Chapter 7

Naruto put the last of his scrolls into his backpack and sighed knowing he had to wake Sakura up. He put his backpack to the side and walked into the bedroom to see Sakura still sound asleep. She had cocooned herself with the blankets after he had gotten out of bed, Naruto gave a small smile. Slowly he walked over, bent a bit and brushed her hair back out of her face.

"Sakura-chan." He whispered. "It's time to get going." He said as she shifted to avoid being woken up. "Sakura-chan." He said again as he reached out and pulled the blankets down a bit.

"Too early." She grumbled making Naruto chuckle.

"Now who's going to sleep all day?" He asked making her crack her eyes to look at him and see him grinning. "Come on we have to at least beat Kakashi-sensei." Sakura sighed as she rolled onto her back and looked up at him. They had only been together as a couple for a year now but it felt like they had been a couple for much of their lives. "Come on." He stood up as she sighed and threw back the covers to stand up.

"I'll be ready in twenty minutes." She told him.

A half hour later, she walked into the living room and found Naruto dozing on the couch. She smiled as she walked over behind the couch and ran a hand over his head as she leaned onto the back. "You're ten minutes late." He hummed making her smile.

"I'm a woman; I'm aloud to be late." She told him making him smile as she turned his head and looked at her. "Come on, everyone should be showing up at the gate." He nodded before they grabbed their things and they were off to meet the others.

"Nice of you to join us." Temari said as the two walked up to them.

"Figured you could use some company." Sakura said with a smile making Temari smirk.

"Considering I thought Hinata and I would be stuck with dog boy and lazy I welcome the company." Temari told Sakura making the two men grumble as she women smiled.

"Kakashi-sensei here yet?" Naruto asked.

"He's never here on time." Sakura rolled her eyes. They waited another five minutes before Kakashi walked over to them.

"Everyone ready?" He asked.

"We've all been ready." Naruto complained but Kakashi only nodded with a smile.

"Well then let's go." Kakashi announced before the group left. "I thought you two would have been the first ones at the gate." Kakashi said to Sakura as he walked with her and Naruto. "Have trouble waking Naruto up again?" Sakura was about to answer when they heard Naruto chuckle.

"I was up hours before her. She's the one who didn't want to wake up." Naruto protested as Sakura gave him a slight glare. "What?" He asked her as Kakashi smiled.

"It was hard getting up after being out so late last night." Temari defended Sakura. Over the last year, Temari had moved to the village to be closer to Shikamaru after dating for six months, and the two women had become fast friends. "There was so much to do for Ino and Choji's wedding and then all the dancing and being out late. It can really wear a person out."

"It was really nice though." Sakura commented.

"Ino looked really good in her dress." Hinata added making the other two women nod in agreement. The four men and Akamaru watched the three women walk closer to continue talking about the wedding. "it was very big. It seemed much bigger than yours and Shikamaru's"

"I think it was." Temari told her. "We had the essential people from his clan and then a few friends from the Sand. It was only as big as it was because we had to have the Nara clan all be there." She looked at Sakura. "I would have rather had one like you had. Close friends, just something small and then a little party after. It's more of a romantic wedding." Sakura nodded with a smile, glancing at Naruto as he walked with the men who grumbled about the women.

They had been traveling for hours when they made their way through a small mountain range. Emerging on the other side they were stopped seeing a group of about fifteen men with Sasuke and his team standing in front of them. They all shifted ready for anything as Sasuke chuckled and walked a few steps closer.

"Look at that. The prey comes to the hunters." Sasuke said. "Guess you're anxious to die." In a blink of an eye he had pulled his sword, swung at Naruto, only to have it blocked. Naruto stood with a kunai in his hand holding Sasuke's sword from getting near him. "You've gotten faster since the last time we fought, Dobe." He pushed off and moved out of the way. If Naruto was able to stop his movements than he was going to have to around him for now. He scanned the faces of the others who were standing behind him all ready to fight. His eyes stopped at Sakura. She was always Naruto's weak spot, and even years later he was willing to bet it was no different. He shifted his stance to attack.

"Don't even think about it Sasuke." Naruto warned as she moved in front of Sakura. "You came after me, let's end this." He told him as Sasuke glared at him. In a matter of seconds, the little mountain range was a battlefield, Sasuke's group fighting against Naruto and his friends until suddenly Sasuke pulled back. Naruto was cut up and bleeding almost as badly as Sasuke was. The others were worn and beat up but they had been able to give more than they had received. Sasuke called for his team to pull back.

"Naruto!" Sakura called running to his side as he went down to one knee. "Naruto." She bent down to steady him.

"You okay?" He asked her as she nodded. She had cuts and gashes and was worn out but nothing that was life threatening.

"Don't worry about me, I'm fine." She told him as she quickly started to heal his large gashes. Naruto looked back at Sasuke as the others gathered around. Sasuke was in worse condition than Naruto but he was pushing against his protesting body as he speed through hand signs. Naruto pulled what he had left and charged at Sasuke. He didn't know what jutsu the man was trying to complete but he wasn't going to let him finish. Naruto swung his kunai only to see a bright white light and then nothing.

"Who is he?" Naruto heard a man's voice say.

"I don't know. He just appeared here." A deeper man's voice said.

"He doesn't look too good, we should get Rin to take a look at him and then see what the captain wants to do." The first one said. Naruto groaned as he forced his eyes open. "You're awake."

"You found more?" A third man said as he walked into the little clearing. "There are three others to the west a bit. Two women and a man. They all have Konoha headbands."

"These two also." The first man said. There was a pause before he spoke again. "Good now both of you are awake. Who are you? I would ask your buddy but he seems pretty beat up." Naruto slowly looked around before sitting up quickly ignoring the protest of his injuries.

