Author's Note:

This is the second chapter. Hope you guys like it. I'll try to get the third chapter out as soon as possible.

Chapter 2

After looking around his surrounding once more and taking a look in the mirror, he was sure. His jutsu had work and he was indeed back in the past. He remembered when he had come up with this plan. When he decided to face Madara in a final battle, he knew he might lose and he was not willing to leave it at that. And so, with the help of Kyubi and after much research, they were able to formulate a combination of seals that would bring him back to the past. But he knew he could not mess with time too much. And that is why he will never remember the seals or hand signs used again. It was a condition written in the seals that he and Kyubi will never able be able to remember or recreate that again. And so, he had only one chance to make things right. And he could not do it on his own. He would need help with this and hence, he decided to bring his two trusted friends/advisors, along. Hopefully they would not scold him for bringing them without asking them first. After all, they were injured and fell into a coma before he could discuss this with them.

Now, he had to find out how perfectly his jutsu worked. He had to find out if Shikamaru and Sakura were back with him.

Jumping out of the window, he walked towards where he knew Sakura's house would be. He picked up a discarded newspaper to confirm where in the past he was now and was delighted to find that the jutsu worked accurately and he landed when he was one year away from graduating. There was time to do what he needed to do.

After confirming this, slipped into the shadows and used his stealth to go to Sakura's as soon as possible without being noticed. After all, this was a time when he was not yet hailed as a hero and was deemed as a demon by the villagers. It would not do if the villagers see the demon waking up to Sakura's house. He also pay extra attention to avoid the other shinobis. After all, he was supposed to be the dead last in the class. It would not do if the shinobi started getting suspicious and wondering why his skill suddenly became so good overnight. Finally after reaching Sakura's house, he sneaked into Sakura's room through her window, just in time to see Sakura beginning to wake up.

Sakura slowly opened her eyes. She remembered a great battle where she was fighting against a hoard of White Zetsu. After countless days of fighting without rest or sleep, she finally slipped up and the White Zetsus manage to injure her greatly. She remember assessing herself before she blacked out that in all probability she would never wake up again. Never be able to say goodbye to her Hokage, her friend, Naruto. So why was it that she was waking up? By the she opened her eyes fully and her eyes adjusted to the light, the first thing she saw was Naruto standing at her bed side. Immediately, she did as she should do when in the presence of Naruto who, despite being her friend, was also the Hokage. She immediately jumped of the bed and kneeled in from of him with a short and respectful "Hokage-sama."

"Please Sakura, you know that there is no need to kneel in front of me. Stand up." Said Naruto. Sakura noticed that there was a hint of amusement in his tone. And she also felt that Naruto's voice was different. Nevertheless, with a "Hai, Hokage-sama." she stood up to face her friend which she thought she would never wake up to see again. Only to realize the reason that Naruto's voice sounded different from what she had remember. There in front of her was not the man that had fought countless battle but was the kid that she used to not appreciate and hit around. He was in that god forbidden orange jumpsuit and was even shorter than her.

"What kind of dream is this!" she exclaimed as she examined herself and found that she was much shorter than when she had fallen asleep and certain parts of her was certainly bigger than it was now.

"This is no dream Sakura-chan. All will be explained soon. But first, we have one more comrade to collect." said Naruto in the tone which Sakura recognize as the tone that Naruto used when he was on Hokage business. While Sakura was still a bit doubtful, she decided that she thought that she was never going to wake up again. And so she shall play along until she at least heard the explanation that Naruto will give her.

Naruto turned around and after waving to Sakura to follow him, exited through her window. Well, if this was a dream, then she was stuck in. But if this was not a dream, then she had better follow her leader to find out what this was all about.

