this will contain Sasunaru in the story, though it won't be until quite a long time except for a bit in the beginning. so, if you think that there won't be any Sasunaru, well, it just hasn't gotten to that bit yet.
There will be a lot of Kakanaru friendship, as I love it.
I'm going to try to get this very far, and I haven't read any fanfictions that have gone as far as shippuden yet.
anyways, I hope you'll enjoy this naruto- centric time-travel fic.
also, there's not really character bashing involved and it will have an (Kinda) over powered Naruto.
hope you will like!
Naruto's dirty, bloody hands press firmly against Sasuke's forehead, the top of his fingers lifted away from Sasuke's skin, courtesy of the long, sharp black claws on the end of each finger. Chakra is being pumped constantly from Naruto to Sasuke, now a bright red,flowing out of Naruto's artificial palm, through a seal, and into Sasuke's veins. The veins around his forehead glow red, the colour fading away before it reaches anywhere else in his body.
The Mantra the Naruto plays over and over in his head drowns out all other sound. The sound of the harsh wind, whipping through bare trees, the sound of drizzling tainted raindrops, full of soot and ash, no longer fresh, pelting against rocks above them and increasingly making the mud outside muddier, and muddier.
'It's fine, it's fine, it's fine, it's fine, it's fine!'
Yet, when's the last time it's been fine? Years? A decade? He hasn't even been keeping track. It's not like Sage would bring a clock to him. Naruto's first precious person to die was his father, though he didn't even meet him or know of their relationship until he was a teen. Then, his mother. Then Jiji, Jiraya, Neji, killer B, Kankuro, Temari, Tsunade, Kiba. Naruto has lost count of his precious people's death counts, too many to count, like the stars forever obscured by a thick layer of smoke that acts like clouds, raining it's soot. Yet, someone else is still breathing under his hand, barely, but still breathing.
His Mantra is abruptly cut off, the sound of a raspy voice easily cutting through, unlike the other, much louder sounds.
"Naruto.. stop."
The simple sentence made Naruto let out another quiet sob, the tears running even faster down his red cheeks.
"No, I can't, I can't Sasuke. I can't lose you too. You have to go with me, please."
Naruto begs, his eyes glistening again before the the tears free themselves. It's not fair. It never is for him, never, not since he was a few seconds old.
Sasuke's sick, and it's all Madara's fault. Everything is. It's his fault Naruto's lover is dying in front of him, his fault that Kakashi- sensei dissapeared. his fault that Kurenai was slashed into pieces.All Madara's fault, and that thought makes Naruto's back teeth sharpen, and his eyes blood red
"I believe in you, Dobe.I know you will never give up. It's your nindo way... isn't it?"
The strain of speaking makes Sasuke cough dryly, his head jerking up, only to be pushed down again by Naruto's hand.
"You know, I never imagined this." Sasuke rasps out.
"What exactly did you imagine?" Naruto whispers back.
"Well, before all of.. this happened, I imagined that Konoha would be destroyed and you, Sakura and Kakashi all dead. "
Naruto smiles bitterly, "Seems like your old self predicted the future better than any of us. "
"But then this happened. You and I. so of course, those views changed. "
"A pity. "
"I imagined two kids, two we could adopt. I imagined you as Hokage, with your cape that you would always insist on wearing all the time. I imagined you getting frustrated at all my silly nicknames, Sakura visiting our own home-" He's cut off when he coughs dryly, hands starting to shake.
"Want to know what I imagined? " Naruto whispers to Sasuke, his bitter smile still present.
"Humour me. " Sasuke responds.
"Well, obviously I imagined that I was Hokage, looking after the village. But I also imagined you being a Konoha shinobi again, not running away, but staying. Sakura, me and everyone else would be so happy you're back. For good. Then we'd adopt a kid- two sounds like a pain in the ass, y'know? " His voice never rises above a whisper and constantly breaks in the middle of words.
