Mirai means Future in Japanese
"Shut up, Naruto," Kiba and Akamaru barked at the obnoxious blonde that he had the misfortune to run into. His team along with Team Eight had been helping repair a part of the village that was still in bad shape from the attack of Orochimaru. They had all decided to go out and get some food together when they had run into Team Seven and Kiba and Naruto got into an argument. "Just cause you beat me once doesn't make you stronger than me." He growled, baring his teeth and Akamaru showing his own. The dog was resting peacefully on his head before Naruto had showed up and made both Inuzukas angry.
Naruto only scoffed and crossed his arms, trying to look tough. "Yeah right. I bet I can beat the both of you with my brand new att – Ow!" Naruto tried gloating at the new attack he had learned from Jiraiya but Sakura had punched him head before he could finish.
"Will you shut your big mouth already!" she scolded her teammate, she was annoyed and angered by his sudden gloating and she wanted him to stop talking. "I swear Naruto, I thought you would have stopped acting like such a child by now." She put her hands on her hips and sighed at her teammate. Sometimes he was such a little kid that she had to take care of but that was not what she wanted. She wanted to wait to settle down and marry before having a kid, to be in a long and good relationship before she and her husband had one, and there was just no way she wanted to a mother at such young age.
"She's right," Sasuke had his hands in is pockets and looked both bored and annoyed at the same time. "You need to stop acting like such a loser." He really didn't enjoy it when his team acted like this. It just bothered him.
"Hey, you guys are supposed to be on my side." Naruto cried, still holding his head in pain from the wound Sakura had given him. He would have this bump for a while.
"You really are a pain," Sakura sighed again and moved in front of her teammate, she gave Kiba and Akamaru a small respectful smile. "I'm sorry about Naruto. You know much of an idiot he can be at times." She knew how to handle this situation without a big fight taking place.
Kiba finally stopped growling and nodded, "Whatever, I don't care what he says. I just don't like hearing him bad mouth me." Kiba crossed his arms and glared at the blonde behind Sakura.
"I know but…?" Sakura and everyone stopped when they saw a sudden bright light appear in front of them, they could see something was coming out of it and whatever it was it was screaming.
Kiba felt the slashing of Ashitare's claws cut into his body, both he and Akamaru cried out when they felt their bodies begin to disappear. It felt almost like they were being dissolved into tiny particles and being taken away by a violent gust of wind. Kiba felt his mind go back to his son and he tried tightening his hold on him but his hands had passed right through the child's body and his entire being faded away from the world. He and Akamaru felt like they were falling down a giant spiraling hole and there was no bottom, the cries of his friends following his own and they were not far behind. Together they would continue to fall in this giant dark pit that held no bottom and scream alone in the darkness forever.
"Argh!" Well the bottom finally came and Kiba came face first with the ground. Dirt was the first thing he tasted and he spat it right out in time for his three friends to land on both him and Akamaru. "Damn it," he muttered, once again face hitting the awful tasting ground. What had happened to him? He had never experienced anything like that before in his life and it left him feeling clueless and empty inside.
"Koga," he jumped to his feet when he finally noticed the missing scent of his son. Getting his friends off him, he and Akamaru jumped to their feet to fight Ashitare and protect their sons. "Koga!" he felt his breath get sucked back into him when he saw he was no longer in the open field but on one of the streets of Konoha.
"How did we end up here?" Hinata was just as equally confused and concerned as Kiba, she had no idea how they ended up in the streets of their village and that worried her. But what worried her more was that she couldn't pick up any traces of Ashitare's chakra.
"Perhaps his claws have a certain power in them," Shino suggested, remaining clam as always and trying to come up with an explanation. "He did use some kind of forbidden jutsu to combine his and his companion's bodies together, and for all we know he did even more before he was sealed away." It was all they had but it seemed like a good theory.
"Who cares how," Kiba didn't care how he got there he just wanted to know where Koga was. "That monster is with my son and I'm here! Who the hell cares how we got here!" he screamed in the bug-nin face, his Alpha side was coming out and it was screaming at him to go find Ashitare and protect his son.
