Disclaimer: still not mine, and still don't want it. Yeah, I know, surprising, eh?

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Jagged Pieces

To be frank, Naruto wasn't expecting such a bad result in her jutsu.

Well, if being – from what she knew – the first ninja to travel through time should be considered a bad result. She supposed it was a great feat in itself, and she would've been overcome with joy if it had actually been her plan to begin with. The problem was––Naruto just wanted to imitate the Hiraishin to help Konoha, should a war ever erupt again. It was a bastardised version of her father's, as there was no notes left on the making process, but she really thought she had succeeded in breaking the code.

Maybe arrogance was a family trait, because who but an Uzumaki could manage to unravel the secrets of a jutsu made from seals to begin with? Fuuinjutsu basically ran through her blood, dammit!

Perhaps Naruto should've thought about the consequences of testing a newly made jutsu more carefully, but she had never been known for her patience, and no one was there anymore to tell her to be more cautious when it came to playing with dangerous techniques.

Pain rung sharply in her bones at that. Many of her friends had died during the war, and even though Konoha had rebuilt herself pretty well over the last couple of months, Naruto could still feel the loss.

Tsunade-baa-chan might never wake up, and Sakura was still MIA (When lying in bed at night, feeling empty and lonely, Naruto wondered sometimes if her dear friend was running after the always fleeing Sasuke, or lying dead somewhere, her rotting corpse waiting to be returned to the village. It was a nauseating thought, and as more time passed, it transformed into a deep rooted belief that left Naruto cold and weary). Shikamaru hadn't even had time to properly mourn his father that he had to take on the Nara mantel and be a pillar for his two grieving teammates (Poor Ino was being groomed to become the new Head of her clan, and had to live with the knowledge that her former best friend may never stand by her sides again. She at first resented Shikamaru for having been able to hear his father before he died, using her own father's technique. And she came to pity him, because his last words weren't for his son, but the ninja world, and Ino was too selfish to accept that kind of decisions. The sensitive Chouji made a habit of hiding to cry his sorrow away, because as the new leader of the Akimichi, he had to 'present a strong face'. He didn't want the title, not like this, but took it anyway, knowing the Nara and the Yamanaka would always stand with him.) Lee would surely be stuck in a wheelchair till the end of his days, and Tenten was the only member of her team left standing, worrying about her maimed sensei and teammate (Lee would always plaster a big smile on his face, assuring her that everything would be fine, but Tenten wasn't stupid, she saw the winces and the dark gleam in his eyes. She knew his carrier would stop there, and she knew their team won't ever be like before, not with a member dead and the two others injured beyond repair). Hinata was thinking about leaving the ninja ranks, Neji's death still weighing heavily on her mind ("I don't know if I can continue to fight… I just wanted to be recognised, to make my father and my clan proud. But now… It feels all futile. I'm tired," Hinata had smiled with teary eyes. "I just want to live and honour Neji's memory."), and Kiba had grown jaded despite his crooked grin, finding for once true solace in the company of his ever silent teammate (Akamaru had been a young dog, in his prime years, really. Kiba didn't feel like getting a new one, even though Inuzukas were known to fight with their loyal dogs, and it wasn't unheard of for an Inuzuka to take on a new one when needed. Shino's chakra coils had been too damaged to be healed, and thus lost his insects. He hadn't spoken much since the realisation that his first friends were forever gone, and that he won't ever have them again. He felt naked and empty).

And then… There was Kakashi. Just thinking about him hurt, because he was Naruto's personal failure, died protecting her… They had been close, these last few years, a true friendship blooming between them. They understood each other better than they would've thought. She could still remember his hands roaming on her naked flesh, on that first and last night they had together before going onto the battlefield. Her skin still tingled from the phantom touch – foreign and so familiar at the same time, broad bare hands settling gently on her curves – never taking, always giving. They hadn't been in love – they were both too broken for that kind of things. Just two lost souls seeking warmth in each other's embrace – seeking comfort after their last teammate never returned to camp.

