"Let me get this straight" Kurama said. "You are from a different world"
Naruto nodded.
"You saw the future"
Another nod.
"When that blonde moron sealed me he pulled your soul along"
"Yup" Naruto said.
"Permanently destroying the soul of the old man's youngest brat in the process"
"And accidentally dooming the world to end either at the hands of the Uchiha or eventually the Otsutsuki"
Kurama mumbled some very unkind words under his breath.
"And your plan to survive this unavoidable apocalypse is?"
"Research the fuck out of fuinjutsu and space-time ninjutsu, punch a hole in the fabric of reality, and outrun the apocalypse by fucking off to another world"
Kurama sighed, he just wanted to be left alone to nap for eternity, maybe go on a rampage every now and then, but now he had to deal with this.
"I take it you want my help?"
"I'd take Kaguya's dream paradise any day, everyone dies eventually, and most people don't get a world specifically designed to make them happy before they bite the dust" Naruto says. "But unfortunately, I'm stuck with you so I don't get to have it, and if I have to bust my ass to figure out interdimensional travel because of you then you will pull your own weight"
"I'm sorry I screwed up your happy ending by being enslaved by people I hate because a bastard with fancy eyes mind-controlled me" Kurama said sarcastically.
Naruto rolled his eyes and asked.
"Do we have a deal?"
"Do I have a choice?"
"Sure you do" Naruto says. "If you don't plan to play along tell me now and I'm heading straight for Amegakure, that way I can cut this whole bullshit short by just handing Kaguya the win, I might even be able to persuade her to let me have my Infinite Tsukuyomi if I can survive having you extracted long enough for her to be released"
Kurama sighed again, he would take Asura again any day over this mutually assured destruction bullshit.
"Deal" He grumbled.
The brat smirked.
XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX
Contrary to what most people would expect, being reborn as the protagonist of one of your favorite anime wasn't fun, especially when you could feel the actual god of death pulling your soul into a body that's already occupied.
The worst part was that the temporary soul sense he got out of being in contact with the Shinigami only served to let him feel how the very special soul of the prophecized savior of the world being disintegrated into the ether as his much older soul took its place.
To say Naruto was a very grumpy baby was an understatement.
But one of the advantages of coming as a baby was that he couldn't act out of character, he was making the character, so going undiscovered wasn't that hard, being a quiet kid in a village that hates you is surprisingly easy.
Let no one say Naruto was one to act without a plan, however, as soon as the existential dread subsided he started thinking.
The world was fucked, with no pseudo-Jesus Naruto to save the world everyone would die, either Kaguya would win, or Madara would win, or Obito would win, or Sasuke would win.
It was downright impressive how many overpowered maniacs there are in this world.
The point was that without the chosen one the bad guys would win, even if he could somehow prevent all of them from winning, he didn't like his chances as he certainly didn't inherit the infamous talk no jutsu, there were still those Otsutsuki from the Boruto era and that asshole on the moon.
Yeah, this world was dead, it just didn't know it yet.
But Naruto decided very soon that discretion was the better part of valor, if there was no saving the world then it was time to jump ship and find a new world to live in, it was canon that there were other worlds out there, maybe even some that had been fiction in his previous life.
Unfortunately, space travel was out given the technological level of the elemental nations, even the most developed nations of the world, the Land of Snow and the Land of Rain, could barely be classified as being in the modern era in terms of technology.
That left interdimensional travel, and the more he thought about it the more it seemed doable, Tobirama figured out teleportation years ago and fuinjutsu could do all sorts of crazy bullshit, Naruto had no idea if it could be used for interdimensional travel but all techniques that had even remotely to do with teleportation, the hiraishin and the summoning jutsu, used those symbols that reminded him of fuinjutsu.
Doable wasn't easy however, any fuinjutsu beyond the basics almost exclusively had to be taught by a master, and space-time techniques of any variety were heavily guarded for a very good reason.
Naruto's first step was to get Kurama's help, he knew he wouldn't be able to do it alone and Kurama was the only person he could trust with the information, mostly by virtue of being unable to talk to anyone else and being in as much danger as Naruto himself.
He did that at the start of his academy years, any action before that would have been suspicious.
Thankfully, while he didn't inherit the special soul and the charisma of the original he did inherit the talent his body's parents had passed down to him, Naruto doubted he would ever be as strong as the original, he certainly wasn't getting any six paths powers, but he would hopefully become skilled enough to achieve his goal.
It helped that he wasn't a child and took his training seriously instead of playing pranks, he knew there was no way that he would be able to keep his plans a secret forever and eventually he would have to fight, so it was better to be prepared.
He went to the academy and trained his hardest, he was drawing attention but right now he needed the power increase more than the secrecy, and with who he was he doubted Hiruzen would let Danzo get his hands on him.
He didn't have friends there, he didn't try to make them despite Hiruzen's urging as he needed to train as much as he could and they would only be a distraction, Sasuke hated Naruto as he kept up with the Uchiha but completely ignored him.
Naruto wanted nothing to do with Sasuke, if everything went according to plan he would escape long before the Uchiha mattered but if it failed he wanted as little interaction with the Uchiha as possible as Sasuke would join the Akatsuki and hunt him.
Whenever Naruto was in theoretical classes he would read books on fuinjutsu, there weren't that many available in the academy library, certainly nothing even remotely advanced, but it was what he had so it would have to do.
He made sure to make himself seem very trusting of his teachers, his whole plan hinged on Mizuki still having him steal the forbidden scroll despite his higher grades so he needed the traitor to believe him gullible.
It worked, when graduation came around Mizuki offered him the exam to become Rookie of the Year instead of Sasuke, sneaking into the Hokage tower and grabbing the scroll was easy, if only because Sarutobi let him, and by the time he made it to the forest everything was ready.
