"Have you been able to sense them?" the younger Naruto asked, looking around as he and his older self's bunshin jumped through the trees. They were in the same forested area that covered this entire region, but Naruto didn't really recognize where they were. It wasn't the same way they had traveled to the medical camp.
"Aa! They made it in time," The bunshin said. He put on an extra burst of speed that forced the younger to scramble to catch up.
"I'll be glad to find out what happened with Kabuto," Naruto said, focusing hard on dodging the increasingly thick growth of trees. "I mean, it could have been a disaster if he'd managed to take control of them. I guess that's all the more reason to seal Nagato and send me back." He couldn't quite stop the twinge of disappointment in his voice.
"Why d'you say it like that? Don't you want to go home?" The bunshin looked over at him, navigating with ease despite taking his eyes off the path ahead.
"I mean, yeah—of course I do. That's what I've been trying to do this whole time. And I know there's not much else I can do to help in the war. It's just… that's the thing. What if something happens after I leave, and I completely miss hearing about it?"
The bunshin nodded. "That's the real reason you've been putting it off."
"Yeah. I know about the war, but I won't know how it ends if I leave now. What if everyone ends up dying? How can I stop it if I don't know? And I mean, I'm obviously gonna try to keep it from happening in the first place, but what if it happens anyway? I won't know how we can win it."
"You still want to save everyone, even though they've been keeping secrets the whole time you've been here?"
The bunshin said it so quietly that at first, Naruto thought he had misheard. But, no—a few seconds lapsed, and the meaning of what his older self said didn't change in the slightest, no matter how he rolled it over in his mind.
"O-of course I do! Wouldn't you do the same thing? You said you were never giving up on Sasuke, even after all this time, right? I'm not giving up, either."
"Then that's your answer. You know you want to make things better, even though you don't know everything."
"Even though…" Naruto frowned. "When Madara captured me, he said what we want is the same. He's kind of right, isn't he? He wants to erase all the bad things that have happened in this world, and replace them with something he thinks is better. Like he can decide that."
"I don't think it's the same," his older self murmured, and Naruto looked over at him hopefully. "Bad things will always happen. That's the way it is. Madara's trying to keep the world from changing. He just wants to get back something that was gone a long time ago. A dead end. When you think about it, it's completely different. You learn something, then change what you do because of it. That's how anyone grows."
Naruto crossed his arms and frowned confusedly. Even though it seemed like a compliment, it was not something he would have expected his older self to say. There was something slightly cold about that way of thinking. He watched his older self out of the corner of his eye. "I don't get what you're talking about. Are you saying I should go back and change things, just because I can?"
"Actually, no. I think your work here is far from over."
"What do you—"
Naruto broke off when he heard a sharp sound, and looked down to see a length of thin wire looping around him. It tightened up around his chest painfully, and he fell out of the air mid-jump and landed hard on the ground with a loud grunt.
He rolled over and scrambled to his feet as quickly as he could with his arms trapped down by his sides. His eyes darted around in search of who had attacked him, dread quickly growing at the thought that he already knew.
That was when his older self dropped down from the trees above and started walking toward him, a smirk on his face. It didn't look right—it wasn't the bright grin he usually had, or even the sly sort of smile he would get while pulling a prank. This smile didn't look pleasant at all, and it cast a shadow over his normally open face.
"Wh-what the hell is going on?" Naruto shouted out, stepping backwards. His back bumped against a tree.
"I am not your older self," the fake bunshin said. "You still have a lot to learn. I thought you would have grown wiser after I fooled you back in Suna. Then again, maybe it's not fair if I pretend to be someone you actually trust."
"Orochimaru!" Naruto narrowed his eyes and widened his stance.
"Not exactly," the fake said, still speaking in his older self's voice. It was very eerie. He stepped closer slowly, unconcerned. "This is just an ordinary Zetsu clone imitating his form. It works well, doesn't it? It's already caused the ASF quite a bit of trouble, but they let it walk right into the medic camp."
Naruto flexed his arms, trying to create a gap in the wire, but it only tightened around him more. He hissed as the wire bit into his skin. It didn't bleed, but it still hurt.
