Kakashi hovered worryingly over his student, who had suddenly passed out in the middle of his bravado. The bridge builder was quietly standing a few feet away, fully realizing the deep shit he was in. Guessing from the lone eye, Tazuna could guess that the boy was simply out, and not dying from the poisoned weapons of the recently neutralized missing-nins.
He would have been missing a limb, courtesy of the lone Jonin, if that were to be a case. He looked over to the other two pre-teens, who looked worried and a tad bit guilty, not entirely sure for the reason of the latter. Finally mustering up the courage, he spoke up. "Kakashi-san", he started, pausing as he felt the lone eye bore deep holes into his soul. "Is the kid fine?"
His eyes flitting over the prone boy, he looked at the old geezer again. "He will be fine, Tazuna-san. The poison seems to be well taken care of by his body" because of his tenant, he left the last part unsaid. The old man seemed to accept his explanation, nodding to himself. He turned his head to look over to his two other students who seemed to look a bit terrified. "You heard what Tazuna-san said. Would you like to continue this mission?"
Sakura's eyes looked at her prone teammate's body, later looking at the boy beside her. Looking back at her sensei, she shook her head slowly. "If it results in one of my teammates death, I don't", she answered, giving an apologizing gaze to the Wave native. She frowned as Sasuke grunted in disappointment.
"Its his fault that he is in this state", he grumbled half-heartedly. "I say we move forward".
Kakashi hummed to himself. "Well, it depends on Naruto's vote now", he remarked, his eye lazily assessing Sasuke. He reminded him of how he was years ago. Before Obito changed him. He sighed, before furrowing his brows at the peaceful face of his late sensei's son. The boy being unconscious because of a poison was next to impossible. Being a Jinchuriki had its perks. Next to endless chakra reserves, rapid healing and more importantly, immunity to chakra based poisons which the Demon Brothers used. The poison would have to overpower the Kyubi's chakra. And he knew that was impossible.
He didn't have to wait that long. A couple of minutes later, he watched as the blue eyes opened, trying to adjust to the light. He watched bemusedly as Naruto looked around in panic, before his eyes settled on him and his teammates. If not for his trained eye, he wouldn't have missed the soft look in his eyes, something which he had never seen in Naruto. He assumed that it was that he passed out when adrenaline was high, and was worried about their safety.
"Took you long enough, Naruto. We were about to turn back", Kakashi joked with an eye smile. The smile widening as Naruto seemed desperate.
"NO! I want to continue this mission, Kakashi-sensei!", the blonde replied determined. As soon as he had finished that, Sakura planted her fist half-heartedly in Naruto's head.
"Baka! Scaring us like that!", she cried before hugging Naruto. The said boy sheepishly rubbed the back of his head.
"Sorry, Sakura-chan. I didn't mean to scare you like that", he replied closing his eyes as his grin stretched. Kakashi brushed off the orange pigmentation around Naruto's eyes as a hallucination, which had appeared for only a split second. The boy stepped away a few moments later, before looking at Kakashi intently. "We are continuing the mission, right?", he asked eagerly.
"Are you sure with that? There may be more dangerous shinobi ahead", Kakashi warned, knowing that it wouldn't have any affect on the blonde. He watched bemusedly as the boy punched his palm excitedly.
"Don't worry Kakashi-sensei! I will beat up more of these bastards than Sasuke can next time!"
"In your dreams, moron", Sasuke scoffed at the exclamation. The Jonin shook his head at the usual banter between the two, clapping his hand to get everybody's attention.
"Boys, this is not the time for your banter! We need to get moving if want to reach Wave at the scheduled time!", Kakashi exclaimed earning a glare between two boys, before a chorusing 'YES!' from his three students.
Naruto gave a relieved sigh as he laid in his tent. He knew that Kakashi was very observant, and could have blown his cover. Knowing where his student was, helped him a lot to stay calm. He could definitely trust that man to care of his student. Hopefully, she would get to spend time with him, after only hearing about him from Naruto and Sasuke. That too very tightlipped. Oh. OH! He realized something. Things could get potentially very problematic, if that was not solved first. And he didn't have the patience to go after another half-truth knowing Uchiha this time. He needed to fix that, without alerting Kakashi.
Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath inwards, concentrating on the picture of familiar place. Opening his eyes again, he smiled finding himself in the familiar sewer-like place. Navigating through the corridors of his old seal, he stopped in front of the huge gates. He pulsated a bit of his chakra through the seal, before grinning widely as he felt an irritated jab from the an equally dense chakra.
