hundreds of feet. Coiling once more the dragon rushed forward at Sasuke.

Cursing as he flipped back Sasuke went through his own hand seals, fire radiated around him before encasing him, surrounding him almost like wings. Then the fire separated into two wings, unfolding from around the avenger. The fire began to form more and a massive bird head formed above the wings and gave a war cry before propelling forwards, its wings flapping sending it into the sky. A tail of pure flame followed behind the massive phoenix as flew head on towards the dragon to intercept it. The two attacks met in the air forming an explosion of epic proportions, Sasuke, Naruto and the girl hidden in the shadows were forced to focus their chakra to stay put.

When the smoke finally cleared the girl saw Naruto and Sasuke already exchanging more blows, she whistled lightly, this was truly a clash of the titans. A reddish aura started to slowly cover Naruto as little black tomoe marks spread across Sasuke and he gained a slightly purplish glow.

Both surged forward with renewed energy, their blows moving faster than before, punishing punch and kick right after each other. The grace and flow that the two showed, it was almost as if they were locked in an elaborate but deadly dance.

The avenger and the defender, the ultimate sword against the finest shield, the fate of all humanity. Sasuke rushed again, his anger spiked; he was the first to raise the stakes, two wings ripped out of the back of his shirt, unfolding before the purple aura practically exploded around him. Disappearing, the black haired boy reappeared with his fist buried in Naruto's stomach causing the blond to cough up blood violently as he flew back through a wall.

Recovering quickly Naruto got two his hands and knees, he would be damned if he needed to call on any more of the foxes' power. Struggling too his feet Naruto formed the ram seal again and thousands of blonds flowed out of the hole that his forced flight had made through the wall. As the blonds came they all targeted Sasuke rushing him blindly. The avenger smirked as his sword flashed again and he counter charged, the melee was fast and furious before Sasuke finally took to the air his wings flapping, forming another set of hand seals Sasuke was again wrapped around by the wings of a phoenix, this time it was larger, and the bird had a different look to it, a demonic look. Sasuke smirked, "One cannot defeat an army, however, an apocalypse can wipe them out" Sasuke put his hands in the tora seal, "Luckily I have one." The bird uncoiled and dove towards the mass of thousands below.

The hiding woman cursed and ran quickly to a new perch much farther away; the chakra coming of that thing was oppressive and massive. When the bird hit it was like some one had dropped a nuclear bomb on Konoha, the explosion would have made Deidra proud. In a flash the army was gone.

Sasuke suddenly dodged to the side as a four tailed Naruto flashed past him at insane speeds with the rasengan in his hand. "Damn you Sasuke!" Naruto snarled and somehow managed to change his path mid flight, turning around and diving at the Uchiha once again a feral war cry issuing as a rasengan six foot in diameter formed in front of him. "SASUKE!"

Sasuke moved his sword in front of him the chidori flowing through it at extreme speed until the air around it literally glowed with the black lightning that arced everywhere. Highly charged chidori sword meet the ultimate rasengan, an invisible wave of high pressure swept over the area, dust and rocks flying from the two meeting titans. The wind picked up and then condensed back in as a black ball took shape and expanded to massive size before white cracks formed and ran through it. In a flash the ball exploded and the two combatants shot at high speeds before impacting in the ground about a mile apart leaving deep grooves in the ground.

Sasuke spit blood out of his mouth as he stumbled back up, glaring he flapped his giant wings and took to the air again headed the direction that Naruto had flown back too. Naruto was also not idle and was already rushing back to face Sasuke, his body starting to bleed all over from the fox's chakra and his four tails waving madly behind him as he ran at break neck speeds. The woman also jumped forward, she wanted to be ready for the clash, to hopefully be their when Uzumaki was at his weakest.

Naruto and Sasuke met at full speed, each throwing a punch at the others face, when they hit they were both thrown back a few feet before they were already back up and fighting. The blond woman landed nearby and hid behind nearby rubble. Sasuke's whole body was covered by the chidori, currents arcing across him in a furious pattern of electricity, Naruto covered by a chakra which burned at touch and the air hissing around him. Naruto swung viciously at Sasuke who easily ducked out of the way and tried to deliver a hasty uppercut back only to be blocked by one of Naruto's tails which then wrapped around his arm and hand.