"I brought you here because your vessel is corrupt, incomplete. Impressive for a first attempt, certainly, but it will not do for much longer. My connection with you is eroding, as is your connection with the Kyuubi. Not only that, but when the power leaks out of you, it causes your body to react. That was made very clear to me when you lost control in Suna. I've built a better one for you, but to ensure a smooth transfer, measures must be taken."
Naruto looked up and to either side, trying to come up with an escape plan. But he only had a couple of seconds to think before Orochimaru attacked. Naruto looked back and saw the clone-fake right in front of him, reaching its hand back with blue flames at each of its fingertips. It reached back and slammed the hand into Naruto's stomach.
There was pain, but it was a strange kind of pain: it was an uncomfortable mixture of burning and nausea in his stomach. Naruto bent double and fell down to his knees as vertigo washed over him, feeling like he might throw up, but not knowing if it was even possible anymore. Orochimaru had done something like this to him once already, in the other timeline. It was just as unpleasant the second time around.
"As you may already know, your seal is designed to gradually mix yours and the Kyuubi's chakra. I've created a barrier that will block the interchange between them for a while. Hopefully, it will slow the process of the bijuu's chakra being leeched away. Not to worry, though. The transfer will—"
The fake's words were cut off very suddenly. Naruto heard and felt a powerful gust, and got up on his knees quickly enough to see large chunks of the plant clone's body flying through the air, slapping against tree trunks and bushes, completely torn to shreds. Scrambling to his feet again, Naruto turned toward the source of the razor-sharp wind and saw—Nagato?
"Nagato!" he called out, but hesitantly. Not only was he unsure about assuming anyone's identity, after what had just happened, but Nagato's expression was stormy. Intimidating. The hint of killing intent streaming from him was heavy, almost suffocating. It was very different from what Naruto was used to, just like when they fought Orochimaru in Ame. It was like it belonged to a different person altogether.
Nagato seemed to notice this. He stopped looking at the decimated remains of the clone and came toward him, face softening. The stormy feeling in the air dissolved, like the sun after a rain. Nagato saw the wire, and drew a kunai out to cut it.
"Are you alright, Naruto? What happened?" he asked quietly, hands moving quickly in their work, wire snapping and unraveling at Naruto's feet.
Naruto still felt shocked from the very brief incident. It happened so quickly, he hadn't had time to get geared up for a fight. At least Orochimaru hadn't actually been here. Otherwise, that thing probably would have put up more of a struggle.
"What're you doing here? I thought you went to your summons' place."
"They brought me back once I knew Kabuto was defeated." Nagato looked him over. "Orochimaru used the Zetsu?"
"Yeah. He sent that clone-thing to the medic camp, pretending to be the older me. We snuck out," Naruto admitted sheepishly. He looked up and saw that Itachi had now entered the clearing, following slowly behind while scanning the surrounding area. "Itachi!"
"Orochimaru knew I would run to find Kabuto right away," Itachi said, looking over at the destroyed clone as he walked. "He went around us, rather than facing us directly this time. I wonder how long he was planning something like this?"
"Well, what happened with you guys?" Naruto blurted out, remembering. He wrestled the cut wire off of himself and looked back at Nagato. "And how did you know that was a fake so easily?"
"The Zetsu copies are usually undetectable, except by your older self. But I couldn't see any hint of the Kyuubi's chakra in the fake. That is one thing they are not able to replicate. Aside from that, the situation made it fairly clear."
"You can see it?" That creeped Naruto out slightly. He was familiar with the idea of doujutsu, and people that could see chakra, of course. He just wasn't sure how many people could see the beast sealed inside of him. No one had ever mentioned anything like that before.
"Aa." Nagato's eyes shifted to his stomach. "What did he do to the seal?"
"Um, well…" Naruto lifted up his shirt to look at it. He didn't have that sick, burning feeling anymore, but he could see that a different seal had been superimposed on his own. Both seals were already fading out of sight. "He said it was to keep the Kyuubi's chakra from leaking out, since this body is trying to absorb it. And he said he's made a body that can hold it better." That creeped Naruto out even worse. He dropped his shirt and made an exaggerated gagging sound. "I don't want to be like him, and just go around pulling my face off, or stick my neck out, or all the other weird stuff he does!"
