Disclaimer: Naruto and every character of the Naruto universe belongs to Kishimoto Masashi and companies I don't know.
Applause goes for my precious Beta Reader: ImaginationJunkie1412.
Original upload date: 14/03/2013
Last update: NA
Chance for a Prophecy
Chapter 12. – Door Handle
"One must have a good memory to be able to keep the promises one makes."
Friedrich Nietzsche
Toroku had been wandering for hours in the empty passages of the corridor, and his feet started to ache. 'Strange. That's never happened before. I know the way. I'm sure. I always go this way.' He passed by a burnt out gas-light, but before he left it, he stopped. His hands moved without second thought, he carefully tapped the burner once. Nothing happened. He narrowed his eyes and repeated the movement, and on his third try he was blinded by the yellow light from the lamp. It forced him to step backward, rubbing his eyes as the sudden light painfully stabbed into his irises. When he gained back his vision and the pain finally faded away he looked back at the gas-light with a satisfied smile, before he turned to continue his wade through the water.
He finally arrived at his destination and worriedly glanced toward the rusty metal door with the cracks and bulges. Toroku ran his eyes over the unidentifiable forged pattern, then he looked down to the water, waiting for the thing on the other side of the door to begin its attempt to force itself out and the concrete floor to disappear out from under his feet. But nothing happened for several long minutes. Everything was silent; no snarling, no ruffling, and no sound of impact as that Thing charged against the door.
The blond boy narrowed his eyes, watching the black water around his ankles. A thought reared its head inside his mind. Something…something was different... Toroku narrowed his eyes even more and finally moved his orbs toward the rusty door again. He examined it carefully, centimeter by centimeter, but he couldn't find what was bothering him. Everything just looked the same as last time and as always. He let out a defeated sigh and moved his eyes back to the concrete floor under the water. He couldn't see it, but he could feel the rough edges under his naked feet. He blinked when realization hit him hard and flung his head toward the door, together with his body, almost falling down into the water by the sudden movement when he grabbed the handle. A handle. There is a door handle!
He stayed in the awkward position frozen, not daring to move his body and absolutely not move the handle. He finally shook his head to ease away his worry and slowly leaned toward the door and placed his ear onto the pleasantly hot surface and closed his eyes, concentrating with his every nerve to the sounds behind the door. Everything was silent except the noise of water dripping. Thoughts ran across his mind with insane speed. 'There is a handle. I can open it. I can finally see that thing!' As he slowly opened his eyes, the warm sensation from the door increased, teasing him, tempting every part of his body, stroking every nerve inside his flesh to finally move his hands and push down that damn handle. Toroku narrowed his eyes, doubts and worry started to fill his mind.
Suddenly he heard something from his back. Not from behind the door, from his back, only centimeters from his spine. A soft textile ruffled, maybe silk, and the sewer filled with the scent of vanilla. He wanted to move his body, to turn around and his mind pushed away every other thought, only the screaming voice stayed. 'Run! Move you idiot!' His muscles tensed, ready to jump when another thought popped up. 'No.' His thoughts calmed down to an almost unnatural level. He could now imagine himself falling asleep in his dreams, while he closed his eyes. 'Just run you damn moron!' He felt the burdens disappear from his shoulders; his soul settled down, like a lake on a summer day without any breeze to ruffle its surface. 'No.' The screaming voice died down to a whimper of fear. 'Why not? You are going to kill me!' A soft smile spread across his face. 'Have faith in me. Everything will be alright.'
With this last thought the sensation behind him died down and disappeared, so did the voice in his mind. He slowly moved his head and glanced over his shoulder, but only the empty tunnel winked back to him. He closed his eyes once more and let out a breath and pushed down on the door handle. It moved smoothly, without a hitch, until it finally reached its final destination and the bolt left the socket. The door is now open. He just has to pull it.
He slowly opened his eyes and pulled it gently toward himself. The tired hinges squeaked plaintively and several small waves appeared on the water's flat surface by the small movement as the door opened a small slit, than stuck on the rough surface of the concrete floor. Toroku narrowed his eyes and gave more strength to the next pull, and the door bumped over a knob on the floor, which tripped its unsteady frame, creating bigger and bigger waves around his ankles. He glanced toward the slit. It still wasn't enough. He gathered his strength and this time tugged on the door with more power. The rusty hinges gave up, and released the wall. Toroku felt as the enormous weight of the rusty door started to fall on him, and in the last second he managed to roll out from under the falling door, which hit the water with a loud splash. The sound of the impact echoed all over the empty tunnels, amplified by the walls and bounced back as reverberations.
Toroku stayed sitting, his legs outstretched and he leaned onto his two arms secured behind his back, out of the way in the shallow water. The blond boy blinked and stared into the newly open passageway with wide eyes.
It was empty.
