Story summary: Naruto used a jutsu that was supposed to let him see inside Sasuke's head. In reality, it sent them both back to their births and they switched places. Naruto (now Sasuke) grew up as an Uchiha while Sasuke (now Naruto) grew up alone.

Previous chapter end:

"Seriously," Kakashi-sensei walked up to him and whispered loudly, "It won't be good if you don't stop it now." When he didn't respond and only continued to stare, the jounin sighed and held out his palm. "Give me your hand."

Obediently the blond haired boy thrust his hand towards his sensei, who took it and began to inspect the damage. His eyes widened when he saw what should have been a wound that was at least a day old, not a few seconds.

'It's healing at an accelerated rate,' he thought to himself. 'Why?'

"Um..." he heard Sasuke mutter and looked up to see the dark haired boy had come up behind his friend, looking rather sick himself. "Is he going to be alright? You have such a serious look on your face..."

Naruto looked like he wanted to agree, but didn't want to give Sasuke the satisfaction of knowing he did. Kakshi simply took out a bandage and began to wrap the wound.

"You should be okay," he said to a rather relieved looking Naruto.

'This must be the Kyuubi's powers,' he thought to himself, not wondering what he would do if said powers began manifesting themselves more obviously...or worse.

NOTE: This is not beta'd.

Part 2 - Chapter 9

"Sharingan?" Sasuke blurted out, obviously surprised. Naruto didn't like that tone in the other's voice. He'd only just been saved by a very focused Sasuke earlier (as much as he loathed to admit it). This man—this mist jounin—was far worse than the other two combined. Sasuke happened to be the best fighter on their team next to their jounin sensei. Now was not a good time to lose that focus.

"W-what's that?" Sakura dared to venture.

The Uchiha "Sharingan users have the ability to read and defeat all types of taijutsu, ninjutsu and genjutsu. But that isn't all." Naruto couldn't help but roll his eyes. Sure, why not tell the enemy exactly what your techniques were? Yeah, smart idea

"No, that isn't all," the missing nin said with a kind of hungry tinge to his voice that almost downright scared Naruto. Almost. "Sharingan users can copy their opponent's techniques once you see them. You know, when I was a member of the Hidden Mist Assassination's team I kept a handbook. It included information of you, and this is what it said: The man who has copied over 1000 jutsu, Copy Ninja Kakashi."

Sasuke was staring in open shock and amazement now, while Sakura had covered her gasp, looking both confused and awed. Even Naruto couldn't help but feel impressed.

"Now let's end the talking," the ex-mist nin said, sounding suddenly bored and anticipatory at the same time. "I have to kill the old man." Then he'd glanced down at the silver-haired ninja. "But Kakashi, it seems I have to beat you first."

Then the ninja pushed off from the tree, landed on the water and vanished.

And that's when it all hit the fan.

The mist began to get thicker almost instantly, and a voice had come to them, talking all too casually about the best places on a body to kill someone. Naruto tried his best to tune it out, but it didn't work.

Kakashi's chakra suddenly exploded, driving away a good portion of the mist, but it didn't touch the murderous intent. They all felt it, and all reacted. Sakura froze as sweat appeared on Sasuke's face...a face set with determination despite the fact that he looked like he didn't want to move. Naruto paled, the only thing stopping the intent let off by the two Jounins from getting to him was the fact that he'd met something even more murderous before...heck, the thing lived inside of him.

"Don't worry," their Sensei's voice came back to them as he looked over his shoulder, eyes smiling. "I won't let anyone on my team die."

Even just those words helped immensely, giving the three children a much needed emotional bolster. With renewed determination, they fixed their stances, determined to not let anyone or anything near the old man.

Nevertheless, despite their best efforts, not moments later the murderous intent solidified behind them...and in front of the old man. They barely had time to register shock before Kakashi jumped towards the group, driving a kunai into Zabuza's stomach and stopping the attack on the old man with that single move. For the barest moment, everything froze. Then, the murderous intent shifted ever so slightly as an exact copy of the missing nin appeared just behind Kakashi. The man the Jounin had driven his kunai into vanished in a splash of water just as the second one moved, using his giant sword to slice the silver-haired man in two...only to have him disappear in the same manner.

He copied his technique? Naruto thought to himself, eyes wide again.

"Don't move," the apparently real Kakashi whispered harshly, his kunai already at Zabuza's throat. "This is the end."

"That was incredible!" Sasuke yelled out. Sakura smiled in relief, and Naruto didn't say anything, but he had to admit to himself at least that he was impressed; well, at least until Zabuza chuckled darkly.

