She landed on the ground with an earth-shaking thud, cracking the ground around her.
"Despite the unintentional intervention, the successor to the Vongola throne has been decided."
The Cervello woman gave the Sky ring to Tsuna, Naruto turning to face Xanxus, who paled as he saw his tutor.
"XANXUS!"
She punched him, sending him flying.
"Xanxus di Vongola, what did I say to you, you piece of trash?"
She didn't exactly mean to insult her former student, it just… Happened.
"Not my fault," Xanxus grunted. "Look, you know I was only unfrozen a year ago –"
He was cut off by the grin on her face that she'd tried to keep from affecting the snarl.
"Yeah, yeah, make excuses. But fighting a kid who didn't know the mafia existed until what… Like a few months ago at the most?" Naruto shrugged. "Oi, Reborn! How long ago was it?"
"You must be an imposter." Reborn appeared before her, Leon in sniper form.
"Kia!"
Her fox changed, becoming far larger than was normal. Reborn landed on her head, and Naruto had a kunai out, slicing his gun.
Leon mutated to prevent damage, its tail dropping off.
"Sorry, Leon," Naruto called, recalling her kunai with chakra strings. "Nice to see ya, Reborn-san. Still a jackass?"
Reborn's eyes narrowed. "How do you know my name?"
Naruto laughed. "Hey, Viper!" She called, waving at her Mist.
Her Mist groaned. "Hello, Naruto," the Mist reluctantly said. "I thought you said you were searching for Bermuda."
"Ah, I found him, he left." Naruto walked towards Reborn, letting her pacifier show out of her jumpsuit, smiling gently. "As for how I know your name…"
She poked his pacifier, which glowed, resulting in his eyes widening. "I'm really Naruto, -ttebayo."
~:~
"You've spent the last thirty years traveling the world? I bet you went back."
It didn't matter the ears listening in at the table. Naruto's… Residence was currently filled with Varia, Cervello, and Vongola.
Naruto nodded as she sipped her soup. "Had to. Had to retrain my body. I wasn't satisfied with my body then. However, I was offered a position by Vongola Ottava, which I took… And then took a leave of absence immediately afterwards."
"Hmm."
"I thought…" Naruto closed her eyes. "I thought you all were dead until I met Skull again."
Reborn stood. "You met the lackey?"
"You've seen him, haven't you?" Naruto grinned. "I made sure to never cross your path, Reborn. Every time I saw you, or heard you, I left. Because I didn't think it was a good idea. You adjusted to our… Situation easily enough."
"You trained Xanxus." It wasn't a question. "Now that I've seen you again, it's obvious. The lack of finesse."
An irk mark made itself known on Naruto's forehead.
"Reborn!" Tsuna looked scared but offended. "When –"
"Let me guess," Reborn cut in. "When she found out what Iemitsu did to your Flames she gave them back and taught you to control them."
"Hell no." Naruto glanced at Tsuna apologetically. "I didn't even know Tsu-kun had a Seal on his Flames until now. That is new to me, yes."
Reborn glanced to Xanxus, who looked genuinely relaxed, smiling at Naruto with a not-there smile.
"You did something," he finally said to Naruto. "You trained Dame-Tsu-"
"Don't call him that." Naruto's voice was icy, cold. Reborn stared at his Sky with a sly smirk.
"You haven't changed."
Naruto set down her tea gently.
"I have," she said, standing. "I think it is you who has not changed. Same old Reborn."
~:~
Naruto threw a glass at the wall, the shatter satisfying to her ears.
Bermuda watched her calmly.
"You know, you knew this would happen," the Vindice leader said.
Her eyes flashed red.
"I knew something similar would," she admitted. "But knowing what Iemitsu did –"
She slammed her fist into the wall, creating a hole.
"You need to relax," Bermuda said as cracks spread from the hole.
Naruto scowled at the other child. "Aren't you supposed to be doing some policing?"
"My underlings can take care of it." The Vindice leader hopped from his seat. "Our Sun broke Omerta by telling the baby Sky."
"I think we all break Omerta every now and then."
"You certainly did by telling everyone in your entire country."
Naruto flinched.
"I apologize."
"It no longer exists, so there's nothing to worry about." Naruto tried to remain calm, but the inadvertent reminder that her entire home country had been wiped from the planet by Kaguya's asshole of a great grandson, Momoshiki.
Ten years. It'd been ten years and it was still a raw hole in the middle of her heart.
"I am sorry. Learning the secret –"
"Let's not talk about this any more," Naruto said, clenching her left fist. It hurt Tobi too much now to clench her right. "Let's just figure out what Reborn's doing here, at this point in time."
"That's easy," Bermuda laughed. "Massimo, Federico, and Enrico are all dead."
Naruto blinked, not really all that upset about the fact three people were dead.
"Should I know who they are?"
"Nono's sons," Bermuda said, his smile fading. "Xanxus' brothers?"
