They landed in an entirely different scene from before.

It wasn't as dark here, but barren dirt and torn rock was all they had for a landscape. But that didn't make it boring to look at.

The huge red barrier and the monstrous creature within it took care of that.

Naruto stared at it, mouth gaped slightly open. This was the first time he was able to actually see the Juubi, since it had never been clear when he used Sage Mode.

There were people all around it, too, but they were hard to notice with something like that in the middle. They were so tiny in comparison at this distance they looked like fleas jumping around.

"Yes! I was able to get us closer!" Obito pumped his fist.

"What..." Kakashi slumped to the ground. Even though Obito had taken care of transporting them this time, the fighting and the previous jumps were taking their toll. "Closer was not what you should have been aiming for, Obito!"

"Go find your older self. He should be where that big ugly thing is, the Juubi," Naruto said. "Most likely on top of its head. We can deal with things here. But don't let him kill you. I've got a plan for getting us back, so you might not have a lot of time."

Obito stared at him for a moment, frowning. He looked at Kakashi, and then turned around. "Aa. You be careful, too. And if anything happens, well…"

He held out his hand. Naruto shook it, ignoring the prickling in his eyes.

"It sucks we weren't born in the same generation. We could've really kicked ass as a team. But I'll beat Kakashi to jounin instructor in my time." Obito turned to walk away.

"No, stop—" Kakashi tried to stand, but his legs shook badly when he shifted his weight to them. Naruto caught him as he tipped to one side, then eased him back to the ground.

"Just rest right now, okay? You and the others need to make sure you save this world. We'll worry about getting back to ours."

"What are you going to do?"

Naruto didn't answer. He took a few steps away from Kakashi and looked up at the Juubi looming ahead.

There really wasn't a lot of time.

Someone on this battlefield was bound to notice them sooner or later, and then the chance might be lost. And while he needed Obito to leave so he wouldn't hear what Naruto was going to say, it would be bad if he reached his older self too quickly.

"Naruto, tell me what you're planning. Don't do anything reckless on your own."

Naruto looked back at Kakashi and took a few more steps away, just to make sure he was out of reach. He planted his feet firmly into the ground, and looked up.

"Orochimaru! I don't know what you're doing at a time like this, but you better stop and listen up!" he shouted at the sky, fists bared. "Right now, Obito is heading right toward the middle of danger. I don't know if you care enough about him to save him yourself, but you're going to care in just a few seconds."

"What are you doing? Are you even sure he can hear you?" Kakashi demanded.

Naruto continued. "If you don't send us all back—me and Obito and Kabuto, and anyone else we don't know about—in the next thirty seconds, I'll undo the seal holding back the Kyuubi. Good luck trying to control it with that tag of yours! And we'll be right here in the open where the enemy can see us."

"Naruto!"

"But," Naruto said louder, "If you cooperate and send us back, not only will this world not end, but you'll get to keep your tag on me when you send me home. That's really what you want, isn't it? To see what I'll do when I go back?"

Naruto felt a burning sensation starting in his seal. It was the same feeling as before, when Orochimaru had started taking control over his body. He stumbled a bit and laughed aloud. It was working. The snake could definitely hear him.

"That won't work. I can at least go against you long enough to tear off the seal. It'll only take a second."

Inside the seal, Naruto and the Kyuubi were standing eye to gigantic red eye. The fox stared at Naruto through the bars as he hovered in front of the seal, fingertips slipped underneath the edge of the paper.

"You don't have the key," the Kyuubi rumbled, eyes narrowing. "The only way is to force my energy through and break it, and your mind has to be entirely willing for that to work."

"It is," Naruto said. His older self had told him what would happen when he pulled off that seal. Even if the Kyuubi came close to being entirely released, it would be alright. His dad would save him. Naruto closed his eyes, knuckles tightening around the edge of the paper.

"Naruto!"

The voice came from the outside world, but it wasn't Kakashi's voice this time. Naruto opened his eyes and felt someone's hands on his shoulders. He looked up to see an Edo Tensei face, with blue eyes against black, and cracked features pulled into a look of concern.

