Altered Story
Chapter 1: Second Chances
Part 2
Forest of Death
Sasuke was sprinting through the forest as he tried to reach his team. He swore that it felt like the forest kept expanding as if to keep him from the fight up ahead. Sasuke was practically bursting with energy to get there.
About a minute ago, his Kage Bunshin burst and he was given the greatest news of his life.
She was back!
He redoubled his efforts of racing through the foliage as he wanted to get a glimpse of the woman he longed for. He needed to see with his own two eyes if it was true. That she was there, alive.
He gathered up his chakra and Shunshinned. He knew it would get him right to Naruto and Sakura. Though, it would tax his body as it would be stretched beyond his limits.
When he arrived at the clearing in front of the cave, he felt Naruto's chakra stronger now.
He turned to the golden light that filled the forest around them.
Naruto was standing in front of the Oto girl, Kin.
Sakura was sitting at the entrance of the cave with her hair cut to her shoulders like her future self. Now he understood why Kin was on the floor. Naruto had seen her hurting Sakura. He knew that her temper got under control when she got older, but as a kid, her emotions where not matured yet.
Dosu and Zaku were frozen under the oppressing chakra coming from Naruto. There weapons that they were going to use to attack Naruto were on the ground.
"I said before that the next time someone hurt my precious people, I would kill them," he heard her say and her KI tripled.
In the next second, her head was cut off from her body. The head rolled over in front of the two Otonin. They immediately shook out of their pause and ran away from Naruto as she turned to look at them.
They never made it as two Chidoris pierced their hearts and they fell limp to the ground with identical holes in their bodies.
Forest of Death
Behind Tower
"Kabuto-kun. . . " hissed Orochimaru.
The iryonin blanched. He knew that tone. It was reserved for those of his masters henchmen that fucked up.
"Master?" despite the apprehension the spy felt, his voice was level, betraying none of the fear coiling in his gut.
"Your reports about Sasuke-kun's skills. They were incomplete. . ." the Sannin stalked around his agent. There was a disturbing smile on his face and you could feel the slight displeasure surrounding him.
"In what way, Orochimaru-sama?" asked Kabuto.
"He has much more skill than you give him credit for. High Chunin to low Jonin level combat ability. He had such control control over lightning that I have only seen from the Raikage and is able to use Kakashi's Chidori. . . " the snake master trailed off.
He licked his lips with a tongue too long and nimble to belong to a human being.
"I was unable to mark the boy," Orochimaru frowned. It was not often that he was denied his prize. "I want him tested further. The three idiots we sent for that purpose would be insufficient." The Sannin fixed his agent with a glare. "You will take part in the final part of the exam. I will make sure that you face him."
"As you command, Orochimaru-sama!" Kabuto gave a deep bow and was about to leave when the snake's voice started again.
"I also want you to check on the Kyubi Jinchuriki," Orochimaru called out with a frown on his face.
Kabuto turned to look at his master, "Is this about the large burst of chakra?"
"Yes. I was sure that I sealed her away from the Kyubi so she could not use its chakra, but I would know that huge, powerful burst anywhere. It did not have the same corrosive feel as before. . . It seemed, almost pure," then he turned to glare at his subordinate. "This is also other information that you were not thorough with. This could mean that Konoha's Jinchuriki has control over her Biju. That could be a complication to our plans with Gaara."
"I will do so, Orochimaru-sama." Gave another bow and left to find his team.
Forest of Death
Outside Cave
Naruto and Sasuke stared at each other as they processed what they saw. They could now confirm that both of them came from the future.
"Sasuke. . . " His breath hitched hearing her voice say his name. "You made a deal with the furball. . . That was not a very good idea," she scolded, but the smile on her face betrayed her emotions.
I'm glad that you are here. He could tell from her eyes.
I'm happy you are alive. He replied. He knew why she did not say this aloud. Sakura was confused enough with all the change in personality and they did not need to confuse her with more information that did not make sense.
"First things first, we need to get our other scroll before heading to the tower," she subconsciously used her Kage voice making him straighten his posture into an ANBU position. "I can trust that you will be able to do this yourself. I will stay here with Sakura and set up the traps you did not get to," she gestured over to Sakura, who at this point, gave up on trying to understand what was happening and just waited to see if anyone would tell her what was going on.
