Summary: After a very destructive battle, Naruto and the Kyuubi performed a jutsu they were unable to control. The result was that they were thrust into an alternative world where people look the same, but their lives different. Now they will have to travel through this world, battling a cause that is not his to get back home.
The battle to get home
Chapter 1 – Confusion
"He's here!" A voice screamed out in terror. "Madara's here!"
Immediately Naruto leapt up, as did every other person around him as chaos erupted. Shinobi were running, getting into formation, the leaders shouting things while Naruto closed his eyes briefly.
The time had come.
He thought he would be anxious and worried, and he was, but more than that, he felt resigned. While he had yet to reach the Hokage position, it mattered little in the long run. What mattered was that he would use all his strength, his determination and will power to protect his village and his friends.
Nothing would stop him.
As he turned towards the disturbance, his ears picked up fast footsteps running towards him.
"Naruto!" A voice yelled out to him urgently. Naruto spun as Shikamaru ran to him, his eyes wide in alarm and his body tense as the time to fight got close.
"Shikamaru," Naruto said, eyes sharp. "You know what to do?"
"Course I do, I'm the one that came up with the plan," Shikamaru gave a twitch. "Just… the main component of this strategy is that you need to give us enough time to activate the trap," Naruto nodded sharply.
"I know, I won't let you down! I'll die before I let him escape me!" Naruto spoke strongly. Shikamaru grabbed his shoulders, shaking them slightly causing Naruto's eyes to widen at how uncharacteristic Shikamaru was being.
"I know dammit! That's what I'm worried about. I know that this plan doesn't leave much hope for your survival…." Shikamaru spoke as if those words pained him. "Just... You're the number one unpredictable ninja in our village, you can beat the odds! If anyone can survive it's you!"
Naruto gave a cocky grin, hiding his insecurities and fear.
"Hell yeah! And you had better survive too! I'm not going to be the one to tell Choji and your dad what happened," Naruto said strongly, yet underneath it all, both were only men who knew that there was a very real possibility that they wouldn't see each other again.
"Hey, if something does happen…. Tell Kakashi… I'm sorry I'm leaving him alone like my dad, okay?" Naruto asked, almost vulnerably. Shikamaru clenched his fists, but gave a jerky nod.
"Well, I'll see you at the end,"
For all that Shikamaru was supposed to be a genius, he couldn't work out whether Naruto meant the end of the battle or when they were both dead.
"Agh! How troublesome,"
&*&*&*&* Shika&Naruto &*&*&*&*&*
Immediately after that conversation, Naruto had leapt forth, in his sage mode to go against Madara while other shinobi backed away, knowing that they would only get in Naruto's way.
Unfortunately, it wasn't going so well.
Naruto held in a pained grimace as he flew into a tree, his back aching painfully.
'He's too powerful,' The Kyuubi gave his advice.
"I know dammit!" Naruto yelled out, only just managing to dodge a fist. "God dammit! He's toying with us!"
He couldn't believe it. How was Madara so strong? The only reason Naruto wasn't dead yet was because Madara wanted to show him just how useless it was to go against him.
With a stubborn look, Naruto created two clones and started to add chakra together to make a rasengan.
With a shout of anger and determination, Naruto launched at Madara, swapping with his clone at the last moment before hitting Madara right in the heart.
"Rasengan!"
The cold eyes of Madara stared down at him, yet Naruto refused to move. His vision was slowly encased in white… and then he was unsure of what happened.
Only pain erupted on all sides of him and he found himself thrown backwards, tumbling across the ground. Once he came to a stop, he gasped for air, his hands clenched into the grass before slowly looking up. He stared before closing his eyes in despair.
Madara was standing in the same position as before, not a mark on him.
"Ouch…" Madara said blankly.
"Dammit!" Naruto whispered, his hands shaking. There was no way he could beat Madara, yet everyone was counting on him to stall him and he doubted he could do that for much longer.
"I… refuse to give up," Naruto spat out blood as he struggled to lift his body up. "I.." He struggled to say. "Will.." He lifted himself up a little further. "..Protect.." He gasped for breath. "….My Village!"
"Kurama, lend me some of your strength!" Naruto gasped out. The kyuubi didn't say anything, but a sudden rush of chakra erupted from inside of him, and instantly he knew what he was going to do.
He created 10 clones before holding out his hand, much like what he did for the rasengan.
"What are you planning?" Kurama asked warily, his voice echoing inside him. Naruto gave a tired smirk.
