Fragments
-o-
The other side of the mirror
-o-
Naruto watched Sasuke run after Sakura, he couldn't help grimacing slightly. On the one hand, he felt happy that Sasuke actually cared about Sakura, on the other... damn it, he was supposed to comfort his teammates! He had done it for so long, always trying to make other feel better.
And now, to see somebody else do it...
"What's wrong with you?" Ino asked suddenly. He had forgotten she stood beside them.
He grinned at her, rubbing the back of his head. "Eh, just being stupid."
"Nothing new there." Ino mocked him. Not that she wanted to hurt him, she merely thought he was stupid, and expressed that opinion. He glared at her, didn't mean he had to like it of course. But then, she had an excuse for being stupid, children generally were.
"It's just that I'm used to being the one to talk to my teammates and make it better. Lately though Sasuke took on that role." He explained to her.
Ino stared at him with a raised eyebrow. "What do you mean, you are the one to talk to your teammates? You haven't been together for more than two months. I mean sure, you knew each other... kinda... before, but you weren't exactly friends." She rubbed her chin. "Though you all changed..."
He nodded. "Has something to do with these changes."
"She's strange... and strong. How did she become so strong?" Ino asked him, looking at him for an explanation.
He looked back, watched the fear and confusion in her face. "Pain." He finally said. "Pain and suffering. She's gained strength through that." He watched as Ino flinched. "There are two ways to power, time and suffering. Either you have the time to grow stronger, slowly." He looked at his hands. "Or you wade through suffering, forging yourself in the fires of pain."
Now Ino stared at him as if he had gone insane.
"Hey, I read that somewhere. Don't ask me where though, I forgot." He remembered the words because he was living proof of them.
"But where would Sakura get the pain to become so much better so much faster?" Ino wouldn't let up her questioning.
Sighing Naruto looked at her. "Can't tell you, at least not yet. It's classified information." He took great pleasure from Ino's widening eyes. And hey, it might even be true. Just because the Hokage hadn't yet classified the information didn't mean he wouldn't the next time they talked.
"What?" Ino muttered.
"Don't worry. I'm sure we can tell you soon." Maybe after the chunin exams even.
-o-
Sasuke caught up to Sakura somewhere in the forest of death. On the way in he had spotted Anko, who looked rather surprised to see the two of them, especially considering the last time they met, he had grinned at the memory.
Anko's return grin had chilled him to the bone however, she planned something, something evil. And he didn't have the little brother protection he had last time... oh shit.
He ignored that though, finding Sakura had a higher priority than avoiding Anko's revenge. He would survive that, and probably not loose a limb either.
Sakura sat under the roots of a giant tree, curled up around one of her ever present bottles, staring into the sky. Sasuke sat down on top of the roots. Also staring at the sky.
"What do you want?" Sakura asked softly, barely audible really.
"Just making sure you're alright." He answered. He could hear her grumble about it. Clearly not happy about him being here.
"Why can't you just leave me alone?" She asked. "All I want is some peace. Some time to think..."
"Some time to wallow in your self pity?" He countered.
He heard her snort. "Yeah, that too."
So, insulting her didn't work. He should have guessed, she didn't seem too concerned with her image after all.
"So you lost, big deal. If you had real Kunai, if you had tried to kill me you'd have won." Maybe.
"I'm not so sure." She answered. "You are better than me. Always have been, always will be. And there's fuck all I can do." She whispered the last part, almost too quiet to hear. "I could destroy this body and it wouldn't help. Same against Naruto, it's all about you..."
He winced, he had heard that before, from his Sakura. The worst part about her words was the fact that she was right. He and Naruto, they had advantages so great, she had little hope of ever matching them.
He had tried pointing out she had her medical ninjutsu. But that hadn't helped, on the contrary, it had just send her deeper into her funk. Finally he had just hugged her until they fell asleep. The next morning Sakura had gotten over it. But he had no doubt she hadn't forgotten. And he seriously doubted this Sakura would forget either. And hugging her didn't seem like an option.
"Well... what about Lee?" He tried, tentatively.
"What about him? He's sweet and all, but he hardly is better than you and Naruto. It's just not fair. You two can decide the fate of the entire world, the rest of us don't even matter. We can just stand on the sidelines and watch as you burn the world."
He closed his eyes, what could he say to that? In this world, there were people stronger than everybody else, you couldn't change that fact. Chakra just made it a reality.
"I..." He started, but he closed his mouth again. He had absolutely no idea what to say.
"Just... just gimme some time... maybe a warm body to cuddle up to." Sakura muttered.
"Want me to break out Haku?"
"Nah, Lee will do."
"I'm not letting him close to you as long as he will get drunk of the fumes." He pointed out.
"Oh... he's fun we he's drunk." Sakura answered.
"Which is why he isn't getting near you. I don't want to have to explain to your mother why you are pregnant." Sasuke forced the images out of his head. They were very very bad.
"Not that fun, sheesh get your mind out of the gutter Uchiha." Sakura shouted back. In a much better mood though.
"Hmm, so who else? Want me to kidnap Kakashi and hand him to you hogtied, to do with as you please? Maybe Zabuza?" She seemed to respond well to perverted humor.
"That would be nice... maybe all of them together?" Sakura replied from below.
"So you want a harem of all the pretty men in Konoha?"
"Ohh yes... absolutely." He heard the grin there.
"That's a bit greedy don't you think? There are other women in Konoha after all."
"So? Just add them to the harem. I'm not picky." Came back instantly.
Sasuke pinched his nose, that would be one orgy...he forced the grin off his own face. Sound would probably invade or something, while the ninja were busy with each other.
"You alright?" He finally asked.
"No, but I haven't been alright in a long time. What are we going to do about Madara? Akatsuki? Pain is so much stronger... even with Naruto, I'm not sure..." Damn, she switched tracks pretty fast.
"We'll deal with that once the time comes, for now all we have to do is give Ibiki as much info as we can, prepare for the exams, train these bodies up to our old standards."
"Broken down, constantly hurting, barely functional and pretty much with both feet already in the grave?" Sakura asked him, definitely not joking. He winced, he hadn't expected it to be that bad.
"What do you mean?" He asked. And suddenly she stood before him, older and ugly. He gaped, her face could only be described as one scar, her eyes seemed to be whole, but everything else had been cut, burned, pierced and ripped off. Her arms didn't look any better, some muscle mass seemed to have disappeared as well.