Once again, Naruto while sticking to the shadows, followed by Sakura begin their way towards Shikamaru's place. This time, it was even more important that they remain hidden. The demon walking up to a civilian's house was one thing. The demon heading towards a clan compound would probably cause a lot more trouble than it was worth. Fortunately, even though they were back in their younger body and were not used to it, they were skilled enough to avoid detection until they reached Shikamaru's place. And as expected, the smartest Nara of all time was still sleeping in bed.

"Oi oi… Stop pretending to be asleep and get up Shika." said Naruto.

"Mendokuse… What is happening Hokage-sama. I thought I was dead, and then I found myself waking up in my younger body. I'm sure this must be your doing because only you can make such a troublesome thing happen, Naruto" said the lazy Shikamaru as he got up of bed. But despite his lazy demeanor, his eyes betrayed his true feeling. The hopefulness and happiness that there was chance he was actually alive and be able to continue to fight the war.

"Follow me. I will explain everything." said Naruto.

And with his last advisor by his side, the three of them stealthily made their way towards the Forest of Death, where Naruto knew that there was no chance they would be overheard. Along the way, Naruto thought about the current situation and what he should do now that he had a chance to change history. He should also check the last of his entourage.

'Kurama, are you there? Or are you still sleeping?' he thought, hoping that his friend would reply him. If all went well, Kyubi should be sealed within him again and like all three shinobi, the Lord of Bijuu should have been brought back as well. But alas, there was no answer. Naruto would have to try to contact Kyubi again later as they have arrived at the Forest of Death.

At a clearing in the Forest of Death, Naruto motioned for Sakura and Shikamaru to sit down. They had a lot to talk about.

In a very serious tone, Naruto begin explaining to Sakura and Shikamaru the circumstances leading to the current situation. "I know that this must seem very confusing to both of you but let me explain. After the both of you were badly injured, I decided to settle things with Madara alone. I knew there was a chance I would lose to Madara, so I had to think up a backup plan. Me and Kurama discussed and did some research and invented a jutsu to come back to the past to make things right. Don't ask me to do it again. I do not remember the jutsu at all. It was part of the jutsu workings to make the caster, me and Kurama, forget how the jutsu was ever made. I can only remember the general idea. But I decided that if I had to resort to changing history, I cannot do it alone. With my limited options on who could help me, I chose the both of you. Both of you are smart and talented and you have been by my side since I took the Rokudaime mantle. So I decided that if anyone was going to give me good advice and help me in this, there is no one better than both of my advisors. After preparing everything, I went to face Madara. As I thought, although I have grown through the years, so did Madara. He was still able to beat me but before he could hit me with the killing blow, I flashed to the spot where everything was set up and cast the jutsu. And here we are." explained Naruto.

Sakura and Shikamaru just looked at Naruto with a deadpan expression.

"…."

"…."

"Oh come on! It's not that hard to believe!" exclaimed Naruto.

"Right! What's so hard to believe about time travelling to the past!? After all, it's just something anyone would do when they feel life doesn't go their way. Such a common occurrence! Oh of course I should believe such a thing immediately without and hesitation!" said Sakura sarcastically.

"Then again, Sakura, this is Naruto we are talking about. He does unbelievable and surprising things as and when he feels like it. What I don't understand, Naruto, is why are Sakura and I awake? When you did the jutsu, Sakura and I had no hope whatsoever to regain consciousness." said Shikamaru as he shifted from a sitting position to a lying down position to watch the sky through the foliage of the Forest of Death.

"The jutsu does not bring out whole future selves into the past. Or we wouldn't even be stuck in our puny bodies again. What it does is that it takes our consciousness, our spiritual aspect r rather our soul if you would and bring it back to the past. When our soul reached here, it fused with the past us. Essentially, we are now a combination of our past physical aspect combined with our spiritual aspect. Since the damage you both received in the future was physical, it does not affect your spiritual side and the jutsu still works on you." explained Naruto.

"We're really back in the past" ask Sakura.

"Hai."

"We're really still academy students?" asked Shikamaru.

"Hai."

