I don't own Naruto.

A Thousand Lifetimes

Chapter 2

When it is dark enough, you can see the stars – Persian proverb

Naruto stretched his limbs as for the past three days he was stuck in bed. (All women in any time were scary when they were mothering sick and injured people who refused to sit still, Naruto noted). As always, Naruto is a decently fast healer, due to the demon sealed inside of him. Rinji was most surprised that Naruto was up and ready this morning. Naruto did not like to be idle for too long. He had little patience for sitting around doing nothing while more important things needed to be tended to. Sasuke was still healing, as he was always a slower healer than Naruto and the use of the Sharingan took a toll on his body even though he made the switch of eyes, the Sharingan still takes a toll on Sasuke's body every time he uses it.

Sasuke vowed internally not to show anyone in this time period his Sharingan, like Naruto said it could be dangerous to do so.

Rinji lent Naruto a set of old monk robes that had gotten to small for him. Rinji towered over Naruto by at least a foot. Naruto was dressed and ready to do something, while Sasuke rested. He could not just leave Sasuke here and try to find a way home by his lonesome, because it would not be right to abandon Sasuke.

"So, could I help around here in exchange for letting us stay here," asked Naruto. The monk and priestess both started to say that it was not necessary for him to do so and it was there job to help those in distress. "Besides, I get antsy when I can't do something productive."

"Well, I suppose, you could come with me," said Rinji. "I usually gather some fruits, nuts and firewood, so you can help with that, but I don't want you to strain yourself."

"Promise I won't," said Naruto. He was excited. He finally was ready to get out of this old temple and into the sunshine and the wilderness. Naruto wondered if he would learn anything from Rinji (who Naruto was still convinced was the Rikudo Sennin). Rinji and Maiya went in the kitchen to prepare lunches for Naruto and Rinji, leaving Naruto and Sasuke alone.

"You're not leaving me here to find your way home," asked Sasuke. Naruto bent down and glared at Sasuke. "What, idiot?"

"You're the idiot, Sasuke, I won't leave you alone," said Naruto, grinning. "Don't you know that by now?" Sasuke rolled his eyes, because that was not what Sasuke meant when he asked the question. "We'll talk later, be nice as it is possible to Maiya…though she'll probably smack the shit out of you…like she did to us yesterday…" Naruto shuddered at the thought of Maiya's little hands hitting him.

Naruto and Sasuke, during the previous day, had attempted to get up and exercise. Sasuke was also busy plotting an escape plan to get away from the monk, priestess and Naruto. Maiya had come in from wherever and whatever she was doing and scolded them. Naruto began whining, yes whining, that he was alright and he was bored and Sasuke just scoffed. Apparently, Maiya did not like the answers and smacked both of them multiple times. After that Naruto and Sasuke behaved like good guests.

"Women are insane," said Sasuke, wincing at the memory of yesterday.

"No kidding," said Naruto. He thought of Sakura, Tsunade, Hinata, Ino, Tenten, Temari, and Karin all back in his time. Everyone was probably really worried about him. He was probably going to get beat up by Sakura and Tsunade for worrying them so much. He missed his friends in Konoha, but it was not the time to dwell upon the past or was it future? Rinji entered with two little cloth bags that were filled with some food and a large scroll.

"Are you ready, Naruto-san," asked Rinji. Naruto nodded. He watched Rinji grab a monk's staff. It was metal and had rings dangling off of it. "It's a walking stick." Naruto nodded, he did not believe it was just a walking staff; it was weapon and a dangerous one in the hands of the monk. Naruto and Rinji exited the falling apart Amaterasu temple, into the woods. "North is where the towns are, just for future reference."

"So what kind of food are you looking for? Monks and Priestesses can't eat meat right," asked Naruto.

"Yeah, but when I found you and your friend Sasuke, we got some meat for you to eat. It tends to help bring up an injured person's strength," said Rinji. "Maiya and I live off of berries, nuts, rice, and on special occasions we can eat fish." Naruto liked the idea of fish. He did not have fish in a long time.

The forest was large just like the one outside of Konoha, making Naruto a little homesick. Being stuck in a different time for whatever reason was not fun, especially with Sasuke, who has mood swings. Sometimes he's sane enough to talk sense to and other times Naruto is too wary to actual go to sleep before Sasuke just in case the avenger decided to off Naruto while the blonde was asleep (not that it would work, but you know…).

Trees were actually larger than the ones in Konoha during Naruto's time. Animals scurried around the trees, like birds. Rinji was quiet as they walked through the forest. Naruto was still antsy. Normally he would have found enough food for a while as Naruto wanted to jump through the trees like a ninja is supposed to, but keeping his abilities secret was harder than Naruto imagined. He just hoped that Sasuke managed to keep his abilities secret as well. Naruto would not ever say this to Sasuke's face, but Naruto knew he was a show-off in some ways and Sasuke was just as bad as Naruto.

