Hello, stranger who found this fanfiction. It kind of starts in the middle. Well, it's the story's beginning but the last Cycle written. Yet. First of a maybe series. Find out more at the end.
Terminology:
Cyclist: A person who repeatedly gets born into different worlds.
Cycle: One life for a Cyclist.
Can Cycle: Cycle with canon story and next to no changes. It doesn't matter what time it starts.
Trick Cycle: Cycle with story differences, small or big. They have to be noticeable.
Mix Cycle: Cycle with two or more stories somehow combined. Crossover.
That's it. For now... Enjoy!
CYCLE 227 001:
Can Cycle, Naruto.
Two years.
Once again two years before her memories properly started working. She was lucky her birth was never remembered, a newborn's brain not able to comprehend immortal's, or even teen's memories. It was always this state of half awareness, half oblivion. Only feelings and a jumbled mess of mixed understanding and déjà vu.
And love.
Always love for those who raised her from a helpless baby. Or fear and confusion if no one did. Usually it was the first, which was lucky.
Anyway, it was just a few weeks or months after her second birthday that things started to look clear again, she started to realize exactly who she was and where and what. It was slow, as always, but finally her memories of past lives and the déjà vu started making sense. Her hair was pink. It was a fact she had subconsciously known for a long time. And known that it meant something significant. Her eyes were bright green. Another fact that she knew meant a lot. And her parents called her Sakura. That was a big give away right there but she just couldn't bring herself to focus so much to remember. Yeah, at two years old her memories started to make sense but all feelings she had didn't seem to care too much. Her attention span was so small. But then, at three they mellowed out a bit so the memory and her true identity could push through. Yup. At three she could remember almost fully. Her parents said she was a surprisingly mature child with strong intuition (not in so many 'big' words) and were very proud of her. She herself remembered being an adult and that this was completely familiar. Normal. She had been in this situation more times that she would ever want to count, which was saying something as in one boring and unhealthy Cycle she'd counted stars up to six thousand seventy nine million willingly. If asked, she had a right to be mature with a lot of lives lived and remembered. Though it probably wasn't more than two hundred thousand something as it had been a while since she last checked.
But anyway. She was Haruno Sakura again.
Yes. Again.
She had been reborn into Naruto the manga/anime series for the fourth or fifth or nth time as Sakura. Actually, Sakura was the one she had been in her very first Cycle. It had been awful. Very, very awful to know she could very well die again after her first rather gruesome death via serial murderer. She could only thank her lucky stars that her life had actually turned out okay. Then she'd died again, but peacefully to be reborn again into some other child from another place she knew. That had been the first time she was Hermione Granger. Imagine her surprise when Rina, Sakura's inner self and her other or first self, had followed her to the next universe. That had been even more of a surprise than Inner Sakura's existence in the first place. Speaking of which…
'Rina? You awake?'
There was an incoherent mumble from inside her head. Sakura wanted to roll her eyes but her uncontrollable emotions made her pout and frown. Rina probably wanted to sleep 'five more minutes' which equaled to five months. Oh well. A lot of time for her to find Drew and Frisk. Her siblings.
They were triplets, kinda. Since Cycle 5 066.
It was her seventh Undertale Trick Cycle where it was only one universe, not a Mix, but some things or many things were different. There Frisk, the child with Determination had two triplet siblings… and their Soul had been shared between the trio. Basically her soul had been… split or copied… triplicated, for the lack of a better word. The parts of her Soul developed their own personalities, Drew as a brave and outgoing boy, her, Trace, as a knowledgeable mature girl and Frisk as their middle, filled with Determination, a blend of them both but not really one to speak much. At least verbally. A habit still not entirely broken. And still they all had been able to act as each other and confuse people by their entirely too similar appearances. It was very fun. Her other halves didn't get the information about her other lives, so it had been a total surprise when they had ended up together into the next Cycle, not siblings this time but all reborn in the same universe. It only took a short while to understand who the others were and a teary reunion was in order. They decided to nickname, or codename, themselves with their first names from the time they were born as triplets, Andrew, shortly Drew, Francis, shortly Frisk, and Tracy, shortly Trace. Since then Cycles were much easier to bear and much, much more fun.
So. Narutoverse. They were probably the trio of Team Seven.
