Chapter One: Inconsistencies
Naruto Uzumaki hurried up a set of steps in Konoha. The reconstruction was going very well, all things considered. The casualties from the ninja war had cost everyone dearly. But now, new streets were being paved, and the village was approaching its old self.
This is why he did not like that Shikamaru had not shown up for work. He'd rented an apartment near the outskirts of the village and had been hanging out there for days. Neither Ino nor Temari had gotten him to come out, and Naruto was worried.
"Shikamaru?" said Naruto, banging on the door. He wished he could spend more time outside like this. "Shikamaru?!"
The door opened, and Shikamaru peered out with bags under his eyes. He looked like he had not slept in days, and in one hand was a cup of coffee. Behind him, Naruto saw piles upon piles of history books. Some were from the Leaf, some from the Cloud or the Mist or the Sand or Stone. Others were made by other villages. He had a bulletin board hanging with lots of newspaper articles on it. Threads were crisscrossing in an ornate pattern.
What was he doing?
"Naruto, what is it?" said Shikamaru.
Naruto looked at him in surprise. "Um, look, I don't mean to interrupt your scheming time, but I actually need to consult you on some stuff. I'm Hokage, and I need my top advisor with me.
"You've been holed up in this place forever. What's up?"
Shikamaru sighed and turned to walk over to his desk. Naruto followed and shut the door behind him. "...Something is wrong, Naruto.
"Something is really, really, wrong."
"Okay, what is it?" asked Naruto.
Shikamaru paused. "I have no idea.
"But... it's big."
Well, that was... helpful. "Could you maybe be more specific?"
Shikamaru sat down in a chair and slumped. "...Either reality as we know it is a genjutsu, or we're in the middle of a time warp. Or we need to fire every historian on the planet."
"Wait, what?" asked Naruto, thinking it through. "You mean like the Infinite Tsukiyomi really went off?"
"No way," said Shikamaru. "The Infinite Tsukiyomi grants the heart's desire of the one under it. That was Obito's whole plan. But I never once cared about your family history until years after we got things rebuilt. And the peace around us is way too imperfect.
"In what ideal world would Sasuke be facing constant assassination attempts?"
Naruto considered that, and there was an obvious conclusion. "Well, maybe if someone really hated him..."
"No way," said Shikamaru. "Sasuke finds it an irritation, and he constantly makes sure to kill no one and take no reprisal. If Sasuke wanted to be hunted, he'd want to be hunted by a bunch of horrible jerks. One who he could kill without feeling guilty. Meanwhile, you wouldn't want Sasuke dead at all."
"And Tenten...
"If Tenten had her way, he'd have been dead a long time ago. So Sasuke's very existence means that this is not your ideal world or mine. If it were mine, to be blunt, Neji would be alive, and Sasuke probably would have taken the ten-tales' attack. No offense, but I was never close with the guy. Him getting wiped out in a heroic sacrifice would tie up loose ends nicely."
"And Neji dying creates a lot of loose ends," noted Naruto. "Nobody wanted him dead, so it can't be any of our ideal worlds. If he'd died before the Infinite Tsukiyomi activated, Obito would raise everybody. At least before the Rinnegan got taken."
"Especially since Sasuke had to basically exile himself," noted Shikamaru. "If Sakura hadn't gotten to him in time, Tenten's hit would have succeeded."
"Right," said Naruto, still remembering the sight of Neji dying horribly. He'd completely given up, you could tell by the look in his eyes. "I...
"I don't understand why he couldn't block that attack. I mean, Neji was able to block that kind of attack easily when we fought the Sound Four. And that was years ago; he'd gotten way stronger."
"Maybe he didn't want to," said Shikamaru. "Psychological tolls can be a big deal. Neji had been fighting nonstop for days, and by the time he made it to the Ten-tales, we watched mountains get blown up."
"Neji was never one to give up," thought Naruto.
"Maybe not," said Shikamaru. "Anyway, this world around us isn't anyone's ideal world. Things are still horribly screwed up, but people are making an effort to fix them, which is the kind of happy ending you'd expect to see from the real world.
"Peace has happened, but it takes neverending work to keep it going. And we still have minor conflicts."
Naruto thought about the years that had gone by. "Right, so uh...
"What makes you think all this is a genjutsu or a time-warp?"
Shikamaru looked at the books sadly. "It started when Iruka-sensei asked me to compile an official history of the village. Iruka-sensei lacks clearance for a lot of histories, so I'd need to do the legwork. I figured we'd had a few slow weeks, so I got to work.
"I got the Nara Clan records, put them together with documents from the other Clans. Ino, Choji, and Hinata helped there. I also got some texts from other places to hear their side of the story.