"Tsunade is still alive? Sasuke hasn't gone rogue? Ino still around?" whispered Sakura.

"Hai."

"Asuma? Tou-san? Temari?" whispered Shikamaru.

"Hai. All of them and everyone else. This is it guys. Our chance to fix things. To make sure that the Fourth Shinobi War does not happen. To protect everyone!" declared Naruto. "And the sooner you guys get over your disbelieve, the sooner we can begin planning and taking action towards this goal."

Immediately, Sakura turned to look at Naruto and Shikamaru sat up to do the same. Both pairs of eyes took on a determined glint as they look at their friend, who was their leader in the future. Their friend who has pulled many miracles out of thin air. Who has given them hope whenever they were feeling hopeless. "Hai, Hokage-sama!" They both replied.

"Then let us begin with first assessing our abilities. Spread out and begin experimenting and testing. Try not to do anything which will attract attention and let's hope Anko does not decide to drop in today." Naruto began giving orders. "Meet back here in an hour for and update and so that we can begin panning our course of action."

With a synchronised "Hai, Hokage-sama!" Sakura and Shikamaru sprinted off to find their own clearing to test their bodies and current abilities.

With Shikamaru

At his own clearing some distance away from their discussion spot earlier, Shikamaru begin to test out his capabilities. Since he was a Nara after all, he decided that it was too troublesome to test his physical strength as he assumed that it would be no different from how it was when he was an academy student. In other words, he assumed he had non-existent physical strength. That was the area which he knew he must first fix. He could not afford to be lazy this time around. He knew he would need all the strength he could get.

Putting physical aside, he begin to test out his ninjutsu. Spotting a squirrel nearby, he did the required hand signs and with a soft Ninpo : Kagemane no jutsu he directed his shadow to link with the squirrel's shadow and immobilise the squirrel, or at least that was what he thought was going to happen. What really happened though was another matter entirely. His shadow begun to stretch in front of him for a little bit, wavered, stabilised, wavered again, and returned to its original position. Shikamaru could only stare at his own shadow with a dumbstruck expression.

What the…. Why the hell didn't my jutsu work?

Shikamaru immediately went through the hand signs again and attempted to do the jutsu again. And failed miserably again.

Frowning in worry and displeasure, he begin weaving the simple hand signs for another technique. Shunshin no jutsu. He began to feel a ray of hope as he felt the jutsu take effect. And promptly collided into a nearby tree.

Damn.. This is bad. Don't even need to bother with Shadow Techniques. I can't even do basic technique properly. Please tell me I can do the academy jutsus properly.

Within a short minute, and with only a little trouble, Shikamaru managed to do all three Henge no jutsu, Kawarimi no jutsu and Bunshin no jutsu. Wondering why he was having trouble with even academy jutsu, Shikamaru promptly sat down in a meditation position to get a feel of his own chakra. Feeling his chakra and realising his problem he decided to go look for Naruto even though only 30 minutes have passed.

Troublesome… I even have problem with the academy jutsu. And here I was hoping that coming from the future I would be able to be much more powerful and save time on training. Looks like I am going to need even more training instead. Troublesome.. I shall just go take a look at how Naruto is doing.

And with that thought, Shikamaru begin retracing his steps to where Naruto was.

With Naruto

After Shikamaru and Sakura left to find their own spot, Naruto begin to think what he should do first.

Well, I guess physical would not be necessary since it's obvious that I'm a scrawny kid. I really need to begin eating properly this time around and train my body. I cannot allow myself to be malnourished. I need my strength as soon as possible if I am to face what is to come. And a lot more physical conditioning training. I guess that is just up my kind of alley since I love having to train hard.

With that, Naruto begin to try his favorite jutsu. "Kage Bunshin no jutsu." and instead of the 50 shadow clones which Naruto expected, all he got was 5 clones.

Well, that's a surprise. Why the hell is there only 5? I used enough chakra for 50, I'm sure of it. This ain't right! I guess it's back to basics?

