Time Flows Like Ink

Summary: After a fuinjutsu experiment gone wrong, Minato is yanked into a future where his family is dead, his team fell apart and the Uchiha were slaughtered. With the defective seal burning in his palm, Minato struggles to stay afloat in a Konoha that isn't his.

Chapter 13

They must have made quite the picture, marching through Konoha without sparing their surroundings so much as a glance. Rin and Sakura had taken the lead, although Sakura kept throwing glances behind her as if assuring herself that Kushina and Minato were still following along.

As adorable as her starstruck hero-worship was, if she didn't get over it in the foreseeable future, Kushina would have to help her along. Only a short amount of time spent with Minato was enough to realize just what a dork he was, so she was carefully optimistic that she wouldn't have to resort to drastic measures.

They heard the argument before they saw it. Naruto stood to the side, silent for once, while Sasuke exchanged heated words with no other than Jiraiya. He'd barely changed since Kushina had seen him last.

"– just saying," Jiraiya said, pinning Sasuke with a frown, "do you really want this to continue like it has? I'm trying to help you move past this, so if you just let me–"

"I already have. Just not in the way everybody seems to want me to." Sasuke clenched his hands at his sides. His face was scrunched up in a glare. "I don't need you to try and meddle with my life."

"I'm not trying to make your decisions for you." A trace of frustration entered Jiraiya's voice. "If you just gave him a chance–"

"He's had his chance," Sasuke interrupted. "He's the one who decided not to take it. Just look at the Uchiha district to see where it's taken us."

"I think you're giving your brother too much credit. I hardly think he could have made a difference all on his own."

"He could have tried." With those words Sasuke turned, an oddly dispassionate expression on his face. He paused as he caught sight of Kushina and the others.

"I'm not done talking, Sasuke," Jiraiya said, but was interrupted by a quiet voice.

"Leave him be. You should not have tried to force him."

Minato sucked in a sharp breath. Kushina hadn't noticed Itachi up until this point, either.

He stood a few steps behind Jiraiya, partially covered by his frame – not as though he was trying to hide, but as though he was moments away from drifting away from the conversation.

"I don't get it." A frown marred Naruto's face. "Didn't you want to kill your brother?"

Minato let out a sigh. Kushina herself was suppressing the urge to bury her face in her hands. It would appear that their son had inherited her own sense of tact.

Sasuke gave Naruto an odd look. "Why would I want that? He's not worth my attention." His voice gained an edge. "He's not worth anything. He abandoned us when we needed him."

"Sasuke," Jiraiya snapped. "I've heard enough."

"I don't care what you say." Sasuke glowered at Jiraiya. "You won't change my mind."

With that Sasuke stalked away, leaving behind a troubled-looking Naruto, a frustrated Jiraiya, and Itachi, who hadn't so much as batted an eyelash at his brother's accusations.

There was a beat of silence before Jiraiya sighed. "Itachi, look–"

"It is alright. I do not mind." Itachi gave Jiraiya a smile. "Thank you for trying, but I have already told you that there is no need."

Both Itachi's words and his facial expression suggested that he wasn't bothered by what had happened. However his smile looked empty.

"What was that about?" Minato asked, following Sasuke's retreating back with his eyes.

Jiraiya didn't startle. Naruto had already made their return to the future known, so he was not surprised to see them. He did, however, pause as his eyes found Kushina. "... Welcome back. You brought Kushina."

"You didn't seriously expect me to stay behind, did you?" Kushina's cheerful tone fell flat in the subdued atmosphere Jiraiya and Sasuke's argument had left behind.

"What did Sasuke mean?" Minato asked, pressing for answers.

Jiraiya's expression was conflicted. "It's... complicated. There's something you should know before–" Jiraiya trailed off as Itachi met his gaze. He sighed. "I guess it's not really my story to tell."

"Sasuke blames me for what happened to our clan," Itachi admitted quietly.

Kushina had thought as much from Sasuke's accusations.

"Does he have a reason to?" Minato asked.

