Writer's Note:
I own nothing! Want to give a shout-out and acknowledgment to Ruffled Phoenix Feathers and their story "A Stranger in a Familiar Place" which served as the main inspiration for this story. Also want to plug in Marrei's "A Love in Time" who did a great job at fleshing out some of the sexy TobixFemNaru interactions that also gave me spicy ideas. You can find both stories below. As you already know, this is a time travel story and a look into the "in-between moments." In this story you will see my interpretation of Naruto's characterization as a woman, and as a woman growing into womanhood. Lots of exploration of grief, sex, drugs, alcohol, love, bonds, boundaries, emotions, romance, relationships, drama, trauma, choice, and BAGGAGE. "You get baggage, and you get baggage, and YOU get baggage" LOL. It's going to get messy folks. There will be graphic language, violence, and lots and lots of sex some of the soft and fluffy variety and some of the nasty raw dogging variety. I might have the uncensored versions posted on A03 once I get my account set up, but viewer discretion is advised, and TRIGGER WARNING. Also, once we get more into the world-building, you'll get your questions answered about the technology and whatnot. Of course, shipping tags are TobiramaXFemNaru vs. MadaraXFemNaru vs. SasukeXFemNaru. Also, if you find yourself frustrated at how confused Naru is please cut her some slack. From what I can tell without the help of hindsight and omnipresent narration she wouldn't know many of the things, context, and history that we as the audience know. And although Kurama is there to act as her guide, I don't think he would have all the answers either. I also don't even think much of the information we know would have been public knowledge either so her academy history courses would only help a little bit.
We're all just going to have to accompany our blonde darling as she stumbles, fumbles, and fucks around and finds out.
Still looking for someone who wants to read my drafts!
Please send me comments and messages (not begging but kind of begging), feedback and critique is welcomed but since I'm new at writing comments and encouragement would be nice to keep me going. If you want more let it be known!
s/13515082/1/A-love-in-time
s/12015718/1/Stranger-In-A-Familiar-Place
Chapter 3: Journey to the Past Pt. 2
XXX
Hashirama:
"Everyone get into position!" Ordered Hashirama.
Wasting no time Minato bursts into his Kyuubi chakra cloak and proceeded to teleport himself, Tobirama, and Sarutobi to their respective locations. Hashirama could see the entire army watching with anticipation as the Hokages summoned their chakras.
"Nippo Four Crimson Ray Formation!" The Hokages called out.
At the sound of the signal four red transparent walls of energy shot up from the base all the way up to the sky with no signs of stopping as it entered the stratosphere. And just for extra safety measures, Hashirama brought down his red Deity Gates from the sky to pin each of the beast's 10 tails and neck to the ground.
Hashirama was the one who stood in the same location while the other Hokages teleported to the different corners. In a couple of seconds, he had to spare his eyes and looked back to Naruto. It was his turn to get lost in thought even if just for a couple of seconds. He had missed her greatly just like everyone else.
Of course, his pain paled in comparison to his younger brother who shared a much more intimate relationship with her. Believe it or not, a part of him would have been happy to allow his younger brother free reign to beat the living shit out of that Sasuke boy. In the time leading up to her departure Naruto had shared with them all that happened to her, the experiences that drove her, the precious people that she lost, and the reasons why she couldn't stay with them.
To think that she had only ever extended love and friendship to that Uchiha boy and yet, he was so consumed with darkness that he followed through with breaking her heart so deeply and attempted to kill her.
Then again how did anyone mistreat the girl so, especially in her younger days? His eyes flashed over to Saru and Minato. A part of him wanted to reprimand them for leaving her their mess to deal with in the case of her father the Yondaime, and not doing a better job of ensuring her welfare as a child in the case of Saru. The accounts of abuse and neglect she received as a child by the hand of orphanage caretakers and adult villagers made his blood boil. Tobirama, Madara, and himself had created the village of Konoha to ensure the welfare of children, to ensure that children were fed, sheltered, cared for, and allowed to grow into adulthood with as little violence as possible.