"This is the end?" he asked, not moving a muscle, but somehow oozing a sense of a menacing confidence. "You don't understand. You can't beat me with your imitations.

"But I have to admit," he continued on almost nonchalantly, "you're pretty good. You copied my water clone technique when you told your brats that you wouldn't let them die." He chuckled again. "You had your clone speak, and that diverted my attention to it while you used the mist concealment technique to hide and watch me.

"However—" his voice once again came from behind Kakashi wile the second missing nin clone exploded into water. "I'm not that easy to defeat."

That was fake too? Naruto wanted to yell, but kept his mouth firmly closed. Sasuke was already way too open with his shock, letting out a yelp of surprise followed by a few strangled words. Zabuza wasted no time in swinging his sword towards the Konoha nin from below. To his credit, Kakashi avoided the blow, but the missing nin utilized the momentum and shoved his sword into the ground, which he then used as a pivot point to add extra strength to the kick that hit Kakashi squarely on his head.

Somehow, the Jounin kept his neck from snapping, but his body quite literally flew because of it, landing in the nearby water. Zabuza returned his determined look to the obviously scared old man, and in a flash had started towards him, sword once again in hand.

Then, suddenly, he stopped, for some reason Naruto couldn't quite understand. If he had to guess, it had something to do with the small, dark, sharp objects littering the ground near the stream. The missing nin muttered something under his breath, and then dived into the same water Kakashi had sunk under not seconds before. Almost immediately, Kakshi rose out of the water slightly, looking as if he were struggling.

"Idiot," Zabuza appeared behind him, already forming hand signals. "Hydro prison technique."

And that quickly, Kaskahi found himself entrapped in a sphere of water floating above the stream, connected to the man's hand. "You fell for it. This is a special prison you can't escape from," he explained almost gleefully. "Now, I'll finish you later," he turned his glare (and consequently his murderous intent) on the four still on the bank, staring up at him in horror.

His hand moved to his chest, two finger sticking straight up as he molded chakra. "Water clone technique."

The three teenagers' eyes widened even more (if that were even possible) as Zabuza's clone rose from the water, and advanced towards the group. He started spouting off how they weren't ninja because they hadn't gone through the necessary experiences to claim such a title. Then he vanished, and the next thing Naruto knew he too had flown through the air backwards, his hitai-ate flying off as he landed, only to be stomped on by the missing nin when it too hit the ground. "Brats," he accused.

"Naruto!" Sakura yelled.

"Everyone!" Kakashi's voice suddenly called out, sounding slightly desperate. "Take Tazuna-san and run! You can't win against him! He can't move while holding me here, and he can't use his water clone if you're out of range!"

Even Naruto, lying on the ground and scared witless had to glance at his Sensei, just to make sure he hadn't misheard. Are you kidding me? He asked himself. Somehow, he seemed to know that the moment Kakashi was taken out of the battle, running was no longer an option, and any chance at winning had been utterly squashed. Zabuza would catch up with them eventually. That was a fact even he as "dead last" could see. Kakashi was their best chance at surviving, and that was all there was to it.

"Do you think we'd leave you behind, Sensei?" Sasuke suddenly yelled out, rushing forward and throwing just about everything in his arsenal at the man. Zabuza swung, easily dispatching all of the flying objects with a single swipe. Sasuke used that moment to jump into the air, and came down with a kunai aimed for his eye. It should puncture the brain and—

"Too easy," Zabuza muttered. Faster than Naruto (or even Sasuke) could follow, he shot his hand up and clamped it around the youth's throat before throwing him to the side with a look of disgust, as if he'd just had to touch a piece of garbage.

He beat Sasuke... Naruto's numb mind managed to think as he stared up at the man, trying not to shiver.

This is a Jounin...a real ninja. We have no choice! At this rate, we'll all be killed for sure! His brain had switched into panic mode, and he turned to run, but bumped his bandaged hand against ground as he stood. It stung with pain, but while he winced, that didn't seem to matter much. He could only stare at the bandage.

So he'd finally attained some semblance of freedom, and this was how he was going to use it? By running away? Abandoning his teammates and his mission? He'd be labeled as a missing nin...a weak missing nin, and they'd hunt him down. His promise came back to mind, about how he wasn't going to hold anyone back. If he ran now, it would haunt him for the rest of his life.