Itachi paused as he picked up on Minato's neutral expression. Kushina wished he wasn't being so obvious about it. Considering Itachi had been a murderer in the last version of the future, she didn't blame him.

"I was unable to aid our clan because I was on a trip with Jiraiya-sensei."

Jiraiya sighed. "We were on a lot of training trips around that time. We were... away from Konoha a lot." Just like you asked us to, went unsaid as he spared a glance at Minato.

"My brother does not forgive me for not being there when our clan needed me."

Kushina doubted that a single incident – even as major as this – was enough to sway Sasuke's opinion against his brother to such a degree. The seed of his negative feelings must have been planted prior to it. Perhaps he'd begrudged Itachi for the time he spent away even before the massacre?

Jiraiya frowned at Minato. Rather than the guilty expression one might have expected, Minato's brows were creased in thoughtfulness.

Kushina understood. They'd been confronted with plenty of grief and regret since travelling through time – Minato even more so than her, seeing as it wasn't his first trip. They'd have plenty of it still to come – but not in this case. Not when they were finally collecting enough clues to begin figuring out this jigsaw puzzle of a future.

"If you want to interrogate my student, just say it outright," Jiraiya said, a frosty quality to his voice that startled Minato out of his musings.

Surprise flickered over Minato's face before he managed to suppress it. "That wasn't what I was trying to do." He hesitated. "How much do you remember about my last visit? About Konoha during that time?"

"Only flashes," Jiraiya replied curtly. "But I've been training Itachi for years. It doesn't matter what kind of person you knew him as then, because he isn't that person now."

"I still need to figure out what happened to him, last time." Minato kept his voice quiet. "I need to puzzle out what changed, and why. So that it isn't going to happen again."

Jiraiya paled, his expression going grim as he realized that was a very real possibility. Losing the edge in his voice, he said, "Ask what you want. I'll answer what I can, but it isn't much."

"I cannot recall much of it, either." Itachi admitted. "I am afraid I will not be much help."

"Any piece of information will help," Minato said, his tone towards Itachi considerably softer than before.

Kushina realized that another person had left. "Where'd Rin go?" she asked, somewhat impressed that she hadn't noticed her leaving.

Jiraiya cast a brief glance around but didn't look as though he expected to see her. "I think I know where she's gone."

Rin found Sasuke sitting on her porch and stroking Airi's head. Airi didn't purr – she never did – but curled up next to his leg and nestled her head against Sasuke's knee.

Seeing as she kept coming back only because Sasuke insisted on feeding her, Rin found it somewhat ironic that Airi was still considered Rin's cat. She barely even tolerated Rin.

"Her leg's worse," Sasuke said without looking up. "I think she got into another fight."

"She should know better by now." Rin sunk onto the porch next to Sasuke by folding her legs underneath her.

She reached out with a green glow around her hands, frowning as Airi soundlessly bared her teeth.

"She's going to help you," Sasuke muttered, making her settle down with brief, gentle strokes of her fur.

Rin's second attempt was tolerated, if not particularly appreciated.

Rin worked in silence as neither of the two attempted to speak. She didn't mind. Neither did Sasuke.

She paused in her work after the bulk of the injury was healed and she was certain that nothing complicated had been damaged. She scooted over and gave Sasuke a nod.

Sasuke hesitated but didn't protest. He furrowed his brows and managed to manifest the same aura of healing chakra after a few seconds of deep concentration. Rin watched as he proceeded to heal the superficial part of the injury himself.

Something small wriggled in her chest, a spark of emotion Rin tentatively identified as pride. "Well done," she said once Sasuke had lowered his hands and would no longer be distracted by her words.

Kakashi hadn't agreed with her at first. He'd insisted that Sakura's chakra control made her a better candidate to become a medic than Sasuke. While he wasn't wrong, Rin had seen Sakura's shortcomings. She was lacking in most of the basics – everything other than being booksmart – and Kakashi was better suited to help her overcome them quickly.

