Hi hi! I really am sorry. This was supposed to be out last week. I've been having computer problems (damn them) and they've prevented me from updating any sooner. Also, I haven't had much time. What a drag.

But anyways, I am trying to make the chapters longer, and I'm sorry if I fail. This chapter, though, should be long. If it's not, well then it's not. And thank you very much to the person who gave me the idea for the name of Naruto's kenjutsu-taijutsu combo. And I am very sorry I don't remember your name. I'm terrible like that.

Also, I'm not the best at writing fight scenes, so bare with me. Now, onward and enjoy! P.s. The language will (I'm not exactly sure how heavy) be on the heavy side.

Here's a quick listing of how the story's going so far:

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Thanks so much for the support!

~Recap~

Sai had been killed during the Akutsuki attack. The recovery teams hadn't found him for nearly a month afterwards. They found him, a sword straight through his chest, his hand clutching the sketchbook that Sakura and he had given Sai for his birthday. Naruto had cried fir the rest of that day, the tears not ending. And he had thought that he couldn't cry as much as he had when his Sensei, his baa-chan and Sakura had died. And with Sasuke gone, it had broken him.

Try as he might, Naruto could no longer hold in the unshed tears that he had kept in so long. And so he wept.

~End Recap~

It was a beautiful day in Konoha; the sky was a bright blue with no clouds, and the sun was shining brightly. The civilians were going about in their usual manner, talking with friends, shopping for groceries, and watching their kids. The shinobi, too, were doing their usual routines. Some were on guard duty, some training, and some relaxing and enjoying their free time, which they rarely got. And there were the few who were teaching at the Academy, in a good mood despite the loudness of their students.

It was peaceful. As if the calm before a storm.

Naruto was one of those who were relaxing. More specifically, though, he was sleeping. It was around one in the afternoon, and Naruto was taking a nap after some serious training he had gone through. He had decided to train in Sage Mode. (Jiraiya had thought it a great idea when he asked to sign the contract, and to get acquainted with Gamabunta.) And since he hadn't practiced Sage Mode in over a year, he was worn out.

So there he was, sleeping so peacefully against the trunk of a tree, the wind gently blowing his hair. Oh, how he would regret sleeping there that day.

0o0

Minato sighed in relief as he finished the last of the paperwork. God, how he hated paperwork. He knew it was necessary as the leader of the village, but it was such a pain in the ass. Sometimes he wished that there'd be a sudden attack so he'd be able to be on the battlefield. But as soon as those words floated into his mind, he had the worst feeling that something bad was going to happen. And soon.

So it was almost no surprise to him as he was walking through the village square with Sarutobi-sama (the two would consult each other on the finer points of being Hokage every couple of weeks), there was a blinding flash of light, engulfing the town square. When the light faded, Minato immediately knew that this was the 'something' that was going to happen.

All over the town square, (and the village as well, he mused) there was a war taking place. All shinobi were instantly alert, waiting for their Hokage's word to start attacking. Though it seemed they were at a pause for a moment.

The shinobi looked around their surroundings, trying to identify where they were. But then, (as Minato was observing them, and thus saw this) a shinobi with the insignia of four dash marks on his hitai-ate looked over to him, and, without further warning, dashed at full speed, towards him. But, he was stopped when he came within three feet of him.

The shinobi, while he could still control his emotions, could not control the rest of his body. And with that opening, Minato rushed in and stabbed a kunai right through his head.

And so the war continued.

0o0

It was a gruesome battle. There were bodies littered around the streets of the village. A handful of the Chuunin were ordered to evacuate the civilians as quickly as they could. The Konoha shinobi were attacking with full force, and the medic-nins working full time, healing those who had minor injuries, to those who had life-threatening wounds.

Now, though, Minato thought as he dodged and killed another Oto-nin (he had been informed by one of the allies fighting against Oto), he could see that this battle was not going to end for a while. Though they had skill, the enemy had numbers. He could honestly say, though, that the enemy had no chance against them. As he fought, he observed some of the younger ninja fight.

Though they were young, it was clear that they were the cream of the crop, and were the future leaders of their village (whatever it was). As he knocked out the group of Oto-nin away from him, he looked around at the other shinobi. It seemed that the current Clan Heads were finished, and were watching the ally fight.

