AN: I don't own Naruto.
He was busting out of Kumogakure as soon as night fell. Well. Busting was a bit strong, probably, but he'd made it out and was running flat out , in sage mode to both increase speed and obscure his chakra signature.
Earlier in the afternoon he'd submitted his dad's old Hiraishin kunai—liberated from Konoha's armory—to the artifact room in Kumo. He had, of course, forgotten to mention that he'd put a shadow clone disguised as a small fly on the inner ring of the kunai. Since it was just past dusk, he assumed that the clone had completed its assignment and he was now in possession of the Nuibari, along with the returned kunai and the Uzumaki seal scroll.
He'd take a quick stop and check; he had a several hour lead on any searchers even if they'd set out immediately and a few minutes wouldn't hurt. He checked his tagged storage seal, and—yes, all three items were laid out before him on the dirt. He re-sealed them quickly and chugged some water and a food pill—he wouldn't stop for real until he was back on the boat.
Three days (and copious amounts of food and chakra pills) later, the coast was in sight and he allowed himself to slow down. The ship appeared in his field of view perhaps an hour later—time was odd after a few days of no sleep—and he made a few clones, who all got the ship moving as he climbed up onto the deck, at least having the presence to set up a barrier seal before allowing himself to crash.
When he next woke up he was still exhausted, though it wasn't the bone-deep weariness from before. He was sore, though, pretty much all over, and stretched to try and take the stiffness from his muscles.
He sat up and dispelled the barrier, glad that he'd put it up because his clones looked to be on their last legs, with drawn faces and tattered clothing. The only reason they'd been able to stay 'alive' so long was from augmenting their own chakra with nature chakra.
"How long have I been asleep?" He asked, not aiming the question to any one clone in particular.
"…About three days, Boss," came the eventual answer.
…That would explain his sudden and urgent need to relieve himself.
Once that was taken care of, he realized another pressing need—his stomach. He dispelled all the shadow clones first—he could keep in on course for a few minutes on his own—and unsealed a ration bar from his belt. One of the Kiri ration bars.
It was disgusting. A lot saltier than the Konoha bars; they probably put seaweed in theirs because it was so full of minerals. But it didn't improve the flavor at all.
Nevertheless, he was grateful for the food, despite the taste. It was better than having nothing at all.
He glanced out at the horizon; by his estimate—the clones' estimate, really—he had about four days before he'd reach the main island, and another couple days after that to get to Kirigakure. Wouldn't Zabuza be surprised?
He summoned another couple clones. They looked about how he felt, exhausted, but much better than before. And with nothing to really prepare, he decided to help in the sailing; it would help ease the stiffness in his muscles.
The weather was nice; a slightly salty breeze kept his hair out of his face and as long as he had his jacket on he was plenty warm enough. He could feel Isobu's contentment; the sea was where he felt the most at home and it wasn't often that Raiden traveled by ship. As it was, he and Isobu shared in their contentment, enjoying the peace of traveling by themselves, knowing that, where they were at that moment, they were safe.
Of course, after a couple days of that it was beginning to be less exciting and he turned to the scroll he'd recovered. He was extra-careful with it; silk so old could be fragile and he really wanted to know what was on it.
He untied the twine keeping it shut and unrolled it gently. The words on the far left intrigued him; the scroll was simply titled 'Mask Temple'. He unrolled it further, so it was open nearly the length of his arm, and saw, wide-eyed, drawings of masks, all horned, all smiling, all together more than a bit unsettling. As he read further, he grew even more unsettled. The explanation of what the masks did—it was scary. The temple contained within it, quite literally, the power to destroy the world. In the hands of the wrong person, it would mean disaster.
Fortunately, the temple was located near Konoha, for what reason he didn't know. But it would be simple enough, on his next sword-retrieval mission, to swing by and set up the strongest barrier seal he knew. Which, coincidentally, was capable of stopping a bijuu bomb—or at least, redirecting it; the barrier was such that anything that hit it would jump from the point of contact to the wall opposite, completely missing anything in the middle. Even a person attempting to walk through the barrier would get transported, except the one who put it up.
Peace of mind somewhat assured, he devoted himself to studying the scroll until he knew it inside and out, which took the entirety of the next two days. At that point it was another quick two days back to Kiri, where he presented the Nuibari to Zabuza, laying the blade exactly where he'd placed the previous two on his desk.
