I do not own Naruto Shippuden or any of the characters.
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Naruto tared at the smoke rolling up from the Hokage's Office. There were nine puppets with masks matching the one on the man commanding the puppets. They were fox masks, from what Naruto would tell, and the puppets were tearing the assembled shinobi apart. After a moment, Minato was sealed inside a ring of purple chakra with Tsunade while three others were sealed in separate barriers.
Another puppet blasted the three shinobi and almost killed them before Naruto hurled several kunai at him. The kunai froze and hovered for a moment before dropping to the ground.
"Menma!" Minato shouted. "Stay away! He's the masked man!"
"That's not Madara," Naruto muttered.
"Madara?" the masked man questioned. "Do you know him?"
"You know Madara?" Sakura questioned.
"He's very helpful," the masked man stated.
"Where is he?" Sakura questioned.
"Why should I tell you?" the masked man questioned. "You don't seem like you're on his side."
"Fine," Sakura growled leaping into the air. "Then I'll make you tell!"
As she neared him, white tiger tackled her out of the air as a dragon surrounded Naruto, keeping him from moving.
"Give up," the masked man ordered. "You're no match for me."
"A real hero would risk their lives for the world, their village, everything," Sakura groaned standing. "In order to go home, Madara must be defeated. It can't be helped."
She stood and leapt at him again only for a puppet of a human in a white robe with see-through ribbons around its back shot out the ribbons and caught Sakura, binding her.
"Menma!" Kushina screamed. "Please, run away! I will never forgive you if you die before us!"
The masked man suddenly appeared behind Naruto, blasting Naruto away with a pulse of chakra.
"I can sense an ominous chakra from you," the masked man stated motioning to the other puppets. They all chased after Naruto as he leapt into the air only for him to vanish and reappear over one of Minato's kunai.
"Boy am I glad the seal didn't change," Naruto sighed as the others, Minato included, stared at him in shock. "I'll never let you get the scroll. I'd rather die."
"Very well," the masked man spoke from over him. "Then I will simply make you give it to me."
The puppet holding the now unconscious Sakura flew over and Naruto grit his teeth, and clenched his fists.
"You will give it to me, or this girl will die," the masked man stated as the puppets and Sakura all disappeared.
Then, the man held his hand out as a small dark purple sphere appeared over it with an off-white ring around it.
"I will leave you a gift," the masked man stated flying into the air. "Great Spiraling Ring."
He dropped the jutsu back to the ground and a moment later it exploded, quickly obliterating the village. When Naruto came to, Kushina and Minato were kneeling over him, Minato worried and Kushina sobbing. Kushina leaned down, throwing her arms around him and Minato sighed in relief.
"Where did he go?" Naruto questioned looking around. "Please tell me he didn't take Sakura."
"We still have the scroll," Minato stated. "We should prepare ourselves and wait for the opportunity."
"We can't just sit here," Naruto shouted. "We have to go after him!"
"We can't!" Minato snapped. "We are human before ninja. In our current condition, we cannot stop him. We can't risk our lives just to save Sakura. I'm sorry."
"But-"
"What if you got hurt?" Minato demanded. "As your parents, we're worried about you, Menma."
"I have to go," Naruto stated picking up Minato's kunai.
"No you don't!" Minato replied. "You don't have to play the hero!"
"I'm not from this world," Naruto stated. "I was sent here through a jutsu used by an enemy from my world named Madara Uchiha. In my world, you are the Fourth Hokage leading the village jointly with Granny Tsunade and you are the former Jinchuriki of the Nine-tailed Beast, which was passed on to me the day I was born. My name is Naruto Uzumaki and I'm sorry I lied to you. I am the son of the Fourth Hokage, and I'm going to save Sakura. Then, I'm going to get us home."
"Menma please," Kushina pleaded stepping forward. "Please don't go."
"I have to," Naruto stated removing her hand from his arm. "I'm sorry."
He picked up a package Sakura had been carrying and pulled out the same cloak that Minato wore in the real world. He put it on and took a steadying breath, knowing that he was in for one of the hardest fights in his short life.
"I'll be back in a flash," Naruto smiled back at them. "That is, if Madara isn't there."
Kushina called out to him again but Naruto ignored her and sprinted away from the village. After a few hours, Naruto reached the same place he and Jiraiya had trained at for awhile while he was away. If he was right about who the masked man was, this is where he would find him. Sure enough, as he ran across the first bridge, he found Sakura tied to a pair of poles and Madara behind her, only half there.