Minato's eyes widened as he watched two if the allies fight against a large group of Oto-nin. One was a girl with dark blue hair, that went to her waist. The other was a boy with brown hair that, too, went down to his waist, though he was taller than the girl. But that's not what surprised him.

"You are in our field of divination." The two said together as their Byakugan's appeared, and the began to (quickly) take down the enemy with the Juuken. But as soon as that group was defeated, a new wave came in.

And as the Clan Heads immersed themselves back into battle, they all were thinking similar thoughts; 'Will we make it out of this was alive?'

0o0

Naruto woke up with a start, hearing an explosion. And when his eyes opened, he cursed up a storm. He could smell the blood, and he could hear the jutsus being called out. He mentally slapped himself; what as he doing sleeping when there was a fucking war going on.

"Damn." He growled out as he headed towards the place with the most blood. This was not a great way to wake up. There was an enemy attacking. And it was Oto. 'This is bloody fan-fucking-tastic.' He thought to himself. 'And here I was, deciding to tell Minato and Kushina the truth, when a bloody war happened, and with Oto no less.' And then he stopped short, eyes widening. How could Oto be attacking when it didn't even exist yet? Naruto's complexion paled slightly as he figured out what had happened. Future Konoha was in a war with Oto, and they came back to the past.

Naruto pinched the bridge of his nose before he went running, at full speed, to stop the war.

0o0

As he entered the main part of the village, he scrunched his nose at the smell of blood. 'If it's this bad for me, I really feel sorry for Kiba.' But he didn't stop as he headed towards the main square, using the rooftops as passage-way.

When he got there, he saw all of his friends fighting alongside their unknowing parents. Despite the situation, he couldn't help but chuckle a little. Such an ironic situation.

Naruto shook his head and cleared his mind. This was not the time to be fooling around. Though what he was going to do next, he mused, wasn't exactly serious. Oh well. He smiled mischievously. He did the Kage Bunshin and created two clones.

"You know what to do," Naruto said, the same smile still on his face. The clones nodded, each sharing the smile that Naruto had. The two lifted him from either sides, and they started rocking him forward. While they did this, Naruto decided to drop the henge. And in doing so, he was now in his twenty-year-old body, with his katana. The two clones grunted at the new weight, but continued rocking him back and forth. When they had accumulated enough speed, they went back as far as their arms could go. In that moment of time, Naruto quickly observed the battle grounds. Without most of them realizing it, sand was making their way around all the Konoha shinobi. Naruto smirked. Gaara had sensed him. He wasn't the Kazekage for nothing.

And with that final thought, the two bunshins chucked their Boss as hard as they could at the large group of Oto-nins waiting to attack the rest of the Rookie Eleven. (A/U: if you don't know what the Rookie Eleven is, I suggest you go Google it.)

And when they chucked him, Naruto screamed at the top of his lungs, "RAAAAAMMMEEEEEEENNN!" And, at incredible speeds, rocketed towards the group of Oto-nin. And all the while, he was thinking, 'This is going to be so much fun.'

0o0

To say they were shocked was rather an understatement. All of the shinobi present, whether they be Oto of Leaf, jumped at the rather boisterous war cry. And when the source of the war cry was identified, the Leaf-nin almost felt sorry for the Oto-nin. Almost.

A certain blond ninja had rocketed from god knows where, effectively surprising the Oto-nin. With his katana in hand, Naruto began his assault on the Sound. His movements were graceful, and no movements were wasted. Within a few minutes, the large group of Oto-nin had been completely decimated, Naruto only leaving a few unconscious, so they could later on be interrogated (if they would even say anything.)

It was pretty much uphill form there. Once the Oto-nin saw who they were up against, they tried to get away, their expressions showing pure fear at the late arrival.

With the time period of an hour, the war that waged between Konoha and the unknown shinobi had ceased, for which all the Leaf-nin were thankful for. And as the Clan Heads met up to briefly discuss what had happened before they dispersed to check up on their families, they observed Naruto carefully. No longer was the Naruto they knew. Here, there was a hardened shinobi, who had gone through many pains.

Upon further inspection, each Clan Head in the shinobi part of the council had widened eyes. Naruto was no longer his short, fourteen-year-old self. Naruto was around six feet now. His golden locks now reaching a little above the middle of his back. His baby fat ceased to exist, although he still had tanned skin with his whisker marks upon his cheeks. Aside from that, he was wearing the normal jounin dress code. His jounin vest had been modified to, what they assumed to be, extra pockets for his scrolls. And when he turned towards them, his eyes were of the deepest cerulean blue they had ever seen. All-in-all, he was a replica. Of their Fourth Hokage.

