Disclaimer! I do not own Naruto nor its Characters!

Chapter 6: Intertwined Fate

Naruto followed the two girls, Ino and Sakura through the hospital hallways. He had completely erased his presence from everyone, even the girls, but he had assured them that he's around. Despite giving attention to them, he couldn't let go of what Shikaku told him that easily.

(Flashback)

"Do you mean I won't exist?" Naruto asked the tactician who stood casually with his hands in his pockets. He simply let out a loud sigh and faced the clouds. "It's all based on theories." He replied. "Inoichi and I are going to discuss more about this in detail. It's only fair that you be around. Besides, you can give more insight as one who has experienced it all."

"That's right! We have to make sure that Sakura-Chan cannot be in danger just like last time with Inoichi-San." Naruto replied remembering that time when Jun's spear passed through Sakura as if she were a ghost. "If what you're saying is true, we might not have a second chance."

"Exactly! We have to control the situation. This place is too public, and I can't tell you anything now, so have a clone meet us at my house." Shikaku said before vanishing out of sight leaving a slight swirl of leaves behind.

(End Flashback)

"Sasuke Uchiha, right? You have five minutes. I cannot permit more than that. He still needs to stay in bed." A nurse leading Sakura and Ino told them before knocking on the door to his room. "Sasuke-San! You got visitors. There are two—" Hardly had she finished her sentence when she gasped in shock. Why? The bed, like the room itself, was devoid of any humans. Sakura and Ino were just as shocked as the nurse.

"Hmm? Could Jun have kidnapped him?" Naruto thought as he stood still to gather natural energy. "But I can't sense him at all– Oh! That's where he is."

Naruto placed a smirk on his lips just as the panicked nurse ran out calling for the doctor. Sakura could only think of the words that Orochimaru had said during their encounter in the Forest of Death.

Sasuke-Kun will seek for me.

How wonderful! Even when someone was after her life, she still worried so much for Sasuke. Not even once did she think of Jun Akira until Ino brought it up. "Hey Naruto. Don't you think that guy kidnapped Sasuke-Kun?" She asked him. There was no reply.

"Hey Naruto, are you there? Answer me!" Ino angrily told the camouflaged blonde. Naruto suddenly replied, "Oh! Sorry Ino-Chan! I was in deep thought. What did you ask again?"

Ino could only place a palm on her face. "Like I said, don't you think that the guy after Sakura kidnapped Sasuke-Kun?" She repeated her question.

"Not at all." Naruto replied. "He's training!"

"Training!" Sakura exclaimed. "But his condition hasn't stabilised."

"Well, he's versing that murderer from the sand. He can't relax. Look what he did to Lee-San." Ino replied to Sakura. "Speaking of Lee-San, we should also pay him a visit."

•••

"Lee-Kun too?" The nurse asked the two girls to confirm with them. They agreed before she continued talking. "He's not in any condition to move either, so I can't give you a lot of time as well." She knocked on Rock Lee's door just before opening it.

'Why am I sensing a Deja-Vous?' Naruto thought to himself just before the nurse entered the room. "Lee-Kun! You got visitors. There are two—" Twice now had she been shocked by another youngster. "Not Lee-Kun too!" She exclaimed.

Ino and Sakura were more in shock when they saw Lee outside doing some sets of one-handed push-ups with difficulty. They ran down to him in a hurry. The nurse did everything possible to stop him from his two hundred push up set, where he was left with ten, but he sternly but politely told the nurse. "Please don't touch me!"

The two girls could clearly see that he was hurting. The guy had trained from the day he found out that he couldn't use ninjutsu or genjutsu. The hard work that he had put in to be a shinobi was greater than any genin could imagine, but being told that after all that, he might not be a shinobi anymore? No. He wasn't going to let that stop him.

"Bushy Brows." Naruto thought out loud out of sympathy. There was nothing more to say for him, but at least he knew that everything would be alright for him.

