A/N: Update Date: 6/25/10. I apologize in advance for any confusion regarding there being a future and past Kakashi to refer to, but I hope it works well enough. I'll be going back through the past couple chapters and changing a few things here and there, but nothing particularly significant will change plot-wise. If anyone is interested in beta'ing this story, please let me know.

Once again, PLEASE REVIEW! I know that many of you have added this story to your alerts and favorites, and if you do, PLEASE take a moment to send a review in, even if it is just as simple as "Good chapter, keep it up" or something. Reviews are the best motivator, and lead to faster updates.

Enjoy!


Chapter 3: Ghosts of the Past, Saviors of the Future

The Sandaime Hokage paced back and forth in his office for the hundredth time today. He wasn't much for surprises, and this recent turn of events was something he never imagined in even his wildest dreams. Which, he admitted, were usually not very wild. Still, the opportunities that were now available were astonishing, when he thought about it.

He would never have believed that man claiming to be from the future had it not been for several things that were impossible to explain otherwise. This 'Future Kakashi' knew things that a spy would not have been able to know, such as the exact mission details that he had given to Team Minato (his past team, now that he thought about it) the day before, including specific intel on the strength of the Iwa advance. He knew every member of Team Minato and knew who Hiruzen was picking as his successor, and why. He knew the name of Minato's signature technique, which only he, Minato himself, and Jiraiya knew. Then there were the other factors; this man claiming to be Kakashi looked exactly what the Kakashi he knew could look like in several years, down to the mask on his face. The hair style was rather unique, too. The man, along with all of the others that walked into his office, carried Konoha hitai-ate's that were all placed in ways that a spy wouldn't use. That girl with the pink hair, for instance, used hers in her hair, where it was not clearly visible. A spy would take no chances, and place it on the forehead, standard—they wouldn't want to attract attention or suspicion, after all—but only one of them wore it like that.

Speaking of the others, there was clearly a member of the Main Branch of the Hyuuga clan, and a teen who looked so similar to Minato that it was uncanny. But what ultimately convinced him was the way they acted. They all looked perfectly relaxed, though confused, but they were all smiling slightly. The older 'Kakashi' also acted too convincingly to be faked. The pained look on his face as he recalled what he claimed to be the death of his teammate was something Hiruzen knew all too well. And then there was the rather odd methodology he used; no group of spies would suddenly leave for the frontlines while leaving some of their group right in the Hokage's custody. If their treachery was discovered, the group still in Konoha would be killed on the spot; it simply made no sense for spies to act in such a way.

But above all else, he was an optimist at heart. He really, really hoped they were telling the truth, because Konoha was struggling as it was. Fighting a war on two fronts, against Suna and Iwa at the same time, was proving too costly. If something didn't change soon, Hiruzen feared for Konoha's future. And if these people were really from the future, then they would be able to help in so many ways. To have a somewhat young jounin and another shinobi heading to back up Team Minato would be a great relief. He could only hope that they would get there in time to make a difference.

000

Things are finally starting to look up, thought Obito. I've activated my Sharingan, we've saved Rin, and Kakashi seems to have changed. Even the mission seems to be within our grasp now.

Kakashi released Rin from the genjutsu, and she looked up at her teammates with confusion and gratitude. "Obito…Kakashi?"

"We've come to save you, Rin. You're safe now!" said Obito.

"Alright," said Kakashi, "let's hurry up an untie you."

As they were about to leave, a voice they thought they would never hear again resounded in the cave. "I see. That was a nice combination you pulled off there. But you're just typical brats after all. I have you just where I want you now."

This is NOT good! thought Obito. We need to get out of here!

The man weaved a few hand seals before slamming his hand on the ground. He looked up at the team with a smile. "Earth Release: Stone Dislodging Collapse."

And then all hell broke loose. The Iwa shinobi disappeared from the cave, as Kakashi ordered his team to make for the exit as rocks came crashing down around them. Almost there!

Suddenly, a rock smashed Kakashi's head from his new blind spot, causing him to collapse on the ground. Obito quickly stopped, and threw Kakashi to safety, before he heard a dreadful sound above him. For the moment he had left, Obito realized he was about to die. He felt several large impacts on his body before blacking out.