She was the girl, as it… almost always was. Those far in-between times when she was a he were a little strange for her. Drew was usually a boy. He had loudly complained about being a girl the first time that had happened and adopted tomboy tendencies. It didn't bother Frisk or Trace at all. Frisk was a perfect blend and was a boy as much as a girl. He/she (or they) loved it. This time both of Trace's siblings were probably boys if this wasn't a Trick Cycle. Or a Mix Cycle. Those were possible too.
However, she was fairly sure this was a normal Canon Cycle. Shortly Can Cycle.
Ah. It was fun to come up with those names.
So she was Sakura, and if she had to guess then Drew was Naruto and Frisk posed Sasuke. A meeting with them would have to be held as soon as possible. So.
"Mommy, Daddy, can I go to the park?"
Her mother and father glanced at their daughter, then at each other, and back at the three year old. Lady Haruno smiled sweetly.
"Yes, sweetie. Just be careful and come back for dinner"
Had she ever mentioned how much she loved the Hidden Villages' fast independence policies?
xXXx
Sasuke wanted out of the Uchiha compound. Again. Itachi was a bit baffled by his brother's insistence to go to that specific park to play but easily complied when he had time. Other times his mother would take him. But he wanted to go there every day.
It was a bit strange.
Yes, he played in the sandbox and the jungle gym and how did he end up in that tree? ...But it was almost like he was waiting for someone.
Then one day a pink haired girl with bright green eyes happily ran into the park when Sasuke and Itachi were just arriving and his little brother stopped to watch. The pinkette ran straight to the jungle gym and proceeded to get straight on the top, which worked surprisingly swiftly. There she stood and turned her head around before stopping on Sasuke. Her eyes seemed to light up and she wiggled down just as his little brother looked up to him for silent approval to go, and when it was given he ran straight in front of the green eyed girl. They stood opposite each other for a short while, Itachi watching on with bafflement, and then the pinkette smiled blindingly.
"I'm Sakura! Wanna play tag?"
His usually quiet brother nodded with enthusiasm.
"I'm Sasuke. Can I be it?"
And with that short introduction the two were all over the place, climbing trees, running under, over, and on top of fences, through bushes and in the jungle gym. Itachi watched on, bemused at how fast they became friends. He couldn't say he knew much about small children's interaction but he wasn't entirely sure if it should be that fast.
Then Sasuke stopped, called for Sakura and ran towards his big brother with the girl on his heels. He turned to his new friend and gestured to Itachi.
"This is my Itachi-niisan"
Sakura looked him over and gave a bright smile, "Nice to meet you! My name is Haruno Sakura", she did a little polite bow.
Itachi bowed back and the two children glanced at each other mischievously. The Uchiha prodigy understood what it was the moment his brother reached out and touched his leg, only to bolt with Sakura screaming 'You're it!' as they went. The older Uchiha heir chuckled and easily started after the two friends, not nearly at the speeds he normally used but enough to give the kids their fun.
It was… strange for his brother to make a friend so fast but not necessarily bad. Especially if she could make him laugh like that.
xXXx
Sakura snuck out of her house.
Her civilian parents had fallen asleep early that day (which had nothing to do with the powder their little girl had slipped in their tea) and would sleep deeply until morning. Why she was sneaking out? Easy. She was the only one who could slip out to see if Naruto really was Drew. Sasuke had a whole compound to get out of and a big brother who basically always knew where his little sibling was. Overprotective, but that might be a good thing with the boy being a clan heir. Naruto wouldn't be able to sneak out from the orphanage alone and it was a horrible place. Trace had been a girl version of him once or twice. Which was why she was going to save him now. For a short while at least.
The small three year old dashed through alleys and over some fences towards her destination, all the while avoiding, or trying to, the shinobi and ANBU. It was only luck that they'd been in Narutoverse many times, so many times as to remember very easily how to be a sensor and how to hide your chakra. Jutsus were possible too, but those weren't really powerful at all. Many times even impossible for a child's chakra levels. Levels that were abnormally high for thousands of years old spirits as spiritual energy was a large part of the chakra available. Their physical portion lacked considerably with how small they were. Naruto had even larger and harder to control chakra pools. It was only the adaptability honed over hundreds of Cycles that any of the trio could do just fine with them. It was just a… little harder for a three year old with Naruto's reserves. Trace loved sarcasm.
That was actually another reason Sakura was the best for operation rescue Naruto/Drew. She had almost perfect chakra control even as a little kid, if you had a mind that had been through Narutoverse too many times to count. That meant treewalking on walls gecko style was possible. Which meant easy access to the orphanage's second floor.
