Chapter 2: Breakthrough

Hey everyone, thanks for all the reviews in the previous chapter. Never expected to hit 30+ followers for the first chapter considering this is my first ever work.

Apologies for posting such short chapters but I'm currently serving in the military and it's quite difficult to find spare time to write.

Appreciate every single one of you who took the time to read this story and I hope you'll follow me on this journey I'm about to take you on~ Cheers.

-Bong

A CHANGE OF DESTINIES

Naruto's team of experts had expected Fuinjutsu to be hard to incredibly perplexing, but not to this extent. Even with the knowledge of the Fuinjutsu experts that had survived the war, they had only barely managed to scrape the surface of the technique after two tedious months. They had learnt that the Fuinjutsu techniques that had been using in Konoha were merely elementary level compared to the potential uses of the technique. Even the 'experts' had difficulty comprehending the complexity of the patterns of the more 'advanced' versions of the jutsu.

During these two months, the two of them had however, been unable to fully commit to studying as they still had their respective roles and responsibilities in their village. Since Tsunade had passed on a year ago, no one had taken over her role as Hokage as frankly, there was no real need for one. But now that the war had concluded, Naruto was deemed by the daimyo as the one most suited to the role and was thus bestowed the title of the Sixth Hokage, much to his chagrin; he had long given up the dream of being Hokage of Konoha. That aim was merely to achieve his real ambition of being acknowledged by the villagers when he was younger. Losing so many of them had made him want to spit on that dream. But he knew that the village needed someone to lead them in this hour of darkness and he was the person most able to do just that, as a result he reluctantly agreed despite knowing how it would deter his plans. Naruto was still himself after all, and he would always care for the villagers in spite of whatever happens.

As his first duty as Hokage, he had to find some way to quell all of the post-war trauma the people were suffering from. Every single day, he had to send multitudes of shadow clones in order to help the villagers in their rebuilding efforts and counsel the villagers to ensure that they were alright and to motivate them to put the suffering behind them and keep moving forward.

Shikamaru, on the other hand, had been appointed as the Advisor to the Hokage and thus had to handle incredible mountains of paperwork in Naruto's stead since said person was preoccupied with other village matters. There were documents and reports regarding property disputes, rogue ninja, and basically any other matter you could possibly think of, even the pettiest ones. He would sit at the Hokage's desk for almost twelve hours a day filling up reports and filing documents, being engulfed in paperwork over and over again, day after day. The fact that the Fourth's study was also filled with heaps of study notes that looked very much like the paperwork he had to do all day didn't help motivate him at all.

However, in spite of their busy schedules, the two of them would find time in between to study whatever they could, to try and gain an understanding of Fuinjutsu and the Hiraishin. Even the tailed beasts had tried to help in whatever way they could; they weren't particularly adept in Fuinjutsu whatsoever, but each one of them had been sealed several times throughout their lives and had had an eternity to inspect their seals whilst remaining dormant in their respective Jinchuuriki.

After those first two months of Naruto's and Shikamaru's tenure in their new roles, most of the accumulated paperwork had been completed and demand for Naruto's aid in the rebuilding effort eventually declined due to them working endlessly every day, giving each of them more time to pursue their true ambition.

For the first time, the two of them could actually sit down with the Fuinjutsu experts in order to learn about the basics of Fuinjutsu for more than an hour without having to return to their duties. They had been unable to understand any of it so far due to their short sporadic study session.

They were taught about how Fuinjutsu worked and how the seals of Fuinjutsu were created. Every pattern and every detail on a seal had its purpose and in order to get the seal to work properly, nothing must be out of place. It was mostly theory and there was very minimal practical work.

Shikamaru had initially expected Naruto to have some difficulty understanding even the basic concepts of Fuinjutsu but the blonde had seemed to grasp the technique extraordinarily easily. So much so that it seemed as if Fuinjutsu was engraved in his DNA, that he was innately predisposed to the mastery of the technique.

Was it the Uzumaki blood? Or was it that man's sheer willpower to achieve his dream? All he needed was a basic understanding of how Fuinjutsu functioned and he could put all the pieces together immediately. It was scary, considering how much of a knucklehead he was in the past. Shikamaru couldn't help but wonder how formidable a shinobi Naruto would have been if he actually made full use of his brain much earlier.

Of course, Shikamaru was by no means lacking in comparison to Naruto in terms of their learning capabilities. The experts were mortified at the rate the two prodigious Shinobi were progressing in their studies, completely eclipsing what limited knowledge they had on the subject. They couldn't help but observe in awe whilst the two of them studied and experimented with Fuinjutsu, achieving feats with the technique that they never thought were even possible.