"Naruto!" Sakura called out for him. "I know that I'm not supposed to know the future, but at least tell me that Lee-San gets better."

Lord Jiraiya, in search of the ruins up North, stumbled upon a small tavern with extra services by 'chance'. In the name of getting information, He wobbled merrily through the door of the tavern chanting 'research, research'. On entering the tavern, immediately he heard a man conversing with his friends.

"Remember the caves where some Shinobi fought?" He narrated. "I figured there was something they were hiding there worth some good money. So, what I did was go to the old Master to make a deal with him to scout out the place. I wanted men in return for a fifty-fifty share of the possible merchandise. I was completely shocked. It was a night raid, and all the men were annihilated within a second. I had remained back so I escaped when I got the chance, but the Master only desires the merchandise which should be as valuable as the men he lost."

The men sitting at the same table as him looked at him, blank in expression for a long time before one spoke up. "So why does it concern us? Why did you tell us your story?"

The narrator almost choked on his saliva before speaking. "If you want, we can partner up and steal what they are guarding there. Imagine all the money that we can get from that."

"But you don't even know what is there, do you?"

"If it's something a shinobi secret then it definitely has a lot of value— Hey don't go!"

The men stood up nonetheless and left him sitting alone at the desk. "If you want us to go against that Master, I will rather hang myself. Good luck kid." One of them said as they exited the bar.

"Well, I'm officially a dead man now!" The narrator took his mug of booze and chugged it all before going to another. He removed a picture of a beautiful lady from his coat and caressed the image of her face. "It seems that I've lost you too."

"Oh! That's one beautiful maiden. Is that your daughter or something?" Jiraiya asked the man who almost jumped in shock. He turned back only to see an old man with spiky white hair, drunk to the max. "Leave me alone you drunk fart. Do I look that old to have a child?" He barked at him.

Jiraiya could see a young man possibly in his early twenties with long spiky brown hair and no beards at all. "Oh sorry. I was only looking at the mess of your hair. I thought you were my age as well. Hahaha." Jiraiya laughed as hard as he could. Of course, it was catalysed by the alcohol.

"So, what do you want, old man?" The man asked Jiraiya while placing the picture back into his pocket. He turned to face Jiraiya who had already made himself comfortable at the same table he sat at. He had become more serious despite being drunk. "I need you to tell me more about what you saw at the caves." Jiraiya told him, letting his fermented breath reach his nostrils.

"Were you eavesdropping?" The brown headed man replied. "I admire your eavesdropping skills but believe me that it's suicidal for you to want to go there."

"Look at me, I'm just an old man. Do you think I care about being suicidal?" Jiraiya asked the lad. He looked hopelessly drunk at one time and the other he looked serious. He didn't know how to deal with him, or he couldn't take a guess of what he was thinking. "Alright! I'll tell you, but don't go there alone if you plan to, trust me." He warned him.

"That's for me to decide."

"Suit yourself." The man said before starting his narration. "A bunch of Konoha ANBU were protecting the caves so I knew that there was something valuable for me to steal. One night I went to check out the place to see how I might infiltrate, but I witnessed a fight instead. The mighty ANBU were pushed back by none other than one man. Some retreated as others held their ground against him. Of course, they must be dead."

"And the man? Did you see his face?" Jiraiya asked him.

"Not quite, but his eyes glowed in the dark."

"Glowed?"

"Yeah! And guess what, they weren't the same colour." He narrated as if he was reliving the memory. Jiraiya could see him shaking at the thought. "One was red yet the other had a dull shade of violet in it. He wielded a sword, but most unbelievably, he had only one working hand."

"One hand? You must have been dreaming." Jiraiya replied although knowing that the story added up even more at that point. "That's impossible!"

"You don't have to believe me, but that guy's dangerous." The young lad answered Jiraiya. He finished his beer and stood up ready to go. "That's why I'm looking for men who can steal that precious mystery from that cave so that I can earn a fortune."

"It seems that you're not following your advice about going there." Jiraiya replied.