But what happened next, the Clan heads, as well as the rest of the shinobi present, would not be forgotten for a long time.

0o0

Naruto was cleaning away the blood that had accumulated on his katana whilst fighting the Oto-nin. It was then when his friends decided to come over.

"Naruto!" Various people called him. All the attention was now on him and on his friends.

"Thank god you're alive, man," Kiba said, patting him on the back. "Most of the villagers thought you were dead. Taking two Chidori's to the chest, and surviving both times. You've got Lady Luck on your side, that's for sure. Well, I guess that's why you're called the Second-" But Kiba was interrupted when Ino hit him upside the head.

"Baka!" She exclaimed. "You really can't tell the difference in atmospheres, can you?" The second part was whispered. And she was right; the atmosphere had gone from relaxed to tense at Kiba's words.

Realizing his mistake, Kiba rubbed the back of his head. "Whoops," He said.

"Whoops is right," Ino muttered, glaring daggers at Kiba. But that had stopped as soon as laughter had been heard.

Naruto's laugh rang throughout the village square, sounding like soft, but low chimes in the wind. The Rookie Eleven, as well as the Sand Siblings, smiled. They hadn't heard that laugh in so long. And to them, the weight of knowing there may be a chance that their beloved Hokage may be dead, was lifted. All the shinobi present could see that, and knew that Naruto was irreplaceable to these people.

"You're still the same old mutt as you were back then, Kiba," Naruto said lightly, a wide grin still on his face.

Kiba scowled at that, making the rest of the young shinobi in that group laugh. "Well, you certainly haven't changed either, have you, you ramen-obsessed knuckle-head." Kiba retorted, smirking. The group had laughed at that, too, along with Naruto, who laughed the loudest.

It was nice for the shinobi present to watch; they had all gotten to know Naruto, they hadn't seen him laugh so care free before.

"Troublesome," Came a lazy voice from the back. All eyes shifted to the voice, who slowly approached Naruto. Although he was complaining, he had a smile on his face.

When he reached Naruto, Naruto smiled. "You haven't changed a bit, have you Shika?" Naruto teased. Shikamaru just smiled some more, and they knuckle-touched, knowing that everything was good.

"I've gotten into contact with the others," Shikamaru reported in a more serious voice, causing some of the Clan heads to raise an eyebrow.

Naruto was one of those who raised an eyebrow. "'Others'? what are you talking about?" Naruto asked.

Before Shikamaru could say anything else, a voice shouted out to Naruto. "Nii-chan!"

Naruto and the others looked over to see who had shouted when Naruto was ambushed by three blurs.

"Nii-chan!" This time, Naruto identified the voice to be Konohamaru, which meant that the other two blurs were Udon and Moegi.

"Konohamaru, Moegi, Udon," Naruto greeted with a sincere smile. "Its good to see you."

"Nii-chan, we missed you so much. Why did you have to leave?" Konohamaru, who was in the middle of the three, squeezed his waist tighter.

Naruto put a hand on Konohamaru's head. "Gomen ne, Konohamaru. I didn't mean to. I didn't have a choice." Naruto's voice, though he tried to cover it up, was lightly laced with pain, replied.

"Naruto-kun," a kind voice put in after the three now-chuunin let go of him. The Clan Heads paid attention to this girl, one of the two who had used the Byakugan. "It's good to see you again. We all missed you. The village wasn't the same without you." Though soft-spoken, her voice held refinement, elegance and confidence.

"I missed everyone, too." Naruto replied. "It's been quite a while since we've seen each other. We really need to catch up on what we've missed." Naruto replied with a grin.

"Oh, yes, you have some catching up to do, Naruto." Naruto looked over to Shikamaru, who had a couple of scrolls in his hand. Naruto paled instantly, knowing exactly what those scrolls were.

"Yup," Ino said, placing a firm hand on Naruto's shoulder. "You have plenty to catch up on, Naruto."

Shikamaru started walking towards Naruto, but before he could get to him, Naruto made a kage bunshin and did a quick kawarimi, landing himself safely, if not quickly, upon his father's back, back in his fourteen year old body. All in the course of a second.