Once the grip on Sasuke was secure Naruto started to spin around rapidly before releasing Sasuke who flew off into a still, amazingly, standing section of wall. Wrapping his wings around him in a cocoon Sasuke smashed through the wall which shattered around him before hitting the ground and rolling. Unfolding one wing mid-roll in such a way he planted one foot on the ground and pushed up into a side flip using the momentum, when he reached the apex of his jump he fully opened his other wing and flapped up higher.

Naruto growled and charged towards the now flying boy before his tails bunched up behind him and he jumped after Sasuke, a snarl his only words. Sasuke finished a set of hand seals just before Naruto reached him and a massive dragon of electricity formed and raced out meeting the feral blond half way up. The blond screamed as the dragon consumed him, electricity dancing over him, it overwhelmed his pain receptors.

The threshold was crossed, that was it, the pain, emotional and physical consumed Naruto. In his mind Naruto felt the warm chakra of the fox wash over him until he was actually floating in it, the Kyuubi just behind the bars grinning wickedly as Naruto was covered in its chakra. It then let loose a victorious roar. The Naruto in the real world let loose the same roar of triumph, the chakra bubbled out and a fifth, then sixth tail formed out of the chakra, seeming to push out of the tail bone. Blood oozed from Naruto's entire body, flowing freely and dripping off, only to be caught by the chakra and hover in the chakra until Naruto was surrounded by a fluid armor of his own blood, the chakra continuing to form the image. Soon an image of a fox was clear, the blood even formed to look like fur, another primal howl issued forth, Naruto/Kyuubi arched its back and his six tails curved forward to have their tips just over his mouth. Chakra started to form there, bubbling out to form a sphere.

Sasuke and the woman flinched back, the amount of chakra was oppressive, it felt as though a weight had settled on them, it gave them trouble to move. Sasuke had only one thought as he watched it form, he knew he could not get hit by that, no matter what. Flashing through the necessary seals as fast as possible, arriving at the end just as the terrible creature before him swallowed the bubbling ball, it seemed to smirk. Sasuke slammed his hands on the ground just as it fired, immediately five massive gates shot out of the ground to block the strike. He listened at first in awe, as the gates blasted open one by one.

The beam that came out of Naruto/Kyuubi's mouth burst the first two gates barely slowing down, it took a little longer on the third and slightly longer on the forth before it smashed in to the last rattling it before it burst the immense gate open with the last of the beam's energy. Sasuke jumped back slightly cursing at his predicament; however as he blinked Naruto/Kyuubi disappeared. Sasuke spit out blood as a fist slammed into his stomach at extreme speeds, Sasuke hit the ground and vomited more blood up quivering slightly.

A claw of pure chakra did not give Sasuke much time to recover before it picked up the Uchiha and slammed him repeatedly into the ground, each time accompanied by a cracking noise. Lifting up the claw threw the young avenger down and forward into the ground where he formed a deep furrow. As he coughed up more blood his eyes glared at the approaching demon, which was taking its time. One of his wings was visible and it was badly broken, it was in fact barely hanging on by a thread of skin, the bones visible on each side.

Struggling to stand Sasuke finally made it, once standing his other wing was visible, it was even worse, only a mass of flesh and bone still strongly attached though. Blood flowed liberally over the raven haired teen, his arm bent violently at a bad angle. Naruto/Kyuubi released a howl of triumphant before arcing its back once more and curving its tails forward again. Another massive bubble of chakra formed, as it did another tail came out, and with it the bubble doubled in intensity. A high pitched whine accompanied the build up, as waves of energy radiated and pulsed off the blood covered jinchuuriki.

A whizzing sound, a lower pitch than the whine sped past the hiding blond woman. It stopped as a bandaged sword impacted the ground right next to Naruto/Kyuubi and started to glow a dark, blood red and vibrate until the red chakra around Naruto faded and the boy was left kneeling covered in his own blood, barely conscious; finally Naruto able to shakily raise himself up and stand on wobbling on his feet.