Empty and perfectly identical to where he was now; the same dull yellow lighting all the way down, the same brick pattern on the walls, and the same pipes running along the ceiling. Toroku narrowed his eyes and straightened to his feet. The sound of the waving water gently echoed toward the new passage in front of him. He moved his legs, and he felt the patterns of the still warm iron door with his bare feet. He slowly and carefully stepped onto it, watching as the small waves of his movement reach the doorframe and beyond it. He made one more hesitant step, then stopped again to stare again at the emptiness in front of him. He let out the air he didn't realized he was holding back and determination ran across his face. His hesitant steps were replaced with confident strides toward the new corridor.
Jiraiya watched with wide eyes as Toroku suddenly froze, his eyes snapped up, only the whites of them were visible. Kakashi immediately forgot about Kitsuchi and jumped to Toroku when he started to fall onto the hard ground. The jounin gently placed his body down, panic running rampant through his mind, while he started to examine the teen. The sannin crouched next to him to check him, and let out a relieved sigh. 'It's okay. He just passed out from exhaustion. He's sleeping.'
"What did you give him?" The Iwa nin only blinked, still confused and stunned by the boy's previous statement, but didn't answer. The sannin dangerously narrowed his eyes, still examining the blond teen laying on the ground in front of him.
"They probably gave him a lot of sedative. It's most likely an overdose. But with his healing abilities I don't think it will be a problem. He is just sleeping." Kakashi nodded, relieved, and his tensed muscles started to relax. Jiraiya looked back to the motionless commander, then moved his sight to the laying forms of the other unconscious enemy shinobi all over the field.
"Make sure the others won't wake up." The sannin gathered several sealing tags from his pouch and gave them to Kakashi.
"Here, chakra binding and paralysis seals. Place each of them on their bodies while I notify Minato." Kakashi nodded and moved toward the shinobi after one last concerned look toward Toroku. Jiraiya sighed and summoned a small orange toad, who immediately disappeared after the sannin finished his report to the Hokage. He bit his fingertip once more and this time a much bigger toad appeared who, to Kakashi's horror, simply swallowed the four ninja and disappeared with a loud puff.
"What did you do with them?" Jiraiya turned toward the shocked teen.
"That was a prison toad. They were sent to the Interrogation and Torture Department. Come on. We should take Toroku back to the post. Rin should check on that sedative, maybe she could extract it from his system." Kakashi nodded, while Jiraiya gently grabbed Toroku's limp body and headed back to the post.
Toroku reached another passageway, this time a different one. The ankle-deep water disappeared and he found himself in a giant hall, which reminded him of a library. The place was filled with giant shelves, stretched out high to the ceiling, slumping under the enormous quantity of books, files, and scrolls. He shakily reached toward the nearest shelve and grabbed one scroll randomly. The blond gasped when he read the title written with clumsy, childish hands and his heartbeat increased. 'Academy Graduation' He squeezed his eyes shut, to ease away the increasing excitement. 'My memories…'
He slowly opened the scroll, and an image immediately popped up in his head. His younger self in a bright orange jumpsuit, sitting on a swing sideways. The beams of the sun pierced through the tree leaves, drawing abstract patterns on his slumped form. He was alone… lonely and disappointed… Toroku shook his head, rolled back the scroll as fast as he could and put it back on the shelves like it was burning his skin. He looked down at his hands for a long minute but curiosity surpassed his sadness. He hesitantly raised his hand and grabbed another scroll, this time from a different shelf, and without reading the title he rolled the scroll open.
A new image flowed through his mind. He sat at a long counter, slurping his ramen, together with a pink haired young girl and a raven black haired boy. The same, but younger girl, from his memory. Sakura. That was her name. He gently rolled up the scroll and placed back where it was originally. He slowly ran his eyes over the titles, reading them randomly as he move further and further along the shelves. 'Mission: Wave country', 'Chuunin exam: second round'. He spotted a more-worn scroll than the others. The margins were tufted, the title almost unreadable because of the frequent use. 'Valley of the End' He hesitantly raised his hand, but he suddenly halted it in midair and shook his head. Toroku turned around slowly, examining the shelves and the enormous quantity of scrolls once more.
He let out a breath and forced his legs to move, finally leaving behind his memories. The blond passed by a much smaller and different pile of scrolls, tidily lined up behind the glass of a separate cabinet. He made a hesitant step toward it, before he nodded to himself and opened the twin glass doors of the show-case and read some of its titles. 'Rasengan', 'Rasenshuriken', 'Frog Kata'…
An enormous temptation filled his mind, someone or something calling him, stroking him. The blond slowly shook his head and without touching the scrolls he simply closed the glass doors and continued his way to the end of the hall, toward a giant vault.
He reached it and found himself on the shore of a large patch with soft green grass, tenderly swinging together with the graceful branches of enormous osier trees. The blond boy slowly closed his eyes, and he felt the same type of peace as in the passageway. He heard a soft rustle behind the giant forms of the willow trees, but he stayed still. He felt the warmth of a breath on his skin and a soft smile spread across his face. He slowly opened his eyes and blinked at the sight.
