Authors note :- This is a time-travel fic, but rather than having one of the main characters travel back, I chose someone who I don't think has been done before.

Since I couldn't find the canon names of Konohamaru's parents, I nicked them from Pudgypudge's story The Melt ( story id- /s/4057805/1/The-Melt ). Thanks Pudgypudge, I owe you one.

I don't own Naruto .

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. Prologue

The whimpers of the injured and the cries of the bereaved echoed around the ruins of what had once been the mightiest village in the Elemental Nations. Standing on the pile of rubble that had once been the Hokage Tower, Konohamaru looked out over the miles of burning ash and embers that had once been the forest that had surrounded Konoha. Beyond the ashes, the forces arrayed against Konoha were barely visible as movement on the horizon. Shaking his head, Konohamaru descended from the vantage point, cursing his lack of depth-perception and his missing arm. Reaching the ground, he moved through the severely-depleted ranks of Shinobi, reaching the room where a familiar figure lay.

"Rokudaime-sama, you were right. They are gathering again."

The bandaged man on the bed nodded, then struggled to sit up. Konohamaru helped him, his eye once again refusing to focus on the stumps that had once been both arms and a leg

"I assume we cannot win Konohamaru."

Konohamaru nodded at the quiet statement. "We've lost, Boss, we have less than a dozen shinobi capable of fighting, three dozen if you count partials such as myself and even then us partial can't fight that well. They have another damned army. For every one we kill five more take their place."

"And I cannot use the Raiton-rasenshuriken again." The Hokage said with a sigh. "We cannot win this one. We… have no choice."

"You will go back?"

"No, I cannot." The Hokage said quietly. "I need to stay here, to die, in order to perform the jutsu. I am not the one to perform this mission…"

For a moment, Konohamaru froze, unwilling to understand, unwilling to accept the facts.

"But Boss…"

"I know." The Hokage said, smiling underneath his bandages. "I have suspected for almost a year that it might come to this, that's why I had you do all that research, why I taught you all the techniques I know, even Sage Mode and the Hiraishin. I did it so that you can teach me."

Konohamaru blinked as his vision blurred. Ignoring the tears trickling down his cheek, he lowered himself into a full formal prostration.

"Rokudaime Hokage Namikaze-Uzumaki Naruto… I accept the mission you have given me and I swear that I shall complete it."

Naruto nodded. "Then it is time. We need to move now."

"We shall buy as much time as we can, Hokage." Temari said, her face unsmiling. Naruto nodded.

"If this works, all of this shall never have been for any of us, except one."

"He's the only one who can do it." Temari said, bowing to Konohamaru. "It is a shame that none of your sensei's survived, but we use what we have. Good luck."

Konohamaru watched her leave, then sighed. "I'll see her smile again." He vowed quietly. "She'll be back with Shikamaru if I have anything to do with it. And this time, their child will survive."

"Time travel is not that simple." Naruto warned. "Every choice you make will ripple outwards. Merely by being back there, you will change history. That is why I ordered you only to research personality profiles and an overview of the main events. Even if they happen, they'll happen differently."

Konohamaru nodded, then helped Naruto across the room, placing him at one of the two focal points of the seal array carved into the ground. Around the room, a dozen other shinobi, each too injured to fight but capable of still moulding chakra, nodded their readiness. Konohamaru looked round, his heart almost breaking as he realised that he and Naruto were the only two Konoha shinobi in the room.

"Are you ready, brother?"

Konohamaru nodded. "Yes, Boss, I'm ready."

"Then," Naruto said, closing his eyes and summoning first his own chakra, then the Kyuubi's, "Let us begin!"

The other ninja around the room closed their eyes and began glowing with released chakra, chakra which funnelled into the great seal and made it start to glow. As they did so, an explosion sounded and dust fell from the roof. Konohamaru gave Naruto a worried look.

"Prepare yourself, brother."

Konohamaru nodded and tried to calm himself. As he knelt down, distant clashes of metal echoed down the staircase.

"Release!"

The chakra surrounding Naruto intensified, a red tail appearing and stabbing into the engraved seal, then a second and a third. With each new tail, the seal fluctuated but the twelve anchoring it managed to hold it steady. Konohamaru watched, engraving the sacrifice he was seeing into his mind. Six tails were lashing, then seven, then eight and Naruto's body seemed to begin to dissipate as the ninth tail emerged, arcing over the seal, then plunging into it.

As the final tail connected, Temari's corpse fell down the stairs, then the light from the seal seemed to freeze, then erupt into a massive flare. Konohamaru saw the anchoring shinobi in his line of sight almost vaporise as the seal surged, then the entire room vanished into a vortex of light that surrounded him, picking him up and flowing through him. For a moment, he felt excruciating pain, then everything turned gold and he knew no more.

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