"Now just calm down," Shikamaru came next and his Shadow Possession Jutsu was starting to activate, if he needed to he would use it on Kiba. "It won't do us any good if we all just start screaming at each other. I know you're worried about Koga but we need to figure out what the hell happened to us before we do anything." With a long sigh, he shoved his hand sin his pockets and stopped the jutsu before it could happen. All of this was such a drag and he really wished he had just stayed home and watched the clouds but he knew he needed to help his friends. Kiba most of all, his son was in dangerous situation at this very moment and he understood why he wanted to go running off but they need to be calm about this or it could do some serious damage to their side.
"Shikamaru is right, Kiba," Hinata came up and put one hand on her old teammate's shoulder. "We need you to calm down and help us." They all needed to focus if they were going to save Koga.
"You're right," Kiba hated it, he wanted to go out and save his son before anything could happen to the boy but his friends were right. If he left now in a wild rampage it would only cause more harm than good and he couldn't have that. He just barely got a hit on Ashitare when he was going at full power, he needed to focus and concentrate if he was going to beat the beast. "So what do we do first?" he turned to look at his teammates but found more eyes starting at them than he expected.
"What the hell?" Both Kibas screamed when they saw one another, their eyes traveling over the others body and the two Akamarus doing the very same. "Why are there two of me?" they both asked at the same time and were both equally confused.
"Damn," Shikamaru felt his brain start to twitch. "That creep somehow sent us into the past. What a drag." He ran one hand through his hair and saw that his past-self was doing the very same, having come to the same conclusion. "Why do I get the feeling this is going to get really annoying?" somehow seeing someone that looks exactly like you and doing the same thing as you sounded really annoying. "This is going to more troublesome than it should be."
"Whoa," Naruto was looking at the Kiba from the future, eyes wide with interest. "Look at them. They're really from the future."
"Amazing." Sakura gasped in wonder as she looked over the future-selves of her friends. Her eyes traveled over Shino, Hinata, Shikamaru and finally Kiba. Something about the future Inuzuka made her eyes linger on him longer than the other and he seemed to catch her staring, he held her gaze for a moment and she saw something in them she couldn't explain. An emotion she wasn't used to seeing and gasped when she saw him wink at her, a bright pink blush coming onto her face so bright that she had to put her head down before anyone saw her. Right now she really wished she had longer hair so it would be easier for her to hide her face.
"Knock that off," Mirai Shino slapped the back of Mirai Kiba's head and scolded him. "We can't reveal too much about the future or else we'll risk changing it to much. So you can't get to close to Sakura." He warned his teammate of the consequences that would come with interfering with the past. They needed to be careful while they were in this time, one tiny incident could change their whole future.
"I know that," Mirai Kiba gave a low growl, rubbing the back of his heard from where he had been hit. "It's just an Inuzuka instinct." He whined out. He didn't like that his friend had hit him but he knew Shino was right. He liked his future with Sakura and he needed to make sure that future happened so he had to pretend she meant nothing to him. That was not something he was born to do, Inuzuka's are passionate and protective of their mates so it would be hard to ignore her but he would just grin and bear it. He was strong and he could handle that, but what he couldn't handle was watching Sakura get all mushy over Sasuke. Even if they were in the past she was his mate and he was jealous that the Uchiha was getting the attention that was supposed to be only for him.
"Well ignore your instincts." Mirai Shino scolded him one more time, it was almost as if he read his thoughts, before they all turned their focus back on the group of their own and friend's past-selves.
"So cool," Kiba was looking at his future-self in amazement and excitement. "Look how awesome I am," he examined himself and Akamaru was doing the very same to his future. "This is great!" Both Inuzukas were happy with what they saw.
Mirai Kiba chuckled at his past, remembering how much energy he had back than. "Glad I approve of myself." He patted his old life on the head and grinned from ear to ear.
"So you're me, huh?" Shikamaru looked at his future and sighed. "Guess it could be worse." He had his hands behind his head and yawned. He wanted to go home and take a nap.
"Shikamaru," Ino came and slapped her lazy teammate on the back. "You should act better. You have a great chance at seeing your future, something others would kill for and you're acting as if it's nothing." The Yamanaka was screaming in his ears and Shikamaru only sighed again.
