Another Chance

Summary: 32-year old Uzumaki Naruto is a very different person from when he was 12. Death has made his life different. What will he do when he gets thrown back into the past with two of his last friends?

Pairing/s: None.

Warnings: May have blood and violence.

Time-travel fic.

Disclaimers: I don't own Naruto.

Author's Notes: Naruto in this fic is strong and pretty much merciless. He's seen a lot and that changed him. Don't be mean to him.

And also, I will shift between Naruto - Shiroi, Gaara - Akai and Shikamaru - Kuroi just so you know. But their real names are Naruto, Gaara and Shikamaru don't worry about that.

Will also refer Naruto as: disguised man (when he is in Henge as his child form), boy or child. It's easier to call him boy or child when it's Kakashi or someone else thinking about him.

Hopefully this won't be too confusing, otherwise I apologize beforehand.

-o-

EDITED 2010-04-27

-o-

Chapter Four

Naruto took a look around the empty training-field and then plopped down on the ground. He put his chin in his hand, and began to think. He, Shikamaru and Gaara would be sent on missions that would interfere with team seven's training or missions or their own. Therefore he had to make a perfect copy of himself that could act like him without raising suspicions. It was not hard to make a copy but how to make it remain for as long as he wished it? And stand against hits and the like as being in team seven did not mean a dance on roses. Kage Bunshin would not last five minutes, Naruto knew that.

His hands itched to get out his scrolls but as the others in his team could arrive at any minute that would be rather stupid. Instead he closed his eyes and started going through techniques he knew, already looking forward for some time alone so he could get his technique-scroll out and check through.

He heard something rustling, someone landing in a tree further away, then Kakashi's chakra but he made no move to indicate he knew the Copy-nin was there. The man was early; had he always been early? Maybe he wanted to see how his team worked out without him. He must have gotten a good laugh now and then at their stupid fights.

Naruto opened his eyes when Sasuke came. The black-haired boy sat down and did not say anything. Naruto glanced at him with disinterest before closing his eyes once more and continued going through the techniques he had encountered during the years. Either he had seen a lot, or he was just slow with going through them because it felt like it never would end.

-o-

Kakashi watched the two boys from his spot in a tree a small distance away and went over the information he had over Naruto once more. According to all the teachers in the Academy, the blonde was loud, bad-mouthed, loved pranks, dressed in orange ALL the time and was bad at everything except for his so called Sexy no Jutsu. So how did he pass the last test flawlessly? How come the boy came to the Academy for the tests, so unlike how he had been the day before? Normally Naruto always tried to pick a fight with Sasuke, so why did he not react now?

He was interrupted by Naruto rising up. Sasuke glanced up as the boy walked towards the small lake nearby.

"Where are you going?" the Uchiha finally asked.

"I'm bored," Naruto replied in a prefect bored tone. Kakashi was faintly amused by it. "I'm going to train."

"In the water?"

"Never heard of water-walking?" Naruto said, looking at the black-haired boy.

Kakashi gaped; water-walking? Few newbie Genins knew about that and Naruto most certainly had not been one of them last time the Copy-nin checked.

As if to prove that Kakashi had wrong about everything about him, Naruto stepped out on the water without sinking although he had to balance a bit in the beginning. The boy walked on the water until he came to the deep parts, fairly confident in himself. Sasuke stared at him, anger evident in his eyes. How did he dare show such power?! How did he dare having learnt something that he, the Uchiha Sasuke could not do?!

Naruto ignored the two of them and sat down cross-legged, keeping a smooth level of chakra rush through his body. For a moment Kyuubi made him unstable and he shot out his arms without thinking, keeping himself balanced. The demon muttered an apology and withdrew his chakra, allowing Naruto to sit steadily. There he resumed his thinking-position and closed his eyes.

Kakashi stared at the blonde boy. He had never seen a more relaxed position in the aspects of training water-walking with a Genin. Normally the children would struggle to be able to stand in the water at the beginning. How had Naruto learned such perfect chakra-control?