"I guess two would be a pain in the ass. " Sasuke gives a broken smirk to Naruto, who attempts to replicate it. His attempt fails, and tears start flow once again, dripping onto Sasuke's own cheeks before gravity makes it run sideways down Sasuke's cheek.
"I already miss you. "
"If you miss me now, how are you gonna cope without me for even a day? " Sasuke half- jokes, lifting a hand to Naruto's cheek.
"I won't be able to. I won't be able to cope. I know I won't. " Naruto squeezes his eyes shut and leans into Sasuke's hand like a cat.
Sasuke sighs, voice cracking halfway through it. "Don't you have something of mine to hold onto? Anything? "
Naruto opens his mouth before closing it a second after, eyebrows furrowing in thought. "The only thing I have is our genin team 7 portrait."
"You still kept it, after all this time. "
"Of course I did. Did you?"
"I did. It got destroyed, though. "
"oh."
"I'll give you one more thing. " Sasuke says and locks his eyes with Naruto.
Hand still on cheek, he brings Naruto's face down to his.
He's mindful of the sharp teeth that Naruto currently possesses as their lips meet softly.
It's gentle and delicate. They both open their eyes during the kiss, dark onyx eyes meeting bright blue ones. There's so much pain in Naruto's glossy, wet eyes, and Sasuke feels so guilty, but its not enough to change his mind.
They part, Naruto's shoulders shaking as much as Sasuke's hand. His hand never left Sasuke's forehead, still pumping chakra continually. Sasuke grasps Naruto's other hand, not caring as one of Naruto's sharp nails slices his palm.
"Naruto... "
Naruto releases a wavering breath.
"I'm sorry, Sasuke. I really am. But I'm not the right person. "
"I don't think I have ever witnessed you be so doubtful. But, I don't think it matters if you're the right person or not. As long as it's not Madara who does it, anyone is the right option."
His shaking hand comes up slowly towards Naruto, before poking him in the forehead. The hand then slowly turns and points to bag, located in the corner of a cave, and then a tunnel next to it.
"Go Dobe. You have to. "
Sasuke smiles, a soft smile that is so rare and a privilege for Naruto to see.
"I love you, Sunshine."
"Now that's at least a decent one. " Naruto laughs humourlessly and Sasuke grins.
"Told you i'd get better. "
Sasuke's eyelids droop, and with much effort he lifts his head up to give a final kiss. Naruto doesn't push his head back down this time, just accepts it.
And when Sasuke removes Naruto's hand from his forehead, he doesn't protest or argue. He just whispers,
"Love you, Teme."
Though before Sasuke can close his eyes fully, and have his soul rise up and away, A circular seal on a scroll glows red, and Sasuke dissapears.
Kurama's sacrifice and Sasuke's near death, or even is the last straw for Naruto.
Sasuke.
Naruto's tears easily dry, as if the world has forgotten how many he had wept.
Kurama.
Kurama had merged with Naruto, his conscience gone, evaporated. Naruto's long, ankle length startling red hair is enough to prove that. It doesn't just prove that Kurama merged with him though. It proves that he is an Uzumaki. Yet, the red hair has nothing to do with his heritage, only the fact that Uzumaki's have only ever been the jinchuriki of the 9- tailed fox. It's Sasuke's idea, his idea for Naruto to identity as an Uzumaki even more than he already does.
If that's possible.
And it is, even him shouting "I'M NARUTO UZUMAKI!" at the top of his lungs when he was younger portrays his Uzumaki heritage as much as the red hair he now has. And, if someone has doubts? Well, Sasuke had already thought of that. Of course he has. Sasuke plans, he plans more than Naruto even does, though that has to change soon.
He places the scroll inside and the Uzushio headband is taken from the beige bag. Naruto stares at it for a second. It's black, just like his Konoha one, with the fabric long so that when it's tied behind his head it reaches midway on his back. Another second goes by, and a reluctant sigh escapes Naruto, a split second before tying the headband around his forehead.
It feels familiar to Naruto. It's not his Konoha hitai-ate, but it's still a hitai- ate, and Naruto can't see the change of the village symbol.