"Hey, you should take it easy. Our medic is on her way, she's just checking out the others we found." The third man said as he walked closer to Naruto. Naruto pushed himself to his feet before he fell to a knee in pain.

"Naruto." He heard as he took a slow breath to control the pain. He looked over to see Kakashi slowly pushing up to walk over to him.

"You said you found two women and a man." Naruto said looking at the three men. "Did one of the women have pink hair?" The third man, tall with wild black hair and black eye looked at him with furrowed brows before he gave a nod.

"How'd-" He was cut off as Naruto was gone. "Where'd he go?" He asked looking around. A tall Blond man with deep blue eyes walked into the clearing with a short brunet beside him. Kakashi's eyes went wide as he looked at them. The blond walked closer looking at him confused.

"Kakashi?" He asked. "What are you doing out here? You're supposed to be on a mission in the land of lightning."

"Sensei…." Kakashi said trailing off staring at his old teacher.

"What the hell is going on?" Kakashi heard making him look beyond the two to see Kiba on Akamaru's back, hands tied with Temari sitting behind him the same.

"Kakashi?" Temari asked as she looked around. "Where's Shikamaru?"

"The other one took off when he heard there was a woman with pink hair not far from here." The third man said.

"Then let's head over to the other group. Besides you should know where he went, you're a tracker after all, Kazu." The first man said.

"So amusing, Kaori." Kazu rolled his eyes at the man before Kakashi pushed to his feet and walked over to Kiba and Temari with his teacher following him.

"Kakashi what are you doing?" He asked as Kakashi started untying Kiba and Temari.

"They are not enemy, and if what I think is going on, they'll be of some use to get everyone to safety." He explained before looking at Kiba. "Naruto heard Sakura's to the west and took off." Kiba nodded as Temari climbed off the back of Akamaru and the three took off.

"Kakashi." The second man said sternly.

"They'll be with the others." Kakashi said before he took off making the others follow him. He didn't know what was going on exactly but he knew something was very wrong and he wasn't going to have the others unable to protect themselves.

Landing in the little clearing with the others who followed him, he saw Hinata sitting up talking to Kiba softly as Temari shook Shikamaru to wake him. Naruto sat to the side with Sakura leaning back against him. Kakashi walked over to Naruto slowly with the others.

"Naruto…" They heard Sakura say softly. Kakashi knelt down making Naruto look at him.

"She okay?" Kakashi asked.

"She's worn." Naruto told him. "She tried to pull one of her new jutsus right before everything messed up." Kakashi nodded. Sakura had been working on many jutsus for healing her team quickly and effectively but she had also begun to develop several offensive jutsus. Each on used an immense amount of chakra. She had been working on ways to lessen their effect on her and she was slowly developing ways but they still used a large amount.

"Naruto…" Sakura whispered again making both men look at her. "So tired."

"Kakashi." They heard making them turn and look at the tall blond. Naruto's eyes went wide as he stared at the man. He couldn't tear his eyes from what he saw.

"Kakashi-sensei…?" He questioned without looking away.

"I don't know Naruto." Kakashi told him making Naruto tear away and look at his teacher. "I don't know what's going on." He looked at Hinata as she stood beside Kiba and Akamaru. "Hinata, see if you can boost Sakura's chakra." Hinata nodded and went to work as Kakashi stood up and walked closer to the people who found them.

"You want to explain what the hell is going on now, Kakashi?" They heard. Shikamaru's eyes went wide and Kiba could only stare.

"Asuma…" Shikamaru whispered. He couldn't believe his eyes.

"How do you know my name?" Asuma asked ready to pull his blades.

"Minato-sensei." Kakashi said. "I think I have an idea as to what happened." Minato nodded as the others watched. "I am not sure of the details but I believe the jutsu our enemy used was used to send us back in time."

"Back in time?" Kazu laughed from behind Minato. "Come on, there's no way to do that."

"Sensei, there were signs used that I've only ever seen Kushina-san use." Minato looked at Kakashi thinking for a minute.

"So you and them were sent back in time?" Kaori asked as he walked closer to stand beside Minato. Kakashi nodded.

"We were sent to the Sand to help plan the Chunin exams. We were just before the border to the land of Rivers and we were attacked. I don't know where our enemy learned this jutsu but that is what I believe happened."

"And them? Are they ninja as well?" Kazu asked as he looked at the group, noticing for the first time Kiba with Akamaru.

"Yes." Kakashi nodded and glanced at the others.

"What are their names?" Minato asked, Kakashi look at him and then the others as he thought. "Kakashi?"

"Sensei, they are children of ninja." Kakashi said glancing around.

"You mean they're our kids?" Kazu asked as his eyes went to Kiba before looking at Kakashi again who nodded.

"What are their names?" Minato asked again. Kakashi took a small breath and turned.

"Kiba Inuzuka, his Ninken, Akamaru. Hinata Hyuuga, Shikamaru Nara, his wife Temari from the Sand village. And that's Naruto Uzumaki and his wife Sakura Haruno." Kakashi looked at his teacher and the others as they stared at the younger ninja.

"Uzumaki?" Minato asked looking at Kakashi neither noticing as Naruto walked over.

"Things happened and I was raised with my mother's name." Naruto told him as he stopped in front of him. Everyone looked between the two, they looked extremely similar, with only slight differences. Their outfits were different, Naruto's eyes were a different shape and he had his ever present whiskers. "Sakura's still out. Hinata's trying to heal some of the injuries so her body stops focusing on them and starts to boost her chakra." He explained looking back at Kakashi.

"Can she travel?" Kakashi asked.

Naruto nodded. "I can carry her."

"Akamaru can carry her." Kiba said walking over with the others. "If we're attacked that's going to be the best way to keep her safe." Naruto nodded slowly.

"Naruto, what about Kyuubi?" Temari asked.