"Oi! Kurama!", he exclaimed eagerly. A huge red slitted eye opened from behind the bars, glaring intensely at him.
"How do you know that name?", the fox growled in a low tone. Naruto's face brightened up more, if it was possible.
"Oh! I heard it from Son the first time!", he replied. "Ah! That reminds me. Wait a minute, Kurama! We have a few more friends here", he added, closing his eyes for a few moments.
The fox gaped astonishingly aseight very familiar chakras started to poke around through the seals, materializing with a splash on Naruto's side. He watched bewildered between all of the beings with him, finally settling on the boy in front of him.
"What did you do, brat?", he asked astonished, confused and angry at the same time. He growled at the bark of laughter from the sand tanuki which erupted as soon as he had asked that question.
"The look on your face was priceless! I never knew your facial muscle could show this face", Shukaku joked earning chuckles from the others. Calming his laughter quickly, he gave a flat stare to the blonde. "May I ask what shit did you get into this time? And why are you a brat again?"
Naruto eyes looked downcast, a tear escaping his eye. He had lost connection with the Bijuu after Kurama's death in his fight with Isshiki. "Momoshiki did what he had wanted. Sarada escaped because she developed a Rinnegan after Kabuto found and transplanted Sasuke's eyes from Tobi's hideout during the Fourth War. We figured the only was to stop this from happening was this", Naruto explained, the Bijuu's growing somber as he relayed the story.
"I am sorry to hear that happened Naruto. But, how did you comeback?", Gyuki asked perplexed.
"Sarada's Rinnegan. We tried to find if we could do it with seals, but there were limitations with fuinjutsu there", the blonde replied.
"So, you are telling me that you time-travelled?", Kurama asked with a scowl. "And I died?"
Naruto nodded slowly. "You tricked me into using Bayron mode saying that we both would die at the end of it, but in reality only you were going to die. Not me", he answered. "But you managed to kill Isshiki. We shaved off his life force from two days to a few minutes".
Kurama slowly nodded, before narrowing his eyes. "Are you saying that I gave my life up for you?"
Isobu rose his brows at the tone, before looking sympathetically at Naruto. "I didn't know Kurama was such a jerk back in the day. It seems you have more work cut for you", he remarked shaking his head.
"He doesn't, you dumb turtle!", Shukaku grumbled, before looking dead serious in Kurama's eyes. "Listen to me for a sec. I know you hate me, despise me. But keep your gigantic ego aside for a few minutes like you did during the Fourth War, and don't interrupt me. Naruto here, is Asura-chan's reincarnate. And that dumb idiot has no idea that he has inherited Mokuton from Asura-chan. Long story short, Kaguya last resort, Black Zetsu manipulated Madara his whole life, resurrects her unknowingly, Naruto and Sasuke receive Rikodo-jii-chan's powers and seal Kaguya away again with Black Zetsu. Twenty years now, Sasuke discovers why Kaguya was building a White Zetsu army. Shit hits the fan and this brat here along with Sasuke and his son kills four Otsutsukis. One manages to implant a karma in his son. More shit hits the fan", the tanuki paused for a few moments. "Any questions?"
Waiting for a moment, Kurama shook his head in denial. Naruto's eyes lit up, as he clasped his hands together excitedly. "Then, let's open the seal, shall we?!", he asked grinning from ear to ear. Kurama gaped at the blonde, before looking at his siblings questioningly. Son Goku shrugged with a chukle.
"He is always like this", the monkey replied with a smile. "But he is someone whom I trust and care about. During the Fourth War, he was angry at me because I only told him how free me from the resurrected body of my Jinchuriki, and not how to save me from the Gedo Statue".
Naruto grinned as a complex pattern spread on his right. Kurama assumed that the seal key had travelled back with Naruto in time. His mouth twitched upwards as the lock opened with clanks. "You aren't the demon fox anymore. You're a partner of a citizen of Konohagakure, Kurama!", the blonde exclaimed with a grin. Kurama flexed his tails, finally free from the prison. Naruto punched his palm determinedly. "Now let's show those Otsutsuki why you never mess with shinobi"
A round of roars of agreement passed through the chakra beings, completely forgetting about the two terrified people who had appeared in the mindscape. The two shared a scared and confused look seeing all the Bijuus agree enthusiastically with their son. They were out of the loop ten times over, and they knew that very well.