"Henge no jutsu." And with a poof of smoke, Naruto appeared as… well.. Naruto. Jutsu was a no go.

Kuso! A lot lot lot lot more of training ahead! thought Naruto with a deep frown.

Seeing as he can't even do a basic jutsu and Naruto being Naruto, didn't think of analysing why this is the case, he decided to sit down and meditate to see whether he can find his friend who has been with him since the day he was born.

Going into his mindscape, he was back in front of the familiar seal which housed the great Kyubi. It has been awhile since Naruto saw the gate shut tight with the seal preventing the gate from opening. He had gotten used to the door being open and Kyubi being able to roam as he pleased in his mindscape after they had become friends. He couldn't open the gate now without killing both Kyubi and himself and he did not have the key to the seal now. It was something that he had to do as soon as possible as well. He cannot accept keeping his friend and confident locked up longer than necessary. Walking closer to the gates, he saw the silhouette of Kyubi in the cage. Peacefully sleeping. Well, seeing as the time travel jutsu probably took a lot of Kyubi's chakra, Naruto thought that it was only expected that Kyubi won't be up for a while.

Sensing movement on the outside world, Naruto's reflexes honed during the war kicked in and he immediately exited his mindscape and had a kunai in his hand ready to defend or attack at a moment's notice before realising that it was Shikamaru approaching him.

"Back so soon?" asked Naruto.

"Yea.. Couldn't do much. Can't do Shunshin. Can't even do the academy jutsu without trouble. As soon as I realised the problem, I figured I didn't need to do any exploration anymore and decided to come back first. How about you? What were you doing anyway?"

"I was checking on Kurama. He's still sleeping. I expect he will be sleeping for a while. Probably until we attain Genin. You can do the academy jutsus? I can't even do that! And even my Kage Bunshin didn't work properly. I did the jutsu for 50 clones and only 5 clones appeared! And you said you figured out what the problem was? Tell me what –"

BOOOOM!

"–the hell was that! Sakura! Let's go Shika!"

With as much speed as their little bodies could, Shikamaru and Naruto headed towards the Sakura and the sound of the explosion.

With Sakura

Upon reaching a clearing she felt was a safe distance from the others, she decided same as the other two to forgo testing her physical capabilities. Like Shikamaru, she knew when she was at this age, it was non-existent. She decided to go through her list of jutsu to test.

Her trial with her academy jutsus was successful, though she felt it was as easy as she was used to. Trying out several more of her jutsus, including Shunshin no jutsu she realised while she was able to perform the jutsus, she was having trouble which she should not have. Finally when she reach elemental jutsu, it completely failed. She didn't have any target to try out her genjutsu and iryo jutsu. So she decided her next thing to try was her strength technique.

She decided to try smashing a big boulder nearby. Gathering the necessary chakra, she punched the boulder and released her chakra and –

BOOM!

The boulder indeed got smashed along with the ground in a 200 meter diameter cracking up and Sakura herself was thrown back by the force, knocking into a nearby tree. Before landing onto the ground.

Within seconds Naruto and Shikamaru appeared beside her and was fussing about her asking whether she was okay or not.

"I'm fine. My strength technique was out of whack that's all. Don't worry." she said.

"Well, even if we don't have to worry about you, with the noise, I think we should worry about people coming to check it out, particularly one Mitarashi Anko. Troublesome…"

"Shika is right. Let's scatter and scram. Go towards my favorite spot to continue our discussion. See you guys at the top of Yondaime."

"Hai!" replied the other two and Sakura disappeared with a Shunshin.

"Damn! She can still do Shunshin!" said Naruto with envy.

"We'll talk about it later Naruto. Let's go." And with that, Shikamaru and Naruto exited the Forest of Death in different directions and headed for the rendezvous point.

And that's it! I've started on Chapter 3! hope to get it up soon!