"That's how I looked like before I came here. Believe me, I avoided mirrors like the plague." Sakura sighed and dropped the henge. "Not that anybody else looked much better, maybe Madara, if he ever dropped his mask, but maybe not."
Sasuke imagined her world once again. How messed up had that world become? Because of him and Naruto?
"And now I can't even say I could kill you if you ever got out of control again." She whispered.
"Well... you could train harder than me, you know with Lee and Gai or something, then you would almost have to be stronger..." He tried.
She snorted. "As if you would let me. Do you honestly think you could hold back?"
He winced again. She had a point there, neither him nor Naruto would probably be able to take her growing stronger, without trying to catch up.
She sighed. "Come on, let's get back to the training ground. This body does need some conditioning. And it won't grow stronger on it's own."
He nodded and pushed himself up. This hadn't been resolved, but she had pushed it away for now. Best he could hope for he supposed.
-o-
Sakura yawned as she pushed herself out of bed, the last few days had been exhausting. As soon as she and Sasuke had come back to the training ground they had started training. Ino had stayed with them and fallen unconscious roughly halfway through the training. Sakura had only managed to remain conscious through her superior chakra control, the application of various medical jutsu and the use of some soldier pills.
Ino hadn't accompanied them the next day, instead Kakashi had shown up and watched them train. After a while he joined in and trained his own sharingan with Sasuke, especially after Naruto told him how he had improved his sharingan in his time. Sakura had added her own tales there. And even Sasuke had some ideas on how Kakashi could develop his sharingan... now Kakashi had three paths to choose from, but Sakura had a suspicion he wouldn't choose and simply walk all three.
Only one more day until the exam started, today they would probably meet the sand siblings, if she remembered correctly. She had expected to run into them any day now, but it hadn't happened yet.
She slipped into her dress, quickly snarfed down her breakfast and ran out of the door. How did that meeting with the sand siblings go anyway? They had come across them when Naruto played with Konohamaru... had he even met the boy yet?
She didn't think so... A second later she stumbled over the boy, he walked around the village, looking a bit lost. He didn't look like the brat Naruto had trained in the use of his sexy no jutsu... that brat always seemed so happy, at least until Naruto disappeared. Afterward, he just seemed broken.
This brat looked neither happy, nor broken, more resigned.
"Hey you!" She shouted at him.
He looked up and glared at her. "What?" He muttered. "You want to suck up too? My grandfather won't do you any favors, just because you're nice to me."
Aww, how cute, he actually thought she wanted to curry favor with the Hokage by sucking up to him... she could have some fun with this.
Putting on her sauciest grin she sashayed over to him, swinging her hips quite provocatively. His eyes widened in confusion. "Uhh, what are you doing?" He asked, even as he backed away.
"Hmm I just think the others tried to curry favor the wrong way. After all, you are such a strong young man." She licked her lips. "I'm growing weak just thinking about your strong arms holding me." She stumbled and fell on him.
His eyes, already wide, widened even further as he caught her, only for his legs to buckle, throwing both of them to the ground.
"Oh, Konohamaru-sama, can we really do it here? Out in the open?" She asked breathlessly.
"AHHHHHH! What do you want from me?" He finally shouted, desperately trying to claw his way out from under her.
"I'm just trying to make you feel happy." She whispered, holding him in place easily, a finger trailing over his chest. "Aren't you happy Konohamaru-sama?"
"No! I'm way too young for this... and I'm not interest in... slumps!" He shouted, finally breaking free from her grip with surprising strength.
"I think you meant slut." Sakura pointed out amused, as she watched him run away, straight into the leg of a familiar boy.
"Watch were you're going brat." Kankuro growled.
"Cut the kid some slack. He had to escape that shameless whore." Temari sneered.
"Still he should apologize." Kankuro glared at Konohamaru.
"Uhh... I'm, I'm sorry?" The boy muttered.
"Sorry for what?"
Temari rolled her eyes at her brother. "Stop messing with him, that's entirely unnecessary." She glared at Sakura. "And I always knew you were a weak little twit, but this? This is even more pathetic than usual for you."
Kankuro looked at her in confusion. "Huh? What are you talking about sis?"
Sakura narrowed her eyes at the girl, what the hell?
"Oh, I heard about her, that's all." Temari muttered, before she swatted Kankuro's head. "Let the brat go I said."
Kankuro glared at her, but nodded and prepared to drop Konohamaru, only to blink as his hands were suddenly empty.
He looked around and found Konohamaru stand behind Sakura, equally confused.
"Hey bitch. You and me, we should have a little chat." Sakura grinned at Temari.
Temari for her part stared at Sakura in something akin to confusion. "What just...?" She asked, but Gaara interrupted her. "Stop playing around, or I'll..." He tried to threaten her, though his expression looked a bit off to Sakura. In any case, she didn't have the time to bother with his useless posturing.
"Oh shut up Gaara." Both her and Temari shouted at him. Causing him to shrink back, clearly confused. Kankuro meanwhile could only whimper.
"Konohamaru? Could you go and find Naruto please? I'm sure he'll want to have a nice little chat with Gaara about the wonders of controlling his demon." Sakura ordered the boy.
Temari stared at her for a second, then shook her head. "We do need to talk it appears." She agreed.
"I'll kill..." Gaara started to say, but he shut up as soon as he felt the two kunai at his throat. Sakura and Temari looked at each other and grinned evilly.
"Shut up, you only live because we let you live, now be a good boy and play nice, or we'll need to spank you. And I'm sure Sakura here will enjoy it a whole lot more than you will." Temari scolded him.
Gaara merely stood there, holding his throat. "You..."
Sakura raised an eyebrow. "On second thought, why don't you go and play with Konohamaru? I'm sure the two of you will understand each other splendidly." She grinned at Gaara. "And if you hurt the boy in any way shape or form I will hurt you. And Shukaku won't be able to save you from my wrath you hear that?"
Temari nodded pleasantly, though Gaara couldn't see it. "I agree, you go and play with the kid. You'll also make sure nothing happens to the kid."
Gaara shuddered, but nodded. Sakura patted his head. "Good boy. Shall we go?" She asked Temari, who nodded and took her offered arm. "I know this great little restaurant, we'll go and talk while we eat."
