How had it come to this?

It was about noon, with the sun floating high in the sky. A perfect day for a picnic, where he could just laze around on Hinata's lap, laughing at his children's antics while being comforted by the fact that he's achieved his dream of becoming Hokage, comforted by the fact that's he's made it…

And yet…

"Who here are the Yonko! Who here are the Admirals!" He could hear himself say, standing precariously on a giant ship, no doubt sticking out like a sore thumb with his red sage cloak and giant scroll slung sideways on his back.

Again, how had it come to this?

"Am I… in Limbo?" Naruto looked around as he muttered. Everything was an expanse of inky blackness, where not even his enhanced senses could make out what was what a mere ten meters ahead of him.

"Come sit down, Naruto," His focus was broken by a voice, a voice he clearly recognized, but his age-addled mind was unable to put a pin on. Until...

"Master Jiraiya?!" His eyes widened; Yes! That was his teacher! So this really was Limbo! "Master! Where are you!"

"Hehehe, even after all your power-ups, you can't find your teacher? I'm right behind you, Naruto,"

Turning around, Naruto was met with a dainty little campfire, its fragile flames the only thing to combat the encroaching darkness. Next to it was a man, his face heavily obscured by the shadows, though he'd recognize that whitish-grey hair anywhere.

"Jiraiya!" He rushed to the campfire, his mind racing with questions: where is this? Why aren't you in the pure lands? I've become Hokage! Are you proud of me? And so much more, but it was all compressed down into a, "How are you, Pervy sage!"

He's so close now he could practically see his master in arm's reach. He'd always wanted to tell Jiraiya in person about what's he's done, how he had saved the world, how he became the Nanadaime, how—

"Hello… Naruto-oooo..." He recoiled, his face a mix of angry and confused. This… This wasn't Jiraiya!

"You! Who are you?! What have you done to me? Aren't I supposed to be dead?!" Naruto jumped back, glaring vigilantly at the man who looked so much like, and so much unlike his late mentor.

The man didn't answer; hell, he didn't even bother to look in his general direction! The man was just sitting there, a smile on his face.

Again, Naruto's mind was flooded with questions, only of a different kind: Why are you impersonating Jiraiya? Am I dead? And If I am, who are you?

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity of silence, the man deigned to speak again.

"To answer your question, yes, you're dead; your protege killed you, and he's trying to kill your son as we speak,"

"Kawaki… would you really…?" Naruto looked down disappointedly. It was a heavy blow to him: to know that his son and his disciple were duking it out… just like him and Sasuke had all those years ago…

The man grinned, and he snapped his fingers. To Naruto's amazement, a giant screen materialized in front of them, and on the screen was Boruto… fighting for dear life against Kawaki.

He clenched his hands; if only he still had Kurama… if only he was still powerful, maybe this wouldn't have happened at all…

"Oho~! I do love it when I see people blaming themselves! But I didn't bring you here for that," The man's jovial tone was jarring, and although Naruto wanted to interrupt the man, the better part of him told him to remain quiet.

"Good, you're listening. I like people who listen," He chuckled, "Anyways, I'm sure you would love to go back, right? To fix the mistakes you made in hindsight, right?"

Naruto nodded.

"Then I'm willing to offer you a deal; a challenge, if you prefer..." He snapped again, and the screen suddenly switched from the scene of his son's fight to another location, one he didn't recognize.

The screen depicted a battlefield: on one side were thousands of people wearing white, the word justice sewed onto their uniform. On the other hand, the side opposing them were what he could only call: pirates. Mismatched clothes, mismatched expressions, mismatched everything. Oh, and pirate flags galore.

As he studied them, the man continued, "What I want you to do is assassinate nine people! Easy, right? You're a shinobi after all,"

"Who are they?" Naruto turned to him; he'd at least need the names and faces of his targets before deciding further.

In response, he laughed, "I like your enthusiasm, Naruto! It gives me high hopes if you're this determined!"

Then, he took out nine pieces of paper from his— Jiraiya's red vest before handing it to Naruto.

'Kaido, Charlotte Linlin, Portgas D. Shanks, Marshall D. Teach… Borsalino, Sakazuki, Kuzan, Issho and Sengoku...'

Naruto seared their faces and names into his mind before throwing the papers into the flame. Why? Because it's never a good idea to have pictures of people you're going to assassinate on your person.

"You know who your targets are?"

Naruto nodded again.

"Good, oh and as a reward for being so eager, I'll give you a few more details about them… to liven things up a notch or two~!"

Naruto rolled his eyes and thought, 'Of course they couldn't just be people who nobody would miss; I mean, they're probably some important guys who run a country or somethin'!'

"Ahem! Okay, the first four people you saw are what's called the Yonko. They're very powerful people who have practical armies worth of pirates fighting for them," He waited for Naruto to assimilate the new piece of info, "Then, the rest are what's called the Admirals, they're the highest-ranking officers in an organization called the Marines, the enforcers of the policies the World Government employs,"

"I see," Naruto went into thought, "And how powerful are these people exactly?"