And to learn that the village had advanced so much in terms of technology and infrastructure after his death but had not only failed to protect an innocent baby, but actually make that innocent baby bear the burden of their collective hate, ignorance, and trauma-filled him with more shame than anything.
When his soul was in the Pure Lands, he was unable to intervene (even if he were able to see exactly what was happening the Gods didn't allow him to interfere). But he most certainly rolled in his grave knowing the state of the Village and the conflict which was slated to occur.
But in any case, Naruto wouldn't allow him to be upset with Saru and Minato. She made it clear that she loved both of them very much, and she knew for a fact that they loved her – they did the best they could with the circumstances they faced, and she held them in her heart very dearly.
His eyes lingered over Saru and Minato. They would have to explain themselves in the next couple of minutes. He and Tobirama had left out some very important details (like the fact that they had met Naruto before and spent a lot of time with her, to say the least) as well as the fact that they held an ulterior motive with this next sealing jutsu.
Although he expected Minato to have sensed something wrong with the stunt his younger brother pulled earlier. He couldn't blame Tobirama though. Whereas he and his wife Mito were reunited after death his little brother spent the remaining years of his life up till his death - alone. He then continued to wait diligently and loyally in the Pure Lands for his beloved to first be born, and then for the forces of the universe to align so they could finally be on the same plane of existence with each other again.
They were going to have to explain to the entire shinobi world why in a couple of minutes - their source of hope and reassurance would disappear from existence.
His eyes flashed up to Madara who was patiently sitting down cross-legged waiting for them. Despite the public display of hostility and hate (especially between his younger brother and Madara), the three of them have orchestrated his moment for 100 years both in life and death.
His eyes flashed over to Tobirama and then back to Madara.
He sighed and closed his eyes as a headache came on (even though in theory he shouldn't be able to feel pain in his Edo Tensei state).
One thing that has not changed from era to era since the beginning of time was the concept of two men insane with love sickness fighting over the same woman.
He sighed.
Then again, this particular woman was no doubt worth fighting a war for, and these respective men (Madara and Tobirama) happened to be two of the most powerful shinobi in history, so this scale of drama was understandable.
Not that he would ever place the blame on Naruto – this was not her fault at all. Of course, this conflict did not start with her and was very much bigger than her. But it centered on her no doubt. Knowing her, she would eventually put all the pieces together on her way back and blame herself.
Perhaps it was her childhood upbringing, but he always hated how she would blame herself for everything. She was always the first to place her body and well-being on the line for others even at the expense of her own. She truly meant it when she said she was willing to bare the burden of the world's hate.
Almost there.
He turned his head around to look at the million-man army surrounding him. He could only smile – if anyone could unite the world like this behind her it would be their Naru.
He hoped that this time around she could truly see how much she was loved, and how ready others were to lay their lives down for her as she was for them.
His eyes narrowed. The beast was charging its chakra up.
"Tobirama!" He shouted.
"I know!" His younger brother shouted back.
XXX
Tobirama:
Tobirama had quite literally waited a lifetime for this moment. As the monster was charging its chakra, he made a clone of himself. Funneling his yin chakra into his hands he focused on creating the proper hand signs.
In his mind's eye, he focused his chakra into the proper shape and chanted to himself
"Bring her back to me."
With a burst of his chakra coming alive around him he shouted:
"Time Release Jutsu!"
Ink-black seals made of kanji and ancient symbols bled up the red energy walls of the crimson formation almost obscuring their view of the beast completely.
"Lord Second, what's going on!? Shouted Saru. This was not what they had planned.
Tobirama looked back at his former student and then at Minato who had a similar expression of concern on his face which was quite visible despite the ethereal glow of chakra surrounding his form.
"It's alright Saru, Minato, I know what I'm doing."
He looked over to his elder brother who gave him a knowing nod, then over to Madara who to his disgust, also gave him a cooperative look.
They all knew that was going to happen.
3 seconds.