0000

Arriving at the battlefield, Minato quickly took stock of the situation. The four shinobi in front of him reported that they were all that was left, while Iwa was still 50 shinobi strong. He unsealed his special kunai from scrolls her carried in his pack, and ordered the four Konoha shinobi to throw them into the enemy group on his command. Before he could, however, another person jumped next to him.

Naruto had to put in a lot of effort to not let his emotions show. He was meeting his dad for the first time, really. His father was…alive. He would be able to talk to him, to get to know him, to walk beside him like he had wished ever since he was a child. But unfortunately, he had more important things to deal with right now. Like stopping his father from massacring the army of Iwa nin in a matter of seconds.

"Wait!" he yelled. Minato turned to face the newcomer, and did a perfect double take. This teen looked freakishly similar to himself, and yet Minato had never seen anyone with the same type of blond hair and blue eyes that he possessed. The teen seemed to have whisker marks on his face, and wore a Konoha hitai-ate.

"Who are you?" Minato asked.

"My name is Naruto, and I'm your backup."

Pausing for only moment, Minato pushed his previous thoughts aside. "Then stand back and help throw those kunai on my command. I'll handle the enemy." He brought his hands up to form a seal, but was stopped by the blond next to him. "What?"

"Don't. I know what you're about to do, and I'm telling you it's a bad idea. If you kill all of those Iwa nin like that, every citizen and ninja of Iwa will curse your name for generations. They'll never forgive you, and they'll take every possible opportunity to hurt you, your friends, and your family. There's a better way."

Minato was dumbfounded. Here were six shinobi facing off against over 50 veterans of war. Surely this teen didn't think he could singlehandedly take them on? What other way was there besides killing the enemy when you were outnumbered? "What are you talking about? Listen, kid, there's no time for heroics. This is our best chance, and we have to take it. Now."

"And I'm telling you there's another, better way. Hear me out."

The jounin considered his options. Well, I can spare a few moments. If I don't like where it's going, I can start the technique at any time. "Go ahead, and make it quick."

"We'll force their surrender through intimidation. I can definitely do that. I may not look like it, but I'm just as capable as you at taking on long odds."

The other blond stared at him, now confused. "And what do you think you can do?"

"First, you'll throw your kunai into the enemy army, but do not use your technique yet. Then, you can summon Gamabunta. That will give them pause."

How do you know about that? thought Minato. You're giving ME pause!

"Then I'll…add in my own intimidation, and following that you'll use your jutsu as if you were about to kill them all, but don't. Perhaps just a cut on each person, just to let them know what you could have done. I'll handle the rest."

Well, on one hand, thought the future Hokage, I'll still start with throwing my kunai into the enemy army. If things go downhill, we'll still be able to pull off a victory.

"Fine. Throw the kunai!"

As the kunai sailed through the air, Minato summoned Gamabunta. The toad boss looked upon the battlefield with understanding. "You want me to fight them, kid?"

The 'kid' answered from atop the toad's head. "Not yet, Gamabunta-sama. We're going to try something."

Naruto then sat down on Gamabunta's head, and told Minato to buy him about half a minute by going ahead with his technique. Minato complied, and the Yellow Flash of Konoha sped through the Iwa army, cutting nearly every shinobi, leaving a non-lethal wound. Naruto stood up, and formed a single seal before several clones of him popped into existence. They spread out and a speed Minato found impressive (though nowhere near his own) towards the Iwa's flanks.

The original Naruto's hand formed something that caused Minato's jaw to drop. A blue sphere of chakra was sitting in the teen's hand, a perfect example of a technique that only he and his sensei knew. How is this possible?

What happened next caused the Yellow Flash's jaw to hit the floor. The clone then added wind chakra to the Rasengan, and the ball turned white as a wind-shuriken formed around the chakra sphere. He added an element to it? Not even I have been able to do that yet! The original then held the jutsu above his head, and Minato got a good look at the teen's eyes. That red silhouette around his eyes, and the yellow with black, horizontal slits…Sage Mode? Since when did Jiraiya-sensei take on a new student?

