Chapter 25: Time Travel? Seriously?
Kro sighs as he beats down yet another puppet with little difficulty, his skills even as hindered as they are, are not weak enough to make it hard to fight these things again. He rolls his eyes as he sees Naruto get sent into a bridge. The blond isn't really thinking, far too interested by the architecture and normal Taijutsu to focus on simply taking the puppets by either obliterating them if not destroying their chakra strings. "He's a moron," he shakes his head. Having no experience with puppets or not, being told to destroy the strings controlling them should be enough. Sometimes he wonders if the teenager has changed at all in the years they've been separated, let alone the years he's taught him. Jiraiya's influence must have undone some of Kro's hard work if it's this bad. Note to self, beat the shit out of the Sennin bastard. And he's not talking about the pedophile. Although I should do that too...He's fun to slap around...His blood tastes like shit though. The smell of Naruto's spilled blood however is enough to make Kro go from lazily fighting off the enemy to quite literally destroying everything they are rather than just letting them be after cutting the chakra strings.
" 'Let me do two more missions for Tsunade-baachan,' he said. 'It'll be fine,' he said. Tch," Kro growls lowly to himself. 'Let's seal your power away so you can have more of a challenge', I said. 'You won't have that much of a hard time,' I said. Fuck. If it were actually worth my time I'd undo one of the damn seals. The down side is that it's not worth his time. He just needs to freaking stop being lazy and actually try to deal with them swiftly. After all, right now he's a Jonin-class Shinobi. That's more than enough power to take these guys out. Naruto needs to stop being a lazy ass too.
The place around them is unknown to even Kro, seeing as although he's been alive for so long, he hasn't been to every place on the continent. However he has a good idea of where they are- how they got there is a different story. The city- as it is a city- contains tower after tall and thin tower, each being either white with brick red or green or blue, sometimes even yellow. This way and that bridges of concrete cross the sky, being rather high despite not having even the slightest railing for a normal person to be protected by. Attacking himself and Naruto are the very puppets they had been working to fight down before the weird light and before that asshole went and undid the Yondaime's seal.
Naruto, Sakura, some Root member named Sai, the Jonin- former Anbu- Yamato and Kro had all been sent on this mission as one of the last two Naruto was going to be doing for the old hag. Explaining to the older female blond that Kro was right about how Naruto feels about the place was difficult- especially with Sakura there insisting that he could see a better side if he stayed- but the man had managed it and stood strong every step of the way. It was just going to be Kro and Naruto, but the younger blond said 'okay' to Tsunade offering Sakura, Sai and Yamato as back up. They had made it to their destination with ease despite the puppets getting in the way and their target being difficult. Circumstances had only changed when Mukage- or whatever his name is- went and undid the Yondaime's seal, absorbing it and causing this pink tower of light-doom to spread out and take in Naruto whom was closest. Kro, wanting for Naruto to be okay, chased after him fearlessly, while Sai protected Yamato and Sakura from getting sucked in as well.
Kro soon finds himself in an underground portion of the city that was made no longer underground by Naruto's lack of defeating the puppets. And yet the puppets are gone, and three new scents have joined Naruto's. One is oddly familiar, however he shoves this thought to the side for now as he notes that two others are unknown and the third is Naruto and his blood. He follows the trail to a different portion of the city, in a broken down building, not bothering to take in the scenery in turn for finding his friend.
"This is Rouran," a familiar voice states just in time for Kro to land. Before he knows it, there is a massive hand crushing his sternum and a swarm of what he assumes to be Kikai trying to drain him of all the chakra he has. Poor things are going to get fat or something doing that. As he is, he has no strength to push off the hand without adding his chakra to his muscles, and thus he ignores the pain of his bones groaning as he is slowly crushed into the floor.
"Huh?! But that's not possible," Naruto insists, his brows furrowing and his mind instantly working to figure out on how he could have gotten to a much younger looking version of the ruins he was just in.
"I'm afraid we cannot explain things in detail right now. At any rate, could you stay away from this city until we finish our mission? We could possibly tell you something once it's completed," he requests. "Though it seems we have a visitor," the voice states.
"Hey!" Naruto exclaims, his eyes wide and surprised as he watches Kro slowly get crushed. He'll need time to get used to the vampire's self-induced weaker state. "Let him go!"
