Author's Notes: So I won't eat up space, please refer to the Author's Note in Timeserver for information regarding Timespan's age and intentions; remember that the triad is based on things that were in 2007 only rumors, not fact, so all the new info as of 2013 doesn't apply here. Enjoy!

Title: Timescale (part two of the Timespan triad from the Timesaver quadrilogy)

Author: Reaper Nanashi (Lady Shinigami)

Pairing: MinaKushi

Word Count: 3,446 (Total: 11,255)

Type: One-shot (Complete)

Rating: T (bad words, blood, violence)

Date Submitted: 7/27/07 (Cleanup: 1/6/13)

Disclaimer: I can dream, can't I?

Claimer: The Time-related stuff.

Summary: The Fourth Hokage is leading the village in a peaceful time, has a wife who loves him as much as he loves her, and can hardly wait for the birth of his son. His life could not be better . . . until he gets a visit from himself. Time is no longer on his side.

The Reasoning Behind It: This one was actually the third one I wrote. I started on Timekeeper once I finished Timeserver, but it occurred to me that how things were able to change between the events of Timeserver and Timekeeper was important to cover, so I wrote this. It's the shortest of the triad as a result, but I feel it's no less necessary to understanding the triad itself.

Timescale – noun – period of time: a period of time scheduled for something to be completed

He had not been aware that someone was in his office—he could not sense anything—but his guards and secretaries were confused. "What's wrong?"

They looked at one another, then at him. "Hokage-sama, you're already in your office."

He tilted his head. He doubted his guards thought he was an imposter—they had been with him almost since he had awakened that morning. They stopped outside the doors to the office. "Hm . . ." It would explain why he could not sense it, though, as he was used to ignoring his own chakra. He wondered if it was a shadow clone running loose, but did not feel the vague buzz in the back of his mind that signaled another mind working both in concert with as well as separately from his own. Besides that, he had not created one recently.

He tapped both guards and then pointed up at the ceiling. They attached themselves to it obediently while he retrieved lengths of wire—it was the last of the roll, so he would have to get more on the way home—and carefully wrapped it around the two door handles, crossing the wires beneath the short stem of each lever so as to get required downward force. He joined the guards on the ceiling and then pulled on the wires. The doors unlatched and the guards each nudged one open. They waited for the sound of triggered traps, but there was nothing. He lowered his head to peek into the room and look about, but not a single paper had been disturbed.

Not that such a thing meant a scrap to shinobi.

He decided it was safe enough to go in and quietly entered with his guards, ready to fight at a moment's notice. They had to show him where exactly the chakra was coming from; it was in the corner along the wall the doors were set in. There stood himself, dressed in a strange black coat printed with red clouds. The other had pins in his nose and he reached up to touch his own absently, aware that the location of the pins marked the strange little crook he had possessed since birth, though those close to him—a certain irreverent wife of his, specifically—liked to pretend that he had been dropped on his face as an infant and thus suffered irreversible brain damage from a severe head injury.

The guards armed themselves, but he put a hand on each one's nearer shoulder. "Wait." If the man was not an imposter, he would say so.

Sure enough, the man said, "Yukusue."

He tapped the guards again. "Leave."

They looked at him. ". . . Hokage-sama?"

"Get out!" he barked sharply, and they scurried from the office, drawing the doors shut behind them. He looked at the man in the corner and frowned at the stress lines that had started to crease the other's face. "How far?"

"Almost seventeen years."

He gaped slightly, but covered it up with, "This isn't allowed."

The response was very simple.

"It's for Naruto."

He closed his mouth instantly, his teeth coming together with a barely audible clip. Naruto had not been born yet—not to him, anyway—but he already knew he would do whatever was asked of him if it would ensure Naruto's happiness. He was just that type of parent, it seemed. That, and Naruto would need all the childhood happiness he could get to look back on if he ended up being a shinobi himself. "Let's go for a walk."

His future self nodded, but did not move for a long time. When the other tried to take a step forward, he started to fall. It was only quick action from both of them that spared the man's dignity the humiliation of hitting the floor face-first.

He took in the other's sweat-lined face anxiously. "I'm taking you home."

"Don't be stupid. We'd be punished. I've only just arrived—I'll be all right soon."

Together, they limped from the office. He looked at the nearest secretary, who was staring at both him and his future self in shock. "It's fine," he said firmly. "I'm going for a walk. Hold everything until I get back."

The secretary nodded blankly in answer and watched the pair make their slow way along the corridor.

By the time they got outside, his future self was looking and moving much better than just a few minutes earlier. He straightened himself and looked at the village with a sad smile. "I don't know whether to love or hate this place anymore." He sighed. "Let's go. I can keep up with you if you don't hurry too much."