His eyes caught the blue material sticking out from under the clone's feet, and Iruka-sensei's face suddenly flashed through his head; one of the only people to have ever given him the benefit of the doubt, and probably the only adult besides the Sandaime who didn't hate him outright. That had been a gift from him, and at that moment, Naruto made his decision. He would not leave it behind.

"I'm going to regret this," he muttered to himself, and then pulled a Sasuke. His face set in grim determination, he raced at Zabuza, keeping his eyes locked on the older man's chest and sword.

"You idiot!" Kakashi yelled, causing Naruto to wonder briefly if he could breathe inside that water.

"Naruto?" Sasuke and Sakura said at the same time. He didn't remember the man moving, but the next moment he'd been knocked back a second time, rolling along the ground.

Sakura gasped. "Why did you run in like that?" she asked, her voice trembling.

Sasuke agreed. "You know better than to go rushing in alone when you can't stand up to him!"

Naruto ignored them, instead pushing himself determinedly to his feet, despite his obviously overtaxed body. That's when both of the standing genin stopped and blinked at the object he held in his hand. His blue hitai-ate.

Why did he...just to get the hitai-ate? For some reason that highly surprised Sakura. It just didn't seem like something Naruto would do.

"You may want to put us in your book," he said suddenly, looking up at the man with a glare.

"Why?" came the scornful response, although his tone didn't sound as carefree, and his murderous intent had risen even higher.

Naruto chose not to answer, instead glaring as he tied the hitai-ate around his head. The solution had come to him. He didn't know how, or why, but he could just see it now. It even seemed somewhat obvious, even familiar...

He shoved that thought to the back of his head and spoke quietly. "Sasuke, I have a plan."

For a moment the boy didn't say anything, and Naruto wondered if he'd heard, but then a whooping "YOSH!" came from the direction of his "best friend". Sasuke came running up behind him, waiting for the right moment to plan. Sakura, feeling rather vulnerable without someone else standing by her side, gulped but took up the slack, standing protectively in front of their charge.

Kakashi began yelling for them to leave again, but they didn't listen. After a quick affirmative from the old man, the kids went back to staring at the clone, that didn't seem to like to move away from its master, thankfully.

Still, Zabuza only watched them, his glare fading to an amused look. "You three don't learn very fast, do you?"

"What was that?" Sasuke yelled out.

"Still pretending to play ninja," the water clone continued. "When I was your age, my hands were already soaked in blood."

"What?" Sasuke asked, slightly more subdued. It was Kakshi that answered, telling of the final test in the hidden mist village, where the graduates had to fight each other to the death. Zabuza had killed everyone else in his class. His friends, his enemies, the people he didn't even know that well.

The ninja finished the story himself, and all he could say was "that was fun" with a mad gleam in his eye. Then the clone attacked Sasuke. Even weakened and away from its master, it still easily took the Genin down.

"Kage Bushin no Jutsu!" Naruto growled out. At least two dozen clones appeared, surrounding the older man.

"Oh?" the missing-nin said, sounding just the slightest bit surprised. "Shadow clone, and quite a few."

As one, they attacked, piling on their target. It didn't work too well as the man simply used a burst of chakra to his muscles which sent them skidding along the ground or ramming into trees. Almost all of them vanished within seconds.

"I'll only have a chance at this once," Naruto said to himself, reaching into his backpack. "Teme!" he called out, "Catch!"

Sasuke reached his hand out and caught the spinning weapon easily. As soon as he did, he couldn't help but smile. Wasting no time, he launched himself into the air and shot the giant shuriken at the water clone. "Fuma shuriken, shadow wind clone!"

"A shuriken won't work on me," Zabuza said, sounding a little disappointed. His face fell even more when he didn't even have to dodge it. Instead it flew right by.

"You're going after the real thing this time," the real Zabuza commented almost boredly. He caught the giant weapon easily, but felt his eyes widen when another one whirled around, coming in his direction. It had been hidden in the shadow. Good technique, but... He jumped high, still maintaining contact with the spherical prison and dodging the weapon at the same time.

Sakura looked like she wanted to panic, but Sasuke only grinned in triumph, much to her and the old man's surprise. Now harmlessly behind him, Zabuza didn't see the shuriken turn into a boy in a blue and black outfit, although he did hear it, but not fast enough. Naruto launched a kunai at the missing nin, who only barely realized he wouldn't be able to dodge it without—

In that instant, his hand left the water prison as he dodged the kunai. He didn't quite get out of the way as it nicked his cheek, stinging more than a little. "You brat!" he shouted, twirling the large kunai in his hand and preparing to throw it just before it caught on something...someone's hand.

xXx

It didn't take Kakashi long to realize he'd been freed. It also didn't take long for him to jump in, sticking out his hand to stop the blade the missing nin planned on shooting at Naruto, who splashed into the water. The Jounin's eyes glared in a silent, grim determination up at Zabuza. "That was a good plan, Naruto," he said after the blond's head had broken through the surface, although his eyes never left his opponent.