He had stashed plenty of blank scrolls in the spot he picked, so he quickly learned the shadow clone jutsu and had clones start copying down the forbidden scroll, focusing on anything that had to do with fuinjutsu and space-time ninjutsu, as well as two specific jutsu.
The Hiraishin and the Edo Tensei.
He sealed the scrolls in a storage scroll he kept on his person and after Mizuki was dealt with and the forbidden scroll returned he went home and started reading, Naruto wanted to keep Kurama a secret but Mizuki told him his 'secret' right in front of Iruka so that wasn't an option.
His first priority was learning the Hiraishin, the rest could wait but the Hiraishin would be the tool that would let him actually go through with his plan.
Training it in secret was hard, he had to create shadow clones and have them henge into birds, who would then fly away from Konoha and train it in isolated forests, and it took him 2 months of constant training with countless clones to get it to a relatively usable level.
He wasn't good with it, not even close to Minato or Tobirama, but he was good enough for what came next.
XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX
Passing the bell test was the hardest thing he had done so far, not because he couldn't take Kakashi, he certainly couldn't but that wasn't the reason, but because Sasuke was even less inclined to work with him than he would have been with the original.
Eventually, they passed because Sasuke proposed a plan and Naruto just went with it, knowing that Kakashi should pass them as long as they worked together.
It took two months after the test before they went to the Land of Waves, in the meantime Sasuke mostly complained about Kakashi not training them while Sakura fangirled over him and Naruto took advantage of his shadow clones to increase his training efficiency while he studied fuinjutsu and space-time ninjutsu in secret.
Events went pretty much the same up to a certain point, the ambush by the demon brothers, Zabuza fighting Kakashi and Haku saving him, all until Naruto met Haku in the forest.
Naruto took the opportunity and placed a Hiraishin seal on Haku, and after their conversation was over he snuck into Gatou's manor, using the transformation jutsu to transform into a fly, and broke into his vault.
One storage scroll filled to the brim with cash later he flashed to the mark he had placed on Haku, immediately substituting himself with a nearby table to dodge Haku's attack.
"Friendly, aren't you?" He sarcastically asked.
"I'm sorry I don't greet intruders with cookies and milk" Zabuza sneered, Haku standing guard next to him. "I didn't think Hatake had it in him to send a genin to assassinate me"
"He didn't" Naruto said, pulling out the scroll. "Here"
Zabuza caught the scroll and examined it carefully, with Haku still watching Naruto.
"It is half of what was inside Gatou's Vault" Naruto said. "More than he promised to pay you"
"Bribing me, are you?" Zabuza asked. "Are you that afraid to fight me?"
"Something like that"
"And what's stopping me from killing you and taking your other half?"
"I'm a shadow clone" Naruto shrugged. "And the other half is with a bird that's halfway to Konoha by now"
"Clever boy"
After some more back and forth Zabuza agreed to take the money and leave, Gatou didn't have anything to pay him with anymore so there was no point in finishing the job.
Contrary to what he believed, Naruto wasn't afraid to fight him, he bribed Zabuza for Sasuke, it was better to not risk the Uchiha dying until Naruto was ready to leave as that would cause Itachi to likely come back and derail Naruto's plans, and while Naruto could take Haku on even without revealing the Hiraishin, due to his deal with Kurama he could use the fox's chakra at will, it was better to not fight at all.
He couldn't kill Sasuke, but delaying his Sharingan's awakening would only help.
The rest of the mission went smoothly, Zabuza was long gone by the time Kakashi waited for him at the bridge and after it was done and Gatou, who decided to take matters into his own hands after his hired help ran off and his money vanished, was dealt with.
The villagers of wave never banded together and Inari never got his hero, but Naruto had more important things to do than to worry about lifting the spirit of some brat who will die anyway.
The next four months went by quickly, Naruto figured he could have his clones flash to the Land of Waves and train there so his secret training went much faster, he had hundreds of clones running around training the Hiraishin, studying what he got from the forbidden scroll, and even recreating the Rasengan.
He couldn't use most of it yet, but he would be leaving Konoha soon and he would be able to use it when he left.
He also got the Edo Tensei to a usable level, he didn't plan to use them in combat but he needed to be able to actually perform the jutsu.
He even got stronger than Sasuke, much to the Uchiha's anger, and even without Kurama he believed he was as strong as base Garaa and Lee, though if he wanted to keep up with the Gates and Garaa's partial transformation he had to use the fox's power.
He also put his final preparations in place, he got himself injured on purpose so he could go to the hospital and leave a Hiraishin seal there, as close to the cold storage room as he could make it, he wanted to leave one in the Kage's graveyard, where they kept the bodies of the previous Hokage, but that area was heavily guarded so it would have to wait for the invasion.
Soon the Chunin Exams came, this was the last relatively safe part of Naruto's plan, after this he would be out of Konoha and ideality presumed dead so there would be no turning back, not that he ever planned to turn back.
Naruto didn't even bother with the first phase of the exam, he just practiced seals on the paper while the exam went on and then passed with the final question.
Then came the second exam, Naruto was more than a little tense, both because of Orochimaru and because this was where he got away from Konoha and started going after his plan full time.
Thanks to Kurama's emotion-sensing the felt Orochimaru coming and were ready, the gigantic snake came and swallowed Naruto and while his teammates faced down a Sannin, Orochimaru shouldn't kill them but at this point it didn't really matter if he did, Naruto put his plan into motion.
First, he created a clone packed with as much of Kurama's chakra as he could put in it, then he focused and flashed home, retrieving the scroll with everything he would have to take with him.
He smirked when he felt the massive release of tailed beast chakra that signaled the death of Naruto Uzumaki, his corpse devoured by a summoning snake and left unretrievable.