Naruto tossed her body on the bed beside Bermuda, sighing aloud.
"And why can't Xanxus inherit?"
"You're kidding, right?" Reborn's voice sounded from her window. "You trained Xanxus, but you don't know?"
"For the last eight and a half years I was sealed by the Ninth's Zero Point Breakthrough, so no, it never occurred to me to ask why my student – gods damn you, Nono!" Realization flashed across her face.
"Why'd he seal you?" Reborn asked, his eyes narrowing dangerously.
"Apparently my erratic, angry behavior around Xanxus led him to believe I'd be more of a threat to him than me when I'm not angry," Naruto said calmly, sitting up. "To be fair, my entire country had been obliterated. I had lots of time to reflect while I was stuck in ice."
"It's not technically ice," Bermuda intervened, his bandages on his face, probably since Reborn had appeared. He wasn't big on people seeing who he was. "It's Sky Flames –"
"Look, I know what they are," Naruto said, tired. "Like I said, I had a lot of time to reflect. Luckily I didn't get bored after I'd reflected. Checkerface finally deigned to explain shit to me."
"What do you mean, your entire country got obliterated?"
Naruto gazed at him.
"You know that ninja I told you guys about? Momoshiki?"
Reborn nodded.
"Well, I've been going back to my home every couple of years, usually with Skull, just to make sure my home was safe." Naruto swallowed the lump in her throat. "I… I went there a decade ago at Checkerface's insistence. I was on a boat – only way to access it without Checkerface – and – and –"
Her throat tightened again.
"I was almost there when Momoshiki unleashed his chakra. He – he used some sort of technique to – to – kill the people first and then the land." Naruto refused to let the sob that so desperately wanted to crawl out of her throat loose. "It was gone in about an hour, the entire country… There was nothing I could do – I've tried and failed to defeat Momoshiki – I can't win without using –"
Without using them, and I promised them I wouldn't.
"And I can't ever go back, not even to visit again." Naruto had Raged so angrily that Checkerface had to put her in a pocket dimension until she was ready to be in regular society. The next year and a half was a blur, mostly her using poisons as drugs and an unstable position of being Xanxus' teacher.
She really let herself go.
"Did he release a pathogen?"
"His chakra was far more than a pathogen," Naruto said. "It's like ice. It freezes you in place and forces your chakra to eat away at your body. Really, he's stealing the chakra of over a million beings, and he can match me the way I currently am and I can't beat him." She took a deep breath.
"Does he have restrictions on when he comes and goes?" Reborn was curious.
"Any night with a moon," Naruto murmured, her eyes darkened with dark thoughts. "Anyway! I really, really don't want to talk about it." She clapped her hands together. "I want to help Tsuna."
Reborn smiled. "I want you to help," he agreed. "Tsuna has yet to truly inherit the ability of the Vongola; he cannot take on the Dying Will mode without pills or guns. I would ask you to help him bring out that ability."
Naruto stared at him, confused.
"We've barely tolerated each other since the moment we first met," she told him. "Why do you think I could do this?"
This meaning do what he asked.
"Because," Reborn said, that smile still on his face, "you did it without realizing it when we were in your village."
~:~
Tsuna gulped as his former neighbor entered his room, Reborn smirking on the way out.
Naruto hadn't been at the house next to his since a year previous, when she'd returned and abruptly vanished. Now that he knew that the babies with the pacifiers colored oddly were in a group called the I Prescelti Sette, he understood that they were heavily involved with the mafia.
"I'm here to show you how to use your Flames, Tsu-kun," she told him, her blue eyes reminding him of a cerulean sky. "Without pills. Or shots from a gun."
"I thought that was impossible," Tsuna admitted.
"Come on," she said, taking his hand. "Let's go to my house. Xanxus is resting up, but he won't bother us."
Tsuna hesitated before getting up, bending down to keep ahold of her hand.
They walked out of the house, ignoring everyone (well, Tsuna did give a reassuring 'I'll be back!' to his mother) and walking through Naruto's house to the back, this time really ignoring the stares of the Varia.
Outside there was a pretty koi pond, and a giant sakura tree. No cherry blossoms fell to the ground.
"How is this possible?" he breathed, Naruto's hand slipping from his.
"That is from my country," she said softly, walking over to it. "It's from a place known as Hashirama Gardens. Every five years a seed is given, and, when planted, it resists all form of destruction, even the changing of the seasons. I collect the seeds, store them away in case they're needed."
She placed a hand on the truck.
"Come over here, Tsuna." She beckoned him to the tree. "Place a hand on it."
Tsuna wondered if this was some sort of test, but nonetheless put his hand on the tree trunk.
Warmth filled his body.
"I would like you to lay down, now."
Tsuna blinked, his eyes aching. Actually, everything was. And it was cold.
"EEEEH? But it was just morning!"