-o-

Sakura came to the training-field and saw first Sasuke. She greeted on him despite being far away, quite loudly you can imagine, but he appeared not to hear her. His eyes were fixed on something else. Confused, she looked so see what he was staring at. And promptly began to stare as well. Naruto no baka was sitting on water! That was water-walking training, and no Genin could master it easily! She of course had only read about it because she practically swallowed any books about shinobi-training and such she came over. Good at studying but she was not sure she would be able to do water-training anytime soon.

Kakashi finally made his appearance, making the pink-haired kunoichi and the black-haired boy to turn to him. He smiled at them, looked at Naruto and called out:

"Blondie, come here!"

Naruto opened his eyes and looked at his teacher irritably at the nickname. Nonetheless, he rose up, a bit wobbly mind you as he never really sat on water and walked into shore. Kakashi tried to read the boy's face, but Naruto's face was like a blank sheet that made Kakashi uneasy. One other piece of information was that Naruto always grinned widely. So far he had not seen a smile on the boy's face.

"Well then!" Kakashi said, clapping his hands together and they looked at him. "Time to check your skills, and see what you need to improve on!"

Naruto nearly blinked. This was not how it had been the first time around. Had something changed with Kakashi? Or maybe it was him who had made Kakashi change? Oh well, something had changed and that was it. He did not dwell long over such things as this.

'You're just lazy, brat.'

Naruto mentally smacked the fox over the head.

"First of all, I want to check your Taijutsu," Kakashi said. "Sakura and Sasuke will fight against each other first. Then I will check Naruto. You two can begin."

The two glared at the blonde because he got to fight against their teacher but Naruto had already turned and walked to closest tree. There he sat down and crossed his legs, looking annoyingly relaxed. Kakashi raised an eyebrow but followed. He turned to look at the two children, now in basic Taijutsu-stance and said:

"Begin!"

The two began immediately and Kakashi watched them with his chin leaned onto his palm. Although Sakura's moves were flawed the man saw she had learned the movements perfectly. It was just she never went outside of them, never made an own that did not match with what she had been taught. Sasuke however invented kicks and punches as he fought. Kakashi knew Sakura needed to practice Taijutsu and be told to make up her own moves. When she had done that she would become good in Taijutsu. And he still had to talk to her about those clothes.

After a few minutes, the girl was struck down. She looked embarrassed to have been defeated but Sasuke did not take much notice of it.

"That's enough," the grey-haired shinobi said and the two looked at him. "Sasuke, excellent Taijutsu, keep going on that. Sakura, while you do know the moves, you need to train them to make it more fluent. Also, not everything is like you have learned; make up own moves as those you were learned in the Academy can't always protect you. Now, Naruto, I believe it's your turn."

The man in disguise rose up and walked out to the field.

"Don't fall on your nose, Naruto-baka!" Sakura called out after him.

"Sakura," Kakashi said sternly. "I didn't hear Naruto saying such things to you, so what gives you the right?"

"It's just he sucks in everything," the girl said and giggled behind her hand. "He will fall flat on his face, sensei, just watch."

Naruto turned his head towards her and Kakashi was convinced he saw the murder-intent in the child's eyes and was sure for a moment he had to restrain the boy from killing her. But in the next moment the strange glint disappeared and Naruto spoke, calmly:

"Sakura, refrain yourself from speaking of things you don't know anything about."

She looked at him strangely; normally he would have flat-out denied it and then gone on of much he loved her. Now there was not even a -chan after her name as he had always called her.

Naruto turned to Kakashi and raised an eyebrow. The man nodded and said:

"You can begin."

Naruto blurred out from sight and in the next moment Kakashi had to block a fist from hitting his face. He jumped away, startled at the fast movement and Naruto followed without battling an eye. The boy did not let him have a break but attacked in every way he could. Kakashi managed pretty well at dodging for the first few minutes and then he heard Sakura yell:

"Is that even a fighting-style Naruto-baka?"