Naruto now knew the endless capabilities of Fuinjutsu. He had realized that the possibilities were endless if one gained true mastery over it. It was the reason why Shinobi such as his father, the Uzumaki clan, and that weirdo Orochimaru were so revered (and feared). You could even unlock the secrets of immortality with the right tools and knowledge. However, he couldn't care less about all the other uses of it. He had set his mind on one thing and one thing only, to find a way to manipulate time and space.

The Fourth Hokage's study indeed had incredibly detailed notes of Fuinjutsu, however, when it come to the Hiraishin, he had barely left any clues pertaining to it at all. It was likely to prevent enemies from learning the horribly dangerous technique in the unlikely event that Konoha's enemies breached the place. The technique, in the wrong hands, would be absolutely devastating.

Still, it didn't take very long for Naruto and Shikamaru to understand the theoretical concepts behind it, however, they were still slightly rusty in terms of the application of it. The Hiraishin is a jutsu that utilises unique seals which upon activation, sends the user into a timeless dimensional void where they can then choose the seal that they want to reappear at. These seals were usually permanent unless they were intentionally destroyed. It wasn't as simple as mere teleportation. They had also theorized the possibility of manipulating this timeless void to create an opening for them to travel back in time to one of the Fourth Hokage's seals.

The two of them could feel it, they were getting closer than ever to their goal. Anticipation coursed through them like adrenaline.

After several tough weeks of non-stop practice, they could finally use the Hiraishin to a certain extent, but found it difficult to execute the Jutsu consecutively, meaning that they could only 'teleport' to a single target before they had to compose themselves for a few seconds to cast it again. They had also learnt that the further the seal was from where the user originally was, the higher the chakra consumption and time they had to spend in the void.

Furthermore, there was a backlash to using the technique, inexperienced people being transported would experience extreme nausea and vertigo. The two of them had learnt this the hard way. The first time Naruto used the Jutsu, he had thrown up all over the Fourth's notes on the Shiki Fujin. Whilst Shikamaru had thrown up his meals at least ten times over the last four days. But the effects had alleviated with each use of the Jutsu as their bodies had begun attuning to it.

There was also another troublesome issue: They couldn't stay in the void for longer than five seconds before their bodies felt like they were being torn limb from limb. It was an unimaginable excruciating pain, far worse than anything they have ever experienced. So this meant that it would be probably be impossible for an ordinary person to transport himself to the opposite end of the world without dying in the process of the attempt.

Whilst practicing the Hiraishin, both of them could sense the existence of Hiraishin seals of the past but had never been able to pinpoint the exact location of them. So they started their trial and error process, by entering the void for as long as possible(without dying) in order to locate seals from the past. Though this would be an incredibly slow and arduous process, they had no other option. There was no pattern discoverable, no formulas, nothing at all.

By some stroke of incredible luck though, Shikamaru had managed to pinpoint the exact coordinates of a seal approximately 2-6 years back after just a couple of days of searching. It was a seal from when Konoha hadn't been levelled and hopefully, from before the war. They could spend more time searching for another seal to guarantee that it would send them back to a less random time but god knows how long that will take. Years, decades, centuries even; they couldn't possibly wait that long. They were willing to take the risks, fully aware that they could die in the process or be transported to a mid-war time, unable to change much out of the outcome.

It would take a godly amount of chakra to execute the jutsu perfectly and the odds calculated by Shikamaru after experimenting with the jutsu, were against them. After doing the math in regards to the jutsu, Shikamaru explained to Naruto and the tailed beasts about the various scenarios:

-If they get sent back in time less than three years into the past, the war would have already started and they would have to watch his comrades die one after another again, albeit lesser than the original timeline as he would be able to change certain aspects of the war. However, their true aim was to prevent the war from happening in the first place, so this defeats the purpose as unnecessary deaths will still occur as a result.

-If they got sent back more than five years into the past, the combined chakra of the two of them and all nine tailed beasts would be insufficient, killing them(painfully) completely in the process, and possibly destroying the current timeline's world. Causing it to collapse due to the sheer imbalance of chakra from the lack of the tailed beasts. The world would eventually implode as it would be unable to sustain itself. Basically, Armageddon.

The chance of returning to a decent time in the past would be slightly less than a third, with nearly the whole world on the line should they fail and the chance of them returning to a favourable time would be far less. Nevertheless, they agreed to proceed with the plan.

It didn't faze them in their pursuit of a better world, a world that they can share with all their lost friends and families. To once again laugh with the people they cherished, to endure times of hardship with one another, they were willing to risk it all, however selfish it might seem.

The tailed beasts residing within Naruto had sympathised with them and had agreed to perform the jutsu together in spite of the consequences. Though part of the reason why is because they never had much of an opinion in regards to their own death with them being immortal divine embodiments of chakra and all. They had never experienced 'death' and were therefore unfearful of it. When their hosts had died, they simply reappeared again a few years later. Naruto had tried to give them an in-depth detail about the consequences in order to fully inform them but they were uninterested in hearing any of it.