Speaking of, it was right there.
Sakura hid behind a dumpster and let her senses wander over it, looking for the familiar chakra signature. She found it and grinned. Definitely Drew if he was doing push-ups. That boy hated feeling weak. Unfortunately he couldn't get enough food for muscles to grow. And that's what Sakura was fixing right then. Checking for unwanted company she quickly and quietly made her way to the orphanage's fence and snuck over it like a shadow. It was a cloudy night and a child's vision was quite sharp so the dark didn't bother much. Just to be safe she channeled a trickle of her chakra into her eyes and went for the wall under Naruto's window. Once again checking her surroundings she put her hands instinctively on the wall and channeled chakra through them. A small smirk. This was easy as pie. Quickly climbing up to a smallish window and giving a light knock she took her mother's hairpin and picked it. Little hands struggled it open from the other side and Sakura grinned at him. There was an answering grin and her backpack was handed over, full of food supplies and a notebook. There also was a seal that would make a slight genjutsu to hide the pack, a little gift the girl had made with her annoyingly clumsy calligraphy skills (the body of a three year old had butterfingers). Blue and green eyes made eye contact and they put their foreheads together, something Sakura and Sasuke had done yesterday. A link was formed between the two with a little chakra and mind work. All done, Sakura climbed down with her unusually agile three year old body and slipped back into the streets. She'd make her next delivery the day after tomorrow.
xXXx
'Are you finally awake?'
'...?'
'You are!'
Sakura giggled heartily and then flopped into a sitting position and slipped inside her mind. She found herself standing in a giant tree with sunlight shining through a chandelier made from leaves, wine branches and amber colored rosin droplets. It was a big hall like place that had many doors and stairs to different places, one which the girl was already running towards. The wooden door with swirly patterns was flung open as the pinkette rushed in and jumped at another pink haired girl rubbing at her eyes tiredly. Both fell on top of a giant princess bed, the one tackled releasing a grunt. Sakura hugged Rina with all of her might and started babbling.
"Guess what, guess what! We're Sakura again!"
To empathize the point she sat up and threw her small arms wide. The girl who could practically be her identical twin smiled up sleepily though it was swiftly giving way to awareness.
"Hope I didn't sleep too long then"
Her 'outer' self pouted, "Five months of waking up"
Both stayed like that for a long second before bursting out in laughter. They snickered for a moment, Sakura rolling out of bed and on the floor before straightening.
"Should we call a meeting? It's night"
Rina thought for a moment before nodding and smirking, "Wanna play clones?"
The answering smirk was enough for Trace's inner self.
xXXx
The 'meeting' room was a giant library across from their bedroom door. It had many, many bookshelves spiraling out from the center where a round table was sitting innocently, four seats around with two occupied. Sasuke and Naruto were sent a message by focusing on the link made between them and calling out. It didn't take too long for the two to arrive in Trace's mindscape with meditation. The duo took one look at their sister and soulmate with her inner before groaning.
"Seriously, Trace? Seriously?", the blonde Drew said in exasperation.
The two girls cocked their heads to one side in perfect sync. They were smiling identically.
"Yup!", came as if from one mouth.
Frisk was left shaking his head mutely, "This is going to be a thing, isn't it?"
Sakura and Rina, or Rina and Sakura (who could tell?), looked thoughtful for a second before nodding happily. Their brothers and soulmates groaned and one ran a hand through his hair before sighing.
"Whatever. Are we doing something special this time?"
Ah. Oh how I love acting childishly when I'm a child, thought Sakura, satisfied.
xXXx
"Ne, Sasuke? Do you think we can save your clan this time?", asked Sakura, draped across his stomach and reading books on the Uchiha compound's grass.
The boy opened one eye and looked calculating before closing it again and discreetly nodding. With that Sakura knew it would be worth it too. This Uchiha clan wasn't as corrupt as some others they'd run into. She turned the page and studied squirrel anatomy before sending a telepathic questioning wave to the boy under her, asking how they'd go about it this time. The leaf exercising Uchiha (twenty leaves slowly moving across his arms) contemplated it for a second before responding.
"Prodigies?"
Sakura thought about it, biting her lip and then shrugged. It was always a bit of a hassle to be ones but they got more ground than simple or average children.
"I'll ask 'Ruto", she finally said, knowing he'd probably say yes.
A team of prodigies it was then.
xXXx
A plate crashed to the kitchen floor and shattered.
