He had been awake for a while now staring at the unfamiliar ceiling in his new apartment on the soft new unfamiliar bed, replaying in his mind the events from yesterday.

After telling Sarutobi about the war against Madara, the old man resigned himself to the truth —that the blond indeed came from the future—, asking for the events that lead to that point, but didn't want to know exactly everything that was going to happen in the years to come. So the Sandaime only knew that Suna (along with Orochimaru; this cause great distress for the elder as he still harbored a little hope for his fallen student) would attack during the Chunin Exams after Naruto graduated from the Academy; that the mercenary organization Akatsuki was going to (he didn't know if they had started already) collect the Bijuus, extracting them from their hosts; Naruto — no, it was Kazuki now. He had to get used to the new name — had also told him about all of their abilities: from Kakuzu's five hearts, Hidan's immortality, the truth about Sasori's body, Deidara's love for explosions, Zetsu's dual personalities, Kisame's ability to fuse with his sword, Konan's origami, and the Six Paths of Pein. All of their jutsus included, of course. The blond hesitated when it came to sharing information about Tobi though. It wasn't because he didn't trust the Hokage. Far from it, he trusted the old man with his life, but Tobi wasn't someone he could talk about just yet. At least now until he figured out how to make him a good guy again, preferably before the war this time.

The guy had switched sides, betraying Madara and helping to save Kazuki in more than one occasion. Kazuki would make sure this time around the raven-haired man changed before the war.

Nothing that the blond had skipped or forgotten (though that wasn't likely) one person, the Hokage asked what he could tell him about Itachi. With hardened, narrowed eyes that darkened to a deep blue from the turbulent emotions underneath the surface, Kazuki proceeded to tell him everything he knew about the hero Uchiha Itachi. That the Sandaime didn't like at all what he said about Danzo in the process counted as a big plus in the blond's book. Maybe this time the old man wouldn't underestimate as much the old war hawk. If Kazuki had a say in it, he would have already executed the man, preventing a lot of pain.

Nevertheless, Inoichi's arrival stopped the conversation before the blond could go into detail about torture methods from Kumo that could be tested on the elder — they had to know if those methods were a fluke or if they actually gave results in Kabuki's humble opinion. To the blond's relief (he wasn't ready to share his memories with anyone just yet), the interrogator was sent away before he could even get close to the door leading into Kazuki's room with the excuse that the Sandaime had made a mistake. In the blond's eyes, that was only going to raise eyebrows especially with how quickly Sarutobi had moved, calling his ANBU to intercept the interrogator before he got too close. The Hokage waved his concern away saying "an old man is bound to make mistakes sometimes," which had the blond rolling his eyes.

After that, the Sandaime removed the chakra binding and paralysis seals, allowing Kazuki to move freely. And the blond had every intention of moving, tired of been cooped up in the room, but the old man stopped him, informing him that just because he recovered faster than anyone didn't mean his wounds had completely healed; the blond wasn't covered in bandages for nothing. Definitely not pouting, Kazuki settled back on the bed.

He had been made to stay in the Hospital that day, to Kazuki's irritation. An ANBU kept guard, but he might as well have been alone for all the masked man talked. He knew he could've made the shadow laugh if he wanted to, but the blond preferred the silence to process everything that had happened so far. He was in the PAST. Just how awesome was that?! His friends were still alive, Jiji was still the Hokage, and Konoha was still standing. If he did things right he wouldn't just be able to save the Sandaime, but Itachi, and… Jiraiya.

Just thinking about his old mentor and godfather, who was more like a father to him, made Kazuki's eyes sting with unshed tears. Tears he hadn't been able to cry since before the war started. Shutting his eyes, he willed the tears away with the thought 'They're alive. This time I won't let a single one of them die'.

With renewed strength and purpose, Kazuki jumped out of the too-soft bed, pushing locks of crimson hair out of his eyes as he reached for a black turtleneck shirt to wear. The Sandaime had provided anything he thought the former blond might need: from clothes to food and weapons. Kazuki was thankful, that meant he only had minor shopping to do.

In order to keep his identity a secret, the Hokage and Kazuki had agreed that the later would wear a henge at all times. As a tribute to his mother, shaggy golden locks were exchanged for blood red ones; whisker marks were also hidden, leaving smooth skin.

Once changed, the redhead cooked himself breakfast before putting the kunais, senbons, and shuriken (probably by ANBU) on his coffee table in his pouch; he needed to go buy sealing paper and ink after training, he thought with a grimace. Even though Konoha was at peace right now it didn't hurt to be prepared for anything.

Before going to the training grounds, he first stopped at the memorial stone. There were things he needed to say to his loved ones.

For the past thirteen years Kakashi had visited the memorial stone, no one had ever been there before him. Most of the ones who visited always did so later in the day, so it came as a great surprise to find someone already there, taking his spot. However, that wasn't the only thing that caught the jonin's attention, but the fact that he had never seen anyone with hair so red around Konoha. At least not since his sensei's wife…

"I came back guys." Kakashi's lone eye snapped back to the person who talked, words too cheerful for someone who was visiting a fallen comrade. Confused, the copy-nin inched closer, almost leaving his hiding spot behind some bushes but still keeping to the shadows. True to his suspicious nature, the first thing that crossed the silver haired jonin's mind was 'is the redhead a missing-nin? Is that why he's saying he came back?' But dismissed it immediately. There was no way a missing-nin would be hanging around Konoha with no one noticing him and reporting him to the Hokage, especially with how the redhead wasn't trying to stay out of sight. With the hair, Kakashi doubted the guy would be very successful, but if there was one thing he had learned was to not underestimate his opponents. Judging from the guy's relaxed posture (his hands hidden in his pockets), the intruder probably thought he was safe — though the jonin had seen ninjas change their demeanor in less than the blink of an eye — meaning he hadn't noticed Kakashi spying on him. If there was one thing the ex-ANBU prided himself in were his sneaking skills. He had to be excellent at hiding to carry out assassination missions after all.