"I finally found you, Madara!" Naruto shouted drawing a kunai. "I should be able to go home if I kill you!"
"I'm sorry," Madara stated walking through Sakura. "But your opponent is not me."
Just then, the masked man appeared beside him spinning and slashing at him with a kunai. His were the normal kind so Naruto knew he couldn't teleport. He was still fast though. Naruto barely managed to avoid the attack before leaping off the bridge to the water below.
"Give me the scroll," the masked man ordered.
"No," Naruto growled. "I'd consider it if you release Sakura first."
"If you will not give it to me, I'll have to take it by force," the masked man stated. "I was going to kill you anyway. I have a bad feeling about you. I should not let you live."
Naruto's stomach suddenly throbbed painfully and he doubled over as the masked man leapt at him. Naruto leapt at him but his stomach throbbed again and the masked man kicked him away. Naruto landed on all fours and stood as the man landed on the water in front of him.
"Your existence is an annoyance to me," the man stated.
It feels like the inside of my stomach is jolting, Naruto thought.
"For that reason, I will handle you quickly," the man stated cloak beginning to billow above him as if he were floating over a fan. "Nine Masked Beasts. Golden Snake, Black Tortoise, Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Vermilion Bird, Southern Sage, Grim Reaper, Northern Sage, Celestial Maiden."
As he chanted, a massive seal formed above him. Once complete, the nine puppets shot out of it, one seal formula per puppet.
"Turn every one of his bones to dust!" the masked man ordered as the puppets shot toward Naruto.
"Too many," Naruto growled just before chakra threads wrapped around him and yanked him up out of the way of the attack and over to the base where the entirety of the Akatsuki, minus Pein and Danzo, stood. Eight total.
In Danzo's place, was Itachi. The robes actually suited him.
"More reinforcements?" Naruto growled.
"Calm down," Itachi spoke. "We're here at the Hokage's orders."
"Come again?" Naruto questioned.
"We were hired to back you up so that you could deal with the masked man," Deidara stated.
And with that, they all leapt into action.
"The mercenary group Akatsuki?" the masked man spat.
Hidan attacked the tiger, Sasori and his puppets the tortoise, Kakuzu the Celestial Maiden, Kisame the Grim Reaper, Pein the Southern and Norther Sage, Deidara the bird, Konan the dragon, and anyone that could handle the snake. Itachi personally went to free Sakura and face Madara.
"From your appearance, physical attacks will not work on you," Itachi stated, personality intact. "However, I am not completely out of options."
He activated his Sharingan and Madara sighed.
"You are as troublesome as ever," Madara sighed. "Very well. Have her."
And with that, he teleported himself away.
Naruto, who had seen and heard what had happened with Itachi and Madara, could only grin as he moved to fight the masked man. As they got inside, the machinery there sprang to life, gears and cogs smashing together and spinning. Then, several wooden posts with padded poles sticking out of the sides that would be used to train with shot out, moving around the room. After a moment, the masked man appeared and kicked Naruto backward. Naruto landed on his feet and created several clones who all charged forward, attacking the man. He easily took them all out as Naruto watched, the last clone gathering Sage Chakra.
"You're trying to win by outnumbering me?" the man scoffed. "Pathetic."
"You think so?" Naruto smirked as the last clone disappeared and he entered Sage Mode. "You're finished."
He threw a punch which the masked man easily caught then, he began to glow with a dark purple aura.
"You're the one who's finished," the masked man stated grabbing Naruto by the wrist and swinging him into the air over his head one handed then throwing him through the floor.
Naruto fell between hundreds of cogs, slipping through holes in two before being impaled on the spikes at the bottom of the room, only to be replaced with a training dummy. Naruto was standing on the side of a spike breathing hard when the masked man landed on another.
"Who are you?" Naruto demanded.
"You're quite skilled," the man stated holding out his hand and forming a Great Spiraling Sphere.
Naruto created a clone and formed a Rasenshuriken then leapt at the man as the man did the same. Their jutsus met in a massive explosion that obliterated a large section of the training ground and leaving a massive sphere of glowing blue chakra that was fading slowly.
"Isn't the inside of your stomach throbbing?" the man questioned as Naruto's stomach did so for the third time and the masked man's robe began to fall away in pieces. "How foolish you are. It would seem that what you have hidden there is getting worked up."
