Hello again.

I'd like to thank the 2 people that reviewed for the prologue. VFR6 and j7nX, this chapter goes out to you.

Please review. I'll give you cookies, though you might have to fight Gaara for them. I hear he's addicted.

Diclaimer: I do not own Naruto. That belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. Though I did dress up as Deidara for Halloween!

Will of Fire

The official definition of the word 'survivor' is 'to carry on despite hardships or trauma, to persevere.' On a report, survivors are those people who are found by search teams sent by their home and allied villages. On a report, the four of them would have been survivors.

But to them, there were none. Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto, Namikaze Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Itachi, and Sabaku no Gaara were as dead to the world as any of their friends and family.

Gaara knelt before a small wooden cross, his hand resting on the name that he had carved only a few minutes ago. His fellow tactician, Nara Shikamaru, was buried there.

The lazy-ass jonin was one of the many people who had died that day; an explosion caused by the Nekomata had blown off his legs. Unlike the other men who this had happened to, Shikamaru had not prayed for God to save him, nor did he cry for his mother. The shadow-user cried for Temari, his lover who had been dead for eleven years, because she was going to hit him over the head with her fan for coming to see her so soon.

Gaara's gaze drifted to the left, where he saw a figure limp towards him. Itachi came into view, a make shift crutch supporting his wait. It had been his idea to release the genjutsu that Madara had placed on the bijuu. The demons may have been bloodthirsty and cruel, but they had a Code of Honor, as they turned on the mad man who had controlled them and killed him. The last Uchiha had lost his left leg in the final battle and would most likely never be able to be a shinobi again.

"None of us will ever be able to fight again." Shukaku's voice, saddened by the idiotic loss of life, rang in his head. The bijuu had learned to appreciate humans more than he had before after the two of them became partners. Gaara had taught him about being human, while the Ichibi gave him a large portion of his power, trusting the red head to use it well.

"Naruto's calling us," Itachi said.

Gaara gave him an affirmative grunt and winced as he rose to his feet. The explosion that had killed Shikamaru had superheated his Suna no Yoroi and turning it into glass. While he was now able to control glass like he did sand, it had exploded the moment he had moved towards his fallen comrades. It was a miracle that he could still move his arms. He had reluctantly ripped off the sleeves of his treasured trench coat to make a make shift bandage before running off in search of Naruto.

As Gaara and Itachi moved slowly towards the Hokage and his wife, they passed hundreds of thousands of wooden crosses, under them, shinobi, civilians, and children alike. In there, somewhere, was Team 8, pinned together in death by stray shrapnel. Someplace to their left were Ino and Chouji, who had been stepped on by the Gobi. And in front of them, Neji, Tenten, and Lee, burned to a crisp by the Yonbi.

It looked somewhat like something he had read in a story book as a child, a field in the mythical land of Belgium. Flanders, he believed it was called.

And then before them was Naruto and Sakura, holding each other as they cried shamelessly. Naruto was untouched by the attack that had taken place only three days ago; the Kyuubi had healed his most grievous wounds by now. His wife, on the other hand, had second and third degree burns on half of her face. She had been in the same area as Team Gai when they had perished.

Gaara still thought that the pink haired woman was beautiful, even with the horrid burns that she now had.

The Kazekage turned his head to the wooden marker in front of them. Tears threatened to fall as he read the name.

Namikaze Kushina. Her body had been so mangled and bloody that they had only identified her by the silver bracelet that her parents had given her for her birthday last year.

She had been five years old.

"So what do we do now?" Gaara whispered in a voice so blank and dead; like it had been in those chuunin exams all those years ago.

Naruto lifted his head, "What can we do? There's nothing out there. No people, no land, no fucking anything!"

"We can live in the Outer Rim," Sakura suggested, "Maybe there's someone there that can take us in."

Gaara shuddered at the idea. The Outer Rim referred to the territory outside the Elemental Countries, where cannibals, murderers, and thieves roamed free with no government and laws to protect those who lived there. It was survival of the fittest. No one lasted out there for long.

The couple stood, gazing with grief stricken eyes at the grave of their child. The red head felt their pain because they had been forced to do something that no parent should have had to do. They had to bury their own child.

"There is something," Itachi's voice rang out. The three turned towards him, the world's final reminder of a clan that had fallen into darkness.

"Pein, he gave me a scroll. Told me to use it as a last resort."

Their eyes widened, and a glimpse of hope was seen in their dead eyes.

"I asked Neji to read it over for me. Most of it's theory, but if the jutsu works, we should be able to save everyone."

"What is it, Itachi?" Naruto asked, a trace of what was jokingly called 'Hokage Mode' apparent in his voice.

"It's a time traveling jutsu," the Uchiha explained, "Pein created it. He never really trusted Madara to hold out on their deal. He invented this in case something were to go wrong."

"And something did," the Hokage muttered as Itachi fished out the scroll from under his ANBU flank jacket, "What are the risks?"

"From what I've understood, the worst case scenario is that we drop dead after we complete the hand seals," his right hand man answered, "Of course, the jutsu might not work, and then we'd in the same position we are now."

Naruto nearly ripped open the scroll as the two other ninja gathered behind him. Itachi stood alone because he may have been able to see using chakra pulses, seeing through glass, water, and what is written on paper was still beyond him.

"What have we got to lose?" asked Sakura.