The blond enigma then threw the chakra-shuriken right above the Iwa nin's heads, where it expanded before exploding. The Iwa shinobi looked beyond dazed, like they were wondering how they were still alive. Then, they saw several more of those chakra shuriken form from blond clones standing around the Iwa formation. Naruto spoke up in a rather loud voice. "Iwa shinobi! As you can clearly see, you are beaten! We can kill you all at any time! Lay down your weapons and put your hands on your heads, and we'll take you as prisoners! Resist, and you will be destroyed! We will not mistreat you, and you will all be released unharmed when the war is over! For now, we will place seals on each of you that will seal off your chakra until they are removed! Again, if you resist, you WILL regret it!"

The Yellow Flash looked at his companion in shock. Just who the HELL is this guy? Jiraiya-sensei BETTER have some answers when we get back.

The Iwa ninja were quick to surrender. After seeing Yellow Flash mark them all, and that strange chakra shuriken explode over their heads, they were not eager to see what would happen should the other five chakra shuriken be thrown into their ranks. The giant toad was no help to their morale, either. Naruto created a dozen more clones, who went to work placing the seals on the enemy ninja. With that done, Minato turned to his mysterious benefactor. "And now what? We can't possibly escort over 50 shinobi through the forest with just six of us, even if their chakra is sealed. And how do you know so much about seals anyway?"

The chakra shuriken dissipated, and Naruto created 40 more clones. "Fifty isn't that many," he said with a smile.

What…the…how can he possible make so many clones! Especially after using SIX of those chakra shuriken! "Who ARE you?"

The blond turned to his un-knowing father, with a warm smile adorning his face. "Namikaze Naruto."

"I have a cousin? Why wasn't I told? I thought my family was dead!"

Naruto looked down, almost solemnly. "Yeah. I know how you feel." A hand placed on his shoulder shook him from his thoughts. The teen looked up at his father.

"Regardless," he said, "thank you. At least now we'll be able to get to know each other."

Yeah, Dad. We will.

00000

"OBITO!" Kakashi couldn't believe it. No, it could not be. Obito was not dead. It was impossible. His teammate had just saved his life. He couldn't be dead.

Rin, as much as she wanted to hope that she didn't see what she saw, knew the truth. She saw that huge boulder falling down towards a shocked Obito. There was no time to move, and it was too huge to dodge anyway. She didn't see his final moments, but that didn't matter. There was no chance that he was not crushed. Knowing this, she let the tears fall as she sank to her knees, sobs wracking her body. "Obito…" she whispered.

Kakashi seemed to finally be coming to terms with the situation. Try as he might, he couldn't reach where Obito was, in his mind, possibly still alive. After a futile effort to move the large boulders out of his way, he sank to his knees as well. "Obito..." Sobs wracked his body now, too. "DAMN IT! Damn it! Damn it…" His fist pounded the dirt in frustration as he cursed, and his sobs grew heavier. "If…if I had listened to you from the start, and we had gone to save Rin together, this wouldn't have happened to you!"

Rin turned to face her teammate, tears flowing freely from her eyes. "What kind of jounin am I? How could I have been so stupid?"

"Are you two crybabies done?" Kakashi and Rin spun around to face the man that had killed their teammate.

"You!" Kakashi yelled as he drew his father's tanto. "I'm going to kill you!"

"Hmph. Just try it, brat."

000

"Ugh…ugn." Obito awoke to see silver hair and a mask. "Kakashi?" he asked, his voice weak.

The man smiled back at him. It's good to see you Obito. You have no idea… "Just wait here, I'll take care of the Iwa nin."

In a flash, Kakashi was gone. The jounin had managed to save Obito from serious injury, but the kid would need some medical attention and recovery time. If only I could have saved you before, Obito. I'm so sorry.

He peered around the tree to see his younger self attacking the man Kakashi had once killed in a rage. Kakashi quickly recognized that his emotional, younger self was about to be killed. The Iwa nin cut the younger Kakashi across the chest, though thankfully it seemed to be relatively shallow. The older Kakashi rushed in, blocking the blade that was aimed at his younger self's heart. Both ninja looked at him with bewilderment. Kakashi idly mused that both the Iwa nin and the younger Kakashi probably thought that the White Fang had joined the fight. "Sorry, Kakashi-kun," he said, "but I'm going to be the one that kills this man." Okay, that was WEIRD.

