Still don't own Naruto
Chapter 90: Problems of the Past
"I fucking hate the desert, there is sand everywhere, and it's hot!" Naruto complained as he arrived in the Land of Wind along with Tenzo just outside a large set of ruins.
"It's not that bad Naruto" Tenzo replied.
"That's easy for you to say, you're not wearing a heavy cloak. I knew I should have worn the white one, it's so much lighter and cooler than the red" Naruto said.
"Then why not just take the cloak off, its not like it is important, and nobody is going to be here anyway" Yamato said.
"Fine, it will be a lot cooler if I do that anyway" Naruto said taking off his cloak and sealing it away before beginning their short walk into the ruins.
"Okay Naruto, we are here looking for anything that might be useful to Suna's puppeteers, so keep an eye out" Yamato said as they walked inside what must have been the old main entrance to the village.
"I wonder what happened to this place? It was huge, almost as big as Suna by the looks of it" Naruto said in awe as they looked around.
"I don't know, the only information we ever got was that it happened during the third great shinobi war, and Iwa said they had nothing to do with it. This place didn't use to be part of the Land of Wind, they were a separate country, but when what ever happened here, happened the country had little choice but to join with the land of wind, the production of puppets was the countries main source of income and they all came from here" Tenzo replied.
"Do you believe that Iwa had nothing to do with it? I mean Suna would be the only real place that was getting any benefit from the place, so why wouldn't Iwa do what they did to the Uzumaki clan and Uzu?" Naruto asked.
"Yeah, they always took responsibility for anything they did in the war's, so I am inclined to believe them if they say they had nothing to do with it" the Mokuton user answered.
"Hey Yamato teichou I think I found something, it certainly looks like a puppet" Naruto said.
"Hang on, I'm on my way" Yamato said from where he was looking under a pile of rubble.
Tenzo made his way to where Naruto was staring at a rather old looking ceramic puppet. "Yeah I think we got one, lets seal it up and continue the search" Tenzo said happily handing Naruto a large sealing scroll, not that he really needed any more.
"It's kinda weird looking, I mean I know Kankuro's puppets are weird as well, but they at least sorta look like people, this damn thing looks like an alien or something" Naruto said as he approached.
Just as Naruto put brush to paper to draw the seal to store the puppet, it opened it's eyes and attacked.
"Shit I think this thing is alive and it didn't like me calling it an alien" Naruto said, as he ducked under a strike from one of the puppets arms that had a drill attachement.
"No, it has chakra strings connecting it, there is someone else here" Yamato said calmly while Naruto rolled out of the way of the puppet causing it to send it's drill deep into a pile of rubble creating a massive explosion as the drill went through the rocks and cement like a hot knife through butter.
"Damn that's one powerful drill" Naruto thought out loud while the puppet seemed to search for the blond.
'So I basically have two choices, I either destroy the puppet and salvage the parts, or I cut those chakra strings. Man I gotta save this damn puppet, okay here goes nothing' Naruto thought and he took out two Hirashin kunai tossed the first one into the floor behind the puppet and entered sage mode so he could sense where the chakra strings were.
Warping behind the puppet he channeled chakra into his other kunai and effortlessly removed control of the puppet from who ever was controlling it.
Quickly whipping out the sealing scroll given to them for the mission Naruto finished the seal and captured the puppet before more chakra strings could find their way onto it.
"This mission will be ten time's harder if we don't find that guy, we will never be able to tell what puppet's he has gotten to and which he hasn't until it's too late. We need to find him before this mission goes any further" Yamato suggested.
"I know what you mean, I think I sensed a chakra signature over in the direction of the large tower when I was taking out this puppet, I say we search there" Naruto suggested.
"As good of a place as any, still we don't know what we are dealing with, it could even be the Akatsuki so we should stick together for now" Yamato said.
The pair made their way through the ruins towards the center of the village, there was a strong wind blowing and the sand made visibility poor, but the tower gave them something to aim for.
Strangely as they approached the tower the wind died down and the air was calm again.
