*Flashback*

"Naruto, remember, even if I can create a synthetic heart for you every few months, I cannot regenerate it. I can only keep you alive. So be careful not to use too much chakra, otherwise I can't keep the heart going. And try not to bleed out."

*End*

"Sasuke, I'm sorry, looks like I'll be leaving earlier than you now. Make sure you remember me. Sakura, give up and heal Sasuke, here."

The blonde-haired man rolled to one side, more than likely painful but all that showed was a sorrowful smile. He held his hand over the pink-haired girl's hand and extended the green globe around the stump of the ravenette man's arm. She scolded, "Naruto, don't move! I'm still going to try."

Naruto smiled, "It's a waste of your chakra."

The green light around his own stump dissipated, and the silver-haired man frowned. "What are you doing, Naruto?"

"Regenerating Sasuke's arm. I know I'm not going to make it, the chakra I have is too little to recreate another synthetic heart and too little to keep the current one going. So I'll put it into remaking Sasuke's arm."

Before their eyes, the man named Sasuke's arm twisted into form out of the pool of blood surrounding their arms. When it as complete, Naruto slumped back down. "I can't create skin. You're going to have to use his own genes for that, because otherwise his arm will look like a mix of our skin colors and, anyways, it's too refined for me. His arm I created out of our blood."

"Kit." A deep voice interrupted. A shadow stood over them. The Kyuubi. "I'm going back inside you to see if I can do anything. The others are coming with me."

Eight flashes of different colors leaped from behind the Kyuubi and into Naruto. He jerked as they hit him. "Bye, stupid Uchiha, pink-haired monster, and silver-haired teacher's brat."

He flashed into Naruto. Naruto smiled painfully. "Excuse Kurama, he's always sorta hated you guys. Kakashi-sensei, go get your dolphin." Kakashi blushed behind his mask. "Sakura, if you want something, get it by yourself and make sure you hold onto it." Sakura smiled sadly, with a quiet 'Shannaro'. "Tell Kiba to confess already, tell Shikamaru that Temari likes him more than he thinks, tell Hinata that I'm sorry, tell Shino stop being so weird already, tell Ino that she's not lost yet, tell Chouji that confessing to a girl is easier than eating, tell baa-chan give Kakashi-sensei the title, and make sure you go easy on Sasuke. He is the reason I cannot live now, but this will never happen again. Tell Iruka-sensei that I'm grateful to him. Tell Sai that he's got somebody right next to him, tell Gaara that Bee can help him. And say that I said goodbye. Sasuke, make sure you're eighth Hokage for me, got it? Sasuke, you're the key. Oh, and behind the Fourth's picture there's a secret. You'll know what it's for. "

"Yeah." Sasuke turned his head away. Naruto simply continued smiling. "Kit, it's time. There is one solution, and we could change everything before this ever happens. I'm sure you want that, so tell them goodbye already, and we'll be off."

"Well, looks like it's goodbye now." In a golden blur, his body was gone, leaving only his clothes and his headband.

"Hey kit, we're going to the past to before all of this happened, before you were born, to before your parents married. There will be two side effects." I blinked blearily, sitting up, still feeling pain in my arm, knowing I was wearing an oxygen mask and having needles in my arm and no heartbeat. I ripped out the needles and the oxygen mask off then I looked at my arm. It was tiny, a stump where my hand was supposed to be. I sighed. "Kurama? Why is my arm so tiny?"

"Well, we traveled back in time, so we had to take a few years off and you are now a five year-old girl, because I am female, with a 17 year old male mind."

"If we can fix the war before it even started, then I'm good with this. Where am I?"

Sakumo stared as the girl sat up, ripped out the needles and the oxygen mask off, looked at her arm, then heaved a sigh. The Sandaime stood next to him in the girl's hospital room, and they were surrounded by nurses and a doctor who were all gaping in amazement as a little girl who they had bandaged the numerous wounds of heaved a sigh at pain. He was amazed at the fact she felt nothing at pain.