Feeling something the woman hastily jumped forward and landed awkwardly next to Naruto. Naruto took in her graceless landing with surprise as pain radiated off him with blood dripping from all over. Sasuke stopped moving at the sight of her, surprised at her sudden appearance, before he actually froze up completely standing strait and stiff his eyes closing, going unconscious. In a blink the three of them were surrounded by five people wearing black cloaks with red clouds emblazoned on them.

"Well that was annoying, though somewhat easy." Kisame gave a shark toothed smirk as he tried to wrench his sword out of the ground, the blue man cursed loudly and snatched his hand away as it started to smoke when it got close.

Pein sighed and slowly stepped forward looking at the two blonds, boy and girl, standing in guarded position ready to move in an instant before bowing to both of them and looking apologetic, "Naruto-kun, Yugito-chan I am sorry, but we have run out of time, I'm sorry that we had to cause so much pain to you, but the alternative would be worse for everyone." Pein gestured around the village at the apparent destruction.

Naruto and Yugito looked at each other in confusion, the leader of Akatsuki, Pein himself was apologizing before tying to capture and kill them. Naruto turned back to Pein and became suddenly defiant before shouting at the cloaked man. "If you think I'm gonna go with out a fight because you apologized you're wrong, you destroyed my home you bastards."

Konan looked at the boy sadly, "Naruto-kun..."

"Don't call me that," Naruto pumped chakra into his hand and formed a ransegan, managing to overwhelm Kisame's over taxed sword and charged forward at the leader of the Akatsuki. Naruto never made it.

"Gaki, you still don't understand the difference in power between all of us." Kisame smirked as he smashed Naruto into the ground driving his knee into the blond's back with his arm violently twisted behind him and held in the air. Naruto growled angrily before allowing the Rasengan to destabilize and explode violently releasing all the power in an instant blowing Kisame back and driving him further into the ground as his own hand was violently up, only a few fingers remaining.

Blood red chakra flowed around the wounded hand forming several makeshift fingers and one could already see the hand healing at an accelerated rate. Rolling forward Naruto was again on his feet and had an even larger rasengan swirling in his hand witch he thrust desperately at Pein. An aura merely surrounded the man and they conflicted, Naruto began building up his rasengan to the six foot ultimate rasengan. Still it was failing to over power Pein's protection, Naruto snarled and tried one last desperate gambit to win. Focusing even more Naruto pumped his wind nature desperately into the massive rasengan, forming the largest fuuton: rasen-shuriken ever. Pein gasped in shock as his aura crumbled around him and Saimhada attempted to absorb the massive amount of chakra again; and far too soon after already eating so much. The massive wind fueled rasengan halved in size as the chakra drained to Saimhada before the sword violent exploded sending shrapnel in a deadly blossom accompanied by Kisame's anguished scream. Quickly paper surrounded Naruto and threw him away from Pein whose protective shield was barely holding on against Naruto's onslaught.

"I give you credit Naruto-kun," Pein smirked at the struggling blond as paper held him down before flopping down utterly spent. "You have done more damage to that shield than any before, impressive, I truly wish it did not come to this."

Naruto struggled at his bindings, "Damn you."

Konan smiled sadly and went over to Sasuke who was still frozen; Kisame was on his knees and actually appeared to be crying as he held the hilt and what little remained of his sword. Tobi and Itachi both stood impassively watching everything going on. Pein walked over to Naruto before crouching down, "Please, I am sorry we must do..." Pein suddenly cut off his talking as he grabbed Naruto violently by his shirt front and hurriedly jumped forward and away, Konan doing the same to Sasuke. Everyone else had jumped quickly as well, the area where they had been standing before was transformed into hundreds of wicked and very jagged spikes. All of them turned and watched as a figure emerged from the billowing smoke of the still burning village and proceed to come closer each step slow and methodical.

A blond man standing almost six foot two with a beard walked up and offered oddly enough a genuine smile. "Please Madara, did you expect for that to work, much too late I'm afraid."