"Lastly, you will tell me what happened after I. . . well, you know, and what you both did to get us here," she stumbled over covering up her death since Sakura could still hear them.
"Hai, Rokudaime-sama," he gave an imperceptible nod of respect so Sakura would not notice and said those words quietly.
"None of that, I am not Hokage anymore-"
"You will always be my Hokage," he interrupted her. "I will always answer to you before the Sandaime."
Naruto just shook her head fondly at his stubbornness.
"Alright, just don't say it in front of other people," then gave a dismissive wave of her hand and he was off to do his mission.
"Are you going to explain to me what the hell is going on!" Sakura exploded after a moment of silence.
Sakura did not cuss often unless she was seriously pissed and/or confused.
"I cannot tell you anything yet, Sakura. I can only promise that I will when it is safe to say and when you can handle what we will tell you. You are our teammate and we do not want to leave you, or Kakashi-sensei, behind. We tell each other everything, but we cannot tell you this just now," Naruto explained calmly to the girl.
Sakura frowned a bit, but sighed and nodded her head in agreement.
"Now," Naruto stood up and dusted herself off, "let's go set up some traps." Her stomach grumbled which prompted Sakura's to grumble as well. "And get food for the three of us. We haven't eaten in at least two days."
As the two girls worked, Sakura started to talk again as she thought of some stuff.
"Is there. . . something going on between you and Sasuke," Naruto took small notice of her not using an honorific for Sasuke, but choked a bit at the insinuation of the words and how it could be interpreted differently. "I mean, you just seem. . . less likely to come after each other's throats," Sakura continued, giving no indication of hearing Naruto's outburst.
"Ah, you see, we came to an understanding, but that is all I can tell you for now," Naruto explained.
"Okay," then she had a mischievous grin on her face that made Naruto gulp and sweat a little. Future Sakura had the same face when she confronted Naruto on her . . . feelings for Sasuke. "then are you guys going to get together soon?" she asked innocently. Naruto choked on her spit and started to violently hack her guts out while Sakura had a smug attitude and a smirk on her face.
"Wh-What d-do y-*cough* you mean? Th-there is *cough cough* nothing go-going on between u-u-us! Plus, I th-*cough* you li-liked Sasuke?" Naruto stuttered in between her coughs as she tried to regain her air and composure.
"Naruto, it was easy to that you two are perfect for each other. You both hide your sorrow through facades of aloofness and happiness. You both understand each other in way no one else could because of your pasts of loneliness. You reach out to him and make him forget of his revenge by goading him with your rivalry. Sasuke's job is easy. All he has to do is be there for you. That is more than most people would do. Also, I've seen him seek you out for one of your 'fights' but I know its one of those days when the loneliness hits you hardest and he wants to distract you from that by keeping you company. That is, without making it seem so. Only the most observant would see the subtleties of your relationship."
"Now, my feelings for Sasuke. They were there nor were they real. I only went after him because of my parents wanting the status that comes with marrying into the Uchiha. That was why they let me into the academy. After the massacre, I wanted to be able to help him smile again, so I thought if I was there for him, then he would know that someone cares. You were able to make him smile. I saw you both while I was near the docks. You both smiled as you turned away from each other. You were happy to find someone in this world that shared what you felt."
"Naruto, I want both of you to be happy and to do so is to be with each other," Sakura gave a meaningful smile as she finished her speech.
Naruto stood there processing what she just heard. She never knew that someone could see through her smiles other than Sasuke. It did explain why Sakura punched her towards Sasuke and did not get mad when she kissed him. In fact, she even looked slightly smug about it. It disappeared from her mind since she was busy dodging the punches and kicks from the other fangirls.
"So you did plan our first kiss incident," Naruto pointed out.
Sakura nodded with a cheeky smile and the two girls laughed. They immediately went back to work as they waited for Sasuke to return.
Sasuke returned in the early morning so they decided to sleep for the day and use night to cover ground faster.
Naruto and Sasuke sat in front of each other ready to talk as they made sure that Sakura was asleep. Naruto made a privacy seal and activated it to make sure that no one would here there conversation.
"Okay, explain to me what you and Kurama did to get here. Also how I have my memories seeing as I died already," Naruto ordered while Sasuke flinched at the word of her death.