Naruto knew that if she'd been quicker, stronger, than her sensei would've never met his death so soon. Hence her attempt at reviving the Hiraishin. And why she was now lying at the bottom of a crater large enough to be a cosy nest for the Kyuubi.

Naruto stared at the baby blue sky for a long minute, thin white clouds spiralling around the clearing she single-handedly created out of nowhere. Stunned, she pulled herself out of the hole, trying absentmindedly to get in touch with Kurama, but she couldn't feel anything. Either the fox was drained and needed his beauty sleep, or he wasn't there anymore. She avoided thinking about the second hypothesis, too shaken at the moment to consider the possibility that she was well and truly alone in this new adventure.

A quick scan of her surrounding through chakra nature told her that she wasn't the only human being in the area, and it's on unsteady feet that she walked to the few chakra signatures she felt, hoping to get a few answers on the era she was dropped in.

No need to say she almost choked on her tongue when she realised that the bloody, passed out ninja lying in front of her was actually her father. As in, young. And alive.

She didn't know how many minutes she spent silently freaking out about the meaning of this information – was the Third War still on-going? Had it already happened, actually? How the fuck was she supposed to keep her cool if confronted with both her parents?! – and acted on autopilot as she disposed of the already half-dead missing-nins before lifting Minato's body on her back, biting back a grunt. Despite his narrow frame, he obviously was packing more muscles than she expected, and Naruto was still weakened from her impromptu time travel. She let out a hysterical giggle at the thought. Shit, she wasn't dreaming, this was actually true.

Lifting Minato a bit higher and speeding towards the nearest village she could sense, she gulped back panicked tears and screams. She really didn't want to go through another war so soon after finishing her own, but she also couldn't not interfere, what with the knowledge she held.

It took her a few hours to find a place secluded enough, at the border of a peaceful, sleepy village. She wasn't even sure if she was still in the Land of Fire, but the smell of flowers had kept coming and going while she ran, and it soothed her (if she closed her eyes, she could imagine walking in the busy main street of Konoha, where the Yamanaka shop was located, their flowers artfully displayed outside the entrance, the heady perfume drifting in the air).

She was lucky to find an abandoned cabin that might have belonged to a forest ranger once upon a time, and decided to make it her base for the time being. Carefully setting Minato on the dusty floor – she felt a twinge of guilt before shrugging it off, he was after all a ninja, a few hours spent on a hard floor wouldn't kill him – she went out to the village and bought a few things she would need to start her new life. Luckily, Naruto hadn't lost her belongings during the travel, and even though she wasn't rich, she had enough to survive for a while.

Her chakra was slowly regulating, and she felt confident enough to use a few shadow clones to help her in making a home out of the cabin. It took a lot of time and curses, but after a while, a bed was set in a corner, and she laid Minato onto it after checking his vitals – steady, but still weak.

The first day he was out, she didn't give it too much thoughts, too busy trying to meditate and get in touch with her demon, only meeting some kind of lock pushing her gently out of her mindscape. She also took this time to sleep herself, only now feeling the backlash of all the chakra used to perform her faulty jutsu.

The second day, she went through all her scrolls, trying to understand where she went wrong in her pseudo Hiraishin, but not finding any good answer. Maybe it had to do with her own peculiar chakra – she couldn't remember if she used the Kyuubi's too, and Naruto had always been fond of draining chakra techniques. Perhaps she overloaded the seal, and as a consequence, the 'time' stamp took priority over the 'space' one. Frustrated, she gave up on finding the solution to her enigma – she was never the smart one, always relying more on gut feelings than sound logic.

The third day was passed looking at the still sleeping Minato, worry slowly gnawing at her. He should've woken up already, his injuries were not life threatening after all. It might have something to do with her demonic chakra, his coils were obviously not used to the raw energy, contrary to hers, but still – Naruto was growing crazy, alone with her turmoil, deep in the woods. The more Minato slept, the longer she had to actually process how deep in shit she was.

