In the land of the ninja the elemental countries the strongest of them was konoha. Ninja of different ranks took missions to increases income for the village. Genin were just beginners, just kids out of the academy. They were placed on teams of three along with a jonin sensei. The next up in ranks were chunin or the journey men ninja. They were usually sent as squad leaders and such. The next up were jonin which were some of the best. They also took on genin teams to train. The village also had anbu black ops, they were mostly for the higher up assassination missions and the hokage's personally guard.
The hokage was the strongest and also the village leader. The current leader went by the name 'naruto uzumaki namikaze' the jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi no kitsune. 23 years ago the Kyuubi was forced to attack the village on the command of an evil man by the name of mandara. The forth hokage, minato namikaze could tell the fire guardian was not under his own control, so in order to not destroy him, minato sacrificed himself to seal Kyuubi into his own son.
Minato's last request was for naruto to be seen as a hero for protect konoha and holding the Kyuubi. Of course a single person was smart and understanding, but a large group of people were fearful viscous beasts. Even with the protection of the third, who took over after the attack, the village still treated the boy very badly. Even after all the threats, abuse, glares, and beatings naruto still wanted to become a ninja, and also to become hokage in order to protect all those he saw as precious and to be seen and respected as himself.
He trained and became part of the konoha 12, which became the konoha 11 after on of their own left the village and became a traitor. The konoha 11 became some of the strongest fighters from the leaf since the sennin were named. They fought so many battles, but the one most memorable was the battle between the leaf and the akatsuki. After naruto killed pain the leader, things started to get better for him. He got acknowledgement from the village.
But all good things must and always come to an end. Iwa went to war with konoha which lasted over three years. During that time the fifth hokage died, leaving the title to naruto. During those three years most of the konoha eleven and those close to them died. Out of all those close to naruto, only anko and Shikamaru were still alive.
That is were our story starts.
"Mendokuse," another day just laying on his back watching clouds. Shikamaru was tired, the war was over and peace was finally at their grasp. 'Peace was not worth the cost to me at least.'
Shikamaru Nara, the head of the Nara clan and lead advisor for the hokage. He wore standard black ninja issued gear, mainly because it was too much of a bother to pick anything else out. He wore his hair in a low ponytail after he let it grow out. He also had three loops in his left ear, and if looked closely enough, one was an engagement ring.
"I thought I'd find your lazy ass here shika, care for a game of go?"
Shikamaru looked over at his kage, naruto. He could tell that the blond really grew up over the years. Naruto now really looked like his father. He decided to dawn the sleeveless coat instead of the robes. His coat was black with orange flames along with the sixth on the back and a small nine-tails on the front pocket. His hair was longer and held up by his hiate, and under his coat was the standard anbu gear.
"Hai, oh great hokage-sama, how could I say no."
"Very funny, but really lets play a game and talk. Ive got an idea, but I need your help on it."
Shika looked at naruto, the blonde's eyes were foggy and hard to read, and he could tell his friend was really nervous.
"Sure," as shika was setting up the board, the blonde was fidgeting something fierce.
"You know naru, all you gotta do is tell me. I will try to help if I can." Shika put down the board and waited for naruto to talk. For all the years he had known him, naruto would always tell his friend the truth, well ever since he was excepted as he is.
"Have you ever wished that you could do things over and save all of our friends?"
Shikamaru just nodded; really it was all he thought about, especially since suna was wiped out and his love died.
"Well I was talking to Kyuubi and he wants to help us. He has a way to help us save all of our friends. I know that is sound to good to be true, but it does come to a price. If we agree to do this, we will be sent back in time to right before we entered the academy. I and you would have all of our knowledge but we would have to train our bodies again. Also we would have a link to each others minds, not an all access pass of course but we could call and answer each other and Kyuubi too. We would only get one shot at this because Kyuubi can only do this once every 20 years."
Shikamaru was dumbstruck; this was what he wanted for years, a way to save everyone.
"How do we do it and when do we go." Shikamaru said with out a second thought. Just like naruto, he wanted to save everyone. What is the point of protecting a village that has nothing you care for left in it.
"Well Kyuubi first said we need to create a mind like with each other and then we meet him in front of his cage."
It took a couple of days to forge a mind link with each other, neither had ever heard of it before now but with the kyuubi's knowledge it was easy.
'so now what' both boys thought as they stood in front of the cage, when a tall man around 6 ft tall with red eyes and nine foxtails stood on the other side of the bars. To say Shikamaru was shocked was an underestimate. He expected a huge nine-tailed demon, not this man.
"Ok boys, I know that you will have questions but let me finish all I have to say first k? Well the first thing is the reason im doing this. The reason is that you impressed me kit, and also to apologize for all the pain you had to go through cuz of me. Now what will happen is in this timeline you will both die, but your souls will be sent back to one year before the academy starts. I will have to sleep for about a year or so to regain my strength, but after that I will start to train you both. The reason that this will be a one time thing is because I will send the soul of one of your friends back to the day of team placements. She will also be linked with our minds and train with us afterwards. The bad part though is the way this is done. What I need you both to do is walk to this side of the cage and I will have to stab you through the heart. After that I will send our souls to the past. If you both are willing to go through with it then let us start."
Both boys, with out looking at each other walked right up to Kyuubi and prepared for the pain. At the same time only one thing went through both of their minds
'this time they will not die.'