Then he flashed away to an isolated location he had his clones scout out, far from the Land of Fire.
XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX
He spent the next month preparing his base in the Land of Rivers, he had pestered Kakashi into teaching him a basic earth jutsu and with clones creating a secret cave on the side of a mountain wasn't hard.
One of the advantages of having the Hiraishin was that he could go buy furniture from the Land of Lightning and as soon as he was out of sight he flashed back to base, he still had Gatou's money so expenses weren't a problem and he didn't bother with anything beyond the essentials anyway so his expenses were pretty low and he couldn't be followed.
Worst comes to worst he could always rob a few caravans, it is hard to stop someone who can just teleport themselves and the cargo away with a touch.
He left a big room for the interdimensional portal, it was filled with everything he could get his hands on about the subject, he knew it wouldn't be enough but he already had plans for that.
Then the day of the invasion came and he was ready, he transformed into a Konoha ANBU with the kind of mask Danzo's Root normally used and had a clone henge into a bird and keep an eye on things.
As soon as he received confirmation that the invasion started he was on the move, first he flashed to the hospital, there was chaos all around and most shinobi were far too busy handling the invasion to worry about a lone ANBU inside the hospital.
Most, but not all.
"Who are you?" Lee asked. "If you were from Konoha you would be outside fighting"
Despite his injuries Lee still stood in his way, Naruto would be impressed if he wasn't on a time limit.
"Special mission" Naruto said, disguising his voice. "Hokage's Orders"
"Is that so?" Lee asked, even as he went on guard. "Then why are you using the henge?"
Naruto cursed, he didn't bother with a real disguise because the Hyuuga would be able to see through it anyway, but constantly using chakra to maintain the transformation gave him away.
Sorry Lee.
Naruto moved, he knew Lee was good even while injured but he was perfectly healthy and could now use his strongest jutsu, he traded blows with Lee for a few seconds before backing away and forming the Rasengan.
Before Lee could react he flashed to the mark he placed on him and slammed the Rasengan inside his guard, throwing him against a wall, a kunai to the brain was all it took to silence him forever.
There was no way the people in the reception didn't hear that, he had to hurry, he broke into the storage room and grabbed a few samples of blood, then he set off a few explosive tags to cover his tracks and flashed away.
The Kage's graveyard was harder, while the guard was reduced there were still a few of them, and they were all jonin, with the Hiraishin and the Rasengan available so was Naruto but using either technique would require him to kill everyone in the area or risk Konoha hearing about it.
And Jiraya would certainly hunt down anyone using the jutsu of his beloved apprentice, especially after his godson was killed before he could teach them to him.
Using Kurama's chakra was also out, even if he killed everyone someone in the village would feel it and they would certainly recognize the feeling.
Then he remembered something, he just needed to get inside, he didn't need to kill the guards.
Naruto henged until his favorite infiltration form, a fly, while the clones he made, all henged like ANBU, engaged the guards.
They didn't stand a chance without Naruto's strongest skills but they distracted the guards enough that the fly made it though unseen, then Naruto got to graverobbing.
Once he was done he flashed away.
While he waited for things to calm down in Konoha Naruto kidnapped a few bandits to use as sacrifices for the Edo Tensei, once everything was ready he summoned his first target.
Mito Uzumaki looked surprisingly young for a woman who died in her eighties, the effects of reanimation aside she could pass off as half her age easily.
She looked around for a moment, confused, before she realized what had happened and spoke.
"I see" She said. "So Tobirama's accursed jutsu was used after all"
"I'm sorry I had to call you back from the dead" Naruto said. "But I'm afraid I need your help"
"And you are?"
"Naruto Uzumaki" He said.
"An Uzumaki?" She asked. "With blonde hair?"
"I'm Kushina's son" Naruto told her.
"How is she?" Mito asked. "Last I saw her she was a little girl"
"Dead, I'm afraid" Naruto told her. "She died the day I was born, passing the Kyuubi down to me"
"I see" Mito said sadly. "What did you summon me for, then?"
"I have a very important fuinjutsu project I need your help with" Naruto said. "You and Kushina are the two people I know are masters of fuinjutsu, and I'd rather not summon her if possible"
"Don't you want to see your mother?"
"She isn't" Naruto said, sighing. "Look, it is complicated, I can fill you in later but right now I really need to know if you are willing to help, I'm on a time limit"
Mito stopped to think for a moment.
"All you require of me is to teach you fuinjutsu and help you with this project?"
Naruto nodded.
"Very well" She said. "But we'll need to visit the old Senju compound, all my scrolls on fuinjutsu are there"
"That...might be complicated"
"Why is that?"
"We aren't in Konoha" Naruto says. "And they believe I'm dead"
"You are a missing-nin" Mito said, eyes narrowed.
"If they find out I'm alive, yes"
"And why would I help a missing-nin, especially one tainting the name of my clan?"
Naruto sighed again, and explained everything to her, the future, how his soul took the original's place, about Indra and Asura, the Otsutsuki, everything.
"-and that is why I need your help" He finished. "If we don't finish this portal before the time comes everyone dies"
Mito nodded, even as she leaned against the wall and tried to process everything.
"That's a lot to take in" She said.
"It is" Naruto said. "But we have no time to waste"
"You'll need a specialist in space-time ninjutsu" Mito said. "I can help with the fuinjutsu but not the rest"
"I'll be bringing back Tobirama eventually" Naruto said. "I just wanted to have you on board first"
"So I can help you convince him?"
Naruto nodded.
"Very well" Mito said. "But it won't be easy, it is theoretically possible but I'm not entirely sure how to go about doing it"
"Is there anything I can do?" Naruto asked. "I will be reading whatever scroll you can give me but I doubt I'll become skilled enough in the art soon enough to help"
"Besides my scrolls in Konoha? There are the scrolls looted during Uzushio's destruction" Mito said, her tone growing sad at the end.
