Two weeks passed.

As Naruto began his training, signs of the upcoming war became more and more apparent. The last batch of troops would soon depart for Allied Shinobi Force headquarters, leaving behind the minimum necessary for Suna's defense. Their tools and supplies were sent ahead, and now that almost all of it had arrived safely, the only thing that remained was for the shinobi themselves to leave.

All this happened on the periphery of his awareness. Naruto spent as much time as possible at Mount Myoboku. Training gave him a sense of purpose, even though he still didn't know what he was going to do. Being stronger would help no matter what happened. Taking a new power home when he returned was an exciting prospect, too.

But he saw the others less because of it. They always ate together in the evening—sometimes with one of the Sand Siblings in their own apartments, sometimes out on the town. Naruto was glad for any meal that offered more edible fare than Shima-baa's home cooking, but it was still awkward.

He was stuck between being angry and wanting to make up. He knew they hadn't meant to hurt him. But they were bound to keep disagreeing over his older self's exclusion in the war. At Suna, he mostly stayed in his room.

Things on Mount Myoboku were a lot simpler and happier. Fukasaku alternated between Sage training and the basics of Frog Kata, the taijutsu form specialized for Sage Mode.

Unfortunately, they could only talk about the more advanced moves in theory, because many of them were physically impossible in a normal state. They wouldn't get very far until he could actually use Sage Mode.

Naruto sat in the shade of a gigantic leaf, meditating, trying his best to master 'stillness'. Yamato sat on the grass nearby, leaning back against the stalk of a freakishly large fern. Fukasaku stood ready with his stick beside Naruto.

So far there hadn't been any signs of a transformation, whether good or bad, and it was getting harder and harder for Naruto to sit still without complaint. Perhaps it was to be expected, but the first step was already taking longer than it had for his older self.

Naruto's eyes snapped open and he flopped backward onto the grass with a very loud and frustrated groan. "I know I can do this. Are you sure I can't do it the way aniki did? We should try some of that toad oil stuff, at least."

"I told you it's too risky, Naruto-chan," Fukasaku said. "The purpose of the oil is to draw Natural Energy to you, so you can sense and take it in more easily. But you are attracting a lot of energy already. Any more would be dangerous. It's dangerous now."

Naruto sat up and crossed his arms. "I still don't really understand. How do I use it, even if I was able to sense it? Do I just… take a big breath and hope it goes in through my nose, or what?"

Fukasaku scratched his head with a sigh and then put his hands in a ram seal. "You learned about advanced chakra manipulation with the Rasengan, right? You already know how to focus your chakra to a specific point, and how to control other variables like power level and rotation. If I remember correctly, you also learned how to mix Wind Element energy with all of that."

"Eh?"

"Not yet," Yamato interjected from where he sat, shaking his head. "He learned how to use Fuuton a short time before his original Sage training. That was also the first time he used the Kage Bunshin to accelerate training."

"Hmm," Fukasaku mumbled. "You have even less experience than I thought. Nevertheless, as I explained at the beginning, you need to combine the Natural Energy with your normal physical and spiritual energies. It's much like other types of chakra manipulation, except part of what you are using comes from outside of yourself, rather than from inside."

"Wait wait wait wait," Naruto waved his arms. "Back up a minute. I can use Fuuton? Can you guys teach me how to do that, too?"

"It may be better for you to learn Sage Mode first this time," Yamato said. "The jutsu you created from adding Fuuton to your Rasengan ended up being unsafe to use without Sage Mode. Besides, it's easy to find someone to teach you how to use your element. If we have time after you get the hang of it, I can get you started on chakra nature manipulation."

"Okay! I misjudged you, Moku-oji. You are alright!"

So it was with that added incentive that Naruto settled back into his meditation pose.

As it always did, training lasted until well in the evening.

Yamato continued watching Naruto thoughtfully. This version was every bit as enthusiastic and dedicated to his training as the older one was, but in most other situations, the two were more different than he expected.

Instead of the bright, loud, unfailingly confident shinobi he had come to know, the younger Naruto pulled pranks with bitter bravado and sulked in his room whenever he was made to go back to Suna.

Yamato could tell the boy was struggling to accept the way things were in this time, and tried covering up his sense of hurt and betrayal with impudent behavior. It was immature, certainly, but it was undoubtedly a pattern he reverted to in order to protect himself. When Naruto's thoughts were wholly concerned with training, he forgot the act and seemed a little more like the young man he would become.

