Kabuto faithfully kept his post at the entrance to Orochimaru's base, even after Sasuke and his group arrived.

Orochimaru had told Kabuto there was going to be a big experiment today that might cause a lot of noise, and to make sure no one but Sasuke was told where to find him. Sure enough, the boy eventually heard loud crashes coming from the other side of the base, and it had taken a lot of restraint not to go see what it was.

Things had been quiet for a very long time.

No one came to tell him what to do now, and he never saw anyone leave.

After standing there for hours cluelessly, Kabuto finally decided to start walking that way to see what was going on.

But now, taking a look around only made him more worried and confused. The base was empty. All the Edo Tensei guards had disintegrated. Naruto and Obito, Orochimaru, Sasuke—all of them were gone.

Where? Where did they all go?

After searching so long that his legs started to ache, Kabuto sank down in one of the hallways. He didn't mind treating gross, terrible wounds, and he didn't flinch at sights that could make even adults feel sick, but this—being all alone like this—was unbearable.

Then, something unusual happened.

Kabuto's vision grew hazy and white, even though he still wore his glasses. His entire body felt strange. Like it was suddenly heavy, or like he was above it but still inside it at the same time. He clutched his chest and gasped as the panic threatened to suffocate him.

He couldn't breathe—he couldn't breathe!

This went on several long, frightening seconds more, and then it simply stopped.

Kabuto sat trembling with his hands and forehead pressed against the wall.

What in the world was that? Was it really over?

He slowly opened his eyes and turned around. Everything looked exactly the same as it did before. The only sound was that of his own breathing. He stood up and started walking down the hall again.

"Orochimaru-sama?" Kabuto called tentatively. He looked around every corner and down every hall as he walked by, but there was no answer.

He finally found the experiment room, the source of all the noise from earlier. And no wonder. The place was in shambles.

I don't understand it...

Kabuto looked around at the room below, with its cracked floor and piles of mortar and stone. One of the walls looked like it had been blasted through.

I don't understand it... why? Where did everyone go? Naruto... Obito...

Tears beaded up in the corners of his eyes and fell out before he had the chance to wipe them away.

Kabuto took off his glasses and scrubbed at his eyes with a sleeve. This wouldn't do! If Orochimaru-sama saw him crying, he might decide to send him back to the orphanage. As much as he missed home, he could not mess up this opportunity.

Still, he'd thought, for just a small moment, that he might be able to have friends here. Why was this happening?

Naruto was back.

For several seconds, the only thing that broke the silence was the quiet, regular beeping of the machine. Tsunade stared at him unguardedly, mouth slightly open in silent surprise, and Naruto smiled wider to try reassuring her he was alright.

"N-Naruto!" she finally said, voice wavering. She pulled him into a surprisingly gentle hug, carefully avoiding pulling on any of the things hooked to his body.

"Sorry for worrying you, baa-chan," Naruto said as casually as he could, though his voice was still weak. "I just had to take a really long nap."

Tsunade gave an exasperated sigh as she pulled back, her usual manner quickly coming back. "Stop trying to act so cool. Can you leave us for a moment?" She looked up at the nurse. "Please pass this on to Shizune. She knows what to do."

"Yes ma'm," the nurse said, nodding her head and then leaving.

Naruto tried to sit up, but Tsunade put a hand on his shoulder to keep him still.

He looked up at her nervously. "I'm not in trouble, am I?"

"Are you really back this time? Or are you going to disappear again?" Tsunade asked. "If you know, tell me right now."

"A-Ah..." Naruto closed his eyes.

'Are we? Are we really back for good, Kurama?'

I think so. Orochimaru shouldn't be able to exert any control over us, as long as the Yondaime's seal is in effect. But he might be able to see and hear everything we do after a while, if not already. Don't forget that. Never let your guard down.

Naruto opened his eyes slowly. He'd had the chance to get rid of Orochimaru's influence for good, thanks to his dad's knowledge of seals. But he declined it, hoping to bargain with Orochimaru to send Obito and Kabuto back to their own times.

Naruto didn't even know for sure whether Orochimaru had done it, since he'd disappeared before being able to see. And he'd probably never know, since those versions of Kabuto and Obito didn't exist here.

Which is exactly why you're a complete idiot. Can you really trust the word of that snake?

Naruto ignored Kurama. "Yeah, I'm back for real," he said to Tsunade, trying to inject confidence into his smile.

"Is Konoha in any immediate danger?"

Was it? Everything about the war wasn't supposed to happen for another few years, right?

"Um... probably not."