Naruto's next kick felt a lot stronger and the teacher was sent flying into a tree. He stared at the boy who now had stopped. Never before had a Genin managed to make him fly backwards. The blonde slowly moved his body into a Taijutsu-stance and waited. Kakashi blinked at the stance; he did not recognize it.

"What kind of style is that?" Kakashi asked as he rose up.

"My own," Naruto replied.

Kakashi charged this time and knocked Naruto away. The boy made a flip in the air and landed safely, his eyes slightly bigger which meant he did not expect that. The boy blurred away in the next second and Kakashi looked around.

Then he felt pain in his left leg and jumped away before Naruto could complete the violent kick. He landed a bit away and gasped as he felt his sore muscle. That felt like a kick from an unrestrained Gai!

"Alright, let's stop," Kakashi said and the boy slowly relaxed. "Excellent Taijutsu, Naruto, and please don't try that kick on me again. That hurt!"

The last came out as a whine and finally the man had lured a smile out of the boy. Naruto came forth and said:

"You're pretty strong, sensei. That kick should have broken your leg."

Kakashi stared.

"What the hell did you do?" he asked.

"I sent my chakra into your leg," Naruto said as a matter of fact. "I focus chakra in the spot I want it, I connect it with you and send the chakra out. Given a little more time, I would have broken your leg."

The man rose up slowly and said while scratching his head:

"Seems like I don't have to check chakra-control on you. A pretty amazing trick; mind if I tell it to a friend of mine?"

"Why not?" Naruto said with a shrug. "It's not a secret really."

Sasuke looked at Naruto as the man in disguise came walking.

"Where did you learn to fight like that?" the black-haired boy demanded to know.

"By watching," Naruto replied flatly.

"Alright, don't start an argument," Kakashi said and waved his hands around, seeing Sasuke's eyes narrow. "Let's see now what we will continue with…"

-o-

Naruto left the training-field in deep thought. He still needed to train on Genjutsus. No big surprise there, since he never understood it when he was younger and killed his enemies too quickly when he got older. He would not ask Sakura for help. Shikamaru and Gaara were not so good with Genjutsus either but… Kurenai was a master in it. How was he supposed to approach her about it? As Naruto, or as Shiroi?

Decisions, decisions… however, I need to eat before that.

As Kyuubi called him a hungry fool, Naruto mentally kicked him.

-o-

Kurenai looked on as her team fooled around a bit with a smile, Akamaru barking and Hinata laughing at something Kiba said while Shino quietly listened. She felt like they had to be good friends in order to work well and therefore let them be with only each other after she had tested them.

"Kurenai-san?"

She turned around at the voice and widened her eyes. A man dressed completely in white stood behind her with frosty blue eyes and emotionless face. But his tone was polite, and he continued:

"I apologize for have startled you, Kurenai-san."

"No, it's fine," she said and relaxed slightly as she saw the Konoha hitai-ate on his belt. "Forgive me, but I don't seem to recognize your face."

"I am not supposed to be that known," the man said and sat down. "But I come at the suggestion from Hokage-sama."

"On what?" she asked, curious of what the Sandaime had suggested to this strange man.

"You are quite known for you Genjutsu-skills," the man continued.

"And?"

"I am unfortunately not quite as skilled at Genjutsu as I am required to be," he said and looked over at her team briefly. "So far I have survived without knowing much about this skill, but Sarutobi-sama wished me to learn."

"And that's where I come in?" she asked, wide-eyed.

He smiled a bit at her and said:

"Yes. Sarutobi-sama said with your skills you would be able to make even a person like me better at Genjutsu. Or at least being able to cancel them out when I need to."

"I don't have anything against it… eh, I never caught your name?"

"I am known as Shiroi and therefore my name must be Shiroi," the man said vaguely.

"Shiroi-san," she said, almost to herself. "When are you free to practice?"

"I have irregular hours so to speak," Shiroi said and looked at her. "I can be called to a mission three in the morning, or seven in the evening. I must take whatever chance I have."

"I have my team as well, so mostly I will be free at evenings when I'm not on a mission," she said.