"Naruto use sage mode see if you can sense any chakra" Tenzo ordered.
"No problem" Naruto replied and began channeling nature chakra not wanting to waste a seal incase he needed it later. "I got something, but it's a long way below us" Naruto reported.
"There have been legends of a dormant power that lives beneath Rouran, nobody had ever found any proof of this but if the Akatsuki found it, well lets just say it would be bad" Yamato said.
"Okay looks like we need to look for a way down then" Naruto said. And the pair began scouting the area and quickly found a large hole in the earth that led to a deep cavern, it seemed to be part of the tower, yet it was separate in that it ran underneath and around the outside.
"Well there are stairs only a short drop from here, but we could just take the express rout" Naruto suggested.
"Express rout?" Tenzo questioned.
"It's this!" Naruto said and he took out a kunai and flung it down towards the bottom of the cavern before gripping Tenzo's shoulder and warping to the bottom.
"Wow this place is way underground, and look at all the old puppet parts, this place is a gold mine for our mission" Naruto said as he looked around.
"Focus on the task at hand first, we need to find who ever is here with us" Tenzo ordered.
"Alright, come on his chakra signature is coming from over this way" Naruto said walking off and was quickly joined by Yamato. The pair came to a large chamber where a bridge connecter a central pillar to the main part of the tower surrounded by a deep pit they couldn't see to the bottom of.
"Look... in the center of the pillar, there's a seal... and... No way! That's one of my fathers kunai!" Naruto yelled.
The piller itself was surrounded by four statues of men that were surrounding a center sphere that seemed to grow from the earth, as the pair of Konoha ninja got closer they saw that it looked like a large eye. The large eye looked as though it could be opened because it was the Hirashin kunai and a seal that was keeping it shut.
"Well, I never expected to have company when I came here, and the son of the Yondaime no less" a males voice called out from the center of the pillar.
Stepping out from behind a statue was a skinny man who looked like he hadn't eaten in weeks. He has short brown hair that subtly framed his face before becoming messy at the sides. It was too dark to see his eyes but he wore a red vest that he left open and gray ninja pants.
"Who are you?" Naruto asked.
"Who I am is not important, it is what I am going to do that is" the man said.
"And what would that be?" Tenzo asked.
"I will absorb the power of the Ryuumyaku into my Puppet Master Jutsu. And with it I shall be able to rule not only the five major nations, but also the world!" the man replied.
"That's impossible. You wont know how to undo that seal, it was made by the Yondaime Hokage!" Tenzo said.
"Then I guess I will just simply have to absorb the seal as well then" the man said as he got down on both knees and placed his hand on either side of the kunai. Soon after he started chanting something that neither Naruto or Tenzo could understand and yanked the kunai out of the eye.
"Oh no you don't" Naruto yelled and began to charge forward.
But it was too late there was a large explosion of light that seemed to burst out from the center. "Naruto wait" Tenzo yelled as he ran after the blond but it was too late the ground beneath the pair began to crumble and it swallowed them both up, Yamato just seconds after the young jinchuuriki.
"Oh kami what the hell hit me" Naruto groaned as he returned to consciousness. Rolling over he found himself looking up at five holes of light that shone down upon him making him feel the warmth of the sun. 'Well I guess that means I'm not dead, I suppose that is a good sign' Naruto thought.
'Good sign for you maybe, but then again if you were dead and I was still trapped inside of you I would be mightily pissed off' Kyuubi said grumpily.
'But you are always mightily pissed off Kyuubi so what would the difference be?' Naruto asked.
'Hm you have me there, anyway where are we? I don't sense that good for nothing Hashirama clone anywhere' Kyuubi asked.
'Aren't we just at the bottom of that massive hole? Anyway it looks like that mans plan backfired on him' Naruto replied.
'I wouldn't be so sure, there is too much life around, something is not right here... you know what you should do?' Kyuubi said.
'What?' Naruto asked.
'Let me out!' Kyuubi answered.