"Three weeks," Zabuza said lowly. "It only took you three weeks."
"…Yes."
"Fine. Two days off, then you better get going again. Same time frame applies. This time, however, there's nothing I can give you."
"Awesome! Thanks for not killing me, ya know? Later!" There was no Honoka to curb his immature attitude at the moment, and he didn't think Zabuza would risk killing him, especially not since he'd been so successful so far.
He still hurried on his way back to Honoka's apartment, however.
She wasn't home so he climbed in through the window—she didn't have a spare key—and helped himself to some instant ramen he found in the cupboard. He'd have to buy some more; his supply was running low and he didn't know how long he'd be able to last on a mission with only ration bars and whatever else he managed to scrounge up.
He contemplated his next course of action as he ate. Kiri now had five of their swords—Kubikiriboucho, Hiramekarei, Kiba, Kabutowari, and Nuibari, which meant that the two swords remaining were the Shibuki and Samehada. Samehada, of course, would be difficult to obtain by himself; it was in the possession of Kisame, and Raiden was pretty sure the Akatsuki—
He cursed, suddenly. Were the Akatsuki even a thing? He'd prevented 'Pain' and Konan from joining, and after the failed not-coup Itachi wasn't about to join anytime soon either. But Pain had never been the true leader, that had been Tobi and Madara, neither of whom he'd even heard mention of in the new timeline. But the other Akatsuki members—Deidara, Zetsu, Orochimaru, Kakuzu, Kisame, Sasori, Hidan—they were alive, and recruiting was probably pretty aggressive.
But without Itachi, who would Kisame be with? And would there be new members, people he didn't know about? A thought struck him. Danzou had managed to escape after the Uchiha fiasco. Would he have joined them? Probably; they were only promising unlimited power. He'd have to warn the other jinchuuriki before the Akatsuki made a move.
Actually—that would be a good selling point, in regards to getting Utakata back to the village. He might end up having to spill the whole sordid story about the Akatsuki's plans and the history behind it, but if he could save even one person it would be worth it ten times over.
His thoughts were interrupted by the sudden opening of the door. He twisted in his seat and just looked at her blankly; it took her a moment to respond but her face split into a smile.
"You're back!"
"Oh, yeah. It wasn't too bad, actually—" The rest of the sentence was lost as she hugged him, hard; it was a bit uncomfortable since his face was mashed into her shoulder but he let her have her moment.
"Wait—" She pulled back, hands still gripping his shoulders firmly. "How are you even here? It's only been three weeks!"
He rubbed his finger under his nose, affecting a smug attitude. "What can I say? I'm just that good."
"You dork," she said, a faint smile on her face. "I'm glad you're back."
"Glad to be back," he said. "I've got a couple days' break, so I'll be sticking around before I go find the next sword. That one will probably take close to all three months; I have really nowhere to start."
"Worry about that later, Raiden," she said. "There's a reason shinobi get downtime between missions. Don't stress about your mission; take the time to relax and train."
"Yeah, okay."
"You can tell me about your mission first—how'd you pull that off?"
The break had been nice. He'd decided not to let Honoka know about the scroll, not yet—he still didn't know what shape the temple was in, and he didn't want to get her hopes up, especially if the temple had been desecrated or destroyed like so many other remnants of the Uzumaki's society.
Once the break was over, he'd left quietly, not taking anything from the mission office. He'd headed straight for the temple; Konoha was relatively close and he knew the Hokage would be able to point him to a place where he could get info—courtesy of Jiraiya, of course.
At present, though, he was wandering around the woods, looking for the temple. And then, suddenly, he found it. A run-down, broken structure, with faded, peeling paint. He was surprised it was still standing, honestly.
He ducked under a low-hanging ceiling beam and pushed aside the broken door. An activated seal provided him with a soft-glowing light source, and he was able to make out light shapes on the wall opposite the entrance. He padded closer, keeping an eye out for broken beams or sections of floor, and ended up just a couple feet from the wall. The light illuminated what had been indistinct lighter shapes, but were now masks, the light throwing sections of them into deep shadow, creating an eerie atmosphere that sent shivers up his spine. He counted the masks—twenty seven. They were all there, after all.
