Notes: Naruto and respective characters are the brainchild of Kishimoto and property of Shounen Jump™ etc. Blu/Deis is property of Capcom©. Senjuu Tobame and Tsukemono Konbu are Original characters. This story is in answer to the challenge of InsanityLord here on ffnet, profile 1036185. Please visit his page.

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An anguished roar emanated through the shinobi village of Konoha. It was a familiar bark to the older people of the village, a terrifying quake of a roar that demanded blood. It had taken blood in spades many times over when the Kyuubi no Kitsune had attacked the village the first time. But now that its former host lay bleeding, dwarfed at its feet, there was a rage as none before had ever seen.

"You.... you are... free..." the Rokudaime Hokage choked between coughs of blood. The handsome blond was approaching death's door and a sadness swept through his gleaming blue eyes. 'That it would come to this...' His heart bled an emotional river that none in the chaos could fathom as he held up a hand, reaching for the red-furred paw of the demon that once slept within him. "Kyuubi...!"

Seeming as though the creature shared pain with the dead Hokage, the beast roared and a paw swiftly came down on the offending ninja who had seconds ago thrown the kunai which ended his life.

In the midst of this turmoil, the shinobi of the village ran around in a panicked state as the enemy ninja of Lightning, Water and Earth flooded the village. They were other roars to the Kyuubi's enraged howls as the tails of other great beasts emerged from the crimson twilight. It gave an eerie glow to Shikaku of the One Tail, and the other tail beasts. This, was where it would all end. It would all end.

Senjuu Tobame wept silently as he knelt by his sensei's dead body. He turned the blond over gently and closed his eyes a final time. "It's not fair...." he sobbed. The shinobi was overcome with grief and fear as a giant blood-red eye zeroed in on him. 'You...' it said to his mind, and suddenly all went white.

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Life... Death... It is a cycle that cannot be broken in this world. It is meaningless to those who have left behind their mortal shackles Tobame. Konoha is destroyed, or it was, or it will be. A disembodied voice filled the void in Senjuu's mind as he fought to find some ground on which to stand. The white void encompassed him, but a charcoal black vision seemed to enter in like a pinpoint in the nothingness before him. In it, Konoha was utterly demolished by the power of the 9 demons. It was clear that nobody escaped, were they from the Alliance of 3 Elements or from Konoha itself. Without Namikaze Naruto... Yes. Konoha's fate was always tethered to him.

Finally, he found his voice, "Who are you?" The Leaf ninja asked at last, unsure of his own voice. 'Am I dead?'

Suddenly, he was standing on a solid marble floor. He was in a palacial room with arched windows and alabaster pillars etched with intricate carvings at their bases. Much of the place was accented with gold, but the whiteness of the marble and the black obsidian stones used in its construction were hard on the eyes. Seeking something else to look to, he found an ornate red carpet leading to a dais on which stood a woman with blue hair and pupiless blue eyes. If it weren't for the color, they could have been Hyuuga eyes. She was not entirely human as the lower half of her body was that of a snake. Her eyes smiled laughingly at him as if he should know her. Why are you so troubled? the recognizably female voice asked.

There was still a weight on the young Jounin's heart, a weight he wished not to bear. "I... The battle... Sensei... They're all... we lost..."

"That's right. You are human after all." The deity finally vocalized and motioned for him to approach. He approached automatically, his body responding while his brain sat vacant while the stranger shuffled a deck of cards. Somehow, she reminded him of Tsunade. "To you, you have only just witnessed the destruction of Konoha... but... that can all be changed." the naga said in a soft but uncaring tone, as if it were simple as snapping one's fingers.

"Again, miss, who are you?" Tobame asked.

"I should ask you the same thing. How does Gyoza sound?" the deity smiled wryly.

A sweatdrop appeared on the leaf nin's forehead. "Uhh... I'm not really hungry..."

"Oh, I didn't mean to eat, I meant... for a name?" At the mortal guest's expression she sighed," You don't really expect to go into the past as Senjuu Tobame did you?"

"WHAT!?"

Laughter was returned to him. "Okay, consider me a traveler in space. I'm a... I don't know. I've been called a goddess before. Call me Deis Aoi. I always liked the name Ryu, you know? It means 'Dragon'."

"I... I know that... But... back in time? Goddess? I can't believe..." Senjuu Tobame started in shock.

"Aoi. I like that. It's my favorite color." The snake woman smiled kindly. "Very well, I suppose I will have to treat you like the others then. I am part of a long-dead race of beings who, by mortal standards, are gods. I have phenomenal powers that can shake worlds to their core, so time travel is not beyond me. Before you ask why I don't intervene myself, I'm just tired of it." She paused and made a small half smile of remembrance. "In the past, I found myself always in line with his soul... but it's gone beyond me at last. My sister goddess is a goddess of destruction, and so am I."

There was an uneasiness about the displaced shinobi as the Nagaette rambled about a fragmented past and her position as a goddess of destruction. "This... makes no sense Deis... if you're supposed to destroy..."

There was an unwholesome, serpentine smile, "I know. But that boy always defied fate. Always turned things around." She smiled warmly now, "So I will be the antithesis of what I am. But like I said... I don't make personal appearances anymore. I prefer paradise." Deis smiled slyly and snapped her fingers. Instantly, about 6 burly men in bow ties and thongs and not much else, appeared on either side of her smiling and offering her everything from a plate of strawberries to fanning her, shading her and... one ventured a 'personal' massage. Again, the shinobi had to sweatdrop. "So, You have three offers here. One, go back to Konoha in the past and try to avert the impending disaster by befriending Naruto in his youth. Two... and you are kawaii...! stay here in Paradise... or Three... I can send you back to where I left you and you will most certainly have a short future indeed."

