Chapter 2: Misgivings

Now, I know I'm not a genius in pretty much any aspect of the word. But I can tell that I've made one helluva mistake.

"You little bastard. Not one person in over several hundred years has insulted me to my face, and I haven't ripped them into infinitesimal pieces."

'Wow, did I call that or what?' I think to myself.

"Just because I can't kill you, doesn't mean I won't get my revenge. Because living is more important than killing a pathetic speck like you, let's get on with this damned technique. First, think of the dimensions that surround us. Everything exists in Height, Length, and Width dimensions. But, one plane of existence that is easily overlooked is Time."

I nod my head slowly, trying to comprehend this. I went to a ninja academy, not a quantum physics university, after all. This isn't really within the scope of my comprehension from being a Hokage either.

"Think of it walking backward, or falling down, except through the Time dimension, and not Length or Height."

All of a sudden it clicks. I vigorously bounce my head up and down, trying to show the fox that I've made the connection.

"Ok, Naruto, now for the fun part. Hand seals. There's a lot of them, so I'm just going to implant the memory of how to do them into your head, rather than show you all 463."

My jaw drops. "F-Four hundred and sixty-three?!"

"I told you, little brat, this is a technique only to be used by a demon king, and thus it is very powerful and complex. It is not to be used or taken lightly. This will use up almost all of your chakra and close to all of mine as well. Like I said, the only one to succeed in using time travel was another demon king. Many others have tried and either died of chakra depletion, or didn't have enough stamina to make it through the portal to their destination. I have carefully calculated this and estimate that we have just enough of both chakra and stamina between us to barely survive this."

I'm still not a genius, but I do know something about chakra and stamina, especially that my own levels were higher than anyone else I knew, except for Kurama. I've heard that the Fourth Hokage's chakra capacity had been as much as mine, but had never had any proof to back this up. And it had been said many times that nobody could match my stamina. The simple fact that this would use up close to all of both made me pale a little.

I look at the Kyuubi with more than a little nervousness. He looks to be rummaging through different strands of … something … that are hanging from the ceiling in his cage. He seems to select one at random and places it onto his paw. He then closes his eyes and chants something inaudible.

Suddenly, I'm aware that I know all of the hand seals. I am also aware that I know which ones to channel my normal chakra into and which ones require demon chakra. I look at Kurama, this time with amazement, as he opens his eyes.

"There." He states simply. "Before we start, I am not sure where this will take us too. We may be separated or stay as one. There is no way to tell. However, legend says that "One will exit the time rift at the most important part of their life." What this may be for you, I do not know. It may also use what it deems is my most important moment as well, since I will be traveling at least part of the way with you."

"Remember that you will take over your former body in spirit, but the body will stay the same. Nothing has ever been said about if you keep your memories of the future, so that is where I am going to help you. I will implant a copy of your current memories into your spirit where only I could find it. After the time travel, I will release your future self's memories so that you may be able to prevent all of this."

I am now quite suspicious. I always knew that the mighty fox lord never does anything out of sympathy or compassion. He is a ruthless, bloodthirsty killing machine when he chooses to be. He may use this to take advantage of a younger me. If we go back, only to harm my friends there, this will serve no purpose.

However, I remember something that Kurama said to me a while back. "Naruto, a demon lord is bound to his honor and pride to uphold his word. The hard part is to get him to give his word."

I decide to risk it. After all, what more can I possibly lose? Nothing, really. "Will you give your honor-bound word, upon your title as the Demonic King, Kurama?"

Surprisingly enough, the Kyuubi thinks it over. "State what you wish to gain my word upon, and we shall see."

For once, I remember to be polite to the fuzzball. "Lord Kurama, I request your word that upon the completion of this technique, you will release my memories back to me so that I may change the future."

The giant kitsune looks at me. He tilts his head slightly and puts a furry paw to his chin, reminiscent of a human thinking posture. "Uzumaki Naruto, you have my word, honor-bound upon my title of Demon Lord."

For the first time in my life, and quite possibly the last, I say "Thank you, Kurama."

