Fixing it at the source
I still own nothing.
Chapter 2 Arriving in the past
Awakening while trying to not change his breathing patttern Naruto tried to assess his situation as good as possible without opening his eyes or using any kind of chakra. Using his limited sensor abilities to find out if he was alone and if possible where he was. Smelling the tell-tale scent of a hospital made it clear that he was obviously in a hospital room. Turning his attention on his own body Naruto recognized the feel of a chakra suppression seal and bandages on his body. So he atleast survived the whole ordeal. The next thing that he detected were three chakra signatures in the immediate vacinity. One of them was far stronger then the other two and didn't seem to belong to a person that tried to hide from his senses.
The other two signatures while smaller were well masked and he was only able to detect them because of the close range and the familiarity with the way Konoha ANBU masked their chakra. Being a now former ANBU commmander certainly had it's benefits.
"Since you won't start talking I'm going to initiate a conversation here." was the first thing Naruto said while obviously addressing the person that was in his room while simultaneously opening his eyes and breathing in a normal pattern.
If Sarutobi Hiruzen was suprised he didn't show it. Even though he hadn't seen the man that now stood before him for about 10 years it was easy to recognize his face. Although a much younger version of the Sandaime then the one he knew from his childhood didn't make it much easier to face him after you saw his corpse after he was killed by his prodigious student during the chunin exams.
Masking his emotions Naruto spoke once again "While I'm sure you have many questions for me that I will answer to the best of my ability I think a little introduction is in order first Sarutobi Hiruzen, Sandaime Hokage of Konohagakure no Sato. My name is Namikaze Naruto, 22 years old and someone that won for a price that was not worth paying."
Hearing the stranger in front of him introduce himself Sarutobi didn't quite know what to ask first. The emotion alone that he held in his eyes while saying the last part spoke volumes to him. This was obviously a person that sacrificed his life for a cause but in the end had to pay a price no one is ready to pay.
After getting over that thought process Sarutobi had to hide his suprise at hearing the name Namikaze. While not being a big clan the Namikaze clan had been feared for it's battle prowess during the 1st and 2nd Great Ninja War's. After both of those war's their number dwindled down to an all time low which made them become basically extinct much like the Senju clan. Looking at the person before again the yellow hair that greatly resembled the other Namikaze of his village in colour. The clan's abilities where obvious in Namikaze Minato. If this Namikaze here had a comparable talent it would be a good idea to get him to join the village. Refocusing on the present Sarutobi had to first get some information.
"First off I would like to know how you entered my village without being noticed by our barrier team. Usually only the people that know the code can enter like that and since I have never seen you in my village I'm sure that was not how you got in." said Sarutobi to start of his little questioning/interrogation.
Hearing Sarutobi's words Naruto thought for a moment before deciding on how much information he was willing to share for the moment. "Well it wasn't my intention to land in your village. I was actually using a seal that I was not able to test efficiently before and it brought me here.". While that was not a lie it wasn't really the truth aswell. Since this Sarutobi Hiruzen was obviously more of a trained killer then a grandfather at the moment lying to him would be a bad idea.
Hearing this Sarutobi nodded curtly before continuing "While that is possible whta kind of seal was able to send you here?" while not impossible, his sensei the Nidaime had used space-time ninjutsu in conjunction with fuinjutsu, it wasn't often that you saw a person pratice such an art.
"Before I can answer that question I must ask you to dismiss the two ANBU that are stationed outside the room and enat a silencing barrier. This information should not get in to false hands and right now I know only you are able to work with it. You and I know that in my current condition I wouldn't hold a candle to you in a fight so if you have any security issues place a paralysing seal on me leaving me only able to talk." said Naruto in a matter-of-fact tone having no problem to state the obvious fact that he was unable to harm anyone in his condition.