Naruto said nothing for a moment, but a small smile tugged at his lips. He nodded in his teacher's direction. "It was just luck," he muttered finally and started to swim towards the shore.

The rest of the fight passed by in a daze for the kids, he was sure. Naruto didn't quite make it out of the river before he and Zabuza started launching the same jutsu at each other. Two giant water dragons twisted and turned as they fought, raining water everywhere. When Zabuza realized that wouldn't work, he charged forward and then they locked sword and kunai, each glaring at the other angrily. Then they parted, and started to circle as they splashed across the surface of the water and began forming seals again.

Everything the missing nin tried was reciprocated each time at the exact same time. Then Kakashi really started freaking him out by "reading his thoughts" and predicting his moves. After a well placed water jutsu that had Naruto clinging to a tree on the bank to keep from being swept away and the others covering their eyes and bracing themselves against the current that washed over them, Zabuza ended up pinned to a tree courtesy of several kunai.

"How..." the missing nin grunted to Kakashi, who sat on the branch above him. "You...can you see the future?"

"Yeah," the silver-haired jounin said back, no mirth in his voice, "You're going to die."

Before he'd even gotten the chance to move, two small needles flew through the air and landed in the missing nin's neck. For the umpteenth time that day, everyone's eyes flew open in surprise, watching Zabuza slump against the tree, his eyes closing slowly.

Kakashi turned to see a new figure standing in another tree not a hundred yards away, a fairly short figure with a swirling red and white mask.

"It was true," the masked figure said, "he did die."

Not trusting the newcomer's words, Kakshi jumped down, landing on the wet ground beside the now still figure and felt for a pulse.

"He really is dead!" he confirmed and looked back at the masked person.

"Thank you," he/she said with a bow. "I have been looking for a chance to kill Zabuza."

Not sounding happy at all, Kakashi looked up and spoke. "With that mask, you must be a hunter nin from the hidden village of the mist."

"You are well informed."

"Hey, Sasuke," Naruto whispered, walking up behind his friend, "A hunter nin takes care of missing nins, right?"

"Yeah," Sasuke nodded, although his glare never left the hunter nin. There was something about this guy... After a few more moments of silence, he couldn't take it anymore. Running several steps forward, he pointed up at the masked figure. "Just who are you?" he yelled.

Kakashi stood from his position, his face taking on neutrality once again. "Calm down, Sasuke. He's not an enemy."

"It's not that," Sasuke muttered, his eyes darkening. "It's just that...he was killed," his eyes returned to the body. "By a kid no older than me." Once again, Kakashi found himself taken aback slightly when he saw not Sasuke or Obito in the boy's expression, but Itachi. He only saw it for a split second, but that tired but otherwise emotionless face had been there. "I can't accept that."

Shaking it off and hoping he sounded more nonchalant than he felt, Kakashi shrugged. "I can understand how you can't accept that, but this is real." He reached out to put a hand on Sasuke's head, but Obito's disappointed face had returned, and he found he couldn't bring himself to touch the kid. Instead, he let it drop back to his side.

"In this world," he continued, "there are kids younger than you, but stronger than me."

Naruto's eyes narrowed at this, but he showed no other outward sign that he'd been listening. Sakura's eyes had lowered, her eyes firmly fixed on the ground.

Apparently, the hunter nin had seen enough, because he used some sort of wind jutsu to land beside the body and hefted it over their shoulder. "Your battle ends here, for now," the child said. "I must go and dispose of the corpse as it is a body filled with secrets. If you'll excuse me." And with that, both figures vanished once again, leaving the Konoha nins and their charge in a misty silence.

"What was that?" Sasuke shouted, dropping to his knees and punching the soggy ground. "What were we?" He began to swear as he continued to pound the ground. Feeling all too familiar, Kakashi acted out of habit and grabbed the boy's arm, just as he had grabbed Obito's more than once. "In the world of the ninja, things like this happen," he said, wishing he didn't sound so much like he had back then. "If you don't like it," he continued, his voice just a little more kind, "make it up next time."

