Jiraiya will not die in this fic. As for pairings, I'm open to suggestions.
Disclaimer: Of course I don't own Naruto!
Chapter 2
"Alright. I sent you on a relatively simple mission. Now explain to me how you left with one Naruto and came back with three!!
Shikamaru sighed. So, soo troublesome. Here they stood in front of a very angry mother bear, trying to explain what happened to her precious cub.
"We don't know what happened. When Lee cleared the pollen cloud, Naruto was gone. Apparently he chased the shinobi who had the scroll. We didn't know where he went until we heard him scream.
/
"AAAAHHHH!!"
"That's Naruto!!" They sped in the direction of the scream hoping against hope that they weren't too late. They were suddenly blinded by a bright light.
"Urk! I can't see! Where is he!?"
"I don't know!"
"Naruto!"
When the light dimmed they rushed forward to save their blonde commrade. None of them were prepared for the scene that awaited them.
"Naruto!"
"what the heck!?"
There in front of them was an unconscious Naruto, but on both sides of him were what appeared to be two other unconscious Narutos. Shikamaru frantically tried to take in the situation. On his right there was a child Naruto, a familiar memory from his childhood with the blonde. The boy couldn't be any older than nine. He wore a white T-shirt with an orange spiral in the center and blue shorts.
The man on his left, however scared the crap out of him. He looked to be in his mid-twenties. The adult had messy gold locks that framed his angular, whiskered face. He wore armor and arm guards that resembled the Konoha ANBU over a black shirt with black pants and sandals. His lithe and well-built figure screamed power and skill, but that's not what scared him. Wrapped around his bicep was a slashed Konoha headband. 'A traitor?'
Neji ran forward to check their Naruto's vitals. "He's okay, just out." He turned to look at the others."What do we do about them and him?" Shikamaru looked in the direction Neji motioned to. There was the last Grass nin, dazed by the force of the jutsu. He ran over to him and incapacitated him.
"What did you do?!" He demanded. The nin flinched under the glares.
"I-I just used the jutsu I found in the scroll! I swear I don't know what it did." Lee went to where the scroll, or what was left of it, lay.
"I don't know if this is recoverable, Shikamaru." His spherical eyes were wide with worry. "What do we do now?"
He sighed."Neji, seal this guy's chakra nodes." He glanced at the 'adult' Naruto. "Him too. Just in case." Neji nodded. "Lee, after Neji's done, I want you to carry them."
"I guess I'll take the kid, if you're okay with it Neji." "sure."
They picked up the three Naruto's and the Grass-nin and returned to Konoha.
'so, troublesome.'
/
"And then we came here, handed over the Grass-nin and the..three Narutos." Shikamaru finished.
Tsunade groaned. " So he used a jutsu from the scroll, huh? Well that's not going to help us now. It's completely destroyed!" She took a deep swing from her sake jug.
Neji stepped forward. "What happened to Naruto and, the other two?" Tsunade kneaded her temples in annoyance.
"I had them put in three seperate rooms with ANBU guards. When one of them wakes up, we'll interogate them. I've also had blood samples taken from the kid and the guy to confirm that they really are Naruto. We can't be too careful. This is a disaster waiting to happen." She paused to think for a bit.
"Shikamaru, Neji, and Lee, I want you to go fetch the rest of the rookie nine and your teachers. We need to inform them about what happened. Oh, and get Jiraiya and Iruka too."
"Wait,do we need to tell all of them. Isn't it better if as few people know of this as possible?" Neji asked. She sighed again.
"Truthfully, yes that would be preferable, but we also need to have some people know just in case something happens. Especially with the older Naruto. I don't want to believe that he would leave the village, but I can't put the village in danger if he turns out to be a traitor either."
They lowered their heads reluctantly in understanding and went to do as they were told.
/
Sakura had just finished running an errand for her mother. It was her day off and Naruto had gone on a different mission. Kakashi was probably off reading his peverted little book somewhere. All in all it was a peacefull afternoon.
She decided to go and visit Ino at her family's flowershop. It had been a while since she had seen her friend and was hoping they could go out for a girl's day out. The bell rung as she entered the shop.
"Irashima-Oh! Hi Sakura! What's up?"
"Nothing much, just thought I'd visit. It's my day off, and I have nothing to do." Ino pouted at her.
"Huh! Lucky. I have to stay here and mind the shop again. I really need to get out more-" Ding-a-ling. Shikamaru rushed into the shop. He looked unusually upset. "Ino! Have you seen-Ah Sakura, there you are!"
"What happened, Shikamaru? Is something wrong?" Sakura became worried. It had to be bad if Shikamaru was upset.
"Hey, I thought you were on a mission, Shika. You didn't ditch did you?" Ino teased, although she also looked concerned.