Even though the park had people in it at any given point, it was that fact that made them less suspicious. People gave them odd looks for their similarity, but their casual behavior made it seem as though nothing was amiss. Technically, nothing was. He wanted desperately to know what was going on but knew better than to rush himself, so he kept entertained with nodding and smiling to people who greeted him.

"The kyuubi is going to come here."

He whirled to look at his future self, patience and self-control suddenly non-existent. "It's going east!"

His future self shook his head. "September twenty-ninth, he's going to turn around. He'll arrive on October tenth, and she will die."

He stopped and grabbed his future self, fearing the worst. "Naruto?!"

His future self gently pried loose. "He'll be fine." A wispy smile appeared—"Has some lungs on him, that one."—but it was gone in the next instant. "You can't kill the kyuubi, or even stop him—he's too strong. The only thing you can do is seal him."

"Seal him?! Come on, sealing isn't dumbshit stuff!"

"Shiki fuujin."

"Huh?"

"Ever heard of it?"

He considered that. He was working on developing a sealing technique, oddly enough, and it would be an appropriate name. He blinked. ". . . Is that what it's called?"

His future self shrugged. "Eventually."

"Great! Then all I have to do is—"

"No."

He tilted his head. "Why?"

"I told you—she dies. Who'll take care of Naruto?"

Good question. "Well . . ." Inspiration struck, though it was not what could necessarily be labeled as good inspiration. "I could seal the kyuubi into him. It'll make him strong. Somebody will have to take care of him until he's old enough to protect himself, but . . ."

"And who would you assign that task to?"

"Er . . ."

His future self sighed wistfully. "To be so naïve again . . ."

While not untrue, comparing their ages and experiences, it was still quite annoying. "All right then, you fix my life for me."

His future self nodded. "First of all, I realize this will be hard, but try to pretend that everything is normal. Act on whim, not knowledge, so that what I tell you will still be effective when the time arrives. Do you understand? That is paramount to everything else."

He did not like it, but it was indeed necessary. "I understand."

"Start researching labor and delivery—it should help things along f—"

"Help things along? What the hell could that possibly . . ." He stopped, horrified. "She would never . . ."

"She would and you know it."

"Tell me what she did! I'll make her stay home!"

His future self shook his head. "I've already tampered enough with Time. You foiling her once will cause her to be more reckless and she could still die. Do what I tell you and our clan will survive the kyuubi's attack."

". . . The clan too . . .?"

"Research labor and delivery. Read any books you find, talk to Rin. Even if you can't get a play-by-play, what little you may garner will help." His fear must have been obvious, because his future self added gently, "When she goes into labor, send her to the hospital and go to face the kyuubi. Wait twenty minutes, then check under the willow tree in the north park. She should be there. She'll have blood on her, but it won't be hers—she will have been assisting injured shinobi to where the iryounin are waiting, but the labor pains will have gotten the best of her. There will be no time to get her back to the hospital, so you will have to deliver Naruto yourself. It will be messy and a little bloody, but that's normal. It will be fine as long as you don't panic—you know it will frighten her if you're scared."

"But she dies!"

"She dies because she goes to fight the kyuubi. Even though she doesn't care about herself, she will leave the battlefield for Naruto's sake. She'll want to leave the battlefield at that point, so let her take him to the hospital. She'll be weak, but considering how long she held out against the kyuubi, she should be strong enough to make it there alone. Once she's gone, seal the kyuubi away with this."

He accepted the folded paper that his future self held out to him. It was encoded, but he deciphered it easily enough. "I've never heard of this."

"You haven't developed it yet."

He looked at his future self. "This must have taken a long time to come up with."

"Twelve years."

He nodded and began to memorize the seals written on the paper, wondering if he would be able to master something so complicated in just four weeks.

"Whatever you do," his future self concluded, "even if you end up using the shiki fuujin, do not include Naruto. If you take him away from her, she'll try to fight the kyuubi and die, and the clan will die trying to protect her. If you seal the kyuubi into him, the village will detest him no matter what you might want for him. I'm well aware that several of the other villages have already sealed bijuu into children, but I don't foresee battles involving them—the villages have no interest in those children even as weapons. They're pariahs, viewed as nothing but loose cannons, and that is the life that Naruto will endure if you seal the kyuubi within him."

He felt a swell of sadness at that. "But he'll be okay if I do this?"

"As long as you don't ever seal the kyuubi into him, all but ten percent of the futures I've seen promise a normal life."

He gave a relieved sigh. "Good."

"When you get back to the office, check the secret compartment under the seat. I left my journal there; you can read it to help remind you of what you need to do. So help me, my mind's like a sieve even twenty years later."

He chuckled, then frowned as his future self headed into the trees. "Hey, wait! Where are you going?"

"To get Obito."

". . . Obito?"

His future self turned. "Kakashi needs him badly, as I'm sure you've noticed. And I have reason to believe his presence will save Rin's life. It's only a sixty-forty chance, though, so be very careful. In fact, it might simply be best to name her your successor, since she's such a superb healer. It would be a good excuse."