Tobi cursed and then reached up removing his orange swirl mask tossing it away with a flick of the wrist where it impacted and shattered on the ground. Tobi's revealed face was regal and his long black hair swayed a fully mature sharingan slowly spun in each of his eyes. Quickly glancing over at Pein he spoke up, "We leave; we can't face him here and now."

Pein nodded and grabbed Naruto closer before turning to run only to have to dodge again as a black claw smashed into the ground where he and Naruto had been standing a moment before. A teen stood their now, his hands covered in black and having a claw like form. "Why leave, the fun's just starting."

Yugito smirked, "I don't know who you are, but thanks for the distraction against these bastards I'll take my leave now." Yugito turned and was about to jump off and leave when she felt a presence appear suddenly to her side. Turning sharply she found the tall blond bearded man standing there looking curiously at her. Before she could speak or react he was touching her fore head softly closing his eyes and as a small smile graced his lips.

"So you're one of the containers, remarkable achievement." Moving his hand back at viper speeds he shot it forward towards the binding seal wrapped around her neck. Before he could hit Itachi jumped in the way taking the blow and was blown back strait into Yugito; both hit the ground several feet back rolling rapidly. Itachi was bleeding slightly from his back where the blow had landed when he blocked for Yugito.

Yugito scrambled up, "What the hell?" Only to narrowly dodge as a black pointed object shot forward, she was still not fast enough to avoid the object burying itself in her right shoulder. Grunting Yugito pulled back sharply off the pointed thing hissing slightly in pain to look a smirking blond teen in a very shapely dress whose finger was apparently the pointed thing. Yugito felt her eyes widen, "What the hell are you?"

The woman smiled, "Nothing odd, just another unique citizen of this world, you would know that better than most after all what unique is."

Madara snarled, "Damn it, we need to leave now." Before they could move though another five people appeared around them, one a man with an eye patch and four swords across his back wearing some sort of military uniform and was advancing slowly. The next was hulking man, big and by the looks slow. The next was extremely fat, followed by one obscured by shadows and finally one with long spiky black hair and wearing what appeared to be a halter top and shorts/skirt thing.

The last smirked at the gathered group, "Don't leave, I have yet to enjoy myself, perhaps father will allow us to kill you slowly."

"Damn it," Madara cursed and quickly analyzed the situation. "No choice, here now, we do it." Madara signaled them to all move next to him before he started to flip through several hand seals finishing them in an instant he slammed his hands onto the ground. A red light flashed around the eight of them and when it cleared there was a glowing red pentagram inscribed with thousands of runes running off in random directions, a golden sun with a black moon inscribed in the middle, with a roaring lion at the top point, a sun at another, a moon occupying the third.

"You mean to use that?" Konan asked before shaking her head resignedly and sighing, "I guess there is no choice, but you know it is risky."

"No time," Madara muttered as he gasped for breath feeling the effects of using so much chakra, "Everything has unraveled."
"Interesting, what do you plan this time Madara." The bearded blond asked curiously, "No matter it will still fail you." The man signaled the other surrounding the group of shinobi with a mere waving gesture, "Kill them."

Madara's eyes flashed for a second before the mangekyou formed in them. His eyes spinning rapidly he shot black fire all around the group forming a wall of evil flames around the remaining shinobi too buy some precious moments of time as they performed their work, quickly turning he faced Yugito and stared deeply eyes spinning even faster. The woman collapsed down to one knee and head bent before she looked up, "Fine, bastard."

Moving fast she grabbed the drained Naruto and stiff Sasuke and jumped into the center of the pentagram, the five remaining members of Akatsuki flashed and arrived at each point of the star. Before they started to do hand seals the five members all grabbed something out of their cloaks, scrolls before tossing them into the circle, the two Kisame and Pein tossed landed on Naruto. Itachi tossed two scrolls himself that landed and stuck with chakra to Sasuke who was standing ram rod strait where Yugito had placed him in the circle; a scroll from Madara soon joined Itachi's two.

Konan smiled and tossed hers to Yugito, "Use it well."