"Well, I'm not your average person, I'm pretty decent at ninjutsu."

"If your one-handed crush was anything near pretty decent then you'll have a chance. I'm even more surprised that you're not backing down after saying it wasn't a dream."

"What's your point, old man?"

Jiraiya stood up as well and chugged his full mug till it was empty. "I'll go with you, or you'll come with me. Either way, I'm your only chance of rescuing that girl." He told him.

"How did you know that, old man?"

"The same way I knew about the fake story you told the bandits." Jiraiya replied. The brown-haired man fell silent for some time before laughing out loud as if he were crazy. "I can see that you're not your everyday old man." He replied with a smirk. "Sure, I'll go with you."

"Then tomorrow before dawn. We'll set out." Jiraiya said while heading towards some couches with some ladies wearing heavily revealing outfits. His mouth was releasing drool on the way.

"Tomorrow? Why not this evening? It's still afternoon. We can still plan." The lad replied only to see that he wasn't paying attention anymore.

"Eh! Such a pain. Today we enjoy ourselves. Oh! By the way, I didn't ask for your name." Jiraiya realised. "I'm Jiraiya."

"I'm Jun Akira. You can call me Jun."

Inoichi and Shikaku sat in a room of the Nara residence that looked to simply be a study. It was characterised wholly by Japanese architecture with sliding doors, tatami mats and a single short but wide table at the centre of the room with a set of shogi. There were a couple of cupboards, both on one side of the room possibly for storing files. Shikaku sat at the table, trying to play shoji by himself as Inoichi looked through some files that he had brought with him.

"Are you sure you don't want to play some shogi?" Shikaku asked his friend who was still immersed in the files. "Naruto hasn't come yet so it's better to pass some time while doing something fun."

Inoichi took a short glance towards his friend before going back to his original tasks. "I'm afraid to say that losing is not fun at all." he told him.

"It isn't, but learning is interesting. You get better every time you lose."

"Tell that to me who hasn't come close to a win in more than twenty years."

"Haha!" Shikaku couldn't help but laugh at his friend. "I'm pretty sure you've learnt something."

"Yeah! That I should know when to give up. I'm sure Shikamaru can entertain you more than I can." Inoichi said as looked out of the window. "Naruto sure is late. I hope he didn't learn his tardiness from Kakashi."

Just as he had mentioned him, Naruto popped into the room. "Shikaku-San, Inoichi-San, Sorry I'm late, 'ttebayo." He told them. He was carrying a tray with three cups of tea with a bunch of rice balls lined up in line. "Yoshino no Baa-Chan told me to deliver these." He placed them at the table at which he sat too, right opposite to Shikaku.

"Did you pick up Kakashi's tardiness?" Shikaku asked Naruto with his palm on his cheek. "Anyway, care to join me for a shogi match? Inoichi chickened out."

Naruto couldn't help but close his eyes into slits, confused at his request. Surely, he knew that he was late, but seriously? Shogi? "Hey, Shikaku no Ossan, aren't we here to discuss Jun Akira and this whole situation?" He asked.

"Yeah. Who said that you can't do both?" Shikaku replied. "Don't tell me that you're chickening out as well."

A tick grew on Naruto's forehead. He clenched his fist and his face reddened. "Who said I'm chickening out?" He shouted. "I'm going to kick your ass at this game, dattebayo!" Naruto sat down and started playing with the master tactician.

"Oh! That's the spirit. Inoichi should learn a thing or two from you."

Inoichi simply shook his head. He sat at the table with them and continued looking through his papers. Meanwhile, he grabbed a rice ball and started having a bite at it with a lovely green tea accompaniment. "Good luck, Naruto." He said with his mouth full of food.

"Oh! Thank you Inoichi-San. Watch me beat Shi–"

"Check mate!" Shikaku interrupted Naruto, not looking triumphant at all, but still lazily supporting his cheek. Naruto looked at the board, surprised and speechless at first. "What! That's fast!" He exclaimed.