Shiroi nodded and said:

"I am free tonight, as far as I know. Sarutobi-sama promised to try keeping me in the village during the time I need to learn Genjutsu."

"Then our first lesson will be tonight," she said. "How about six? We'll meet by the Hokage Tower."

"That sounds perfectly fine," the man said and rose up smoothly. "Is that your team?"

He pointed towards the three children. She nodded and said:

"They became a team just yesterday."

Shiroi looked at them for a long time and then said:

"Just yesterday? I would have guessed they had been a team for months."

She turned to look at him, but he was already gone.

-o-

"Oi, we're going to run in with team seven."

Shiroi looked at Akai who only pointed. The blonde man turned his head and looked as well. They were heading straight to where team seven was training at the moment. Shiroi had finally come across a technique that left him able to create a clone that would not disappear until he wanted it to. It had not been where he thought it would be, which annoyed him a little bit. But now it was done, so the Naruto with team seven was just a very good clone.

"So what?" he finally said. "They may need to know about us. I can pop up whenever they need me, and therefore they should know I work for the Hokage."

"Does Kakashi know?" Kuroi asked.

"Nope," Shiroi replied. "Sarutobi said we would be a secret to most of the village, especially to Danzou. Those two men like to play with each other, and right now Sarutobi is winning with us on his side."

"Quiet or they will hear you," Akai hissed.

Kakashi was the first to notice, Sasuke the second. Sakura backed away while the clone of Naruto cocked his head, eyes suspicious.

The Copy-nin narrowed his eye at the sight of the three unfamiliar men and said:

"Who are you?"

Shiroi looked at him, bored, and then turned to Akai.

"Don't ignore us!" Sakura shouted.

"Sakura, manners," the grey-haired man reminded.

"Well, where are theirs?" she asked. "The blonde man was just rude, not even telling us his name!"

Suddenly shadows locked her in place and she gave out a shriek. Kakashi grew tense and looked around, trying to locate where the shadows came from.

"Kuroi," they heard a deep but monotone voice say. "She is a Konoha kunoichi. And a Genin on top of that."

"So what?"

They turned to look at the three, and saw that the blonde and the black-haired man had entered a staring contest. The shadows floated from the black-haired (and black-dressed) man's body. Kakashi's eye narrowed; was it a Nara or what?

"She insulted you," the black-dressed man said with a shrug.

"Kuroi, I'm warning you…"

"But Shiroi-sama!"

They all stared at Shiroi; what had he done to earn such a title? Shiroi ignored them, took a hold of Kuroi and said:

"Insult or not, she's just a kid. Let her go, and act your age." It was better to give them a fearsome reputation than having team seven seeing them as three arguing men.

Kuroi really wanted to stick his tongue out but held it in and let the shadows retreat from the girl. She fell down and the team seven went to her.

"I'll tell Hokage-sama about you!" she cried out, massaging her sore leg. "Then you will regret it!"

"Hokage-sama?" the redheaded man said, raising an eyebrow. "I don't think so."

"No matter," Shiroi said as he released Kuroi. The man sent the blonde a half-hearted glare. Kuroi had never really liked Sakura, since she had been pretty rude as young. "She isn't hurt anyway, so why worry? We have to hurry if we are to make it to Grass before nightfall."

"Why does he have to send us out on such short notice?" the black-haired man whined.

"Because he's the Hokage," Shiroi replied tonelessly. "What Sarutobi-sama wants, we provide it for him. Now let's go."

The three vanished before Kakashi got a chance to do anything. He was left to stare at the place they had been standing on just moments before with his mouth open. The same thought went through his mind as well as Sasuke's and Sakura's:

Who were those three?

Tbc…

Chapter four done!

Chapter five: Time for the first real mission for team seven, and the real Naruto tags along with this one! How will he do things differently this time around? Will he save Zabuza and Haku, or will he let them die? It will probably take some time to get this out, as I have to work on other stories as well as prepare to move.

Until later,

Ja,

Tiro