Time Travel no Jutsu

Written by I.K.A. Valian

Chapter One: Space-Time Ninjutsu

Naruto is the property of Masashi Kishimoto.

It was evening. The red sky had given way to pink on the horizon as deep blue and black creeped across the sky from the east. The sun had already set and now only minutes remained until only starlight remained to shine down upon the forest. In the forest it was already dark, save for the small clearing in which a lantern was hung from a tree.

"Let's see… the first skill is… Shadow Clones? What the hell?! Why does it start with the one I'm bad at?"

Before long the waning sunlight was completely gone, and the only light source in the clearing was the twinkling stars above and the small lantern, which bathed the area in a reddish hue. Valiantly did that small fire push back the darkness, flickering, wavering, but never faltering in its duty to provide, protect, and illuminate.

"That was… huff. That wasn't so…huff…hard. If Iruka-sensei had taught me this jutsu…huff… I would have passed no problem! Huff… I bet if I learn two jutsu…huff… then they'll have to let me graduate! What's next?" A rustling of cloth as a large, thick scroll was unraveled ever further. "Wha? A Space-Time Ninjutsu created by the… Second Hokage! I didn't know he knew any jutsu. How many-oly shit! That's a lot of hand seals! Hah! Tha-that's nothing for someone like me! Yeah! I'll have this down in no time."

One hundred and fifteen hand-seals and sixteen hours before…

Naruto bolted out his bed as if he'd been set on fire and tossed into a vat of oil. For a frightful moment, he didn't know where he was and fearfully cast his eyes about the darkened room. Then his foot caught up in the blanket around his ankles and he ended up in a pile on the floor. It didn't take him much longer to figure out where he was.

"Hey," he said, "I'm back at my apartment. But when did… oh no!" A look of abject horror passed over Naruto's face as a wave of dread washed through him and gripped his heart in a icy cold grip that constricted his chest and made it hard to breath. Anger swelled up from inside of him like a raging inferno and his hands clenched. "No! No, no, no!" Each time he said the word no, Naruto pounded his fist on the floor. Bitter disappointment and anger burned in his gut. Tears glistened at the edge of his eyes, but they refused to fall. A choked sob escaped Naruto's throat as he curled up onto himself.

"I must have…" he bit back another sob, "…passed out in the forest." Naruto paused here so he could push himself into a sitting position with his back against the bed. "That means… I failed the test." The logical conclusion he'd come to only caused the burning flame of his anger to explode with his fury. He punched the floor once, but it didn't satisfy him very much. So he punched it again. And again. Over and over he punched the floor that he eventually found his fist getting sticky from the blood oozing out of his broken knuckles.

"I… I can't even pass that… I can't even… Why?" The tears on the edge of his eyes grew larger, but still remained unshed. As if by some force of will, Naruto sucked the tears back into his eyes and stared sullenly across the darkened room.

His furious anger was white hot. His disappointment was unknowingly deep. His hunger was without bounds… a fact he stumbled upon when his stomach growled loudly. It was such an obviously out of place sound compared to the rest of what he was feeling that he couldn't help the smile that crept up onto his face. That smile, slightly deranged, slowly bubbled to life with a few chuckles. A few minutes found Naruto laughing so loudly and joyously that if anyone were to see him, it wouldn't be out of the ordinary for them to assume he was quite happy. Only a few, the few who actually knew Naruto beyond the masks he wore, would notice the despairing tenor in the guffaws.

Eventually, Naruto pulled himself to his feet. He was never one to wallow in self pity anyway, he told himself. He quickly put on his clothes and started to head out. The sun was just beginning to rise and it looked like it was going to be a nice day. The first thing he wanted to do was go eat something, but it would probably be a better idea, he reasoned, if he went to the Old Man and apologized for using his Sexy Jutsu on him the night before.

"Hey, Old Man," Naruto said. The Old Hokage immediately noticed the somber tone of voice Naruto spoke in. He put his pen down and pushed his paper work to the side to be forgotten for the rest of the day. The last time Naruto had been like this, six months previous when he'd failed to graduate again, only a ramen binge was enough to get him out of the day long funk.

"Naruto?" the Hokage asked. "What's wrong? You look you did the last time you failed the graduation exam. And speaking of which, why aren't you at the academy taking that exam right now? You aren't quitting are you?" Sarutobi Hiruzen could barely keep the incredulous feeling from his voice. The very idea of Naruto quitting anything was so ridiculous it had a sixty year old shinobi losing the ability to control his emotions.

"Huh?" Naruto asked, tilting his head. "What do you mean? Are you going senile old man? The test was yesterday! I failed, remember? Both times!"

The Hokage arched an eyebrow. "Naruto," he said slowly. "What do you mean, yesterday? The graduation exam is today. In fact, Iruka has just handed out the paper tests, if I'm not mistaken."

"What?!" Naruto shouted, his hands flying into the air. He hopped up and down, as if to emphasis his confusion. "What do you mean? I remember taking the test and everything! I failed the first one and then Mizuki-sensei said I could take a secret test, but then I passed out and failed that one too!"

The Hokage's eyes narrowed. What was Naruto getting on about? He rarely made anything so incredible up, at least, not when it pertained to important things like graduating. He'd be bouncing off the walls and shouting it from the roof tops if he'd passed. Naruto wasn't exhibiting that kind of behavior. If anything, he was showing signs of extreme distress and depression. As if the boy actually believed he had failed the test the day before.