"I might be able to get the ones from Kumo and Kiri" Naruto said. "Iwa will be tricky, we will also need the Uzumaki Reaper Mask"
"You know it?"
"I know of it" Naruto said. "But not the exact location of the temple"
"I know where it is" Mito said. "Who do you want to release from the Shinigami?"
"Tobirama" Naruto said. "Hiruzen recently used the Reaper Death Seal to seal Tobirama, who had been reanimated by a man named Orochimaru"
"I told Tobirama not to create that accursed jutsu" Mito said. "Look where it got us"
"There is also Minato" Naruto said. "I really don't want to bring him back, even if he does listen and even if he doesn't blame me for the death of his son he will want to save this world, and that is a pointless battle, but if I did take a sample of his DNA if we really need him"
"We just might" Mito said.
While Mito worked Naruto focused on his training, he couldn't go to Konoha just yet as patrols were still heavy because of the invasion and he couldn't go to Iwa at all but he had plans for Kumo and Kiri.
But he had a bit of time, and for what was to come he would have to be as strong as possible, so he trained, using hundreds of clones to master the Hiraishin, learning as much as he could about fuinjutsu from Mito's clones, and completing the Rasengan after some trial and error.
Two months after the invasion he was ready to go after the scrolls, Mito was running out of material to work with so he couldn't wait much longer and his plan for Kiri was also on a time limit so he needed to move.
But first came Kumo, Naruto believed that he would be able to negotiate with the Raikage for the scrolls so he decided to go there and give Mito more material to work with as Kiri would take some time even if his plan worked.
Arriving in Kumo disguised as a common traveler, Mito supplied him with some chakra suppression seals that hindered him in a fight but made it so it looked like he had civilian levels of chakra, he went up to the Raikage's tower and asked to speak to him.
It took two days for him to get an appointment with the Raikage but he was trying to keep his presence a secret so he was willing to do wait, when he did get the meeting he wanted he got straight to business.
It was a bit of a pain to prove to A that he was an Uzumaki but after that they got to negotiating, Naruto wanted his clan's scrolls back and was willing to pay for them, A initially refused but when Naruto specified that the payment would come in the form of his Uzumaki seed, so Kumo could use it for artificial pregnancies to create their own Uzumaki clan, that got A's attention, and after some haggling they managed to agree.
A few days later Naruto left Kumo with his clan's scrolls, leaving a team of medical ninja and a few lucky civilian and shinobi women happy, and flashed back to base.
He didn't go into details as to how he got the scrolls to the other member of his group, he doubted Mito would approve of his methods, and as soon as he delivered them he left again, this time heading towards Kiri.
Kiri would be complicated because there was no way Yagura would be willing to hand over the scrolls no matter what Naruto offered and even if he was that would just put him in the same room as Obito, if there ever was a bad idea then that was it.
That left Mei, as long as he disguised his identity and didn't use Kurama's chakra he could convince Mei to let him fight for the rebels in exchange for the scrolls when the war was over while still keeping his real identity a secret.
The problem with that was that even if he had improved a lot, with all his training he was easily an elite jonin even without the Hiraishin and with it he was Kage level, unless he was willing to show the Hiraishin Mei wouldn't sell the scrolls for the help of one jonin.
And showing that technique would certainly make it back to Konoha.
But he didn't have a choice, he needed those scrolls and the alternative was showing Kurama, and getting Konoha's attention as a strange ninja that knew the Hiraishin was bad enough, if they knew Naruto was still alive there would be dozens of tracking teams sent after him, he could avoid them but it would severely limit his mobility.
And that's not even considering the Akatsuki.
Revealing that there was someone out there that could use the Hiraishin was far from ideal, but it would have to do.
So he flashed to a seal he hadn't used in a while, and immediately backflipped away from a hail of senbon.
"Are you two going to attack me every time I show up?" He asked.
"That depends" Zabuza answered. "Are you going to keep body flickering in front of us out of nowhere every time?"
"I just want some directions okay" Naruto said. "I'm looking for the Kiri rebel encampment, I figured you two would know where it is"
"You are standing in the middle of it" Zabuza said amusedly, even as his eyes showed confusion.
"Oh" Naruto said, looking around at the shinobi surrounding him. "Then I don't suppose you could point me to your leader?"
"And why would you want to talk to me?" A female voice said.
Naruto turned around and saw the speaker.
"And now I'm sad I wasn't born in Kiri" He muttered under his breath.
Mei was stunning, vibrant auburn hair and beautiful green eyes, she had fair skin and wore a dark blue dress that hugged her figure nicely.
"Well?" Mei said. "You said you wanted to talk to me"
"I want to offer you a deal" Naruto said.
"A deal?"
"About 2 decades ago your village took part in the siege of Uzushio" Naruto said. "You looted a lot of Uzumaki scrolls, I want them"
"And what do you offer in exchange?" Mei asked.
"My help in your war" Naruto said. "I'll help you kill Yagura and his forces in exchange for the scrolls"
"You want me to hand over the scrolls over the assistance of a single ninja?" Mei asked with a raised eyebrow. "And if I say no? Will you deliver my camp's location to Yagura?"
"I have no idea where we are" Naruto said. "I came to ask for directions remember?"
"You managed to find our camp and track Zabuza to it, just to ask where our camp was? How?"
"That wasn't the body flicker, was there?" Zabuza suddenly said.
"No" Naruto said. "It was the Hiraishin, I put a mark on Haku back in Wave, I just knew you were somewhere in the Land of Water, just not where exactly"
"The Hiraishin" Mei said. "You expect me to believe that was the Hiraishin?"
Naruto answered her by throwing one kunai into the air and another at his feet, ignoring how the guards prepared to attack him he flashed to the airborne kunai, grabbed it, and flashed back to the one on the ground.