Sasuke meanwhile needed focus. His anger made him frustrated and reckless. Channelling that anger into something precise, something complicated like healing helped.

"Jiraiya thinks he's doing what's best for you," Rin told him. "But he's biased."

Sasuke scowled while petting the cat. "He shouldn't be trying to make decisions about my life." He hesitated. "What do you think I should do?"

Rin couldn't think of an answer at first. She wasn't used to being someone who gave other people advice. She wasn't used to being looked up to and respected. The only reason she didn't send Sasuke to Kakashi with these sorts of questions was because she knew he was just as hopeless as she was.

"I think you shouldn't allow anyone to pressure you," she settled on eventually. "You don't want to make up with your brother. That's fine."

Sasuke chewed on his lip. "Everybody says I shouldn't hold grudges. There's so few of us left. They say I can't afford to split us up even further."

"It isn't your job to hold your clan together. Not reconciling with your brother will not break the rest of them apart."

Sasuke's eyes were pinned on the ground. He neither agreed nor disagreed.

Rin fought to keep a scowl off of her face. She'd always had trouble expressing herself. She wasn't the right person for this job.

"Your clan members want you to be happy," she started, her voice slow and hesitant. "They want you to make up with your brother because they believe you will be happier when you're united. They want to help you."

"... I know that."

"But you know what makes you happy better than them. It is your choice, not theirs." Rin hesitated. "Not Jiraiya's choice, either. Or your brother's."

"It feels like Itachi's the only one who hasn't tried to make me forgive him," Sasuke muttered.

They sat in silence, absentmindedly petting the cat between them. They stayed that way until Airi decided she'd gotten her fill of attention for the day and stalked away – hopefully not about to pick another fight immediately after getting her leg healed.

"Let's go back," Rin decided, pushing herself to her feet. "They'll be waiting."

Sasuke pursed his lips. He neither spoke nor moved from his spot on the porch.

"Your brother won't have stayed," Rin assured him. "He was only there because of Jiraiya."

Sasuke hesitated. He climbed to his feet next to Rin. "Fine."

"Sasuke's back!"

Naruto followed Sakura's thrilled exclamation and turned in time to see her skip towards Sasuke with a beam. Sasuke didn't react, but he didn't move away from Sakura, either.

Naruto wondered if the only reason he hadn't made a run for it yet was because the old guy and Sasuke's brother were no longer there. Sasuke looked reluctant to be there, and considering the argument they'd had earlier, Naruto doubted Sasuke would voluntarily spend more time with either of the two.

Naruto didn't really get it.

The whole time travelling thing was confusing even without people showing up to be part of his life he hadn't known before. There were his parents – his amazing, wonderful parents who hadn't left him because they didn't want him but because they hadn't had a choice. There was the old guy – Jiraiya – who was apparently his godfather and staying in Konoha more often now. Perhaps even permanently?

Then there were Rin and Kakashi. Naruto wasn't entirely sure which of them was going to be teaching him from now on. He'd thought it would be Kakashi, but then he'd gone back in time with his parents and everything had changed yet again! He didn't even know if he was still part of a team.

Naruto remembered then that he had people to ask these questions now. "Hey, Dad," he said, stepping closer to his father and getting a thrill out of saying the word 'Dad'. "If Kakashi is teaching Sakura and Rin is teaching Sasuke, who's gonna be my teacher?"

"Well," his father started, "now that your team is complete, I expect you'll be trained together. Maybe Rin and Kakashi will share the responsibility."

Naruto's expression lit up. He'd hate to have to choose between the two. They were both super amazing ninja, so being taught by not one of them but both was clearly the best possible solution.

"Hey, Sakura!" Naruto called, bouncing on his feet. "So what's Kakashi-sensei like as a–"

He trailed off when he realized that Sakura was already talking.

"– means well, but he doesn't know what he's talking about."

Sasuke's arms were crossed but he didn't try to move away from Sakura. Nor did he tell her to stop talking.

"Jiraiya-san has known your brother for years," Sakura went on. "It's only natural he'd want to protect him."