"Nothing," Gaara answered, "And that's our problem."

The blonde raised an eyebrow, "We're gonna need a plan."

The four of them sat just outside of what was at one time the Hokage tower. The wind whipped across the barren waste land, kicking up dust and grime.

"The scroll says that we can pick the date that we are going back to if we really concentrate," Naruto said, "We need to pick a date and make a plan because, if you remember, Gaara was a homicidal mass maniac at one point and Itachi was an S-Class missing-nin."

"I think we should go back to the chuunin exams," Sakura suggested, "At least to the beginning, so we can stopped Sasuke from getting the cursed seal."

"No," Gaara objected, "We won't have a heck of a lot of time to prepare for the war. Orochimaru will be on our doorsteps and we need all the time we can get."

"How about the day you two became genin," Itachi said, "That can give us the maximum amount of time for us to actually make an impact on the time stream."

"I'd like that," Naruto said, "I'd like to see if we can save Haku and Zabuza. They might be good allies in the future."

Gaara twitched and rung his hands together, "I'd like that as well. Before the chuunin exams, I went on a mission. It was the only one I ever failed, not because we messed up, but because I killed the client and the other team that went with us. I caused a village to be taken over by Taki nin.

"I'd like to complete that mission."

Sakura's eyes softened and she placed a hand on his arm. The touch set his nerves on fire and made his insides twist upon themselves.

"We can go back to then, Gaara," she gave him a smile and he felt blood rush to his cheeks.

"Thank you."

"Next problem," Naruto announced, "The identification seals. We need to hid them."

The three other ninja nodded. This one was understandable. Every high ranking ninja were given a seal that was attached to their souls incase war was to break out. The seals were created to identify imposters that might want to take information back to enemy countries. They were designed to withstand everything, so traveling through time would not effect the fact that seals would come with them.

"Whether you use sleeves or bandages or both, make sure no one sees them," the Rokudaime ordered.

"Next, we need to make code phrases so that we know that everyone else has arrived," he explained, "For Sakura and I, it will be easy. I'll ask if she wants to sit next to me at the academy, and she will respond yes.

"Itachi, I want you to hold the scroll when we make the jump. That way it will come with you specifically, so you can show it Pein and get out of Akatsuki. Come to Konoha and live in the Yondaime's nose."

Gaara smirked. Naruto's father had build a private training room in his statue's nose. The Rokudaime had found out about it shortly after Tsuande's death.

"Gaara, when you come to Konoha for the exams, I want you to ask for our names instead of Sasuke's. We'll respond about how you already know them."

The three of them nodded.

"Alright," Itachi said, "Neji described something about a large seal having to be drawn, so we need to get that set up."

The seal itself was massive. Spanning almost 125 feet in every direction, it was a mass of twisting lines and ancient symbols. Shukaku had pointed out that most of the writing was in the language spoken among demons and wondered where the hell Pein had learned them.

Four smaller circles containing four ninja stood in the middle of the giant creation, hands flashing through seals in perfect synchrony. Blue chakra flared around a pink haired woman and a one-legged black haired man. Red chakra blazed around a blonde man with a orange trench coat with black flames. Yellow chakra burst from the red head with the long pony tail.

And then there was a golden flash, and the world went dark.

It was nearly midnight and Sabaku no Gaara was going to go on the hunt. The full moon was high in the sky and his mother's voice cried out for blood.

He sat on the roof of the Kazekage residence and looked over the streets below. He saw the wall where he had first killed that drunk so long ago. To the left, the swing that he had sat on in his childhood when he had been young and naive.

The clock struck midnight and an intense pain came over his body. Gaara hunched over clutching his stomach.

"What is this?" he asked Shukaku. The bijuu did not respond, as he too was in pain.

Gaara withdrew to his mind and appeared in front of the chains that restrained the demon within him. The sand spirit thrashed against his bonds as the red head stumbled over to him, looking for some sort of explanation. There, to his right, something was forming.

Sand whipped together, forming a second Shukaku. Beside him, a tall man appeared in the storm. His long red hair was tied in a pony tail at the base of his neck. A Konoha flank jacket was covered by a black trench coat with light blue swirls on the bottom and dark blue pants. A Suna head band was tied around his neck.

The man stepped towards him and knelt at his twitching form. Gaara's stomach clenched: the man's face looked like an older version of his own.

"I really am sorry for this," he said, "But I have to save my precious people."

The man reached out and touched his forehead, and then he knew nothing.

The clock showed 12:01 AM. Gaara raised his head and smiled.

"I'm back."

I'll do anything

Just to fall asleep with you

Will you remember me?

Because I know I won't forget you.

Glossary:

Suna no Yoroi: literally "Armor of Sand"
Type: No rank, Defensive, Short range (0-5m)
Users: Gaara
This jutsu uses chakra to cover the user with a thin, but very dense, layer of protective sand. While a good defense, it puts an unignorable burden on the user's stamina, both through chakra absorption and the fact that the sand makes them heavier and hampers their movement.

Ok, for anyone who cares, the four lines at the beginning of the prologue and the end of this chapter are from the song I'll Do Anything by Simple Plan.

So if anyone is confused about anything, just ask.

I'd also like to apologize for the lack of action in the last chapter of "I am Kyuubi?" I needed to tie up some loose stings before I could move on to the next arc.

Later,

Whitefox

EDIT: This is the updated version.