-o-
Gaara stared after the two girls, as they left him standing there, a hand still at his throat. Somehow they had both moved faster than his sand could follow and his secondary sand armor might as well not have existed. And yet he lived, his sister and the strange girl could have killed him easily, but didn't. It was... strange.
He looked at the kid they told him to play with. Kankuro stood there, frozen in terror, so Gaara ignored him.
"Umm." The kid muttered confused. "What happened?"
Gaara looked back flatly. "I... don't know." He answered.
An awkward silence spread between them.
"Sooo... what do you want to play?" The kid asked finally.
Gaara stared back, unsure what to say. He hadn't played any games with anybody ever.
But... "Do you know any games with balls in them?" He asked.
"Sure, I know lots." The kid answered enthusiastically.
"Can you show me?" Gaara tried to keep his voice even, but some excitement did manage to sneak through.
"Of course, just follow me. I don't really have that many friends, but there are a few I like more than the other asskissers, they might even be genuine." He took Gaara's hand and dragged him along.
Gaara fought the smile desperately, but it did steal itself on his lips. Nobody here knew that he was a demon container, so nobody feared him.
-o-
Kankuro stared in the direction Gaara had been dragged of to, then in the direction the girls had disappeared to.
"What? What just happened?" He asked nobody at all. "Did the world go insane?"
"Hmm no, no I don't think so." Some random Konoha nin said, grinning at him. "But this does shed some light on certain things."
Kankuro blinked at the guy. "Huh? What do you mean?" His eyes were hidden behind gleaming glasses, he pushed up his nose.
"Oh, nothing nothing. Just thinking out loud. Nothing you have to worry about." He waved Kankuro off.
"Hey, you know something, tell me or... where did he go?" Kankuro stared at the spot where the ninja stood a second ago. He had just disappeared, not even the faintest hint of smoke.
"I'm scared..." Kankuro whimpered.
-o-
"Hmm this is nice." Temari moaned, as she stuffed another piece of meat into her mouth. "You guys have pretty nice food here."
Sakura nodded, enjoying the meat immensely. "They are rather good. Now then, you, aren't from this world." She said.
Temari raised an eyebrow, but nodded. "Neither are you."
"Heh, true enough. That leads to the next question, is Sand planing to invade Konoha and did you tell anybody that you are from another world?" Sakura piked up another piece of meat.
Temari snorted. "Pretty direct aren't you?" She watched as Sakura allowed the meat and shrugged innocently. "Yes and no. I had no desire to tell that idiot of a man, looking like my father, anything about me. Honestly, making deals with somebody like this Orochimaru..."
Sakura nodded. "Yeah, but you may not have to worry about the idiot much longer. Orochimaru will kill him... well as long as me, Naruto and Sasuke, never mind the Anbu of Konoha, don't ruin his day too much."
Leaning back Temari watched Sakura. "So this is your past... or at least reasonable close to your past, for you to make predictions." She asked, just as curious as Sakura.
Sakura raised an eyebrow. "Hmm, you know something tells me this is very different from what you are used to."
Smirking Temari nodded. "You could say that it's, mirrored? Kinda? Leaf big and bad, sand weak and stupid." She frowned slightly. "Which is all kinds of annoying, let me tell you."
"I can guess, but hey if it makes you happy, Leaf can fall just as easily as Sand can, been there watched it aaaall go down the drain. Not pretty, really not pretty." Sakura grimaced, as she saw face after face of fallen comrades.
Temari twitched in sympathy. "So, your village fell as well, you know, before you used the sand?"
Sakura blinked. "Huh sand? And no, not just my village, the world."
Ohh, look at that reaction, seemed like Temari hadn't expected that answer. "Well, or at least the elemental countries, but I wouldn't hold my breath for the rest of the world, really." Sakura conceded.
"That... must have sucked." Temari understated quite nicely. "But how did you manage to come here, if you didn't have the sands?"
Sakura rolled her eyes. "Again what sands? And I used the sharingan."
Scrunching her face up in confusion Temari leaned forward. "The sharingan? But that's just a pretty useful bloodline limit. Not something that can mess with reality."
They looked at each other for a few seconds, then Sakura shrugged. "Well, maybe not where you come from, but here it can." She frowned. "And you constantly mention sand? I mean yeah it's pretty much surrounding Suna, but what does it do?"
"You haven't heard of the sands? Well... if the sharingan is different, then maybe the sands don't exist, it would explain why the daggers..." Temari muttered.
Sakura's eyes flickered to the dagger on her side, it looked a bit strange, weirdly ornamental.
"So, these sands are some sort of powerful artifact or something?" She asked, just to confirm it.
Temari grimaced and shrugged. "I would say so, yes. I don't really know much about them. Mostly Gaara worked with or around them. And lemme tell you he cursed them to hell and back." She sighed. "I only really know that they played a large part in binding the Kyuubi to our village. Not much else sadly."
Snorting Sakura held up a hand. "Lemme guess, the other villages got the weaker demons and Leaf got the one tail?"
With a sigh Temari nodded. "Pretty much yes." She smirked. "It really seems like this world is a weird mirror of mine. With a few key differences."
"So, did Leaf ally itself with an enemy of Sand and tried to invade?" Sakura asked curiously.
"Pretty much, it was a bit more complicated than that, but..." Temari fell silent as the waiter brought them some more meat and Sakura a large bottle of sake.
She remained silent as Sakura emptied half the bottle in ten seconds. "Kyaaa, that hit the spot. You want some?"
Shaking her head, both in disbelieve and denial Temari gaped at her. "I wondered why you stank like a distillery, but to pack away those amounts of alcohol, why aren't you dead yet?"
"It's a jutsu, I'm storing most of the poison, only a tiny amount of alcohol remains in my system, just enough to give me a pleasant buzz. Sadly the buzz leaves pretty fast as well, means I have to drink even more." She shrugged. "All kinds of annoying, lemme tell you."
Temari looked at her strangely, but then she shrugged. "Something to do with that whole end of the world business I guess?" She asked.
"Yeah, started drinking to stay sane... well, somewhat... a little bit... at all really." Sakura grinned sickly. Another awkward silence ensued.