"I know," Sasuke muttered, his brows furrowed. "You don't need to tell me that."

"I'm just saying, he doesn't actually want you to–"

"I don't want to talk about this anymore."

"I– I just–" Sakura trailed off. "Okay. Sorry for bringing it up."

Naruto watched the interaction with a mixture of puzzlement and apprehension. This, like so many other things he'd known, had changed as well.

The Sakura he knew wouldn't have talked to Sasuke without blushing or squealing. She definitely wouldn't have tried telling him he was wrong about something. And the Sasuke he knew wouldn't have listened to Sakura in the first place. At the very least he wouldn't have responded.

Naruto realized then that Sasuke and Sakura'd had several weeks of training together that Naruto had missed out on.

Naruto clamped his mouth shut and tried not to let it show on his face what he was thinking. Did he even have a place in the team?

"Let's talk about something else," Sakura muttered, although she didn't sound happy at the prospect. Her eyes fell on Naruto and she paused, biting her lip. Naruto tried not to squirm under her gaze. "So, Naruto. Did somebody teach you while you were gone?"

"Erm. Kind of? Mom and Dad both showed me some stuff." Not as much as he'd like, seeing as there were so many other things they'd had to do.

"Really?" Sakura's eyes lit up. "That's so cool, what did they show you? Was it chakra exercises? Rin-sensei taught us a couple just recently."

Naruto wasn't sure how to respond to Sakura's sudden enthusiasm. "Y-Yeah? Yeah, something like that."

"How about we swap? You show us what you learned, and we show you what we did. We can practice together!"

All of his prior thoughts vanished as excitement flooded his chest. "Duh! You need to show me everything I missed. I'll catch up in no time, you'll see!"

There was no way he'd fall behind his two teammates, no matter their head start. Naruto would just have to train harder and longer than the both of them, and soon all three of them would be as crazily strong as his parents were!

The thought of the stranger in the ANBU mask wouldn't leave Minato alone. He didn't know what it was, but something about the man lingered in his mind. He'd asked Minato to meet him outside of the village – away from curious ears, and away from people like Kushina who might interrupt – a request that could so easily turn out to be a trap, Minato would be a fool to follow it.

He couldn't get the thought out of his mind. What if the stranger had information that would help him?

"Just send a shadow clone," Kushina tried reasoning with him, exasperation carried along in her tone. "If you're really going to do this, at least be smart about it."

"And what if he does attack and dispel my clone? I won't be able to catch up to him before he's able to flee."

Kushina let out a sigh. "You won't use a shadow clone. You won't let me come along. Should I tie one of your hands behind your back too, to make it even easier for them?

"I can handle myself," Minato said, refusing to take the bait. "And the only reason I'd like you to stay is because if it does turn out to be a trap, I don't want both of us getting caught up in it."

"You mean when it happens." Kushina shook her head, although her resolve seemed to be crumbling. "Just don't start whining when I tell you 'I told you so'."

If he was to choose between fighting his way out of a trap or missing something vital in his quest to change the future, it wasn't a difficult decision to make.

The stranger hadn't told him when and where exactly they were supposed to meet, and Minato had almost definitely missed him by now. If the meeting was as important to the stranger as it had seemed, he must have left a message or some sort of clue for Minato to find.

Instead of a message, Minato was greeted by a chakra signature melting out of the trees and the stranger planting himself directly in front of him.

Minato stared. "Did you wait here the entire time?" He leveled disbelieving eyes at the stranger. What would he have done had Minato decided to come the next day? Or not at all?

How had nobody spotted him? They weren't far off from the village, well within the perimeter set by their guards.

"Came," the stranger mumbled, holding his arms stiff at his sides. "Knew you would."

Minato furrowed his brows. "Why did you come to the village?" he asked on the off chance that the stranger's thoughts were less scattered than they'd been earlier.

"You told us."

Minato's frown deepened. "Told who? Who's 'we'?"