"Naruto, why did you come here, exactly?" the Hokage asked.

Naruto lowered his eyes to the floor and his shoulders slumped. "I just wanted to come and say I was sorry for knocking you out with my Sexy Jutsu last night. You know, when I snuck in for the second test."

The Hokage smiled, easily hiding his real thoughts, as he stood. He gave a soft laugh at the boy's confused expression, as he moved around his desk and put his hand on Naruto's head. He tussled the blond hair under his fingers, easily re-assuring Naruto that he held nothing against him.

Meanwhile, in his head, the Hokage was comparing and contrasting everything Naruto had said. Naruto clearly believed he had failed the test yesterday, when clearly the test was taking place right at that moment. It was almost like Naruto had experienced a day ahead of time, or at the very least, that's what Naruto believed. It all stank to high heaven and, truthfully, he wouldn't put it past someone with a grudge and the ability to use genjutsu to give Naruto a nightmare about failing the test. He'd have to set up an investigation to look into it.

Besides, he was known as Professor and the God of Shinobi. He was a Hokage who wouldn't fall victim to some silly prank jutsu like the Sexy Jutsu. That was all the proof he needed that Naruto had only experienced a nightmare.

"Come, Naruto," the Hokage said. "I'll prove to you that you didn't miss or fail the test by taking you there right now. Okay?"

Naruto looked up at the Hokage with wide, unbelieving eyes that were watering around the edges. Finally that big, bright, megawatt grin that put his old heart at ease appeared on Naruto's face. "Okay Old Man! But I'm passing this time! Dattebayo!"

Naruto watched as the Hokage knocked on the class room door and slid it open. "I seem to have found one of your students, Iruka-kun."

"Naruto!" Iruka shouted. Naruto cringed, but he could see the obvious relief on his sensei's face. "Where have you been?! You nearly missed the exam!"

"S-sorry, Iruka-sensei," Naruto said, rubbing the back of his head and giving his most sincere apology-smile. Iruka gave a half exasperated huff before he glanced at Mizuki who gave a non-committal shrug.

"Go on and take your seat Naruto," the Hokage said before he turned to the class. "Good luck to you all in your exams. I look forward to seeing a few new Shinobi after today."

Naruto slumped into a seat and attempted to hide his head in his arms. This didn't make any sense. He remembered this test, this day, but it was like he'd dreamed everything that had happened. He found himself really confused and questioning everything he had experienced.

"Naruto, sit up straight and finish your written exam!" Iruka shouted.

"A-hahah, right away, sensei!" Naruto had nearly jumped with fright when Iruka had barked out his order. He scrambled to pick up the pencil laid out on the desk and start filling out the answers on the sheet in front of him. Oddly enough, the questions were all the same from the dream, nightmare, or whatever it was. Now that he was looking at them again, some of the answers he wrote down last time didn't make sense anymore, forcing him to rethink his previous answer.

Two hours later…

"Pencil's down," Iruka called out. Mizuki quickly moved through the room and gathered all of the papers. When everything was settled, Iruka turned to the class and announced, "We will now begin the Ninjutsu Practical. You will be asked to perform the Clone Jutsu. Go into the next room when your name is called."

Naruto bit his lip as Iruka and Mizuki collected what they needed and left the room. This was going exactly like last time. First the exam questions and now the clone jutsu. What was going on? Didn't the Old Man tell him that this very thing was just a dream he had? Why was he going through the exact same thing all over again, as if he'd gone back in time-

Naruto's brain froze. Time! That last jutsu he used! It was a Space-Time jutsu! He hadn't passed out or failed the second exam at all! He'd succeeded in mastering two jutsu from the Forbidden Scroll! Naruto felt his heart begin to pump faster as he got more and more excited.

"Hehehehe," he chuckled in a dementedly high pitched voice. This earned him several glances, some worried, many others disgusted. "I'm so awesome!"

"What a weirdo," someone from the back of the class muttered. Normally, Naruto would have jumped up and confronted the jerk who'd said that. But at this point all he could think about was how happy he was that he hadn't failed.

"Uzumaki Naruto."

"Yippie!" Naruto shouted as he bolted from the room, gleefully ignoring all the looks he got. He skidded into the testing room, happily noting the rows and rows of shiny, brand new, unclaimed Leaf forehead protectors sitting on the table in front of Mizuki. Naruto grinned as he reached up and readjusted his goggles. Confidence like he'd never known surged through him, after all, if he messed up, he could just go back and do it over again, right?

A/N: Time travel is dope, yo!

The way that the Jutsu works is that it converts all of your life force into chakra, adds it to your existing chakra reserves, uses those reserves to open a portal to a twist in space time (wormhole) and flings your chakra backward in time to create a temporary (less than a fraction of a second) shadow clone that when popped, sends all of your memories to your younger self. To the point of view of the person who watches the jutsu caster, that person just used a suicide jutsu. Now, for Naruto, on top of his own formidable reserves of Chakra, once he runs out of his own, the Ninetails gets sucked up too! So every time Naruto uses this jutsu, both he and Kurama are dying and sending their memories backward in time. Tobirama never realized just what he created since he couldn't observe an immediate result when he tested the technique.

Review and let me know what you all think!

~I.K.A. Valian