Pein smirked, "I expect to hear about you later gaki, use my techniques well." Pein nodded to Naruto before doing synchronous seals with the other four, each channeling immense amounts of chakra before slamming their palms into the ground at each of the five points.

A massive pulse of chakra issued forth pushing the eight people surrounding the ninjas back and dispersing the black flames of Amaterasu in a rush. When the pulse died Shinigami himself hovered above the three in the center of the circle. It slowly removed the knife from its mouth before looking at the seal on the ground, "You know the price Madara."

"Hai, here are five willing, take it and do it." Madara said nodding.

"Very well, enjoy your hell." Shinigami blinked before it appeared behind each of the five Akatsuki members simultaneously and shoved its clawed hand through their chests. A powerful flash of light shot out of each of the hands surrounding Naruto, Yugito and Sasuke.

Madara gained a smile as blood dribbled down his chin from the corner of his lips, "Good luck." Shinigami suddenly yanked his hands back and the souls of Pein, Itachi, Konan, Kisame and Madara were all ripped from their bodies and greedily devoured by Shinigami.

Sasuke still being unconscious, Naruto and Yugito watched in horror at this last gruesome sight before their vision swam and faded to black. They felt as though a scalding hook had been shoved into their innards and was dragging them through a two inch small hole, the pain was incredible and each was screaming, Naruto felt pain course through his body, giving him the strength to move again. As they screamed Naruto and Yugito held onto the other for dear life as pain racked their bodies. After an eternity of pain it suddenly stopped...

Naruto and Yugito were in the middle of Konoha, the city completely unharmed, no damage present anywhere, the buildings all stood and gleamed in the sun light. Screaming and grasping each other for all they were worth, eyes squeezed shut Naruto and Yugito clutched each other in the middle of the street. The screams of pain died in their throats as the pain instantly left, still holding onto the other, they opened their eyes and warily took in their surroundings. Finally their eyes settled on the one they were holding.

Yugito finally realizing who she was clutching snatched her hands away from the blond as though burned and leaped back with a snarl. "Don't touch me bastard."

Naruto though was still confused; looking around again recognition of his surrounds dawned on him as his eyes took every thing in once again. "What the hell?" Naruto struggled to his feet, "This is Konoha."
"No duh dip shit," Yugito said before she went over to the still unconscious Uchiha putting the stiff as a board teen on his back she slowly doing some hand seals she channeled her chakra before reaching down and touching the black haired teens fore head. With a start Sasuke was awake and in immense pain, his body was still badly mangled, and he was still in his stage two form so his wings were shredded lumps of weight crushed under his body weight.

Looking around desperately Sasuke saw a hunched Naruto, "What the hell happened?" Sasuke shouted out while gritting his teeth in pain.

Naruto snapped back harshly, "The hell if I know?"

"Dobe the last thing I remember was arriving in Konoha chasing down Itachi, so why am I badly shredded and in my level two form?" Sasuke gave his patented death glare.

"You don't remember attacking me?" Naruto returned the glare with no problem.

"Hell no," Sasuke's voice dripping with venom.

Naruto's eyes narrowed farther, "Quit faking..."
"Shut up both of you," Yugito shouted out tiring of their child like spat. "I don't know all the details of what happened to you Uchiha, but yes you were fighting this bastard." Yugito inclined her head at Naruto, "Now I should let you both know we are in the past, about forty years to be exact. Apparently this was the last option of those Akatsuki, Madara didn't tell me much, just that the focal point of the changes must come from here in Konoha, some mission that needs to be accepted but wasn't."

Naruto and Sasuke both looked at her, then each other before finally looking back at her. Disbelief was more than evident. Sasuke was the first to speak, "Yeah right, tell us another one." A painful moan escaped him as he withdrew his cursed state and became normal again.

"As for why the Uchiha cannot remember, it was apparently some sharingan jutsu that Itachi and Madara pulled of on him to control his actions." Yugito looked at both of them, she hated this; she had clashed with both at some point in one way or another. But now she was apparently going to have to work with them, Madara told her this was the only way to avert the destruction of Kumo and as he melodramatically put it, 'save the world.'

Sasuke sputtered indignantly, "I wouldn't submit to my brother ever, I'm stronger now."