Standing atop the Hokage Rock once again, the two of them said their final goodbyes to the village before casting the jutsu. This timeline would be completely erased should the jutsu succeed, and if not, the world would eventually decay and die. Naruto had felt bad for putting that big a risk on everyone but he knew deep down that the people had never truly recovered from the war and they were struggling to motivate themselves to keep going every single day. It pained Naruto to see the city in its current shabby state. That had allowed him to find some justification for his actions.

He knew that he was being selfish. He knew that it would take away any possibility of the people moving on. But he was adamant, he wanted to change everything so that no one had to go through this mess ever again. Instead of allowing them to recover, he would fight to prevent their sorrow.

"I will change everything. I will make everything right!" Naruto vowed under his breath. "Everyone will survive this time…"

"Everyone ready?" Naruto asked as he prepared to cast the Jutsu.

"As ready as I'll ever be," Shikamaru said as Naruto put his arm around his shoulders, getting ready to bring him along in the jutsu.

"HAH! I was born ready, there's nothing the great Kurama can't handle! BRING IT!"Kurama declared confidently as the other tailed beasts sweat dropped, knowing how truly nervous he was.

"We're ready Naruto, go ahead and cast the jutsu, we'll give you as much support as we can!" Saiken declared as he spoke for the rest.

"Alright then, here we go, y'know!" Exclaimed Naruto as he slammed his hand on the seal, activating it in the process.

He was then transported into the enigmatic timeless void.

Five seconds left before that horrible pain kicks in…

He immediately searched for the location of the seal… FOUND IT!

Four seconds left…

Gathering all the chakra in his system that he could handle, he focused on transporting to it.

Three seconds left…

It wasn't nearly enough, not even close. He needed more chakra, much more. He promptly siphoned as much chakra as possible from the tailed beasts residing within him. Each one of them was fully focused on pushing their chakra into Naruto, giving it everything they've got.

Two seconds left…

"Shit! I should've practiced this beforehand!" Naruto thought as he gathered the tailed beasts' chakra, much slower than he would've liked. At this point it was already too late to turn back, the only way was forward.

One second left…

"GODDAMMIT! I can't miss this window! We've come too far to fail now!" He felt his body burning from the overwhelming Chakra coursing through his veins. It was as if he was going to spontaneously combust, exploding with a force capable of wiping out the whole world. Still, he kept absorbing as much chakra as he could despite the uncomfortable feeling.

Zero.

The pain kicked in almost instantaneously. He felt every part of his body being destroyed cell by cell. "Almost… Almost there…" He thought as he endured through the indescribable excruciating pain enveloping his body. A millisecond felt like a year of endless torture. The pain was insurmountable. The tailed beasts were looking weary now, with almost their entire chakra pull channelled into Naruto.

"DONE!" He roared as he released every single ounce of the tailed beasts' chakra simultaneously. He could see the world around him bending as if he was flying through space.

But he didn't reappear in the real world like he was supposed to. And the soul-crushing pain was still tearing him apart. He could literally see the threshold of the seal now. It was within touching distance… But he and the tailed beasts were out of Chakra. He couldn't budge an inch. This was the end of the line.

"I'm sorry everyone… I failed you… I've let you down." Naruto thought as he laid there, accepting his fate. He then entered his mindscape one last time. All the tailed beasts had fallen into a deep comatose state, completely exhausted of their Chakra; they were practically skin and bones. He knelt in front of them, sobbing, regretting ever putting them through this. He had been selfish, putting so many lives at risk in order to fulfil his stupid deluded fantasies.

All of a sudden, he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"What are you crying for, idiot?" Naruto looked up to see Shikamaru stoically looking down at him.

Naruto stared at him, mouth agape with surprise. Due to the heat of the moment, he had forgotten that he had brought Shikamaru along with him.

"With my Chakra, you will probably be able to reach the seal… Though I'm not sure if I will make it myself…" Shikamaru said, faking a smile. "If I don't, save the world for me."

Naruto tried to argue but he couldn't get the words out of his mouth. Chakra exhaustion had taken over his body. He then slumped onto the floor.

Shikamaru then knelt down and put his hand atop Naruto's head and began channelling his own chakra into the blonde.

Naruto could feel his real body edging ever closer to the entrance of the seal thanks to Shikamaru efforts. However, he was losing his consciousness. The few seconds of phenomenal pain had taken its toll on both his body and his soul. Even men like him have limits. Just as he was about to pass out, he felt the sensation of the seal activation. All the pain in his body disappeared at once as he allowed himself to let go of his consciousness.

Then the world around him turned white.