*Flashback*

Sakumo panted as he faced off against Chiyo, the old woman of the sand. His nakama were already down with relatively serious injuries. If he didn't hurry, some could die. He had two options. Escape with his nakama intact, and still have her catch them, or call for medical and kill the stubborn old kunoichi. He decided on the latter. He pressed his intercom and said, "Hatake Sakumo here, calling for a medical team on the border between the sand and the leaf."
Dodging one of the many puppets the baba had in her arsenal, he ran towards her, whipping out a tanto and stabbing Chiyo through the heart. Suddenly, a blast of wind and following, a loud sound like the the shrill scream of a fox. A golden spark of light appeared above them, spiraling downwards quickly, breaking the sound barrier three times before landing directly in between Chiyo and Sakumo. Sakumo was thrown back even more by the flash of light, and inside the golden glow he saw a girl child missing an arm and covered in numerous wounds. The golden light flared up into a flame, forming the shape of a fox, which yipped several times and bounced around, before diving into the girl. The golden flames disappeared, then chakra flared out. The golden chakra which should not have been visible turned into arms, reaching towards Chiyo and healing the once fatal wound instantly, leaving the woman unconscious from the near death moment. The girl's blue eyes reminded him much of Minato's, except slightly lighter, and her long blonde hair was the same golden as the chakra surrounding her. It was tied in two ponytails, one on either side of head, and three whisker marks lined her cheeks on either side as well. She was dressed in a ninja's standard clothing. The chakra arms surrounding her multiplied, grabbing the bodies of his teammates and healing them. She wavered and fell, landing face down, but the chakra arms still healing his nakama. He jumped and landed next to her, cautiously watching the injuries on her body, and also watching for hostility. When she did not react, he picked her up, loading her on his back. The chakra surrounded him, giving them both the aura of golden flames. He could feel his wounds closing, and his tiredness fading away. He marveled at the speed at which she healed the injuries. A poisoned cut was gone in an instant. As he leaped away, the chakra arms picked up his friends and continued to heal them, even while they were jumping through the trees.

*End*

He sighed. 'How troublesome.' He thought. And then he remembered, 'Crap, I'm starting to think like Shikaku.'

The little girl seemed to have stopped her internal conversation. She looked up and around the room. In a sweet little voice that carried wisdom and pain at the same time somehow, she asked, "Where am I?"

Kakashi sighed. He now knew why Tsunade had been so eager to pass the title on. Everywhere in the room was stacks of paperwork. He reached for the Fourth's picture. Naruto had said there was something hidden behind it. It blocked him, showing a faintly glowing seal, an Uzumaki seal, before the glow disappeared. He recognized it. It required blood to unlock. But whose?

"Sarutobi-sama, if I could ask permission to adopt the child? She would have Kakashi as a playmate. Besides, I find the girl interesting and I found her in the first place." Sakumo questioned the Sandaime. The old man puffed on his pipe, since they were outside, and replied, "Yes, but only after Inoichi scans the girl. Then we'll decide if the girl stays or not."

"Sandaime-sama, I am finished." The young man said in perfect timing. The Sandaime puffed on his pipe again, "Ahh, perfect. What did you find?"

"I could not find anything, Sarutobi-sama. Either the girl has a well-guarded mind, or she has memory loss. I suspect it is a well-guarded mind, as I found she had an actual mindscape, which is not possible unless they are of the Yamanaka clan or they have a highly-developed mind. The door to her memories is locked very tightly. When I questioned her verbally, she told me a little, and I repeat her words perfectly. 'I was in a war. Lots of my nakama died. When we won the war, I had to fight my best friend Sasuke, because we were in a temporary truce to fight a bigger enemy. He had been corrupted and turned for power from Ero-Snake so I fought him to bring him back. But this time, we each lost an arm. My parents were gone when I was born. They were shinobi too. I don't know what happened, but all of a sudden I was here.'"

Sakumo was shocked. Inoichi was slightly pale, and Sarutobi-sama had his mouth open, his pipe on the brink of falling. He coughed and closed his mouth. "Are you sure, Inoichi? Because that would make her a child soldier."