"I figured I'd started with Hashirama and Tobirama, seeing as they were the founders of the village. And that was where I ran into problems."
"What kind of problems?" asked Naruto, curious.
"By all accounts, the founding of the Leaf is pretty well documented," said Shikamaru. "When Madara and Hashirama gained control of their clans and allied. They cooperated with the other villages to build the Leaf. We'll call it the reconstruction period.
"The reconstruction period was a time when the Code of Laws was formulated. The Uchiha got their position as in charge of the police force, and everything was put together. Mostly by Tobirama, who assembled his inner circle. That consisting of Sarutobi, Homura, Koharu, and Danzo.
"Then Madara and Hashirama fight; Hashirama wins and dies later."
"Right, that makes sense," said Naruto. "What's the problem?"
Shikamaru looked hard at Naruto. "You've hit the books pretty hard, Naruto. How did Hashirama die?"
Naruto opened his mouth and then realized he honestly didn't know. There was no information on how Hashirama died. "I don't know; you're the one with the books."
"None of them say," said Shikamaru. "The guy was the God of the Shinobi, and only Madara could match him. If someone got the power to take him down, they'd be renowned as one of the greatest ninja in the world. And if he died in his sleep or because of poison, we'd have a record of it.
"His wife, Mito, survived him. But I could find no writings at all.
"As far as I can tell, Hashirama dropped off the face of the earth. And when I asked Homura and Koharu, they couldn't tell me. I had their journals stolen and read through them. He found nothing about Hashirama's death."
"You had their journals stolen?" asked Naruto.
"He was the most powerful Leaf Ninja in history, and they didn't remember how he died," said Shikamaru. "They, the only living people left. People who would have had reason to know, being on Tobirama's inner staff.
"Frankly, I thought Tobirama might have had him murdered."
"Seriously?" asked Naruto, remembering Tobirama.
"It's possible the two had a falling out. Maybe Tobirama decided to get Hashirama first," said Shikamaru. "Things like that did happen in those days, and he could have covered it up.
"But that's just the problem.
"The timeline doesn't add up. Tobirama succeeded him and immediately had to deal with invasions. In one of them, he was killed and succeeded by Sarutobi.
"Sarutobi was a young man when he became Hokage, a teenager. He inherited his title from Tobirama on the battlefield. Apparently, Danzo was very bitter about it."
"So?" asked Naruto.
"Hashirama's reign was about fifty years before we graduated. More or less, though specific dates vary," said Shikamaru. "Sarutobi was, at most, eighteen or so when he got the title."
"Okay?" Naruto didn't see where he was going with this.
"Lady Tsunade isn't much older than fifty," said Shikamaru. "But Sasuke reported that Hashirama had a personal memory of Tsunade. In particular, her gambling addiction. Both of his minions verified the statement, and there is no reason for them to lie.
"Tsunade also confirms remembering Hashirama handing her huge amounts of money. She had a good relationship with him."
Naruto saw where he was going with this. "...That is... weird.
"But, I mean, Tsunade could have, um, had her age reported as lower. Don't ask her about that." The prospect of raising that question with Tsunade was terrifying.
"I decided to confirm," admitted Shikamaru. "So I had Orochimaru arrested, locked in a dark cell. I had the Yamanaka search his mind for appropriate memories."
"Why so rough?" asked Naruto.
"He's Orochimaru," said Shikamaru as if that explained everything.
It did. "Good point."
Shikamaru sighed. "Sarutobi in Orochimaru's memories was a middle-aged man when he started teaching him. All of them also remember growing up in the Village Hidden in the Leaves.
"Not the Senju Compound or whatever.
"I arranged for the Yamanaka to search Tsunade with consent afterward.
But this doesn't make any sense. Think about how much work it was to rebuild the village after Pain wrecked it. Madara and Hashirama had to build the village and keep a war from breaking out. Not to mention institute a system of laws and stay in power. It should have taken years and years.
"But as far as I can tell, Hashirama ruled for a few years, killed Madara, then died without explanation. He was replaced by Tobirama, who dies thirty seconds later before a young Sarutobi takes over. Sarutobi then becomes an old man overnight, trains Orochimaru, Tsunade and Jiraiya. And Tsunade has a major gambling habit enabled by Hashirama. This despite there being no possible time he could have it."
"Maybe the records are just screwy," said Naruto, but it sounded lame, even to him.
"I thought so too," said Shikamaru. "Records are poorly dated for that time. But then I looked a little further, and it got worse. Pain singlehandedly destroys the entire timeline."
"What do you mean? What has Nagato got to do with it?" asked Naruto, feeling sad at the memory.
"Who is Nagato, Naruto?" asked Shikamaru.
"The other student of Jiraiya," said Naruto.