"But . . . But the Seihen twice . . ."

"I'm aware of that. I never expected to be able to go home—I intended this from the start. Even if I fail to save Obito and Rin still dies, Kakashi will survive the pain. I'd just like to give him a happier life. Poor brat deserves it after everything he's done for me since the whole horror story started. Either way, make sure that Naruto is content and place him on a team under Kakashi's tutelage. They'll both be fine then."

He had everything planned out, it seemed. "Okay . . ."

His future self slipped his strange coat off, revealing a typical Konoha jounin uniform, and tossed it at him. "You shouldn't have to worry about it, but if you ever see or hear of a group that wears these coats or ones like this, look into them and find out what they're doing. If there's any hint that they're after the bijuu, kill all of them. They may be composed of S-class oinin and may call themselves 'Akatsuki.' Whatever they are, they aren't going to want to be friends."

Definitely sounded dangerous. "Did you infiltrate them?"

"I created them."

With that, his future self was gone, leaving him with an oddly ominous coat and far more information than he wanted but knew he desperately needed.

"Hey, you!"

He turned around, automatically plastering a smile on his face. As his wife touched down with surprising lightness in front of him—he wished she would not play in the trees when she was nearly ten months along, but since she moved fine he did not complain too much—he bent down and wrapped his arms around her burgeoning stomach as he greeted, "Hello!"

"Excuse me, sir. I think you should talk to the captain before visiting the passenger."

"Ah, but I've already had lots of time to talk to the captain before this! I have to even that quota with the passenger now!"

She laughed, and Naruto responded by kicking out. Fortunately, his head was resting on top of her stomach, so he only got jabbed in the chest a few times and once in the throat—kid had good aim for fighting blind. For a moment he thought of the possibilities his future self had outlined for Naruto and felt a burst of anger at the village for not trusting his strength, at the very least. It was gone just as quickly, though, because he had no intention of letting any of that happen. He would use the Kokugen, read the journal, and do as his future self had advised.

At least he knew Naruto, apparently a truly impatient child, would be a week and a half premature. That would help keep him from panicking.

"Are you okay?"

He straightened up and looked at her. He had been quiet too long. "Just thinking." She opened her mouth and he quickly added, "Please don't—it's of the clan."

She hated hearing that excuse from him and he hated to use it against her, but it was the only explanation he could offer in public. She closed her mouth and frowned, then sighed. "Fine." She then noticed the coat his future self had left behind. "Where did you get that?"

"It was given to me."

She recoiled slightly and he, just to be playful, waved it at her. She drew away even more and commanded, "Don't!" He stopped immediately, confused, and let his arm drop by his side. She eased closer and peered at it with significant distrust.

"What is it?" he asked, curious. She came from a family in which virtually every member had been a priest or priestess and for many generations they had all cared for one of the largest shrines in some faraway land he had never visited. Unfortunately, in a surge of fury upon hearing that one of the other shrines had been badly corrupt, the people burned it and every other shrine in the country to the ground and killed anyone of religious blood they found. Her family had fled for their lives and many eventually settled in Fire Country. Out of fear for their safety they had never built another shrine, but the powers granted them had not faded all that much over the centuries. She herself was strong enough to banish demons of moderate strength and ferocity, though she had only done it a few times.

As with his own clan, though for slightly different reasons, hers did not discuss their abilities with outsiders. In fact, he had never learned about her exact heritage until after they were married and her fitful dreams woke him three or four nights a week. They had finally dwindled to once or twice a month, but only—he made sure to remind her whenever the issue arose—after she had told him the truth. Out of respect for her and her respect of his silence in regards to his own clan's history, he had never asked her what those dreams—or perhaps visions—had entailed even though curiosity gnawed at him, but he suspected by her behavior, in waking and sleeping, that they had involved a lot of pain or loss or possibly even both at once.

It often made him wonder if Naruto would inherit any such abilities.

That was still in the future, though, and she was definitely showing signs that her 'miko powers'—he had gotten a rather good wallop for that—had been triggered. She leaned in toward the coat, then leaned away, then leaned in and back again. After a very long hesitation, she held out her hands and took hold of the coat. Uncertain, he let her have it, alarmed when she began to sob over it almost immediately. An attempt to snatch it away was answered with an equal snatch in the opposite direction, topped by a glassy-eyed glare.

"Stop crying," he told her, trying to stabilize the situation. "It's just a coat."

"Why is it so sad?!" she demanded.

"What?"

She shook the coat at him. "It reeks of awful, awful sadness! Where did you get this?!"

He pressed his lips together rebelliously. There was no way he was going to tell her, even the tiniest and most insignificant bit, what had happened. Not only would it ruin the tentative progression of Time, but it would also undoubtedly put her into hysterics. She was at last on maternity leave—completely forced, naturally—so neither of them had the benefit of her uniform controlling her behavior.