With a sigh of relief, he exited the building, and put up the barrier before setting a course to Konoha.
"Yo, what's up, Old Man?" Raiden exclaimed, bouncing into the Hokage's office—it had gotten to the point where Sarutobi no longer looked surprised whenever he stopped by.
"I didn't realize you were back in Konoha, Raiden," he said calmly. "Is there anything you need?"
"Yeah, actually. Do you know where I can get some good info on a nukenin?"
"Nothing immediately comes to mind. I will, however, send a message to Jiraiya—with any luck, he will respond by tomorrow morning."
"Alright, thanks Old Man!" With a smile and a thumbs-up, Raiden left the office and made his way down to Higurashi's shop. Naruto was still in training and Raiden's presence would only distract him. Satoshi, on the other hand, was fully capable of multi-tasking and he probably needed new kunai anyway.
As he walked he looked around. It was warm out; the sun was shining and there were few clouds in the sky. He much preferred Konoha's weather to Kiri's, which was, quite literally, hidden in mist that only cleared up by mid-afternoon.
He opened the door to Higurashi's shop, and a bell tinkled, announcing his presence.
"Just a moment," he heard someone say—it sounded like Higurashi.
"It's just Raiden!" He said back, a little loudly because he was pretty sure Higurashi was in the back, behind the shop. "Is Satoshi here?"
He made his way to the back of the shop and went through the door to the forge area.
"Oh, hello, Raiden," Higurashi said. "Nice to see you again."
"Always a pleasure to talk with you as well, Higurashi-san," Raiden responded in kind. The man was genial behind his gruff exterior and he never lacked for something kind to say.
"Oh, look, it's my favorite cousin," Satoshi said, walking up. "Have you finished your mission?"
"Not yet," Raiden answered. "I'm just stopping by for the night – have to restock and get some info."
"That's too bad; Naruto had a couple of jutsu he was really eager to show you when you got back. Hatake-san has been a very good teacher."
Well, whaddya know. He knew, of course, that Kakashi had meant well when he'd been his sensei but he hadn't actually taught him a lot, having his hands full with Sasuke and Sakura and having to first correct the damage the Academy had done. And Raiden was fully willing to admit that he hadn't been the best student, either. But—it was nice, what was happening now.
"He can still show me," Raiden said. "I'll just be leaving tomorrow instead of being able to stay. I've got a deadline, you know."
"Makes sense. Hey, where's Honoka?"
"The Mizukage decided I was trustworthy enough to go solo this time. Or at least, there was no sense in wasting a good ninja chaperoning me, because I'm probably not dumb enough to renege on a deal with the leader of a hidden village."
"Bummer."
"Yeah, well. It is what it is."
"Well, you're welcome to stay and watch me work," Satoshi offered. "Or you can go catch up with whoever."
"Sure. Later, then."
Satoshi went back to work, and Raiden stuck his hands in his pockets and let his feet lead the way, his mind elsewhere, until he felt a familiar chakra signature fast approaching.
"What's up, Shisui?" He asked, right as his friend materialized next to him.
"Nothing much, just came back from a mission yesterday. What are you doing back in town?"
"Info-gathering. Or trying to," he amended, frowning. "It's mostly waiting, so far."
"Well you wanna spar? Get your mind off it?"
"First one to the training ground wins!"
Of course, Shisui won—he'd kept right on Raiden's tail until he figured out just which training ground they were going to, and then his remarkable shunshin allowed him to arrive a fraction of a second before Raiden.
"All right, what are the rules?" Shisui asked. "I'm going for all-out, myself, it's more fun and a bit more challenging."
"I've got no problem with that," Raiden said. "Just say when."
Shisui pulled a kunai out of his weapons pouch and hefted it. "When this hits the ground," he said, and tossed it. It spun slowly, then picked up speed as it passed the top of the arc and began to fall. As soon as the tip of it touched the ground, they both moved.
Raiden created a whole slew of clones, able to do it without the hand sign, and began to kawarimi rapidly, Shisui destroying his clones as he jumped from position to position. Spars like this were the best ones; the speed of it all keeping his adrenaline up and the excitement and general fun of it all were nearly tangible.