The enormous face of an orange caninelike creature was facing him, his red eyes glowing, and he could see the giant razor sharp canine teeth in its mouth. Despite the scene he didn't feel panic, or fear, or any amount of unease. Only sheer curiosity. The giant eyeballs suddenly filled with irritation and annoyance and the canine narrowed his eyes.
"I'm pissed off beyond words. Tell me. How should I punish you?"
"Excuse me?" Toroku blinked in confusion and the giant canine became more irritated.
"You are unbelievably stubborn." Toroku scratched his cheeks and a small sheepish smile appeared on his face.
"That is…true. Um, excuse me, but who are you?"
"I should just tear you into tiny pieces, Naruto."
"What did you call me?" The image of a slowly whirling fishcake popped up in his brain and confusion ran across his face, sweeping the obvious threat to the side about his possibly painful death.
"You mean the thing in ramen?" the orange canine slowly shook its head and let out a frustrated snort.
"Idiot."
It raised its giant form above him and the blond blinked and stared at its countenance. He frowned and narrowed his eyes after he examined it from head to toe. His eyes twitched as he realized that the canine was actually a fox. A giant orange fox with a lot of…no…nine lazily flinging tails.
"You are a bijuu. You are the Kyuubi. What are you doing in my head?"
The fox let out a sigh and rolled his eyes in annoyance again, than a scary grin appeared on its face. It slowly held out its first leg, the animalistic paw with giant and also razor sharp claws clutched into a fist like position.
Toroku blinked in confusion, staring at the giant orange and furry fist in front of him, which was actually twice as big as him. He glanced up at the fox, who only rolled its ruby eyes again and let out an irritated groan, like an inpatient and furious child, then in the end waited for him to respond while restraining his obvious frustration. Toroku narrowed his eyes and unconsciously clutched his right hand into fist. When he realized what he did, he raised his fist and examined it with a frown on his face than glanced up to the fox again. The canine only nodded, but the irritated and now impatient expression never left its face.
Toroku hesitantly stepped closer, staring at his fist for a long minute, before he finally bump it into the canine's own fist. For a moment nothing happened, then he felt a shockwave ran through the surroundings. The environment around them started to shake violently and the ground quaked under his feet, then it stopped as suddenly as it started. He blinked and stepped back from the giant fox. Toroku raised his head toward the face of the orange canine and a blank expression appeared on his face. After a long minute, staring blankly, he blinked and the emptiness immediately disappeared from his blue orbs, replaced with confusion.
"Kurama…" The fox let out a relieved sight and smirked.
"Finally." Naruto made a confused face and narrowed his eyes.
"What happened? We are back in the… How—How is this even possible?"
"Unfortunately, killing you slowly and painfully will have to wait, because I fear you have got a show to perform. And some small advice: Do not freak out, just go with the flow and play along." A jumbled expression appeared on his face before he felt a tug from the outside world.
A groan left his mouth and a grimace appeared on his features when he started to feel the aching in his every muscle. A small and gentle hand moved a tuft of blond hair from his face. He slowly opened his eyes and faced the soft smile of a brown haired girl with two purple marks on each cheek. He blinked in confusion, then the memories about the girl flooded back to his mind.
"Rin." The girl chuckled and stroked away another tuft.
"I'm glad you are back. I was worried there for a second, you looked like you didn't recognize me."
"Well..." He started to sit up, but an aching stab in his chest stopped his movements and a painful hiss left his mouth.
"Slowly. I just patched your broken ribs. It will sting a little." After a long minute he gathered himself and finally sat up in the hard bed.
"What happened?"
"They gave you some kind of sedative. Much more than necessary. You would be in a coma if you and your body weren't as stubborn as you are. I was able to extract most of it. You were out for three hours before I could heal you."
"Hours?" Confusion spread across his face and he blinked in surprise, while Rin chuckled and opened her mouth to answer, but the door suddenly burst open and a silver haired young teen stepped into the room.
"I felt a chakra spike and- Toroku!" The blond blinked and he felt as his mouth fell open at the scene. He stared at the boy for a long moment, then a gentle smile spread across his face, which in the end turned into a wide grin.
"What's up Kakashi-chan?" Naruto burst out laughing and had to clamp his arm to his side because a stinging pain appeared due to the relentless laugh forcing his freshly healed ribs to move, not to mention his sore muscles. The jounin frowned and folded his hands in front of his chest in irritation.
"I see. So you are much better now." Naruto forced his mind to calm down but he still couldn't restrain all of the randomly bubbling chuckles.
"Sorry, sorry." Kakashi rolled his eyes, but moved closer to the blond, examining him carefully with his one visible eye. Naruto then noticed a familiar scent and chakra signature and for a moment his heart forgot a beat, as the grinning Jiraiya stepped inside the room. Naruto distantly felt his lips part and his eyes started to sting, a lump forming in the back of his throat, but in the end he restrained the outburst of the overwhelming emotions racing through his mind. The sorrow, the relief, the doubt and in the end, the devastating joy.