Yugito sighed but before she could respond Naruto cut her off, "Whatever, those bastards were just lying to you, this has to be a gen-jutsu of some sort." Putting his hands up Naruto focused Kyuubi's chakra into a mass before releasing it through his system and consequently due to the amount of chakra everyone else in a two hundred foot radius as he shouted, "KAI!"

Nothing changed with the release; Yugito sighed and smacked him upside the head how she wished she could just kill the little annoying brat. "This isn't a gen-jutsu, you saw what they did, how they summoned Shinigami."

"So," Naruto growled indignantly.

Yugito was about to snap back when another voice joined them. "Who are you?" The three turned to face the man who had spoken, they saw a moderately high man with brown hair and a small pointed beard on his chin, and he had an aura of power about him and seemed to draw people to respect him. Naruto and Sasuke's eyes widened as they took his image in.

"You're…" Naruto started but stopped his voice trailing to nothing.

Sasuke merely stared in stunned silence not believing his eyes, he slowly put his hands together channeling chakra before pulsing it to try and clear his system of any gen-jutsu. Just as for Naruto nothing changed.

The man took a stance, "I will only ask you once more, who are you?" Dropping his hand in a subtle gesture the man prepared to attack.

"H… Hok… Hokage-jiji," Naruto stuttered out before rushing the man, before Sarutobi could react, Naruto had his arms wrapped around him in a hug. "You're alive!" Naruto found himself shouting out. "And you don't look old anymore."
Yugito slapped her fore head at the idiotic little blond. "Naruto, you baka, of course he isn't old, I told you we traveled back forty years."

Naruto just ignored her as he took in the sight of the future Sandaime Hokage. Sasuke for his part was amazed, but still suspicious, there was only one more test, focusing chakra to his eyes the sSharingan flared to life and he glanced around trying to notice anything, hoping his sharingan would penetrate what had to be an illusion. Still Sasuke could see nothing and found himself muttering amazed, "This is real."

Yugito sighed and went over to Naruto preparing to kick him off of the man before the blond loudmouth started ranting about something or other. As she reared back too kick right before her foot shot forward to connect with Naruto's side in what she hoped was painful another voice joined them. "So this is where you disappeared to sensei."

A boy with messy white hair was standing a few feet away; he appeared to be thirteen or so and wore loose fitting ninja attire, across his face he had two identical red lines down both cheeks and wore a lopsided grin. Naruto stopped paying attention to Sarutobi and faced looked over at the new arrival. Naruto stared and then did a double take before pointing and shouting, "HOLY KAMI, A CHIBI ERO-SENNIN!"

Everyone just stared at him; Yugito had enough, grabbing her fellow blond by the back of his shirt she slammed him down on the pavement hard. Drawing out a kunai she placed it on the back of his neck drawing a thin trail of blood. "Listen well Uzumaki, I won't repeat, stop yelling and freaking out it irritates me beyond belief."

Yugito was about to continue when she felt a blade on her own neck. Turning her head back she locked eyes with the man who would become feared around the world, the future Sandaime who was responsible for Kumo's crippling defeat mere months after he took the office. The man cleared his throat, "What is a Kumo kounichi doing here, especially when we are at war with each other, how did you get past our defenses?"

Naruto pushed her blade off and pushed onto his hands and knees before offering a big smile at Yugito while rubbing the back of his neck, "I won't do it again Yugito-san."

Yugito however did not let up off the hold she had on Naruto's shirt. Ignoring the teenager beneath her she addressed herself to Sarutobi, "Look, this is hard to explain, we three were sent back in time through use of some forbidden jutsu that summons the Shinigami. We know very little, only that we are supposed to remain in Konoha and that there is some mission we must accept to stop some disaster. So let up, I'm not your enemy."

Sarutobi did not look like he believed her, but he did lessen the pressure of the blade he held on her. Yugito slowly stood, but slammed Naruto back down one more time before getting fully up. That charade of the blond's was annoying, and she was quickly sickening of it. Naruto just bounced right back up with a big grin and shouted his thanks at the man, "Thanks for the help jiji, but she wouldn't hurt me."