"Sakura-chan! Wha- How-?", her mother was gaping at her toddler who was sitting crossed legged on the ceiling, fingers tracing a lamp curiously.
The pink haired kid gave a start and yelled out in surprise as her legs fell. Instinctively the girl stuck her chakra coated hands into the ceiling and sheepishly looked down to her mother who had rushed forward the moment she thought her child was going to crack her head open.
"S- sorry Mom. I 'ust wanted to see the lamp"
Her mother numbly reached out and Sakura allowed herself to fall into her arms. The shards on the floor were completely forgotten as Haruno Mebuki walked over to their living room and slumped on their green sofa. She looked the child over for injuries and not finding any only gaped at her.
"Sakura, how did you do that, sweetie? Where did you learn?"
The pink haired girl played with the hem of her dress nervously.
"I saw ninja doin' it and wanted to try myself. It worked. The energy inside me is easy to manipulate. Then I taught Sasuke-kun", she peeked at her golden haired mother, "Are you angry?"
Her mother blinked at the wide vocabulary but passed it on to her child reading many books. Then she smiled down at her and ruffled the soft pink locks of hair.
"No, I'm not angry. That's amazing, Sakura-chan!", then her expression got more serious, "…Do you want to become a ninja? Is that why you wanted to walk on walls?"
The child seemed to brighten up, "Sasuke-kun is going to be one and I wanna be one too!", she paused, "Is it okay?"
Mabuki stared at the little girl for a moment before smiling sadly but with encouragement. She stroked her cheek gently.
"Yes. It's okay. When you're a little older we can see about letting you go into the Academy. Kizashi is going to love this!", the woman gushed and then finally remembered the glass shards littered all over the kitchen. She sighed and set her daughter on the couch next to her.
"Play here for a while, okay? I'll go clean up that mess"
Sakura beamed, "Yea'!"
She watched her mother go for a little while before turning to the wall and climbing up again. It was so fun. But her extra large for a three year old chakra reserves weren't going to last her more than half an hour. Anyway, she had the first part of the 'becoming prodigy' down. It was a great accomplishment.
I wonder how the others are doing…
xXXx
"Itachi-niisan!"
Sasuke's enthusiastic voice came from above his head. The prodigy looked up to see his little brother hanging upside down from a tree with nothing but the soles of his feet.
"Ain't it cool? Sakura-chan taught me!"
Itachi stared for a long moment, brain trying to decide if this was real. Finally when Sasuke had started to look a bit nervous he snapped out of it and congratulated him. Sasuke beamed at the praise. Itachi thought of Sakura who supposedly taught his brother this shock inducing trick.
Looks like I've got two little prodigies to look after.
xXXx
Naruto looked at the orange ball he had 'accidentally' kicked to the orphanage's roof.
He looked around. No one was watching. Right now, that is. He took a deep breath and stalked to the wall and started climbing like a lizard. He reached the ball in no time and started coming back down, one hand around the ball and other keeping him straight as he shuffled his legs in a backwards walk. A teacher screamed. Naruto got startled from his concentration and fell the last meter to the ground. No one came to check if he was okay, only shuffled back in fear. He stood up awkwardly, holding the ball to his chest. The day continued somewhat normally, only the caretakers were a bit more wary around him.
The Third Hokage got an interesting report from the ANBU guarding the small jinchuuriki that day.
xXXx
The trio of children looked each other over curiously. Well, Naruto looked Sasuke and Sakura over and vice versa as the raven haired boy and pinkette already knew each other.
Of course, no one in the Hokage's office knew they were only pretending.
It took only a few minutes for the almost four year old Sakura to glomp the yellow sunshine haired blonde, exclaiming how he was her friend now and no take backs. Sasuke locked eyes with the bewildered child and shrugged helplessly.
"Well, if Sakura's your friend then I'm too. My name is Uchiha Sasuke, but call me Sasuke", he introduced politely.
He got a beaming smile over the pinkette's shoulder, "I'm Uzumaki Naruto! Nice to meet you, Sasuke!"
With that the fake introduction was over, Mebuki's eyes wide over the fact that her daughter was hugging… wait. Was this kid really that demon fox? He didn't look it. Or act like it. More like a child than anything.
She let herself give him the benefit of doubt.
As for Sasuke's mother, she was watching with warm eyes as her's and Kushina's children declared each other friends. That there was a girl in the group to keep them in line was a definite plus. The group of 'prodigies' were to be sent to the Academy this year.