"Hai, Hokage-sama."
Flashback
"What are you planning, Uchiha," questioned the fox. He humored the boy as this was probably the only chance they had left.
"Naruto gave me this seal," he held up said seal, "that would send you and me back in time. The downside of this is that you have to give me my memories by jolting me with your chakra. I have to believe that you will do so since Naruto believes in you," Sasuke grudgingly accepted at the end of his explanation.
"You have my word that I will do so, Uchiha. Besides, the brat would probably find a way to haunt me forever if I didn't," the Kyubi muttered the last part.
"Also," he held up another seal and motioned for Kurama to come closer so he could place it on him, "this seal has Naruto's memories in it. She made this plan under emergencies and all her memories would transfer in here if she died. She wanted to be able to help with this plan."
"Well, the brat can be smart at times," the Kyubi joked though he knew she was hiding her intelligence.
Sasuke just smirked.
"Here are the handsigns since I need you to hold on to my soul after I do this."
He made several handsigns and said, "Ninja ato: Tamashi no Bunri Jutsu."
Sasuke's body crumpled to the ground like a puppet whose stings were cut. His soul floated from his body and the Kyubi grabbed onto it.
"Jikan: Soru Ryoko. Shiru!"
In a flash of light, the two were gone.
Madara raged and demolished the battlefield as the Kyubi vanished a second after Tsukuyomi was released.
Flashback End
"That explains why I do not have the same amount of chakra, but I have more than when I was thirteen," Naruto commented after he finished.
"Well it makes sense, chakra is still half spiritual so that would explain the slight boost," Sasuke speculated.
After a moment of silence, Naruto spoke up, "Do you think we should tell Jiji and a few others the truth? I mean it would be hard to explain all that we are doing."
". . . This would be much easier if Shikamaru was here," Sasuke sighed. "We can tell them that we are from the future, but we will not say any specifics. The less they know, the less chance they will change the time line even more before we can fix things." Naruto nodded in agreement. They do not have all the information so they might fix something that did not need fixing and miss something very important.
"We better go to sleep so we can get to the tower quickly," stated Naruto as she stood up. She deactivated the privacy seal and set up a Hogo seal so that they could sleep in peace. Naruto could not make this seal without alerting Sakura. Sasuke followed her and they lay next to Sakura. They fell asleep immediately as their bodies could not handle the amount of strain that they put on it today.
Twelve Hours Later. . .
Team 7 landed in front of the tower with a few days to spare and they opened the doors. Naruto and Sasuke opened the scrolls and threw them on the floor before them.
What surprised the two of them a lot more than Sakura was the fact that Kakashi in Iruka's stead. The two future people stared at each other as they confirmed that they were already starting to change the time line.
They were in for another shock as Kakashi opened his Sharingan at them a moment later. That made Naruto and Sasuke go into a stance that would protect them without making it obvious. Sasuke stepped slightly in front of Naruto because he would protect his Hokage at all costs. Kakashi took note of both of their attitudes as he pushed his hitai-ate back over his eye. The ominous aura he exuded when he appeared vanished and he gave them his infamously irritating eye smile.
"Well, now that I made sure you guys are not impostors, we will go meet with the Hokage on your battle with Orochimaru," his tone suggested that they did not have a choice of saying no.
Team 7 walked up several flights of stairs towards the top floor of the tower. Kakashi opened a door to reveal some Chunin, Jonin, ANBU, and the Hokage waiting for them. Kakashi closed the door behind them and the Hokage started, "Now, that you are here, you will tell me exactly what happened back there in the forest. We are dealing with an S-class nukenin and I will not take any chances." Hiruzen observed the trio and noticed that Sakura was the only one to act the way she would normally. Naruto and Sasuke did not. In fact, what threw him for a loop was the fact that Sasuke was an inch behind Naruto in a way a subordinate would stand with his leader. He did not think that the Uchiha would give up authority over so easily, but he could tell that Sasuke did not mind one bit.
He knew they could not be impostors because Kakashi had brought them here. For extra measures, they even had Jiraiya place a seal that would release any sort of seal or henge on a person. There was no change in their images, so he decided to give them a chance to explain their sudden change.