"Uh... Can someone explain to me why there are all the Bijuu in the seal where I clearly remember only sealing the Kyubi?", the man asked annoyed, bewildered and a tad bit terrified after the Kyubi glared at him with the intensity of a hundred suns.
Kushina hugged Naruto tightly when the boy finished relaying his story. She, Minato and Kurama had come to know about many things which happened in the future, the other Bijuu often laughing at the expense of the her son and Kurama.
"I am sorry, Naruto. You had to go from all this", Kushina cried hugging her son tighter.
"Its not your fault Kaa-chan, Tou-chan. You did what you had to do, and I am proud of it. I had jii-chan, Iruka-sensei, Kakashi-sensei, Jiraiya-sensei, Hinata, Sakura, Sasuke and many other to look after me. They were the reason why I became the Nanadaime Hokage", Naruto replied, as Minato fondly ruffled his hair while joining in the hug. Kushina's eyes suddenly lit up.
"Can you show us how you looked in your Hokage outfit?!", she asked excitedly. Minato looked interested, while Kurama rose his brows.
"I assume he got rid of the orange?", he asked his siblings. Gyuki shook his head.
"Not a bit", the Hachibi replied. Scrunching up his nose at the jabs, Naruto transformed into his older self. Kushina's and Minato's eyes went proud seeing the Hokage cape flutter behind their son, some pride seeping in Kurama's eyes too.
"Well, I would have become the Hokage after the Fourth War, but I barely knew how to write back then. I could read, but I couldn't write because of my botched up Academy training. Though Iruka-sensei helped me a lot. But, I still brought all the Kages together peacefully for almost fifteen years", Naruto replied proudly. The pair's eyes twitched when Naruto mentioned about his Academy teaching, but it washed away after he relayed the future position of all the Kages.
"We're proud of you, Naruto", Kushina stated with a smile, hugging her son once more. She choked a sob seeing her hands fade away behind Naruto's back. "I am sorry, but we have to go Naruto. Thank for making Minato a father. Thank for making me a mother. Thank you for being born to us, Naruto", she murmured as tears leaked from her eyes, before her chakra faded away.
Minato silently ruffled his hair. "Believe in yourself, Naruto. I am sure you will save everybody, like how you managed to unite all the Hidden Villages. And we will always watch over you, son. Your mother and I believe in you. A parent's love is believing in their child", he stated proudly before fading away. Naruto tightly shut his eyes, tears streaming down his cheeks.
Kurama quietly wrapped one of his tails around the sobbing boy. Even though he had just heard what his future version and the boy had did together, he trusted and cared for the boy. He was ready to give his life again. But this time, he would have to deal with the Isshiki bastard differently.
Come next day, Kakashi didn't miss the surge Naruto's chakra had overnight. He was sure it had absolutely nothing to do with the poison from the previous day. But it didn't seem like there was something wrong with the seal. He would have definitely recognized the malicious chakra from the Kyubi. He didn't delve too deep, knowing how complex the Hakke Fuin was. He assumed it was some defense mechanism that was triggered to expel the final remnants of the poison from Naruto's system.
A few hours later, an unusual fear settled deep into Kakashi's gut. He could feel eyes on him and his students, but he wasn't able to pinpoint from where. It seemed that Naruto could feel it too, but wasn't paying attention to it. Kakashi thought it was because Naruto was a sensor, since both of his parents were sensors. The best ones in Konoha back then. Kakashi kept a hand over his kunai holster the whole time, ready to defend his students incase of an ambush.
Suddenly a couple of moments later, Naruto suddenly threw a kunai in roadside bush, an utterly terrified rabbit coming out from it. His mind started churning seeing the unusual white rabbit during spring.
"Baka Naruto! Are you trying to be cool like Sasuke-kun?! You almost killed the poor rabbit!", Sakura screamed in anger. Naruto quickly scooped in the rabbit in his arms, trying to calm the small animal from its near death experience. Finally connecting the pieces, a pit formed in Kakashi stomach.
"GET DOWN!", he shouted hurriedly, everybody just ducking in time and saving their heads being chopped off by an extremely huge sword. Kakashi sighed at the extremely familiar sword.