Minato, who wasn't exactly prepared for this, almost fell over with the unexpected weight added to his body.

"Naruto," He whined. The shinobi laughed at their Hokage's misfortune, while Naruto just stuck his tongue out at Shikamaru, who was looking at him with annoyance.

"If you want it done sp badly, give it to Gaara; he can do it. I don't want to." Naruto said childishly, causing the older shinobi to laugh some more.

Gaara stepped forward, having his usual emotionless face showing, though there was amusement showing clearly in his eyes.

"Do it yourself, Naruto," Gaara told him. "You wanted the job, so you have to do it yourself. God knows I have enough as it is." At that, Gaara's two older siblings snickered, despite the glare that he gave them.

"Well," Minato said, making sure he had a firm grip on his all-but-in-papers son. "You ready to go home, kiddo?" He asked. Naruto nodded, yawning before he laid his head on his father's shoulder. Within moments he was sound asleep.

Minato chuckled good-naturedly. "Well it looks like he wore himself out." Minato looked at Naruto fondly before consulting his shinobi.

"Good job everyone; we suffered few casualties, and landed a large blow to the enemy. Those who have fought, go home and get some rest; there are already other chuunin and genin starting to repair damages and clean up the mess. " Minato smiled at his troops before looking at the group of assembled Clan Heads.

"If you wouldn't mind, please set up their accommodations." Minato asked, taking a glance at the shinobi standing a little ways away from him.

"Hai, Hokage-sama," The Clan Heads replied, bowing to their Hokage, right arm crossed diagonal over their chests. Minato nodded, and used his Hiraishin to disappear along with the sleeping Naruto.

It was at this point that the Clan Heads noticed that none of the other teenagers had said anything. They saw not looks of irritation, but the looks of weariness, relief, and strangely, guilt.

"Aren't you going to go after him?" Hiashi inquired the group of teenage shinobi.

"No, we're not," Came a voice from the middle of the group. It was the other Byakugan user, the male one. "We're not going to get in the way of something he rightfully deserves." Neji replied to Hiashi. The rest of the rookies and the Sand Siblings nodded their agreement, causing the remaining shinobi to look at them questioningly.

"Well then, let's move along now," Hisashi spoke up. "Everyone is tired, and all of you deserve a rest for your hard efforts." The teen shinobi smiled, and went with their respective hosts to their accommodations. Little did the hosts know that they were leading their unborn children into their homes.

0o0

When Minato arrived at the Namikaze grounds, he was warmly greeted by his fiancée, who just smiled when she saw Naruto on Minato's back.

Kushina walked with Minato as they headed towards Naruto's room. Upon entering it, they briefly looked around. The bed was in the corner farthest away from the door on the opposite wall. He had papers all over the desk that Minato had gotten him, as well as multiple ink pots and brushes.

Minato smiled proudly as he quickly glanced at his son's works; he had to hand it to Naruto, his calligraphy was impressive. He even saw some seals that he wasn't familiar with. 'I'll have to compare notes with him sometime,' Minato thought to himself as he put Naruto on the bed and began stripping him of his bloodied clothes.

Kushina, by then, had already gotten out a pair of pajamas for Naruto, which consisted of a white tank top, and some pajama shorts.

Minato put on his son's ridiculous sleeping cap, before pulling up the covers and kissing him on the forehead. He put a hand on Naruto's blond hair, thinking to the events that had just taken place earlier.

'We'll talk in the morning,' Though Minato as he quietly walked towards the door. But as he was about to exit, he saw a large picture hanging on the wall. Examining it further, his eyes went wide. It was a picture of the Rookie Eleven with the Sand Siblings. They were all bunched up in a group in front of the Hokage Tower, all wearing formal attire.

At the bottom of the large picture, there was a caption explaining the picture.

Starting at the left towards the middle: Clan Heads Subaku no Temari, Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru, Akamichi Chouji, and Hyuuga Hinata.

Starting from the right towards the middle: Clan Heads Subaku No Kankuro, Aburame Shino, Inuzuka Kiba, Higurashi Tenten, Rock Lee, and Hyuuga Neji.

In the middle: Godaime Kazekage, Subaku no Gaara, and Rokudaime Hokage, Namikaze-Uzumaki Naruto.

And that's it! It's longer! I hope you enjoy! Please Review! I like putting exclamation marks! xD