Naruto and Sasuke stared at each other. They discussed what they needed to tell them, but they did not think it would be so soon.
Naruto stepped up, "Hokage-sama." All ninja in the room tensed up. Naruto never called the Hokage with his title so this meant she was serious. And she was never serious often so this was of great importance.
"Would you allow me to add a privacy seal to this room? What I am about to reveal is not for the ears of less savory people," she sneered the last part.
The Hokage was startled at her knowledge of Fuinjutsu but allowed her to activate one.
When it was activated, she nodded to Sasuke and he immediately jumped for the very corners of the room. People with blank masks that were certainly not ANBU dropped like dead flies and everyone drew their weapon.
Hiruzen stared at the shinobi on the floor and he immediately growled. I told Danzo to disband Ne and he disobeyed my orders. We will be having words.
"Now, that the spies are incapacitated," Naruto announced cheerfully as Sasuke returned to his position behind his Hokage. She turned over to Inoichi.
"Inoichi-san, do you mind doing a wide mind transfer to my mindscape? Also placing Shinjitsu on me so that the claims I will make are undoubtedly true?" Inoichi and the rest of the shinobi in the room turned even more confused at the words of the thirteen year old girl in front of them.
Inoichi turned to the Sandaime for confirmation and he just gave a short nod.
A few moments later, everyone in the room was in a cavern of a sewer system. Inoichi looked slightly heartbroken at the state of Naruto's mind. No child should have this kind of mindscape. Everyone in the room agreed with him. Inoichi performed the truth jutsu and the Hokage gave a nod for Naruto to talk.
"Let me introduce myself," there was a poof and a woman stood in the girl's place as she henged herself. The shinobi were surprised to see an older version of the girl they knew. She wore a black, sleeveless, kimono-type shirt that had a high collar and there was a gray wrap on her waist that showed the hour glass curves she had developed. She wore black leggings that led to kunoichi standard sandals that went up to her calves. There was a belt with numerous pouches that hung at her hip and a familiar blood-red hilt of a sword at her back. There was also a black ANBU style mask with red markings that made it look like a kitsune. The last piece in her ensemble was a sleeveless white coat that had red flames. When she turned around, their suspicions were confirmed. On the back of her coat was the red kanji for 'Rokudaime.' From where this was going, they had a guess on what was happening. They were also surprised that it was possible for the loud mouthed genin would actually be Hokage like she always announced she would be.
Naruto turned back around and spoke, "My name is Namikaze-Uzumaki Naruto, Rokudaime of Konohagakure, Leader and Commander of the Allied Shinobi Forces, one of the Yogen no Ko-tachi, gakusei of Gama Sennin Jiraiya, Gama Sennin, and the Jinchuriki of the Kyubi no Kitsune."
Everyone was floored at the announcement. No matter how much they do not want to believe it, they knew that the truth jutsu was in place so she could not tell a lie. The future Rokudaime was standing right in front of them.
Hiruzen stood their with a proud smile after he got over his shock. He knew his pseudo-granddaughter would achieve her goal and be destined for great things.
"Hokage-sama," they looked to see Sasuke bow in front of Naruto. They could understand why he was so respectful of her now. "May I reveal myself as well?"
Naruto looked amused as she nodded at Sasuke. She knew why he was doing this. It was a confirmation of who she was and who he was affiliated to. They would know that he would put her first.
The older version of Sasuke appeared. He wore the same shirt as Naruto but it was just a shirt for him. He wore black shinobi pants and had white wrappings that went down into his black sandals. He had Kusanagi strapped to his back and wore ANBU armor over his clothes. The mask over his face let them know his position in the ranks as the Head Anbu with the white mask and black markings. He pulled away his mask and the people gasped as they saw not only the Mangekyo Sharingan, from their perspective, but the legendary Rinnegan eyes that only Jiraiya knew were real. He had seen them before on the eyes of his red head student from all those years ago.
"I am Uchiha Sasuke, Head ANBU of Konohagakure, Commander of a faction in the Allied Shinobi Forces, gakusei of the Hebi Sennin Orochimaru, and former nukenin," their were a few that tensed at that and some raised their eyebrows. "As you can see, I have the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan and the Rinnegan."