Time for some jutsu? He started to make hand seals, then—"Suiton: Kirigakure no Jutsu!"
It at least got Shisui to back off for a moment. "Geez, hot! You learn that one from Honoka?"
"Better believe it!" When overpowered, the jutsu turned into more steam than mist, the extra chakra heating the water vapor released into the air. It was perfect for an Uzumaki—and perfect against an Uchiha, because it saturated the air with chakra, obscuring the Sharingan's vision.
Shisui wasn't a slouch, though, and he still had ears, and as Raiden hadn't actually mastered moving silently he was still easily detected and the fight continued. A quick but powerful futon technique spread the mist thin enough that visibility was once again passable, and they began to get into a taijutsu fight. Dodge, dodge, block, dodge, counterattack…jump back and start another round of ninjutsu.
After about an hour the two were exhausted and it was getting into later in the afternoon.
"I'm gonna head home," Raiden said. "Naruto's training gets done soon."
"Ah, I haven't seen the little guy in a while," Shisui said. "Mind if I come with?"
"Sure."
They headed through the market this time—it was a different training ground than they usually used, the other having been occupied already .
"I'm gonna be sore tomorrow," Shisui said, rolling his shoulder with a grimace. "You hit hard—and you managed to get more hits in than most."
"I haven't had a good spar since I got sick," Raiden answered. "I kinda let loose a little."
"Yeah, no kidding. You've got a lot—"
"Shisui-nii?" They both turned to the voice. "What are you doing at the market?"
"Since when have you had a sister?" Raiden couldn't help but blurt out. The fact had completely blindsided him; he hadn't known about her—or even heard of her—in either timeline.
"Since about seventeen years ago, dumba—"
"Shisui-kun."
"Sorry Aunt Mikoto…" Shisui said sheepishly, smiling in a trying-not-to-get-into-trouble way, one Raiden had used many times in the past. "Aunt Mikoto, Izu-chan, this is my friend Raiden Uzumaki. Raiden, this is my lovely Aunt Mikoto, and my sister Izumi."
It was still a bit surreal. Mikoto…Sasuke had definitely taken after his mother—the pale skin, blue-black hair and fine features were all hers. Izumi was a shade tanner, her hair just as dark and curly as Shisui's.
"Nice to meet you," he recited automatically.
"Uzumaki-san—"
"Raiden, please, I'm not really one for formality," he said, interrupting her.
"Raiden-san," she amended. "It's nice to finally meet you as well, nii-san has said a lot about you."
He decided to send a suspicious glance at Shisui, who hastily assured him that it was "All good things, I promise!"
Izumi started laughing, and Mikoto put a hand over her face to hide a smile.
"You and your family should come have dinner with us," Mikoto said, and the non-sequitur caught him by surprise but it was a good surprise, if a bit ill-timed.
"That sounds great," Raiden said. "It…might have to wait a while, I'm only in town for tonight; I've got a long-term mission. Satoshi and Naruto could go, though. You have a son Naruto's age, right? I bet they'd get along pretty well."
Or they would end up forming an intense rivalry. That would probably happen regardless, but Raiden hoped it would be a little more friendly this time around.
Mikoto's expression turned a little wistful. "They could be good friends," she agreed. "I would love to have them over."
"I can help figure out timing and everything," Shisui offered. "I'm going over anyways, gonna go say hi to the kiddo."
"Okay, see you at dinner, nii-san," Izumi said.
"And don't be late!" Mikoto added. "We're having katsudon."
"No way will I be late for Aunt Mikoto's katsudon!" Shisui exclaimed with a grin; his sister elbowing him promptly.
"Just go, idiot," she said. "Have fun with your friend."
"Yeah, okay, later!"
The two groups parted amicably, Izumi and Mikoto heading one way and Raiden and Shisui going the other.
"Seriously, though, we've been friends almost a year now, how have I never even heard about your sister?"
"I dunno. It's just never come up?"
Raiden shook his head; still a bit weirded out by the whole thing. By the time they made it to the Uzumaki house, Naruto was already home and was reading something, Kakashi sitting next to him, reading—was that the first Icha-Icha?
"Yo, Kakashi-san, nice book choice," he said. Kakashi scratched his cheek awkwardly, but Naruto jumped up, either not having realized someone had come in or having thought it was Satoshi.