"She was. I confirmed with the doctors that the injuries she had could only be made by lightning and fire jutsus, specifically the Uchiha fire jutsus but some of the other jutsus are unknown." Sakumo thought for a moment. He could certainly see the advantages of child soldiers. Their minds were like rubber bands and would snap back. They were small and light. They would be undetectable and would be very useful. Nobody in their right mind would attack a child at that age. Sarutobi-sama turned to Sakumo. "Sakumo, are you sure you still want to adopt this child?"

"Yes. It'll be even better for her. Kakashi is very attentive and will probably get along with her." Sarutobi-sama nodded. "Fine then, I'll draw up the papers. Inoichi, what is the child's name?"

Inoichi gulped. "Uzumaki-Namikaze Sayuri."

Sarutobi-sama's eyes widened. "Uzumaki-Namikaze, you say? Well, that child is interesting. No child in the history of Konoha was Uzumaki-Namikaze. Minato was our first Namikaze."

Sasuke walked the streets of Konoha, wary of the many glances he knew where on him, most hostility, some confusion, the others wary. Kakashi had called him to the Hokage's office. He thought back to what Naruto had said. 'Sasuke, you are the key.' When he reached the building, he leaped up the roof and sidled through the open window. Kakashi sat at his desk, bent over stacks of paperwork. The wall which the Fourth's picture hung on was completely clear, and explosion burns and marks were visible surrounding it. "Oh, there you are, Sasuke. I think the key to the seal on the picture is your blood."

Sasuke sighed softly and bit his thumb, swiping it across the picture. It didn't touch, but the seal glowed where the blood had touched. The picture fell, and behind Sasuke could see a compartment with a hand carved box in it. He took out the box slowly, blowing on it to get rid of the dust. The top of the rough wood box was carved with a whirlpool. He held it out to Kakashi, who took the lid off. They were both surprised to see rows of differently colored and patterned letters, and a stack of pictures, the picture of Team Seven on top. Kakashi put the lid on the desk and pulled out a black letter that had blue writing. This one was addressed to Teme. Sasuke slid out another letter, this one with gold leaf. It was for Tsunade. They were letters to them.

"Where am I?" The question had hung in the air until the doctors and nurses filed out, one by one, and then a man, much like Ino, walked in. Then the jiji who looked like Kakashi-sensei and Oyaji Hokage left the room. The man who looked like Ino introduced himself as Yamanaka Inoichi and started to search my mind. He asked my name. I almost answered Uzumaki Naruto when Kurama told me, "You should change your name. Sayuri would be good. It means vengeful lily."

I thought for a moment, and answered, "Uzumaki-Namikaze Sayuri."

He asked me if I remembered anything, and I gave him a short summary.

"Kit. You shouldn't of told him that much. You're a five-year-old girl right now. He's probably freaked out of his mind."

'Oops, forgot about that.' I facepalmed at my own stupidity. Kurama spoke again. Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you earlier. We have until you're 17 again. That will give you twelve years. If we do this right, we can stay here. If we make a single wrong choice, everything is gone. That wrong choice would be to let Sasuke take out Naruto's heart. Never let them fight. Make sure that nothing bad happens to either."

"I got it." I smiled my signature I-got-this smile.

The door slid open and I looked up to see Oyaji with the man who was most likely the White Fang behind him. Oyaji nodded toward him, and the man knelt next to my bed, smiling softly at me, holding out a hand. "Hi, Sayuri-chan. I'm Hatake Sakumo. I have a little boy about your age. His name is Kakashi. Would you like to meet him?"

I nodded, and tenderly took his hand with my remaining arm.

