"Are you okay?" she asked the princess. "Sorry if I was a little grumpy back there. My headache's died down, though." She sat next to her. "I know it's a little hard for you to understand time travel stuff. It's a bit difficult for me to understand, myself." She was partly lying. She'd read theories upon theories of time travel before she'd tried tackling fuuinjutsu. Time-space manipulation was one of the many uses of fuuinjutsu.

"I just…why do you think Anrokuzan is the missing shinobi? He came six years ago." Naruto frowned.

Six years ago? Maybe it was the blast radius? Kaka-sensei, Yamato, Jiraiya, Utakata and I were all standing about equal distance from Mukade. Perhaps it was the fact that he was standing right there, on top of the Ryuumyaku? "Time is a fragile thing," Naruto said hesitantly. "But…if this Anrokuzan is the right one, then he is the missing-nin Mukade. If we are wrong, I promise we shall leave."

The princess sighed. "I suppose time travel is a norm in shinobi ways?" she asked in an unsure voice.

Naruto winced. "No, actually. Time travel to this extent is pretty flippin' unusual." The princess blinked. "I'm from the future. Two of my four parents are here, with the younger-than-me version of my first sensei. I don't think Utakata or I have been born yet, and Yamato's a guy who is currently…well, I actually don't know where he is right now, but it's not anywhere good." Naruto sighed. "I suppose I'm trying to make you feel a little better. Will you help us?"

The princess sighed. "Very well. What's your name?"

Naruto smiled. "Uzumaki Naruto. Yours?"

"Saara," she replied, smiling.

"That's a cool name! It's like Gaara," Naruto beamed.

Saara rolled her eyes. "Come on, let's get this done."

~:~

"Tell me the ninja are wrong," Saara pleaded with her mother's advisor, who smirked at her. She felt Naruto's hidden presence and was definitely reassured. "Tell me that you are not this Mukade, Anrokuzan."

Anrokuzan turned away.

"It took you long enough to learn," his oily voice said. "Those idiotic ninja know nothing about the power of the Ryuumyaku-"

"And you're a dumbass to think that the Ryuumyaku didn't pull us out of our time," Naruto said, her voice hard and angry. "Well, those of us who were closest."

Saara looked at the teen. When she'd first seen Naruto, she'd seen her unconscious in the middle of the place where the Ryuumyaku's central room was. Saara had started to sing, and the next minute there was a stinging sensation on her face.

Saara had seen the girl-who at the time looked like a guy-standing above her with closed eyes, then the ninja had vanished.

Seeing the ninja with a definitively feminine voice had made her think that he was a gender-confused person until she'd irritably remarked she was a female.

Saara hid behind the sturdy female ninja.

"You! You idiotic female will ruin everything!"

Saara felt anger well up in her.

"Are you a sexist ninja?" Naruto asked, sounding blank. Saara peeked over to look at Naruto's face. The only thing that showed she was ticked off was the jaw-ticking. And the shadowed eyes.

Yeah, that was creepy.

"There aren't any female missing-nin in this time," Anrokuzan-no, Mukade-said. Naruto said nothing. Something seemed to fill the air. "And if what you're saying is true…then that annoying pinkette didn't get pulled out of time, meaning you're the only useless female in the group."

Oh, that guy was so dead.

"Guess what?" Naruto's voice was perky as she took out a scroll. "I stole this scythe from someone. I can't break it. So…what the hell? I'll use it to end your existence!"

Naruto whipped out a gleaming red scythe.

~:~

FUTURE-WITH THE AKATSUKI

"Seriously, where is that damn jinchuuriki that has my blade?!" yelled Hidan in a sudden fit of rage. "It's been almost a fucking year since I last saw it!"

Hidan sulked again for a minute, then stiffened.

The Jashin worshipper had a connection with his scythe, and it was being used.

Hidan pouted.

It was not in this time. Damn.

~:~

The scythe itself was alive…in a way. It fed itself on the blood of whoever bled on it.

But it knew that it was not in the hands of its natural owner, and this person had tried to break it. Multiple times.

So it resisted. Until a dark voice, filled with eons longer than the scythe had existed, spoke to it.

Work for the current wielder, and they'll stop trying to break you…or I will makeyou break.

This was not the scythe's precious Jashin-sama. That was the voice of the Shinigami.

So, scared, the scythe stopped resisting.

~:~

Naruto lunged, scoring a hit…only to growl as Mukade transformed.

"Saara. Get one of them to take you to safety. The villagers are under the city…or, most of them are," Naruto added in a thick voice as her rage and fangs distorted her speaking.

"Right!" Saara nodded, dashing out.

Mukade took advantage of her distraction and thrust one of his wooden legs forward.

Naruto stopped it with the scythe, but knew that she wouldn't be able to defeat the creature on her own.

She resealed the scythe away, and Kurama sighed.

Fine. Let's go into one-tailed mode, though with no actual tail.

Yeah, yeah. Naruto stood there, eyes once again shadowed, letting the wooden leg get closer until she stopped it with a hand.

She grinned.