Tobame shuddered at the thought of option 2 more than 3 strangely enough. "...I... I chose... I want to change."

"There will be limits, there will be challenges. Are you ready?" Deis smiled in a way that showed her fangs quite clearly. "You may be ridiculed... You will most certainly be put at a disadvantage, even knowing the future... There have to be limits... You'll even have a new name and family."

"Y-Yes!"

"Goodnight... Tobame!" The snake suddenly lunged forward with frightening speed, and Tobame shrieked as venomous fangs sank into his neck.

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"OW!" Tsukemono Konbu awoke to a sake bottle being thrown at his head by a supposed adult in the house. Senjuu Tobame silently wondered why he recognized the name as his own but then he remembered Deis and reflexively rubbed his neck. There was a mark there, but the welt, he recalled, had been left there by Tsukemono Udon... his bastard father. 'What the fuck!?'

And that's when Konbu's royal blue eyes finally took a peak at the royal blue eyes of his father, and the four foot length of messy unkempt royal blue hair behind him. "Don't you graduate from that damn ninja academy today gaki?" his old man grumbled and scratched his privates through an ill fitting bath robe.

Konbu growled irritably, "Of course not! I passed with honors twelve--" He cut off and then realized his voice was female, a sudden and horrible realization coming over her. "...Chotto matta ne... kudasai!" The displaced ninja spat out quickly and, guided by new memories, found the bathroom which had a full length mirror. The Tsukemono family was blessed with rich blue hair deep as the ocean with eyes to match, and the newly minted Tsukemono Konbu didn't mind the fact it went midway down her back. It was the her part that he was having trouble with. Deis' laugh echoed in his- her mind.

"...You've gotta be kidding me," she mouthed, unwilling to accept what had just happened. Konbu quickly looked to the left and right, as if making sure she was completely alone and unwatched. Then she loosed the belt from her gi and let the training robe open up, instantly embarrassed that she'd done so. "Oh kami! I'm a twelve year old female!?!" she yelled in a mixture of anger and disbelief.

Deis' far more ample and unclad body appeared in the mirror, smiling. "I said there had to be limits."

"What the hell is wrong with you!?"

Deis chuckled, "All right, I have power, and I can shake the world, but that doesn't mean I am all-powerful or I would have just sent you back straight up. You would have had immediate suspition on you wearing your leaf hitai-ate and possessing jounin level skills. So, I put you in an... unused body. Or seldom used. Tsukemono Konbu was brought up by Udon-bastard who gets the Worst Father of the year award. I'd say he's got it cornered for the last 11 years since he blames you for your mother's death." What was left of Tobame glared at her. "So you're not tall dark and handsome. Actually, you were muscular, gray haired and totally scrumptious!" she smiled unwholesomely.

Senjuu Tobame was suddenly glad that he was female, but also kind of worried about the uninhibited deity. "Umm..."

Deis sighed. "Fine, okay, I could have made you male at least, but... In the original timeline Konbu was an insatiable Uchiha fangirl" and Tobame groaned at this, "and was unable to focus on missions. Eventually her carelessness gort her killed. Since you're probably wondering what happened to her, well, you're her. Her soul is sleeping in yours kind of like the Kyuubi is in Naruto, so you have your own chakra and hers to draw on, see? I did give you something."

"So uh... what does that mean?" Tsukemono inquired and seemed to remember she was indecent, so she started rummaging around for something to bind her new 'accessories' before tying her gi up. Yep, bandaged, near flat-chested body was preferable to the nosebleed she was thinking she'd give herself if she let it go.

"In the short run it means you have split personality syndrome." Senjuu glared, "In the long run, it means your souls will eventually merge. You will have her chakra and carry her will, her goals and add them to your own."

"I'm to be stuck as a girl forever!?" the Senjuu squawked.

The snake seemed to think about it then shrugged, "You know, I hadn't really thought about it but I guess so. Oh well, good luck on that test!"

"HEY!" Konbu-Tobame shouted and found herself face to face with a mirror, and another realization about Aoi... She liked pranks. Tobame's nose bled as he realized he/she was naked and there was a very unmanly cry throughout the household as the new reality sunk in.

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Tobame found out that Konbu didn't have a bad set of reflexes or skills, after battling off her abusive, alcoholic father and finding her... uniform. The training gi wasn't bad, but after Deis made that disappear, she couldn't find anything without a skirt to go with it. He'd settled on highly fashionable lavender leggins to make up for the lack of proper leg coverings. She'd managed to braid most of the mass of hair herself, though it looked terrible and she was cursing her luck for being here in the first place. She also had to give a Nobel prize to women for just being able to walk in high heels, which Konbu also apparently loved. There would have to be a change of wardrobe, seriously when she was through with things!

As she was arriving in class that day, she and a bunch of other girls suddenly stood there slack-jawed as they witnessed Sasuke and Naruto in a lip lock. She couldn't help an undignified "WHAT THE FUCK!? NARUTO!?" Of course, Senjuu Tobame had never heard of this infamous moment between his mentor and the Uchiha. "Oh god... my eyes!" He was faintly aware of Sakura bitching out Naruto for stealing Sasuke's first kiss. 'My world... is shattered...' she whimpered outwardly, and was glad when Iruka finally called the class to order...