'Yeah that's an awesome idea...no, wait awesome isn't the right word...Horrible that's it, that is a horrible idea' Naruto replied jokingly.
'Damn brat! Anyway it looks like you got company... enjoy!' Kyuubi chuckled before closing off their connection.
"I wonder what he meant by that?" Naruto thought out loud as he stood up.
Then he heard it, the sound of a girl singing. Doing a quick look around he found a tall woman slightly older than he was sitting on a large piece of rubble. She had long red hair and violet eyes. She was wearing a pink and purple top and a blue mini skirt, she also wore stockings that only went three quarters of the way up her legs and sneakers. Naruto had to admit she was a rather attractive woman.
"Uh hello...um what is this place, and why are you here?" Naruto asked.
The second the young woman heard Naruto she stopped her singing and feld.
"Hey wait, I'm not going to hurt you, I just want to talk" Naruto yelled as he followed her to what appeared to be an exit.
The woman ran down the stairs and by the time Naruto got there she had gone and in her place were several puppets.
"Oh this isn't going to be a simple mission is it?" Naruto sighed and pulled out a kunai ready to defend himself.
The puppets sent kunai of their own flying at Naruto but he was ready for them. Strangely enough he didn't need to be. A large barrier stopped the kunai sending them to floor the moment they hit the barrier.
'Well that was weird' Naruto thought, but he didn't have time to dwell on what he just saw as the puppets charged.
Again the moment the puppets hit the barrier they seemed to explode and fall apart.
'Hm useful technique, I wonder how its done. I cant see any seals around here, but they could be hidden' Naruto thought.
No sooner had Naruto finished his thought than the passageway slammed shut with several layers of stone walls.
"Aw man, looks like I have to get out of here by climbing, on the plus side I can simply warp up there, or at least most of the way" Naruto said to himself.
'You could just blast your way out, who knows you might find destroying things is fun, I always do' Kyuubi suggested.
'I think I will pass on the whole massive explosions if you don't mind, for one I am underground and there is no telling what an explosion would do. Secondly I have no idea where I am so I would rather not draw anymore attention to myself. And finally, I don't know if that girl is far enough away, I don't want to hurt her' Naruto replied.
'Why not? She just sent those things to attack you, think of it a little retribution' Kyuubi said.
'Look I'm not doing it, I can get out just as easily, this way and it will be probably quicker as I know it will lead me outside. And as for the girl I probably just startled her' Naruto said.
'Hmph fine, do it your way then' Kyuubi moped.
Naruto effortlessly climbed up the side of the chamber wall to where the five large hole provided light for the chamber. Pulling himself out from the chamber Naruto found himself in a lush green environment that seemed to look like a park. "Okay, I am definitely not in the old ruins any more" Naruto said as he looked around for any familiar landmark.
And he found one, the tower, but surrounding it as if built up into the sky were smaller towers and they were no longer ruins, this was a village that looked as it was at the height of its power.
'This doesn't look good, unless I am mistaken, I have been sent back in time. Oh man... Yugi-chan is going to kill me... and she's not even born yet!' Naruto thought as he looked around with eyes wide in shock.
At that moment three large golem looking puppets arrived. "So, I don't know if you can understand me, but I doubt you will just accept that I mean you know harm and then leave me alone right?" Naruto asked hopefully as the three puppets surrounded the blond.
They didn't answer and the closest one lashed out with an arm that looked like it had three large blades as fingers.
Naruto ducked under it only for a second puppet to fire off what looked like a blast of compressed chakra which Naruto skillfully avoided by somersaulting away. Finally the last of the puppets shot off a hail of kunai which Naruto dodged effortlessly only to find the small blades were being controlled by chakra wires and came back for another attempt at finishing Naruto off.
"Guess I can see why, Gaara want's these puppets to help with the war, but I don't have time to seal these guys, I will need to finish them off" Naruto said to himself as he dodged more striked from the puppets kunai and they were soon joined with kunai of the other two puppets.