"Please tell me she mellows out with age." He really hoped he had that to look forward to in the future.
"I wish I could but it's not my style to lie to myself." Mirai Shikamaru told his past in a bored and tired tone. He wanted to get home quickly before any damage could be done to their time. Even with them being here had to change something.
"Man, what a drag." Shikamaru only sighed again and leaned against the near by fence. His eyes going up to watch the clouds and like that he was lost to the world and in his own world.
"Interesting," Shino looked at his future with interest. "I can feel you have ten times the amount of bugs I have and yet you hold no jar like father."
"It's a trick you'll learn soon enough." Mirai Shino told his past.
"S-So y-you're r-r-really me?" Hinata played with her fingers as she looked over her future. She was surprised by the long hair and the look in her future's eyes. They were different from hers.
"Yes, I am." Mirai Hinata smiled at her past, remembering the shy and fragile girl that she used to be. She was much stronger and a lot more confident now.
"Oh man, Hinata you look really pretty when you grow up." Naruto came up to stand next to the blushing Hyuga.
"P-Pretty?" Hinata gasped at Naruto's words and fainted only to have her future-self catch her.
"Ah! Hinata!" Naruto cried when she suddenly collapsed.
Mirai Kiba started laughing when he saw this. "Knock it off." Mirai Hinata pouted at her old teammate and with some of Sakura's help got her past to wake up.
"Sorry," Mirai Kiba gave a sheepish grin. "I didn't mean but it's been a while since I've watched you faint in front of Naruto. It brought back some good memories." He grinned again, remembering a few moments when he witnessed his shy teammate faint in front of her crush.
"Maybe good for you." Mirai Hinata pouted again; she had been able to stop stuttering a while ago. While she did still do it from time to time she was glad that now was not one of those times. It meant she could speak to Kiba properly and tell him how much he was upsetting her.
Everyone started laughing at this, while this was all strange it also felt a little normal. After all they were still talking to their friends; there were just four extra ones that were a bit older. "Hey, what's that?" Sakura pointed to a red stone that was on the ground behind Mirai Kiba and Akamaru. She walked around them and picked up the glowing red stone only for her to drop it just as she touched it and held her hand in pain.
"Sakura," Mirai Kiba was by her side in an instant as was Akamaru, Shino's words were forgotten the moment they saw her in pain. "Are you alright?" he held her small hand in his own and gave a soft sigh of relief when he saw there was no harm done to it.
"I'm okay, it was just really hot." Sakura told Kiba and blushed when she saw how close they were. His face was so close to hers, every breath he took hit her face and she could smell his natural scent with ease. She jumped away from him and hid behind Ino, something she hadn't done since she was a little girl.
Mirai Kiba gave a light chuckle at her reaction and liked the effect he was having on her. It gave him some pleasure that she liked him; even now he could tell by her scent that she was attracted to him and it was making her become shy and confused. "Maybe I can talk to my past self and get her to go out with the me of this time? I did have a crush on her in this time period so it shouldn't be too hard to convince the Kiba of this time to ask Sakura out." he had a sly grin on his face, one that both Mirai Shino and Shikamaru smacked off his face.
"No," they knew what he was thinking just by the look he was wearing on his face. "You can't change the future." They warned him again and Mirai Kiba groaned.
"You guys suck," he frowned, upset of his plans of getting with Sakura faster were rejected, and pulled out a handkerchief from his pocket and picked up the burning red glowing stone. He was shocked to find the stone had cooled down and he felt no burning sensation like the one Sakura had felt when she touched it. Even with the cloth in his hand he should have felt something. "What is this?" he asked his friends, he had never seen something like this before in his life and he wanted answers. This whole day was just making him more and more confused and wanting answers.
"I'm not sure." Shino had no answers for this and neither did his friends. Everyone was just as lost and confused as him when it came to the stone and their sudden time traveling adventure.
"I don't know why but I feel like I know what this is." Mirai Kiba put his other hand on the stone, his fingers running over the cool gem just as it started to shine once again and shot a ball of light in front of them. Voices and images started to form from the ball of light and before long they were watching a clear picture of Sakura and Sasuke running together through the streets of Konoha, a young Inuzuka child and companion in Sakura's arms.