"Aaaanyway, I came here through the sharingan, the guy ultimately responsible for the end of the world kinda felt guilty about it, don't ask me why, I didn't listen, didn't care enough to feed his delusions of martyrdom . How did you cross over?" Sakura asked.
Temari had an eyebrow raised, but didn't comment. "Eh, the guy who tried the same in my world kinda used the sands to create an army of zombies, Gaara, my Gaara with the nine tails, managed to defeat him and re-secure the sands. The asshole was dieing, but the dirty bastard managed to pull something in his dead, something bad.
"I still have no idea what he did, but Gaara tried to safe me, and he used the power of the nine tails to do it. I ended up in this body, back in Suna. Lemme tell you waking up in this body not knowing what happened... scary."
Sakura nodded, she figured it better not to mention the likely result of Gaara's actions, even a tiny hole in reality would cause untold destruction on the world from which it had been borne. That had been one lesson Madara had managed to force into her head.
"Luckily the dagger came with me, I don't know what I would have done without it." Temari added.
"You mentioned a dagger before?" Sakura looked at it with interest.
Temari glanced at her side and pulled the dagger out, showing it to Sakura. "Ahh, yes. Here, take a look." She showed it off with a flourish. Revealing gold and silver and several precious stones.
"Pretty." Sakura noted.
"And powerful." Temari smirked. "Not all that good as a weapon by itself, but useful, after you learn to use it. Which is all kinds of annoying in itself. Took me years to master it." She frowned at Sakura. "One of the effects is the high speed combat you saw. Kinda similar to your speed actually."
Sakura grinned. "And without the help of any dagger as well. Man I'm awesome."
"I suppose, but if I had spend all my time practicing that form of combat instead of learning the secrets of the dagger, believe me I wouldn't need the dagger either." Temari replied, her eyes glittering at Sakura.
Sakura shrugged. "Probably, I don't know how long it took you to master the thing." She frowned at it.
Temari snorted. "Long enough. I would offer to give you a chance at trying it out, but it's a wee bit too valuable to just hand over to you."
"Hehe, don't worry I'm not gonna sell it. I make enough money, I don't need to steal stuff like that."
Grinning Temari leaned back. "I suppose, still not handing it over. Not like you would hand over the secret to your high speed technique?"
Sakura shrugged. "Actually it's not that much of a secret, it's basically just the normal body reinforcement techniques used to a much higher degree. While at the same time protecting the body from the strain of using so much chakra. That's especially necessary in the eyes, ears and the brain itself. If you overload those you'll go blind, deaf and mostly likely dead."
"So kinda like the dagger, since if you make a mistake using that you'll probably end up in several pieces all over the desert." Temari added.
Sakura slowly nodded. "But you know? If you have come here... what about others? You don't seem to have a problem with Konoha, despite the invasion."
Temari shrugged. "You don't seem to have a problem with Suna, probably became close allies like with us?"
"Yes." Sakura nodded. "But... if you came here..."
Temari grimaced. "What's stopping others form doing the same?"
They winced almost in unison. "Ohh shit..."They whispered.
"Wait, you mentioned this Sasuke before, so you knew about others maybe coming through." Temari pointed out.
"Yes, but we all came back the same day, in the same place. I didn't really think about it. God damn it, I never even bothered thinking about the possibilities. I mentioned it sure, but I never actually considered what it meant."
Sakura cursed herself, how could she have forgotten about that? How?
Temari leaned back. "Well, I suppose it would be kinda hard to swallow. I mean three travelers? In the same place, at the same time? Seems like one hell of a... no, it's not a coincidence is it?"
Sakura shook her head. "This world... we broke something, when we came through... or maybe it had already been broken. Who knows how many people, from how many worlds have come through?"
"And if they are friendly..." Temari added.
-o-
Naruto stopped and stared at the most bizarre image he had ever come across. There stood Gaara, surrounded by Konohamaru... shit Konohamaru! Naruto had totally forgotten about him! He hadn't even met him, never given him the determination to become a great ninja, or taught him the sexy no jutsu...
How could he have forgotten about his apprentice? How? Naruto stared in sorrow as Gaara... played ball with Konohamaru... ok maybe not all was lost.
"Hey there!" He shouted as he walked over to the children... did Gaara count?
He looked up, instantly distrustful. Well, at least he didn't immediately go into full blown rant and rave mode.
"Who are you?" Konohamaru asked, a glare on his face as well.
"Who I am? I am the great Naruto Uzumaki! Loved and adored by all of Konoha. And lot's of other places too. I'm the great sage, the..."
"Who cares?" Konohamaru interrupted him. And he had trained that speech for weeks!
"You are really you cruel, you know that Konohamaru?" Naruto whined. "By the way, how's the training going?"
The boy glared at Naruto. "So, you just want to suck up to me eh?"
Naruto winced, he had forgotten about that little fact, without him the kid didn't have the determination to ignore those idiots.
Gaara glared at Naruto as well, why did he play with the kids anyway?
Turning back to Konohamaru, Naruto shook his head. "I've got no intention to suck up to a shrimp like you, maybe if you were a great ninja as it is... no." He snorted in the boy's face.
Gaara twitched, danger! Don't piss Gaara off, he wouldn't understand...
"Uhh why is he here anyway?" Naruto asked, pointing rather rudely at Gaara and eliciting a growl from the boy. "I didn't take him for the type to play with others." Unless you counted ripping them apart that is, at least at this stage.
Glancing at his new friend Konohamaru saw the glare he gave Naruto, so he glared as well. "Eh, this pink haired chick and his sister told him to play with us... they seemed kinda scary."
Gaara nodded, wincing.
"Oh, you met Sakura then." Naruto shrugged.
"She's your teammate?" Gaara spoke for the first time.
Naruto nodded as he looked at him. Now where was Ebisu when you needed him? Why couldn't he make an appearance right now? Then Naruto could defeat him, gain Konohamaru's trust and maybe even Gaara's. Since Gaara had apparently found a friend in the boy.
Still, since no Ebisu seemed to be appearing, that left only talking to Gaara. "Yes, she is... what did she do by the way?"
"She was awesome, his sister too. They were so fast, one second they stood there, the next they held their kunai to his throat. Just like that." Konohamaru piped up, earning himself a glare from Gaara.