It was as she stared owlishly at him, nose practically mashed against his, trying to telepathically induce his waking, that he opened his eyes. She was as surprised as him, but managed to hide it better behind a slight smirk, not at all feeling as confident as she broadcast.

It wasn't as weird as she feared it would be, to see him alive and moving. It was surely due to the Edo Tensei, even though she didn't really get to spend that much time with him, the war raging on around them. She had made her peace with him back then, and though she craved to have someone to confide in, Naruto wasn't as stupid as to think that it'd be a good idea to reveal the future to anyone – she'd take this secret to the grave, it was already dangerous enough for her to be here, who knew what her knowledge could change.

She hid her anxiety beneath thick sarcasm and didn't waste a minute to chide him on his rude attitude as she saw his hand's subtle move towards his thigh. The sneaky bastard, she mused, if I wasn't so paranoid, he could've killed me thrice in just this second. I didn't even noticed he was awake until he opened his eyes, dammit!

"Where am I?" Minato's voice was hoarse as he spoke, a lot lower than the chipper tone she got used too during the war.

He was so distrustful of his own daughter, the irony! Naruto couldn't help the little tug at the corners of her lips. She made herself comfy and decided to give him some information as to keep him from exhausting himself with worry. Still, she couldn't help teasing him a bit by casually dropping his name, almost regretting it when he went full ninja on her – or, well, at least three quarter ninja. He was still recovering after all. Even incapacitated, Minato wasn't a man to trifle with, and she wouldn't want to risk pushing his buttons in her condition.

A hand came up to rub at her neck and she sighed. What a bother! She should've just left him where he was and gone her own way. A quick glance at his pale face made her rethink that last part – he was actually lucky she was such a good daughter, even to a father she never really had. Err, weird, when put like that.

"If it'll put you at ease, I can tell you that I'm not after your bounty. And the name's Naruto. See? Now we're even."

Scepticism was rolling in waves out of Minato, and even his face spelt 'you gotta be kidding me'. It was funny to see him with such a serious and kind of bitchy face, used as she was to his paternal and sunny attitude. It was refreshing, and Naruto felt like the next few days will be filled with amusement on her end, and endless frustration for Minato.

When his eyes began to blink heavily, Naruto pushed him back to the mattress, shushing him when he tried to resist.

"You're still not healed from your fight, nor the chakra blast," she apologised in a whisper, fully understanding that he wouldn't want to be so vulnerable in front of an unknown ninja.

His eyes were glazed, and she suspected that he may not have fully understand what she told him, and shrugged it off. It could wait until he was fully awake and healed. Plus, it would give her some more time to come up with a good backstory.

With a last sigh, Naruto went back to her chair and scrolls, cast them a dirty look before sealing them away and reclined against the armrest, a hand coming to her stomach. She patted it, humming under her breath.

"I really don't know what I got myself into, do I?" she mused out loud, and only the silence answered, leaving her to simmer in doubt and fear.

To be continued…

A/N: I still don't know when I'll update the rest. I'm a lazy ass of an author, and I only write when I feel like it, though your lovely reviews tend to make me work faster (yeah, I'm a whore for your comments, what can I say, I love the spotlight.) More seriously, my apologies in advance if you don't hear from me soon. Like you, it would seem that I'm a human being with a life (I know, shocking, I couldn't believe it too) and unfortunately, university doesn't give me that much free time!

Please, do drop a word on your way out to let me know your thoughts, I always love to speak with my readers! I promise I'm not that much of an asshole (even though I can appear as too cynical in my A/Ns. That's the exhaustion talking. I SWEAR TO GOD. I'M GENTLE AS A FLOWER. MAYBE. All I can promise is that I'm not a murderer.)

Ok, that's the last time I write an author note when tired as fuck. See ya around, folks!