"It wasn't easy to get my hands on it" Naruto said. "But yes, it is the Hiraishin"
Mei was silent for a moment, thinking about what to do, then she spoke.
"And you are willing to fight for us?"
"I am" Naruto said, before pulling a few pieces of paper from his pouch. "I even made a few seals that block jinchuriki abilities for you to use against Yagura"
Mito made them, but they don't need to know that.
"All you ask for is the scrolls?"
"That and you keeping my presence here a secret" Naruto said. "Give the credit to whoever you want, I don't care, but my name can't leave here"
"Very well" Mei said. "But I will ask for a demonstration of your abilities, even with the Hiraishin if you are just a chunin you won't be much help"
"I technically never went past genin" Naruto said. "But in actual combat ability? I'm an elite jonin, Kage with the Hiraishin, but sure, what do you want me to do?"
"There's a loyalist camp that has been harassing our supply caravans" She said. "I was going to have Zabuza lead a team to wipe them out but I think it would make a good test for you"
"Will do, boss lady"
Naruto, Zabuza, and Haku left the camp and went towards the target, it took a few hours to reach the enemy camp but when they did Zabuza and Haku watched from a hidden position as Naruto approached.
Naruto didn't bother with stealth, instead immediately slamming a Rasengan into the guard that was protecting the front gate and throwing a kunai at the sentry, it was blocked but Naruto just flashed to it and took care of the enemy.
He jumped to avoid the hail of projectiles that was thrown towards him and answered with a hail of his own, flashing between kunai to dodge attacks and land killing blows.
It was a bloodbath, over a dozen shinobi killed in seconds and without landing a single hit on Naruto, once he was done he returned to Zabuza.
"Is that enough?"
"That's plenty" Zabuza said. "Are you sure you aren't from the bloody mist? You're one hell of a killer"
"No" Naruto said. "Though after having seen Mei I'm kind of disappointed I'm not"
"Yeah, I noticed you drooling all over her"
"Not all of us carry big swords to compensate for something" Naruto smirked.
"Like I hadn't heard that one before" Zabuza said, rolling his eyes. "I don't suppose you have anything to wipe out the camp? It would be a shame to have more of them move in and I didn't bring my explosive tags"
"I'll handle it" Naruto said, handing a kunai to Zabuza.
He then threw another kunai above the camp and flashed to it, he created a rasenshuriken even as he fell from the sky, and as soon as it touched the ground and started expanding he flashed back to Zabuza, who watched as the camp was reduced to a perfectly smooth crater.
"What the hell happened to that brat I ran into not a year ago?"
"He cheated" Naruto said. "Years of progress in a few months"
"I don't suppose you'd be willing to share the secret?"
Naruto thought for a moment before he decided that there was no harm in telling, he would either be long gone by the time it became a problem or the world would end and he'd die.
"Shadow clones" Naruto said. "They transfer whatever training they do back to you when they pop, but for the kind of result I got you'd need enough chakra to have hundreds of clones running around 24 hours a day and every clone would need enough chakra for intensive training"
"And you have that much how?"
"Benefits of being me, I guess"
Zabuza laughed.
After that they went back to camp, Mei was more than impressed at Zabuza's report and agreed to give Naruto the scrolls, though only after the war was over.
Naruto spent the next few months going between his base with Mito and Kiri with the rebels, he grew infamous among the loyalists and it wasn't long before a team from Konoha, led by Kakashi personally, came to investigate the rumors of the rebel that could use the Hiraishin.
Thankfully Ao saw them coming and Naruto flashed back to the lab, Mei kept her word and denied any knowledge of a Hiraishin user, claiming it was likely a ploy by the loyalists to get Konoha involved on their side.
Kakashi didn't believe her but with no evidence, there was nothing that could be done.
Naruto also exploited the fact that things had calmed down to sneak back into Konoha and steal both the scrolls in the Senju clan library, Mito knew how to bypass the defenses as she herself created most of them, and the Reaper Mask from the temple.
Once he made it back they decided to revive Tobirama immediately, as while Mito had been making progress with the fuinjutsu part there was no one to research the space-time ninjutsu part and Tobirama was an expert in that area.
To say Tobirama was angry at Madara when they explained things to him was an understatement, he agreed to help the duo and got to work on researching with his old notes, that Naruto had also stolen, to create the interdimensional portal.
XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX
A year after Naruto joined the rebels the civil war was coming to an end, the rebels had managed to force the loyalists back into Kirigakure itself and the final push was coming.
In the past year Mito and Tobirama had been hard at work with the portal, they had made significant progress but had hit a roadblock, without the rest of the Uzumaki scrolls the progress they could make was limited.
They also ran into the problem of power, their plan was to use Kurama's charka to power the portal but without both halves of Kurama being united the process would only cause Kurama to disperse and kill Naruto.
When it became clear that they would have to revive Minato Mito insisted that they revive Kushina too, claiming that her help would be invaluable, and as hesitant as Naruto was to do it he had to agree.
The couple looked around in confusion, their memories taking a moment to set in before their eyes widened in shock, before they could do anything Naruto stepped forward and they saw him.
"N-Naruto!?" Kushina whispered in shock.
"No" He answered, sighing. "This will be hard to hear but I need you two to listen very carefully, do you understand?"
They hesitantly nodded, though Naruto could see Kushina wanted to rush to him and hug him.
"You died 13 years ago, when you were attacked during your son's birth and Kushina had the Kyuubi extracted from her" Naruto said. "Do you remember that?"
"We remember" Minato answered.
"In order to seal the Kyuubi inside the newborn, you used the Reaper Death Seal, at the cost of your soul"
"W-Why are you referring to yourself like that?"
Naruto shook his head.