Naruto nodded in response, and winked at Gaara. "If it helps I only managed to fight her to a draw, of course I also didn't use..." Naruto glanced at the boy in front of him, ah what the hell, he probably wouldn't understand anyway. "Well, I didn't use the fox on her, so she had a bit of an advantage." He shrugged, as he looked very closely at Gaara.
The boy had understood, instantly. His eyes grew wide and his glare returned, only to really heat up. Ouch.
"Whoa! You fought her to a draw?" Konohamaru stared at him in absolute awe. "Can you defeat the old man?" He asked, but Naruto ignored him in favor of Gaara. Who seemed to fight, to get his demon under control.
He quickly turned back to Konohamaru. "Yeah, I can defeat the old man. Tell you what, if you want to learn the secret to defeating him, meet me in half an hour in training ground 12. We should have enough time before the chunin exams. Oh... there are a few other things I might be able to teach you, but if you want to learn them, you need to show me mastery of the jutsu I'll teach you today." He grinned at the boy.
"And you should warm up, it won't be easy. Now off with you."
Konohamaru nodded eagerly. That, had been easier than Naruto thought it would be, he turned back to Gaara, who glanced after the little boy, with something... sadness maybe, in his gaze.
"Don't worry, you can play with him some more after the training. Maybe you want to learn as well?" Naruto asked calmly.
Gaara's gaze returned to him, as cold as before. "What do you want?" He growled. And a lifetime ago, or about 5 years, it would have scared Naruto, horrified even. Today? Here? Eh, he had fought worse.
"To help you." Naruto smiled at the boy, but you couldn't impress Gaara that easily.
"Hmpf you have no idea what I've gone..." Gaara started, but stopped as Naruto talked right over him.
"Your father sent assassins after you, everyone you thought ever loved you turned on you, well not everybody your siblings kinda didn't, but then they fear you, instead of love you."
"Temari doesn't fear me... not anymore." Gaara pointed out weakly.
"Huh? She doesn't? Say where is she?" Naruto blinked at him, hadn't he said something about... oh yeah her and Sakura had... attacked Gaara and won...
"Your teammate went to have a talk with her." Gaara muttered, clearly he hadn't found his rhythm again.
"Oh... that could be good or bad..." Naruto muttered, he wondered what the two were up to.
-o-
"Wow, I didn't think sneaking into a strip club would be this easy in Konoha." Temari smirked as she gave the very pretty boy in front of her a nice tip.
Sakura leered at the man as well. "If you can make a henge good enough to fool the bouncer they let you in, no questions asked."
"Konoha is all kinds of awesome!" Temari babbled.
"You didn't have something like this?"
"Nah... not this Suna at least... My old Suna had a harem though, I had a few boys handpicked for it!" Temari giggled.
Sakura's jaw fell open. "You what?" She shouted, though nobody heard it over the music.
-o-
"Anyway, the point is, I know what you went through and honestly? Your father sucks. A lot." Naruto sighed. "And while I know what you went through, it's not the same as knowing what you went through."
Gaara still glared at him, though maybe not as much as before. "You aren't scared either." He muttered.
"Well I know that deep down, you are a big fluffy teddy bear, that just wants to be loved." Naruto smiled widely. "It's just that everybody around you is an utter asshole, who hurt you deeply. I want to heal you." He glanced left and right. He swore if Sasuke showed up to steal the show...
But no black hair made itself known, so he didn't have to worry about that.
"By the way, that invasion your father plans? Stupid Idea, we know about it."
Gaara snorted at that, but didn't react otherwise.
"Sooo... anyway, how about we go meet Konohamaru? I bet you'll like my new technique." Naruto grinned at Gaara, but the boy didn't seem to trust him much. Naruto had no idea why, no idea why at all.
"Come on, not as if I would do anything here, the relationship between our villages would be ruined if you died now, no worries about that eh?" He looked at Gaara a twinkle in his eyes. "Also, while Konohamaru learns the sexy no jutsu, I can try and teach you how to control your demon. Your seal probably makes that harder for your, but there are a few tricks that make controlling it easier even then."
Gaara's eyes widened, but he forced them into his usual frown. "I'll come, and watch." He ground out, clearly interested but far too distrustful to actually believe Naruto.
"Yes! You won't regret it!" Naruto cheered and dragged Gaara after him. He ignored the sand that had sprung up around his hand, as Sasuke had pointed out a week ago, he could just grow it back if Gaara actually ripped it off.
-o-
Sasuke smiled as he strutted around Konoha, gathering adoring looks from all. One of the few advantages of loosing your entire family? Getting the sad orphan perk. Sure there was a lot of pity there, but if you managed to excel despite your loss of family, that pity turned into admiration.
Not without second thoughts obviously, but that's the way of the world, everybody out for themselves first and you second if at all.
"Hey Uchiha!" A female voice cried out, making him lean slightly to the side, to avoid the kunai thrown at him, from the other side...
"You learned to throw your voice to pull that trick?" Sasuke asked Tenten, who glared at him in frustration.
"Damn it, how did you do that?" She sighed. "Ugh, I don't want to face off against your team in the exams."
He slid beside her and hung an arm around her shoulders. "Aww, don't worry, we'll try not to humiliate your team too badly... really."
She rammed an elbow into his stomach. "No touching. And I'll count your reassurance as touching if you say just one more word about it."
Sasuke nodded and walked a bit beside her. "Is it just me or did you throw that kunai faster?"
"I've been training harder than ever. Just wait, soon enough I'll get you." She smiled at him, in a way that reminded him uncomfortably of Sakura... if you didn't count the desire in her gaze.
Sakura just wanted to hurt him, Tenten wanted to beat him... and maybe do some other things once she had beat him. Maybe he should let her win?
"Neji and Lee must enjoy having you go even harder on them." He said idly.
"Oh yes, they really enjoy it." Tenten replied a wide smile on her face.
-o-
Neji stood in the middle of the clearing, surrounded by a multitude of knives, far more than he had ever had to deflect, several had actually broken through his defenses.
He glanced at Lee, who found himself pinned to the ground.
"She's getting better." He observed.
Lee nodded from his position. "The ahh fires of youth have been ignited in her."
Neji grimaced, the fires of something had been ignited alright. Damn Uchiha.
"Maybe they burn just a tad too bright." Lee added.
Neji felt the hole in his robes, just between his legs. "Maybe."