That was why Yamato regretted it later that evening when it was time to break the news. Yamato stood from the grass and walked silently to where Naruto was sitting, face scrunched with a look of utmost concentration. A miraculous effort, considering he'd been doing nothing but meditation all day and was clearly sick of it by now.

Yamato was about to speak up softly, but stopped when he noticed something was finally happening.

A bright orange pigment brushed over Naruto's closed eyelids as if painted on by an invisible hand, and Yamato held his breath. Fukasaku stared intently, stick at the ready. Naruto frowned, his lower lip sticking out slightly as he struggled. Suddenly his cheeks and hands poofed out rapidly, expanding to a comical, unnatural size in the span of a single blink.

"Ack—!" Naruto cried as he face-planted to the ground, courtesy of a hard thwack to the back of the head from the training stick. He sat up quickly, rubbing the back of his head. "Owww! What the hell, Sennin jii-chan? I think I finally felt something that time!"

"Yes." Fukasaku smiled widely. "You were finally able to tap into the Natural Energy that time, though it overwhelmed you very quickly. I'm proud of you, Naruto-chan."

"Congratulations," Yamato added with a warm smile.

Naruto rubbed the back of his head again, flushed with success, looking more sheepish and happy than pained this time. "Yeah, I felt it! I don't know what happened, but… what you said about the Rasengan reminded me what Ero-sennin taught me about concentration. I finally get what you were saying about having to balance the energies. It's really hard, but I know what to expect now. Yosh! I'm ready to start training with Kage Bunshin so I can speed up my progress!"

"Alright. But we'll start with just one. As I suspected, it seems the Natural Energy overwhelms you more quickly than normal once you lose the balance. We have to be careful."

Predictably enough, Naruto started to complain, but Yamato interjected before he could get too far. "Sorry to interrupt, but we need to go back to Suna now."

"Whaaat?" Naruto scowled without missing a beat. "I just started to get the hang of this Natural Energy thing! Why can't we stay a little longer today? It's still early!"

Yamato sighed. This could be difficult. "That's true, but there's a reason for it. Everyone is leaving, and we need to go back now if you want to see them before they're gone."

Naruto stared at him wide-eyed. "What? What do you mean, leaving? Leaving for good?"

"This has been the scheduled day of departure for a little while. There were some who thought it would be better if you didn't know until after the fact, but we negotiated that you would at least be able to see everyone off. You want to, don't you?"

Naruto stood up. "Of course," he said roughly. "It won't completely make up for it, but I can't let them leave without saying goodbye."

They barely made it back to Suna in time. Team 7, Neji, and the Sand siblings all lingered at the back a large group of shinobi just outside Suna's great entranceway. Everyone else was chatting, reading maps, hydrating, or checking their equipment one last time before the start.

Gaara was the first to notice them. He turned from the others and watched as Yamato and Naruto approached. The rest stopped talking to follow his line of sight. They all looked relieved.

"Naruto!" Sakura trotted up to him. He was surprised when she swept him into a hug, but she let go before he had a chance to respond. "I'm sorry we didn't tell you when we were leaving. The Daimyo's people didn't want you knowing any information, but we all knew it'd be worse if we left without saying goodbye, so Gaara put his foot down."

"I'm sorry, too," he mumbled. He looked from face to face. Sakura, Sai, and Neji were all wearing Konoha flak vests. It made them look so grown-up and official, and he felt the gap between them even more acutely. He was always terrible with goodbyes, but this was probably the worst he'd faced so far. It wasn't like when he made new friends on missions and had to return home. His friends were going to war, and he had to stay behind.

He'd been mad at them, and for good reason. But they could die. They could die and leave him alone and he could be stuck in this terrible future for all anyone knew, and—

"Don't worry about us." Sakura gave a reassuring smile. "We won't go down easily. More importantly, keep yourself safe, okay?"

"It's not right. Everyone's going off to fight, and I have to sit back here. You know I can't—"

"Aa, I know."

And that was all they could really say. They'd argued about it enough.

"Naruto, take this." Sai stepped forward and held a small green scroll toward him.

He took the scroll and unrolled it a little. It was completely blank. "Uhh… thanks?"