"I'm adding wind, fire, lightening, earth and water elements to my rasengen,"
What!? You're not serious! That's a bad idea, a very bad idea," Kurama's voice rose. Naruto ignored him.
"Listen to me, you fool! There's a reason why elements aren't added to each other in this way! You'll just be creating a very massive uncontrollable mass of chakra that is sure to make a huge explosive!" Kurama growled out, voice unpleasant.
Naruto gave a grin.
"Well, why didn't you say so in the first place?" Naruto said with an air of determination before jerking up as Madara came at him with a kunai. Kurama growled inside of him.
"Shit," Naruto muttered. He hadn't finished adding the elements in, and instinctively, he rammed it towards Madara who had his kunai up.
Naruto's chakra ball and Madara's kunai smashed together.
There was a sudden flash of silence, then he felt an enormous presence of chakra erupt all around him.
'I hope there was a plan B' Naruto thought.
Then there was nothing.
&*&*&*&* Shika&Naruto &*&*&*&*&*&*
Naruto's eyes snapped open before jerking upwards, only to fall back down again.
"Ow ow ow," Naruto mumbled as he rubbed his head soothingly. "What the hell was that?! What did you do Kurama?"
"Me? You were the one who released that jutsu! Now look what's happened!" Kurama growled unpleasantly. Naruto jumped up, wobbling slightly.
"You should have warned me! We're a team! You can't just let things blow up in my face!" Naruto accused loudly.
"I did, you fool. You're just too arrogant to listen to me!" Kurama hissed out, anger laced in his words. Naruto kicked the tree in frustration.
"Arrogant? I just saved our asses! If it wasn't for me, both of us would be in pieces!" Naruto exclaimed heatedly.
"Yeah, just keep telling yourself that," Kurama grumbled.
"Well, we're alive aren't we? Now we just gotta find the others. Who knows how much trouble they'll get into," Naruto sighed as he glanced around, eyes focusing onto the forest around him. "Where are we?" Naruto scratched the side of his head in confusion. "I swear we were fighting in a large clearing…"
"… And I cannot feel the other bijuus…." Kurama's voice was low and with a touch of trepidation. Naruto felt all the air expel from his lungs as a cold feeling swam over him. Kurama and all the other tailed foxes were able to feel each other's presence, no matter where they were. For Kurama to not be able to feel any of them…. And at the same time….
"Are they dead?" Naruto swallowed. That couldn't be…
"Doubtful, for me to be unable to feel any of the tailed foxes at the same time… Something has happened, but I do not think it is to do with the others," Kurama said gruffly.
"So you're saying something happened to us then?" Naruto concluded with a sigh.
"Probably," Kurama said with a grimace.
"Great, just great," Naruto threw up his arms. "Off course something happened to us! I mean, we have the worst luck in the world!"
"Naruto…"
"I mean, when has something happened and we haven't been in the middle of it!"
"Naruto.."
"You know what! I think you're wrong! Once we find our way back to Konoha, then everything will be alright! Nothing is weird except for the fact that we are in the middle of nowhere and you can't feel the bijuu's presences!"
"Naruto!"
"What?" Naruto barked out in frustration.
"Behind you" The kyuubi sighed. Naruto blinked startled, before finally paying attention to his senses and immediately spun around, a Kunai ready in his hand, and his body tense ready for action. Oops, Naruto thought sheepishly as a red tint appeared across his cheeks. Then all thoughts went out of his head as he looked at the figure which had managed to sneak up on him. Shock coursed through him, confusion next before settling on anger.
For right in front of him was the exact copy of himself. Except…. This look alike wore dark colours, not the usual orange that he himself wore.
"Who are you?" Naruto narrowed his eyes upon the other who gave an arrogant look.
"As if you have never heard of me! For an imposter, you suck," The imposter gave a cold look towards Naruto who blinked.
"Hey! How am I the imposter! I should be saying the same thing!" Naruto exclaimed angrily, his thoughts spinning around like crazy. What the hell was going on?
"Yeah yeah, whatever, I gotta admit though, you're the best imposter I've ever seen," The fake Naruto sighed as he waved his hand in the air dismissively. "I suppose you're with the alliance aren't you? Right well, we can do this the easy way or the hard way. Either come back willingly with me to Konoha or I will force you," Naruto stared. Konoha… so this guy knew his village… yet… something was wrong, really wrong. And what the hell was the alliance?
The first was obvious. This person in front of him looked the exact same as him. He had to be an imposter, yet something inside of him was uneasy, really uneasy with this situation. Plus, this Naruto imposter just rubbed him the wrong way. He was arrogant, irritating and cold. So unlike himself that he found the look on the others face very ugly.