"She's improved a lot in such a short time."
"It's frightening really."
Silence reigned in the clearing.
"Maybe we should make sure she gets Uchiha soon?" Neji offered.
"That might be... a good idea." Lee agreed, glancing at the knife embedded between his legs.
One of these days she would actually hit something...
-o-
Sasuke nodded, those two enjoyed a challenge as much as he did, they would really enjoy Tenten going all out.
"So, did you have breakfast already?" He asked her, passing a catatonic Kankuro.
Interesting, but not nearly enough to make him stop talking to a pretty girl.
"Hmm yes, but training worked up an appetite." Tenten replied. "But... I heard you already had a girlfriend? Don't you go out with Ino?"
Hmm busted and he doubted even he could get away with dating two girls at the same time. Maybe if they were best friends and shared everything, but not if they were virtual strangers.
"So? Doesn't mean I can't invite a friend of mine to breakfast. Besides I haven't eaten anything and my teammates seem to be absent."
"No missions?" Tenten asked, looking at him with risen eyebrow.
"Nah, since we came back from wave it's mostly... meetings, training and goofing off. We did capture a high rank criminal you know? Made us a lot of money."
"I heard. Zabuza. Impressive." She glanced at him, that desire increasing. Why? Why couldn't he have two girlfriends? Who came up with that stupid, stupid rule? It blew!
"Eh, it wasn't that bad. And we had Kakashi with us." Not that he did anything, but she didn't need to know about that.
"Hmm he is nearly as good as Gai isn't he?" She asked.
"As good?" Sasuke countered, but nodded. "Well overall I suppose as good fits well enough. Gai is a better teacher, while Kakashi fights better."
"Hmm." Tenten smirked at him. "Whatever you say."
"Sasuke!" Ino shouted and barreled into him. "You promised we would go train today!" She glared at Tenten and latched onto Sasuke's arm.
Tenten merely glanced back, pretending total disinterest. Ahh, it felt good to be king.
"And we will, I just need to get some breakfast." He looked from one to the other. "You two know each other by the way?"
Both nodded. "Yeah, we met in the academy every now and again." Ino said.
"I was impressed by the way you took charge there. You really knew how to handle social situations." Tenten complimented Ino.
"Aww, but I never handled the physical exams as well as you. The teachers always held you up as a shining example of how a kunoichi should be." Ino countered.
Ahh, and the sparks flew. Sasuke walked between them and he had some real trouble keeping the grin off his face, as the girls bickered.
-o-
"No! Taller, Flatter, Sexier!" Naruto shouted at Konohamaru, bringing back not a little nostalgia.
"Yes!" The young boy shouted and tried again. His results were better... if not by much.
Gaara meanwhile stared at the clouds, a thin trickle of blood running from his nose. The first sexy no jutsu had knocked him out. And he refused to look at them while they trained. He did however smile a whole lot.
Obviously he was too old to train. Naruto wondered why he felt the urge to henge into an ugly, green, dwarf but he ignored the urge and focused on his protegee.
"Better, but try again!" He shouted and Konohamaru immediately reapplied his henge.
"Hmm." Naruto walked around the younger boy. "At least it looks like a human this time. Still not nearly sexy enough. Make the breast bigger, but not too much, just makes it grotesque."
"Naruto... what do you think you are doing?" A female voice growled. "This is disgusting!" A second voice agreed with the first.
"Oh, didn't know you were training that here, sorry." Sasuke's voice added.
Naruto turned around, to find Sasuke, flanked by Ino and Tenten standing there.
"We wanted to train here. Didn't know the ground was already in use." He explained.
"That's all you have to say to that? It's utterly disgusting!" Tenten growled.
"And shameful, what will the other villages think?" Ino added.
Naruto pointed at Gaara and raised an eyebrow.
"What will the mature members of the other villages think?" Ino corrected.
Naruto sighed, he really didn't like this technique, but as Konohamaru had once demonstrated, it worked!
"Sexy no jutsu!" He shouted and before the girls stood a stark naked idealized version of Sasuke, go with what they like and it works so much better. No matter how much his pride hurt by doing it.
The girls stood there, letting their eyes wander up and down the body, before they went down with equal nosebleeds.
Sasuke stared at the henge and snorted. "Mine is actually bigger." He noted, eliciting a twitch from the unconscious girls.
Konohamaru stared at the girls in bafflement. "It works on girls too?" He asked, shell shocked.
Naruto nodded. "Of course, but... there's a danger." He glanced at Sasuke. A demonstration seemed to be in order and Sasuke was relatively safe.
"Sexy no jutsu!" He shouted again and this time he turned into his usual blond bombshell self.
Sasuke politely looked away.
Naruto stared in shock, what happened? "Why doesn't it work? You should be getting all grabby!"
Rolling his eyes Sasuke still looked away. "As if I could be tempted with a few bits of flesh." He snorted.
"Sasuke..." Both Ino and Tenten moaned, as they clawed their way back into consciousness.
Maybe he should demonstrate when Sasuke didn't have somebody to impress... two somebodies. He was worse than the perverted Sanin!
Naruto dropped the henge. "Anyway continue working on it Konohamaru. Ignoring others is important to focus your concentration anyway."
"What is going on here?" A hard voice rang through the forest. "You promised that we would train today Konohamaru."
Finally Ebisu showed up.
"Who are you?" Naruto asked dismissively. Maybe he could play his out like last time?
The man glared at him, though... maybe there was something else there as well.
"I'm Ebisu, Konohamaru's teacher." he growled. "And I won't have you teach him such obscene techniques."
Naruto rolled his eyes. "Eh, once I'm Hokage I'll make those techniques mandatory!" He sneered at the man.
"What?" The girls screamed in horror.
Ebisu merely snorted. "As if you could become Hokage. Young master, would you really want to be trained by him! He was dead last in the academy!" Ebisu growled.
Naruto frowned, there seemed to be a little bit of heat missing there.
"Well he's still a better teacher than you." Konohamaru shouted back. Sasuke kept out of it for once, good.
"I'm the fastest way to becoming Hokage, you know that don't you?" Ebisu asked the kid.
"There are no shortcuts." Naruto pointed out. "You'll have to work hard for all your life to be worthy of the title Hokage."
Ebisu looked at Naruto, a tiny smile on his lips. Naruto's eyes widened, did he actually plan that?