"How do you know about-"
"I guess that would be the Nine-tails," the masked man laughed as his shirt began to tear from his body as well followed by his mask as he spoke his next sentence. "Honestly, I would never have figured you'd have the Nine-tails as well."
Naruto stared in shock at himself with slightly longer black hair. Menma now wore only black pants, black sandals, and black elbow-length finger-less gloves with leather straps wrapped around them. Finally the chakra faded and Naruto collapsed as Menma simply bent forward, gasping for breath.
"I never knew there could be someone exactly like me," Menma laughed. "That would explain the pain. Your very existence gives me goosebumps. I'm going to kill you."
Suddenly, all nine of the defeated puppets, which had been reduced to foxes wearing masks, all shot into the air as blood red streaks then hit Menma in the back, rejoining with him. When he looked up at Naruto again, his once black eyes were red with slit pupils.
"Damn!" Naruto sword stumbling back. "You too?"
He roared in rage and smoke shot up around him. Then, a massive, darker version of Kurama charged out at Naruto.
"DIE!" Menma roared as the Black Nine-tails attempted to bit him, missing by inches.
Naruto landed a ways back and glanced sideways at the others.
"He's after me!" Naruto shouted. "All of you! Run! Get away!"
"Naruto!" Sakura shouted taking a step forward before Itachi caught her.
"We were not paid to fight the Nine-tails," Itachi stated. "This is Naruto's fight now."
Naruto ran into a hole in the cliff as the Akatsuki retreated with Sakura. After a moment, Naruto smashed through a wall and onto an underground lake, followed by the Black Nine-tails. Naruto spread hundreds of clones around the room who all formed Massive Rasengans but the Black Nin-tails roared and they were all destroyed, Naruto falling into the water, half conscious.
"Spectacular performance," Kurama growled dragging Naruto into his mind. "You've been defeated by the fake. I am impressed."
"Shut up," Naruto spat. "I'll use your chakra next."
"Please," Kurama laughed. "Even if he is a fake, he is a Nine-tails, just as strong as I am. You cannot beat him with only the small amount you took from me."
"I took almost all of it," Naruto stated.
"Exactly," Kurama growled. "Almost all. He has all."
"Then what?" Naruto questioned.
"Let me out," Kurama growled. "I will deal with him."
"Right," Naruto snorted rolling his eyes. "I let you out, you beat him, you take over my body, game over for me."
"I don't like you Brat," Kurama growled. "But I dislike Madara even more. If you die, I'm stuck here and easy for him to capture. If I take your body, I have the same problem. However, should I help you this one time, and aid you in defeating this fake, I can leave you to deal with Madara. Then, we can go home."
"Alright," Naruto nodded standing. "Just this once, I'll trust you."
"Just this once?" Kurama questioned as Naruto placed a hand on his stomach and twisted, opening the cage. "Have you forgotten Pein already?"
"Shut up," Naruto growled. "That was different."
Naruto returned to the real world and found Kurama beside him. He grabbed onto Kurama's fur as the fox shot to the surface, grabbing his copy by the hind leg and hurling him across the room and through several stone spires. Then, he charged after it as the Black Nine-tails moved to meet his charge. Within seconds, they reached each other sending up massive waves as they latched on and began to struggle for power. Finally, the Black Nine-tails slammed Kurama into the water before putting some distance between the two before Kurama could recover. As Kurama sprinted along the water, the Black Nine-tails began firing Tailed Beast Balls at him, missing several times before Kurama turned toward the Black Nine-tails, beginning to fire his own. The first shot barely missed, the Black Nine-tails ducking out of the way before leaping over the second.
The Black Nine-tails fired several at Kurama, missing each time by less and less distance before Kurama sat down and returned fire. As they fired at each other, they were also avoiding blasts resulting in their shots being inaccurate and demolishing the landscape above more than each other. Finally, they both leapt out of the underground cavern through separate holes then began charging each other in mid air. They rammed their heads together and Naruto and Menma flew at each other. Menma threw a punch which Naruto avoided before smashing his own fist into Menma's jaw, launching him. The Black Nine-tails landed on the side of a cliff, sliding down it before crashing to the ground and disappearing in a cloud of smoke as Menma fell. Kurama returned to his cage as well leaving both Nine-tails Jinchuriki to fall over a hundred feet to the ground.