"These trees are dangerous if you're not like me." Naruto smiled and gestured to a patch of clean grass.
Tsuna took his hand off, wincing as the warmth faded. A remnant clung onto him like it was reluctant to leave.
Naruto lifted her hands as Tsuna laid in the grass, and a green glow affixed itself to her fingers, creathing a soothing coolness. It didn't touch the warmth; as it got close Tsuna felt blinding pain sweep through him.
"AAH! Stop, please!"
Naruto withdrew, frowning.
Tsuna gasped. "I feel…"
"Tsuna."
Tsuna turned to her, breathing raggedly.
"Do you trust me?" Her eyes were surprisingly gentle.
Tsuna nodded. "Hai."
"Then I need you to close your eyes and seek out your Flames. Don't touch them, simply go into your mind and look for them."
Tsuna closed his eyes and focused on the warmth that had remained with him.
He relaxed, thinking about the warmth, the aspects – protect, lead, guide –
A spark of orange danced in his mind, and he followed it to the source, a tiny light that was surrounded by ominous black.
I found it.
He wasn't aware he'd spoken out.
Describe it. Naruto's voice curled in his mind invasively, yet he didn't feel threatened.
Black around a burning orange Flame, he replied unconsciously.
Feel for your Bonds.
He found them, glimmering. Just barely there. He could sense them, the personality behind them.
If you trust me, I'm going to break the Seal around your Flames. Tsuna… Tsuna withdrew from his bonds, listening to the disembodied voice in his head. Tsuna, I need you to grab your Flames, and think about those important bonds.
Tsuna's intuition said to do as she said.
He reached for his Flames, and they reached him. He thought about his newfound Family, about what he would do to keep them. He didn't think about his irritation at being a mafia boss, at this whole situation.
He thought about his fellow Sky, even she his Flames curled around him and the blackness shattered around him, throwing his bonds into stark relief as his Flames protectively surged.
Good job, Tsuna.
~:~
Xanxus watched the Sky Arcobaleno touch the baby trash's face with her glowing fingers. Her eyes flashed between sky blue and Sky orange, she spoke words to a barely-responsive baby trash and the baby trash responded.
The hairs on his arms rose as pure Sky Flames exploded into being. Xanxus stared at the baby trash and Sky Arcobaleno, his Flames unconsciously sparking to life in response.
Tsuna lurched up and stared at his Flames, not exactly in Hyper Dying Will Mode but not in the weird Dying Will mode where his clothes vanished.
"Boss!" Squalo pointed at the Sky Arcobaleno, whose pacifier was glowing in response to the sudden Activation. For a moment, the baby form of the girl switched to an adult form, kneeling on the ground with hair whipping about her.
The it was gone, the pacifier still glowing.
"Holy shit," Xanxus uttered.
"Er, boss?" Lussuria poked him.
"What, Sun trash?"
"You're on fire, too, Boss."
"Don't be a fucking dumbass. I'm not Wrathful the moment."
"Er… Boss… Your Flames are actually like Vongola Decimo's," Lussuria said.
Xanxus looked to his hands, and there they were – brilliant Sky Flames that were rather…
…tranquil.
He returned his stare to the baby outside.
~:~
Naruto caught the pink bazooka and opened her mouth. "Lambo-san, it's –"
Without another word, she found herself traveling down a very trippy tunnel, then enveloped in pink smoke.
She coughed the smoke out of her lungs, standing up with an eyebrow twitching – when there was an "eh?" sound.
Naruto turned, looking at the people around her, dressed all in white. Her eyebrow twitched as the white-haired man laughed.
"Hello, baby!" he said with that creepy-ass smile. "You wouldn't happen to know where your adult self we –" a high-pitched scream exited the male's mouth as Naruto removed her foot (and by extension the rest of her body) off of the man, kicking him in the face before alighting on another's head.
"Who the fuck are you?" she demanded rudely, withdrawing her kunai. "I'd suggest you answer before I decide to end you all!"
"Naruto-san."
Naruto looked down. Dull, empty eyes met hers.
"Naruto-san, I have seen this ending," the descendant of Luce said. "Please turn your pacifier in."
"You must be Aria-chan's daughter," Naruto mused. "I will spare your life this once as a gift to Luce."
She jumped and landed on the redhead's head, the one right next to the white-haired idiots. "Now, before I start slicing and dicing, what the fuck is this place and who the hell are you perverts?"
~:~
Reborn froze at the person who exited the cannon (as did pretty much everyone else…).
Naruto stood there, pacifier hanging around her neck, wearing that atrocious orange jumpsuit. Her eyes were hard and instantly assessing the danger.
"Oh," she said after a moment of silence. "Oh. I see."
"Naruto-san," Reborn recovered. "It's nice to see you."
She looked at him sharply…
…and burst into tears.
"You're here!" she said, scooping Reborn up and sobbing loudly. "You're here!" she repeated.