The rest of the items in the beige bag is survival items, and some day to day ones. Money in the front pocket because there is no use for it now. Shops are destroyed, so what use is the money then? It's light, really light, and Naruto contemplates simply taking out the only items, being the money, scrolls, blank books, ink pot and brush, and putting them into tattooed sealing seals on his body.
He does so, the contents still in the bag when he seals them.
The tunnel leading the the other section of the cave is small and a tight squeeze, but Naruto easily gets through. It's a small area, and the whole ground in covered in one large seal. The seal is layered with so many layers, as if it's a heavily tiered cake. Swirls, zig zags, circles, triangles and squares could be seen along with many other shapes.
The exact same seal is copied onto the palm of his left hand, permanent.
"Okay, you're ready Naruto. You just need to remember everything you, Sasuke and Kurama talked about. Not only with the seal, but after.."
Naruto mutters, pulling on a bang that frames his face. He breaths in, He breaths out. A hair tie appears and Naruto ties his hair into a very quick, messy ponytail that he definitely will need to fix later.
He steps into the seal.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, until he's right in the centre. He steadies his feet, and takes a stance, closing his eyes.
"Right!"
His hand got into a ram seal for a few seconds, before going through others at a slightly quicker pace. He didn't rush, taking his time to mold his chakra perfectly at a colossal amount.
There would be tales of kyubbi no kitsune having infinite chakra. Tales. It was definitely not true. Kurama has- had a lot of chakra. A lot. Kurama's chakra was so strong and massive that it became a form with a conscience. Ever since Naruto was young, his chakra reserves were also huge, though not to the level of the nine- tailed-fox. It was because of the Uzumaki heritage, though Kurama's chakra did leak into his.
But now, all of that chakra entered his chakra points, and the chakra overtook his chakra coils so that Kurama's chakra overpowered his own, hence the blood red dye. His chakra has fused with Kurama's, and oh boy. Naruto had to create seals over his chakra points to cut of any sensing of his chakra for anyone. His chakra emminated so much power, making him extremely easy to find. So much chakra, and so much chakra control needed for the amount.
He does the last hand seal, tiger, and then hits his palm onto the floor. The cave explodes with a blinding white light. Slowly, Naruto feels his chakra being sapped away, bit by bit.
Every time more chakra gets sapped from him, the more colours appear in the white light. Bright colours, such as greens, pinks, blues and oranges. Naruto falls to his left knee from the exhaustion, his right knee already on the ground and starts to pant slightly. Surprisingly, the process isn't painful, more like falling asleep than excruciating pain. A large wave of sleepy exhaustion washes over him before his body goes slack.
There is no pain, no feeling, Naruto doesn't even feel numb. It's like he doesn't have a physical body.
He can now feel his fingers, toes and head. His eyes slowly open, and he squints when the bright sun reflects back at him. Sun. The sun! It's day, no longer permanently dark. The sky is blue with no clouds in sight, no dark grey sky with ash clouds. The sun burns his eyes, and he squeezes them shut.
He attempts to roll over, but his limbs feel like lead, and he's forced to face upwards to the sun. The sun warms his face, his pale face starting to gain its colour back. He twitches a finger and his hand slowly forms into a fist. Long claws don't cut into his palm, instead he feels his human finger nails. He experiments to the same with his toes, and he doesn't feel any claws either.
"What the hell.." he groans and gives an attempt to sit up. Even though his whole body protests, he manages to get into a sitting position, a hand behind him on the ground, steadying himself. His eyes can finally open, no longer kept shut by the the blinding light, and when he does, he is met with the sight of grass. Fresh, emerald green grass.
His hand reaches out to touch it- to feel it, and he does. The grass isn't soft, but it isn't rough. It tickles his fingers as he sways them over it. His fingers don't have the black claws anymore, and he feels a twitch of his lip go down in slight surprise.
"Where the hell am I..?" He mumbles, and with painstaking slowness, lifts his head up along with his gaze, to survey his surroundings. He's in a large clearing, forest trees surrounding him and only because of his fond memories does he realise with a jolt where he is.