"Hell no," Naruto refused as he put his hands together, ready to make a jutsu. The imposter gave a cold laugh, a thirst for blood in his eyes.
"I was hoping you would say that," He smirked before pulling out a… bow and arrow?
Hah?
Naruto's thoughts froze. Who used bow and arrows now when you could use Kunai instead? Kurama grumbled an agreement in his mind.
Naruto shook his head before creating two clones. The imposter paused, a look of shock overcoming his face.
"Impossible," He whispered as he stepped backwards. "How did you do that?"
Naruto stared before glancing blankly at his clones. "Hah?" What the hell is going on, Naruto thought to Kurama, unsure of the situation.
"I have no idea, it looks like this person has no idea of this jutsu…" Naruto blinked, feeling very stupefied.
A look of anger so great appeared on the others face.
"How the hell are you able to use chakra! Tell me! How has the alliance found the answer!" The fake Naruto spat out, trembling in anger as he drew an arrow and pointed it at Naruto. "I will not let you get back to them. At this point, I'd rather kill you than bring you back to Konoha! I will be the first to gain chakra and no one else! Then I'll be strong, stronger than everyone and I will kill all those who oppose us!"
Naruto felt his mouth drop open.
"Look I have no idea what you are talking about! What's the alliance? Why are you henged like me?" Naruto asked quickly feeling very confused. The last question seemed to anger the other even more and he let loose an arrow, heading straight for Naruto's face who didn't even blink as he caught it in his hand, centimetres away from his eye.
Fake Naruto stepped backwards, eyes wide.
'Naruto, I don't think he's henged into you….' The Kyuubi said. Naruto twitched. Well, of course he is, Naruto thought as he looked into his replica. It's not like he had a long lost twin brother.
"In fact, this person is correct. At the moment, his chakra is sealed away. He can't use it," Naruto jumped back absentmindedly as he dodged another arrow.
"What!? Shouldn't he be dead?" Naruto thought aghast, horrified at the thought of not having any chakra. How would he fight?
"No, you idiot, I said it's sealed inside of him. In more simplified terms, he's got chakra but is unable to use it unless it is unsealed,"
"Well then, what should I do? Take him out?" Naruto thought out loud with a sigh. He could, but in a way it would be like taking candy from a baby. For him to go up against someone with no chakra… there would be no competition.
"No, I suggest you run. We have no idea what's going on and if he can't use chakra, then this means that this is what he really looks like," Kurama stated. The first instinct Naruto had was to refuse (he was Uzumaki Naruto and he never ran from a fight!), yet, something weird was happening, and Kurama might be right so he could at least get a clear head about what was happening.
"Fine…" Naruto grimaced as he jumped backwards.
"Oi, I don't know how you look like me, but my names Uzumaki Naruto, and don't you forget it!" Naruto yelled out and managed to get one last look at the imposter's befuddled face before jumping through the trees. Naruto smirked as he heard the loud curses from the imposter.
"Dumbass,"
&*&*&*&* Naruto&Shika &*&*&*&*&*
Naruto continued to jump through the trees, speeding across the forest as he frowned.
"Well, that was strange," Naruto sighed when he could hardly feel the others presence anymore as he leapt farther and farther away.
"Agreed," The Kyuubi said.
"I should try to get back to the fight. Who knows what's happened…" Naruto thought darkly. Madara was insanely powerful, and all his friends and loved ones could be fighting against him right this minute. Naruto clenched his fists, worry gnawing at his gut.
"I'll never forgive myself if…." Naruto trailed off as he became aware of other presences around him. He frowned, but before he could think more of it, he saw a familiar figure ahead of him.
Immediately, Naruto stopped on one of the tree trunks to get a better look at the person.
It was Shikamaru.
"Shikamaru!" Naruto exclaimed with relief, hopping down off the tree. "Boy, am I glad to see you! I've got no idea what the hell is going on! There was this guy that looked exactly like me, it was weird and apparently he couldn't use chakra either!" Naruto was about to ramble on even more when he realised that Shikamaru wasn't looking at him with his usual humorous 'why do I have to listen to this' look, but instead one of wariness, disgust and caution.
"Shika…?" Naruto swallowed, an almost painful feeling washing over him as he realised that Shikamaru had that look of determination on his face when he was working on a strategy to defeat an enemy nin. But he wasn't an enemy, and Shikamaru was one his best friends….