"Although, brat, I'm surprised you remembered your manners." Kurama smirks as he thinks: 'And left me a gaping loophole in that promise.'

"Naruto, you should be starting the hand seals now."

Quick to react, I put my arms in front of me, and my hands turn into a blur as I run through them, counting along the way to make sure I didn't miss any.

"100… 200… 300… 400… 461, 462," I paused before the last hand seal for a split second. 'I really hope this will work'.

"463! Demon Style: Time Spiral Technique!

A leaf had fallen from a nearby tree and the gust of wind from the chakra buildup and release. For some reason, it captivated me. It swirled around daintily in the air. As it was halfway down to the ground, it started to slow down. It was like there were crosswinds slowly making it start to hover. I watched as the leaf gradually stopped in mid-air, suspended in both time and space. As I moved over to it, there is a weird sensation. Normally it would seem like I travel around a stationary world. This was the impression I had always been under.

But, as I put one foot in front of the other, it feels like the world is moving around me, that I am staying still while everything comes to or moves away from me. It gets so strong that I almost get vertigo. I finally reach the leaf just hanging there in mid-fall. It just begs to be touched. My hand moves out to reach it, or rather it seems to just move closer to my hand. This screwed up sense of motion is seriously weird. My fingers brush against it, slightly moving it out of its place.

As I watch, tiny spider web-like cracks form around the leaf. They slowly spiral outwards as I move the leaf away from its original frozen position. I am entranced by this. I do not notice the depletion of chakra from the technique, I cannot feel the exhaustion from forcing all of the said chakra through me at once. I am only dimly aware of anything else.

Testing something, I grab the leaf and forcefully move it aside. Or was that the leaf encased itself within my fist and moved on its own? It's quite hard to tell the difference.

The cracks are now spiraling around a small black hole. I notice that it seems to be pulling on me. I lean close and put my eye to the hole. It's literally a hole in the world, there is just a giant whirling vortex of grey and black inside. It spins and spins around and away from me. As I move closer to see more, the cracks widen, and chunks of the world fall at my feet. I can feel the vacuum effect on my hair as it is being pulled towards the apparent rift in time. I watch as a single strand of hair is pulled loose from my head and is sucked into the spiraling time gap. It swirls around briefly in the outer rings before taking an almost circular course towards the center. As it reaches the center, it just vanishes.

I wonder briefly, 'Where did that hair end up? What was the most important time in life for it? Or because it is a part of me, will it travel just ahead of me?' The questions that posed themselves in front of my mind, disappear a fraction of a second later when I notice the time rift growing bigger and bigger. It's now quite large enough for me to put my head in if I wished to do so.

As an experiment, and put my hand to the hole. Misjudging the force needed, and forgetting the seemingly reverse rules of motion in this stop time, I overcompensate for the strength necessary to just put my hand in the hole. My arm is now buried elbow deep into the rift and I can't pull it back out. The cracks around the edge grow bigger and bigger.

I'm now quite frantic. A hole has my arm and won't let go. Some might call it dumb, but I like my arms attached to me. Something about having all my body parts in their proper places is nice.

I put a foot against the cracks, forgetting that they are in mid-air. When I try and apply force to my foot, so that I can remove my arm, I stumble forward unexpectedly and crash into the hole, arm-first.

An instant ago, I was standing in the middle of a devastated section of Konoha's forest. Now I'm caught up in a maelstrom of grey and black rushing around me. I'm struggling to stay out of this stuff, whatever it is, but it sticks to me. A good word to describe it would be quicksand. There more I struggle against the current of this vortex, the more it pulls me back in.

I'm nearing the middle and can feel my body being pulled under. I can see almost nothing, feel only the goop that surrounds me, and hear only the angry grumbling of the whirlpool as it constantly swirls away into nothingness.

Reaching the center, I am sucked down.

Kurama snickered as his host was pulled into the vortex and lost consciousness. Such a dumb little thing they had entrusted with the greatest demon of all-time. It was a shame that the damned mortal had enough willpower to match his own, however. This denied the great being access to what he wanted, what he desired. His own freedom again to do as he pleased, when and where he wanted to do whatever it was.