"Then we can forget about anything else until I assess your condition," Tsunade said. She took a clipboard from the foot of his bed and started marking things down from the monitors and machines.

"I'm hungry," Naruto complained as a wave of hunger hit him suddenly. He clutched his stomach and rolled over on his side. "I could eat twenty... no, thirty bowls of ramen." He hadn't felt hungry in ages, but now the sensation was back with a vengeance.

"No solid food for a while," Tsunade said as she continued her work. "You're lucky. We were going to have to resort to more permanent measures to keep your body going soon. It probably should have been done sooner, but we hoped you would be able to wake back up."

Something in the way she said it made Naruto forget his hunger for a second. He kept underestimating how much they must have worried about him, because he had been so busy learning things and fighting for his life in the future.

"What about Ero-sennin? What happened after I woke up that time?" He rolled back over quickly.

"He came back here as soon as we told him what happened. That was not the first time we realized we were on the wrong track."

Then Jiraiya was okay. He was alive. Naruto was so relieved that his eyes started to sting. Tsunade looked down at his stricken face and sighed.

"You can see him in the morning, if you want. It's late right now. While I'm sure he wouldn't mind being dragged out of bed for this, you should have a few hours to re-adjust before seeing anyone, at least."

"So you're not..." Naruto's voice came out croaky. "You're not going to ask me what happened?"

Tsunade leaned over the bed's rail and rested a glowing palm against his forehead. She stayed silently like that for several seconds. Her touch felt warm, and made him a little bit sleepy. Naruto gave her a questioning look when she stopped.

"For a while, we thought Akatsuki had taken the Kyuubi," Tsunade said. "But if that had happened, there was no way you should have been able to wake up. Even if you are known for defying expectations." She ruffled his hair a bit before pulling her hand back. "Are you saying you do know what happened?"

"Yeah." Naruto swallowed. He knew there was no way he could pretend not to know, not if he wanted to change things. But there was so much to tell, he almost didn't know where to begin. "I never really learned all the technical stuff behind it, but it wasn't Akatsuki. It was Orochimaru. Um, only, it's not the Orochimaru you guys know." This already felt difficult to explain. How was he supposed to do this?

"What do you mean, not the Orochimaru we know?" Tsunade frowned.

"He's from another time—another dimension thing? It was a place just like here, only it was like... everything was happening years from now. There was an older version of me there, and you; everyone. The Orochimaru from that place summoned me and put my soul in some kind of fake body. I kept trying to get back, but it was really, really hard."

Tsunade hummed. Naruto didn't like the doubt in her tone, but he could think of no better way to explain it, not without going into every last detail from the start.

"I found out a lot of stuff about what's going to happen in the future," he insisted, gesturing the best he could with his weak noodle arms. "I swear I'm not making it up!"

Tsunade continued her work quietly for another minute, making Naruto nervous and frustrated. What would he do if no one believed him? They had a war to prevent! If no one listened, then how was he supposed to do it?

"They said that it was like that jutsu that brings back dead people. The Edo-whatsit," Naruto burst out, trying again.

"The Edo Tensei?"

"Yeah!" Naruto said, reaching to point at her eagerly, but pulling the IV taped to his hand in the process. "Ow! Yeah, that thing. And he and Kabuto are gonna use the Edo Tensei to summon a ton of dead people, too—the Uchiha clan—and it's all because of Uchiha Madara, see, he started a war with everyone!"

Tsunade frowned and put the clipboard in her hands back in its tray at the foot of Naruto's bed. "Madara?"

"Yeah. I learned some stuff about him, and a bunch of other things, too. I can tell you all about them if you don't believe me."

"It isn't that I don't believe you, Naruto." Tsunade gave a sigh and pulled a chair up next to his bed. "Start at the beginning. But stick to the basics, just so I can have a better idea of what you're talking about. What happened the night after the inauguration?"

Naruto rested his head back on the pillow, trying to remember. It felt like such a long time ago.

Naruto started talking, and Tsunade didn't interrupt him unless he went off on a tangent or tried explaining something too complicated. When that happened, she would ask about what had happened next, and he would drop the current topic and move on. He tried to go off track often, because he was so determined to convince her he was telling the truth.

Tsunade's relative silence was unnerving. She seemed less interested in the details of Madara's plot and the war, and more interested in the the Time-Spanning Incarnation jutsu and Orochimaru's activities.

But eventually, Naruto grew tired. He started yawning every other sentence, and his words were turning into mumbles. It felt like he hadn't explained but a fraction of everything that happened, but thanks to Tsunade's promptings, he was already close to the end.