"Enough!" Naruto yelled and tossed one of his own kunai in between the three puppets and warped between them slamming a rasengan into the closest while kicking the head off of another. For the last puppet Naruto took out another kunai and tossed it causing the blade to pass right through the head.
"Man what a pain in the ass" Naruto sighed as he went to collect his kunai.
Naruto had just picked up the last kunai when he heard something move behind him. Turning around Naruto knew this was going to be a long day. No less than twelve puppets all using rotating blades to fly.
"Give me a break huh, I'm trying to keep a low profile by not using much chakra and you guys are ruing that for me" Naruto complained as he readied himself for the next assault.
Unsurprisingly the puppets only response was to send their kunai flying towards the blond.
"Fine be that way" Naruto yelled. 'Looks like I might have to take this fight seriously' Naruto thought as he jumped away from several blasts of chakra that destroyed large sections of the bridges that connected the various towers.
'Looks like you win this round Kyuubi, destruction it is!' Naruto thought and he activated his fox cloak.
The chakra spike was massive, he knew it would attract the attention of anyone who could sense chakra, it was just not possible to be subtle while using a Bijuu's chakra. But this was no longer the time for being subtle. Instantly disappearing and reappearing above the group of puppets Naruto sent his chakra claws to simple rip the puppets to shreds before slamming a fist into the ground to the lower village to find a place to lay low for awhile.
Canceling the fox cloak Naruto jumped down through the hole him made and began looking for a place to hide.
No sooner had Naruto found his feet than he once more heard the unmistakable sound of the puppets with their spinning blades.
"Kami don't you guys ever give up!" Naruto yelled in exasperation.
Naruto pulled out two kunai knowing that there was only two of them this time and stood his ground as the puppets attack grew closer. Naruto was just getting ready to launch a kunai of his own in order to escape and counter attack but he felt himself get tackled from the side. "Hey what the hell!" Naruto called out before he felt a very familiar sensation that for the first time in his life was not caused by his own kunai and he disappeared in a yellow flash.
'No fucking way' Naruto thought not wanting to believe that he was just saved by his own father.
'Well, this is interesting, even if I do say so myself' Kyuubi said choosing this moment to speak up.
'How is this possible?' Naruto replied.
'You said it yourself, this is the past, that accursed Yondaime is quite clearly still alive. Although I would try to keep your connection to him a secret, but that may be hard as you look like you could be brothers. Still it could mess with the future and as much as I would like to see you never exist it could also turn out badly for us both' Kyuubi lectured.
'Yeah you're right, also I don't know when we are, or what I can talk about, man this sucks' Naruto whined.
'Foolish boy, this is clearly during, or before the third shinobi war, because this village still stands. I swear you are a moron' Kyuubi yelled.
'Alright, no need to go crazy, I was a little too shocked to see my father to think straight' Naruto replied.
While this was going on Minato Namikaze was staring wide eyed behind his mask at the young boy he just saved. Here was a carbon copy of himself, but he had six whisker marks on his cheeks and his face was rounder. 'Who is this kid! He wears a Konoha head band and jonnin vest but I have never seen him before' the future Yondaime Hokage thought.
"Man what's with those damn puppet's no matter how many I kill they just keep coming back" Naruto finally spoke, hoping to keep the conversation away from any introductions at least for the time being.
"They seem to have been supercharged by the Ryuumyaku. So... you're a Konoha shinobi right" Minato said as he removed his mask enough to show his own headband. "We are also Konoha shinobi" he added pointing Naruto to the two other ninja in the future Hokage's group. Naruto could tell just from looking at them even with their masks on who they were. That red hair and the sheer size of the closest one could only be Choza Akimichi, and the second looked just like Shino's father Shibi.
"So I have a question, and this might sound weird, but who is the current hokage" Naruto said.
"That is a weird question, but for you I think it is an appropriate one, that is if my theory is correct. The current hokage is Hiruzen Sarutobi, I take it that is not the case from where you come from" the man Naruto knew to be his father said.
"You could say that, I guess you have figured it out that I don't belong here.. but how?" Naruto asked.