Sasuke sighed, "Dobe, quiet down" Sasuke stood slowly up, his body felt tired and worn out, but dropping the cursed seal had helped to restore him slightly. Sasuke turned to Yugito, "Since apparently what you have said is true, what did my dear brother's comrades tell you before they sent us here."

"Not much," Yugito admitted, "All I know is they told me that by supporting leaf here and now I would save Kumo in the future by changing events."

"Really, that's great," Naruto shouted, "That is awesome, now your home won't be destroyed."

Yugito turned back to Naruto, "That was your fault you little bastard, you're the one responsible. I swear to kill you even if this does work."

Naruto just took a step back, then another, his face getting more and more down cast. To everyone it seemed as though he shattered in a manner of speaking. No longer was there any form of warmth coming of him. "I know, I'm sorry, everyone in Konoha was right, I'm just a monster." Naruto turned around and before anyone could react threw a kunai high and fast before streaking off in a flash of orange.

The remaining blond cursed herself, she had lost control. "Kuso, Uchiha we need to track him down and bring him back."

The brown haired man stepped in their path, "I'm afraid not you two need to come with me to answer some questions."

Sasuke sighed and grunted slightly painfully, "Look, let us track down the dobe first, and then we will answer your questions."

Sarutobi shook his head, "No, you can search for him afterwards, besides we can have ANBU track him down." As if drawn by his words four people in cloaks with animal masks appeared around them, surrounding them.

"Sarutobi-sama, Nidaime-sama sent us here to assist you, he told us to bring you and them to the tower." The apparent leader of the four masked ninjas said quietly.

"Very well," Sarutobi nodded his head before turning to the chibi Jiraiya, "Jiraiya, go find Orochimaru and Tsunade then all of you wait at training ground seven for me to arrive."

Jiraiya nodded and gave a short salute before hopping off and shouting back, "Sure thing sensei."

Sasuke shook his head, "I swear he reminds me of Naruto."

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After Naruto had hiraishined off he had traveled for awhile, just wandering around aimlessly using a henge to hide himself in the croud. For now he contented himself with the sights of a much younger Konoha, though he had to admit it was weird to only see the faces of the Shodaime and Nidaime up on the mountain. As he wandered around glancing idly at his feet and kicking a small stone he willed himself not to think about any thing revolving around being a jinchuuriki, or about what had happened in Kumo. But he found it hard, Yugito had brought up some hard memories for him, memories that for the last year had waken him screaming in the middle of the night cold sweat dripping down him.

Naruto watched as the stone dropped down a sewer grate and out of sight after it bounced on a chipped area of concrete. He didn't bother with any facades of happiness or joy, no wide smile was on his face. Naruto felt tired, too tired to even try and pretend at the moment. He knew how the world worked, how things went, he was not as everyone believed. Sighing and raising his head Naruto looked at the clouds drifting idly past, how he wished he could be a cloud, no cares, no worries. Shaking his head and emitting a bitter laugh Naruto glued his gaze to the pavement once more.

Naruto cursed that damn stop over he and Jiraiya had made now. Things seemed to be going perfectly, and then it had all been shot to hell. By the time it was all said and done Naruto had wanted nothing more than to kill himself. If he never before believed it, he did after the events in Kumo, he was nothing more than a demon.

Eventually Naruto arrived at a familiar bridge, one where team seven had assembled a few times while they were together. Sighing he leaned over the edge resting his arms on the railing and interlocked his hands. Looking down at his reflection he barked a harsh laugh when he saw the clear cheek of his henge where whisker marks he bore would normally be. As he watched a leaf drifted down on the river surface interrupting the image, it was a beautiful shade of pink. The soft looking pink leaf made his thoughts turn to his now dead team mate, Sakura. Things had just continued going down hill for him it seemed. In his mind he flashed back to the one image that haunted him. He just stood there before idly reaching down and pulling out a kunai and looking intently at it.