The blond masked man to have saved Naruto stands and looks through the holes of his mask down at the crushed man. He too is unfamiliar, and for some odd reason one of his arms is made of metal. A Kekke Genkai?...No. He's never heard of such a Bloodline Limit making limbs into metal. However, he does note the obviously real fire tattoo that all Anbu of the Leaf gain upon joining their ranks. Being that it couldn't be put on his left arm it seems that Hokage-sama decided to let it be put on his right...Understandable. The fact that the man isn't fighting for freedom is a good thing too, meaning that since the young stranger is defending him they must know one another. He nods to his team mate silently, giving the obeyed order to let the second unknown stranger to stand and collect himself with relative ease. Kro rolls his shoulders experimentally, checking himself over. His body is functional and the pain of having his bones being crushed is going away. His healing factor has been sealed away majorly to the point where he cannot regenerate. However he does still heal faster than the average person. And luckily his pain threshold is still pretty high, so that's good. "Look. If you guys take left at the end of this hallway, you can leave this place".
Naruto doesn't get it. Who said he would leave? "Huh?"
"It's a promise, okay?" Before either younger blonde can answer, the team of three Shinobi with matching masks disappear in a burst of speed that atest to their skill.
Kro, done with being silent, sighs and looks to Naruto's damaged left leg, "You were too careless". He gets a sheepish grin from his counter part and sighs again. He knows the man's voice now. It was hard to place moments ago, but that gentle tone couldn't be forgotten. The very same voice that had spoken to the young Uzuamaki in front of him about seventeen or eighteen years ago...But given that the man is alive and well- and not with the Kyuubi's, or Kurama's rather, claw sticking through him- of all things...What the fuck are we doing in the past and how the hell did we get here? It's the only explanation he can think of as to what happened. There's no way that the Yondaime is still alive at present time- he watched him and Kushina die after all. "Those guys were Konoha Shinobi".
"Yea," Naruto nods once, and then casts his eyes down as though uncertain and almost afraid. Instead of walking around, the young man slides himself to his but and bores a hole into the ground between his spread out legs. After ten minutes of utter silence, he asks, "Kro...That guy...Was he my father?"
Kro raises a brow. "How did you come to that conclusion?"
"...I met him in my mind scape when I was trying to gain control of Kurama. I almost was tricked into undoing the seal completely but he stopped me and then...," blue eyes seem to tear up, the smell of salt entering the air. "And then he told me what he and mom had to do to save both me and the village," a place that not only disregarded their wishes for him to grow up happy, but also highly disrespected them both in making him miserable. A place that seems like it's good, but is actually probably one of the worst places to be. That man just now...He sounded like my dad"
…..I swear he's only smart in bursts, Kro decides after a moment. Either that or the 'intelligence' circuit in his brain broke during that fight earlier and it had to restart or something. He realizes that in all reality, that Naruto had just been careless, but that doesn't mean he can't complain about it. None the less he shrugs and decides that telling the young man the truth won't hurt- not when he knows it already and lying would be useless. "Yea, that was your old man," Kro states as bluntly as he can muster. Which is pretty damn blunt. "The fact that he's alive, that alone, means that somehow we were taken to the past by the disruption of the seal in the ruins".
Naruto's yellow brows furrow, obviously working to follow along, "...Which means we're not in a different place at all. It means that this is how Rouran used to be".
"Right you are. So no fucking up the future, got it?" The vampire turns and leads the way out of the building, only continuing once Naruto has begun to follow. "Luckily I've never been here before the mission, so there's no chance of me meeting my past self and messing up the time-space continuum".
"The space-time what-now?"
"...Right," Kro sighs and shakes his head, "Don't worry about it". In his ponderings he had forgotten that he had never really taught Naruto about the space-time continuum. It would seem that the Toad Sage hadn't taught him anything having to do with that either. "Anyways, we need to figure out a way to get back to our time. Because you can't continue living through the years without eventually unbalancing how the world works which means either you'll die somehow to make sure you get born in whatever number of years you get born in and that there's not two Kurama out there, or you'll just never be born and the Kurama in your other will no longer be- or the one in you won't , whichever. And then there's the fact that I can't be here because I'll end up meeting my old self and that's just an over all no-go all the way around".
Naruto stares at the older male as they stand upon one of the many lines of concrete that connect towers, not really following along. So...If they don't get back to their time...Naruto will either die or he won't be born? And Kurama will either disappear from his mom or him? And as for Kro himself, he could do something even worse just by running into his old self? That's what he gathered from all that jumble Kro spewed. None of it sounds good either way. "Okay...So how are we going to do that?"
"I have...," Kro tilts his head, "...Oh, so that's where they're all gathered".
"Where all who are gathered?"
"The people who live here; listen," Kro instructs and the boy does as told. When a look of understanding enters his eyes, Kro leaps his way in that direction, curious to see what's going on. It takes little to no time to do this, both of them positioning themselves upon the ledge of a red bricked tower to look down below. On the ground there are hundreds of people, all of them crying out for one person: their Queen. Kro's eyes spot people of all ages and genders down there, some holding up their children so that they could get a better look for when their Queen arrives. Within the roaring crowd are large creations, standing tall and proud amongst the people.