Reborn's mind halted.
He was… Dead in the future? What? Why?
One thing was certain. He needed Lambo to shoot him with the Ten Year Bazooka, and soon.
Because if Naruto was here, and sobbing about him not being there, the others must be there.
(Then again, Reborn and her did have much more of a history, despite the thirty-year gap.)
He swatted her head.
"Dame-Naruto," he said, attaching Tsuna's name to hers. "Sit down and eat for the next four minutes."
There was nothing betraying her face, but she nodded.
~:~
"Like hell am I giving you my pacifier!" Naruto's objection made Byakuran smile and toss a marshmallow into his mouth, comfortable. He should be, since they were all in Italy at the moment, in the headquarters of the Millefiore Famiglia.
"And why not? You'll be free of your curse," Byakuran laughed.
Naruto smirked.
"Because it'll mess with the time stream."
Byakuran froze.
"Of course, you could take my pacifier," Naruto said, smirking, "but, when my older self gets back here, she'll be far more powerful, you see. You won't be able to kill her then."
Byakuran's smile returned. "You make a valid point," he said. "Unfortunately for you, I wasn't asking, little baby."
Naruto stared at him as people began entering.
"Ah, Byakuran-san… You mistake me for someone who doesn't fight."
"Ah, but you can't fight, not really," Byakuran countered. "It's either me, or you can try to beat me."
"There's a third option," Naruto revealed, standing and hopping to the table, entirely at ease. "In fact, I bet that when Lambo shot me with that damn thing that I ruined whatever plan I had. I bet," she continued, discreetly mapping an escape plan, "that I was trying to kill you, Byakuran-san."
She smiled.
"Kia, grow."
Kia jumped off Naruto's shoulder and roared, hiding Naruto from view. Effectively blocking her from escaping, or so everyone thought…
"Bye!"
A window crashed, Naruto falling with a whoop.
"You left your fox!" Byakuran reached out –
Only to encounter air as Kia winked out of existence.
~:~
The adult Naruto was worried. Five hours had long since passed, and she wasn't back to her time.
Reborn's weight settled onto her shoulder.
"Cioassu," Reborn greeted her. "So why were you so distraught when you saw me?"
"Always one to get straight to the point," the adult smiled. "In all seriousness, you're dad in the future. All the Arcobaleno are."
She grasped her pacifier.
"Except you," countered Reborn.
"And Lal." Naruto glanced out of the corner of her eyes. "Lal and I are alone."
"Why are you an adult?" asked Reborn, hopping to the desk in the room. Naruto worried her lip.
"A result of everyone else dying," she said at last, not entirely lying but not telling the full truth.
"You suck at omission," Reborn said to her.
"I know." She grimaced. "Reborn, I was supposed to be back by now. It's been hours." She jumped up. "He could have taken younger-me back to Italy by now and taken her pacifier."
Reborn stared at her.
"You really think your younger self would give her pacifier to anyone?"
Naruto glanced at him. "I'm no longer sure what I would do ten years ago, had I had someone to help me."
She walked out of the room.
~:~
Naruto looked around Namimori, sensing for Tsuna's Flame signature. Or anyone familiar.
Her Flames latched onto one of her Rain Guardians, and she started to run in that direction – right when there was pink smoke and her adult self was standing there, looking stunned.
Naruto screeched to a stop, squeezing her eyes shut and hoping she was seeing things, because she wasn't staring at herself, right?
"This is weird," she finally said aloud.
"You betcha," her adult self said, staring at her avidly. "You know, I kinda wondered what it would be like if I had a mini-me at my disposal."
"Our disposal," child-Naruto said with a sharp grin, matched by the older one.
They both cackled, thinking of all the chaos that would probably happen.
(In Italy, one certain Varia leader had a chill going down his spine as he suddenly got a bad feeling… Er, two bad feelings.
He… Almost felt bad for the Millefiore. Almost. They'd still killed the baby trash, so he didn't feel too inclined to take pity on them.)
~:~
Lal was… Appropriately shocked once Naruto made it back to the base with herself on her shoulder. Both Kia-foxes sniffed each other, the elder fox eventually caving to the smaller version, while Naruto and Naruto sat at the table. Fuuta and Gianini both stared in awe at both Narutos' appetite, with the tinier version eating two plates more than the other.
"You eat a lot," Fuuta said, his eyes wide.
"I'm surprisingly not fat," Naruto said with a sharp grin, her tiny size making it seem out of place.
"Shinobi metabolism is approximately a hundred times faster than the normal one," Naruto rattled off. Looking at Naruto, both shared a smile.
"We asked Verde to look that up, didn't we?" Mini-Naruto asked.
"Yep," Adult-Naruto said. "Like… Fifteen, sixteen years into the Curse?"
"He was so shocked he spilled acid on me," Mini-Naruto beamed. "Good times."