"Hmph, maybe but he'll do much better following my advise than yours!" He grabbed Konohamaru's arm and tried to drag him away.
Konohamaru ripped himself free though and jumped back. "Sexy no jutsu!"
The transformed girl, just like the last time, was a real beauty. It seemed real combat situations brought out the best in Konohamaru.
Ebisu rolled his eyes and sighed. "Please, such a technique would never work on me."
"Harem no jutsu." Naruto grinned and send his clones at the man. He didn't last even three second before he joined Gaara in unconsciousness.
Sasuke meanwhile had his sharingan out and recorded every second of it.
Naruto glared at the boy, he even managed to hide it from the girls who stared at the sea of flesh in utter disgust.
"How could you?" They asked in unison, then looked at each other and glared slightly.
Naruto shrugged and dispelled his clones. "Eh, he's down isn't he?"
Gaara had joined the land of sleep and perverted dreams as well, judging by the new red stain under his nose and the perverted giggles... why didn't Shukaku come out to play?
-o-
Shukaku stared at all the naked flesh surrounding him. He could take over his host sure... but... how often did you have this kind of opportunity? Especially with a kid as young as Gaara?
No, he had better things to do than rampage around pointlessly.
-o-
Well, since he didn't come out, Naruto didn't need to put him into his place.
Which suited him just fine really.
"Anyway, this only works if they aren't expecting it... and you know they aren't actually in combat. I tried that once, the guy totally ignored it and went for the throat. Nearly got me too. I mean just look at him, not even a twitch." Naruto pointed at Sasuke.
"He's so much more mature than you, that's all." Ino cheered on her boyfriend.
"Let's go with that." Naruto agreed.
"Aww, then why teach it to me?" Konohamaru whined.
"Because it's awesome for pranks, and it shows me that you have the mental abilities to become a truly awesome ninja!" Naruto pointed out.
"Oh! Great, so I'm your apprentice then?" Naruto grinned, rival sounded good, but apprentice? He really wanted one. But nobody ever volunteered, no time he supposed.
"Sure, I'll make a great ninja out of you." He paused and considered it. "After the exams of course, have to go through them first."
Konohamaru nodded eagerly, then turned to Sasuke. "Say, can you teach me how to do that?" He pointed at Ino and Tenten.
Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "Do what? I'm just going to train with them."
Yeah right, just because Naruto had a shred of decency and morals didn't mean he didn't recognize Sasuke playing with the girls. Bastard.
"Sure you are bro, sure you are." Konohamaru winked, as Sasuke started to sweat. And the girls slowly, ever so slowly turned towards him.
"You know? Now that the brat points it out..." Ino started. Tenten nodded in agreement. "I actually wanted to kill him you know?"
Ino pulled out a kunai, Tenten a scroll. "Why don't we start training now?" They grinned wickedly at Sasuke.
Naruto looked at Konohamaru. "And that's the reason I don't act like him, way too risky."
The kid nodded wordlessly.
Also, training under Jirayia had immunized him to sexual advances, he had grown far too used to them to react anymore.
"Still, if you watch him you should learn something. Meanwhile I'll make sure your teacher gets home, all evidence to the contrary he isn't actually a bad teacher, so listen to him while I'm not around ok."
Konohamaru nodded reluctantly, barely taking his head of the spectacle the girls made, as they tried to skewer Sasuke.
"Come now ladies, is violence really a solution?" Sasuke asked, desperately dodging the deadly devices of destruction.
"Yes!" Came the angry reply from the females. He should count himself lucky Sakura had gone to meet up with Temari, doing whatever, or she would have happily joined the fray.
Naruto picked up Ebisu, the guy knew what Naruto had planned and he wanted to know how he knew.
-o-
A few minutes later Naruto woke the teacher up and placed a nice cold beer in front of him. If he remembered correctly the guy liked talking over one better.
"Hey." He greeted the groggy man. Naruto stuck to juice. He never liked the taste of beer and he would be damned if he took on the vices of his teacher... well more of his vices than he had already absorbed anyway.
"Ah Uzumaki..." Ebisu greeted him, then his gaze fell on the beer. "My favorite." He muttered, grabbed it and took a deep gulp.
Naruto raised an eyebrow, what the hell?
"So, you seemed a bit strange back there." Naruto opened the conversation.
Ebisu chuckled, maybe a bit desperately. "When have we met Uzumaki? Before today I mean."
Naruto blinked and grimaced. Damn, they hadn't.
"You know me, at least enough to know about... well. You were pretty confident that display of yours would work." Ebisu pointed out.
Naruto could only nod. "Hehe, I suppose I heard about you doesn't fly?"
"No, no it doesn't."
Sighing Naruto leaned back. "You knew about me as well. And I'm not talking about me in general, you knew about that situation. It played out..."
"A bit too similar to a situation that should have happened about a month or so ago?" Ebisu asked.
Naruto nodded breathlessly. Had Ebisu also traveled back?
"I've had dreams Naruto. Dreams about teaching you, and about you teaching Konohamaru."
Naruto blinked, ok he hadn't expected that. "Nothing else?" He asked.
"Nothing I can remember with any clarity." Ebisu shook his head. "But you knew about that... and I talked with the Hokage about you, after you came back from wave, with a captured, highly dangerous criminal in tow."
Naruto nodded and signaled him to continue.
"Imagine my surprise when the Hokage told me any information on you is classified and I would have to ask you about it."
Naruto frowned, why would the Hokage leave that to him?
"I do have a pretty high security clearance you know? I do teach his grandson." Ebisu pointed out, clearly annoyed.
"Ehehe, sorry." Naruto buried his face in his juice.
"No problem, teachers seldom get quite the respect they deserve."
Naruto nodded. "Well, what do you want to know." He asked.
"Do you also have these dreams? If so, do you have any idea why?" Ebisu sounded almost desperate. "If those are of the future, then... do you realize what that means? If they are of the past... then does that mean there is a definite fate? And can it be broken?"
No, not desperate, afraid of his own abilities.
Naruto shook his head, even as he looked around, looking and feeling for somebody listening in, then turned back to Ebisu. "Not exactly." He lowered his voice. "I'm... well, I'm from an alternate time-line, or at least Sakura said so, she and Sasuke are from different ones." He looked carefully at the older man, who leaned back, his face scrunched up in confusion.