But, in an unconscious state, most of the boy's willpower was now inactive, along with the rest of the body.

Kurama rammed a claw through the bars of the gigantic cage that had been his prison for almost 25 years. Really, it was just more of an inconvenience to a being that lived for many millennia, but it certainly was still quite annoying. He could tell from the seal that the only way to separate himself from his silly container was to wait for the boy to die naturally. Anything traumatic or un-natural which meant that the seal was active at the moment of death would mean that Kyuubi would perish with the boy. He definitely did not want to die. After all, he was not an old demon by any means, and still wanted to get back into the underworld again so he could once more rule everything in it.

Sadly for him, the claw did not manage to break through the cage's bars. He sighed again. He had tried this nearly every time his host's body lost consciousness. It never had seemed to work. But, he kept trying, of course.

'At least I didn't come out of the situation so badly. He left such a glaring error in his asking for my word of honor. The only reason I agreed with the damned bastard was so he might think he could trust me. And he thanked me. The little moron actually thanked me.' Kurama roared in laughter at this. Raising his furry paws to wipe a tear of mirth from his eyes, his feral grin re-appeared. 'Now, how can I exploit this situation for the best?'

As my consciousness re-awakens, I inspect my surroundings. I am obviously floating because I feel nothing underneath me. Or maybe that's above me. Either way, I do not seem to be directly in contact with anything. It's a strange and foreign feeling. I cannot remember many times when I haven't been touching anything at all. The feeling is amazing for a short period of time, but then it becomes quite uncomfortable. The reassuring feel of something, anything, is always nice after these brief moments.

I expected to be placed into nothingness. And, in one sense, I wasn't disappointed. This place is huge and mostly empty. And dark. Very dark. I see small specks of light off in the distance. I have no way to measure how far it is until I may reach those little floating motes of light as I have nothing to reference nearby.

Trying to move toward one, I realize I'm just floating there. I'm unable to push off of anything at all to gain momentum. My brain puzzles around this conundrum for a while, until I feel a current of something flow by me.

The flow of the current is cold. It chills me to my bones, and then even further, into my very soul. I spin around as best as I can in this place of nothingness. It is so hard to move even a little bit. It feels like I could swim, but through the air instead of water. Using this little realization to my advantage, I squirm around until I have done a half-circle and am facing the direction of the cold current.

The only problem now is that the source of the current of frozen air is now directing some of it straight into my face. I can feel my blood freeze in my face as the icy wind washes over me.

But, this is nothing compared to what I'm looking at. Or rather, what appears to be looking back at me.

If I had one word to describe this… thing, it would be absolutely hideous. Well, that's two words, but the point is made just the same.

What I think is the creature's face shimmers in and out of view, different parts and layers visible each second. The parts of the body phase in and out in a similar pattern of randomness as the face does. One moment I can see what appears to be a skeletal structure underneath, and the next it is a chunk of pale flesh, only to be replaced by the inky black void the very next.

Although I cannot see a mouth move, or anything really at all, I can hear it. It's saying something very quietly. Figuring that it can't hurt to listen to what the creature has to say, I focus a little of my remaining chakra to my ears so that I can hear the speech.

I can only catch bits and fragments at first, but eventually, I adjust to the creature's strange speaking patterns.

"Little one, … is great turmoil … your soul … have sensed. I believe you … come here … correct past mistakes?"

Understanding the pause in speech and the strange upturn of inflection of the end of the sound, I correctly recognize this as a question the being has asked. "Yes, I wish to correct my previous errors. I have come here to travel back in time so that I may accomplish this."

The creature appears to nod its head and begins into its strange speech patterns again.

"You must choose … save … who to leave. One cannot change all." The words are becoming clearer now, and I don't think I'm missing any words anymore. "There are many paths to follow. Be sure to choose the correct one. All actions will have consequences, regardless of how small the action, or how big the consequence."

The creature pauses again and tilts the thing I believe to be its' face towards me. I take the gesture as an invitation to move closer. Although uncomfortable with being near something so horrifying, I agree. It appears that he may tell me more, and I'll take any and all information that I can get.