"It's best we don't go into detail's. Look could you stay away from this city while we continue our mission? We could possibly talk about this after the mission is completed. Just turn left once you are out the door and that will lead you away from the city to safety" Minato said.
"Who do you think you are bossing me around, I can take care of myself!" Naruto said firmly although he was unsure why he reacted like that.
"Maybe you can, but we felt a massive chakra spike earlier and something with that much power is not to be messed with, just get yourself to safety and we can talk later, it's a promise... okay!" Minato said and the three ninja left by jumping away.
"Hey come back!,i can help you!" Naruto yelled but there was no response.
'Ha! You got blown off by your own father, I must say this has made my day' Kyuubi chuckled darkly.
'Shut it Kyuubi, he didn't know who I was. Probably just thought I was some low ranked ninja that needed saving' Naruto replied.
'Suit yourself. So are you going to be the good son and do what he told you too?" Kyuubi asked.
'Hell no! I want to find out what's going on, and I still need to find Yamato Teichou.' Naruto answered.
"Okay time to get to work, first things first, if this is a city, then where is everybody?" Naruto asked himself before heading out to search for people to talk to.
Naruto jumped up out of the under city into the towers above hoping that if he could get to a high view of the village then maybe he could find Yamato.
Naruto was just about to push off to a different tower when he heard a cheering crowd. 'Hey people, someone down there might have seen Yamato teicho' Naruto thought and moved in to get a closer look.
It seemed the people were all waiting for something, and cheering for their queen, something did strike Naruto as odd though, the people seemed to be moving in unison and Naruto couldn't get any chakra signature from any of them, he waved it off however as to him not being in sage mode and his chakra sensory ability was nowhere near as prominent.
Naruto watch the people from a passageway high above waiting to see who it was they were cheering for. He knew the man responsible for bringing them here was around somewhere and he wanted to find him. So with that in mind he was hoping to speak to who ever was in charge, after all they would know the area better than almost anyone.
Naruto moved to another tower to get a closer look and arrived just in time to see the doors of the balcony open and a woman walk out flanked by two of the war puppets that Naruto had the displeasure of fighting earlier.
Naruto watched as she approached the edge of the balcony ready to address her subject's. 'Hey she's the girl from earlier... so she's the queen huh, maybe she knows something' Naruto thought. But his plans to find her and talk to her later had to be put on hold as the ground beneath the queens feet gave way causing Naruto to act quickly to save her.
He jumped from his hiding location and grabbed the young redhead bridal style as she fell before flinging a kunai and flashing away.
"Phew, you're safe now" Naruto said looking down at the woman he had just saved.
"she seemed to just come to her senses at that minute and blushed when she realized she was being carried.
Then she flipped out and started slapping Naruto. "Let go of me, pervert!" she said before finishing with an elbow to Naruto's face that he couldn't avoid due to the fact he had his hands full.
"Hey cut it out, that's no way to thank someone who just saved you" Naruto complained putting the queen down.
"Oh yes... hm very well then... Thank you... …. Pervert!" she said.
"I'm not a pervert, now my sensei... yeah he is a pervert, not me! You're the queen here aren't you?" Naruto said.
"Yes, I'm the queen of Rouran, Sara." the queen answered.
"Well I'm Naruto Uzumaki. A ninja from Konoha" Naruto answered, he decided not to use his full name in case he ran into his father again and that could lead to unwanted questions. "How did you fall off that tower? It looks pretty secure to me" Naruto asked.
"It felt like someone pushed me from behind" Sara replied.
"Is someone trying to kill you?" Naruto asked shocked.
"That's impossible, you saw all the people who came just to see me" Sara said.
"But you just said yourself someone pushed you from behind" Naruto replied.
"Well, that's probably me just being mistaken!" Sara said.
"That's retarded, how do you mistake being pushed off a balcony!" Naruto asked.
Sara didn't have a chance to answer as the three Konoha shinobi appeared around the pair.
"You didn't keep your promise and leave" Minato said.