"Naruto was an inspiration to us all. He bravely gave his life to bring the last Uchiha, and the strongest bloodline, back to the village. He died smiling, and happy. He always gave everything for the village, even though sometimes he could be a big prankster. Naruto smiled happiness into all of our hearts. He fought bravely against the Akatsuki, he brought back Tsunade-sama, he saved the village from Pain. He kept the entire shinobi world from dying. Even though we thought he was a monster at first. Even though we treated him badly at first. Even though we sealed the demon inside of him, he always smiled and laughed and gave us a sense of hope, by giving everything, even his life, to keeping this village alive. He was better than what we called him. He was better than a fool, a prankster, or a joker. He was a brave shinobi. He was the hero of the village. His greatest wish was to be Hokage, yes, but he has surpassed the level of Hokage. He is respected by the five kages, the five great countries, the shinobi whom he protected. He has passed, but he has left all of us with something, a life. He has given us life. He has given us a home. He has given us a place of happiness. He has given us the eyes to see another day. Uzumaki-Namikaze Naruto, will never be forgotten." Kakashi-sensei read off the paper that the Rookie Nine and Team Gai had written, with some interjections from Gaara and other people that Naruto had helped. He read it like he meant it. He read it like a Hokage worthy of taking the seat that Naruto would have gotten if he had not died. It rained. It rained, but a sun shined down on them. Naruto was being buried, buried next to his parents. Kakashi could almost see them smiling at the many people, holding hands.

I trailed behind Sakumo-san, trying to think of a nickname other than oyaji for him. His big hand was warm, even though it was scarred and callused. He spoke, "So, Sayuri-chan, how old are you?"

"I'm five." I replied, hating my kiddish tone, and pouting. Sakumo-san laughed. "When's your birthday?"

I flinched. Nobody had ever bothered or cared before, so I was unused to a person asking when my birthday was. When they found out, they generally ran away. In a tentative voice, I answered slowly. "October Tenth."

"Well then, happy late birthday, Sayuri-chan." Sakumo laughed at my shyness. I then realized that nobody knew what would happen October Tenth. Smiling happily, with a devilish smile in my head, I asked, "When's your birthday, Saki-chan?"

The living legend paled horrifically, almost to the point of Zetsu white, before blushing tomato red. Watching his reaction, I laughed, then chirped happily, resurrecting the old prankster side, "Saki-chan! Saki-chan! Saki-cha-"

A large hand was slapped over my mouth, with a large, red, and very embarrassed masked face leaning in front of me. "Please anything but that!" He hissed, steam coming out of his ears. "I'm a grown man!"

I mumbled a muffled sound behind his hand, and he obviously took that as a yes, because he sighed and took his hand away. Purposefully getting it wrong, I asked, "Old man?"
Cocking my head in an innocent sort of way, but with a devious smile on my face. "Sakumo-oji?"

"Gahh! I'm not old!" He blushed beet red when some people laughed at his expense. He whispered urgently, "Fine, fine, Saki-chan it is."

Grinning happily, I skipped ahead of him, yelling, "Saki-chan! Saki-chan!"

And we continued that all the way to his house.

Kakashi sneezed. He had been sneezing a lot lately. Maybe he was catching a cold from standing in the rain at Naruto's funeral. But it was Naruto's funeral. He wouldn't, couldn't of missed it for his life. Reaching into his Hokage's cloak, he pulled out the scroll from their first mission. On the back had been written his letter. It said,

"Kakashi,

If you ever read this, I'll probably be dead. I'm really glad I was in your team and I know you tried to hide it from me, but you always saw my father in me, though I took after my mother more in personality. I always loved you. I knew Hinata would be upset, disappointed, so I never showed it, out of fear of breaking her. I am more mature than you realize. I hope you'll forgive me for dying before you. Make sure you keep the others alive and don't be too late. Iruka is a good choice for you. I'll see you in the afterlife.

Naruto"

He sighed and tucked it back in. He still remembered his childhood days playing and training with a girl very much like Naruto, named Sayuri. But she had died, along with Rin and Obito. She had told him once how much she wanted to right the wrongs she had done, but she never got the chance. She had even named herself as she had been an orphan with only her parents last names. She named herself for a lily that meant "vengeance." He still loved her after all these years, his attraction to Iruka was only because his lingering feelings connected their personalities, happy, smiling, and protective. Well, she was gone now, and Naruto would want him to move on. So he would.

"Neji."

My eyes fluttered open. Blank whiteness surrounded me. So this is what heaven is like, I thought. I looked down. My chest was still had the remnants of blood, but I was no longer bleeding from the hole in my chest.

"Neji."

The voice called again. It was soft and gentle, like Hinata-sama's, but filled with wisdom and pain and weariness. I glanced around, not seeing anyone.