"If you open this scroll to one of my Chojuu Giga, the ink will lay on it and display whatever I sent. Usually I need at least some idea of where I am sending a message, but the seal at the center of this scroll is imbued with my chakra, and they should be able to seek it out. That way, it could find you even on Mount Myoboku. I can send you reports as often as you want. Though, you won't be able to answer."

"Thanks, Sai," Naruto said awkwardly, putting the scroll in his tool pouch. "For the record, I'm… sorry I said you weren't my friend. And for ignoring you and everyone else. You're kind of a weird guy, but you're nice, in your own way."

"Don't worry. We'll finish the war before your pea-brained older self can get out and ruin everything. And maybe by the time we come back, you'll have grown a little taller."

"Hey—!" Naruto scowled. "Don't mess it up now."

Sai just laughed. It was hard to tell sometimes if he was being serious, or using his own strange sense of humor.

"Neji." Naruto turned to him. "Go out there and show them what a Branch House member can do."

"Of course," Neji answered with a confident smirk.

"Gaara…" Naruto felt more awkward than ever, but now wasn't the time to worry about sounding ridiculous. "I didn't say it before, but I was really happy when I found out you became Kazekage. Knowing where you came from, and—I can't imagine what you had to go through after that, just to reach where you are. I know it must have been really…"

Gaara held out his hand, smiling faintly. Naruto blinked.

"I know. You're not really good with this kind of stuff, right?" he said.

"Right". Naruto laughed, shaking Gaara's hand.

"Try not to give Baki-sensei too many headaches while we're gone." Temari smirked and leaned forward conspiratorially. "But between you and me, feel free to use your natural powers of annoyance on anyone trying to butt in on Suna's governance."

"Osu!" Naruto saluted, grinning. "Good luck everyone! All of you better come back alive, or I'll beat the crap out of you when I go back to the past, and make you train with me every day so you don't do anything stupid like that again."

They all agreed, and whether it was only to humor him or not, Naruto didn't care. He wanted them to remember him.

When everyone was done saying goodbye, Gaara and his siblings made their way to the front of the group and led them away. Yamato and Naruto stood behind and watched until the group had disappeared completely behind the horizon.

The next day was gloomy, both figuratively and literally. Rare rainclouds hung over Suna from early in the morning, hovering ominously and blocking out much of the usual sun that baked the clay streets during the day.

Even though the parting group hadn't been all that large, the town felt strange and empty with most shinobi gone. As usual while in Suna, Naruto felt antsy to leave. Yamato had brought him to the local ramen place to try cheering him up, despite Naruto's protests that he wanted to get back to training as soon as possible.

"Moku-oji, you know I don't need to eat anyway, because of this weird plant body of mine… more importantly, I finally made progress in my training yesterday!"

"There's still plenty of time before Fukasaku-sama comes to fetch us." Yamato steered him into the ramen bar. "Do I really have to ask if you'd rather eat ramen, or hang out in the Administration building with the Daimyo's Guard?"

Naruto mumbled his assent. By now, of course, most of Suna's civilians were aware of the presence of Konoha's jinchuuriki in their midst. Torn between the gratitude they felt toward his older self, and a fear driven by associating him with a younger Gaara, they were wary but tentatively friendly. The ramen place the Konoha group had frequented lately wasn't as nice as Ichiraku's, but it made up for it with interesting varieties and warm service. The old lady that ran the shop was even friendlier than most of the population, since she had gotten to know the Naruto of this timeline, and was very fond of him.

"Good morning Naruto-chan, Yamato-san," she greeted as they stepped in. "Is it just you two today?"

"Yes," Yamato said as they settled in at the bar. "The rest of our group left for the Lightning Country yesterday evening."

"Oh dear, that is right. I suppose there really is no stopping this war, now... I had hoped that I would never live to see Suna involved in another war."

"But this time, we are all allies. If anything good can come from this, it would be the strengthening of our ties and hope for everyone to get along better in the future."

"True, true."

Naruto didn't say anything. He just put his elbow on the bar and his cheek in one hand, tracing imaginary spirals on the counter with his other hand.

"How is your training going, Naruto-chan?" the proprietress asked kindly.

"Good." He sat up a little more. "Actually, I made a huge step yesterday right before we came back! I probably would have mastered it by now if Moku-oji let me stay longer."

Her eyes crinkled. "If you do your best, I'm sure you will get it very soon, even with your time constraints."