Hearing this Sarutobi had to think for a moment. If the information was indeed as important the Namikaze seemed to suggest it was obviously worth it and if it happened to be a fluke he could just subdue him himself without any problems. "Very well." was the only thing the Sandaime said before dismissing his ANBU with a wave of his hand and activating a silencing barrier with a couple of hand-seals.
Seeing the barrier getting activated Naruto relaxed just slightly. You never know who was listening. "So now that only you can hear me I think I owe you an explanation. The seal that I used was as you probably already suspected a space-time seal. But it's concrete purpose was to travel back in time." said Naruto while looking directly in to the Sandaime's eyes.
Hearing this Sarutobi's eyes widened just a tiny bit and it didn't last long. "And did it work?" asked Sarutobi uncertain if he really wanted to know the whole story now. What must have happened that get this person to travel back in time of all things?
"Since you are the one asking me this question it obviously did work. But before I tell you why exactly I travelled back in time i would like to know the date." said Naruto in the same tone as before.
After Naruto said this Sarutobi told him the date which him know that he did in fact travel to just before the 3rd Great Ninja War started. "Very well, that means I arrived in the time that I wanted to arrive in. As to my reason for travelling back. As I said I payed a price for winning that I wasn't ready to pay. After I won there was nothing left. Nothing left to fight or live for. Seeing your comrades and friends all walk in to their deaths only to end a war they died in is just not worth it. The villages were destroyed the shinobi dead or scattered and the civilians killed after being used as leverage against the shinobi."
After he heard this Sarutobi was at a loss. What do you say after hearing something like this? Since Sarutobi could only detect absolute certainty in the man before him he didn't question his reasoning. The question was how could it come to such a state? Pushing those thoughts to the back of his mind for now Hiruzen had to get back on topic. "I understand. Moving on for your plan to work I'm sure you will want to become a shinobi of this village once again?"
Instead of answering Naruto just gave a meaningful nod.
Seeing this Sarutobi nodded once aswell before asking something else. "The last questions for now would be the reason for you having Kyuubi chakra in your system and which rank you held in your Konoha."
"Well for the Kyuubi I'm it's third jinchuriki. Because there can't be two Kyuubi at the same time though it is advised that either I absorb Kushina's Kyuubi or vice-versa. If we don't her Kyuubi will try to force it's chakra through the seal to attack me. As for my rank. I was commander of ANBU and commanded a great deal of other forces during the war." while saying the last part Naruto showed his ANBU tattoo to Sarutobi to confirm his story.
"So should we tell Kushina about all this or give her cover-story for now?" asked Sarutobi after hearing what had to be done. While telling her wouldn't be a problem Kushina wasn't exactly a secretive person and everyone that knew her, especially Minato, could read her like a book.
"I think a cover-story would be better for the moment I will tell I have a way of relieving her of the Kyuubi without killing her and that you approved the plan. I'm a fuinjutsu master even for Uzumaki standards so sealing a bijuu in me without dying is actually possible. She will be weakened for about a week though because of the change in her chakra system." said Naruto after thinking about the issue for a moment. Before Sarutobi could answer Naruto added something else though. „Before I forget I think it would be a good cover for me to be a cousin or something similar to Minato. Otherwise he might get suspicious to fast."
After going over the first part in his head Sarutobi had to agree. The second part wasn't hard to do since they shared the same haircolour and a similar facial structure coupled with the bloodtests saying that he was Minato and Kushina's son.
After thinking it all over once again Sarutobi agreed to the whole plan. "It seems like a sound plan it will be done like this then. After you have fully recovered I will inform Kushina of the plan and summon her to my office for it to happen. You will hear from me when everything is ready."
Hearing Sarutobi agree made the slightest of smiles creep onto Naruto's face. Before he bid goodbye to the Hokage and focused on recovering as fast as possible.
5 says later - Hogake office
Standing in front of the Hokage right now was one very impatient and loud-mouthed, red haired Uzumaki Kushina. She had gotten a summon from the Hokage during training with Minato about ten minutes ago. After getting there the old man had told her that there was a person thta wanted to help her with a problem of hers. Not knowing what the Hokage was talking about Kushina got confused. After she asked what problem he meant the Hokage just smiled the slightest of smiles while saying that it will be explained in due time.