"Raiden!"
He prepared himself for the imminent tackle and was able to keep himself from falling over upon impact.
"Wow, kiddo, you've gotten a lot stronger! Nearly pushed me back!"
"You think so?" Naruto beamed, stepping back and bouncing on the balls of his feet. "And Shisui, too! Hi!"
"Hey, Naruto, what's up?" Shisui said, ruffling Naruto's hair. Naruto attempted to swipe his hand away but Shisui was faster and Naruto just ended up ineffectually swiping at his hair with a scowl on his face.
"I was reading 'bout Mizu no Kuni 'cause Honoka's from there. Didja know it's just a buncha islands?"
"I did know that, actually," Shisui said, bemused, and Raiden laughed.
"You might get to go there sometime, Naruto, because the test genin take to become chunin is held all over the elemental nations."
"Woah, really?" Naruto's eyes were huge; they were practically sparkling with excitement. "You mean I can see where Honoka lives?"
"It's a possibility."
"That's so cool! How long 'fore I can do the chunin exams?"
"Well, you have to make genin first—that will be about five years from now, and then if you're lucky you'll be chunin about a year after that."
"Six years!" Naruto exclaimed. "That's soooooo loooong!"
"Yeah. But it's worth it, so study hard." Naruto groaned and Kakashi's eye crinkled in a smile.
"All right, well I've got to go," Shisui said. "No way I'm missing katsudon."
"Well it's nice to know our friendship falls to food," Raiden said jokingly. "Later!"
"What's the verdict, Hokage-sama?" Raiden said, bouncing into the Old Man's office early the next morning.
"Ah, Raiden. Excellent timing; I've just received word back from Jiraiya; apparently there is a good place for information to the north. He's wanting to meet you there."
Deep breath.
"Right. Okay. Where am I meeting him?" Raiden asked.
The Hokage pulled out a map. "It's here, just about half the distance from Konoha to the border."
He studied the map a while longer, committing it to memory. "All right. Thank you, Hokage-sama."
"Raiden." He turned back, having been heading towards the door.
"Yeah?"
"You should tell him."
His eyes widened at the unexpected suggestion.
"I'll…I'll think about it."
He headed back home to say goodbye, fist-bumping Satoshi and ruffling Naruto's hair after he'd tackled him; giving a friendly wave to Kakashi as they passed each other at the door.
"Bye guys. See you later, hopefully not before too long."
Farewells were passed around —or rather, see you laters, because there was no way he was gonna let himself get killed on the mission—and left.
Traveling to the rendezvous with Jiraiya was fairly par for the course—walk during the day, find an inn or camp out at night. With chakra-assisted travel, it was less than a week before he arrived.
As he suspected, the town was a little looser in morals, with several onsen and a nearly equal number of brothels. He sighed, and stopped in front of one.
He'd have to go around back if he wanted to find Jiraiya; the front entrance was reserved for customers only and by using the back entrance he was clearly communicating he wasn't there for pleasure but rather business.
He knocked on the back door and it opened just moments after. It was a younger woman who answered, and Raiden made sure to speak sincerely.
"Ah, nee-chan, can you help me? I'm looking for my uncle."
The woman's suspicious expression cleared. "I might be able to."
"He's really tall – taller than me and you, nee-chan – and he's got white hair, and two red lines going down from his eyes."
"I think I've seen him," she said. "Does he have a big scroll on his back?"
"That's the one!" Raiden exclaimed.
"He walked into the bar across the street, just a short way down. It's called Feng's."
"Thank you very much, nee-chan," he said, bowing, and handed her a few small bills. "For your time."
She awarded him with a quick smile, which he returned, then headed on to the building she'd seen Jiraiya enter. It was a combination restaurant-bar; he really hoped Jiraiya wasn't super-drunk—or, actually, maybe not—if he was drunk it might be easier for him to interact. Or maybe he himself should get drunk first—or at least a little buzzed.
He entered and almost immediately his attention was drawn by loud, gregarious laughter, coming from a man in the corner. Jiraiya. His cheeks were flushed red with drink (and, possibly, perversion—there were two others sitting on either side of him, both women) and Raiden decided that getting some alcohol in his system might at least partially numb the pain of his bittersweet memories.