"Yeah." Adult-Naruto smiled. "Hey, I think because of our powers not being simply Flame-centric, that's what's fucking up our return ability. It only took me ten hours. How long have you been here?"
"Hmm, about three days." Adult-Naruto frowned, Mini-Naruto nodded. "Time must move differently, especially because time travel hasn't exactly been widespread here."
Just then, the kitchen door opened.
Looking up, the two doubles got themselves eyes filled with filled-out hunks of men. And a pretty woman.
"Why, hello there, gorgeous hunks," Adult-Naruto said, lowering her voice. "And beautiful maiden," he added, switching genders as he spoke to the purple-haired woman, who flushed bright red.
"If this is what I have to look forward to as an adult, then I suppose – wait just a second, you finally had sex?" Mini-Naruto punched her adult form. Her adult form simply raised an eyebrow.
"Honey, I can honestly tell you that my first time was with the least expected man in the world," the adult commented, not even batting an eye as he ignored the newcomers to focus on his child-self.
"Oh my gods," Naruto said, getting it. "Please tell me he was an –"
"Tch, of course he was, you fucking moron! All it took was Bermuda and Checkerface, you damn stupid idiot." Naruto punched his miniture, female self.
It hurt, even more so that the miniature version was smaller, and therefore could only use chakra-enhanced punches (and really, compared to this punch the chakra-enhanced punches were fucking love taps!), not having the strength to send someone flying through about seven walls like Tsunade with just her fist and no chakra behind it.
Unlike this version, who punched her so hard she flew through about seven walls before hitting a really solid one that seemed to be able to take a hit (or the mini's body had lost momentum with the six other walls of varying thickness) before falling.
Luckily, Naruto was picked up by Lal's… Centipede thing and returned, so… No harm done.
"-back about ten years in the past using Lambo's damn Ten Year Bazooka being used on Mini-me. Mini-me was unfortunately still here when I returned," Adult-Naruto was saying to the people in the doorway. "Still, if the Varia caught you up on the plan, then there's not much I can say except that it failed."
"Yeah, the Varia caught us up. And we gathered that," the tall silverette said, his green eyes lighting on the miniature Arcobaleno. "Wow, it's been a long time since we saw an Arcobaleno your size around," he nodded, getting right in Naruto's face.
Naruto gained an irk mark and looked at her alternate. "Seriously, who are all these people?"
Her alternate smiled. "That's Gokudera Hayato."
Naruto's eyes popped. "What the fuck?" she demanded, in shock. "So the Bovino Famiglia perfected time travel?"
"More like… Helped it along. I don't fucking know," snapped her male counterpart. "Right now I don't have time for my questions, Naruto."
"Fuck you," Naruto said, getting up in her counterpart's face.
"No thanks, not into children."
Naruto took a deep breath.
"Training room, now," she told her future self, eyes flashing red.
Actual fear flashed in her counterpart's face.
~:~
"Sasuke… What did you do?"
The whisper wasn't accusing, it was horrified.
Her male counterpart smiled where he lay.
"What I should have done, lifetimes ago."
Sakura raced up, glancing at Sasuke before rushing to Naruto.
"No – Sakura, heal Sasuke." Naruto panicked. "Sakura, heal – no, Sasuke, don't you fucking DARE LEAVE, stay away – SAKURA, LEAVE ME ALONE!"
Despite the pain her arm was putting her through, she tried to move away.
"Sakura, Sasuke –" Kakashi started, only to shut up as Naruto screamed, chakra sending the two away from them. Naruto was cloaked by pure bijuu energy.
She scrambled to one arm, the crescent moon symbol appearing on her palm (not that she noticed). She called up healing energy, only a paltry amount, and tried to heal him.
In her mind, eleven beings remained.
Kakashi knocked her out as she sobbed, still trying to heal Sasuke.
~:~
"I will never use their power."
Those words were uttered to a disbelieving Konoha Council from the mouth of their savior.
"I will never use their power with or without their consent," she vowed. "I will only use my power."
"Very well," Koharu grumbled. "Denying you the hat now would be useless."
She said nothing, her new arm twitching, not quite used to being an arm.
"Hokage-sama, we await your orders."
~:~
"I've tried being Hokage and it didn't work, thanks to Sakura," Naruto said, trying her best to keep it together. "I want work where I don't have to feel – or, if I do, it won't be looked down upon."
"You know if they find out who you are it might get out to the civilians," Tsunade warned.
Naruto shrugged. "I resigned. The worst that could happen is I have to run." She attempted a half smile. "I'm good at running. I ran from the Akatsuki all those times."
"Very well. You are assigned to the Hunter-ops." Tsunade gave a smirk at Naruto's flabbergasted face. "I'll give you a team shortly."
~:~
"Hey, good job, shorty," Specter One said, slapping a masked Naruto on the back. "You're an amazing tracker. You an Inuzuka?"