After waiting for another five minutes Kushina began to tap her foot on the ground since her patience was coming to an end ….. after waiting for about seven minutes.
Just when she was about to ask the old man how somebody could be that late a knock on the door was heard. After a short „Enter" from the Hokage the office door opened to reveal a 6'2'' blond man entering the room. The person had short slightly spiky blonde hair (AN: picture Ichigo from Bleach hairstyle) with dark blue slightly slitted eyes. He had slightly tanned skin and his face was missing any baby-fat. He had a lean build and judging from the way he walked he was obviously a shinobi. After recognizing the tattoo on his shoulder it was clear that the man was or had been a part of ANBU.
After the man stopped next to her Kushina could pratically feel that he was powerful. His chakra alone was extremely powerful and dense. At first glance he seemed to lack all emotion but looking in to his eyes revealed otherwise.
Hearing the sound of a throat being cleared Kushina focused back on the Hokage. "Now that we are all here I can begin to explain what Naruto here proposed." Before he moved on he dismissed the ANBU in his office with a quick wave of his hand. After doing so he nodded once while looking at the person – Naruto – next to her. Receiving the message Naruto formed a half-ram seal making the walls of the room glow in dark blue. After doing Naruto nodded once at the Hokage before dropping his hand to his side again.
Seeing the display of fuinjutsu skill Kushina was immediatly intrigued. Not many people learned anything beside the usual paper bombs and storage seals. For someone to initiate such a strong silencing barrier with only one handsign was quite impressive.
Seeing the barrier being activated Hiruzen resumed his explanation. "You see Kushina-chan Naruto has informed that he is willing to extract the Kyuubi in such a way that it will not harm you permanently before sealing it in himself. Before you say that such a thing would kill him or is impossible Naruto here is quite the accomplished fuinjutsu user and has shown me enough evidence to make me believe his claim." after saying his piece Hiruzen leaned back in his chair to watch what was obviously gonna be a lot of questions from the redhead.
"WHAT?" shouted Kushina after listening what the old man told her. Turning to the only other person in the room except the Sandaime Kushina looked quite shocked. Before she could ask anything more Naruto spoke up in a calm tone "I undertsnad if you do not believe me but I'm absolutely sure that except for having to recover let's say for a week there won't be any problems for you. The reason for a jinchuriki normally dying upon the bijuu being extracted is that the suddeness rips the chakra system apart. I'm not going to unseal him directly. I will be connected the seal on me and mine and make the Kyuubi transfer to my seal. Because of this your chakra-coils will stay intact and the only problem for you will be not being able to use his chakra, even though your seal doesn't allow much of it anyways, and having to work with a not as fast recovery time. Your Uzumaki blood and your body having adapted to the influence the Kyuubi has on your recovery for either bodily harm or chakra exhaustion will help you in recovering from the sudden loss but after adapting to those circumstances you will be just fine. You may even be able to learn things like genjutsu and iryojutsu to a higher degree since you will be able to easier attain a higher level of chakra control." after finishing his explanation Naruto took a step back to let her think for a moment. Since he obviously couldn't tell her that this would only work because he had a Kyuubi in him aswell and was able to absorb hersbecause of it Naruto hoped that his speech made her agree.
Hearing his response to her outburst Kushina couldn't help but have a gobsmacked expression on her face. Before her stood a person that just explained to her that one of the things Uzumaki Mito had told her before she became a jinchuriki was actually wrong. While Mito was probably the best fuinjustu user to ever live even in in the ned of her days there weren't many people that had reached such a high level in fuinjutsu and even less that would willingly seal a bijuu in themself.
Before accepting this offer though Kushina had to ask one more thing of this Naruto guy. "While I feel like since you have the Hokage's backing I can trust you in this I want to know why you would willingly seal a bijuu, the Kyuubi no less, in yourself."