"Welcome back Gaki. It started to become boring without you around." Naruto slowly closed his eyes and a soft smile appeared on his face.
"Hey, Jiraiya." The sannin stepped closer with a curious expression. He didn't miss the roller-coaster of emotions on his face and the wave in Toroku's chakra when he stepped inside.
"What is it?"
"It's good to see you again dattebayo." The soft smile never left Naruto's face and Jiraiya couldn't help but mimicked it. 'Dattebayo huh? He spends too much time with Kushina.' The blond leaned forward on the bed, crossing his legs and focused his thoughts on the memories of the last three months. It felt strange, like they didn't belong to him.
The memories of the last three months continuously appeared inside his head, and his confusion only increased with each new picture. The irritating feeling forced him to squeeze his eyes shut, and a groan left his sore body. His head was dizzy and his thoughts foggy. A confused frown appeared on his face when he found the somehow distant memory of the attack. When he opened his eyes once again, he was facing five orbs, examining him carefully. Rin moved closer and placed his glowing hand on the teen's head, carefully inspecting his state.
"You should rest a little. A small amount of sedative is still in your system. The next shift will arrive soon and we can head back to Konoha. Sleep and rest until then."
"It's okay, I can help." Naruto moved to get up, but he felt two small hands gently pushing him down back to the bed.
"No, you stay here. We will be fine. The way back to Konoha will be long and I doubt anyone wants to tote your unconscious body." Naruto let out a defeated sigh and finally nodded, sinking back to the bed. At least he could figure out what had happened. Jiraiya nodded and ushered out the two young shinobi, but he stepped back to the bed.
"Everything alright?" Naruto raised an eyebrow, not sure what he was talking about.
"You looked like you saw a dead man when I stepped in." The blond started to chuckle and slowly shook his head.
"Y-yeah…Something like that. I was just relieved to see you in one piece." Jiraiya frowned, watching the teen for a long moment, then left the room after he nodded. The sage slowly closed the door and leaned against it. He folded his arms and started to stroke his chin, thinking about the reaction.
Naruto let out a weary sigh and his orbs traveled toward the door, where he could still sense Jiraiya's disturbed chakra signature. He suddenly felt very tired, like after a whole day of training with an army of shadow clones and their collective exhaustion hit him when they disappeared. He rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand and let himself sink back to his mindscape to finally figure out what the hell was going on. Sleeping can wait, but this can't.
He dragged himself to the nearest osier tree and slowly sank down to the ground, leaning against the raw surface. Kurama moved closer and laid down in front of him, his giant red eyes still filled with irritation.
"So, what the hell happened?"
"If you couldn't figure it out by yourself with your pathetic human brain, we are in the past. To be exact, we have got a little more than ten months until your birth." Kurama stated with an obviously annoyed tone.
"I don't get it. I really don't remember what happened. Are you really sure that bastard didn't get us with his Sharingan?" The fox only rolled his eyes in annoyance.
"No, I'm certain. Everything feels too real to be a genjutsu. Everybody acts like they used to. It's too real and I already tried to dismiss it." Naruto shook his head.
"It is still more believable that Madara was able to create something like this, than time travelling. The last thing I remember from the fight with that bastard is that I hit him with my Rasengan, but after that it's just blank."
"I'm afraid I can't answer that. I also have no idea how on earth this could be possible."
"You are a bijuu. The strongest of all. How could it be that even you don't know what happened?" Naruto rubbed his head, forcing his brain to work, while Kurama narrowed his eyes.
"Why the hell did I even lose my memories in the first place?" Naruto glanced up to Kurama, still rubbing his head in the hope that it would bring back the memories how the hell they got here. Kurama let out a sigh.
"You were acting like someone insane back in the hospital, so I thought it would be a good idea to evade some sensitive questions and gain some time. It was easy after you passed out. But as always, you messed up everything." Kurama let out a frustrated snort and looked away from the confused blond.
"What did you do?"
"I made a mental barrier for your memories, together with some of your…sensitive knowledge." Naruto frowned.
"My knowledge?"
"Just think about how would they react if you started throwing Rasengans, or you used my chakra, or your sage mode? That would just ruin my every effort to stay out from sight after your…little scene in the hospital. But you messed up my plan. You made another barrier by yourself with your idiotic brain." Naruto raised an eyebrow.
"I wanted to dismiss the barrier when things calmed down after the interrogation, but you and your stubborn brain were stronger than I thought. I have to admit, I underestimated your will. You were denying your memories and when I was finally able to push something out, to force you to release your mental block, you resisted like an insane every time I tried to break out. And by the way, you locked me up for three long months!" Kurama barked the last out in anger while Naruto sent an apologetic smile toward the fox.
"Sorry. It wasn't intentional." The blond folded his arms and crossed his legs, concentrating and thoughtfully tapped on his cheek.