"You're horrible!" Shikaku bluntly replied to the blond as he re-organised the board to start again. "Let's go again!"

"Yosh! This time I'm gonna beat you, 'ttebayo!"

•••

The three men sat around the table eating some rice balls with tea. Naruto and Shikaku continued their small competition, according to Naruto that's to say. For Shikaku, it was more like a walk in the park. Inoichi continued reading as he had his snacks. "So, what we've discovered is that Jun can't kill Sakura." Inoichi started the discussion. "He threw his spear at Sakura in that room, and it passed through her as if she was a ghost."

"Yeah! I saw that. I thought that Sakura had died." Naruto, not taking his eyes off of the board, replied. "Why do you think that happened?"

"It's literally impossible. Sakura is the reason why he went back in time." Shikaku told Naruto while he was waiting for him to play his move. "If he kills her, that means he doesn't travel back to kill her. So, is she dead or not? The universe simply decides for it not to happen."

Naruto looked at Shikaku with slits for eyes. His explanation was too compact for him to follow quickly. "Huh!" he exclaimed.

"Checkmate"

"Oi! Shikaku no Ossan. That doesn't count, dattebayo." Naruto shouted at the tactician. "You purposefully confused me with that explanation, didn't you?"

Shikaku couldn't help but laugh at the time travelling blond. Naruto continued glaring daggers at him. "That's battle, Naruto." he said. "You have to be alert, ready for anything to come your way."

"But that's cheating."

Inoichi couldn't help but feel irritated when the two men with him were not taking things seriously. "Gentlemen, can we focus on the reason why we're here?" Inoichi scowled. "Either start a new game and play silently or I'll take the board and pieces."

"Hai. Inoichi-San." Naruto softly agreed as he personally arranged the board himself.

"Where were we? Oh, yes!" Inoichi asked only to respond after self-realisation. "To explain in more detail, you have to follow what I say closely, okay? Jun came back to kill Sakura because she killed his wife, right?"

"Aha!" Naruto answered in affirmation.

"If he kills Sakura, that means she doesn't kill his wife, right?"

"Yeah!"

"If she doesn't kill his wife then he doesn't come back in time."

"Yeah?" Naruto replied in confusion. "How come it's still confusing? If he doesn't come back in time, that means Sakura's alive!"

"Exactly!" Shikaku added on. "That confusion is a paradox. That causes another phenomenon that tries to prevent it. In this case, it's Sakura's ghostly theories."

"Oh! I get that." Naruto replied, finally going back to the game that he had paused so that he could internalise the information. "So, doesn't that mean she's okay?"

Shikaku looked at the board intensely and then faced back up to Naruto. "Don't be naive, Naruto. She's far from okay." He replied. "The fact that he cannot hurt Sakura doesn't mean that we can't, us from the past. It'll be as simple as controlling someone to kill her and you can never know who."

Naruto's eyes widened in realisation and at the thought of danger that would bring to Sakura. "You're right! That means I have to be even more vigilant on who Sakura meets up with." He told Shikaku in shock. "Do you suppose that he has already made their move?"

"We can't know for sure, but he must've made contact with someone somewhere." Inoichi replied. "This wasn't his first time trying to kill Sakura as well, so, I'm sure that he has some plan for it."

Just as he had finished his sentence, an ANBU operative appeared just outside the window on one knee out of respect. "Nara-Sama, Yamanaka-Sama! Please report to Sandaime-Sama's office." He told them.

"What's the matter?" Inoichi asked.

"Your daughter, Ino Yamanaka has gone missing!"

"Hokage-Sama!"

Naruto, Inoichi and Shikaku arrived in the Hokage's office. Hiruzen sat in his chair having his favourite pipe in his mouth. The ANBU that had called them knelt in front of the Hokage's desk just before leaving after his signal. Choza had also been called into the office.