Already expecting her ask this Naruto already had an answer prepared. "While I do not know you personally my mother was an Uzumaki aswell and I learned a lot about seals and the Uzumaki clan because of her. Before she died one of the last things she asked of me was to search and look out for the other Uzumaki. Since you are the last of the Uzumaki in this village I am willing to take this responsibility upon myself. Furthermore you are currently in a relationship and if you by any chance want to have kids in your life later on being a jinchuriki can be dangerous. I asume you are aware of this issue?" said Naruto before looking directly at Kushina at the last part. Seeing her nod Naruto finished his little explanation. „While I in no way have the ability to supress the Kyuubi like you have because of your chakra I can do so through other means. So do you accept my proposal?"
Hearing what he said Kushina was quite happy to know that the person in fornt of her was atleast half Uzumaki judging from his hair-colour. It meant that this person was in some way related to her which was something that she always wanted. Having relatives of some kind. After she got over that piece of information didn't have to ponder the whole thing any longer. Hearing his reasoning she was able to allow him to do this. Gaining a determined look in her eyes she focused on Naruto and the Hokage before nodding once and saying "I will do it.".
After she said that a slight smile spread over Naruto's face. His plan of changing things was coming along. "Very well, we can do it right now if you want." after saying that Naruto turned his head to the Hokage with questioning gaze.
Seeing this Hiruzen nodded once. He had the whole day free and might even learn something about seals while watching the process. One does not get the title of 'the Professor' without having the drive to always learn something new.
Turning his head to Kushina again after receiving the response to his unasked question from Sarutobi he spoke up once again "If you want to do it now please expose your seal and sit on the ground so that I can draw the necessary seals."
Hearing this Kushina nodded once. If she could get rid of the Kyuubi she would do it as fast as possible. After exposing the seal on her stomach Kushina set on the ground cross-legged. Seeing her being ready Naruto focused chakra to his fingertip before drawing the seals in the air just above the ground while simultaneously explain what every seals purpose was. After about ten minutes he moved onto the seals around Kushina's seal. For this he used a brush and chakra infused ink.
Checking his work Naruto sat opposite of Kushina in the same position. Exposing his own Hakke no Fuuin Shiki (Eight Trigrams Seal) before starting to connect his and Kushina's seal. After another five minutes he is finally finished with the seal and checking his work once more.
Having made sure that everything is in order Naruto gets ready to start the process. "While we do this I want you to focus on suppressing the Kyuubi's chakra in you as best as possible. Leave the rest to me. Hokage-sama if you would please take a step back?". Seeing the Hokage following his request Naruto channeled his and some of the Kyuubi's chakra in to the seal. One after another the seals around him and Kushina started glowing blue. After that his and Kushina's seal glowed red in colour signifying the Kyuubi's chakra being transferred.
Feeling the Kyuubi trying to break free Kushina focused on supressing his influence with her own chakra. On the other side of the room sat Naruto still in cross-legged position while having a calm look on his face. His part in the whole thing was to help Kurama absorb Kushina's Kyuubi while simultaneously making the Kyuubi's consciousness travel together with the chakra. Usually one wouldn't need to do anything for consciousness and chakra of a bijuu to stay together but so as not to harm him or more importantly Kushina he had to first purify the chakra the same way he did with Kurama the first time while also making the consciousness travel aswell without affecting the chakra.
For the next hour the both of them sat in the same position while both having different facial expressions. Kushina's was one of concentration and focus while Naruto's was relaxed and calm while stilling having a focused touch to it.
During the hour Sarutobi watched the whole process with piqued interest. While no bodily movements were made the seal clearly showed the way of the chakra going from Kushina's seal to Naruto's.