"Powerful enough," Came the reply, and he was tempted to roll his eyes one more time. Still, he held it back and asked another question.

"How powerful will I be?" And is Kurama coming with? He said the last part inside his heart.

At this, the man laughed uproariously.

Walking up to Naruto, the man tried putting one hand on Naruto's shoulder, but it was quickly knocked aside; he didn't seem to mind though and just said, "Naruto, my boy, you must know I expect entertainment! Not a power fantasy! If I wanted that, I'd just go read some trashy Chinese cultivation novel!"

Naruto frowned, obviously having never heard of the word 'Chinese' before.

He shook his head playfully, "I don't want that at all… So, after doing some calculations, I've decided you will be using your body right before fighting Nagato, that okay with you? Oh, and no Kurama, that's cheating,"

Naruto groaned, thinking, 'Well shit, that's pretty weak… Whatever, I can still make this work: I know a whole lot more senjutsu techniques than before, and at least I won't have my disease weighing me down… Ah! But if there isn't enough natural energy...'

"How much natural energy is in there?" He voiced his doubts, and the man smiled again.

"With your experience channelling senjutsu chakra? I'd say it'll take you five seconds to go into sage mode,"

Naruto sighed in relief, 'That's great to know...'

After this, they spent a few more minutes hashing out the details, and when Naruto felt like he couldn't squeeze any more information out of the mysterious man, he asked one last question:

"What's your name?"

There was a short bit of silence that, although not long enough for it to be uncomfortable, it wasn't so short that he'd think it was unintentional.

"I go by many names, Naruto boy," He finally begun, "But you may call me Ajax; it's been my Moniker for the longest time,"

Suddenly, he clapped, and a rectangular box appeared.

"Inside is your clothes, twenty shurikens, two kunai, and your reverse-summoning scroll," He stopped to point at a button that appeared along with the box, "Press that when you're ready, Naruto. I'll be watching you, so goodbye, and good luck,"

With that, he disappeared into the darkness, leaving Naruto alone…

Naruto gulped, his index finger hovering nervously over the little red button, 'Godammit! Just press it already!' He screamed at himself, 'Hoo… okay… here goes nothing,'

-Beep!-

The button lit up, and almost immediately after that, a large patch of darkness disappeared next to him, revealing… clouds?

"What the fuck have I gotten myself into..." Naruto griped, his eyes quickly scanning the lay of the land.

'Hoh? Now this is a surprise, I never knew ships could fall out of the sky...' Naruto chuckled to himself, 'Man, this place is getting crazier and crazier by the second; hope I'm not too late to the party!'

'Hmm… if I jump now, I'll probably land on that ship...' He thought to himself as he warmed himself up, 'I'd better get used to this body… fast,'

He had actually turned back into his younger self when he opened the box, though he was still getting used to the whole 'being my younger and more healthy self'.

"Welp, no time like the present! Let's do this! Geronimooooooooo—" And just like that, he jumped…

Naruto looked around(to be more precise, sensed the surrounding area for chakra), and to his confusion: nobody had any chakra at all! But apart from that bombshell of a revelation, he noticed the very noticeable body of a giant monster around the size of a tailed beast, four of the nine men he had to kill, and the frozen sea… eh, he'd seen weirder.

Now then, back to the problem at hand...

'Did that Ajax guy do something to my sage mode?! Damnit all! When I get back, I'll make sure to give him a piece of my—'

"Hey!" He was taken aback by the loud shout, and he turned to look at the source:

It was a young boy, probably not even a fully-fledged adult, who had interrupted him. He wore a sleeveless yellow vest, along with shorts, sandals and a straw hat. The boy was pointing quite rudely at his face, his arm comically stretched out like rubber.

Slapping the hand away, Naruto answered him, "Yes?"

"I saw you jump outta the sky! You're pretty cool; wanna join my crew?" He exclaimed in awe, the boy's eyes transforming into stars in the process.

Naruto's eye ticked, and so did everyone else's. For once, their thoughts were all united, 'Did this kid just ask a stranger in the middle of a war... to join his crew?'

"Gurarararara… cheeky ass kid..." Naruto turned away from the boy for a moment to focus on the newcomer.

He was an old man: likely in his late-eighties, and probably sick too if the medical equipment stuck to his body was anything to go by. And yet, he radiated a power so dense it reminded Naruto of Ohnoki; it also helped that he was thrice the size of Naruto even when he straightened his back.

Their eyes met, and the old man spoke first, "And who're you, kid? Why're ya looking for the Yonko?"

Naruto searched through his memories, and after confirming the old man wasn't any of the people he had to assassinate, he answered nonchalantly, "To kill them,"

This seemed to send waves of shock through the audience, especially the marines. Shocked whispers and gasps populated the other side of the giant while the pirates were… not too happy, to say the least.

"Gurararara..." The old man turned to stare at him, his weapon(Naruto recognized it to be a naginata like the one he'd seen from the Land of Iron) pointed straight at Naruto's face, "I am Whitebeard, one of the four Yonko. What makes you think you have it in you to kill me, huh kid?"