"Alternate time-lines?" He asked, clearly not believing Naruto.
Naruto smirked and carefully demonstrated a Rasengan. Oh, Ebisu recognized that, he recognized it no problem at all.
"How..." He looked at Naruto. "Different time-line?"
Naruto shrugged. "What you dreamed happened in my time-line as well. In this... I'm afraid I hadn't even thought about Konohamaru until I ran across him, playing with Gaara... geez that was strange."
Ebisu raised an eyebrow. "But why would I dream of your reality? Fate?"
"I don't believe in fate, we all make our own decisions." Naruto grumbled. He hated those losers subscribing to fate.
"But then?" Ebisu started again.
Naruto rolled his eyes. "I have no idea, maybe you just got hit by whatever send me here, you know a little bit of stray memories or something."
"That isn't better Naruto, I don't want to have your memories and I'm sure you don't want me to go through them either." Ebisu looked decidedly put off by the idea.
Considering it for a few seconds Naruto had to agree. "Yeah, that doesn't sound too good. You said you dreamed about something else?"
"As I said, nothing I actually remember." Ebisu said and looked at Naruto. "And you know it's strange, to talk to you like this. I remember you being a childish little brat."
Naruto glared at the guy, but he couldn't really deny it.
"But I feel like you are a mature, well more or less, ninja, who one day will become Hokage. Don't ask me how that works." He gulped a bit more of his beer down.
"Say, does the name Pain ring any bells?" Naruto asked slowly. Couldn't be could it?
Ebisu looked up sharply, just before he whimpered in pain. He quickly held his head.
"Ahh, that... my head." He groaned, shaking.
It took him a few seconds to get himself under control again, but when he did he stared at Naruto in something like... admiration?
"He... he destroyed Konoha. And, and you stopped him. You... is that... did that actually happen?" He asked.
Naruto nodded slowly. "Yes, that actually happened... maybe we should talk to the Hokage about this? He should know about your dreams, when you can even remember that."
Ebisu nodded. "Damn, I wish Tsunade already had taken the hat. I would be rid of this headache real easy then."
He blinked. "Uhh what? Tsunade becomes Hokage?"
Naruto stared at him. This, whatever happened was weird. Kinda like with Naruto, only with dreams? And certainly his reality.
"Let's go to the Hokage, he may have some idea of what's going on." Naruto stood up. He really wished he knew himself what was going on.
He sighed as he stared at the Hokage monument. Things were just never easy.
He blinked for a second he could have sworn he saw Tsunade's head on the monument. Wishful thinking. It would take a few more weeks before that head found it's way on the mountain.
-o-
Sarutobi grinned as he went over Ibiki's report. The man had found out more than enough from Team 7, to plan a very, very detailed defense against the invasion.
The only question that remained now, was how to approach it. Should they crush Sand? Should they make a deal with them before they planned to invade and have them double cross Orochimaru? Should they wait until the current Kazekage is dead and then inform them of Orochimaru's dead?
So many options. Luckily they still had time. The first two tasks would happen as planned, Orochimaru wouldn't kill the third until after the second task.
Somebody knocked on his door, quite insistent actually. He knew only one person who knocked like that. "Come in Naruto." He smiled, the blond might be different than he was just before he graduated, but in some ways he had stayed exactly the same.
"Hey! Old man!" He shouted as he rushed into the office. Yes, exactly the same.
"I've talked with Ebisu! Those dreams of his? They are totally the way it happened for me. Any idea why that is?" Naruto didn't even wait to be greeted back, to start talking.
Sarutobi sighed, respect and decorum would probably never come easy to him.
"I'm sorry Naruto, I have no idea why that's happening." He replied. He could see Naruto's face fall.
"Damn, then the only one I can ask, who would have any idea, would be Madara... or maybe Orochimaru. I don't think they would talk though." Naruto said, mostly to himself.
"Yes, I have my doubts about that as well." Sarutobi nodded and smiled kindly at Ebisu who stared in utter shock at the scene in front of him. "But aren't you forgetting somebody? Sakura knows the most about this time traveling business doesn't she?"
"Well, yes. But she's kinda scary." Naruto replied.
And Orochimaru and Madara aren't? Sarutobi wanted to ask, but caught himself, Naruto obviously wasn't serious, going by that grin on his face.
Naruto shrugged. "Oh well, I'll ask her tomorrow then. Maybe she an idea why it's happening."
The door to his office flew open. "Hello my good people." Sakura shouted, obvious even more drunk than usual...
"Aww he's so cute for a mass murdering monster." A girl from Sand squealed and hugged a flabbergasted Naruto. "Can I keep him? I promise to feed him and pet and him and..."
"Meh, I'm sure you can deal with him." Sakura laughed drunkenly at... Temari, the daughter of the Kazekage, they had arrived today.
"Sakura? Temari? What's going on?" Asked Naruto, fairly confused.
"We went out having some fun." Sakura giggled.
Sarutobi noted that Ebisu stared at the spectacle in even more confusion that Naruto.
"Ebisu? Why don't you leave? I'm sure I can sort this out. And close the doors on your way out will you?" He asked the poor man. Or the fortunate man, he could leave.
Sakura and Temari huddled in a corner of the room, sending shrewd glances at Naruto, who did his best to keep the distance between himself and the drunken girls.
"Sakura? I hope you have an explanation for... corrupting Temari?" He asked.
Sakura perked up immediately. "I can't corrupt her! She came pre-corrupted!" Sakura defended herself.
"Ok, why did you go drinking with her?" Sarutobi asked again. "And why are you actually affected by the alcohol?"
Sakura grinned, even as she rolled her eyes. "I can stop using that jutsu you know?" She grinned showing as little respect as Naruto. Of course, he let Naruto get away with that because he liked the boy. Sakura? He liked her well enough, but...
"And hey! Temari's from the future too!" She chirped happily.
Sarutobi could feel a headache coming, and not a small one. This one would turn out big, much bigger than anything he had ever had to deal with before... maybe he should send them out to collect Tsunade right now. Let her deal with this before it was too late.
-o-
And here's the next chapter. Veering a bit of from canon. Hopefully I can keep it interesting.
Thanks to Slamu and ZusVayo for reading over this and spotting as many problems as they could.