He looked at the entire shinobi army registering their worried faces. Everyone was unsure of what was happening, what those seals meant, or what additional jutsu was used.
2 seconds.
He would need to wait till the seals completed crawling up the entirety of the formation.
1 second.
His eyes focused on Naru who was looking at him back.
Despite his Edo Tensei form being completely made of paper, he felt more alive than ever. She looked back at him eyes wide with confusion, yet it was as if their bodies just knew; they both took a step forward towards each other.
0 seconds.
The crimson pillars were now completely black. With a loud un-earthy cry, the creature released its planetary size ball of chakra bomb.
XXX
Naruto:
Suddenly the world turned into a blinding white light, and she felt a deep deep burn inside her chest spreading to the pit of her stomach. She could hear Kurama screaming inside her.
"KIT SOMETHING IS WRONG!"
It was like time was being suspended. Then she felt an explosion of searing hot pain overtake her and she screamed as her consciousness began to slip away from her. The only thing she could remember before her vision went completely black was her back hitting what felt like someone's chest and muscular arms wrapping themselves around her body.
They both fell into oblivion together and she knew no more.
XXX
Minato:
The supersonic boom followed the blinding white light. The barrier had held and contained the beast's chakra bomb keeping everyone safe.
Minato Namikaze had come from a civilian family. His parents were both bakers and had died of illness while he was still in the academy. His mother went first, then his father, so grief-stricken at the loss of his wife followed soon after leaving Minato alone while still under the age of 13.
This is why he spent so much time with Kushina's parents while they were still dating - he even learned fuinjutsu from his eventual mother-in-law. They took him in like a son long before Kushina and he officially married. Unfortunately, soon after they got married Kushina's parents both died in battle during the war leaving the two of them alone.
It would only make sense that he and his wife would also follow each other in death. Although he had yet to reunite with Kushina in the Pure Lands and have this conversation (her soul was still living in Naruto waiting for the right moment to finally move on), he knew neither of them regretted dying for their daughter and village.
Of course, he only regretted not being able to protect his baby girl from the cruelty of the world as she grew up. He had only been able to witness some of her experiences while his soul was residing in another part of her body. But what he witnessed killed him a second time and many more times after that.
Their baby girl.
Unfortunately, the moment the smoke and dirt cleared Minato sensed something was very wrong. He couldn't feel his daughter anymore. His eyes surveyed the battlefield but he could not see Naruto.
"Naruto?!" He cried. No answer.
By now everyone else had come to the same realization – Naruto was gone and so was her chakra.
"Naruto!? Naruto!? Naruto!?" Sakura, his daughter's friend, cried. "Where did she go? She was just here!" Everyone began to panic realizing their blonde was nowhere to be seen.
Everyone was panicking at the implications of her disappearance. Everyone except the Shodaime and Nidaime.
The Nidaime.
Minato's eyes narrowed.
"YOU! What did you do? Where is my daughter!" Minato used his hiraishin to teleport over to Tobirama. In an uncharacteristic move, Minato grabbed the 2nd by the collar of his shirt and shook him.
His eyes were ablaze with anger. It wasn't just his imagination, the Nidaime and most likely the Shodaime had met Naruto before, and the Nidaime seemed way too familiar with Naruto for his liking.
"Answer me! What did you do!?"
The white-haired man looked at him uncomfortably, almost guilty in the eyes.
"Lord Fourth, unhand me…we can explain."
Minato let go of the man's black shirt. "What was that jutsu and where is my baby girl? I don't feel her anywhere!"
At that point, the 3rd and 1st had made their way over to them.
"Sensei, please explain, what was that jutsu you added to the crimson ray formation? I am unfamiliar with those seals." Sarutobi spoke directly to his former master.
Tobirama's body language suddenly became defensive with his arms crossed tightly. "You wouldn't be familiar with those seals because I created them and showed no one when I was alive."
That had everyone's attention.
"Saru." Tobirama looked his former student in the eyes.
"Do you remember…" Tobirama breathed out slowly.