Taking a deep breath, Sasuke relaxed slightly, although he never stood up.

"Our mission hasn't ended yet," Kakashi turned to the others. "We still need to take Tazuna-san to his house."

In response, the old man pasted a smile on his face. "Sorry about that, everyone! You can just rest at my place."

Kakashi spared one more painful glance down at Sasuke. Obito had always been so cheerful and hopeful, even when he was frustrated. He hated seeing someone who reminded him so much of his former teammate that upset. "So," he said aloud. "Let's cheer up and keep going."

With that, he turned around and began to walk forward when his already tired body seemed to finally reach its limit. Dang it, he thought he'd be able to make it a little further at least...

"Sensei? What's wrong?" Sakura shrieked, running forward, Naruto and Tazuna on her heels. That was the last thing he remembered hearing before he blacked out.

xXx

A few days later…

Naruto sat at the bottom of the tree he'd taken to climbing up. Looking at it now, he couldn't help but feel the frustration inside of him smolder. True, he'd been making progress, but no matter what he did, he couldn't seem to even come close to catching Sasuke. Part of that, he suspected, was Sasuke talking to Sakura, probably to ask for advice.

He wished he had someone he could talk to. It wasn't like he was going to ask Sakura. Besides, after a day and a half of training, she'd disappeared, apparently to watch the bridge crew while they worked, just in case Zabuza (who apparently wasn't dead—and so much for Kakashi having no exploitable flaws) attacked. Their "sensei" had been inside on strict bed rest, and Naruto strongly suspected the silver-haired jounin hadn't really forgiven him for "cheating" on the test, so he wasn't about to try and ask him.

It wasn't like he could or would talk to Tazuna-san, his daughter or his crybaby of a grandson. They wouldn't know anything anyway, not being ninja.

That just left one person...

He knew he was gonna hate himself in the morning. Clearing his throat he looked over at the black-haired boy, who had also been resting for a moment and contemplating his tree. "Oi, Sasuke."

Surprised, the Uchiha looked over at him. Dang, Naruto really didn't want to do this. "You...talked to Sakura, right?" he asked, feeling a little color come to his cheeks. He couldn't stand sinking to this level, but...he really needed to get this. "You asked her for advice, right? W-what did she say?"

Did he really sound as weak as he thought he did?

For several seconds, Sasuke just blinked at him. Then he smiled mischievously. "Not telling."

What? Naruto yelped in his mind.

"'Cause," the dark-haired boy's grin suddenly turned genuine. "You already know." With that, he turned and very calmly put one foot on the tree, walking straight up the side. Naruto watched in a rather horrified amazement. He made it about as far as he had before when his chakra gave out...this time without the previous boost of running before hand.

"See?" he asked.

With that, he took another run at the tree, heading straight up the side and falling back into the previous routine. Naruto turned back to his own tree with a frustrated "che". What had all that meant? Really, why did he go back to running if he could just walk up the side? It was probably even more of a feat to overcome walking calmly, so it would be more impressive if he continued to do things that way.

That's when it hit him. That's why Sasuke had done that...to tell him to relax. The teme. Why hadn't he just come out and said it?

Taking a deep breath, he cleared his mind and willed his over-taxed muscles to relax. Then he took a casual jog towards the tree and got a good four feet above his previous mark.

"Sasuke, you idiot," he muttered under his breath as he fell from the tree, executing a decent turn to land on his feet (one he'd perfected after falling so many times). This time, though, he didn't really feel those words. Instead, he rolled his eyes, ignored the slight smile on his face and ran at the tree again.

Yes, I updated. The world will end now.

I didn't want to abandon this, I'd just seen a billion and a half redos of the first part of the series (and I'm thinking about doing one from Sakura's POV), so I started lacking motivation. I just went back and looked at this and realized that I had another chapter not beta read but finished. Don't know why I never posted it. Don't expect a lot of updates really quickly, but I am determined to finish this thing! *shakes fist*

Oh, also, if anyone is willing to beta read for me (again, sorry, it's been almost two years, I have no idea who I had beta reading this before), please let me know. I'm looking for someone who can get a chapter back to me within a WEEK, and someone who can be HARSH. I may not agree with what you say, but if you point it out to me, I will give it serious thought. I don't want something back with "oh, that looks good." No. Just no. My chapters are not perfect, so please send them back all marked up with red. Thank you.

Also, I revamped the first chapter (although it's still not perfect) and would like to redo the second chapter so that it's more canon. I mean there will be some changes back at the beginning. Just a warning.