The trio grinned at each other secretly. It was going to be a bit… hectic for everyone involved once they got going.
xXXx
It was a test. Clone Naruto lifted his hand.
"Sensei, we haven't been taught about Konoha's founding yet"
"Oh? You probably just missed it. Continue. No more questions", said the teacher back.
Sakura's clone 'tsk'ed. Prejudice. Should've remembered. Well, no matter. Endure. They had a nice training session going on near the forest right now. They just had to graduate early and get apprenticeships to those who would properly teach them.
Not that they needed it for more than looks.
xXXx
The massive chakra beast residing in certain blonde's seal twitched as he heard sounds coming from the sewers that were Naruto's mindscape. Red eyes opened and teeth bared he listened to what appeared to be talking coming closer to his cage.
" -massive you -ve to-", said a young boy's voice, echoing in the empty space as water splashed.
"Eww! You- -change aga- -Gross!", exclaimed another small voice as a big splash was heard.
Two voices laughed lightly. It was getting on Kurama's nerves. Was his jailer coming to visit? The hatred flared as the being grinned evilly. He would get a welcome he'd never forget. Especially if he'd brought… friends.
Whatever the nine tailed fox was expecting it wasn't three kids, one blonde, one pinkette (seriously?) and a raven haired Uchiha. Even less he was expecting the pink hair to smile- smile!? -up at him and say:
"Hello, fellow immortal being!"
It takes a lot to surprise someone who has lived so long. These brats managed it within the first two seconds of knowing them. And it makes him angry because there's no way what the little girl just said is true. They are small and fragile and human and HE HATES HUMANS AND THEIR LIES. Letting out a vicious growl and letting the chakra water in the sewers rise he expects the children to drown and scream but neither happen. Instead they stand on the whirling water and seem to enjoy themselves and it makes his ire even stronger.
"Kurama-sama. Please hear us out", says the Uchiha and it makes him pause because where did he learn that name.
Then all of their appearance changes to that of three identical young adults with different clothes, one female, a male and… both? Triplets, his mind provides. That doesn't really make sense and his curiosity is peaked. He humors the trio and lets the water calm and collapse. The two (one maybe) males are now flanking the female as she smiles up at him knowingly.
"My name is Trace and these are my siblings, Drew and Frisk. We've been caught in a reincarnation cycle thousands of times and all of us have kept our memories. The thing is, we always end up in different dimensions than our last. Sometimes we get to parallel universes and other times just born as different people then last time. Once in a while it's a repeat. This one is", she explained and let Drew take over.
"Which means we've already met you and become friends. This time we wanted to get to know you early. It's rare to talk to someone who has lived long enough for us to compare it"
"So we got some memories from that you and were wondering if you'd like them…?", finished Frisk as a question.
Trio of hopeful faces looked up to him. Kurama felt closer to floored at this moment than the entirety of his existence. They looked genuine and felt genuinely hopeful but they were still humans. Liars. Promise breakers.
Trace gave him a too innocent smile, "Just as a small warning: you wanted us to force the memories into you if you refused"
Drew chuckled, "Something about being a mistrustful jerk"
Frisk only lifted the palms of their hands towards Kurama and smiled. The mindscape was a fun place. You could use any and every skill you can remember and the trio's arsenal was huge. They had a whole section of their futuristic/magical mind library labeled for their skill lists. This one counted as memory transfer.
Kurama laughed loudly, "Fools! As if I would fall for your simple tricks! I am-"
Frisk shot the beast with a memory beam worth a couple timelines and alternate universes. Instant attitude change.
"-an annoying, hateful and sometimes so stupid fox. Took you long enough, kids"
The trio fist bumped. A moment of silent celebrating. Then Kurama broke the silence.
"Uhh, hate to bother you, but could you make this place more… livable. The sewers are disgusting"
Frisk and Trace turned to 'Naruto' who looked like someone had just smacked him in the face with a fish. He chuckled sheepishly and started reconstructing the mindscape.
xXXx
'Rinaa~ I'm bored!'
'Deal with it'
Sakura lifted her head from the desk and whined mentally.
'Don't wanna!'
'Deal with it'
Pouting the little girl closed her eyes and switched. An instant later Rina was left blinking at a blackboard with a history lesson ongoing. Her eye twitched.
'YOU DIRTY CHEATER!'