"I think it's pretty clear he will try to take you away again sometime soon," Itachi said. "I don't know how he plans to do that, but we need to get you back home as soon as possible, before he has a chance."
Naruto knew this part was coming. They were right.
"Okay," he said reluctantly. "I guess it's about time for me to be going home. I know I'll only keep everybody worried if I stay here. I've already found out a lot of stuff, so… I'll just try to get stronger as quickly as I can once I get back. It'll be a while before the war starts, and I can come up with a way to stop it before then."
"You did very well the first time around, with no prior warning at all. Just do your best, and don't try to take on everything by yourself." Nagato put a reassuring hand on his shoulder.
"Yes," Itachi agreed. "I think that's what you will most have to learn in the coming years. Don't let your desire to protect everyone keep you from relying on them. When you gain power, it is easy to become arrogant, and eventually distant from the people around you. That is what happened to me, and I failed in the end. You will fail, too, if you allow what you know to keep you from trusting in your friends. Knowing the future is its own kind of power, and it can lead you astray just as any other."
"But with Sasuke…" Naruto cast his eyes downward. "I still have no idea how to help him. I don't want him to end up like he is in this time, but if I go back and he's already gone, I'll have to catch up. I don't have years to figure out what to do."
"I have faith in you." Itachi tilted his head with a faint smile. "It may be too late to stop Sasuke from leaving the village, but if you do what you have always done, you will be able to succeed eventually. It may not seem like it from your perspective, but Sasuke is still very young. We are older and have done even worse things than him. When you compare that, it isn't too late for him in the long run."
"I guess you're right."
Itachi's gaze drifted to the treeline. "Speaking of Sasuke, I saw him not long ago. I can't stay around here much longer. I promised I would go with him to help with the Edo-Uchiha."
"Wait!" Naruto cried as Itachi made to turn. "How did you see Sasuke? I thought you had gone to stop Kabuto! You guys still haven't told me what happened." He looked from Itachi to Nagato. They had obviously managed to stay in control of themselves, but aside from that, he had no clue what was going on.
"I lost consciousness for a moment, but it was not long. Kabuto was too weak for it to hold," Nagato said. "It wasn't long enough for me to cause any trouble, and I'd already left by then. When I sensed he was gone, I met back up with Itachi. He told me how Kabuto died."
"He died…?" Naruto gaped at Itachi.
Itachi nodded. "Sasuke heard about the situation from Orochimaru, and he went there to try to find me. Kabuto was already dying by the time we got there. The transformation he went through was too complete to be reversible. Once Orochimaru left his body, it could no longer survive without the presence of his cells. I think the amount of time he managed to hold on was impressive in itself… but then, he was an accomplished medical-nin who was very familiar with the process. He must have known what would happen."
"But why would Orochimaru do that?" Naruto demanded, clenching his fists. "I thought they were friends! Or—at least, on the same side. Haven't they been working together for years?" That was one thing he could never, ever accept. No matter how bad someone was, turning your back on a comrade was the lowest of the low.
"It seemed he'd lost integrity in Orochimaru's eyes, for going such lengths to emulate him," Itachi murmured. "It was cruel, but unavoidable, perhaps. Without outside help, Orochimaru had to sacrifice his subordinate in order to fully return. He was also trying to slip away from the spores implanted on Kabuto by Zetsu. Black Zetsu appeared while we were there, trying to use Kabuto to find out information, and to control us. In the end, that was what killed him."
Naruto was surprised to find himself feeling kind of sorry for Kabuto. It was partly because of him that Naruto had been thrown into this dangerous future in the first place, but it was sad to die like that, abandoned by the one he served for so long. It reminded Naruto of the way Haku had died. He wondered if, deep down, Orochimaru felt sad about it at all, the way Zabuza had. Was there any room for remorse in his heart, at all?
"I should leave now," Itachi said after a pause. "You can go back to the medical camp if you want to say goodbye, but don't wait around for anyone who isn't there. We don't know what Orochimaru will try next to get past your guard. For all we know, he may try to interfere with us sending you back."
"A-Alright." Naruto hated saying goodbye, and this occasion was even worse than usual. But he had to go back, right? He didn't belong here. And even if he never saw this version of his friends again, he would be with something just like them in four years' time.