He made his way up to the bar and sat down on an available stool.
"Can I get some shochu?"
"Cup or bottle?"
"Bottle."
It wasn't really that reckless; jinchuuriki had a higher base alcohol tolerance than most and chakra, when active, just helped burn through it faster. He knocked down the first few cups and wiped his mouth, not really caring about how rude he was being.
He was just about to drain another cup when he saw movement in his peripheral vision. He turned slightly to see better and nearly dropped his cup; Jiraiya had sat down right next to him.
"So you're the punk who got himself in trouble, huh?" Jiraiya's tone was a little cool, a little wary; it lacked the warmth Raiden had grown accustomed to hearing and that was what hurt the most.
He set his cup down and cleared his throat.
"I, uh…yeah. Hokage-jii sent me over, I need some info about—"
"About one of the swords from Kirigakure, correct? Which one are you after currently, Shibuki? Or is it Samehada?"
Well. "Shibuki."
"Be glad I met you here, then. Shibuki's up north, last I heard – not sure what happened to Akebino but someone else has it and they holed up in Tetsu no Kuni."
Raiden hid his hands under the counter—they were trembling slightly. "Why are you helping me so much?" He blurted. Maybe the alcohol wasn't a great help after all. But he needed to know. "I can hear it in your voice—you don't trust me. So why are you helping me?"
Jiraiya's expression was grave, something that didn't happen often. He sighed and leaned forward, turning to look away. "I could say it's because Sensei asked me to. But in actuality? I suppose it's because you remind me of someone. A few someones, actually. As soon as I saw you, I knew who you were. Right, Uzumaki-kun?"
And the Old Man's suggestion jumped to the front of his thoughts.
"You should tell him."
"Yeah, I'm Uzumaki-kun all right. But you don't know who I am, not really, not yet. And I can't tell you here. But – thank you. You don't know what this means to me."
Jiraiya watched him quizzically but didn't press the issue, for which Raiden was grateful. He'd tell him when they were in a less public area, when they were in a place protected with privacy seals.
"Okay, kid, I'll listen. But for now – you need to lighten up. We're gonna finish this bottle, got it?"
"I – yeah. Got it." He was smiling now, feeling a little better, a little less tense. They made conversation, swapped jokes and laughter, and it almost felt like he was fifteen again, like he was back on the training trip, like it was okay for him to stop worrying for a moment.
And then the bottle was empty and they left the bar and headed to a more secure area, where Raiden set up his privacy seals.
They sat on the floor opposite each other and Raiden started talking.
"Seals are crazy," he said, not really in a state of mind to explain things linearly or logically. "And I found one in Uzushiogakure when I visited. And it was a space-time seal. But more about time, you know? And so – I'm actually Naruto, but I go by Raiden now 'cause Naruto's still in Konoha and he's only seven, but I left Satoshi with him so he should be good—"
"Wait. What?" Shock was written all over Jiraiya's face and Raiden started laughing.
"I should probably explain, right?"
"Yes, you should probably explain! You're Naruto? And time jutsu? Uzushiogakure? And who is Satoshi?!"
"Some stuff happened in the future. So I went on a trip for a while, and ended up in the ruins of Uzushio. And I found this seal, right? And it was a time travel seal – I'm actually from the future. And Satoshi is another Uzumaki I met, and he's in Konoha now living with Naruto because he wasn't being looked after properly – and oh yeah, Nagato and them say hi—"
"Nagato! And them – Yahiko and Konan?"
"Yeah, I don't know if you heard but they're the new leaders of Ame – but anyway there was a problem with Kurama and he was absorbed by the other Kurama in Naruto? And so I was really sick for a while and ended up having to seal Isobu in myself but I got caught by Kiri and so I promised to get the swords back for them as well as Utakata so…now I'm looking for Shibuki."
"Well, kiddo…? You're nuts. Absolutely crazy." Raiden gritted his teeth. That was reassuring. "But I can't help but believe you anyway. I'll help you, kid. Just tell me what you need."
AN: Man. I've been crazy busy with art classes and online classes and I just got a job so my free time has been reduced to basically Friday morning and Saturday afternoon. And drawing and naps take up a lot of that time…
And thanks to PhantasmagoricalAsshole for pointing out that my line breaks disappeared!