"Something happened with Naruto." Sakura's heart froze. No.
"Naruto?! Is he okay?!"
"Tsunade wants us to come to her office.She'll explain when we get there. You too Ino!" He turned quickly to leave.
"Wait Shika! Where are you going?!"
"I have to find the others. All of rookie nine has to be there!" With that he was gone, leaving Sakura and Ino to look at each other in worry.
"We have to hurry! Let's go!!" Ino locked up and they darted off to the tower. Sakura's heart was going a mile-a-minute.
Please. please let him be okay!
/
"Good Everyone's here!" Jiraiya, Iruka, Kakashi, Gai, Asuma, Kurenai, and their teams stood in the Hokage's office. They were shifting in aggitation, impatiently waiting to hear what happened to Naruto. Kakashi didn't even have his book out.
"Naruto went on a retrieval mission with Neji, Shikamaru, and Lee. They were to get a special scroll stolen by rogue Grass nins. The robbee was a scroll horder by the name of Fujioka Hirou. Naruto was chasing down the nin who had the scroll, when the nin performed a jutsu from it. This jutsu apparently has transported the past and future Narutos into the present time. I know this sounds ludicrous, but we have no other way to explain it." There was a moment of silence. The calm before the storm.
"Okay, so what happened to our Naruto?!" Kiba yelled. Tsunade frowned at the loudness.
"Quiet! He's just fine. Only unconscious from the blast." The tension in the room melted away in relief. He's okay.
"What we need to do is figure out what we're going to do with the other two. They really are Naruto. The blood tests came back as a match. We don't know just what will happen if they know that they aren't in their normal time." Shikamaru nodded.
"In theory, it could change everything. If the 'past' Naruto is too deeply affected by being in this time, it could mess up Naruto's present and future, or our own."
The room buzzed with worried whispers. Sakura raised her hand." So don't we just need to send them back as soon as possible?"
Tsunade muttered. " Yes, but don't know how. The scroll was destroyed in the blast of the jutsu. We need to bring Fujioka here to fix the problem, and even then it might not work." Jiraiya growled.
"Well we need to try it anyway. I'll go and drag his ass here, and he'd better have a counter-jutsu. Until then we need to decide what to do with 'them'."
Tsunade gave a curt nod. "Yes, that is why I have called all of you here. We can't allow anyone else to know about this. It is too dangerous. I'm dividing you all up to watch over them."
"Group A: Iruka, Kurenai, Sakura, Hinata, and Ino, I want you to watch the younger Naruto. When he wakes up, I don't want him to know too much yet. Every one except Iruka should only give him your last names. Knowing you before his time could alter the past and future so be careful! Kurenai, you will give me constant updates on him."
"Group B: Kiba, Lee, TenTen, Chouji, and Sai, I want you to keep an eye on our Naruto. When he wakes up, bring him here, so I can tell him what happened. But keep him away from the other two. I don't want them to meet just yet."
"And that leaves Group C: Kakashi, Gai, Asuma, Shikamaru, Neji, and Shino. You will watch the older Naruto. You have the same instructions as Group A. Be very careful with him. He is the one that poses the greatest threat." The others frowned in confusion. Shikamaru, Neji, and Lee stiffened.
"What do you mean by that, Tsunade-hime?" Kakashi sensed there was something very worrying about this. Tsunade pulled out the scratched headband that they had found on the eldest Naruto's arm. The ones that didn't already know gasped in horror and disbelief.
"It can't be!!" Hinata cried. Sakura was speechless.
"Naruto would never defect from Konoha!" Kiba shouted angrily. This had to be some kind of sick joke.
Iruka, whose face had paled, reached forward to inspect the headband. He had given Naruto his headband upon graduating...and...there was no denying it. Although it had many more scratches than when he had last seen it, the old marks were still there. Iruka sadly traced the gash over the Konoha leaf symbol. What in the world happened.
"Silence! We don't know what will happen in the future. Nothing can be ruled out anymore. Stick to your assignments and we'll find a way to fix this. They are in three of the underground rooms of this tower. The ANBU on guard will tell you which one to go to. Take three hour shifts in pairs, and be careful with what you say! Understood?!"
Once the shinobi had managed to compose themselves they quickly left to man their stations. All trying to gather their scattered thoughts. Jiraiya looked at Tsunade.
"We will sort this out, Tsunade." She placed her head in her hands, emotionally drained. He turned to leave.
"When this is all over, how about we go and get a drink? You'll probably need it." The old blonde waved him off wearily. He left. His unspoken message hanging in the air.
Everything will be okay.
"I really do hope so, Jiraiya."
Chapter 2 is complete! whoo! this is getting intense! I continue to feed off of your support, so please review!
and go see my other fic : 'Gentle smiles and broken promises' - D-gray man!