"I never promised anything, you guys just ran away. Besides I need to find my team member Yamato Teichou has to be around here somewhere" Naruto said.
"That was quite the piece of skill you pulled saving the girl" Minato said evenly.
Naruto froze, he had used the Hirashin and his father had seen it. 'Oh fuck, not good, best to just play it off as nothing' "Well she was falling I had to save her" Naruto said.
"Excuse me! Who are you people?" Sara said angrily.
"Wait, is she the reason you are here! Is your mission to kill Sara?" Naruto asked and his instincts to defend made him reach for a kunai but stopped thinking better of it and instead just moved to position himself in between the girl and the three Konoha ninja.
"No don't worry we are here to protect the queen. I didn't want to have to do this... but I guess we have no choice" Minato said removing his mask before continuing. "We are here on a top secret mission from Konoha. And it has something to do with why you are here. You are from the future aren't you?" Minato said.
"Yeah, I am" Naruto admitted, he saw no point in denying that fact.
"Yes it seems we both tried to keep each other in the dark as to not affect the flow of time" minato chuckled.
"But who's to say this wasn't supposed to happen, I mean what if the future I know happens because I am here?" Naruto asked.
"Hm a valid point. Anyway, we know you are from the future because you are not the first one, a ninja came through six years ago, his name is Mukada and he is a puppet master" Minato replied.
"Wait a puppet master you say, the person who removed the seal that brought us here was a puppet master, but we left at the same time so why did he come here six years before me?" Naruto asked.
"That I could not say, it must be a form of time space ninjutsu" Minato theorized.
"Hm but if that was the case it would have to take us to before the seal was placed, or to when that weird eye first opened. It makes no sense that we would be sent to two different time periods, unless because he was at the center of the jutsu he was thrown further back along the time line than I was at the edge of the blast. So that means that Yamato Teichou wont be here until just before the seal is about to be placed" Naruto said confusing everyone apart from the other Namikaze who decided not to delve any deeper into what Naruto was saying as it might change the future.
"That seems to be a reasonable theory" Minato said.
"So because Mukada absorbed the Time Space energy from the seal, if I was to defeat him, I get to go home" Naruto surmised.
"I believe that as well, in any case if Mukada is not defeated soon the future will change" Minato said.
"Well then looks like I have a puppet master to find and kill, shouldn't be too difficult, killing S ranked ninja is sorta a specialty of mine" Naruto said.
"Enough of this! You are all speaking nothing but lies! It wasn't a ninja called Mukada who arrived here six years ago, but a great man named Anrokuzan. And he is working for the good of this city in the spirit of my mother! I cant imagine a peace loving man like him developing weapons" Sara yelled.
"Not making weapons, then what the hell has been chasing me half way across this city, I mean anything that forces me to use my... uh never mind the point is you are being deceived there are more weapons here than you care to know about" Naruto said.
"He is right. Even if what he said was a little blunt, this man is deceiving you, Sara-hime" Minato added.
"I don't believe you, all of you are more suspicious than he is!" Sara yelled accusingly and stormed off.
"Hey where are you going?" Naruto called out.
"I'm going to ask him myself!" Sara said but didn't stop walking.
"Well then, I'm coming too. Plus someone is still after your life, it could be Mukada. If that's the case this will be like killing two birds with one stone, you don't die and I, get to go home, everybody win's... well apart from Mukada who will be dead" Naruto said casually.
"You are a strange one you know that" Minato said.
"Yeah I know, my sensei says I act to much like my mother to be taken seriously as a shinobi, but what dose he know" Naruto said. Before running. "See ya later you three" Naruto called back as he ran after Sara.
The Large Akimichi couldn't hold his tongue any longer. "You know Minato Teichou he looks an awful lot like-"
"Don't say it Choza, let's just continue with the mission like he isn't even here" Minato said as he watched the boy disappear.
End Chapter!
I hope I have made this believable so far, anyway tell me what you think and any suggestions of what you would like to see before I wrap this Arc up.