"You should know better Uzumaki Naruto…" His name was spat out with so much disgust. "…To come here, so close to our village. I never thought you would be so arrogant to actually think you could get away with it," Shikamaru's face was serious, eyes cold and his stance ready.
'Kurama! I don't … what!' Naruto thought shakily. He could feel numerous presences around the forest all hidden and most felt familiar. Kakashi, Gai and many others were waiting, but that didn't make any sense! None of this did!
"This Nara can't use Chakra ether…" The kyuubi said lowly. Naruto made a face. "In fact, I'm beginning to expect that none of this will make any sense,"
'Yeah, I got that part, but what am I supposed to do!' Naruto thought frantically, his eyes gazing around the forest where he was sure the people he felt were all armed.
"I uh…." Naruto stammered. "Could someone tell me what the hell is going on!?" He ended up shouting, completely fed up. "I feel like I'm going crazy! It's either that or…. I'm in a genjutsu…." Naruto trailed off wondering, a hopeful look appearing on his face.
"That's it! Why didn't I think of that before!" Naruto put his hands to together and let out a pulse of chakra.
"Kai!" Naruto said strongly. Naruto blinked when nothing happened.
"Oh, hell no!" Naruto cried out desperately. "That was supposed to work!" He paused as he looked over at Shikamaru who was staring at him intently, brows furrowed in thought.
"Nice try," kurama said gruffly. "But I'm starting to think that there's not going to be an easy answer to solve our problems,"
Naruto's senses spiked as he felt danger come closer and immediately backwards just as an arrow passed by centimetres from his face. What was it with arrows? Surely, there were a lot better options than arrows!
Naruto held up his arms, waving them frantically.
"Look, I don't want to fight! I got no idea what's going on except that people seem to think I'm someone else and want to either capture or kill me!"
"You expect us to believe that!" A voice yelled out from the forest which caused Naruto to blink. That was definitely Kiba's voice.
"Yes.." Naruto said unsurely before looking back at Shikamaru who finally spoke up.
"What did you say about chakra?" Shikamaru asked with a frown. Naruto stared.
"From this bizarre conversation, that is the first thing you want to ask me?" Naruto said aghast. "Well, there was that guy who looked like me and was shocked to see that I could use chakra,"
"Show me," Shikamaru said after a moment of contemplation. Naruto shrugged before bringing his hands together and made two shadow clones nonchalantly. Immediately, gasps were heard around the clearing and there was a sort of satisfied look that crossed Shikamaru's face.
"Kill him!" A unfamiliar voice shouted out. "He'll kill us all!"
"I agree!"
"Yeah!"
"Die"
A lot of other voice resounded out leaving Naruto to twitch backwards, his mind going back to his childhood where this sort of thing used to happen all the time.
"No!" A strong feminine voice resounded out. Naruto closed his eyes.
Tsunade baa-chan
The blonde woman stepped out of the trees, close to Shikamaru.
"If he wanted to, we would all be dead by now," She said. "There's no reason to tempt fate in making him attack us!"
It seemed she didn't know who he was either.
"As insane as this sounds, I don't think we're in our world anymore…." Kurama finally voiced his thoughts to Naruto who sighed.
'Now why doesn't that surprise me?' Naruto thought grumpily.
"Now who are you?" Tsunade questioned her voice cold. "You are not Uzumaki Naruto, are you?"
"I am," Three voices rang out and Naruto twitched in irritation before whacking both shadow clones in the neck, creating two puffs of smoke as the clones disappeared. "But I don't think I'm the one you're thinking off,"
Tsunade studied him.
"I'm starting to see that…" Tsunade sighed.
"I think… as insane as this sounds" Naruto copied Kurama's wording. "I don't think I'm in my world anymore…" Well, It was either that, or he was crazy and Naruto didn't want to think down that path.
There was a stunned silence.
"See," Naruto went on. "Last time I checked, Shikamaru was a good friend of mine and didn't hate me, everyone could use chakra and I'm definitely sure that I didn't have a twin!" Well, he was pretty sure anyway.
"So…" Naruto shifted uneasily.
"You're insane," Tsunade replied bluntly. Ouch, Naruto thought morosely.
"Not necessarily," A male voice interrupted. Both heads turned to see Shikaku come out of the forest.
"Ah, Mr Shikaku!" Naruto said in surprise. Shikaku gave him the same look Shikamaru tended to when he couldn't figure something out.
"You shouldn't underestimate the power of chakra. Remember when everyone had it, there were limitless things that could be done with it. The impossible came possible. I think that there is a chance that you are telling the truth," Shikaku stated.