"When you were a young child less than 5 years of age...do you remember a woman who would help your parents and myself care for you?"
Sarutobi's eyes widened.
Sarutobi had lived a long life and while his memory was sharp for a man biologically in his late 70s, he had very few memories of his life under age 5.
He scanned back as far as he could to find this woman his sensei was referring to. He closed his eyes and recalled all the moments with his caretakers. Suddenly fragments of images, scents, and sounds came back to him. In his mind, he saw blonde hair, heard a woman's soft speaking voice, feelings of warmth, and the smell of honey perfume, wind, and water.
His eyes burst open.
A beautiful smile and sky-blue eyes.
"Sensei...who was that woman?"
Hashirama looked equally as uncomfortable while Sarutobi and Minato's eyes threatened to pop out of their skulls - the implications slowly rushing over them like a flooding river.
Tobirama hesitated for 2 more seconds before dropping his arms along with a deep sigh.
"Saru, you would always ask me why I never married or showed interest in any woman around me."
Tobirama looked up to the sky. His voice was shaking.
"That woman who helped me care for you…was the love of my life. And after she was taken from me...I vowed to wait for her return even if it meant waiting a lifetime."
Tobirama moved his gaze to meet Minato's fearful eyes.
"And that woman's name was?" Minato asked through gritted teeth.
Both he and Sarutobi were arriving at the same conclusion.
"Her name is Naruto."
XXX
Naruto
Naruto was falling through fire.
"I'm actually going to hell," Naruto thought to herself with a dark laugh.
On the inside, she was burning like she drank a bottle of bleach. On the outside, she felt hot compression all around her. It was like she was falling to the bottom of the ocean being crushed by the pressure with the addition of water being made of fire instead.
The only thing she could do was scream at the pain to fight off the impulse to back out.
No human body was built to handle this type of physical trauma.
"Kit! You need to stay awake! Do not fall asleep!" Kurama shouted at her.
"It hurts too much Kurama," was the best Naruto could do. She could feel him pump chakra around her body to shield her from the crushing pressure and her insides to stabilize her organs hoping something vital wouldn't simply pop inside her.
"I know Kit but if you fall asleep, we both die, STAY AWAKE!"
"What's happening Kurama where are we?" Naruto asked through weak breaths.
"We're falling through a time-space dimension wormhole. The pain you're feeling is from your soul and body being physically pulled out of one-time dimension into another." Kurama growled.
He had known something was wrong for some time but didn't say anything to not distract the Kit with anxiety and fear. The suspicion was just that, suspicions. But now there was ample evidence that some foul play had been brewing. He saw the way that lunatic Madara, the Wood Brat, and the Water Boy gazed at Naruto; it was suspicious and made his fur stand up. Especially Madara and the younger Senju. Although he could not sense any desire for sexual violence against his female host, he could smell them releasing male reproductive and love hormones directed towards Naruto (despite their Edo Tensei bodies) and it simply made him sick.
"Kit, you need to stay awake. The wormhole will spit us out when we reach the bottom but we need to apply a very strong burst of chakra the moment we reach that point so your soul doesn't get torn to shreds."
"Why Kurama? Where are we going? When are we going to reach the bottom? What's there to rip my soul to shreds?" Naruto knew this was probably not the right time to ask so many questions, but the pain was making her ADHD worse, and she honestly needed the distraction.
The Fox gave a loud hiss. He was starting to feel the pressure of the wormhole as well.
"Think of it like being regurgitated out of the mouth of a shark. When we reach the mouth we will encounter rows of sharp teeth which if we get caught in, your soul and body will be torn asunder."
Naruto's eyes widened. At the mention of sharks, her mind went back to the shark man Kisame who committed suicide in front of her by letting his pack of killer fish devour him. She had no desire to experience the same fate.
"I'm trying Kurama but I need you to tell me when to apply my chakra, I'm fighting off blacking out here." Naruto breathed through exhaustion. Her lungs were being pressed down as if she had rocks stacked on her chest.