"Koga!" Mirai Kiba was so relieved to see not only his son but his wife were both fine.
"Thank goodness they're alright." Mirai Hinata gave her own sigh of relief when she saw them.
"It seems Sakura was able to make it in time." Mirai Shino gave his own nod of relief at seeing his god-son alive.
"At least we can relax a little," Mirai Shikamaru sighed, hands in his pockets and he slouched. "As long as Koga is with Sakura than we don't have to worry so much."
"Speak for yourself." Mirai Kiba muttered and Akamaru gave a low whine. They were both still worried, now not only for Koga and Kiiromaru but now for Sakura as well. It was their jobs as Alphas of the pack to protect their family and just standing around doing nothing was eating away at them on the inside.
"Whoa, is that Sakura?" Naruto gasped in amazement. "She looks so cool!" you could already see the hearts in his eyes and Mirai Kiba growled again. Another thing about this time that bothered him, Naruto was in love with Sakura and had no problems expressing it. That did not bold well for him, Sakura was his wife and he couldn't do a single thing about Naruto flirting with her in this time period. "I can only hope I don't go insane from this." It would take everything he had not to pounce on the boy for even dared to look at his woman in such a way.
"Wow," Sakura looked at the image of her future self. "I don't believe it." She was a little surprised to see that her hair was still short but the look she had was one that she liked. It looked right on her.
"Hey, who's the kid?" Kiba asked his future self. "I don't recognize him."
"Um…" Mirai Kiba looked to Shino for an answered but he received only a shrug of the shoulders from the guy. "A future Inuzuka. You'll meet him soon."
"Yeah, in about five years," Mirai Shikamaru had an amused grin on his face. "Then you'll have another five years to get to know him very well." It wasn't often he could have this much fun on such a serious mission so he didn't want to miss the opportunity.
"Shut up." Mirai Kiba growled at his supposed friend. "He had the nerve to scold me about changing the future but he's doing the same. Shikamaru, I swear if you screw up my future I'll screw with yours!" he vowed that if they went back and his future was changed than he would make the Nara suffer.
"Is he okay?" Shikamaru asked his future self when he saw the Kiba growl and get angry at nothing.
Mirai Shikamaru only shrugged again. "He'll be alright," he walked towards the red gem and tried picking it up so he could examine it more but it burned his hand the moment he touched it. With a sharp breath he pulled his hand away from the stone and stepped back. "So only Kiba can touch it?"
"Seems that way," Mirai Shino came to stand besides him. "Well the one we fought was a member of the Inuzuka clan so it makes sense that those outside the clan can't touch the stone."
"Man, what a drag," Mirai Shikamaru sighed and looked at the imagines he was seeing. Sakura and Sasuke were running together and Koga was holding tight to his mother and his companion during the whole sprint. By the way they ran said they had fought Ashitare and now they wanted to get away before they met him again. "Probably on their way to get Naruto," That was good. With Naruto fighting meant they wouldn't have to worry so much. "Well some might." He spared a quick glance at Mirai Kiba and saw that he was staring up at his wife and son with worry.
"Would you relax," Mirai Shikamaru sighed again and put a hand on his friend's shoulder. "Koga will be fine. He's with Sakura and we both know she'll protect him from any harm that comes their way." He needed Kiba to focus on what was going on now instead of other things if they were going to get back to their time.
Mirai Kiba looked at his family one last time before bending down and picking up the stone, it never burned his hand and the imagines disappeared as soon as he touched it. "Yeah, you're right."
"Good," Mirai Shikamaru was glad he listened to him and smiled.
"So what are we supposed to do now?" Sakura asked, looking at the four future shinobis.
"We should probably go and report this to Lady Hokage." Mirai Shino suggested.
"Yeah, hopefully she'll be able to help us with this mess." Mirai Shikamaru added in as he looked towards the Hokage tower and the mountains behind it. In a few years Naruto's face will be there too.
"Well what are we waiting for?" Mirai Kiba was already on top of Akamaru. "Let's get moving." He barked at his friends before taking off on Akamaru and heading towards the tower. He wanted to get back to their time before his wife and son came into contact with any harm. It was his duty as a husband, father, and alpha to protect those he cares for and he was going to do that. "Sakura…Koga…just hang on. I'll get back to the both of you soon." She swore he would go back to his family no matter what it takes.