"Naruto, can you hear me?"

"Tou—?"

The moment his concentration wavered, Naruto got hit with the controlling sensation again, even more aggressively this time. He cried out, stumbling, limbs shaking with the effort of resisting. It would all be over if Orochimaru managed to get a hold on him. He was barely aware of it when Minato caught and lowered him to the ground. He started inspecting the seal, yellow brows knotted with worry.

"Kakashi, do you know what's happening?"

Kakashi's eye went wide at the sight of Minato in front of him, but he was able to answer readily enough. "Orochimaru has placed a control tag on this Naruto. This jutsu of his that summons past versions of living people is like the Edo Tensei. He can manipulate and control whoever he summons."

"I've heard something about it," Minato said. "Orochimaru brought us here, too. But he's off somewhere else now."

"He's able to see and hear through Naruto. That's what he was doing... taking advantage of that by trying to provoke Orochimaru into releasing the jutsu."

Minato paused, hands hovering over the seal. "If this jutsu is like the Edo Tensei, we need to seal Naruto's soul in a way Orochimaru can't ever reach it again, but still leaves him back where he belongs."

"No," Naruto croaked out with effort. He reached up to clutch the white cloth of his father's coat."If you do that, I won't be able to save Obito. Orochimaru will just let him die."

"Obito?" Minato looked at Kakashi, confused.

"He brought Obito from the past, too. Right now, that Obito is trying to go where his older self is."

Minato still looked confused, and a bit concerned. Naruto pulled on his coat, willing him to understand what he was trying to do, but finding it difficult to get his thoughts out.

"Orochimaru would lose Obito now if he died or got sent back, either way. He can't get him back without an anchor," Naruto explained, voice straining. "So Obito's useless to him now, but I'm not. That connection has to stay, because it's the only way he'll listen to me. I don't mind it. Saving Obito is more important than saving me, because doing that will save you, too... and the me in his world, and a whole lot of other people."

Minato looked down at him, thinking, face set in a slight frown. But his posture relaxed after a few seconds.

"I can't remove the tag itself, since it's attached to your soul, if it's like the Edo Tensei summons. But if you don't want your soul to be sealed away from Orochimaru's reach, I might at least be able to block him from controlling your body." Minato lifted a hand, and it started to glow. Naruto's eyes tracked the movement warily as he applied the hand to his seal.

"Itachi tried doing that with genjutsu, but it only worked once. And it didn't help much."

"This will last longer. But it won't get rid of the tag completely. I don't know if it will last forever, either."

Naruto's face scrunched at the slight tickling that came from Minato manipulating the seal. He could tell it was working. It gradually became easier to think, easier to move. He sat up slowly and flexed his hands, looking down as he clenched them into fists.

"Okay." Naruto got to his feet, clumsily at first, then standing steady. "Now that he can't control me, he can't stop me."

"What are you planning to do?"

Naruto closed his eyes briefly, and took a deep breath. 'Does the tag still work? Can he still see what we're doing?'

Aa, I think so. Minato knows what he's talking about.

This wasn't going to be easy. Naruto had lost the element of surprise—Orochimaru knew what he was up to now.

Hopefully, it wasn't too late to pull it off anyway.

Naruto turned as his father stood up behind him, and Kakashi looked up from a little further back.

"I'll find a way that won't mess with the seal. Don't worry," he told them, resting a hand on his chest. "No matter what—whether this works or not, you won't be seeing this version of me again. But you still have the older me. Worry more about him, and focus on stopping the world from ending. I've reached the end of what I can do here in the future. Now all I can really do is save the past in my own way." Biting his lip, he turned to face Minato. "Look after Kakashi-sensei and Obito and the older me. We'll—we'll have the chance to talk again, but the older me might not. So..."

What he wanted to say was coming out more awkward and less heroic than he wanted, so Naruto simply turned around and started walking away, leaving them there.

"...I'm proud of you," Minato said softly.

"Sensei, the Juubi," Kakashi said.

