A/N: This starts a little bit before the events of Kakashi Gaiden and contains a few spoilers for some Naruto chapters in the early 600's. Also, this is my first fanfiction, so try not to be too harsh.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or anything to do with it.

Chapter 1: Into the Past

Kakashi sat up in bed, gasping for breath, his heart pounding, tears streaming down his face. It took him a minute to remember what just happened to him. Obito had a change of heart at the end, and he used a new forbidden justu with the last of his life to send Kakashi into his past self, trusting him to make the future a brighter place that wasn't devastated by war. It had been a horrible shock to discover that Obito had been the one to do all those terrible things, and it had been just as bad to fight him. However, they had made up at the fight's conclusion and decided to fix things before they even happened. Kakashi cried uncontrollably, the mixture of intense despair and relief overwhelming him. He didn't know if he deserved a second chance, but he would try his best and make the most of it.

When he finally calmed down, he started to think about his current situation. He immediately pushed down the covers and looked down at himself. His limbs were definitely shorter than before. The justu seemed to have worked. If it did, then he should be around a couple months before Obito's "death" during the Kannabi Bridge mission and his promotion to jounin. This thought should have made him relax, but he tensed. What if he just made things worse than before? Kakashi tried to stop himself from panicking, taking deep breaths. He needed a plan.

Kakashi was well aware that his personality was a lot different now than in his past. If he couldn't get his act together, his teammates were bound to notice. Maybe he could slowly introduce his new personality by pretending to change? Before that, he needed to make sure he didn't break down the moment he saw his teammates' faces. Kakashi really need to get his thoughts in order.

He instinctively reached for Icha Icha Paradise, his favorite book, but then he remembered that it hadn't even come out yet. Also, he was underage and wouldn't be allowed to buy it. Even if his mind was old enough for that explicit content, his body didn't appear that way.

"This keeps getting worse and worse," Kakashi sighed.

He got out of bed and stretched, trying to get used to being in a smaller body. Kakashi hoped that it wouldn't seriously affect his fighting skills. Suddenly, he noticed something wrong. His scars were still there, the ones that he shouldn't have yet. It had taken him a while to notice because he was used to them and they were kind of hard to notice. Most of his scars were covered, so he checked underneath his shirt, too. Scars were there from his jounin years and after. This wasn't supposed to happen. Had something gone horribly wrong?

Kakashi immediately rushed over to the bathroom to look in a mirror, noting that any evidence of tears had almost all faded. Staring at his reflection, he saw that he definitely looked like his younger self. He scanned his features to be sure, glancing across his face, his Sharingan, his hair…wait. His Sharingan? Kakashi realized that he had opened both his eyes to study himself. He hadn't noticed anything wrong before since he normally closed his left eye and was used to it. The scar from the time he jumped in front of Obito was there.

"This isn't good," he muttered, internally freaking out.

The others scars he could probably write off as training, but the Sharingan? No way would he be able to easily dismiss it. How did he even have it anyway? Would this affect Obito? Kakashi decided to cover it with bandages and pass it off as a light training injury until he thought of something better. Anything more and Minato would probably force him to see a doctor, and that definitely wouldn't end well.

After Kakashi bandaged his eye, he got ready. His calendar only told him the date, and he couldn't remember exactly what happened on this day, but he probably had training. Kakashi looked at the clock. Training would start soon. Now, he just had to wander around a bit, maybe visit the memorial stone, and he would be around an hour late. What excuse should he use this time? Kakashi was about to set out and do this when he paused. Obito was the one who was always late at this point in time, and if Kakashi was, he would cause suspicion. He was supposed to be a stickler for the rules. Also, there was no reason to visit the memorial because no one he knew was dead except for his father, and his name wasn't even one the stone since he'd been disgraced. That didn't mean he could break his habits easily, though. Kakashi spent ten minutes struggling to convince himself to be on time and to not visit the stone.

Sadly, he finally convinced himself, and he ran out of his apartment towards the training grounds to be on time. Only once he was already on the way did he realize the significance of his actions. He would change the future. Even if he managed to save him old teammates, what would happen to his new team? Would there be no Team Kakashi? Maybe it was for the best, maybe it wasn't. However, he knew that he might have to sacrifice meeting his future friends and loved ones to prevent the Fourth Shinobi World War. It was…for the best.

As he got closer and closer to the training grounds, Kakashi couldn't help the nervousness and apprehension that seized him. He was about to see his old team once again.