"Inoichi, Shikaku, we have no time to waste." Hiruzen told them. "Naruto, I hope that you are a clone. I want him to focus on protecting Sakura. I don't want any more people being taken."

"Hai, Hokage-Sama." Inoichi replied, as Naruto himself nodded in approval. "Do we have any idea who did it?"

Hiruzen simply shook his head. "The ANBU watching over her was found dead in the forest. She's missing throughout the village as well." He told them. "I already have ANBU searching all over for her, including out of the village. Jonins and Chunins are on high alert too."

"And she hasn't been found yet?" Shikaku asked.

"The people who have taken her are either as good as the ANBU or they know how they operate." Choza added his voice as well. "No leads have been found as well."

"Do you suppose there's a mole within the Konoha ranks?" Shikaku asked just before the Hokage demanded their attention. He raised his hand for attention causing all of them to become silent.

"For starters, Naruto and Choza, I want you in the field. Use all available resources, and methods in the search." Hiruzen commanded. "Inoichi and Shikaku, I want you to investigate any possibility of a mole in the Konoha ranks. If anything, more shows up, investigate it as well."

"Hai!" All the parties whooshed out of the office creating a strong wind.

•••

Naruto and Choza raced throughout the village with attempts to find even a trace of Ino, but all in vain. "She is definitely not in the village anymore." Choza told Naruto who nodded in affirmation. They stood by the main gate facing outside. It was almost dusk.

Naruto stood still to get natural energy. Within a few seconds his eyelids turned orange and his irises became dashed. "Please give me a minute, Choza no Ossan. I'll find out where she is." Naruto told him.

"How do you—" Choza was silenced by the lad's appearance. "My word!" He exclaimed. "I see that Lord Jiraiya trained you well."

Naruto couldn't help but fall silent for a while. The slight pain he felt when he thought about his late teacher hurt, it hurt too much. He actually couldn't wait to see him and tell him about everything that happened ever since he left. "Yeah, he taught me a lot." He said before making a clone. "I've found her. Just in case I leave you behind, my clone will keep you on track."

Naruto dashed forward at such a tremendous speed that Choza could not see him in sight within a second. Choza was wide eyed only to be broken out of his admiration by naruto's clone. "Hey, Choza no Ossan, we have to go." The clone told him before dashing forward too. Choza nodded and followed his tracks as well.

•••

Ino came to consciousness with a pounding headache. Her vision was completely blurry. The last thing she remembered was saying goodbye to Sakura after visiting Lee and Sasuke in the hospital. She intended to go to see Shikamaru and Choji training, but she didn't remember reaching them. "Where am I?" She asked herself.

Coincidentally, her vision was getting clearer and clearer. She could see an ANBU mask straight in her face. Freaked out by it, she jerked herself to the side only to realise that her movements were limited. "What is going on? Why are you tying me up?" She asked the ANBU who was finishing the last knot.

The ANBU said nothing. He was just a small boy in size. He looked to be about her age. 'An ANBU as young as us? That's impossible!' Ino thought.

"Why are you tying me up? I thought the ANBU dealt with threats to the village?" Ino asked them frustratedly. "How am I a threat?" The ANBU, including the four other operatives around, did not say anything to respond.

"Hey! Did you hear me?" Ino frustratedly shouted at them. "Hey! I SAID HEY! ARE YOU DEAF OR SOMETHING?"

"I think they have heard you well and clear, young Yamanaka." A deep rough voice coming from behind the rest of the operatives was heard. Ino turned to look, but alas, the darkness had started taking over day. She could see him with a walking stick though. He also wore a long robe that seemed to exceed his height. Other than that, she saw nothing definitive, especially on the face.

"Who are you?" Ino asked. "And what do you want with me? Just so you know my father is going to find me and when he does, he's going to kick your ass."

Only a small, but evil chuckle could be heard from the villain, the only one capable of talking apparently. "I'm afraid that our little barrier cannot allow just anyone to find." The man said. "But there's yet another one you I'm counting on to rescue you, and that's my target."