The last ten minutes were the really hard part for Naruto while Kushina could relax some. He now had to focus on merging Kurama with the Kurama from this time. After that was done Naruto exhaled deeply before opening his eyes and standing up. Opposite of him Kushina while trying to stand up stumbled immediatly because her body needed to adapt to the new condition first. Before Kushina could fall on the ground Naruto caught her before turning to address the Hokage. "The process is finished Kushina does not house Kyuubi anymore. She will need to stay in the hospital for about five days maybe a week to recuperate fully. Give her three weeks maybe less to adapt to her new situation and she will be ready for active duty.". Hearing Sarutobi nodded once while a small smile graced his lips. Truly seeing a person that he was quite fond of being freed of a burden was quite nice.
Seeing the Sandaime's nod Naruto picked Kushina who was about to pass out up bridal style before disappearing in a Fuuton: Shunshin to the hospital.
Before going back to his paperwork Hiruzen summoned Minato to inform him of the events.
With Naruto
After depositing Kushina at the hospital Naruto made his through the village in search of a shinobi store. While he had no problem with wearing the ANBU-clothing Sarutobi had made it clear that he won't join ANBU in this timeline.
Walking around Naruto tried to remember where he could find Higurashi's weapon shop. It was the only shinobi shop that he was able to buy something from in his youth concerning shinobi tools. Even after the war had be going on for a while the shop stilll supplied weapons and clothing. At one point Naruto had decided that a weapon beside kunai and shuriken would be good and had bought a wakizashi that was about 24'' long. Using it in conjunction with his Fuuton chakra had helped him in the war but in the end it was broken during a fight with Madara.
While being lost in thought reminiscing about his own time Naruto didn't focus on where he was walking. So when he felt something bump in to him he was quite suprised. Focusing back on to the present Naruto looked in front of him to see a person on the ground no doubt the person he bumped in to. Taking a closer look Naruto recall ever seeing the person before him. He seemed to be a chunin judging from the flak jacket he was wearing. Reaching out with his hand Naruto apologized for being careless. "I'm sorry about that I didn't look at where I was walking."
Having helped up the chunin Naruto decided to ask where he could find Higurashi's weapon shop. Luckily the chunin knew what he was looking for and could point him in the right direction. Following the directions the chunin supplied Naruto took about ten minutes to reach the shop.
Entering the shop Naruto was greeted by a young Higurashi Aiji. The men was already quite well built but didn't have his injury yet. "Welcome to Higurashi weapons how can I help you?".
"Hello, I was looking for some new clothing and a sword." said Naruto in a pleasant tone. He had always liked the shop even in his youth. All the different weapons on display were fascinating.
Hearing what his newest customer wanted Aiji said "Well, the clothing section is to the right and the weapons available are all on this part of the shop. If you want something made talk to me and I will tell you want I can do."
After Aiji said this Naruto went up to the counter to have a new weapon made. "Well, I have these plans with me. Could I leave them with you and you inform me when it's ready?" said Naruto while taking out a scroll with plans for a katana in it. He had used his time in the hospital to prepare some stuff one of the things being the plans.
Looking at the plans Aiji couldn't help but be suprised at how detailed they were. Everything from which metal should be used to length and design was written on the scroll. Beneath the writing was a drawing of how the weapon should look when finished. After finishing the scroll looked back up at the customer before him. "These plans are quite detailed. It will take me about three weeks to finish this work. The payment will be sorted out when I have the weapon here. Until then feel free to buy anything else."
Nodding once Naruto moved to the clothing section of the shop.
After about thirty minutes of trying out different sets of clothing Naruto had finished picking his outfit. He now wore black pants then stopped past his knees and a sleeveless fishnet shirt. Over the fishnet shirt is a black shirt with one side having no sleeve (AN: left side where the ANBU tattoo is placed.) and the other side being long-sleeved. The shirt extends up his neck and instead of a visible hitai-ate he has the Konoha symbol stitched in to the right shoulder of the shirt in a deep red colour. Bound from around his torso from his right shoulder to his left hip is a deep red cloth. Finishing the outfit are black shinobi sandals that reach up to his knees and black gloves that leave the top-half of his index-fingers and thumbs uncovered.