While Naruto resisted the urge to run around like a mad-man, Sasuke was brooding. He is best as brooding, of course. He was bored. With Naruto, Sasuke never got a moment's silence as Naruto just kept talking and talking like he always did. Naruto has not changed much since they were twelve, Sasuke noted, which he thought if Naruto ever wanted to be the accursed Hokage the blonde better grow up fast. Sasuke brooded about his revenge that he needed to complete in order to bring honor to the Uchiha name and his big brother.

He killed Danzou, during the Kage Summit and went the Akatsuki infiltrated Konoha again to find Naruto, Sasuke managed to kill the two council members Homura and Utatane. But Madara told Sasuke to go after Naruto, who was with Kirabi on an island in Kumo. Unfortunately for Sasuke, Konoha still stood when Sasuke left. Naruto had heard about the attack on Konoha from the Raikage and immediately tried to reach Konoha to help.

Naruto and Sasuke managed to meet somewhere and began fighting. Their fight brought them to the Valley of the End once again. The Uchiha avenger was so sure that he would have been able to kill Naruto, but the hesitation that set in during their fight, Sasuke did not expect. Naruto never had the heart to kill Sasuke. Sasuke was not called a genius for nothing; he knew that Naruto could have very easily during their first fight at the Valley used the demon fox's powers to kill Sasuke. Naruto was still stronger than Sasuke and for the life of him, Sasuke could not figure out why.

"Hey, Sasuke-san, do you like reading, I could lend you a scroll to look through, though the only things we have are about the pervious priestesses and monks that lived here," asked Maiya, entering the room with a couple of scrolls. Sasuke figured that reading will take his mind off of his time period and what he still had to do.

"Sure," said Sasuke. Perhaps Sasuke could figure out a way to get out of here. According to what he was told by Naruto and Madara, priestesses and monks were like pre-shinobi and pre-kunoichi. There very well could be hints about the type of things they used for fighting or whatever else they did. Maiya gave him the two scrolls that she brought with her and then went back to cleaning or cooking or whatever she did when she was not being a hospitable hostess.

Sasuke was thankful that he was not going blind anymore as he opened the first scroll. The handwriting and the scroll were aged considerably but it was still legible. The handwriting was neat and proper from what Sasuke could see. At top of the scroll was the name of who Sasuke assumed wrote the scroll, 'Namikaze Hisano.'

Sasuke read:

'I ran away and hid as my family and friends and others I cared about and that cared about me were killed by Kumaromaru. I was scared and I should have died with them. And now Kumaromaru was in charge of everyone. He was a very bad person. I have decided that I'm going to kill him to avenge those he killed. I will kill Kumaromaru and anyone else who stands in my way.'

Sasuke breathed in and out. This person was an avenger like him. He continued to read. Sasuke found out that at the time of the rise of this Kumaromaru fellow that Hisano was merely a thirteen year old girl. She was already trained in some fighting arts and skilled in writing. Like Sasuke, Hisano lost herself to revenge for ten years.

The ten years of trying to find ways to get to Kumaromaru and kill him, Hisano committed murder of the men working under her target, not thinking. Her writing for sometime was insane, very insane. Sasuke knew that he was at the point of insanity as well. Then all of a sudden, Hisano regretted big time what she was doing herself and those around her.

She explained it as such:

'What was I thinking during these past ten years? The problem was that I wasn't thinking. I turned myself into a monster, just like Kumaromaru. I'm no better than him. I senselessly killed people who really had nothing to do with my revenge, those people that had families of their own that would miss them. I was wrong, very wrong to have thrown myself on a path of self-destruction and misery. I am completely and utterly alone. I have no one to care about my well being like my mother used to or scold me when I was being stupid like my father did. I should die along Kumaromaru to atone for my sins.'

Sasuke grumbled to himself, "What a weak-minded fool, she was doing the right thing to get her revenge and now she's worried about the sins she committed…" The next entry was very frantic.

'I have to stop Kumaromaru. He-he is planning on sacrificing seven thousand people for immortality! Seven thousand people are almost all the world's population! I can't believe it! I have to stop him from doing this…this is bigger than my revenge…I am going to kill him to save everybody else, even if I die!'

"Sounds like the idiot," said Sasuke, not realizing that he had a ghost of a smile on his face. He continued to read. It was after she managed to sneak into Kumaromaru's home and have a battle with him. She explained in detail how the fight went as she managed to kill the man that she wanted to kill for ten years.