The stranger did not answer. He peered over his shoulder as though he was waiting for someone. Or else reassuring himself that they were alone.

"Why are you here?" Minato took a step closer. He sharpened his voice, hoping that a harsher tone would get through to him. "Tell me. Why did you come?"

"Commanded," the stranger whispered.

"You have orders to be here," Minato guessed. "You didn't before, but you do now."

Which meant that somebody had communicated with him since the last time Minato had seen him. Somebody had either sent a message, or had hidden close to Konoha's borders, waiting to pass along the stranger's orders.

A sense of foreboding settled heavily in Minato's gut.

"Those orders," Minato started, "what are they?"

Leaves rustled close to them and Minato tensed, prepared to jump into action as soon as backup charged at him – Kushina had been right, of course she had, obviously the stranger wouldn't have come alone. Minato had suspected as much.

It was just a cat.

A delighted gasp startled Minato out of his interrogation mode.

"Look! Kitten!"

Minato stared as the stranger crouched down and held out one hand towards the wild cat. The cat gave him a disinterested look and ignored him.

"I asked a question," Minato said carefully.

"Look! She's cute."

"Very cute," Minato agreed, "and I'm sure you'll have time to... um... take a look at her, once we're done."

The stranger's shoulders slumped in disappointment. Minato tried to stop staring.

The stranger's personality was whimsical and contradictory. Everything currently about him spoke of a child – his gestures, the way he talked, even his chakra: unpolished and rough as though he had not yet learned control over it.

Minato knew that as soon as he tried talking to him like a child his behavior would, once again, change.

"Can you try to focus for me?" Minato asked instead. "This is important."

The stranger sighed, casting a wistful glance at the cat.

"Can you try to answer me?" Minato pressed, watching as the cat lost interest and disappeared in between the trees.

"Won't like," the stranger mumbled, straightening out of his crouch and stretching his arms in a relaxed manner that didn't fit his nervous tone.

"The answer?" Minato asked. "I promise I won't be angry, no matter what it is." He paused, waiting for the stranger to say something. He didn't, so he added, "Whoever gave you your orders, what did they command you to do?"

The stranger looked at him calmly, expression hidden by his stolen ANBU mask. "Kill."

Minato ducked. A dagger sliced the air where his throat had been. Minato hurled one of his kunai and teleported as it reached its mark. The stranger changed direction before he'd even completed the technique, expecting the move.

Minato's heart pounded in his chest and he stayed on the defense as he reevaluated the situation.

The stranger knew him well enough to anticipate his fighting moves. His chakra signature had changed – something that shouldn't be possible – had warped from its ragged, unpolished feeling into something sharp and dangerous.

Talking was no longer on the table.

Minato dodged a kunai, several senbon and a swipe of the dagger in rapid succession. He contemplated retreating to the village but decided against it. If this person was as dangerous as their unhinged, unpredictable nature suggested, Minato wouldn't risk luring them towards other people.

"Fine," Minato muttered, noting the lack of taunts and the single-minded focus of his opponent. "Let's do it your way, then."

He pulled out more of his kunai and threw them in the air, spreading them out among their battle field.

The stranger mirrored his move with regular kunai and threw Minato's off their course. They buried themselves into the ground in a cluster, rather than widely apart as Minato had intended.

"You're familiar with my fighting style," Minato noted, attempting to lure a reply out of the stranger.

He was more than familiar. Many people knew of his signature moves, while only few had ever tried to come up with ways to counter them.

Minato was constantly developing new moves. Few of them had yet been seen by anyone other than Kushina and his team.

Minato grabbed for more of his kunai and charged.

A/N: My betas are Igornerd, To Mockingbird and PyrothTenka! Go check them out, they're all wonderful writers!

Please take the time to leave a review!

~Gwen

PS: I'm gonna take a break from writing while I settle back into work. I can feel that burnout creeping up (I've been writing every day and posting a chapter of a story every 5 days for over a year. I didn't really expect to make it that long, tbh.) and I rather wouldn't risk it. I hope to be back soon, so please be patient!