"Mortal one, remember this. The flapping of a butterfly's wings can cause hurricanes around the world. But, stopping the wings from moving may have an even greater effect."

After whispering these words, the being starts to disappear, or at least the parts of it appearing seem to be less frequent than before. A little more than a couple seconds pass and the thing leaves me alone in this realm. Confused at his words, I try to repeat them in my head.

I fail to notice that I am now rapidly moving towards one of the beacons of light that were off in the distance. Just before I come into contact with it, I snap my head around to look into it. Suddenly stopping right in front of it, I just float there, mesmerized by what I see inside.

Where I seemed to be looking from it appeared as though I was about two thousand feet in the air, far above a rocky outcropping. At the base of the rocks was an open field that was lush and fertile with plants growing in any available patch of sunlight. Beyond was a vast forest that stretched to the horizon in three directions. The subtle shades of dark and light green; along with the mottled earthen color of dirt mixed in was absolutely beautiful. The clear blue sky interspersed with a few fluffy white clouds drifting lazily through the sky made a splendid background for the scene around me.

Hearing something behind me that sounded like a battle cry, I turned around prepared for the worst.

Apparently, I wasn't prepared enough.

The scene was a battleground. Not just a small training field used for sparring between some powerful people that got ripped up. Not even the site of a surprise raiding party upon enemy ninja. This was an immense battleground. It stretched for miles upon miles from my vantage point. Beneath were the smashed remains of what looked to be the outskirts to a sprawling city. Bodies could be seen littering the ground, most crushed beneath the rubble and debris that seemed to be everywhere.

The one thing that dominated my vision was a gigantic red blob that seemed to be rummaging around in the dirt looking for something. It looked to be a gigantic creature. Then I saw them. What I had mistaken for large divots in the ground flashed about angrily, and I recognized them for what they were. Tails. I counted them quickly. Two, Five, Seven, Eight. Nine-Tails? That means this is... and that is...

Ah crap.

That's not good.

Far beneath the unknown observer, a small yellow strand of hair poofed into existence. It swirled about madly in the churning air and spiraled down to land on a nose buried in a scroll. A mind churned to figure out what had passed through his vision and settled on the bridge of his nose. It was itching like crazy, and making him want to… ah… Ah… Choo!

Violently grabbed by the blonde man's sneeze, the hair flew away to drift to a stop upon the belly of a nearby infant. The blonde man reached over to pick it up, and examine it. It was a short hair, colored bright yellow similarly to his own. Reaching his other hand up, he placed it behind his head and grinned sheepishly, while mumbling something about being a new father and the Kyuubi driving him into going bald early.

He cooed at the baby and thought of what he had to do. Rolling up the scroll, he went over the final seals for the sealing technique he was about to attempt. His teacher had mapped out most of it, making the necessary adjustments to alter the seal to how he had wanted it. He needed this seal to be powerful, and yet flexible. It was by far the most complex thing he had ever created. Considering that he was the inventor of the Rasengan, this was quite a statement.

He somberly stood up, holding the child in his arms and walked to the edge of the rocky outcropping. Lifting the baby onto his shoulders, so he could do the hand seals unencumbered by his own flesh and blood, he started molding his chakra. There were many seals to this, but he had long since memorized the order of them, and instead focused on his wife and newborn child. She had passed on during the birth of his only son, and soon he would join her. Not that he wanted to die, but it was his duty to protect his village, and he would do so at any cost, even if it was his life.

Finishing the last seal, he sensed the presence of something behind him. He could feel it reaching through him, his very soul, and out the other side. Out through his newborn boy. Out towards the threat that would kill everyone if left unchecked. Out to the Kyuubi, the nine-tailed fox demon who was attacking Konoha.

The hand emerged and raced off to the giant demon fox, grabbing it with all of its might and reeling it back in towards the target.

Closing his eyes right before the final part of the sealing, the blonde man missed the sight of a flash of light and a falling soul appear right in front of him.

Just as the Death God's hand, holding the Kyuubi's soul impacted with the infant, so did the spirit of the Seventh Hokage, Uzumaki Naruto.