As they were falling, she focused her mind on her inner thoughts to distract from the bodily pain. She thought about all that had happened in the war up to this point. Images of her friends and family flashed behind her closed eyelids. It was at this point that she realized without her; the army wouldn't have access to her chakra coat as protection. She had left them in the middle of the battle!
Her eyes flew open.
"They need me, Kurama! Madara, the 10 Tails… we need to get back there!" She shouted suddenly, feeling energy feed to her limbs.
"Then stay awake and live for them! You need to LIVE Kit!"
He didn't need to tell her twice. Re-filled with the will to live she willed her body to move from its falling headfirst position to an upright position getting ready to land on her feet once they hit the bottom.
"We are going to LIVE Kurama! We're going to get through this together."
In her inner world, Kurama gave her a toothy grin. There was his Golden Brat again.
"We're approaching the bottom, Kit. On my signal, we need to release all our chakra in a single explosion."
Through gritted teeth, Naruto readied herself into position. She summoned all her wind nature energy, and she could feel Kurama get into position as well.
"On the count of THREE."
Naruto breathed out.
"TWO."
Naruto breathed in.
"ONE: KAI!"
They breathed out in synchronization.
Land of Deltas 100 Years in the Past
Naruto
All Naruto knew was the soft grass underneath her back. She couldn't move although she tried to. Her body felt raw, and her clothing was completely ripped to the point that it no longer resembled clothing at all. But at least she wasn't on fire anymore.
"Kit. Let me take over."
Naruto closed her eyes and woke up in her inner world. She was laying on her back in a couple of inches of water.
"What was that, Kurama?"
"You've done enough. Go to sleep for a bit and let me take over your body."
Sleep. She really wanted to sleep.
"Okay, have fun, and don't do anything I wouldn't do." She smiled weakly.
Kurama rolled his eyes.
"Cheeky brat…making me soft."
"You know you love me." Naruto choked on her own saliva before smiling at the insanity of the situation. She literally survived being birthed by a space dimension wormhole. She felt like a newborn baby, weak, soft, and helpless.
"Go to sleep, Naruto."
And with that she finally let the darkness take over trusting that she would come back.
XXX
Kurama
With Naruto finally asleep Kurama felt himself gain control over her body.
He opened his demonic red eyes and saw what she saw. She was laying on her back on wet grass which on further inspection turned out to be rice in a rice paddy field. He willed Naruto's body to sit up ignoring the strain on her muscles. He could see some forest in front of them and decided they couldn't risk staying in the open.
He took around him and saw that her jacket managed to keep her various storage scrolls safe. Gathering up the shredded remains of her clothing, her weapons, and scrolls he bolted into the cover of the forest. It was in the middle of the night, and he saw no lights save the full moon above them. It didn't matter though; his fox eyes had no issues seeing in the dark.
Once he found a decent clearing, he sat down to gather his thoughts. Where did the wormhole drop them? He sat at the base of a large tree and focused his senses to gather information on their surroundings within a radius of hundreds of thousands of miles.
He could sense civilization which would make sense given the rice farming. The villager's chakra were low, telling him that these were civilians and non-shinobi.
His eyes burst open. He felt something he hadn't felt in a very long time. He felt himself.
He felt his presence very faintly countries away, but it was him in his truest form. At this time, he and his siblings were still wandering free which told him that they had been dropped 80-100 years in the past.
He growled.
"Wonderful, we've landed in the time of the Warring Clans." He said to himself.
This was not good. This was a time of great hostility and warfare among all clans and all nations. Speaking of which, what country were they in?
He focused his senses again and saw in his mind various rice paddies and waterways. Was this the land of water? Not quite the land of water did not grow rice in this manner. He saw more waterways eventually emptying out into the sea.
Deltas.
They were in the Land of Deltas - a small country on the coast of the continent specializing in rice production and fermented seafood due to the various fertile deltas scattered around the country.