Afterwards, the last entry of the scroll stated:

'After I made for certain that the tyrant was dead, the Shinigami-sama showed up. I was surprised at its arrival, but I watched Shinigami-sama take Kumaromaru's soul. The soul was yelling at me, calling me a worthless bitch and the like. The Shinigami told me, "Thanks for killing this man…in exchange I will give you something, but you must promise to never kill again. Also anyone with your blood will now be able to make deals with me instead of just giving up their lives." I agreed to the terms as I planned never to spill blood with my hands again. The powers were that of priestesses and monks that normally had those powers since birth and honed through training. I vowed that I was going to become a proper priestess and help people whenever I can to cleanse my soul.'

Sasuke sighed. Hisano got her revenge but she still regretted becoming a monster, as she called it. What did that woman know anyway? Sasuke's revenge was definitely much more justified than hers, anyway. He closed the scroll and opened the other one. It was a continuation of the other Hisano scroll. This time it was about the two small temples dedicated to the Sun Goddess Amaterasu and the Goddess of Mercy Kwannon. It explained Hisano meeting a monk named Shikiou, who opened the Tsukiyomi, the Moon God, and the Koushin, God of Roads, temples next to hers.

Sasuke skimmed the rest of the scroll. It was just about how she ran her temples and her partnership with Shikiou and how many people joined and things like that. There was nothing about jutsu or chakra or anything related to being a ninja. Sasuke sighed, again and wondered for a moment if Naruto was having fun being outside and not confined to a bed.

Naruto had just finished helping Rinji collect berries, nuts, and firewood. They were going to try to catch some fish before they headed back to the temple. But Naruto was getting annoyed, as he lugged the firewood, Rinji stopped again to examine a plant. He carried a scroll which he had to open and close to write something down, constantly. Naruto did not question why Rinji did so because he thought it would have been rude to do so.

"Alright, then, let's keep going," said Rinji. Naruto kept walking and wished that Rinji would not stop again. Rinji said that they had to yet eat lunch and then meditate. If they wanted to catch some fish too, Naruto wished that he would hurry up. Rinji was not as cool as Naruto first pegged him to be…Rinji was actually kind of weird.

"So, what do you kept writing down," asked Naruto, as he could not hold in the question for much longer.

"Oh, I have been trying a way to figure out how to use natural energy or senjutsu. I know how to use life energy or chakra a bit," said Rinji. Naruto almost stumbled over. The only way Naruto knew how to use senjutsu if the toads taught you with the special oil. But how did Rinji know about senjutsu? Then Naruto remembered that he had to be clueless about both the subjects.

"What's all that about energies," asked Naruto. Rinji got the same look in his eyes as Sakura did when she began explaining something that she was knowledgeable in. Naruto listened on and off, only really listening if something interesting caught Naruto's attention. They managed to arrive at a rocky area where Rinji set down his things.

"So, the only person that I know of that ever used senjutsu was Head Priestess Hinako years ago when the Juubi first appeared," said Rinji. "Do you know how to meditate, Naruto-san?"

"Well, not really," said Naruto, sheepishly, which of course was a big lie. Naruto put the name of Head Priestess Hinako in his mind for future reference. When Naruto returned to his time, he will ask the toads about her if she knew senjutsu. Rinji instructed Naruto on how to meditate properly, Naruto fell into step as Rinji stopped talking.

The blonde was tired for some reason. He went slowly with walking like a normal person and collecting things and constantly stopping to appease Rinji's mind today which was probably the cause of his sleepiness. Naruto could not help but dose off in the middle of meditating.

It was around dinner time when Rinji and Naruto returned to the temple. Naruto impressed Rinji by catching four fish for him and Sasuke. Maiya took the food from Rinji and Naruto.

"You better get some rest Naruto-san you look tired," said Maiya. "Rinji put away the firewood." Naruto headed to the room that he shared with Sasuke for the time being, to find Sasuke sitting up in his bed looking over scrolls.

"Hey," said Naruto.

"Oh, hi," said Sasuke. Naruto noted that Sasuke was in his somewhat sane-mode, which was good. "Any ideas on how to get out of here?"

"No, but I learned that there was a Head Priestess Hinako who used senjutsu like I can," said Naruto, in a hushed whisper. "I gotta ask the toads about that when we get back."

"Did you try your summons," asked Sasuke.

"Yeah, last night while you were sleeping, nothing," said Naruto. "What are you reading?"

"The founder of the two goddess dedicated temples, Head Priestess Hisano," said Sasuke. "She was an avenger, but then she became kind of like you, you know wanting to the save everyone and all." Naruto rolled his eyes. Just what Naruto needed, Sasuke trying to rationalize his revenge though this Hisano woman.

"We're having fish tonight for dinner," said Naruto.

"Ah," said Sasuke. "I need a couple more days rest, and then we can really try to find out way back to our time." Naruto nodded. He needed a nap.