Something about the energy in the air had shifted. A series of attacks exploded in the distance. The Juubi was thrashing around wildly inside the barrier.

"My main body is at the barrier. Something is about to happen. We need to reach whoever is controlling the Juubi right away." Minato took out one of his specialized kunai. "Will you be alright here?"

"Yes. I just need to recover some chakra."

"My other son should be able to take care of that, if he ever makes it over here." Minato smiled back over his shoulder at him, and then disappeared.

Obito ran as fast as he could toward the huge creature everyone was fighting, eyes fixated on its head—as if he had any hope of seeing his older self at this distance.

The closer he got, it became more clear that reaching it wouldn't be easy. The massive barrier was just the first step.

Obito wanted to stay out of sight of everyone on both sides of the war. He didn't have time for questions, and whether they happened to recognize him or not, Obito doubted anyone would let him go near the fight.

Jumping and ducking around as skillfully as he could, Obito pressed his back against a shard of rock and looked up at the barrier. He was close to it now, but the distance between it and the Juubi was greater than he originally thought.

"Obito?" an old, astonished-sounding voice said.

Obito flinched and looked around wildly. He'd already been discovered? By who?

He saw an old man dressed in battle gear sitting in front of the barrier, hands held in a seal. But he was currently staring at Obito with wide eyes. Obito recognized him, too.

"Sandaime-sama?" he ducked back behind the rock. "Whatever you're thinking, it's not what you think! Wait." He peeked back out. "I thought you were...um, dead in this timeline. Killed by Orochimaru."

"Aa, and I was brought back by him, too. How do you know Naruto? Don't tell me—you're one of the ones brought here from the past?"

"You know about that?" Obito asked cautiously.

"Just a bit. What are you doing here? It's dangerous!"

"I have to see my older self." Obito came out from behind the rock. It didn't seem like the Sandaime could move from the position he was in. "You're holding up this barrier, right? Can you let me through?"

"I'm one of the ones. And absolutely not! There's a beast in there strong enough to take on the entire Allied Shinobi Force at once, not to mention the man behind this war!"

"I know!" Obito shouted. "That man is the older me! And if I don't face him now, I'll probably never get the chance! So you gotta let me through. Please!"

Hiruzen looked surprised, and then grim. "I'm sorry. I understand why you would want to see him, but whatever circumstances there might be, it's just too dangerous."

Obito scowled and turned to look through the barrier. There were people on the other side, rushing toward the Juubi. It looked like they were still able to use their jutsu in there.

Of course! He already had a feel for landing where he wanted using the kamui. And this time, he could even see the place he wanted to go to. So if he focused really hard, he should be able to make a pinpoint landing.

"I understand. You're just doing your job. But I have to go," Obito said. He activated his Sharingan and stared at the Juubi, trying to find a hint of familiar energy on top of it.

There.

Obito took a deep breath, focused hard on where he wanted to go, and stepped forward. The space around him twisted and bent at his command.

"Obito—"

The Sandaime's voice was cut off as Obito slipped into the other dimension. But this time, he didn't bother to materialize there all the way. He passed through it, concentrating on his destination, and came through to the other side as easily as stepping through a doorway. Despite how serious things were, he felt elated. This ability was becoming more and more natural to him.

A loud, wailing screech met him on the other side. The Juubi was thrashing and crying out.

Obito's mouth fell open. His older self was right in front of him, but his appearance had changed dramatically. His whole body was taut with struggle, half of it was in something pitch-black. His hands were locked in a seal, and his hair was starting to turn white.

"W-What's going on?" Obito demanded, eyes wide with horror. "What are you doing? Stop!"

Not knowing what else to do, he put his hands on those of his older self and tried to pry them apart.

Only then did his older self seem to take any notice of him at all. His right eye was covered up by the black stuff, but the left one drifted downward to look at him, narrowing. It was a terrifying eye, purple with rings radiating out from the center.

Against his will, the younger Obito froze with fear as they stared at one another. This person was so far out of his reach, it didn't seem possible they could have the same soul.