"No," Naruto said flatly, walking off.
"You know, we've all shared our identities with each other," Specter Six said gently. "We wouldn't judge you for whoever you are."
Naruto chuckled under her mask.
"Problem is that's exactly what you'll do," she whispered as Specter Six danced off.
~:~
"AAAH!" Specter Six fell. "Hostile Otsutsuki!"
Naruto turned and vanished in a shunshin, landing in front of Specter Six. She had seconds to spare, seconds to think.
She could either let the fool destroy her mask… Or let Specter Six die with that one punch.
She closed her eyes.
Her mask shattered.
Chatter on the radio died.
Her yellow hair, revealed under the 'bland person henge' jutsu, danced in the wind.
She didn't turn to face Six as she went into Sage Mode, her eyes becoming yellow with black bars.
Naruto ducked under the a-hole's arm and formed a Rasenshuriken.
The jutsu tossed Momoshiki away from her, then exploded.
Naruto kept Six from blowing away by catching her wrist and healing her legs quickly.
She stood as she sensed her other team members nearby and smiled bitterly.
"Tell Tsunade that I'm gone," she told Seven before getting out of there, unable to handle one more minute there, in the middle of the group.
She fled Hi no Kuni, going in an aimless direction.
~:~
Two months after the war, December tenth, Naruto was totally living it up. Sure, she'd explained things to her former team – who, after hearing from Tsunade that they were not to actually locate her – but she was still on the run.
In some ways, it wasn't so bad. Nobody could find her, thanks to the fact that while Snow Country was allied to Konoha, it didn't actively invite Konoha or anyone else in. So even if they felt Naruto, they couldn't go searching on a whim.
She was entering her house after going out to get groceries when something alerted her to another's presence.
She made no attempt to mask hers, going room to room and putting things away as though she hadn't sensed anyone, then threw kunai at the ceiling, activating a trap seal that flared and caught the intruder.
He was wearing an iron mask and a top hat.
That alone put Naruto on edge. This man had no chakra – instead, she could sense a foreign energy in him that grated on her nerves.
She narrowed her eyes as his opened…
…and proceeded to switch to a boy, before smashing the mask with his fist.
The man blinked, stunned. Red blood trickled down his face.
Naruto growled and struck out again, seemingly at air.
His hand was grabbed, a paralyzing grip that nearly shook the kunai out of it.
Naruto's eye burned. "Amaterasu," his voice rasped out – no, Sasuke's – and black flames came from his eye.
The grip vanished, and Naruto jumped as air whistled.
He and something collided; both fell to the ground with a man being revealed, sans mask and hat.
"So you are the one who defeated my dear niece," noted the man with a smile.
Naruto's eyes narrowed. "Otsutsuki," he spat, the name a curse from his lips.
"Oh, dear one," the Otsutsuki smiled. "You can't defeat me. Not without Hagoromo's other son."
Naruto shoved his remaining hand at the man, showing off his palm.
The man smiled, this time paler than before.
"Fine," he said, edging away. "You could. But before you do, I have an offer you might want to hear."
Naruto remained standing.
"I would like to hire you as a Sky." Naruto stared at him blankly. "In my country, there are seven of the world's greatest individuals. My sister Sephira had many children, your Kaguya not among them – she is my brother's descendant – and Luce, Sephira's descendant, is pregnant."
"And this means?" asked Naruto.
"It means that Luce and her daughter and her granddaughter will not live to see past the age of forty," the man said. "I am asking you to save them."
"I don't even know your name and you're asking me to save someone?" Naruto asked skeptically.
The man smiled again.
"You can call me Checkerface in the presence of the I Prescelti Sette. My real name," he said, bowing to her, "is Otsutsuki Kawahira."
~:~
"It must be her power," Reborn concluded after three days of worrying. "No need to worry about her, Dame-Tsuna. What you need to worry about is you learning how to call your Flames up by –"
Pink smoke filled the room.
When the smoke vanished, Naruto stood there, looking sick and pale.
"Reborn!" she looked happy to see him. "I hate my future self," she announced. "I'm leaving."
She was gone before more words could be spoken.
~:~
"You haven't been here the last ten years!"
"Ten years! Nothing could change in ten years!"
He got up in her face. "How would you know?"
Her eyes bored into his.
"Because I know who I am right now."
"No you don't."
They separated.
"You can barely look at Reborn, after hiding from him. Why you hid from him – why we hid – was because of who he reminded you of." He sneered at her. "You can't even beat Momoshiki because of a vow you couldn't break!"
Naruto stared at her counterpart, and snorted.
"Wow," she laughed. "We are different. You just made me realize something I should've realized a long time ago!"
Before her counterpart could ask, Naruto vanished.
~:~
Naruto shouldered the backpack. Something told her she needed to go with Tsuna to the future.
"Oi, Tsu-kun!" She called, causing the boy to halt ahead of her. Tsuna turned, his eyes wide.