Paying for everything with some of the money the Sandaime gave him Naruto left the shop after buying some kunai, shuriken and two black pouches for his hip.
While contemplating what he could now that he bought everything he needed for now Naruto remebered that he still had to go by the building the Sandaime adviced for an apartment.
3 hours later - Training grounds
After Naruto got his apartment he headed to one of the free training grounds to get a bit of training in. Arriving at an empty training ground Naruto sent down in a meditate position while summoning about 200 Kage Bunshinwithout using the handsign. The clones split in to five groups of forty and got to work. One group worked on different chakra control exercises while the other four were working on improving some of Naruto's justu, either cutting down the number of handsigns or training to be able to use them at full power.
Naruto himself tried to improve his limjited sensing ability. While normally he would just enter Sage mode Naruto had to refrain from using that the Rasengan with all it's variants, the Hiraishin and the Chidori until he learned them in this timeline. Thinking about that fact a little more Naruto came to the realisation that without the Rasengan his former self was basically useless. Now he had quite the amount of Fuuton, Suiton and Raiton jutsu to fight without using the technique.
After about two hours of training like this while summoning new Kage Bunshin every thirty minutes to further their progress Naruto felt a slight rush of chakra next to him signalling a shunshin. Opening his eyes Naruto saw a young Namikaze Minato looking at him.
Standing up Naruto mentally ordered his clones to dispel themselves 10 at a time. After doing so Naruto focused his attention on the person standing before him. Minato seemed to be about 20 years old making him two years his junior. He sported the usual attire for a Konoha jonin and had the slightest of smiles on his face while looking at him.
Deciding to start the conversation Naruto spoke up "Did you need something?". Hearing the person in front of him speak Minato focused back on his reason being here in the first place. "Yes, firstly I wanted to thank you for what you did for Kushina. Secondly I'm here to greet my cousin." said Minato while smiling.
After hearing what Minato said Naruto suspected that the Sandaime told him everything since Kushina didn't know of him being a Namikaze and shouldn't be awake yet. "Well Sandaime-sama did tell me that there was another Namikaze in Konoha so hello." said Naruto kind of awkwardly. Seriously he had no idea what he should say in this kind of situation.
Feeling the awkwardness of the situation Minato got a sheepish expression on his face while extending his hand. "Well I don't really know what you do in these kind of situations so I guess..." while saying this he extended his hand a bit further towards Naruto while trailing off in his speech. Seeing this Naruto chuckled slightly while shaking Minato's hand. While it was somewhat confusing that the person was actually his father he didn't really have a father during his life so seeing Minato as a cousin instead wasn't that hard.
"Welcome to the family, what's left of it anyways, I guess." said Minato after they shook hands. Trying to get over the still lingering awkwardness Minato decided to change the subject to something more interesting. "I saw that you were training just now. So what exactly were you doing?". Understanding what Minato was doing Naruto immediatly focused on the question. "Well my Kage Bunshin were working on shortening the handseal sequence for some of the jutsu that I use. I myself was trying to strenghten my sensing ability while the last group of clones was working on chakra control. While I have quite good control. Good enough for simple Iryojutsu anway, working on it is always needed because of the Kyuubi. Being a jinchuriki increases ones chakra reserves dramatically which goes hand in hand with a worse control, atleast to some degree.".
After explaining what he did Naruto asked Minato a question of his own "Well, since you interrupted my training and don't seem to be in a hurry why don't we spar for a bit?".
Hearing the offer from the blonde Minato immediatly agreed. Improving his own skills and sparring or going in to battle always went hand in hand as a shinobi and since the blonde was obviously powerful from what he had seen it seemed to be a good chance to test himself against such a strong opponent.
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That concludes the second chapter of this story. I'm happy about any kind of feedback and will try to post the next chapter as soon as possible.