Naruto blinks upon seeing the young woman as she walks onto a balcony, an armored puppet at either of her sides. She is pretty, her light smile complimenting her features and her long red hair hidden by some sort of head piece. "Hey, isn't that the girl we-" however before he can finish his question, the girl stumbles as though pushed, stepping onto a weak portion of the balcony and falling to her doom. Or, she would if it weren't for Naruto's swift reflexes. He pushes off without a word to Kro, gathering her into his arms and then pushing off the side of the tower she fell from in order to land away from the crowd in private. He stumbles upon landing, his injured left thigh twinging at the pain and causing him to slump against a pillar. "Hey, are you okay?" He questions to the young redhead, only for her to smack him four times and elbow him in the face none too gratefully. "What the heck was that for?! I just saved you!"
The young woman, now out of Naruto's hold and better calmed down mentally rolls her eyes. What a rough attitude; what's up with him? The young man in front of him dresses in black and burnt orange, his body obviously made for battle despite his casual ways. She's never seen such yellow hair or blue eyes, both are intensely eye-catching. "Who are you?...Wait, I have to thank you first".
Naruto doesn't understand this girl, Queen huh? but none the less he smiles and thumbs his chest, "Nice to meet you! I'm Uzumaki Naruto, I'm a Konohagakure Shinobi".
"I am Sara, Queen of Rouran," the woman greets in kind.
Naruto tilts his head, "Rouran huh? I still find it odd that-"
"If you keep moving your mouth, my foot will end up somewhere you don't want it?" Kro interrupts. The damn kid gets too conversational around girls that he apparently finds pretty. As the Queen looks up to him, finding out that yet another blonde has come to see her. This one however is far more calm than Naruto is. His bangs framing his face and parting only slightly for him to see, while the rest of it rests over his nose and forehead. His eyes are an alluring golden, highly interesting Sara; she's never seen golden eyes before. Compared to the blond whom seems to have boyish charm, this man is just that- a man. And...Actually rather good looking at that.
"Wait, what were you talking about?"
Kro forces himself not to roll his eyes, "He doesn't understand why someone would push you from behind to make you fall. Is someone trying to kill you?"
Sara's eyes widen and she glares to the golden eyed stranger, "No! How could you assume that?" How did he know she was pushed from behind? It doesn't matter, "The people love me; just as I treasure this city far more than my own life! No one would dare try to kill me! I mean, it felt like I was pushed but-"
"But that's exactly what happened, right?" Naruto finishes for her with a tilted head.
Before anyone can continue a trio appears before the current one, each wearing an odd mask colorfully painted. "Neither of you kept your promise," the blonde stranger- aka, Minato- states firmly. It's not a surprise to him, however, as there's no such thing as promises between strangers.
Naruto's brows furrow as upon reflex he had drawn a kunai and backed up for distance. However before he can demand what they want, Sara steps in front of him, "Wait, who are you people?! Don't tell me you're after Naruto!"
This surprises the youngest blond there, triggering his urge to protect people that are nice to him regardless of his social standing at the very least. "Wait, you're after Sara? I don't think-," but before he can rush his own dad, a foot crashes into his back and makes him stumble and harmless.
Kro again sighs. He knows that time travel can be...Confusing. But that doesn't mean that Naruto had to go and try to kill his dad. "If they were she'd be dead by now," he utters into his ear, "Though that doesn't explain what you're doing here".
"We're here to protect the Queen" Minato's chin jerks in the direction of the girl.
Kro raises a brow, "You are, are you?" Not unbelievable, considering the past. Minato did after all seal off the chakra vein under this city. However, he can't instantly trust their word; it'd make him look bad. And as such, he tilts his head, "Say we believe you for now...Care to explain why you want us out of your hair so badly?"
The one Kro knows to be Minato pauses before further composing himself. He isn't certain he truly likes the tallest one of them there; the look in his eyes tells of an age far greater than should be humanly possible. They tell of a wisdom the other male shouldn't be capable of, seeing as he only looks to be in his early twenties. His eyes travel to the less insightful blond and then the very Queen he is to protect. "...Very well. But not here; follow us". Before he leads the way to a different location, he offers a kind hand to the still very confused royalty, "Would you please come with me, your Highness?"
Sara looks to the painted mask in front of her, and narrows her distrusting eyes. She has no idea who any of these people are! Why should she trust any of them to begin with? Her gaze travels to Naruto and then to the tallest stranger. "I'll go with Naruto," she inclines her head to the boy, feeling safest with him despite only having known him for about five minutes. She may not know him, but she feels that she can trust him.