"Come on," Nagato said softly, motioning for Naruto to travel along beside him. "I came back at the start of all this, too, remember? We'll both go home."
Even with the addition of Sasuke, things on the Uchiha front were not coming along easily. With Sasuke, Kankuro, and the others doing everything they could to detain the Edo-Uchiha, they had still only managed to seal a few of them. A slight improvement, but not the kind of success Sasuke had hoped to bring to their efforts.
The problem was this group of Uchiha did not seem particularly interested in fighting them head on. They were bent with a single-minded focus on escaping by any means necessary, and it took a lot of effort and energy just to keep them all contained within one area. They blocked and dodged and jumped around them with tireless bodies, seemingly content to drag out the stalemate until their living opponents got tired. And they wouldn't have to wait much longer, either. The Iwa-nin were running out of chakra from continually blocking them with walls of earth, and the others were low on weapons and stamina. The only ones still fighting decently were Sasuke and Kankuro. Omoi and Sai stayed back from the main fighting, ready to help seal on a moment's notice.
A pair of sword-wielding Uchiha ran and vaulted over the most recent earth wall as if it wasn't even there. Instead of trying to run this time, they jumped down on the other side and drew their swords in midair. They descended toward the exposed necks of the exhausted Iwa-nin.
One looked up in time to see that their enemy was actually attacking, shouted "Look out!" and tried pushing the other one out of the way. The two would have almost certainly been beheaded, except just as the Edo-Uchiha bore down on them, a long violet arm reached out and grabbed the Edo-Uchiha out of the air.
Sasuke hurled them toward Omoi, who lined up with the incoming enemies and gave a long, graceful slice. The swords of the Uchiha clattered to the ground as their arms were disconnected, ash-like pieces flying through the air. The Uchiha themselves fell to the ground shortly after, bodies rapidly regenerating.
"Now, Sai!" Omoi yelled.
"Right!" Sai quickly scrawled ink with an expert hand over the large blank scroll in front of him. Two tigers roared into life from the surface of the paper and pounced on the Uchiha, digging in with teeth and claws to drag their stolen souls into the seal.
"At this rate, we won't be able to contain them," Sasuke said, looking around at the remaining fighters, all of whom were reaching their limits. "If they start fighting back when people get sloppy, none of you will stand a chance. Anyone who will not be of use in this fight should leave now."
"Oi! Sasuke! You're not the one who gets to make that call!" Kankuro shouted from where he was locked in a stalemate with several Uchiha.
Sasuke ignored him and swept his eyes over the battlefield, trying to locate his parents again. He knew they were here. He had caught a glimpse of them just a moment ago, before he'd turned to help with the ones that jumped over the wall.
"Sorry I'm late," he heard a familiar voice beside him
Sasuke turned and gave a snort. "Itachi. It's about time."
Itachi looked around. "This isn't a battle that can be won with the numbers here. If I'm not mistaken, this is the Alliance's ambush unit. They aren't meant for an extended battle."
"Forget them. They won't listen to what we have to say, anyway. The two of us can—" Sasuke stopped talking when he finally caught sight of his father again. He started moving that way, but suddenly the movement of the controlled Edo-Uchiha changed.
It was as if they decided all at once to group into small clusters of two or three and make a serious run for it. They put on bursts of speed, plowing through the weakening defenses of the Allied Shinobi Force and running off, all in different directions.
Sasuke cursed and started running after his parents again. The two of them had grouped together, and they managed to break through like all the rest.
"Sasuke!" Itachi called, but he followed soon after.
It wasn't lost on Sasuke that the Uchiha's attack pattern suddenly changed when Itachi arrived. He'd heard that this particular batch of Edo Tensei had some unknown objective. If they had only been humoring the ASF up until now, it was possible that Itachi's presence made it too troublesome for them to continue the fight any longer. If the group split, he and Sasuke couldn't follow them all… so of course their parents would be included as a ready-made distraction to free up the rest.
Sasuke knew that, but he didn't seem to care. He gave a glance back and, seeing that his brother was following, turned and continued the pursuit of their parents with all his will.