"You!" she suddenly howled. "It's you! Why?! Why?!"

He grabbed her shoulders and gave her a sharp shake. She had gotten hysterical anyway, so he would have to tell her at least part of the truth. "Listen. Listen!" She blinked at him tearfully and he sighed. "The future found me. It's not all candy and roses on that road, but I know how to fix it, okay? I promise."

"But what happened?"

"It doesn't matter because I'm not going to let it happen. Everything will be different this time, I promise."

"But—"

"Please trust me," he begged. "Please?"

She looked at him, the coat held tightly to her chest. "You know you don't have to do everything alone . . ."

"I know," he promised, "and I won't be. When the time comes, you'll be helping me. All you need to do until then is whatever suits your fancy, okay? Things must progress normally until that time."

She nodded, but still looked a little uncertain.

"Hey . . ." He tilted her head up with a gentle finger. "That was the whole reason I was alerted to this, all right? So that it won't happen again. It is sad—it's very sad—but it's not irreparable. Not yet. There's still time to make it all right."

"You said it's not allowed, though. To do that."

"It's not. But it was more important that I know."

She nodded. "What was it about?"

"The village."

It was not a complete lie—the village was heavily involved.

". . . Can you make it better?"

He frowned. He really did not know. He could but try. "I'm the Yondaime Hokage," he reminded her quickly, tickling her ribs and very slyly reclaiming the coat as he retreated, "I can make anything better."

She giggled and tried to get away from him. "I'd agree with you, except I know that the Sandaime only had pity on you when you went into his office weeping about how your teacher was picked to be Yondaime over you. Things have been terrible ever since."

He stopped and imagined his pervert of a teacher wearing the Hokage's robes, then tilted his head at the oddness of the concept. It really would not have worked—too much white. "Them's fightin' words, woman."

She stuck her tongue out at him and leaped into a nearby tree, much to his consternation. "What're you gonna do?" she taunted. "Cry?"

He responded with something quite typical and followed her, simply glad—over most everything else—that she had not thought to ask precisely when he would need her help. As he chased her through trees that would more than likely be gone in a month, he steeled himself for the coming ordeal.

October tenth. The day heaven and hell would collide in front of his eyes, leaving him to restore the shattered pieces with only the ingredients for a glue.

Timescale has concluded.

Timespan triad and Timesaver quadrilogy to be continued . . .

Answers To Questions You Didn't Even Know You Wanted To Ask:

The Fourth can ignore his own chakra?

He can now.

—

What is 'Yukusue'?

Yukusue is 'one's future' (it may or may not have been used in the proper context—if not, I apologize and appreciate a correction) and is something of a code word. As stated by past!Fourth, meeting with oneself this way isn't condoned by the clan. However, in the event of a dire emergency it's a way for a future self to assure his or her past self that the future self is real and not a clone or imposter without completely giving away the fact that he or she really is from the future, in case unwanted ears are listening. Why this isn't the total giveaway it appears to be will be covered in Timekeeper.

—

What is 'Seihen'?

Seihen is 'change of times.' As further explained in Timekeeper, this is a technique that allows the user to travel into the past and so influence the future. It only controls Time, however, and not the free will of people. As a result, there is no guarantee that using this technique will change the future in the way the user desires. Though actually a passive C-rank technique on its own, skill with chakra manipulation is heavily required for the user to achieve the specific date s/he wishes to arrive at. That requirement elevates Seihen to a passive A-rank technique with a range that cannot be physically measured but is proportionate to chakra expenditure.

—

What's 'Kokugen' again?

Kokugen means 'appointed time.' It allows the user to see the various outcomes of an event in the past or present when the user suggests a person and a chosen possibility relating to that event. The technique is far from conclusive; it shows only the outcome and not the mechanics that led to that outcome. If the user is not specific enough in the event, person, and/or possibility, the potential outcomes are virtually limitless and nearly impossible to sort through. The outcomes also rely completely on the completeness of the user's knowledge of the person and event in question, so any error in either or both of those could result in a totally unexpected and unseen outcome in reality. This is a passive C-rank technique with no calculable range.

—

What's a 'miko'?

A miko is a priestess.

—

Is there a sequel?

Several. Timeserver is part one of the Timespan triad and the Timesaver quadrilogy. The second part of the Timespan triad and Timesaver quadrilogy is Timescale. The final part of the Timespan triad and third part of the Timesaver quadrilogy is Timekeeper. The fourth and final part of the Timesaver quadrilogy is the multi-chapter Naruto/Okami crossover fic Time Frame.

—

You know how good milk comes from happy cows, and happy cows come from California? Well, good stories come from happy authors, and happy authors come from reviews. So, please review.

~RN (LS)