Kakashi quickly formed a Raikiri and slammed it into the Iwa ninja's chest, straight through his metal blade. The man that had destroyed Kakashi's and Obito's life fell to the ground very much dead. He turned to face his younger self, seeing the astonished look on his face.

"Dad…?" he said.

Kakashi hadn't been expecting that, and he realized the emotional rollercoaster he must have just put his younger self through. "No, I'm afraid not. I was a friend of your father's though. You can call me…Dog."

Rin came next to the younger Kakashi, and began a healing technique for Kakashi. "How did you know we were here?" she asked.

"Experience and intuition," he answered.

With the excitement of the moment gone, the remaining members of Team Minato looked down, defeated and full of sorrow. Kakashi quickly realized why, and thought to relieve their heavy burden at once. "Excuse me, I'll be right back."

In a matter of seconds, Kakashi returned with a swirl of leaves, carrying Obito in his arms.

"Obito!" they yelled in unison.

"Don't worry, he's alright. He'll need some medical attention soon, though. When you're finished with Kakashi-kun, Rin, you can start on Obito."

Just after Kakashi set Obito down, he sensed several presences behind him. Oh yeah, forgot about that part. Well, it's time for a little payback.

He turned towards the Iwa reinforcements and uncovered his Sharingan. Konoha's infamous Copy Ninja was about to make his past debut.

0000

Hiruzen addressed the remaining ninja in his office. "I'll want to hear all of your stories, as well. For now, I think we need to keep this whole thing under wraps. Until we know exactly what we're dealing with, I want each of you to assume identities that would make you unremarkable. If you're from the future, then we can't have anyone in the present recognizing you somehow." He turned to the girl with pink hair. "Sakura, was it?"

"Yes, Hokage-sama," she replied.

"You'll go by the surname of Yoshida. Hinata, you'll need to cover your forehead with your hitai-ate; that way, you'll look like a Branch Family Hyuuga, and you won't be bothered. Sai, since you don't have a surname to begin with, I'm giving you one: Sasaki. And as for you, Sasuke. You're quite the mystery. It doesn't seem like you are particularly welcome here, if those seals and bindings are anything to go by."

"He was a missing-nin," Sakura clarified, "but not one beyond redemption, and I believe he is changing. Still, we'll keep an eye on him. His chakra and Sharingan are sealed, so he won't be a threat should the worst happen."

"Very well. I'll assign you private housing for diplomatic guests, and you'll take care of and guard Sasuke. And if you see your other friends, let them know that I wish to keep their…circumstances secret for now, until we can sort everything out. I'll write up the documents now. You must understand, however, that until I can completely trust you, you will all be assigned ANBU guards during your stay here."

"We understand. I would have done the same thing."

00000000

Kakashi and Rin knelt by their injured teammate and close friend. The relief in everyone's faces, even the older Kakashi, was evident. Rin was delivering treatment to Obito's injuried, and was finishing up.

Obito, thought the younger Kakashi, I let you and Rin down in the worst way before. I promise, it will never happen again.

Rin was deep in her own thoughts. I've never felt happier in my life than when I saw you still alive. I'm going to make the most of this…I'm not going to take any of it for granted anymore.

"All done. How are you feeling, Obito?" The Uchiha weakly sat up.

"Ugn…much better, Rin. Thank you." He smiled at her and she returned the gesture.

'Dog' decided to break the moment. "We still need to take out that bridge. I'll carry Obito. Kakashi-kun, can you move on your own?"

The younger Kakashi was noticeably irked at being called 'Kakashi-kun,' but complied. He stretched a bit, testing his mobility. "I believe so, Dog-taicho."

"Then let's move."

A few hours and a destroyed bridge later, Team Minato headed home. Only this time, Kakashi mused, we won't be bringing any heavy burdens back with us.


A/N: For those of you who want to review (if you read all the way to here, PLEASE take the moment to do so), I have a few questions that, if you want to, you can answer.

1) How are the character interactions so far, especially between the past/future characters (Like Kakashi/Kakashi, and Naruto/Minato)?

2) Should focus more on introspection/reflection, or conversation?

3) Do you like where this story is heading?