"Yes?"
"You're planning on using the Ten-Year Bazooka on you, aren't you?"
Tsuna swallowed. "Yes?" he tried.
Naruto smiled. "I'm coming with you."
~:~
She woke up, not with Tsuna, but in a distinctly taller body and different room.
She stretched, standing up and walking out of the room.
"Naruto!" Gokudera looked respectful of her. "We're burying Jyuudaime today."
Naruto eyed the coffin.
"Not a good idea," Naruto said bluntly. She heard a muffled gasp and pushed the coffin open, causing Gokudera to gape and Yamamoto to blink stupidly.
(Apparently, she'd taken over her future self's body, including the memory.)
Tsuna sat up.
"Also, is Reborn here?" Naruto asked idly, tapping her chin. "We really need to figure out a plan of attack against the Millefiore."
~:~
"Naruto, you're the best one to help the group," Reborn announced. "The you in this time seems to not be affected by the anti-tri-ni-sette radiation."
"I'm affected, but it passes," Naruto admitted, calling up her older self's memory – and screeching in shock before slamming the palm of her hand into her forehead.
The group just looked weirded out by her actions.
Naruto groaned. "Apparently I like sex a lot," she informed everybody without any embarrassment. "Which is an odd thought."
"What, you'd never had sex before?" Lal laughed.
Naruto blinked at her. "No," she said flatly. "I've never had sex before."
There was a dead silence.
"But apparently Future-me will sleep with anyone." Naruto put a hand to her forehead, wincing. "I really hate this right now."
~:~
They ran down the passage of the Millefiore base. Naruto stopped them near the control room.
"When I say run for the control room, I mean run for it," she told them, her eyes blazing.
They nodded and got ready.
"Run."
Naruto reached out with her chakra, augmenting their speed as she darted in the middle of the room.
"Hello, Auntie!"
A childish voice met her ears.
Naruto grinned and turned, meeting Ginger Bread's eyes.
"I can't believe I get to fight you, Auntie!" Ginger Bread grinned predatorily. "Maybe I'll be serious enough for you to take out your naginata."
"Dream on," Naruto smiled, closing her eyes. "I can beat you with my eyes closed… Magician's Doll."
Ginger Bread giggled, then proceeded to snap.
Sun Flames spread throughout the room.
Naruto took out her kunai and prepared to kill.
~:~
Naruto followed the Sky Flames, deeper and deeper in the facility, entering the spillway.
Robots – what had Reborn called them? Moska? – were facing off with Tsuna, who was in full Hyper Dying Will mode, ready to attack with his X-Burner.
Naruto took out paper bombs.
Thanks to the fact Japan did have rice paper, she could create paper bombs easily.
She refrained from becoming visible just yet, a Mammon-chain over her pacifier.
(Just thinking of Viper's suicide hurt her heart.)
Tsuna fired the X-Burner, destroying two more Moska. He was flung back, thanks to the kick. It wasn't powerful enough yet. Tsuna fell to the ground, the Moska on the ground opening and revealing an even uglier jumpsuit than Lee's.
"Sorry, kid," the man said, sounding bored. The man paused, staring at the hole. Naruto tensed, doing a shunshin to get behind the man. The kunai was inches away when he spoke.
"It's not complete yet."
~:~
"It's not complete yet," Spanner mused. He hesitated, looking down at the brat. "Tch." He set the gun down, leaning forward and scooping the boy up.
He turned, his eyes suddenly crossed as they looked down a very sharp, very primitive, and very deadly weapon.
Fury burned in the blue eyes of the Sky Arcobaleno.
"It's a good thing you intrigued me enough not to kill you," the Sky Arcobaleno said, her voice dark.
Spanner swallowed.
"What do you mean, it's not complete yet?"
Spanner sucked on his candy. "His power is too wild. If he was more precise, then… Maybe, he could've killed me."
Her eyes widened.
"Look, if you want to find out what I mean, then by all means, take the kid, he's getting heavy."
~:~
Naruto stood outside, on guard. To anyone else, she was simply sitting out there, sleeping (or so it seemed). Spanner was getting it into Tsuna's thick skull how close he came to actually dying.
This isn't a game, Naruto. You could lose your life out there.
A nostalgic smile came upon her face as she brought out her katana.
Not her family blade, but if the feeling of the approaching enemies were any indication, this was going to be a serious battle.
Her Flames reached out to Tsuna.
Unable to fully manifest due to the presence of the pacifier, they nevertheless attracted Tsuna's attention.
It's all right, she soothed his Flames, letting the agitation fuel her.
Her eyes snapped open as the enemy reached her.
I'll make sure you're safe, little Sky.
Harmonization, the first Harmony of two Skies, connected the two.
And with a vicious battle cry, Kia and Naruto launched themselves into battle with the other Flame users.