"We still haven't been able to contact the Uchiha front," Inoichi said. "Judging by the way they were cut off, either their radio was destroyed, or no one there is able to use it right now. Either way, they're in trouble. We may have waited too long in getting them to retreat."
"Damn it!" Tsunade stood up abruptly from the table and started pacing restlessly. After a few seconds, she stopped and turned toward the sensors sitting around the giant globe of water. "Inoichi, can you get Naruto to send a bunshin over there to see what's going on?"
"Yes. Understood." Inoichi put his hand into a half-ram sign and went quiet for a moment. They all waited and watched for several minutes as he delivered the message.
"What?" Inoichi gasped.
"What is it?" Shikaku asked immediately.
"Tsunade-sama! Naruto says his younger self is missing!" Inoichi reported. "He sent a bunshin back to the medical camp to keep him company. But when he got there, they realized someone had sent an impostor bunshin to the camp first. The impostor and the younger Naruto are both gone. No doubt, the impostor was able to talk the younger Naruto into leaving. No one knows where they are."
"Just one thing after another!" Ay boomed, standing up from the table as well. "We can't afford to be looking for lost children on the battlefield! This is exactly the kind of thing we have been working all this time to prevent!"
"Tell him to send some more bunshin to the medical camp, and start searching from there. He should be able to sense and find his younger self." Tsunade said. "But we still need someone to check out the situation at the Uchiha front, so have him go there as well."
"Y-Yes," Inoichi agreed. A few more moments of silence, and he sighed. "He said he already did that, and he was able to sense his younger self. Maybe this won't be too much of a fiasco."
"Have them update the moment they find out anything," Ay said. "Even if the enemy claims that they can't use him for the Kyuubi, we can't afford to take any risks."
Just then, the large globe of water showed several visible ripples. Everyone stopped to watch the disturbance.
"Something new has appeared near the desert front," Ao said, concentrating. "They had all the Kage sealed, but—there's still an enemy there. Someone powerful. And there's something else... the masked man is on the move, with some others in tow."
"Who?" Tsunade asked.
"Have there been sightings reported on either of these disturbances?" Shikaku added.
"Nothing yet. They just appeared," Inoichi said.
"No, wait." Ao lifted his head up, expression tense. "Hold on… the one with the masked man is Yondaime Mizukage-sama! And the others... they are all former jinchuuriki, as well."
"And in the desert?" Ay demanded. "Has anyone seen what appeared there?"
"Not yet…"
The scorching bright sunlight reflected off nearly white sands, accentuating the desolate feel of this place. This was a rather unusual location to end up in, wasn't it? And that wasn't all.
Uchiha Madara looked down at his gloved hands, uncurling them slowly. Something didn't feel quite right. He was no longer an old man, barely clinging to life by siphoning energy from the tree he'd cultivated using Hashirama's cells. That much, at least, was certain.
But he wasn't truly alive, either. The fiery chakra he took such pride in still burned underneath his fingertips—but it didn't heat his blood, he couldn't feel it in his veins the way he used to. Was this the Edo Tensei?
Something must have gone wrong along the way after his death.
And where was this? Nowhere close to where the Gedo Mazou was stored underground, that was for sure. Somewhere within the Land of Wind?
Madara started walking, feet sinking slightly in the crystalline sand. If this was the result of someone using the Edo Tensei, who was it? And where were they? He couldn't feel any chakra trying to impose its will on his own—not that it would work, but still.
In fact, there didn't seem to be anyone around here at all.
No. That wasn't true. Madara paused, listening to his senses. No… this place was far from deserted, actually. He felt the presence of enough people to form several armies, and they were just over that ridge. He continued walking to the edge, where the wind had blown most of the sand off, revealing the baked-clay earth.
Below, the sun cast long shadows through the natural rock formations of the valley. And there, down in between them, was the great force he'd felt. An army much larger than any they would have seen back in the Warring Clans Era was assembled there.
Their headbands all simply said, 'shinobi'. Yet, he could see that they wore clothing and gear from all five of the Great Shinobi Countries. That meant this had something to do with the Hidden Villages.
Down there was where he would find answers. But also…
Madara cracked a smile. It was nice to move freely again. It might be the perfect chance to see what this Edo Tensei body could do.