Carefully Naruto studied each facet, each nook and cranny, each ding and even the small fleck of dried blood from some previous use. Moving it over he placed the blade against his wrist, he had nothing to lose, besides, and he knew what the results would be. Naruto pressed down the blade and cut the artery only to watch blood red chakra shoot out and heal him in an instant before much blood was lost. Laughing bitterly Naruto spoke to himself, "Can't even kill myself, damn fox."

Sighing Naruto idly spun the kunai around on his finger not really doing much but watching a few more sakura petals drift pass. The sound of running water soothed his nerves and calmed him. But enough was enough, "You can come out now Sasuke."

Dropping from a tree Sasuke walked over next to Naruto. Leaning down as well he watched the water flow slowly past them. Finally he had enough silence so he turned to face Naruto, "What happened in Kumo?"

Naruto gave a bitter laugh. "The first decent time we have had to talk in almost four years and you ask about that." Naruto shook his head before quickly sheathing his kunai once more.

"Hey," Sasuke turned to look at Naruto as if trying to pierce the secrets the blond held within, "I'm supposed to be the angst driven one, you're always bubbling with happiness, so what happened there to change it?"

"It doesn't matter Sasuke," Naruto looked over and faced Sasuke gazing right into the avenger's eyes. Sasuke gasped and stepped back at the sight of the now dead looking eyes, even in his worst moments Sasuke had never looked like that and he knew it. Naruto just looked back down at the river for a moment before looking back up at Sasuke, his face completely changed. Naruto wore a big full blown smile and slapped Sasuke on the arm. "Isn't this great, we went back in time and now have the opportunity to save Konoha and everyone, as well as stop your brother from destroying your clan."

Sasuke glared at the blond, he had changed in an instant back to his fun loving always optimistic self. Sasuke would not have this, he needed the truth. Naruto just willed the Uchiha to forget everything and just accept that he was a dobe. Naruto attempted to widen his smile more and slapped Sasuke on the shoulder once more.

Sasuke opened his mouth to speak when they were cut off by the Konoha sirens going off around them. Years of training snapped in for Naruto who instantly tightened his grip on Sasuke as he threw a hiraishin kunai high into the air. Both vanished in a flash of orange in the air, Naruto snatched the kunai and tossed it hard once more towards the front gates of Konoha where the both of them could see heavy fighting going on. In another flash both of them reappeared on the gates in the middle of a massive force of Kumo shinobi. Instantly reacting, Naruto's henge dropped and he rushed the nearest Kumo nin and slammed a rasengan into the mans stomach. The man was shredded from the inside out, his intestines and stomach whipping around and grinding up, Naruto jumped back to avoid the strike of another enemy as the first dropped to the ground, a hole through his body.

Sasuke for his part fought the Kumo ninjas, the talk with the Nidaime had gone some what well, could have been better could have been worse but it had made sure he was now a fighter for Konoha. Sasuke knew now what had to be done, he had talked with Nii and been told all that she knew about the time trip, and the reasons. So for his part he would fight for Konoha, as would she, for the most part that is, Sasuke doubted she would help fight her own village however.

Their battle on the part of the wall was quickly over and done with. Naruto smirked and leaned back against the wall, before smiling and shouting at Sasuke, "That wasn't so hard." Naruto's face fell though when the angry Yugito jumped down near them after hearing his comment.

"I see you still enjoy killing Kumo shinobi Uzumaki." Yugito bared her teeth at the younger blond.

Naruto hung his head and spoke softly, "I didn't mean it like that." Naruto's blond hair hung limply in front of his face.

"Whatever, I suggest we find the Hokage and get you checked out by him at the very least," Yugito sneered and jumped off.

Sasuke made to join her but he heard something that made him pause a second, Naruto softly uttered something, "Love's not worth it."

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A/N
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This is the bad start to my new story, I hope to radically improve this chapter later, I just can't seem to find a lot of inspiration to write anything, and especially the pairing I have in mind. There is really a lack of this pairing and I think it is a good one, so here I am trying to make it work, I hope it does.
Please review, I know I need a lot of re-work on this first chapter, so suggestions are welcome, I have not revealed some stuff on purpose though, so do keep that in mind.
Signing off,
Final Sleeper