Outskirts of Konoha.
"God. So much better than before, y'know?" Naruto rolls his almost no longer sore shoulder, talking to nobody in particular. The blood stains, sweat, dirt, grime and soot is now all washed off Naruto, much to his appreciation. His clothes are long unsalvageable, and luckily they don't contain any seals or anything of much importance. Well, if you don't count memories important.
New clothes and sandals, his hair neat and no longer knotty. It's enough to bring a large sigh of relief out of him.
And his nails, teeth and eyes.
After merging with Kurama, his features turned more beast like, sharp back teeth with short front fangs, his blood red eyes with slitted pupils, red hair, long black claws replacing toe and finger nails, black gums, a second voice box, thicker whisker marks, instincts, sense increase, a feral nature, identical reserves to Kuramas plus his own and red chakra. (Naruto thinks it's a long list, rather overbearing.)
It was so overwhelming when Naruto first merged, new frequency's and smells hitting him even stronger than before and his sight being too detailed. He thought he was going to stay like that forever, look and act like a beast. Yet, right now he is standing in a forest with human finger nails, bright blue normal eyes, in appearance, human teeth, three thin whisker marks on each cheeks and no feral behaviour.
Naruto knows that so much is buried just at the surface, and any change of emotion can shift the sand that sits on it, in any way. When he wasn't on terms with the fox, he had to be careful of emotions. Now when he is on terms with the fox, he needs to watch them even more.
Both of his hands are fake, his right arm gone from above his elbow from his fight with Sasuke, and his left hand gone from the wrist after fighting Madara. His left is covered with a black fingerless glove, much like Kakashi's and with hand guards, to hide the seal along his palm.
He has to make sure nobody sees the time seal. Messing with time is an extremely dangerous thing, and if anyone managed to replicate it- Sage save everyone.
He wasn't too surprised when Kurama's chakra effected his fake arm and hand, since his chakra coils still go through them. Tsunade and the others who created his new appendages are absolute geniuses, especially when using Hashirama's cells.
It was him who designed the palm of his right fake arm though, the one not covered in his glove. He doesn't rely on it too much, it simply being a tool for him, just like a Kekkei genkai. Jutsu absorption. Being able to absorb any jutsu into his palm, before releasing it again.
Naruto hates people taking the easy way for getting power though, hates people like certain Otsokusuki that feed on others chakra to gain more power. So obviously, he doesn't. His fake hand isn't a simple, easy way to gain power. It like his own Justu, a Justu that redirects others.
He sits under a large tree at the base cross legged, and closes his eyes. He takes a deep breath before letting it out. He stays like that for a few seconds, and Naruto took a moment to listen. Birds chirp, branches sway and he can hear some new sounds. He's going to have to get used to having this type of hearing in a 'new' environment.
He draws his attention away from the sounds, focusing on himself and his body. He snaps his eyes open. All Naruto can see is bright blue lights now, only some spots of any different colours, mostly red. Chakra signatures.
It's time to go find someone.
He steps into the bar, eyes cast down but senses alert. It's busy today, with people in bar stools as well as dancing, some of them unmistakably drunk. He's only searching for one person, a certain someone who is in the bar at the moment.
'There' he thinks, changing his direction towards a couch being occupied by three. He lifts his gaze up from the ground as he gets closer and though he sees exactly what he expected, he can't help but blink in surprise because he's actually real. Not a dream of some sort (Naruto hopes not) but real.
He stops a few metres away from where they're sat on the couch. The man doesn't notice him immediately, more content to be flirting horribly. It's only when Naruto clears his throat and speaks does the man finally look to him.
"Ah, uh, per- I mean, Jiraiya."
Jiraiya immediately notices the Uzushio forehead protector when he finally looks up, though doesn't do anything other than stare at it for a few moments.
The two women on either side of him looked up to his face, tucking a strand of hair behind their ears.
"What do you want?" Jiraiya enquires, content on staying where he is.