Only giggling was her answer. The pink haired girl frowned in annoyance but relented. If her double wanted a break she'd get one. Why did they spend so much chakra in yesterday's training again? It felt stupid in retrospect as now they couldn't make the long lasting shadow clone.
A mumbled thank you echoed through her mind.
Then again, she would do almost anything for her outer self. She was her after all.
xXXx
The trio graduated in one year. They were almost five. A little over three years until Uchiha massacre. Sakura hugged her siblings close to her as they celebrated. The next day they would get Kakashi's graduation test. And would 'totally rule it' as Drew put it.
xXXx
Yup. Ruled it.
The trio were grinning at their young and new sensei who was blinking at them with barely disguised wonder. He definitely wasn't expecting such kids. They hadn't managed to get the bells. It would've been too suspicious. Over half the techniques they knew weren't written anywhere or couldn't be acquired. They wanted to be prodigies but not that much prodigies.
What they had managed was trick him again and again, use many different strategies, level the training ground a little bit, tie him up once, throw barriages of kunai and shuriken accurately, make it rain superglue… need they go on? Basically they took the word teamwork and added themselves. The result was spectacular. And impossible on so many levels hidden so well almost no one could see it wasn't possible.
Ah, well. Kakashi had better get used to the three.
xXXx
Training was… boring.
Don't get them wrong, it was all fine and dandy to get themselves up to shape, but the theory and strategy exercise… they knew it already, having lived through it multiple times.
"'Kashi-sensei, can we do som'thin' else?", whined a bored Naruto.
A negative. Trio of groans.
Half an hour later the young silver haired man was scratching his head and wondering if the three little kids knew the stuff already, shrugged, and allowed them to train their bodies. One of the most annoying things they had to do when growing up again. But fun in the form of ninja training they did. Taijutsu, and hide 'n seek tag, ninja style. Plus stretching exercises. Sakura's favourite. She loved being an acrobat.
Sasuke was, of course, the fastest in taijutsu. Again. Naruto was the strongest, and Sakura agile and the quickest.
Kakashi was proud. And liked them. Which was a definite plus.
Hmm. They should use the time to make a rune-slash-fuinjutsu-slash-alchemy memory transfer circle so they could have their Kakashi. Sasuke made a note to say it to the others. Knowing Sakura, she'd have stashes of half ready plans already.
(He was right, and the circle was done in a month)
xXXx
"Psst!", Kakashi jerked awake, weapon in hand and turned to his window. Three pairs of eyes peered inside, all of them upside down. One black, one blue and one green. The weapon fell to his side as he deadpanned.
"What?", his flat voice asked. It was the middle of the night.
Sakura beckoned him to come, Naruto pointed at the lock on his window, and Sasuke jerked his head to the right, in that order. It was creepy. Like they knew what the others thought. The young man knew it was important, though. He was out the window and heading for the forest with them in seconds. A clearing. With a… what. It was… fuinjutsu. But not. The symbols and shapes weren't… right. And there were some things in fuinjutsu. Actually, a lot. But he didn't understand even a quarter of those.
All the evidence pointed to the trio making it.
"Uhh… what", he said again.
And the circle started to glow. And then he remembered. Multiple other lives were flashing in his eyes and their teacher took a more familiar lazy stance.
"Yo!", a cheerful eye-smile, "You got older"
He was immediately tackled by three small figures.
"Younger, dummy. Younger", protested Naruto warmly.
"Maa, maa. Are you… Frisk?"
Whack, "I'm Drew"
"Sorry, sorry!", he didn't sound sorry.
"I missed you~!", singsonged Trace.
Sasuke's dark head was buried in his stomach as he nodded. The silver haired man chuckled. A quiet moment.
"...You should erase that circle"
Whack, "Mood killer!", protested Trace.
"More like professional mood killer", mumbled Drew.
Frisk only shook his head at his siblings. They seemed to conveniently forget the man in front of them was a real killer. An assassin. Not that they were any better. Even if they didn't like killing.
They still got to work, Kakashi helping while commenting on good handiwork and asking stuff.
It was a good night.
xXXx
It was a dark night. The moon didn't care to share its light and the forest had no lamps to make it more manageable. Everyone knew it wasn't just them in the silence, tough. Danzo had too many guards for that.
They could've just asked Kakashi to teleport them with his Sharingan but that would be overkill.
As if they already weren't.