This was bad and good he thought to himself. The good news was that this was a relatively peaceful country and the humans there lived harmoniously with the land and even worshipped the greater spirits. The humans did not war with each other as the larger countries did. Of course, no country was perfect, and humans were filthy creatures no matter where in the world - but if there was any safe country to land in this would be it.
Of course, there was a downside. Since they had landed before he and his siblings were captured Kurama had little knowledge of human civilization, society, and state of affairs in this time - since he was not sealed in a human host yet.
He hissed to himself.
The Kit would be turning to him for information and while he can give basics and a general overview, his knowledge of the specific details was limited. They would have to keep themselves hidden for some time while they gather enough information to formulate a plan of action and convincing cover story.
He knew for certain that they must find the Senju clan in the Fire Country as it seems that THEY were the ones that sent Naruto back in time. But for what reason? Given the unstable state of nations, if Naruto did not have a convincing story and demonstrate that she was no threat they would have no issues beheading her right there and then.
There was no way they could be honest either. They would write her off as insane or having been mentally compromised in some way. These were still archaic times and many sophisticated jutsus have yet to be created so the concept of time traveling was unbelievable even for shinobi - that much he knew.
Kurama looked down at his host's body. She was practically naked.
He moved over to grab one of her "supplies" scrolls and opened one up. He rummaged through the scrolls pulling out scrolls within scrolls until he found where she stored her clothing.
Luckily the Kit was a bit of a pack rat and since she spent most of her teen years on the road. She practically carried the entire content of her apartment along with her in case she needed to get up and go again.
He also realized that he would have to purge her belongs to of all things which could be used against or incriminate her. The Senju's would strip-search her and peer into her mind for contamination as well.
His host's body was filthy. She had cuts and wounds that would heal quickly upon recovering her chakra, yet she was caked in dirt and sweat.
He could smell a river not far from their location and decided to move the location of their soon-to-be camp for the night. Once he found the river, he laid Naruto's belonging down, stripped her naked, took off her shoes, pulled out soap in her "toiletry" scroll, and proceeded to bathe her body. The river was cold, but the night has hot and humid.
He took the liberty to scrub every inch of her skill and wash the blood and dirt out of her hair, hissing as the water touched her open wounds.
He took a moment to examine his(her) body. Her body was full and healthy. He couldn't predict how long it would take them to walk the continent to find the Senju but food might be scares - luckily she was adequately plump enough to withstand a couple months of hunger if needed.
In any case, he would need to discuss with her plans for moving forward and she would need to ultimately decide what to do. The goal was to get back to the future and face down Madara. Perhaps she was sent back in time to prepare and train so she could face Madara then? All he knew was that they must be very careful not to upset the flow of time and events too much or risk destroying that timeline completely.
Yet he could not remember encountering her when he was in this era, therefore this must be the first time they had traveled back to this timeline.
Judging from the desperate energy that Water Boy and Uchiha directed at Naruto he foresaw her spending a very lengthy amount of time here.
"Should I tell her?"
He suspected that she would develop a very intimate relationship with either artic ape, the maniac Uchiha, or perhaps both.
"Troublesome."
He decided he would not tell Naruto; whatever affections develop between his host and those men must happen naturally according to the order of events. He knew for certain that this would be a focal point in this journey, and it was best to play it safe and not intervene.
He also honestly did not know how time flow would work either. They could be here for years and return to the present where it would be too late. Or years spent in this era could be years, months, weeks, days, hours, minutes, or even seconds in the future timeline. He did not know for certain, but he had a feeling they would return on time to confront Madara.
Finishing up their bath he wrapped a towel around her petite body and allowed her body to rest for the time being. He would need to wake her up soon - they have much to discuss.
"Old Man Sage, what are you planning?" Kurama pondered as the moonlight covered them.
XXX
Writer's Note:
Done! Wow, that was a lot. Chapters will be very long from now on since I already have the majority of the story outlined and we are going to pack a lot of adventures in as much as possible. Will definitely write a sequel to this as well. Leave messages and comments! Tell me what you think, and send ideas!
-WhiteOrchid