"So you mean, when I, or rather Toroku, determined that he didn't want to remember, I made another mental barrier over yours?" Kurama nodded as an answer. Naruto thought back to the fight with the Iwa nins, when he saw the pure hatred in those eyes. In Kakashi's eyes and in Kitsuchi's eyes. Something broke in him. At that very moment he saw again when Ino died, when he tried to give shoulder to Sakura, when he promised her that he would bring peace.
At that very moment, he determined that he would free the commander and Kakashi from the circle of hatred and bring peace.
He understood it now. When he finally accepted his legacy, his memories, he stopped denying and shutting out Kurama's attempts to break out of his barrier. How typical. He was the one who messed up; the one restraining his own memories.
"Actually you made two barriers..." The kitsune spit the words out like they were sour poison, and Naruto raised a confused eyebrow.
"I was finally able to almost dismiss your first one when the me in Kushina reacted to my presence back in Kumo. You were lucky I was able to push out enough chakra to heal your wound, thanks to my other self. That would have been a perfect cover for us. But nooooo...You had to freak out, and lock me up again with that damn second barrier." Kurama stretched out his spine and placed his enormous head onto his crossed front legs and yawed, while his enormous red eyes flashed dangerously toward the young boy.
"You didn't help me either with that! Geez. You acted like you wanted to tear me to shreds behind that damn door. How on earth wouldn't I freak out? You could've just told me that you were behind that damn door and I would have opened it immediately."
"You just don't understand how a mental barrier works. It was your projection and not me. When we are finally finished you should go see a psychologist. You are freaky."
"Like you got any right to complain about that." Kurama turned his head away from him with an irritated "Ch", but Naruto already forgot about the insult and frowned. He'd still have the weekly checkups with Inoichi.
"So we are really in the past?" Kurama only nodded and Naruto made a wondering expression, as the thought finally sank into his mind and he realized what that really meant.
"We can change things." The fox nodded again, watching Naruto as his face moved to an odd grimace by the overwhelming possibilities.
"You can. But if you change too much, you won't know what will happen. Maybe you already messed up something important." Naruto nodded in understanding, but the wide grin never left his face.
"There is so much in my mind. But I know one thing for sure. We have to get the real Madara while he is weak. Rin's alive, so Obito must be still himself. If we get to him in time, everything will be all right. You won't devastate Konoha, Mom and Dad won't have to die and…" Naruto froze for a moment. 'They won't have to die. They are alive. They are still alive…' A relieved, tender smile appeared on his face, and he slowly raised his hand and touched the place where he remembered Kushina had placed a gentle kiss on his forehead, when they had met for the first time. Kurama rolled his eyes and barked toward Naruto.
"Erase that idiotic expression from your face! This is serious." Naruto shook his head and desperately tried to concentrate on their problem.
"So what do you think we should do?"
"Keep a low profile. I don't think it's a good idea to do that again and shut out who you are. And absolutely not before you've been conceived. I really don't know what would happen to you if that didn't occur." Naruto furrowed his brows.
"What will we do about Inoichi?" Kurama rolled his eyes.
"I will take care of that problem." Naruto narrowed his eyes and suspiciously eyed his fluffy tenant.
"If, you could take care of Inoichi, why the hell did you lock out my memories in the first place?"
"Because you were acting like an insane and on the verge of going rogue; the others would have killed you. Even the Third was tense. I thought it would be best if you took a long rest until I figured out what we should do. And not to mention, with that small little act from me you gained a new identity. What do you think, how on earth would you answer to the interrogators? You would never be able to deceive them. I just gave you a perfect cover. Plus it was fun. At least for the first two weeks..." The last part of the sentence died to a frustrated grumble. Naruto couldn't help it and burst out laughing, but he immediately stopped when a razor sharp claw landed between his legs and the red eyes glowed dangerously. The blond gulped and send an apologetic look toward the fox.
"And what did you figure out in the last three months?"
"Nothing…Because you locked me up and I was occupied with trying to break your stupid mental barriers!" The bijuu snorted with fury and Naruto choose not to poke him more.
"What if we just tell everything to Jiji. Or to Jiraiya. He trusts me. Minato won't need to know until I'm conceived." Kurama slowly shook his head and he finally removed his fang dangerously close to his legs as a last warning.
"This Hiruzen isn't the same one you knew. He would immediately send you back for another round of interrogation and I doubt they would be as gentle this time as they were. In this time, he saw you as a possible treat if you didn't notice already. And Jiraiya…You know very well that the only reason he is your sensei now is to take you out if you go rogue. Plus think about it. Would you believe your own story? That you are from the future? Beside it's almost New Year's Eve. You should be conceived soon if you haven't already messed that up."
Naruto nodded, agreeing, but his heart squeezed when he thought back to the suspicious and cold eyes of the Third. He missed the "old" Hokage. Not this one here in this time, that one who looked at him with care and love. The blond let out a weary sigh and his thoughts migrated toward his parents.
"I think my parents are getting on well." Naruto tilted his head and made a wondering look, earning a disgusted snort from the fox.