"What you don't know is that when the Shinigami sealed the Kyuubi inside the newborn, he also pulled in another soul that was on its way to the afterlife" Naruto said. "And as your seal was specifically for the Kyuubi, the soul wasn't trapped by it and instead went to take the place souls normally take inside the human body"
"Are you okay?" Kushina asked. "Did we hurt you?"
"A single body isn't meant to house two souls, they fought a metaphorical battle for territory, and unfortunately, as your son's soul was only that of a newborn while the other was that of an adult, your son lost that battle and his soul was ejected from his own body, and with no body to anchor itself his soul faded into the ether" Naruto said. "With his soul gone he was permanently removed from the reincarnation cycle"
Naruto looked at them.
"In an effort to save your village you played with powers you don't understand and did something that should have been impossible"
"We killed Naruto?" Kushina said, aghast.
"You did more than kill him" Naruto said. "His soul is gone, no method of resurrection would work on him, he will never go to the afterlife or reincarnate, you erased a soul from existence and in its place a person that shouldn't have existed was born"
"No" Kushina whispered before she broke down sobbing.
Naruto stood there, staring dispassionately as Minato tried to comfort Kushina, when she calmed down enough to continue the conversation Minato spoke.
"We...we understand"
"No" Naruto said. "You really don't"
"What do you mean?"
"I believe your master Jiraya told you of the prophecy?"
Minato nodded.
"Naruto was the child of prophecy" Naruto said. "His soul was special, the destined savior of the world, and by destroying it you removed any chance this world had to be saved"
"There has to be something we can-"
"Minato" Naruto cut him off. "Naruto was special, he was the latest reincarnation of Asura Otsutsuki"
"Asura?"
"Hagoromo Otsutsuki, the man you know as the Sage of Six Paths, had two children, Indra and Asura Otsutsuki" Naruto said. "Indra wanted to rule the world through power while Asura wanted to bring peace through understanding, they fought but there was no victor, throughout the ages Indra and Asura have reincarnated through their descendants, the Uchiha and the Senju, and have fought over and over, as is their fate"
"And Naruto was this Asura's reincarnation?"
"The latest one, I believe you are familiar with his previous reincarnation, Hashirama Senju" Naruto said. "And then you destroyed his soul, ensuring that the only one who had any hope of stopping Indra from ruling the world with an iron fist would never be reborn again"
"Can't we just deal with Indra before he can?"
"It wouldn't work" Naruto said. "I do know who this generation's Indra is but killing him wouldn't accomplish anything and right now he is the least of our problems"
"What do you mean?"
"The previous Indra, Madara Uchiha, set up a plan to revive himself and rule the world as a god" Naruto said. "Even if we did kill the current Indra it would do nothing to stop Madara"
"So it was Madara that attacked us that night" Minato said.
"No" Naruto said. "That was your student Obito"
"What!?"
Naruto sighed.
"Madara needed a pawn to carry out his plans, he used Obito, he used a creature called Zetsu to save Obito's life and heal him, when Obito left Madara's hideout he saw Kakashi kill Rin, never knowing it was Madara who set the entire situation up" Naruto said. "He manipulated Obito into following through with his plans, plans that required the tailed beasts, that was why he attacked Konoha that night"
"So Madara masterminded everything?"
"Madara was also a pawn, ironically enough, the true mastermind was Zetsu"
Naruto shook his head.
"Who did what doesn't matter, what matters is that Naruto was destined to unite the world under the Shinobi Alliance and defeat Madara and Kaguya Otsutsuki, Zetsu's mother and a being so powerful you can't comprehend it" Naruto said. "And with him gone the world is doomed"
"How do you know all that?" Kushina asked.
"My soul is originally from a different world" Naruto tells them. "We have no ninja and no chakra but we do have the means to see into other worlds, I saw this world's future and it all hinged on Naruto"
"But if you know all that" Kushina said. "Couldn't you stop it? Couldn't you deal with Madara before his plans succeeded?"
"It isn't that simple" Naruto said. "Naruto would have incredible power, he would inherit power from Hagoromo and surpass even Hashirama, I'm good but I'm not that good"
"We can work together!" She tried. "We can fight together and win!"
"And how do you plan to win when alien gods come down from the heavens and crush your people by the thousands like insects?" He asked.
"What?"
"You think I didn't think of it!?" Naruto shouted, getting angry. "You think my first instinct was to run!? I know where his base is, I could go there right now and while I don't stand a chance against the whole Akatsuki I could hunt them down while they are away, but it wouldn't matter! Even if we kill Sasuke, even if we kill Obito and Zetsu and stop Madara's revival from ever happening, the world would still be doomed!"
He glared at Kushina.
"There is a maniac on the moon that wants to drop the whole damned thing on our heads and restart the race in his image!" He shouted. "There are two Otsutsuki down the line that are even more powerful than Kaguya and whose only goal is to harvest all of humanity for their chakra, how do you plan to defeat them!? Naruto was a god among men at that point and he was fighting alongside another god among men and he still struggled, and that's only as far as I saw! There are likely much worse things down the line that I don't know about!"
"What do you have? Fancy teleportation tricks and seals? Suicide moves that the Otsutsuki will laugh at, right before they erase the entire Land of Fire with a snap of their fingers? There is no winning this battle, we lost it when you played with powers beyond your understanding to save a few thousand people, dooming not only them but the rest of the world in the process!" Naruto shouted. "And you dragged me into this! I had nothing to do with your village or your problems yet here I am! In a body that isn't mine and trying to outrun the fucking apocalypse because of you!"
Naruto stopped, turned around, and shook his head.
"Mito will fill you in on the rest, make your choice fast, either you help or I'm taking the other half of the Kyuubi from Minato and sending you two back to the grave, I have a war to get back to"
Then he left, ignoring them calling after him.
XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX
"We'll help" Kushina said. "It is what Naruto would have wanted"
"I'm sorry for all of this Kushina" Mito said. "If I hadn't given you the Kyuubi..."
"It isn't your fault"
"No" Tobirama agreed. "Its Madara's"
"Not just Madara's, but sure" Naruto said.
"What do you need us to do?" Minato asked.
"You'll be with Tobirama, we mostly need you for the Kyuubi's other half but you can help by hunting down whatever he needs while I'm busy in Kiri" Naruto said. "Kushina will be with Mito, you'll help her with the portal's seal work"
They nodded.
"When do you plan to reveal it to the world?" Minato asked.
"Come again?"
"The portal" Minato said. "The elemental nations will need time to move everyone through the portal, the sooner we warn them the better"
"We are not going to warn them" Naruto said.
"What!?"
"The portal is for my use only, once it is done I'm releasing the Edo Tensei and letting you all get back to your afterlives" Naruto said. "Then I'm going through and blowing the entire hideout up"
"But what about everyone else!?"
"What about them?"
"You'd leave them all to die!?"
Naruto sighed, rubbing his eyes.
"They aren't worth the risk" Naruto said. "If Zetsu hears even a whisper of this plan he will bring the entire Akatsuki down on our heads, not to mention that the Otsutsuki will follow if they know where I went"
"And you don't think saving hundreds of thousands of lives is worth the risk?" Minato asked.
"No" Naruto said. "It is not, because if we give the Otsutsuki any way to track where I'm going we will be risking them attacking an infinite number of innocent worlds filled with an infinite number of innocent people"
"We still can't just abandon them to their fates!"
"Minato, you already doomed one world trying to save a handful of people, are you really going to doom all others?" Minato flinched. "They are already dead, even if we managed to save every single person in the elemental nations it still wouldn't be worth the risk if it meant there was the slightest chance that the Otsutsuki would follow"
"I-I..."
"Look, I get what you are getting at, these aren't my people and I'm still not comfortable with the idea of leaving them all to die" Naruto said. "But we can't risk it, the Otsutsuki are like a plague, they consume worlds to sustain their immortality and gain godlike power, now is not the time to let sentimentality affect our choices"
After that Naruto flashed back to Kiri, he understood their apprehensions somewhat but it wasn't worth the risk, he was already taking a massive risk by going through this process for his own sake, trying to save everyone would only lead to much more death.
He might not be enough of a hero to accept his fate and fight the Otsutsuki, but he also wasn't enough of a bastard to put whatever worlds were out there at risk more than he had to.
The civil war continued for two more months before it came to an end, Naruto was at the head of the final push, right alongside Mei, but by the time they made it to the Mizukage's office it was too late, Obito had cut his losses and taken Yagura to extract the three tails.
Once the loyalist forces were dealt with Naruto took his payment, Kiri had quite a few Uzumaki scrolls and once he turned down Mei's offer to join Kiri he delivered them back to base.
Then he ran into a problem.
"We are running out of time" Naruto said. "Kurama felt two people who I'm pretty sure are Akatsuki members skulking around"
"How did they track us?" Mito asked.
"I don't know" Naruto said. "It doesn't matter, either they found out who I am and are here to capture me or they are here to recruit me, either way if they find us we can't let them live, and if we do kill them the others will definitely come for us"
"How are we on the Iwa scrolls?" Tobirama asked. "They are the last piece of the puzzle, once we get them research indicates that we will be able to create the portal"
"Short of sneaking into Iwa and stealing the scrolls I have no idea how to get them" Naruto said. "And we don't know where they are kept so theft isn't an option"
"Can't we negotiate with Onoki?" Kushina asked. "You managed to persuade A, didn't you?"
"That was different" Naruto said. "I knew what A wanted, the only thing I can think Onoki would want would be Minato's head on a plate, and given that he is dead not even that is an option"
The group thought it over, thinking of what they could do, then Naruto cursed.
"There is one thing we could do" He said. "But you won't like it"
"What is it?"
"I could use Kurama" Naruto said. "Onoki is a Kage, he would hand over the scroll if it meant the destruction of Iwa not to"
"But that would involve killing thousands" Minato said, catching on.
"And it would certainly start the Fourth Great Shinobi War" Naruto said. "And with Kurama being involved on an unprovoked attack Konoha wouldn't have any allies, there's no way they would survive the retaliation"
"We can't do that!" Kushina said.
"Do you have any better ideas?" Naruto asked, raising an eyebrow. "Because unless you do there is no other option"
"No but-"
"They are dead anyway" Naruto said. "I'd rather not do it but we don't have any better options"
There was a moment of tense silence among the group.
"Is it really worth it?" Minato asked. "Is trying to save yourself really worth that much death?"
"Don't give me that" Naruto said, frowning. "I wasn't the one who soulnapped someone completely unrelated into this mess, they aren't my people, I don't want them dead but my survival comes before the wellbeing of people who will die no matter what in a few decades at most"
Minato stared at Naruto for a moment before he lowered his head and said.
"Once this is done, I want to stay behind, if I'm dragging my village into a war I want to be there to fight it"
"You understand that there is no point right?" Naruto said. "They will die no matter what you do"
"I do"
"And you know you will never be able to speak about what we did here to anyone, no matter what?"
"I know"
"Then fine" Naruto said. "Do what you want"
XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX
"You have guts, kid" Onoki said, staring at the blonde teenager in front of him.
"All you have to do is hand over the scrolls and I'll leave" Naruto said.
"And if I don't?"
"Then Iwa will be nothing more than rubble by the next sunrise"
They stared at each other, Onoki unleashing all his killing intent and Naruto not even looking phased.
"You think you can come into my village, make demands of me, threaten my people, and get away with it!?" Onoki growled.