~:~
Tsuna jumped as Naruto fell through the door, a weapon clattering to the ground.
"Tch, tch," laughed the woman with purple flames. "You're nothing, little Arcobaleno! Pathetic, now that you can't use your Flames!"
The Sky Arcobaleno, caught in the grasp of rather unsightly thugs, only smirked as Spanner hastily shoved the contacts at Tsuna.
"I didn't need to defeat you," the woman said, still smirking. "I was only what you call a distraction, honey."
"Where is Ginger Bread?" the woman screeched, annoyed.
The taller Arcobaleno snickered. "Did Ginger Bread never tell you that the Arcobaleno are like family to him?" she said, still laughing.
The woman struck Naruto across the face.
"Destroy her!"
The Arcobaleno woman cried out as her entire midsection was punctured.
There was a shocked silence, and Tsuna burst into Flames, his resolve burning bright.
"Naruto-san!"
~:~
"Aria-san?"
Aria smiled at her.
"It's about time you visited me, Auntie." Aria was an adult; Naruto smiled at her.
"Hello, Aria-chan. What're we doing today?"
"Mother wants to talk to you."
"Luce?" The Ottava Giglio Nero Boss appeared, smiling at Naruto.
"Hello, Naruto-san." Luce settled her hand on Aria's shoulder. "We're simply here to tell you that the curse can be broken. Bermuda's Flames –"
They were vanishing, and Naruto frowned as Luce's mouth moved but only picked up muffled words.
"Luce? Aria? I can't hear you!"
~:~
"-about Naruto-san?"
"She's dead. There's not much we can do," Spanner groaned, sounding like he was in pain.
Naruto winced and groaned.
"EH? SHE'S ALIVE?"
"Urusai, baka," Naruto hissed, her head pounding as usual.
"Naruto can't die," Reborn said flatly. "That's part of what makes her unique."
She stood, gripping her sword and sealing it back in her arm.
"Tobi…" She poked her real arm, where Tobi moved. "I swear, if my arm isn't back…"
Tobi shifted, revealing a tan arm while forming his mask.
Tsuna looked really grossed out; Reborn looked slightly disgusted.
Naruto flexed as Tobi spoke.
"Tobi is a good boi! Tobi is ready to use his Mokuton abilities!"
Naruto froze, then turned her head slowly, dropping an intense glare at the remains of her people.
"Tobi…" She knew her eyes were flashing red. "I swear if you kept that information from me, I'll kill you."
Tobi shivered. "Tobi must feed off of host's chakra and convert it!" he yelped. "Tobi only wanted to use it as a last resort!"
Naruto glanced towards the door. "I'm going to get myself caught." Her statement obviously stumped everyone. "And then I'm going to take those bastards out. Because there's one thing you never mess with."
My family.
Naruto strode out of the room and walked down the hallway.
"Naruto."
Naruto paused.
"Don't make me bail you out again, stupid."
Naruto turned. "What the hell are you talking about?" she demanded, staring at Reborn. She'd never been bailed out by him before, right?
He only gave her a smile, then vanished.
…the hell?
Naruto turned, ready to take out the bastards who'd taken both sets of her Family.
Viper.
Colonello.
Skull.
Fon.
Verde.
Reborn.
She was the Arcobaleno left over, the Sky.
~:~
"Bermuda-sama."
A baby with a tophat, as well as a bandaged face, looked towards his subordinate.
"The Sky is here."
Paperwork fell to the desk as Bermuda vanished without a single word, black mist fading.
"…I hate it when he does that."
~:~
Byakuran hummed to himself. Everything was settling into place, with a neat little bow.
One of the middle marshmallows of his beautiful marshmallow caste slipped through, causing the whole, elaborate castle to collapse.
Byakuran hummed.
The Arcobaleno Sky was, by Shoichi-kun's report, dead. Merone Base, however, hadn't been heard from since then.
"She's not dead, hmm?"
"You soon will be, Byakuran."
"Bermuda-kun! Still not taking my offer of my ring for that meddlesome Rokudo?" Byakuran smiled – this was one person he couldn't intimidate.
"No." Bermuda seemed to smile, the bandages shifting to show teeth. "You're going to fight two Skies at the end of this, Byakuran."
Bermuda vanished in black mist.
Byakuran swallowed.
~:~
So I know nobody probably reads these... Unless you do, that's okay, too, I just wanted to clear something up.
I have only ever watched the KHR anime, as well as the Naruto anime. I have not read any of the KHR manga, but I do own several Naruto manga.
...as soon as I finish the Fairy Tail manga. I am like seriously behind... even though I watched the anime.
Yep. I'm one of the avid anime watchers, not so much a manga reader, though I have started reading it.
And on that point, I haven't even finished the anime for KHR, and have watched the Naruto anime... Mostly. I did skip a few episodes.
Okay, that's it. Hope you liked, and I think there's two more chapters in this story and I'm done!