"So how did you make it home, if Orochimaru captured you after the second time you came back?"

"I escaped, obviously," Naruto said, a touch of his old bravado coming out, despite how tired he sounded. "I was able to summon the toad Sennin-jii and make it out. Then I was on the battlefield where everyone was facing off against Madara. Then I met my dad. He said Orochimaru had brought him back with the Edo Tensei."

Naruto fell silent for a moment and looked over at her. Tsunade had a look of deep concentration on her face. Her hands clenched the arm of the chair tightly.

She didn't say anything, though, so Naruto continued. "My older self told me about him before. He was able to alter the seal so Orochimaru wouldn't have control over me anymore."

"That should not have been possible," Tsunade said, her grip on the chair relaxing. "Minato sealed himself using the Shiki Fuujin. It was the same move the Sandaime used to seal Orochimaru's arms and his jutsu. And I know he succeeded, because Orochimaru came to me himself to see about healing him. As far as I know, there should not be any way he could summon anyone, much less Minato."

"I don't know anything about that, but he was there. And obviously Orochimaru could do it, 'cause he summoned me more than once, right? What gives, baa-chan? You said you believed me!"

Tsunade rubbed her forehead with one hand, giving a low grumble that showed the internal debate she was having. Finally sighing, she leaned forward and rested her hand on the bed's rail.

"Naruto, I believe you when you say that you experienced these things. Or at least, you are telling the truth about what you think you saw. But if what you've said is true—future time or not—it sounds like this Time-Spanning Incarnation jutsu really crosses dimensions, since you said your older self had no memory of it."

Naruto was caught off guard by this. "Yeah, that's what they said, too. So what?"

"Assuming that's all true, how can you be sure the place you went follows the same path as here?"

"But..." Naruto gripped the sheets covering him. He could just say that it was a gut feeling, but where was the proof?

"We can't rely on that totally, or close our minds to other possibilities. We need to look out for anything you might have found out, but don't ahead of yourself. It's dangerous to blindly assume everything will be the same. That goes doubly when you consider who's behind it all."

"But I spent so much time trying to get back home to warn everyone! I promised them I would... and I know it's really the future. I can feel it."

"Don't stress yourself out over it. You need to rest and get your strength back." Tsunade stood. "For now, we'll keep this to ourselves. I'll let Kakashi and Jiraiya know, but don't tell anyone else until we have the chance to investigate further."

"Sure," Naruto huffed. He wasn't going to give up on this. There were still years until the war started. "Um... I know you said I should wait till tomorrow, but can I see Ero-sennin now?"

Tsunade looked over at a clock hanging on the wall. "I need to talk to him, anyway. I suppose I could ask him to come over here, if it will help you relax."

After Tsunade left, Naruto's brow furrowed, eyes fixed on the ceiling. He was feeling drowsier and drowsier, no matter how much he fought it. He needed to get better as soon as possible, become strong again, and go out training with Jiraiya. Once they were out traveling together, Naruto was certain he could convince him that everything was true.

After all, he'd left a lot out while telling it, and not just because Tsunade was focused on getting the basics. He wasn't sure what to do about Obito, Itachi, Nagato, and Konan.

The Obito from this time probably wouldn't want his help, and the other three had said not to worry about them. Still, Naruto didn't want to talk about them just yet, if it meant they would be put down before he had the chance to do it himself.

So far, he had pinned the entire war on Orochimaru and Uchiha Madara, leaving any mention of Obito out. Just until he could figure out what to do.

Why did this have to be so hard? Naruto wished he had the help of his older self, but he did at least have Kurama on his side.

More or less.

The Third Shinobi World War was still raging on, and at this point, no one knew for certain what the outcome was going to be. Not even Konoha's Yellow Flash.

It was just a routine mission near the border of the Lightning Country, far from the front lines, but Minato got an apprehensive feeling when two of his students arrived at the rendezvous point without the third. The longer they waited, the greater the tension in the air became.

"He'll probably come a few hours late with some excuse about a stray cat," Kakashi shrugged with his palms up.

"But you know, he's usually serious when it comes to completing missions, right?" Rin said. "I wonder if he..."

"Don't worry, Rin." Minato stood from a crouch and folded up the map he had been studying. "This area should be safe from enemies. It could be he is having a hard time finding the meeting place."

"If that idiot didn't accidentally cross the border," Kakashi said. "They might see that Uchiha crest on his jacket and take him without realizing he doesn't even have the Sharingan."