"Kubikiribōchō. One of the seven swords of Kirigakure. I hadn't expected to meet you here Momochi Zabuza, the Demon of Kiri", Kakashi remarked calmly as a shirtless man jumped on the handle of the sword, which was buried deeply in a tree trunk.
"Of course the Demon Brothers failed. After all, you are Sharingan no Kakashi", Zabuza grunted making the silver-haired Jonin narrow his eyes.
"Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura. Protect the bridge builder. Manji formation. I will take on Zabuza. You guys are no match for an A-Class Jonin", Kakashi ordered his students. The three instantly spread in a close triangle around Tazuna, covering each other's blind spots.
Zabuza jumped downed on the lake, before holding his hand in a half-ram seal and building up his chakra. "Kirigakure no Jutsu", Zabuza ominously muttered sending shivers down Sasuke's and Sakura's spines.
On the other hand, Naruto was bored as he heard the former Kiri-nins threats. Zabuza seemed as an unimportant fly after dealing with so many Otsutsuki threats. He seriously didn't have time to act all scared over someone, whom he could send packing six ways to Sunday in less than five seconds.
'I agree with that', Kurama grumbled in his mind. Naruto quickly went through one-handed signs on instinct, thankfully everybody was to focus at the sudden increase in chakra-laced fog hampering their vision. Puffing out his chest, Naruto gather a decent amount of chakra in his lungs.
"Futon : Daitoppa (Wind Release : Great Breakthrough)!", Naruto called out blowing out a powerful gust of wind, which blew away all the mist which Zabuza had created, stupefying Kakashi, Zabuza, Sasuke and Sakura. Kakashi wasn't sure where Naruto had learned the Futon ninjutsu, but he brushed it off. Futon : Daitoppa was a basic ninjutsu. It wasn't that hard, and any ninjutsu specialist knew it. Sasuke was mildly impressed at the strength of the jutsu, Sakura sharing the same thoughts.
Zabuza on the other hand,... He was angry. He was pissed! A wet behind the ears Genin had blew away his greatest strategic advantage. He had been blindsided by a Genin. He, Momochi Zabuza, had been out-strategized by a Genin! And the boy was looking at him with a bored face to top it off! He had half a mind to leave Kakashi and kill the boy first.
"Listen, Zabuza-san", Naruto started as he walked a bit forward, ignoring Kakashi's warnings. "Both of us know what kind of person is Gato. If you expect that bastard to pay your deal after you kill Tazuna-san, remember that man is a jerk. And killing Tazuna-san isn't going to help you at all. If the bridge is not built, Wave will not be connected to the mainland. And Wave is the closest place to create an outpost to Kirigakure, assuming that you still want to become the Mizukage. If the bridge isn't there, you will have to make to and fro trips between Wave and the mainland, which will cost you unnecessary manpower. But on the other hand, if the bridge is built, you can easily transfer your supplies. You should discuss with your friend in the trees too", Naruto said the last part with a smile shocking the former Kiri-nin.
"H-How did you know about Haku?!", Zabuza asked in shock as Haku appeared beside Zabuza in a defensive stance.
"I have Negative Emotion Sensing just like Uzumaki Mito-sama. And Haku was giving away her emotions with his chakra", Naruto replied. Zabuza opened his mouth a few times to form a sentence, before shaking his head and exchanging a few words Haku quietly.
The blonde turned back to a stupefied Team Seven and Tazuna. "Naruto, did you just convince an A-Rank missing-nin to help us?!", Sakura shrieked in shock, Sasuke and Tazuna nodding in agreement. Naruto shrugged, before looking at a disbelieving Kakashi.
"You're seriously unpredictable, Naruto!", Kakashi murmured looking between Zabuza and his student. "And why didn't you tell me you had Negative Emotion Sensing?! And don't tell me you forgot it! Its not a thing to forget!", he added the last part accusingly. Naruto had the decency to look sheepish.
"Ahem!", Zabuza cleared his throat to garner the attention of Team Seven. "Well, as much as I hate to admit, the brat is right. If the bridge is not built, it will hamper my future plans. But, Gato will not like this".
Naruto shrugged. "Who cares about Gato. We are shinobi, and he has thugs. There is a huge gap between our skills. We will handle that bastard", Naruto replied, before gesturing Tazuna to lead the way.
Zabuza walked up to Kakashi, leaning in his ear. "What kind of shinobi Konoha are trying to raise?!", he whispered pointing to Naruto. Kakashi gave a helpless look at his fellow Jonin.