"Don't remind me anything like that. I'm not interested in that kind of stuff."
"This will be more problematic than I first thought." Kurama nodded and stretched out.
"Leave now. I'm worn-out. It was a pain in the ass to get rid of your stupid mental barriers." Naruto nodded, got up and tapped the paw of his orange friend, who let out an irritated snort as an answer. A knowing smile appeared on his face. Kurama would never admit that he was relieved to see him again, moreover happy, but he knew how to read between the lines. 'After all these years and still acting like the frightening kyuubi.' Naruto stretched out his arms and let the fox alone, not aware of the small smile that spread across Kurama's face and he let out a relieved sigh.
"Idiot brat…" Kurama muttered quietly and turned around to finally get a well-deserved nap.
Naruto slept for three hours, before he got up, changed his clothes and started to look for the others. It only took a second after he spread his chakra around to find everybody on the roof. He stretched his still aching muscles and headed toward the roof of the post.
"Morning again." The three looked toward him as he dragged himself over the side of the roof and groaned when his sore muscles almost squeak by his movement. 'Kurama. Could you speed up the healing a little?'
"I'm sleeping. Bare it. It's not like you will die because of it anyway." Naruto let out an irritated "Ch.", thankfully no one noticed it.
"How are you feeling Toroku?" Rin moved closer to Naruto, who sat down on the edge and started to massage the aching muscles in his leg.
"Fine, discounting that my body feels like lead." Rin only nodded.
"That's mostly because of the sedative." Kakashi turned toward the blond and folded his arms in front of his chest.
"What happened before we arrived?" Naruto placed his right ankle to his left knee, massaging his calf and frowning while he gathered his thoughts to answer.
"It's a little bit foggy before you appeared, but maybe half hour before you came I woke up. Thankfully they didn't notice it, so I had some time to gather myself. You should have seen their faces when I kicked their asses dattebayo." Kakashi only rolled his eye in irritation.
"You were barely able to stand straight when we got there, so don't draw the long bow." Naruto only shrugged.
"Okay, I made five pathetic clones, they released me, then I agonized behind a wobbling barrier for ten minutes before they beat the crap out of me. Satisfied?" Naruto folded his arms and turned away from Kakashi with a pout, sulking like a kid. Jiraiya watched him carefully and his doubts about him started to ease as he saw the very familiar reaction.
"You've done well." He moved closer and ruffled his blond locks. The sulky expression immediately melted away from his face, replaced with a smile.
"Thanks for coming after me." His three comrades raised an eyebrow, but didn't answer until Jiraiya let out a small chuckle.
"You know, I don't want to think about what Minato would do to me if I had lost you." A cheeky smile appeared on Naruto's face.
"I got some ideas for a proper punishment for you if that ever happens." The blond chuckled and Jiraiya grimaced in annoyance.
"Cheeky little brat." He folded his arms and turned away from the blond, whose chuckle only raised by the childish reaction he missed so much. He finally let out a sigh, watching the back of the sannin with a warm expression until he slowly closed his eyes. 'You will die because of your old age this time. I swear.'
Minato Namikaze, the Fourth Hokage, stood motionless behind the two-way mirror, staring at the unconscious Iwa kunoichi next to the table, leaning against her bonds in the chair. He was surprised that the woman bore the interrogation for this long. She was exhausted and unconscious when the prison toad arrived with them a little more than twelve hours ago. The medics healed her enough to regain consciousness after she was hit by a ration jutsu. She just blacked out again from exhaustion. Minato glanced toward Inoichi, who only shook his head slowly and left the room leaving the kunoichi alone. Only a second after the door closed behind him, two ANBU appeared next to the woman but within the next second they were gone together with the captive. The Hokage turned his head toward the interrogator who stepped inside the observing room.
"She was too exhausted. I didn't have enough time to even reach her memories before yesterday." Inoichi turned toward the worry-filled face of Minato.
"Don't worry. Toroku is okay. I may not have been able to reach her older memories, but you should be proud. He fought hard. Beside some cracks on his pride and some bruises he is okay." A small smile appeared on Minato's face.
"I know. He is strong. But I'm worried...How could this even happen?" The Hokage stared inside the empty room for a long minute, then the leading interrogator Makoto stepped inside the observation room and stopped next to the blond leader.
"Hokage-sama. Inoichi-san could continue with the commander. I'm finished with him. Unfortunately he is well trained. The only thing I could get out of him was his name and his rank. Kitsuchi, second Commander of Iwa's shinobi forces. I think it's time for us to step it up to the next level." Makoto tuned toward Inoichi, while Minato nodded and made a short chain of hands signs. An ANBU appeared next to him, with a light bow.
"Hokage-sama."
"Bring the commander inside." The ANBU nodded and disappeared from the small room without a word.