Naruto stared at him for a moment, face blank.
"I'm leaving here with those scrolls" Naruto said. "How many people have to die before that happens is up to you"
Then Naruto got up, completely ignoring the ANBU aiming weapons at him, and flashed away.
Onoki stared at the sight in disbelief, the similarities between the blonde and his old enemy ringing bells in his head, then he looked out of his window and gasped.
"By the gods!" He whispered in shock.
A massive glowing avatar appeared just outside his village, nine majestic tails swinging slowly before they converged above the avatar's head, then another avatar appeared and did the same, then another.
They only stopped when all nine clones had their Kurama avatars fully manifested and were aiming tailed beast bombs at Iwa, there was a moment of tense silence before they all fired, Iwa's infamous walls evaporating and explosions carving trenches inside the village as they lit up the sky.
There was a moment of shock as the realization that in a single salvo Iwa's defenses failed and thousands died, then that shock turned to dread as they realized that they would have to fight nine copies of the most powerful tailed beast, each one just as powerful as the original.
It didn't help that they could see the Kurama clones preparing another hail of tailed beast bombs.
Shinobi charged them, throwing kunai and jutsu in order to try and distract the beasts, to delay them, to do something to stop the slaughter, but it was for naught, dozens of Naruto clones flashed all over the place, killing more and more ninja every second.
The second hail fired, this one targeting hospitals and clan compounds, cripling the village's support network and fighting force.
The Iwa explosion corps charged, throwing explosive projectiles at the clones to try and cover their approach only to be met by five clones flashing around them and reducing them to mangled corpses with their rasenshuriken.
Onoki approached one of the avatars, trying to use his particle style to wipe it out, but he was interrupted by a hail of kunai, Naruto quickly flashed in between the airborne kunai until he got behind Onoki and slammed a Rasengan on his back, launching him into the ground.
The third hail fired, over half the village being reduced to ash as thousands more lost their lives.
"Are you ready to hand over the scrolls yet?" The real Naruto asked, flashing in front of Onoki.
"D-Damn you!" He cursed.
"There won't be enough of a village to save soon enough" Naruto said. "Make your choice"
Onoki growled, glaring at Naruto and trying to get up only for a clone to flash behind him and put a kunai to his throat.
"Fine!" Onoki shouted. "You can have your fucking scrolls, but there will be hell to pay for this!"
Naruto shrugged.
"You know where Konoha is, feel free to seek reparations there" Naruto said. "If you still have enough of a village to seek anything, that is"
Naruto gave the signal and the attacks stopped, he then grabbed Onoki and flashed to the Tsuchikage's tower.
A few minutes later he grabbed the scrolls and flashed back to base, leaving Iwa in ruins and almost 20 thousand dead, with most being civilians but still over 1000 shinobi also losing their lives.
Once back at base he handed over the scrolls and told the others to finish the portal, he then sat down against a wall and breathed slowly.
"Are you okay?" Minato asked, sitting next to him.
"Shouldn't you be finishing the portal?"
"They'll be fine without me" Minato said. "I can use the Hiraishin pretty well but the actual theory behind it is beyond me"
"I see"
"Are you okay?" Minato repeated the question.
"I'm not sure" Naruto said. "The people of this world don't mean anything to me, that's why I am so willing to do this kind of thing, but I never expected to kill anyone in my previous life, much less this many people"
"I can't say I agree with what you do" Minato said. "But I killed my own son so I can't judge you either"
"The road to hell is paved with good intentions" Naruto said. "I wonder what it says about me that my intentions are far from good"
"What?"
Naruto shook his head.
"It is an old saying from my world"
They spent a moment in silence.
"What do you plan to do?" Minato asked. "When you go through?"
"I don't know" Naruto said. "I was so focused on keeping this second life I got that I never thought of doing anything with it beyond surviving, I suppose it depends on what world I'll end up in"
"You should try to find a purpose" Minato said. "I always believed in fighting for what you believe in, that's how I got through my darkest days"
Minato chuckled sadly.
"Then I destroyed any hope of this world having peace" He said. "So maybe don't imitate that part"
Naruto nodded.
"I'm sorry" He said.
"What for?"
"Your son" Naruto said. "I can't imagine it is easy to see me walking around with his face, I didn't want this to happen"
"Me neither" Minato said. "But it did, and there's nothing we can do about it"
"I suppose not"
The next few weeks passed in a hurry, it didn't take long for the news of what happened with Iwa to spread, and despite the Hokage, Jiraya,'s claims that they didn't do it and that they believed Naruto to be dead the Fourth War was declared.
It seemed as if someone in the Akatsuki made the connection because the Akatsuki activity near Naruto's base increased considerably.
The progress on the portal increased now that they had all of the scrolls, and it wasn't long before it was ready.
"I already released control of the jutsu over to you" Naruto said. "As soon as I'm though you can release it whenever you want" Naruto said.
"The portal is ready" Tobirama said. "I can't tell where it will take you exactly but it certainly isn't this world, the lack of nature chakra in the air is enough of a tell"
"The sealing array is also done" Mito said. "It is stabilizing the portal and assuming we power it the portal shouldn't collapse for at least 2 minutes"
"The power transfering array is already linked" Kushina said. "All you have to do is channel Kurama's chakra and the portal will ignite"
Naruto nodded, he had taken Minato's half of Kurama before he even went to Iwa so he was ready, he created a clone packed with all of Kurama's chakra and had it stand in the correct array.
"This is it" Naruto said. "I can't say it has been a pleasant journey but I'm thankful for all your help"
Naruto took a deep breath and gave the clone the signal, it poped and the chakra inside ignited the portal, he gave the group one final nod.
Then he went through.
XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX
I've had this idea for a while and I decided that it was a good way to get back into writing Naruto.