"Also, just in case you want to know, Sakura is not from the future, but we wanted her to know as well since she is our teammate," Naruto called out as some shinobi had turned to see if Sakura would make her own transformation.
"Wait. You said, 'Allied Shinobi Forces.' Are you saying. . . " the Sandaime trailed off at the nod that Naruto gave. He could not believe it. The five nations working together! It was something he never thought would happen.
Kakashi spoke up this time, "If the five nations are working together, that means you guys were at war. What kind of enemy would make all the nations fight as one?" That made the shinobi worry at the enemy that they had to face.
"Hai, the peace you so dearly wanted to last, was broken. The Fourth Shinobi world war was announced when I was sixteen by a man named Tobi," Naruto explained.
Sasuke picked up after her, "We lost, so we decided to go back to change everything," he explained curtly not giving much information as planned.
Anko pointed her kunai at him.
"Why did you betray Konoha," she addressed the problem she had with him.
Sasuke sighed. He hated his former self before Naruto gave him her Therapy Jutsu. He almost killed her back then.
"Back then, I was obsessed with killing my brother and avenging our clan. Orchimaru sought me in the exams and told me he could give me power that Konoha could not. He also gave me the Ten no Juin as a 'parting gift.' After the exams, I soon became jealous of the power that Naruto developed and continuously grew stronger. I eventually left with some subordinates of Orochimaru who came to get me. Naruto followed me with a team made by the Godaime, Senju Tsunade. They were not successful in their mission and I left Konoha."
No one spoke as they took in the information given to them.
"But, you came back, Naruto brought you back, didn't she," Kakashi speculated.
"Hai, she gave me what we call her Therapy Jutsu," he smirked in her direction as she turned red and looked away from him. The shinobi looked at the two with various degrees of amusement.
"Stop calling it that, its embarrassing enough that they actually put it down as an official jutsu with my name on it," Naruto whined.
Sasuke ignored her, "She uses the jutsu to talk to her enemies and turn them over to the good side."
Everyone was looking at Naruto weirdly as only she would be able to make friends with the enemies.
Naruto got over her childish moment and went back to the matter at hand.
"We cannot tell you too much as we have already changed the future enough. We will tell you things if we need help, but we want be able to fix things without having people mess it up and then we would not know what will happen."
They looked to the Sandaime and he nodded in agreement. He could see that it was wise to do so. The only problem was how much paperwork he knew would come by with all the plans Naruto would commence. If only he could get Tsunade here already to pass the hat onto her as Sasuke had told them.
"Also, I want you all to meet someone," Naruto pointed behind her and torches lit up the cavern. The light revealed an enormous nine-tailed fox that they had not seen since the attack twelve years ago.
"Why the hell is it out?! Are you stupid?! Get away from it!" Jiraiya's voice yelled out as he tried to get the two time travelers to step away.
"He is not an it. And he has a name. This is Kurama and he is my friend." The emphasis made them stop from pulling their weapons as they knew they would not want to get in the way of a girl who was very protective of her precious people.
"Hello," the fox drawled sarcastically. The shinobi flinched at the deep voice.
"As you can see, I let him out of the cage he was imprisoned in. Though, it does not mean that I have completely mastered his chakra as this body is not used to it yet," Naruto explained from her position on the head of the nine-tails. It was just laying on its arms as Naruto combed through its fur as if she were petting a cat.
"Well that is all that is left for me to say, so Inoichi-san, if you don't mind," she motioned for him to release the jutsu.
They all arrived back in the tower and the Sandaime dismissed them to their room in the tower.
"Oh! I almost forgot," Naruto stopped and turned around to get the attention of the people in the room. "Make sure to watch over Yakushi Kabuto. He is a tricky man so make sure to knock him fully unconscious and slap a suppressing seal on him. I do not want him to escape at all," Naruto subconsciously used her Kage voice making the shinobi say "Hai!" That amused the Sandaime greatly. Naruto just facepalmed at the look Sasuke gave her and walked out of the room to go rest from the emotional roller coaster that she held back since the moment she saw her Jiji.
When Jiraiya appeared, she nearly broke and Sasuke had to reach his chakra out to her to calm her down. He did this often whenever she woke from nightmares.