The Hokage let out a weary sigh and massaged the bridge of his nose with closed eyes, waiting for the ANBU to finally bring the commander. After a long minute of silence, he opened his eyes, watching as the ANBU reappear with the captive, securing him to the chair, and disappear from the room after he finished. Minato slowly turned toward Inoichi and nodded, giving a silence order to the man. The yellow flash of Konoha watched the process with thoughtful eyes, waiting patiently for the interrogator to finish his work.
Minato stayed motionless for a long hour, fixing his gaze on the two men on the other side of the glass. Inoichi finally opened his eyes, and stepped back from the heavily panting captive.
The clothes of Kitsuchi were soaked with his sweat, sticking onto his brawny body. His brown eyes moved toward the mirror, eyeing his own panting reflection while he tried to catch his breath. The Iwa shinobi shook his head to ease away the dizzy feeling in his head.
He fought hard with the interrogator, but in the end he failed and the blond shinobi easily slipped through his defense. His training was almost useless when he faced with the technique of Inoichi, and the chakra bidding seals placed on his weary body weren't helping him either. Numbness started to spread across his mind, he felt the world slip to the side when his head started to spin. The sensation finally died down after a long minute, which felt like eternity, and the commander braced himself and straightened his body.
Minato watched the scene, waiting for Inoichi to finally step inside the observation room and reveal what he managed to learn from their captive. He observed the shinobi in front of him, his fight to stay conscious, almost losing his battle, than in the end he finally straightened with pride in the seat. The interrogator stepped inside the room and the Hokage eyed him from head to toe. He looked obviously weary and exhausted. The Yamanaka clan's technique doesn't require a great amount of chakra, but more continuous concentration and control.
"Report!" Minato stayed professional with his friend. Despite the fact that they'd become much closer after Toroku's sudden appearance, this is a serious situation. The Yamanaka took a seat to gather his thoughts for a short second with closed eyes, before he answered.
"The operation was discreet, only him, his team and the Tsuchikage know about it. However it seems that he received only the most necessary information, which is odd. He is the second Commander of Iwa, a high level shinobi, furthermore the relative of the Third Tsuchikage." Inoichi let out a weary sigh, while a frown appeared on Minato's face. Relative of the Kage…this could mess up everything. Or this could be an advantage. It would depend on how he used his cards. The voice of Inoichi pulled him out of his thoughts.
"It seems the old geezer does not trust him enough to reveal everything about his future plans. They were just operating. What is worrisome, they already knew about Toroku's mission the day our team departed from Konoha. This wasn't just an accidental opportunity they utilized. It was planned well in advance." Inoichi let out another weary sigh and the frown become deeper on Minato's face.
"I'm sorry Minato, despite his heritage they were just small fries. I found nothing who leaked out the information about their mission." Minato nodded, his eyes fixed on the commander inside the interrogation room.
"Take a rest Inoichi. I want a full report when you wake up and a full mind screen tomorrow. Maybe he's still storing some interesting information not concerned with this case." Inoichi nodded and left the room after a bow toward his friend and his respected leader. Minato waited for a long moment and without a second thought, he left the room and entered the one behind the glass tenanting the Iwa commander.
The shinobi stiffened when the Yellow Flash of Konoha stepped inside the room, fixing his azure blue orbs on him, examining him from head to toe. Minato stayed calm, and he slowly moved closer to Kitsuchi with an emotionless face.
A shiver crawled up the commander's spine when he felt the drops of cold sweat slowly run down his back, while he forced his body to move and look up to the man who stood above him. Hatred took over the fear in his weary mind. His dark eyes started to burn with the flames of hate, his face turned into a mask of anger. His dark eyes locked with the azure blue orbs of the feared shinobi, the man who was directly responsible for the death of his wife and hundreds of his comrades. A soundless battle started between the two men. A battle of wills. The one to break eye contact first would lose. The sting in Kitsuchi's eyes increased, but he forced down the urge to blink. His eyes darkened, when the picture of his laughing wife popped up in his mind, replaced by the image of his daughter, the small and fragile form of Kurotsuchi, who will grow up without a mother and maybe…without a father. The dark eyes become haunted behind the flames of hatred, behind the urge of vengeance.
Suddenly the emotionless mask of the Hokage melted away, sadness spread across his face and his ocean blue orbs mirrored only pity toward the captive. Kitsuchi suddenly felt himself back at Kusa, lying in the dirt, his body secured with wires, glancing up to a very similar blond shinobi. The same look, the same sparkle in their eyes, the same pity…
"Did you lose someone in the war?" The Iwa commander flinched when Minato's voice reached his ears and immediately averted his gaze, mentally cursing because of his softness, but the increasing sorrow slowly pushed out his other emotions. They stayed in complete silence for a long minute, before Kitsuchi's weary and cracking voice broke it.
"I did…"
"Then why? Why do you and your Kage threaten the peace between our nations?" The Iwa shinobi stayed in silence. Despite the vicinity of the man who had caused his pain, his suffering, and his mourning for his family, his hatred had simply wilted; the last bit of his burning hatred faded away, leaving him in the deep abyss of sorrow. Kitsuchi forced his emotions to the back of his head, burrowing them deep inside his mind, locking away the picture of his wife, his brother-in-law. He didn't move his head as he fixed his gaze on the streaks and curves of the wooden table in front of him.