That look didn't have shock, confusion, or anything else remotely human in it. It was cold. All his older self saw was someone trying to interfere.

Arms suddenly wrapped around him from behind, lifting Obito up and pulling him away from his older self. At the same time, a bright, glowing orange form with black flames radiating from it appeared where he had been. Obito cried out in shock when he saw a stream of blood burst out from a slash across his older self's chest. Then he blinked, and he was suddenly back on the ground again.

Obito stumbled in his haste to turn around, ready to fight. Only...

His mentor stood in front of him, smiling.

"M-Minato-sensei!"

"Long time no see." Minato paused and rubbed the back of his head. "Well, I suppose that only applies on my side, doesn't it?"

"Ah—! You're a zombie!" Obito cried, noticing Minato's eyes and the cracks on his face.

"Don't worry, I'm not under anyone's control," Minato said. He walked up to Obito and placed a hand on his shoulder. The skin underneath burned for just a second before the feeling faded away.

Obito pulled his collar to one side to see a familiar sequence of squiggly lines against his skin. "Hey, what was that for?"

"Proof," Minato said. "I don't know if that mark will stay with you when you go back. But if it does, it might come in handy. For both of us. Besides, Naruto asked me to look after you."

Obito's hand dropped. He looked down, face burning with shame. "S-Sensei, I... everything going on here. It's all my fault."

"No," Minato said gently. "I must take part of the blame, too. If I had reached there in time, everything might have been different. But do you know... until just a minute ago, I didn't even know your older self was still alive in this time."

"Huh?" Obito looked up at him.

"Aa. That—"

Obito blinked when his sensei suddenly disappeared with a small sound, leaving behind a drifting plume of smoke.

A bunshin?

"This is something unusual, though I wouldn't say I enjoy the timing. You're not just a chakra construct. How did you get here, boy?"

The voice came from a man sitting casually on a rock behind where Minato's bunshin had been standing a moment ago. He had a massive amount of spiky, black hair, and...

Obito took a step back and leveled his Sharingan at the stranger. This man had the same kind of eye his older self had.

The land sloped downward as Naruto walked closer and closer to the battle front. Even at this distance, the wreckage from the fight was all too apparent.

As he climbed over rocks, making his way through littered bodies and broken earth, he wondered again if this was the best way. After all, Orochimaru could just as easily decide to abandon him, and then all would be lost. That was doubly likely now that the first chance was ruined.

But he didn't think that would happen. What made this truly difficult was seeing the destruction this fight was causing. Naruto kept thinking back to everything he'd seen and done in the future. Had it been enough? Would he be able to make any difference on the outcome if he made it back to the past? Or was it like Kakashi had said, and bad things would happen no matter what anyone did?

Still, there was no other option, short of running away from reality.

No matter what happened, he would never give in to that. There was no doubt that eventually, the Obito from his time would try to convince him to.

He was ready for that.

'Kyuubi, we're almost there. Will you help me?'

Yes.

The older Naruto had been distracted by his younger self's presence ever since the latter arrived on the battlefield. It eased his mind a bit when he sensed Minato's bunshin join him and Kakashi, but for some reason he left, leaving Naruto's younger self wandering alone along the edge of the destruction.

For the dozenth time, he reached his senses out, trying to figure out where the younger him was going.

Was this real? Why was he here? Should he send a bunshin to learn what was going on?

Hey, gaki. Let me take control for a minute. Kurama said, chin rested in one paw unconcernedly.

'What for?' Naruto asked, slightly suspicious. The last time the fox asked that out of nowhere, he ended up throwing Kakashi straight into the enemy's attack.

It had all worked out for the best, but still.

Just do it. I've been talking with the me from the other time. He and the little you have a plan.

'Really? What kind of plan? And what the hell are they even doing here? I thought we sent them back!'

Hurry up and do it, alright? I'll explain later.

Naruto grumbled, but he did as he was asked and relinquished control over to the fox.