Naruto just shifts nervously on his feet and points to his forehead protector subtley. Jiraiya seems to get the gist.
'I'm afraid I have to leave now, fair ladies, but I will be back later!" Jiraiya says, standing up - begrudgingly- and winking at them. The ladies giggled and Jiraiya turns back to Naruto sighing.
"Great. I was having fun for the first time in ages" he complains, jutting out his bottom lip childishly and starting to walk out the bar, Naruto at his heel. Naruto doesn't point out the blatant lie, (ahem, first time in ages, ahem) and instead clears his throat once again when they finally got outside.
"Ano.. um.." Naruto starts awkwardly again, and Jiraya sighs, staring down at him. "You interrupted my time. Just tell me already." Jiraiya huffs, crossing his arms. "Uh, an we do this in a more... private area?" Naruto asks, rubbing the back of his neck. He can already tell there are at least three people watching them, not including the people around that are in ear shot.
"Right. There's a less packed area further down the street, or we could just go to my inn I'm staying at." Jiraiya says, jerking a thumb to the direction of the street.
"Ah, your inn would be better, if you don't mind." Naruto says a few beats later, rather quietly.
"This way, then."
Jiraiya was not expecting to meet a red head with an Uzushio headband any time soon. Actually, any time at all. Well, here he is, walking next to the man on the way to his inn. It's not strange, but Jiraiya definitely was not expecting it. That should be the life of a shinobi though, right? Unexpected things happening.
He glances at the man from the corner of his eyes. There's an uncomfortable silence between them, and the red head definitely shows signs of discomfort.
Shoulders slightly hunched, stiff muscles, furrowed brow and his eyes never leave the pavement in front of him. Either the man was intimidated in his presence (who wouldn't be, he is the great toad sage after all) or, there's a nervousness of what the conversation will be about. If it's going to a conversation anyways.
And so, when the two got in Jiraiya's Inn room, Jiraiya made sure to keep a sharp eye on him. He's in an enclosed space, with a possible enemy.
He watches as one of those strange seals on his arm glows, and a piece of paper appears straight into his hands. "Ah.. is it okay if I put a silencing seal in the room? I definitely don't want anyone listening in."
Jiraiya eyes the piece of paper for a second. "Allow me to see it." He says, holding out his hand. The man- who he still goes to know the name of- hands him the seal and Jiraiya immediately starts inspecting it. A few seconds later, and the seal is handed back.
"Sure you can put it in the room. It's safe." The seal isn't a complicated one, not like the one on the red heads arms, and quite easy to decipher.
The man smiles ever so slightly, and proceeds to stick the sheet of paper above the door, pressing down for a split second before letting go. A blank piece of paper and a seal above the door remained.
"So, what's this about?" Jiraiya questions sceptically. "Well, I'll tell you all the detailed later but, uh, you know that the.. Yondaime and Kushina.. had a child, Naruto?" He asks, and Jiraiya sees the coil of anxiety tightening.
'People aren't supposed to know about that.' Jiraiya thinks, as he narrows his eyes. Only a few people know of Naruto's parents, such as the Sandaime. It's a danger that people know he's the yellow flash's son, since Minato had so many enemies.
"Never heard of such a person, never knew the Yondaime ever had a son." Jiraiya tries lying, though it most definitely didn't work, as he watched the other man restrain to roll his eyes.
"Sure." He continues. "Well, what if I told you something? I mean, I trust you.." He trails off at the end, seemingly lost in what to say next.
Someone trusting Jiraya? Especially a stranger? Jiraya mentally sighs. If it has something to do with Naruto, it's probably not a great thing.
"I..." Naruto takes a deap breath. "I may have... altered time."
Authors note:
Anyways, hope your enjoying so far!
This story will avoid having Japanese hornofics and words, since some people invision their dub voice throughout and when a Japanese hornofic or word gets added in the voice switches to sub. It apparently throws off the whole flow of the story. So, I'll avoid it, hope nobody will get mad.
Though, I'm still keeping the iconic dobe and teme. I could never replace them with English words.