"I'll go take a look really quick. The two of you, stay here. I'll be back before dark." Minato took out one of his specialized kunai and threw it down in the middle of the clearing.

"Y-Yes, sensei," Rin said.

Kakashi just crossed his arms and leaned against a tree as Minato left.

"It's bad enough he has to be late all the time. At this rate, he's going to make the rest of the team look bad, too," Kakashi said.

"Aren't you worried at all? I mean..."

"No. Minato-sensei said he'd be back by dark, so we should still get home within the allotted time."

"Oh." Rin sat down under a tree with her arms wrapped around her legs. That wasn't what she meant.

They waited mostly in silence as the sun worked its way across the sky.

Minato didn't return until much later. It was well into dusk, and the darkness had already settled in the forested area where the two waited.

"Sensei!" Rin trotted up to him when he reappeared. She stopped and fell silent, though, when it became obvious he was alone. Minato held up a simple gray backpack.

"Obito's bag." He tossed it down. "It was next to a river near the checkpoint, where he dropped off the scrolls. The people there said he came by as assigned, but they don't know what happened to him after he left."

"That's all you could find?" Kakashi said as he walked up beside Rin.

"Yes. I can guess Obito stopped at the river for a break after completing his assignment, but there's no hint of where he went after that. He might have seen something, and rushed off over the water to avoid leaving tracks. At any rate, there were no signs of a fight there or anywhere else in the area. The checkpoint hasn't seen any of Kumo or Iwa's forces today, either."

"Then... he might still show up here, just really late," Rin said, forcing a smile. "Ne, Kakashi?"

"If he's not hurt and there are no enemies, then he has no reason to be so late." Kakashi crossed his arms grumpily.

"That may be. But we've completed our mission ahead of time, so we can afford to wait a bit longer," Minato said, moving to sit at the base of a tree.

Rin and Kakashi exchanged looks. They understood what that meant. Extra time or not, they couldn't wait forever. They had only carried supplies for the few days they were supposed to be on the mission. And with the war going on, they couldn't get away with any extended detours.

Naruto had fallen asleep. Noticing the morning light in the room when he opened his eyes, he swore aloud.

"Nice to see you again too, gaki."

Naruto quickly looked over to see Jiraiya grinning at him.

"E-Ero-sennin!"

"Whoa, easy there," Jiraiya said as Naruto dived forward to the best of his ability, trying to hug him. The railing made it awkward, and Naruto couldn't fully reach without tugging on his IV, but he halfway managed it. "Tsunade will let me have it if you hurt yourself now. Just sit back and relax."

Naruto let himself be pushed back gently, reclining on the soft pillows that somebody must have recently fluffed for him.

He didn't want to relax. Jiraiya was really here! And there were so many things to talk about and do.

"When are we gonna go train?" Naruto asked immediately.

"Sheesh." Jiraiya gave a heavy sigh and sat back in his chair, arms crossed. "It's good to know spending months in a coma hasn't dampened your enthusiasm."

"Months? Hey… just how long has it been, exactly?"

"A little over three months," Jiraiya said with uncharacteristic seriousness. "Honestly, it's a miracle you didn't die. It was lucky you had Tsunade's help, and the residual energy from the Kyuubi. We thought Akatsuki had managed to capture it somehow. But when you woke those two times, we knew something else had to be going on. I heard everything about it from Tsunade. I can't believe Orochimaru figured out how to do something like this."

Naruto leaned back, looking at Jiraiya warily. "So you think I'm telling the truth?"

"I don't think you're lying, if that's what you mean. You aren't really the type to make up stuff for no reason. Besides, it's definitely true something serious happened to you. You almost died, Naruto." Jiraiya's voice took on a tone Naruto had never heard in it before.

"Then what are you going to do?" Naruto muttered.

Jiraiya uncrossed his arms and hummed. "There's no doubt something strange and dangerous happened here. But I think there are bound to be some parts you couldn't know or understand, even if you got everything else right. What to do? First of all, we want to track down Orochimaru and find out if he's developing the jutsu you told Tsunade about. If we can catch him in the act, we stand a better chance of finding out right away how it works, and how to stop it from happening again."

Naruto sat up quickly. "I never thought of that!"

He'd been so preoccupied worrying about Sasuke and Akatsuki, he'd forgotten that Orochimaru from this time might be just as dangerous as the one in the future.

What if he was already developing the Time-Spanning Incarnation jutsu right now? Did that mean Naruto would someday meet another, younger version of himself? The very idea made his brain hurt.

"So there is that," Jiraiya said. "If we find out he's doing something like that, then we might be able to get more information about the jutsu itself. If not, at least we'll have some proof to support your story."