With the switch, his eyes changed, and the dark lines on his face from the Kyuubi Chakra Mode grew thicker and wilder. Kurama pulled Naruto's face into a wide, sharp-toothed grin.

"Sorry about this, kid."

He instantly turned and started running away from the battle front, bright flames trailing behind from his speed. A few people called out, but Kurama ignored them. They could make do with Naruto's bunshin for a few minutes.

'Oi! What are you doing?' Naruto yelled. 'We need to go back! Tou-chan and Sasuke might need our help!'

"Just shut up and watch. Trust me."

The younger Naruto was waiting for them among the churned up ground behind everything, where almost no one was. He looked up, watching as Kurama jumped the last bit of distance and landed down in front of him.

"Hey there, little brat. You'd better thank me for taking all this trouble. Your older self's a pain in the ass," Kurama said. He took hold of Naruto's forearms with either hand, and Naruto held on to his arms in return.

"Yeah, thanks." Naruto grinned.

Chakra flames licked over the younger Naruto's skin, pulled up his arms as if with by some invisible, magnetic force. It wasn't even necessary to adjust the energy to transfer it over.

And it didn't take very long.

The younger Naruto winced and hissed, suddenly tightening his grip. His arms were starting to transform. Tough ridges formed on the surface of his skin and moved downward, lengthening his fingers. Budding branches started sprouting.

"Soon, it will be enough to start a chain reaction no one can stop," Kurama said, smiling viciously. Naruto grimaced in pain, but he kept his eyes steadily locked with the fox's.

He heard his older self's voice.

'Kurama, stop! What the hell are you doing? It'll kill them if this keeps up!'

"Aa, I know. Any second now, this form will become unbalanced and start absorbing everything it can, including the energy inside of it, and they will die." Kurama stared directly into the younger Naruto's eyes. "He's got a lot of nerve, coming up with something like this, ne? But there's no need to worry about whether it's a bluff or not. You should know that I'm not soft like a human, Orochimaru. Even if the kid tells me to let up at this point, I won't."

"And I'm… not going to," Naruto growled, flinching when the energy worked its way across his shoulders. It felt like he was being burned alive. "So unless you want everything you've done so far to be ruined—"

Naruto stopped and his eyes widened when he suddenly heard familiar laughter inside of his head. It echoed quietly, and then more loudly, sounding delighted.

The transformation Naruto's body was undergoing in response to the energy was agonizing. The cells hardened while also multiplying rapidly. He couldn't move his legs anymore, because they were quite literally rooted into the ground. It was hard not to panic with that laughter echoing in his head.

Did he guess wrong?

The Kyuubi in the form of his older self let go and stepped back as the branches tried to dig their sharp ends into him.

The transformation was beyond anyone's control now.

Naruto squinted. He could tell the Kyuubi had let his older self back in charge, since there was nothing he could do to stop the process anymore. The look of horror on his face made it obvious.

This whole attempt was another failure. But at least the consequence was only on himself. There was still a chance to save Obito and Kabuto. If the people of this time were able to win the war, they could track Orochimaru down afterward.

"Win," Naruto said faintly. "And... protect Obito."

His older self's confused expression was the last thing he saw before closing his eyes and relaxing. It had been a long shot, trying to outwit someone so much older, smarter, and stronger than him. But he'd done his best.

The pain gradually faded. Naruto found himself awash in a soft, pleasant light. Realizing he was no longer stuck to the ground, he opened his eyes.

The only thing around was blank whiteness, and—Naruto tried to shake his head, but it didn't work.

The guy from before was there, the one he hadn't been able to recognize.

"Am I dead?" Naruto blurted out.

"No," he said. "That was a close one, though."

"Then what is this place?"

"The deepest part of your soul. A place you can only reach whenever you exist without a body. Everything you carry around with you lives here. Don't worry. You should be pulled back toward your natural body soon."

"Wait!" Naruto called as he felt himself start to fall. "Who are you?"

But everything quickly disappeared, and he didn't get the answer.

Obito's entire body was tensed, ready to fight, but the shinobi sitting on the rock didn't even shift from his casual pose. He watched Obito like he was some mildly interesting object.