"Well, that's interesting," The kyuubi gruffly stated with interest.
"Well… that's good. Does that mean you won't try to kill me?" Naruto asked hopefully. "Cause I don't really want to have to fight," Shikaku gave a twitch of a smile.
"Come back with us," He told Naruto. Immediately, gasps were heard and Tsunade and Shikamaru whipped their heads around to face Shikaku.
"You can't be serious!" Tsunade said aghast.
"This is the turning point we've been waiting for!" Shikaku said loudly. "Face it, tactician or not, everyone must know that we're losing the battle here. We need something else, and that something may just be him. I'm not saying trust him, that would be stupid, but this may well be the turning point in this war!" Shikaku gazed at Naruto intently.
"If what you say is true, then come back with us," Shikaku gravely said. Naruto scratched his head.
"Sure, why not. I've got nothing better to do,"
He was sure if Sakura were here, she would have hit him for such a lazy response to such a serious atmosphere.
But it was too bad that she wasn't.
Once that was settled, slowly, others came out of the forest some, Naruto recognised, some he didn't. Kakashi, Gai, Lee, Kiba, Inoichi and many unfamiliar faces stared back at him, wary and in some cases complete hatred and anger on their faces.
It really was like his childhood happening over again.
"Be warned, that if you show any ill against us, we will cut you down where you stand. Are we clear?" Tsunade said coldly. Naruto saluted with a cocky grin.
"Crystal,"
Tsunade let out a small whistle. "Shikamaru and Kakashi, you've got the task of guarding him. If he does anything suspicious, attack first, ask questions later, got it?" Two salutes later, Naruto was walking between those two who kept studying him suspiciously. He had no idea where they were all going, but for once, he refrained from asking. He had a feeling they wouldn't tell him anyway.
"So what's your story Shika?" Naruto asked Shikamaru as he stretched out his arms casually. Shikamaru blinked lazily.
"My story?" He asked with a sigh. Naruto nodded.
"Yeah! Like, are you still friends with Choji and Ino? Does your mum still scare you? Do you still say troublesome in pretty much every sentence? That sorta thing," Naruto asked with a cheerful grin.
"Don't answer those questions," Kakashi interrupted from his other side. "He's probably trying to get our guard down,"
"Are you serious? Damn it Kakashi-sensei, I'm not some infiltrator!" Naruto yelled out in frustration and slight hurt. Even though intellectually he knew that this Kakashi didn't know him, he still sounded and looked like his one and it hurt to be shown blatant distrust. Kakashi's one eye widened slightly.
"…Sensei?" Naruto bit his lip, realising that probably nearly everything he said would reveal things and make them question him even further.
"Nevermind," Naruto looked away.
"I'm friends with Choji, I don't know, nor want to know my mum, I say troublesome because everything is and who's Ino?" Shikamaru spoke up, ignoring Kakashi's disapproval. Naruto felt his mouth drop.
"Who's Ino? Seriously!?" Naruto blurted out aghast. "Inoichi's daughter?" Did she not exist? Shikamaru shrugged.
"Inoichi-san never had a daughter, he had a son," Shikamaru replied with interest.
"Woah…" Naruto tried to picture a male version of Ino, and almost shivered in disgust.
"So, why are you talking to me in the first place? Mr grumpy over here doesn't approve and you can't be that oblivious to all the glares we've been getting," Naruto jerked his thumb over to where people all around them were glaring. Naruto could already see numerous people try and talk Shikaku and Tsunade out of their decision to let him come along, and Naruto snorted at that. Getting Shikaku to change his mind was like overcoming an army with only one person. It just didn't happen.
"Who knows," Shikamaru replied. "You've caught my interest. I don't know why, maybe your story is so unbelievable, but I think I believe you. The fact that you can use Chakra helps you as well. I'm betting, if Konoha really had found out how to use chakra, we would already be dead,"
Naruto gave a small smile.
"I.. It means a lot to me that you believe me, thanks," Naruto said warmly. Shikamaru glanced at him before groaning.
"Agh, how troublesome. You said another me had been a good friend of yours, well it would be troublesome to have another version of me pissed off because I wasn't open minded. Don't mistake me though," Shikamaru warned. "I'm giving you a chance, I think you deserve that much, but trust will take time,"
"I know, but the one thing I'm good at is never giving up!"
Naruto gave a thumbs up.
&*&*&*&*&* Shika&Naruto &*&*&*&*&*&*
So, that's it for the first chapter. Hope it's caught your interest, and so, make sure to review!