Naruto broke down as soon as the door closed and Sasuke dutifully let her cry into his shoulder. Sakura and Kakashi stood their for a moment. They had never seen Naruto cry as much as this before. She was practically the emotionally strongest thirteen year old they knew with her upbringing and all. Sakura moved to lean her back against Naruto in support as that was all she could think to do. Kakashi stood by them showing his support in his own Kakashi way.
Naruto's sobs subsided as she turned quiet and her breathing evened out. She had passed out from emotional exhaustion. Sakura stood up as Sasuke picked Naruto up from the floor bridal style and laid her on one of the beds in the room. He pulled the blanket over her form and brushed a few stray hairs out of her face. Sasuke stared at her sleeping face for a few moments before a cough interrupted his trance and he remembered that he was not the only one in the room.
Kakashi and Sakura were standing there with cheeky grins. Even though Kakashi's face was covered with his mask, he knew the face the older man was making and he did not like it one bit.
"You know," Kakashi started, "If you want to kiss her forehead or something, we won't judge," a pillow was promptly thrown at him for that remark. The silver haired man dodged it with an eye smile as Sakura giggled at the scene. Her Inner Self was practically screaming with joy at the scene.
Konohagakure
End of the Second Part of the Chunin Exams
All the genin that made it through the forest stood in rows by their teams in front of the Hokage. 24 genin made it in total to the surprise of Anko. The Sandaime explained the real reason for the exams.
Gekko Hayate interrupted the Hokage to explain his part as an examiner of the third part of the exams.
"Due to the *coughcough* number of ge*cough* genin in that passed the exams. We will *cough cough cough" have to do a *coughcough* preliminary round. If any*cough*one would like to quit due to their *coughcough* injuries, please*cough* speak up."
The genin had a hard time following his words as his sickness kept interrupting him, but they still heard him clearly. Two genin from the last team that came in quit leaving their teammate who stayed. If Naruto and Sasuke payed any attention to that person, they would notice the familiar bright locks of red hair on her head with thick rimmed glasses bridged upon her nose. The two noticed that there were more genin than the last time as there were Kumo, Iwa, and even Kiri genin. The last one was a bit of a surprise as the village had just gotten over their civil war and would think that they would take the time to recuperate. They were also preoccupied with watching Kabuto to see if he would stay or go like last time.
Kabuto looked up to an Oto jonin and he nodded in consent, he would stay and fight.
"Will you*coughcough* please look up at the *cough* screen for the names of the fir*cough* first fighters."
After the shuffling of names, they landed on the first pair.
Yakushi Kabuto vs. Uchiha Sasuke
The Jonin and ANBU in the meeting immediately focused on the name and the boy who stepped up. They looked over to Naruto and Sasuke to see their reactions. The two genin were in tense positions. ANBU stayed ready to follow the boy as Naruto told them they would need more than just one team to defeat the boy.
"W*cough* would the res*coughcough*t of the genin go up *cough cough cough* to the balcony to watch th*cough*the matches," Hayate asked.
The rest of the genin went up to join their sensei at the balcony and Kabuto and Sasuke were left to stand in the arena.
Kabuto was silently cursing the fact that Team 7 did not leave their room until it was time for the announcements. He did not get the additional information that he needed and could only go off of what Orochimaru told him.
Sasuke turned to look up at Naruto as her features hardened and gave him a firm nod. No words were needed as Sasuke turned back to face his opponent. He had orders from his Hokage and he would complete them. Naruto could see in his eyes and stance. Sasuke was coiled and ready to strike. To kill.
Hiruzen gazed at the two genin in the arena before him. They were each one of the strongest genin in Konoha so the match would be something interesting.
What caught his attention was the interaction between his pseudo-granddaughter and the last Uchiha. He saw her take on the face he had to many times in his life of a Hokage. The face of a leader giving their orders to a subordinate to kill. He watched her give him a sharp nod and saw the boy turn to face his opponent.
It still surprised him of the loyalty and respect coming from Sasuke. He was a boy from a very arrogant clan that liked to think they were better than everyone. It was a stark contrast to the boy he remembered a few months ago before the exams.
The Professor leaned forward, focused on the upcoming match.
"Begin!" Hayate announced.
Even though they knew he was powerful, everyone gasped at the raw power of someone so young as the boy was covered in a halo of lightning chakra.