"Even if your body is just an imitation, your chakra is exactly the same as it was back then. How is that possible?"

"Do I know you?" Obito asked rudely.

"All that time together, and you don't remember me? Well, I suppose you wouldn't. Not if you're exactly what you look like."

"Whatever. I'm not in the mood for a guessing game right now. I need to go check back up with Naruto." Obito turned around.

"Oh?"

Obito started walking.

"You have both of your eyes."

"So what?" Obito said irritably, but he didn't stop walking.

"You probably don't even know how much power that gives you. A pair of eyes always work better together, after all."

Obito did stop this time. "What do you mean?"

"Hm. By any chance, have you ever heard of the Kannabi Bridge?"

Obito whirled around, glaring at the man. He was sitting there the same as before, smirking and leaning on one hand.

"I spent a lot of time near there, some years back. It could be very boring at times—that is, until an interesting child showed up. He was missing an eye and half of his body was crushed beyond recognition, but he still had enough power left to find me. I don't believe things like that are mere coincidence. Some meetings are fated."

Obito felt chills run along his spine.

The man stood with a sigh. "Again? I'm getting tired of this."

Obito turned back around and saw a small crowd of people running toward them—but it was really just two people, multiplied several times. He'd seen their pictures before, at the Academy.

"Shodai-sama? Nidaime-sama?" he wondered out loud.

A bright explosion off in the distance caught his eye. Something was happening with the Juubi!

Forgetting the odd group, Obito started running toward it to see what was going on.

At the same time, a strange feeling came over him. It wasn't like a moment ago, when he was just creeped out.

It was more like... like the time he and Naruto had gotten stuck between dimensions. The entire landscape around him was fading out.

Obito stopped and looked at his hands. Color was rapidly leaving them. His vision changed. Everything looked far away all of a sudden. He felt himself standing on the ground, but he could also feel himself floating up and away.

It was exactly how Naruto had described it.

Obito looked up one last time, tracking his older self's energy far away. Everything he'd seen and heard since coming here came back to him at once, and he had to bite down on his lower lip to stop the tears that threatened to rise.

No one determined his fate except for him!

"I'll show you," he growled defiantly as he faded away.

Naruto let in a long, slow breath, trying to calm the rapidly beating heart he could once again feel in his chest.

He dug his fingers into the sheets and pulled his hands into loose, shaky fists. He was almost afraid to open his eyes and look around. After all the failures and near-misses, it didn't seem like it could be real.

Even if it was, not everything had gone perfectly. Orochimaru's seal wasn't destroyed, just contained. But letting something be in it for the snake was the only hope he had for getting home and saving Obito in the process.

He hoped Orochimaru had heeded his demands about sending Kabuto back, too. Not knowing for sure whether he'd succeeded or not weighed heavily on his chest.

You did the best you could, gaki.

Naruto's lips curled into a smile and he let out a silent snort, fogging up the breathing mask on his face.

'So... Kurama, huh?'

What? the Kyuubi snapped.

'Ne, ne. That's what he called you, right? I heard him!'

Hmph. What's your point?

Naruto's amusement dropped off quickly when he heard a door slide open. He opened one eye just a tiny bit before closing it again.

"...instance of increased heart rate. It could be just another random hiccup, but it was as big a spike as the last time he woke up. We need to watch him closely, to be ready in case that happens again."

It was Tsunade. Naruto heard her heels clack on the linoleum as she walked around to the side of his bed, stopping there to fiddle with the machine giving out steady beeps. He slowly opened his eyes to look up at her.

Everything looked so clear. It had to be real, right? Naruto felt a knot forming in his throat.

He lifted his hand slowly. It looked even thinner than it had the last time. But it was his. He reached out, touching the rough fabric of Tsunade's haori.

"Tsunade-sama!" the nurse that had followed her in gasped.

Tsunade looked down at him, amber eyes widening.

"H...hey, baa-chan," Naruto said with a rusty voice, giving her his best grin.