"You said it! Something like that isn't gonna hold me back! Ah, now then... hm... I want to get... hey, Moku-oji, is it alright if I get the deluxe with the tempura desert radish and..." Naruto trailed off when he noticed Yamato was turned around on his stool and looking out into the street. "Moku-oji?"

Yamato stood and lifted the curtain in the entranceway so he could see. Naruto got up and stood beside him to see what he was looking at.

A group of five Suna shinobi were walking down the street, heading toward the Administration building. That alone would have been slightly unusual, given there were few shinobi left in town, and the ones that remained guarded the village's perimeter and entryways.

They looked distinctly uneasy and kept glancing at one another, as well as the woman in the center of the group. Her hands were tied behind her back, and another kunoichi walked close behind her, pointing a kunai at the back of her neck.

"What is going on?" Naruto asked.

"An intruder?" Yamato wondered out loud, eyes narrowed. "No... the situation looks too quiet for that..."

The woman wore a wide light-colored wrap typical of Suna, and it draped down her front and back the way Temari often wore it—but she was clearly an outsider. Underneath the wrap she wore a form-fitting purple top with mesh sleeves ending at her elbows, black shorts, and tall purple boots. Her hair was a paler shade of lavender, tied on top of her head in a little bun, and adorned with a delicately folded paper rose.

As if sensing their gaze, she turned her head to look at them. Her golden-amber eyes rested on Naruto for just long enough not to be incidental before looking away again. Despite her hands being tied, she seemed completely calm.

"It looks like they're taking her to Baki-san," Yamato said. "We should go, too. I get the feeling we'll be called in to vouch for her soon, anyway."

"What—why, do you know who that is?" Naruto asked curiously.

"I've never met her in person, so I didn't recognize her at first, but I've seen her file. That's the current leader of Amegakure, S-rank kunoichi and former member of Akatsuki, Konan."

"...What?"

By the time they reached the office where Baki carried out his duties as the stand-in leader of Suna, all but two of the escorts had been dismissed to go back to their posts. All that remained was the kunoichi holding Konan at knife-point, and another shinobi standing on her other side. Baki was sitting behind the desk, looking tense, and Yamaguchi was watching the scene from the sidelines with his beady eyes fully open.

"Our intel suggests you are indeed the leader of Amegakure, but it's also well-known that you and your Hidden Village were formerly affiliated with Akatsuki. It would be sheer idiocy to allow your people to watch after him. The Allied Shinobi Force has already agreed this is the best place. I'm sorry, but it is completely out of the question," Baki said.

"Excuse us," Yamato said to get their attention. "What is going on?"

"Yamato-san." Baki gave him a disconcerted glance. "I am not fully up on Konoha's alliances with smaller countries. Maybe you will have a better understanding as to why Ame would find it within their rights to offer another hiding place for Konoha's jinchuuriki."

"What was that?" Yamato said.

Konan turned around as much as she could and inclined her head in a small, polite bow. "It is as he says. I have heard about the situation here with Naruto, including his recent capture at the hands of Uchiha Madara. I have been monitoring Madara's activities very closely ever since I assumed leadership of Amegakure. I believe Naruto would be safer in Ame than in Suna. Our forces are powerful, and more importantly, they are all at home. It's well-known that no one can enter Ame undetected. Madara most of all."

"Why would you offer something like this?" Yamato asked. "Ame is neutral, not part of the Alliance. You aren't even officially friends with Konoha, even though we have a non-aggression agreement."

"Ame does have an allegiance—not with Konoha, but with Uzumaki Naruto, himself," Konan explained calmly.

"Eh?" Naruto was terribly confused.

"It is strange that the leader of a Hidden Village would come by themselves to make a visit like this, leaving their village unattended," Yamaguchi put in. "I'm sure many small countries would do anything to get their hands on a bijuu, but to go this far?"

Konan examined him coolly. "Ame is capable of getting along without me for a few days. I will not be away long."

They stared at one another for an uncomfortably long time. Naruto had the distinct feeling something was going on above his head here.

"No matter what you say, we can't let Naruto-kun go with you," Baki said. "We have the situation under control here already, and he has his training."

"And if he wanted to come to Ame, instead?" Konan asked. "Would it be so unthinkable to ask his opinion on it?"

Everyone turned reflexively to look at Naruto.