Sakura wanted to scream so badly at this point, she could feels the distant echoes of her cries deep in her throat but she was controlling herself for her son's sake. The poor boy was already shaken up at seeing his father and friends vanish and she didn't want to add anything else to this giant mess. "How could Kiba and the others just disappear?" it didn't make sense to her. She believed what her son told her but whatever Koga saw wasn't normal.
"Sakura," her attention was turned to Sasuke, his sharingan activated and searching for any signs of the enemy. "Do you have any idea what exactly we're facing?"
She shook her head no and stared straight ahead, towards the Hokage tower. "No, I don't." her son had told her that that beast was an Inuzuka but she had been through every scroll in the Inuzuka Clan and not once did she ever come across the name Ashitare. She needed to know more about this man, if they could even call it that. "Koga, sweetie, did your father say anything more about Ashitare? Anything at all will help us in getting everyone back."
Koga nodded his head, his eyes still showing some signs of fear but he was trying to be brave. "Papa said that only members of our clan know about him and he was a statue hidden up in the mountains." He told his mother all he knew, hoping that it would be enough to get his father back. He missed his father and wanted him here to fight off that bad man that was threatening them.
"A statue in the mountains?" Sakura thought over her son's words. "Well I think we found the statue Naruto has been looking for," she and Sasuke both jumped along the roof tops, getting closer and closer to their old teammate's office. "After we get Naruto we need to head over to the Inuzuka Compound."
"You sure about that?" Sasuke asked, his sharingan coming off one they landed on the Hokage tower. "There's a high possibility that Ashitare will be there waiting for us."
Sakura nodded, saying she already knew that. "I already thought of that but we need to learn more about him if we even want a chance of defeating him. I need to talk to Tsume." She bit her lip to stop the scowl that wanted to appear on her face. She was a little insulted that she didn't know a single thing about Ashitare even though she's been a member of the clan for years, but she would yell at Kiba and the rest of their clan later. She needed to ask her mother-in-law about the information they needed.
"Alright," Sasuke moved along the roof, making sure it was safe. "If you say so." When it was approved both jumped down into the open window of the Hokage office and landed in front of their old friend's desk.
"Sakura? Sasuke?" Naruto was at his desk, buried under a giant pile of paperwork. If you could believe it he was even worst about skipping out on work than Tsuande was. "What are you guys doing here?" he got up from his seat and walked around to stand by them, he's been having a bad feeling all day and having his two best friends jump into his office like their lives depended on it only made it worst. "What's going on?"
"We'll explain on the way," Sasuke did a complete check of the room and found it safe. "Right now we need to get moving."
"Where are we going?" Naruto knew now he had a right to be worried. Something was defiantly wrong.
"We need to go to the Inuzuka Compound. Now!" Sakura wanted to get over there already. If there was one trait she inherited from Kiba the most it was protective urge of one's family and right now her family was missing and in possible danger and it had her going crazy.
Naruto was still for a moment, seemingly taking everything in. "Yes! Alright! No more work!" he cheered, jumping up and down in joy at not having to do anymore boring work.
Sakura, Sasuke, and Koga all stared at him as if he was crazy.
"He never changes, does he?" Sakura sighed, wondering how Naruto could grow in other ways but still be a total idiot.
"Nope." Sasuke hated to admit it but he was used to all of this by now.
"Stupid Hokage." Koga muttered from his mother's arms. His father had told him about their Hokage and all the stupid things he used to do growing up and how he used to have a crush on his mother. His father basically told him that both his mother's teammates were bad and he should never miss a chance to insult them when he sees them.
"Hey can we stop for some ramen on the way?" Naruto asked with sparkles in his eyes. "No!" All three yelled and hit him. Sasuke kicked him in the face, Sakura punched his cheek, Koga pulled his ear with his claws, and Kiiromaru bite his arm.
"Come on," Sasuke through one of Naruto's arms around his shoulders and dragged him along. "Let's get moving." He said to Sakura who nodded and both jumped out of the Hokage building and made their way to the Inuzuka Compound.