"Talking about peace, while your hands are covered with blood…with the blood of my wife and hundreds of others. You and your brother are hypocrites. " Minato stayed silent for a long minute, his eyes fixed on the profile of the commander in front of him.
"We are shinobi. Our hands, our souls are soaked in blood. The only thing that could wash it away and stop the circle of hatred is peace." With this, Minato turned around and left the room without looking back at the confused Kitsuchi.
Travelling back to Konoha was equal of torture. While they reached the post in one day, the way back to Konoha lasted almost two, because of his sore muscles and messed up chakra system. Kurama wasn't in hurry to heal them completely, and Naruto got the feeling that this was his punishment for locking him up behind those barriers. The feared bijuu, the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox was sulking like a small kid inside his mindscape, refusing every interaction. Well he couldn't blame him, but it was still annoying to stop every two or three hours to rest at least thirty minutes on the first day, mostly a result of his trembling legs. Thank Kami Kurama came to terms with him on the first night in the forest and after a long hour of pleading he finally started to heal them properly.
Aside from his annoyance at the almost continuous ache in his limbs, he was thankful for the two day delay before he arrived back in Konoha. His thoughts moved back to Sakura and he finally realized that his friends, almost every one of his friend didn't exist here. At least not as he knew them. Kakashi was here, not much different from the adult one. Jiraiya…Well, he was the same wonky pervert he remembered and loved so much. But the others didn't even know about him. Most of them weren't born or even conceived yet. No old friends…
However, there were no insane, megalomaniac, immortal Uchiha and no brainless monsters with ten tails. Only a snake and hopefully a very old and weaker version of Madara, without that annoying ability to rebuild his body countless times.
He shook his head. He would have enough time to carefully think over everything when they reached Konoha. He needed to rest after this mission for sure and it would provide a great opportunity to settle down to plan what he would need to do. And how.
A sad smile appeared on his face as he watched the back of the sennin in front of him. He slowly turned his head to the right where, at that moment, Kakashi hopped on a branch to jump to another one. The sadness slowly faded away and a grin spread across his face. Seeing his long-dead perverted sensei was a shock, seeing Kakashi as a teenager, maybe around fourteen or fifteen was fun. Poking him continuously was just priceless. A thought started to form in his mind of how he would kick his ass during their next spar, and a devilish chuckle echoed in his mind at the thought. Hmm, how should he get vengeance for the indignity of the thousand years of pain technique? Kakashi frowned when he glanced toward the grinning Naruto.
"What?"
"Nothing, just daydreaming." The jounin narrowed his eyes suspiciously when Naruto burst out laughing with a small evil hint in his voice.
He let out a satisfied sigh and the numb smile never left his face. He was so happy. So calm, relieved, a sensation he hadn't felt for long time. He felt like he found something he lost a long time ago: His old self, his cheerful, big mouthed, joking self. Enormous amounts of thankfulness flushed through him toward someone he'd never even met or known. 'Toroku, Thank you.' He just wanted to enjoy this peace around him for a bit more. Konoha was here, with all her pride. His loved ones all alive and he would be sure that they stayed that way, along with everybody he cares for. They will bear a new and better future.
Determination appeared on his face and he jumped forward yelling to the world, punching the air, not bothering himself with the confused looks behind him. He got a second chance and there was no way on earth that he would fail.
Author's Note:
After teasing you forever, beyond your limits, the long awaited moment is finally here. Naruto is back in all his glory. Things are finally going to speed up from this point.
Did you notice that, until now, the door never had a handle? During the previous chapters, Toroku stated countless times that he didn't want to remember, evading his, likely very painful, past. So when something actually triggered it, he fought and surpassed his emotions. Yeah. He messed up…
So…How did Naruto get into the past? I know ;) But for you, that still remains to be seen later. Don't ask, I won't answer. You have to wait until the very end of the story. If I stick to my plan, the story will be around 300 k words in total.
Feel free to point out spelling mistakes. We are humans. We make mistakes.
Story recommendations:
The Journey Home by DuckButtFangirl - The battle has been won, the fight is finally over. Minato and Jiraiya carry an exhausted warrior on their journey home. Family Fic. (A bittersweet oneshot. She got some other good stuff too.)
I'm currently out of other good ones, so I ask for your help.
I'm looking for a fanfic I read long ago, but I don't remember the title or the author. A good old Naruto time-travel fic, where Minato travels to the future when he sealed away Kurama, to a Konoha lead by the Uchiha. He found himself in the middle of a rescue mission to free Naruto, who is a prisoner. I don't remember well sorry.
Oh yeah, and I'm also looking for dimensional hopping fics where Naruto finds himself in a different dimension.
Actually if you could recommend any good story I will be really glad. :)