"Neji!"

She called again, more insistently. I stood, slowly turning in a circle. The voice sighed. "You have two choices. To go back into the world of living, where you will be given another chance at life, or to go on to meet your family."

A blackness opened behind me. Now I stood one foot in the white emptiness, the other foot in the black shadows. "But if you are brave of heart, walk forward, on the line, and live in the past, to help fix the world."

I steeled myself. This woman was giving me three choices. Though I guess not many took the past. I closed my eyes, and walked forward, into something warm, which quickly turned cold, and then pain. The blackness set in again and I was lost to the world, oblivious, dreaming of a better place.

"Kakashi! Tadaima!" Saki-chan called. A kid responded with, "Okaeri!"

I grinned. Inside my head I was screaming at the sound of kid Kakashi. I wonder what kid Kakashi would be like. Probably just as late. Kakashi came waltzing around the corner of the hallway, just as laidback and cool as ever. I wonder how he managed that as a kid. I held onto Saki-chan's pant leg, scared he would recognize me. "Maa, dad. Will you spar with me?"

Saki-chan looked rather nervous, and I knew he didn't want to. "Nope, not today. Today I have someone special with me. She's going to be your sister."

He tugged me out from behind him and set me down in front of Kakashi. I squirmed under his vision. Saki-chan walked around and patted us both on our heads, ruffling Kakashi's hair and smoothing mine. He smiled. "I hope you get along!"

I squirmed a little more, then I spoke. "I'm Uzumaki-Namikaze Sayuri. I'm five."

"Kakashi, also five." Kakashi shook my outstretched hand.

Suddenly, a blast of wind knocked us both apart. A cloud of dust bloomed in the air. A few seconds later, I heard Saki-chan coughing and stumbling around. I slowly got up, balanced precariously on a rock. Saki-chan must have found the door, because a moment later, a convenient breeze blew in and away went the dust cloud. In the middle was a beautiful, glowing red flower bud. I watched, entranced, as it slowly opened up to reveal Neji, but this time he had red streaks throughout his once brown hair, accenting it to a fiery brown like rust. Fox ears like the ones I currently hid poked out of his hair and a rusty red fox tail poked out the back of his clothes. His forehead was had no protector on and I could see he was free of the Caged Bird Seal. And it looked like he was a girl too now, as he was wearing a kimono patterned with tsubaki flowers and his hair was longer now as well. He looked older though, and more mature, with breasts which I enviously stared at. He, well she now, sat up slowly and yawned, rubbing her eyes free of sleep. I made a split second decision. Quickly releasing my genjutsu, I bounded over to Neji and cried, "Tsubaki-nee-san!"

I could feel she was shocked but patted my head soothingly anyway. Raising my head to her cheek, I urgently whispered, "I made my name into a girl's, Uzumaki-Namikaze Sayuri. Just play along, please!"

She/he urgently whispered back, "Why Tsubaki?!"

"Because you're wearing a kimono patterned with tsubaki flowers and you're a girl now!" I fake-sobbed into her shoulder. She sighed and I assumed she was playing along, because I could feel both Kakashi's and Saki-chan's chakra signature relaxing. For a moment, I just sobbed into my "nee-san's" shoulder, letting out the previous feelings of loneliness and sadness at what I had worked so hard to achieve was gone. Then suddenly, there was a bump and we were tipped out of the flower, shocking me out of the tears. "Okay, enough with the tears."

Saki-chan sniffled. I sniffled once into Tsubaki/Neji's shoulder. I turned to face Kakashi and Saki-chan. Saki-chan was tearful, probably at the fact of a genjutsu he was not aware of and the fact that I had called Neji/Tsubaki my sister. Kakashi was looking up at the hole in the ceiling. Seeing that, I guessed Neji/Tsubaki looked up behind me. I heard a muttered, "Did I do that?"

"Yes, you did." Sniffled Saki-chan. "Where are we gonna stay now? And now we have a new girl."

"Stop sniffling, you're an old man, Saki-chan." I grinned, and said, "It's going to be easy to fix. Just get me some wood."