"Uh… hold on a minute." He held up his hands. "I guess I know you in this time or something, but right now I have no idea who you are. Moku-oji said you used to be in Akatsuki, so I don't even understand how you can just… be here. The boss toad of Mount Myoboku told me Amegakure was where Akatsuki's leader lived."

"Yes," Konan said. "Akatsuki was originally ours, but it was corrupted by Madara. Our loyalty was always to what it originally represented: a new era of peace for Ame and the world. We lost our way, it is true. But your older self helped us remember our original ideals—an ideal that has been entrusted to you. You also convinced the Hokage to absolve Ame of its previous connections to Akatsuki. Even Madara would tell you that Nagato and I betrayed him."

Nagato. That name struck a chord in his memory. Madara had said they had similar ideals.

That was the person he was supposed to find!

If Konan knew him… maybe she knew where he could be found? Naruto didn't want to ask her in front of everyone else.

He nodded. "If the older me accepts Ame isn't on Madara's side, that is good enough for me too. And I don't have to be here to do my training, anyway. I think it would be fun to go."

"What—hold on a minute!" Yamato spluttered. "Tsunade-sama ordered you to stay here. You can't go off somewhere else just because it 'sounds fun'."

"Then ask her if I can go. It shouldn't be a problem then."

"That's not the real issue here..."

"Then, what is?" Naruto asked stubbornly.

"Naruto." Baki rubbed his forehead. "You and Yamato-san are meeting with Fukasaku-sama soon, aren't you? Why don't you go ahead and start your training for the day, and let us talk about this some more?"

"What, so I don't get any say in it at all?" Naruto rose his voice. The more Baki resisted the idea, the more he found himself wanting to go along with it.

"You go on ahead, Naruto," Konan said calmly. "Don't worry, I'll still be here when you get back." Even though she was speaking to him, she was looking at the Wind Daimyo again with a polite smile. Yamaguchi stared back at her blankly.

"...Okay." Naruto turned to leave, only pausing once at the door to look back at them.

Yamato sighed in relief and followed after him.

Naruto's concentration was completely shot. There was practically nothing to show for the previous day's progress.

Fukasaku tapped the training stick against his own shoulder. "Naruto-chan, you're lacking focus. Maybe it's time to try balancing on the precipices to improve your stillness…"

"You're only letting me train with one Kage Bunshin," Naruto countered irritably. "Maybe if you'd let me use more, like aniki—"

"Increasing the number of beings that cannot sit still will do nothing. What's the matter? You seem agitated today."

"Say, Sennin-jiichan," Naruto said suddenly, opening his eyes to stare at Fukasaku. "If I were to go to another village, I'd still be able to come here to do my training, right?"

"Eh?"

"It turns out, I was offered a place to stay in Amegakure. So if I go there, I wouldn't have to stay in Suna with people hanging over me anymore."

"A-Amegakure?" Fukasaku spluttered. "What on—why would you want to go there? After what I told you about Jiraiya-chan—"

"I didn't forget," Naruto said quietly. "I just feel like… everyone is going off to war. There is no one left in Suna I care about staying for. I don't like being around the Wind Daimyo, and most of the people in Suna are halfway afraid of me. And maybe in Ame, I can find more clues about how to get back to my own time."

"Eh? How do you figure that?"

"It's just a gut feeling I have."

Ame may have been where Jiraiya died, but it was also where Pein lived. If there was anywhere he might find clues about the resurrected Nagato, it was Ame. And Naruto couldn't shake the feeling that somehow, Konan knew what he was looking for.

Of course, he couldn't explain his reasoning without revealing that Madara told him everything about who Nagato was, and about how to undo the jutsu keeping him in this timeline. Everyone thought that the only thing Madara had told him about was Sasuke.

"I can see why staying in Suna may be uncomfortable for you," Yamato commented. "But going to Ame is too risky. It's very secure against outsiders, true—but that includes the Allied Shinobi Force as well as Akatsuki."

"Good. The only thing I can do right now is search for a way back home. The Alliance has enough on its hands with the war, so it's better if they don't have to keep up with me."

Yamato sighed. "I don't completely disagree, but the chances of the ASF agreeing to this are very small. Depending on the circumstances, I could actually see Tsunade-sama allowing it. But you shouldn't get your hopes up. We already have things worked out with Suna, so it's unlikely she will find it necessary or appropriate to change plans."

Naruto wasn't listening. He was already animatedly discussing possibilities for continuing his Sage training in Amegakure with Fukasaku.