Naruto pouted. He still couldn't tell if Jiraiya really believed him or not. "Then, what am I supposed to do?"

"You? You need to focus on getting out of the hospital, first of all." Jiraiya waggled his finger. "Don't tell me you expect to get out in a day!"

Naruto grumbled and leaned back. At least they were taking some kind of action on what he said. Maybe they would find something on Orochimaru, and get things moving the right way sooner. If it hadn't been for him, a lot of the bad that happened wouldn't be so—

Naruto's eyes widened.

"Sasuke! Sasuke is—?" He sat up even more violently than before, nearly launching himself out of bed.

"Hey! Calm down," Jiraiya pushed him back by the shoulders once again. "Do you want them to put restraints on you? I wouldn't put it past Tsunade."

"But Sasuke—did he leave the village? Did he go after Orochimaru?"

Jiraiya look troubled, and though he let go after pushing Naruto back, he looked ready to do it again if Naruto didn't keep still.

He answered in a gruff voice, "So you know about that too, huh?"

Naruto stared, his heart starting to thump quicker. Having gone for so long without a normal body, it felt strange. He could hear his own pulse in his ears.

"What happened?"

"Ah, well... maybe it's not the best thing to talk about right now—"

"I never got to face him." Naruto looked at his hands clenched in his lap. "I was supposed to face him and—and show him I'll do whatever it takes to bring him back, even if I couldn't win that time. And now, he..."

Jiraiya hummed sympathetically. "The truth is, we don't know a lot about it. He got a good head start on us. No one has seen him since the day after you were put in the hospital. There was a report about a group of Oto-nin in the area, and we believe there was a fight involving them not far outside of the village. It seems most likely that they came here for Sasuke. Judging by the extensive damage we found, Sasuke either got captured and tried to escape, or he left with them willingly and changed his mind afterward."

Naruto looked up. Sasuke fought them? He had no idea what might have happened, and that was not good. It was too soon for everything he knew to be messed up! It wasn't fair.

Whatever the case, Sasuke probably still wanted to kill Itachi, right? If only he hadn't left, Naruto could have explained everything to him. Whether or not Sasuke wanted to listen... he would come up with a way to make him listen.

"I'll take care of Sasuke," Naruto finally said. "If you guys can find Orochimaru, that will be good. Then I can just go right to him."

"You make it sound that easy," Jiraiya scoffed. "By the way, the old toad said you were pretty set against me investigating Akatsuki. Hmm? Maybe they really did get to you, after all."

"It's nothing like that," Naruto huffed. "It's just..."

How could he tell him? What if Jiraiya found out about Nagato and Konan and decided to go see them right away?

Or what if Tsunade decided to attack Ame to get rid of them before they became a threat? Naruto had no idea how either of them would react.

"I just don't want you to go when there's no reason for you to. It's like I told baa-chan, Madara is the one who started the war in the future. He's using Akatsuki for his plan. Some of them don't need to be... some of them aren't bad guys. Even though they're after me, I don't really want them to get killed." Naruto felt kind of silly saying that, imagining how it probably looked from someone else's point of view. "I-I mean, if there's a way to stop them without killing them. Their leader is in Ame, so that's why I didn't want you to go there. You, or anyone. It's really dangerous."

"Their leader? You mean Madara again, right?"

"No. I don't know where Madara is." Naruto waved his hands. "But the one I'm talking about, he's unbelievably strong, and Madara is using him. I don't want that person to hurt anyone, or be hurt by anyone. If it comes down to it, I know the best way to beat him, so there's no reason for anyone to risk going there to find information. So, don't let anybody go there until I... I mean, until we can figure out another way to stop them."

Jiraiya raised a skeptical brow, then sighed. "For now, it's good enough to look into what Orochimaru is doing. If there's a way to find out how accurate your knowledge might be, it's worth doing before anything else." He pushed his chair back from the bed and stood up.

"Are you leaving?" Naruto asked, a little upset.

"Hm? What's with the face? Do you know how many times I came to visit you while you were taking a nap?"

Naruto looked down again. Right. It was like that when they trained before, too. He wasn't a little kid, after all.

"Ha... y-you're right. I was just joking! I was gonna call someone to bring me some food soon, anyway. I need to hurry up and get my strength back as soon as possible."

Jiraiya watched him dubiously for several seconds, then sighed again. "Come to think of it, I haven't had any lunch, either. How about I try to sneak in something a little better than hospital food for us?"

The way Naruto's face lit up at the suggestion made it completely worth it.