Ino immediately realised that it should be Naruto, the future Naruto. She didn't want to say it since she knew that she had to be careful of whatever she said.

"He seems to have arrived." Danzo said before disappearing out of sight. The ANBU nodded to each other in affirmation of the plan they had for their target. Just as they got into their defense stances. The tall blond rushed in between three of the five ANBU ops with ease. Quickly they turned back to fight, but they were all rendered unconscious by the blond in a blink of an eye.

The remaining two operatives, the kid and the team leader, exchanged a glance. Immediately, the team leader engaged Naruto in armed combat as the kid ANBU removed his scroll and started drawing.

"What are you guys up to, 'ttebayo?" Naruto yelled as he fought the operative, who was able to keep up with most of Naruto's movements. They both clashed with their kunai before leaping back away from each other. The ANBU op threw a couple of kunai with explosive tags towards Naruto who seemed to get caught up in the crossfire.

"Naruto!" Ino yelled in desperation. Expectedly, a couple of Narutos rushed out of the flames, each with a rasengan. The ANBU operative knew he had to back off, but he was already too late. One of the blonds cut off his escape from behind as the other charged straight on.

"Rasengan!" The clones shouted as they sandwiched the operative in between the two rasengans. The kid op looked up only to see Naruto towering over him. Just before he could reach out for his dagger from his back, a knee made a serious impact on his face, flying back to a tree stem near to where Ino was tied. The mask couldn't remain intact. A pale faced dark haired kid could be seen in place of the vicious ANBU op. His face though, was as emotionless as it could be.

Naruto, who was bringing a punch towards the kid's face, froze for a moment on realisation of the face. "Sai? Is that you, Sai?" Naruto asked in shock.

Before he could get any reply, two other ANBU black ops, armed with ninja knives came to confront him. "Urg! Annoying pests." Naruto grunted.

Not after so long Naruto felt a set of sharp teeth and claws on his shoulders. "What the heck!" He exclaimed only to see an inky tiger grabbing him.

"Sealing Technique: Tiger Vision Staring Bullet." Sai chanted.

"So that was their play." Naruto realised before making an effort to resist the sealing jutsu which was a piece of cake for him.

"Are you sure that you want to do that?" Danzo's dark voice emanated from somewhere. Naruto looked to the source only to see Danzo looking straight at him. "The more you resist, the more our boy here will strain his body in attempts to seal you."

Naruto took another look at Sai only to see him seriously bleeding from his nostrils and mouth. Just the little effort he had used to resist had caused that much damage. How about if he tried even harder? He would actually die. "I know that you're that kind of person who cannot bear to see someone die in front of you and because of that, you'll perish."

"Naruto!" Ino shouted in concern after seeing his helpless situation. Suddenly, an ANBU op brought a blade to her neck demanding silence.

"So, what will you do? Sacrifice Ino and Sai for your own safety or prioritise them by getting captured." Danzo threatened. Naruto was helpless. He thought of releasing himself, who was a shadow clone, but alas, Ino would be left alone in danger and Choza would not reach in time to save her.

He used sage mode again to look around for Choza, hoping that he would be closer, but he was still a good distance away. Although, he sensed someone else that brought a smile to his face.

"What's so funny?" Danzo demanded.

"No, it's nothing. It's just that sometimes I even surprise myself." Naruto nonchalantly replied before turning into a plume of fumes. Not having time to ponder about the Blond's decision, they heard a loud voice from above the trees of the forest.

"Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

Hi guys.

I'm glad that I've finished this chapter soon. I hope you've enjoyed it.

izzysevens: Thanks for your review. Yeah, that's in the plan. I don't know how I might gauge 'soon', but I'll give Jiraiya some time with Sasuke before they all return to Konoha for the main event, that is the Chunin exams last round. But of course, the meet up with future Naruto can't be missed.

Please enjoy.

Please review..

Please correct me as well…

Stay safe, Comrades.