Just to be safe, he went through the Bingo book in his head, but couldn't remember a single ninja with such eye-catching hair color (except Uzumaki Naruto, but the kid had bright yellow hair not crimson). Maybe he wasn't in the Bingo book? Was such a thing possible? Only if the person wasn't a treat, the jonin mused.

"Well, I better get going and get some training out of the way," Said the guy, stifling a yawn but failing spectacularly. "The Sandaime will probably have me running around completing missions soon" The copy-nin had to fight an eye-roll and a snicker from the guy's resigned tone. However, the ex-ANBU wasn't prepared for what happened next.

The red-haired male looked over his shoulder, blue eyes locking on the spot where Kakashi was, freezing him in place and loudly called out, "You can come out now. I'm done here" Without waiting for a reply, he disappeared in a puff of smoke and leafs.

After a minute, Kakashi still crunched low between the bushes trying to wrap his head around what just happened. First of all, the guy shouldn't have been able to sense him. At all. The jonin had mastered masking his presence since a young age and knew sensors had trouble pinpointing his exact location, unless the redhead was a very talented sensor. Second, when the guy — probably around twenty years old — turned his head Kakashi could've sworn he was looking at his deceased sensei. The only difference was the eye color (not to mention the hair). Minato-sensei's were a deep royal blue while the redhead's were cerulean.

Stepping out of his hiding place, the jonin promised in front of the memorial to be back later. Right now, he needed to see the Hokage. There was no way in hell this person was a Konoha shinobi and Kakashi had never seen him before, especially with how much he looked like Minato-sensei. With one last look at the stone, he too disappeared in a puff of smoke and leafs.

Kazauki was punching himself. Literally. He had arrived at training ground seven and the first thing he did was create a shadow clone to spar with.

So far, the shadow clone had gotten a few good punches in while he was struggling to concentrate on the fight. How could he though? Kakashi-sensei had been a few meters away and alive!

The last time the new redhead had seen the man was when the copy-nin sacrificed himself to let them escape. The man had died a hero and seeing him about again felt like a bucket full of ice-water had been thrown over Kazuki's head, but it only cemented his resolve: He would not let the man die again.

It took his everything to keep himself relaxed and not react when he sensed the jonin's presence so near. He had slipped (and though the first thing he had wanted to do was launch himself to the man's arms, bawl his eyes out, and ask for forgiveness for not being able to save everyone, for letting Sasuke die, for not being strong enough) and had allowed his sensei to see his face. In his defense, he had really wanted to see the jonin, but now that he had confirmed the silver haired man was alive and well, Kazuki thought it would be a good idea to request a long term mission far away from Konoha. Starting right now preferably.

There was just no way Kakashi was going to live him alone. He had known the guy for a good eight years; it was a fact the copy-nin could not leave a mystery unsolved, especially if it involved a never before seen ninja walking around the village, thought Kazuki irritably. Just why didn't he remember his sensei made a habit of visiting the memorial at odd hours?

A punch to the gut left him gasping for air, but jumped out of the way of the next punch, landing a good distance away from the clone, which was looking at him with a knowing, sly smirk. Damn shadow clone thinking it could get the best of him.

Pushing chakra to his legs, Kazuki rushed to the clone, aiming a kick to the side, which was deflected, following with a punch to the face. Snapping its head back, the clone retaliated aiming kicks, punches, and elbows at its original.

They were evenly matched, even after an hour of taijutsu. That was to be expected since the crimson haired ninja was used to fighting for longer periods of time. Deciding to step up his game, he jumped away, back flipping and landing on his feet, going through seals at lighting fast speed before calling out.

"Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu (Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu)"

The clone evaded the attack, but Kazuki anticipated this and ran behind the fireball, surprising his opponent, a punching sending it flying. Twisting in midair, it landed on its feet, calling out:

"Fuuton: Daitoppa (Wind Release: Great Breakthrough)"

Oh shit.

Without using handseals a clone pooped into existence where the real Kazuki had been taking the damage of the jutsu and throwing a shiruken at the opponent clone, which it deflected with a shrunken of its own, saying again "Fuuton: Daitoppa (Wind Release: Great Breakthrough)"

As it sent the blast to the waiting redhead, the shuriken, which had landed a few feet behind the opponent clone, transformed back into Kazuki, who placed a kunai against the shadow clone's neck.

"I win,"

In a puff of smoke both clones dispelled. Kazuki let out a chuckle as he felt the annoyance directed at him from the memories of the clone that lost.

"WOW! THAT WAS AWESOME DATTEBAYO!"

The redhead froze, cursing himself for not paying attention to his surroundings. He had let himself be caught off guard by a mere kid!

With barely a second to brace himself, Kazuki gave his full attention to the bright orange-clad blond who was looking at him with practically stars shooting out of his blue eyes.

This chapter took me a long time to write and, even now, I'm not entirely happy with how the 'fighting scene turned out'.

Sorry it was isn't as long as the previous chapter.

Also thank you for the reviews! Really appreciate it :)