Sasuke slipped through the wall with Sakura and Naruto right behind them. They didn't even leave a chakra signature behind. Which simply should. not. work. But they had made it work. All of them were dressed in white as they imitated Kaitou Kid from DC universe… or was it MK? They couldn't be sure. Whatever. No one would get the joke. Not here.
Anyway, they continued their journey easily, having Naruto sniff out the direction. With more than just his nose, mind you. As in mind. He was using telekinetic chakra waves while hiding his chakra.
Again, it was impossible to anyone else but Cyclists.
They pretended to be ninja while being ninja and avoided everyone easily. A bit too easily. The first time they did this they'd been busted immediately. That Cycle's end was bad.
But right now they had a self imposed mission.
It would help prevent the Massacre as well as save two dear friends, whose memory fuinjutsu/alchemy circles Trace had finished constructing. Unfortunately, this Cycle was one where it was infinitely more complicated than normally. It was one of those where it was almost impossibly hard to combine universes. Which was why restoring Kakashi's memories had been so complicated.
Naruto signed for them to stop and turn right. Which they did, trusting him utterly and completely.
It was what they were looking for. A dark gray door. A door that didn't stand out from the other dark gray doors. Sasuke flicked his wrist and opened it. And dismantled the seals on it too. He wasn't as passionate about them as Sakura but having her as his sister meant you knew at least the 'normally possible to achieve' things. They were shown the sight of several startled children. Only two had their special attention. One five-year-old and the other seven. One with black hair and white skin, one with silvery blue hair and normal tan. Naruto grinned happily and grabbed the two just as Sasuke and Sakura steered the others towards the exit and their temporary teleport circle. The one that went to Kakashi who was waiting to lead them somewhere safe.
Naruto, though, he pulled the two in a Hiraishin and dropped into a clearing where two more complicated sealing/alchemy/whatever-else circles were and immediately pushed chakra into them. Trace had worked miracles again and Sai and Shin gained at least seven lives worth of memories. The circles stopped glowing and the brothers laid on the ground, a bit dazed, before Sai sat up and gave him a glare.
"That was a harsh wake up. Explain it to the other me first!"
Shin groaned, pushing himself on his elbows and grinned, "Oh, I'm just glad they bothered"
Naruto scratched the back of his head apologetically.
"Sorry, sorry. We just want to bust Danzo before he kills the Uchihas. You guys are more ideal for that then us three"
Both of them got interested gleams in their eyes. The duo just didn't change. Beating Danzo was always a motivation for them. That, and they were friends who were loyal. Like the triplets were to those they considered friends.
Actually, that might be why the two were loyal.
Ah, well, they didn't have that much time to think as Trace and Frisk arrived and the whole thing descended into a group hug. Drew liked cuddles as much as they did, but did they have to do it every time someone gained a few sets of memories?
"Um, shouldn't we clean this up", he pointed out.
Trace and Shin looked horrified, "He's turning into Kakashi!"
Frisk just raised an eyebrow and Sai snorted. Drew pouted but didn't disengage from the hug.
They would get the planning done soon.
xXXx
Team Seven was sent on a mission. A patrol mission. They kinda discretely manipulated the system to give it to them.
With a few otherworldly tricks but let's not mention that.
The point was, they got back to the Hokage's office with even more discretion and two more children. Sai and Shin. Who acted like they'd escaped from ROOT and Danzo. Which got the Third to the loop of what exactly his old friend had been doing from the shadows. And put kinda all of the old War Hawk's plans in jeopardy. Sai and Shin would be cooped up inside for a few months but the Uchiha Massacre's threat was almost non-existent.
That, in turn, was mostly because what just happened but also because Sasuke had been running around and being adorable at socializing with Sakura, Itachi and Shisui. That made many wary glances disappear and rekindled some sort of companionship between clans.
All in all, the Cyclists had succeeded. If there were no surprises. And even then, they had millions of years worth of experience.
xXXx
So. Cycle 227 001. No, I have not written that many. Right now this is the only ready one. I have a few others but not one is complete. Yet. This is a kind of introduction to Eternal Cycles. I'll put more up when they get written, though that might take a while. This is the first of the so called series that I'll be publishing on my profile.
The idea for these can be found in my other story, 'FanFic Ideas'. I know. Super unoriginal. But at least it gets the message across. Right? ...Right.
NEXT CYCLE GETS PUBLISHED ON MY PROFILE SOMETIME IN THE FUTURE! ...I think.
Anyway: Thanks for reading and I hope you liked it!
Sincerely,
Fiobri (and her Mysterious brother)