"And when did Jiraiya train him?" asked Shikamaru.
"When he was in the Land of the Rain," guessed Naruto, who had never seen precise dates. Pervy-Sage hadn't done a lot of reports on it.
"Right, and he trained Konan, Nagato and Yahiko for three years," said Shikamaru. "This was the campaign where they got the title, Legendary Sanin. They were young, then.
"But that doesn't add up with what else they know.
"Even assuming that Nagato and Konan were much older than they looked, how could Minato not know? You would think Jiraiya would have mentioned a kid with the Rinnegan to Minato as a potential ally.
"How is it possible no one knew about them?"
Naruto thought about that. "Maybe Pervy Sage didn't want anyone knowing?"
"One of Sarutobi's best war assets disappears for three years straight. Are we seriously thinking nobody noticed?" asked Shikamaru. "Nobody questions it, even? You can't seriously tell me Danzo wouldn't send a few root agents out to check things out.
"It wouldn't be that hard to find Jiraiya, assuming he even was trying to hide. Why even bother going off the map?
"The thing is, even if we accept this, Pain took over the Land of the Rain in secret. He then began plotting to initiate his plan while gathering the Akatsuki. Only, Obito was supposed to be the real leader of the Akatsuki, wasn't he? He clearly thought he was the mastermind.
"But if Pain was a contemporary of your Dad, how is that possible? Obito would be an edgy sidekick trying to join up with a much more experienced warlord. But if Pain and Obito are the same age, why didn't Minato know about him? He was Hokage, and Jiraiya would definitely tell him about a friendly Rinnegan user in the Land of Rain.
"What reason could he have not to?"
"So what's your point?" asked Naruto, whose head was now hurting.
"Naruto, Danzo set the Akatsuki up to die," said Shikamaru. "He was working for the Leaf at the time, and Jiraiya received notification of the hit. There is no possible way that Minato did not know about it. And Minato had no affection for Danzo like Sarutobi.
"If he found out that Danzo had gone behind his back to murder a friendly Rinnegan user. A Rinnegan user who was a pacifist and a close friend of Jiraiya...
"Danzo would be dead. And probably Hanzo too.
"Pain wouldn't have anybody left to kill by the time the Yellow Flash was done. Even if Minato might dismiss the hit as not personal, it's a stupid move. One that risks alienating his best subordinate to kill a group that is as good as an ally. He'd be better off just inviting Nagato to join the Leaf and making him an offer he can't refuse.
"Minato wasn't stupid, and he was ruthless when he had to be. The only way he'd let Danzo live is if..."
Naruto eyed him, wondering why he'd stopped short. "What?"
"Is if he made the hit himself," said Shikamaru finally. "If Minato knew about the Child of Prophecy thing, he might have decided it had to be a Leaf Shinobi. If so, he might regard Nagato as a dangerous wildcard and a potential competitor to himself."
"My Dad would never do that!" said Naruto hotly.
"I'm grasping at straws, Naruto," said Shikamaru. "I keep trying to come up with rational explanations for these things.
"But even if we accept that Minato murdered Yahiko, there are other problems.
"Because Tsunade's brother died when he was very young. And his death was one of the major events that led to her abandoning the way of the ninja. That happened in close proximity to the death of Dan. Her memories indicated he was a child at the time, but that is ridiculous.
"He'd be at least a late-stage teenager. Probably older.
"And if Dan was killed much, much earlier in the timeline, then why would it affect her? Surely she'd have seen vast numbers of Senju killed in that time? Death was common those days. It might still have been a tragedy, but just one of many.
"Also, why would her brother wanting to be Hokage be notable at all?
"He would be royalty, a descendant of Hashirama with many powerful friends. It is hardly an unachievable goal. Even if it was a dearly held dream, how would it make him any different from another ambitious kid?"
Naruto saw what he was saying. "So, what's going on?"
Shikamaru sighed. "I've checked this with other people, and if I ask enough questions, they always get confused. They keep thinking that they got the dates mixed up or something. But all of them?
"No.
"In the end, there's only one possible explanation.
"It might be possible to explain away some of this as incomplete data and inaccurate records. But the eyewitness accounts to verified events that do not fit into a logical timeframe are too much. Too many elements of our history clash, and no matter how much research I do, they don't fit.
"It's like we have a puzzle, Naruto. But you've put it together wrong. Yes, you can get a bunch of pieces to line up, but it'll never be complete. There will always be a few pieces which don't fit until you get it right."
Naruto finally decided to cut to the chase. "What are you saying, Shikamaru? What is going on here, and what do we have to do about it?"
Shikamaru let out a sigh. "Something is wrong with the space-time continuum, Naruto.
"And we've got to find out what it is."