"Then I'll carry you so you don't fall behind," Kro states as he offers her a more demanding palm, one thrust nearly in her face and startling her. Her confusion makes him scoff, "We'll most likely be traveling at high speeds despite whatever distance we'll be traveling over. Naruto is hurt and you don't want to go with those guys. I'm your last option".
The Queen isn't so certain, not as much as she had been when addressing going with Naruto himself. Even if this guy is right, Naruto does seem hurt, that doesn't mean he has to assume she'll let him carry her. "I don't even know you".
Kro was hoping she wouldn't demand a name. If Minato is alive and not the Hokage yet, then Kro's past self is still highly active and well known. It was around the Third Great Shinobi War where he really started to cause trouble, having felt that his power was good enough to show the word that he did not die in fighting Madara years prior. However it's by luck that Kro currently looks much different from how he used to, so his looks won't give him away which is an obvious plus. Swiftly thinking of an alias, he introduces himself as, "Vasile Fane," his old name. Something familiar enough that he can respond to it as though it were his current name.
The young woman tries such a strangely pretty name on her tongue, "Vasile," almost as though it's a trill. However its weight at the same time seems almost ominous, as though the meaning of it is anything but simple. "Very well. Thank you for your he- Ah!"
Kro does not give the girl any time to be formal as she decides to suddenly be. Instead, he scoops her up bridal style, letting her arms loop around his neck and shoulders and takes off to follow Minato and his team mates as soon as they take off upon realizing that the others are ready to go. They don't go all that far, mainly because there is no need to but also due to Naruto's leg. It would seem the time travel has messed with Kurama's ability to help him heal. They make their way into the very tower Sara had fallen from, however a different portion all together. The young woman, upon being put down, settles herself on a window's ledge to watch the crowd slowly thin out. In the mean time, the Shinobi congregate to figure things out. "Puppets randomly attacking me, Rouran being a city instead of ruins...None of this make sense," Even if Kro did mention that they leaped back in time. "If there's anything you guys can tell us that could help, we'd be grateful".
Again the leader of the team pauses, this time casting a 'what do you guys think?' look to his Akimichi and Aburme partners. He recalls well the job of their mission given to them by the Sandaime Hokage, having arrived to this place not long ago. He knows for certain that no other Konoha ninja have been put onto the mission save for Kakashi whom is occupied by other matters. Even more so, there are no Anbu on this mission, which means that Vasile and the kid both don't belong. After a long silent conversation with nothing but eyes to speak words with, Minato turns away from his friends and removes his mask completely to show a youthful face and lightly tanned skin. His eyes, much like Naruto's, are much like the ocean. Following his example, the Akimichi and Aburme duo follow suit. Kro glances them over swiftly, recognizing them to be the younger versions of Choza and Shiki respectively. "It's true that this place is not the Rouran you two know. If I am correct, then you both are most likely from the future".
Naruto's eyes widen, "...You too?"
"I'm sorry?"
Kro explains for his impulsive friend, "He means, that I too figured that somehow we jumped into the past. It's what makes the most sense of things".
Minato nods, "I see. Well, then you'll understand that I kept you both in the dark in order to keep from distorting the time line. It would cause chaos if people from the future started messing with this era. If I'm guessing correctly, then this is most likely twenty years in your past. There was a man who came from the future six years ago; he appeared suddenly like you both did. His name was Mukade".
Oh, yea. Mukade, not Mukage, Kro remembers, having not cared to know the man's name all that well before. The good news is that now that he knows that they jumped about twenty years in the past, then that would put Kro's past self...All the way across the continent causing mayhem not far from Kumogakure. Good. Naruto jolts in shock, "The person we're after is also named Mukade," he informs with wide eyes. "Maaannn this freaking sucks! Vasile, you were right all along!" Naruto groans and runs a hand through his hair. Now what do they do?
"Tell me what happened to the both of you. Maybe we can help you somehow".
The youngest blond looks to meet his father's gaze and sighs, "Well, we chased Mukade to the Ryuumyaku. But when we got there, he absorbed the seal into himself. Then we ended up here after a bright flash of light".
"It sounds like you came here through a time-space Ninjutsu," the future Yondaime states with little hesitation.
Kro purses his lips, knowing little about such jutsu. Oh certainly, he knows Fuinjutsu up and down, backwards and inside out- that's one of the reasons why Tsunade was easy to convince to let Kro go with Naruto and the others to renew the seal. That and it meant she'd get two uses out of him before he officially stopped being a Konoha Shinobi. However, ask him about time-space shit and he's pretty damn clueless. "Does that mean we can't get back?"