When Naruto opened his eyes again, he was at the edge of one of the massive holes they had made and Menma was unconscious, if not dead, on top of a building in front of him.
"This is the outcome I foresaw," Madara spoke, appearing over Menma. "Of course you are the winner. However, this fight was beyond my expectations. I never would have believed that you and the Nine-tails could work cooperatively."
"Now all that's left is to defeat you," Naruto growled standing.
"It seems you still don't understand the full scope of your situation," Madara sighed floating down toward Menma then into him. "Allow me to explain."
Menma suddenly leapt up facing away.
"Through the Nine-tails, and Nine-tails resonance, and through battles that would not be possible in the real world," Madara's voice continued, now coming from Menma, "the Nine-tails has been severely weakened. Just like before."
Menma turned toward them, his right eye now a Sharingan.
"Not again! Naruto run away!" Kurama ordered.
"What?" Naruto questioned. "Why? What's going on?"
"I did not believe him a threat because he had no body," Kurama growled. "But if he can do this...With the Sharingan, I'll be pulled from your body as I was Kushina's. Except, you won't survive."
"The Nine-tails is mine!" Madara suddenly shouted appearing in front of Naruto and slashing at him.
Naruto began doing successive back flips away from him, avoiding several attacks.
"Do not look at his eye! Kurama warned.
Naruto nodded closing his left eye and activating his Byakugan to see Menma's chakra network instead of his body. Madara darted forward slashing at Naruto then instantly following up with a kick. Naruto blocked the kunai then stepped past the kick only for Madara to drop to his hands and spin kicking Naruto in the head. Naruto landed on his feet but fell to his knees, Byakugan deactivating from exhaustion.
Damnit! Naruto thought. If we don't do something...
Naruto looked past Menma and saw a red moon rising. Naruto blinked then stood.
Red moon, Naruto thought. No choice. I'll have to try it.
He drew the Red Moon Scroll and unrolled it just in time for Madara to cut it in half, forcing Naruto to look into his Sharingan. He instantly put Naruto into a genjutsu leaving Naruto on the ground, unable to do anything. Kurama's chakra began to boil off of his body as he floated into the air. Just as he did, Sakura crashed down where Madara had been, stopping him and letting Naruto drop back to the ground.
"Naruto, get a hold of yourself!" Sakura called out.
"I erased his memory," Madara sneered. "He won't be able to move. And he certainly doesn't know you anymore."
Madara raised his kunai and Sakura took a defensive position.
"Don't lay a finger on Naruto," Sakura growled.
Sakura charged forward and began to fight Madara, keeping up with him, if only barely, enough to keep him away from Naruto. Naruto opened his eyes, the sounds seeming far away as he stared blankly at the scroll. After a moment, a sphere of swirling chakra appeared in his mind. With it came memories of an old man training him to fight while using the sphere to beat him time and again without teaching it to him, a young man that looked like an older version of himself teaching him how to use the jutsu, telling him it was incomplete, then, finally, a girl. A girl with long soft, blue hair in a hime-style cut who was shy, beautiful, and the single kindest person he had ever met. He was teaching her the jutsu, or, at least, trying to. She had trouble with it since it required more brute force than she was used to. His parents were mad. He hadn't asked permission to teach it to her. It had just been a spur of the moment thing. But they weren't mad about that really. They were mad that he wasn't doing his chores. Was coming home late. Was leaving before breakfast. Spending too much time with her. Wasting his life on her, they said.
Naruto blinked and sat bolt upright looking around. At that moment, Sakura hurled a pair of shuriken at Madara which he blocked, leaving Sakura defenseless as Madara charged at her. She blocked his slash only for him to spin and kick her away. Naruto caught her and landed lightly, setting her down and turning to Madara.
"If I die," Naruto grinned. "I can't waste any more of my life on Hinata."
"Give me the Nine-tails and die in this world," Madara ordered as they both charged forward.
Naruto hurled one of his kunai at Madara who leaned out of the way. Just as it passed his head, his eyes widened and Naruto ginned.
"You'll remember this one, I think," Naruto grinned teleporting to the kunai and catching it then spinning and slamming a Rasengan into Madara's back, blasting him into the ground.
Naruto, being too tired to jump away, allowed the explosion to launch him to Sakura as Menma crashed into a boulder on the opposite side of the explosion.
"It has been sixteen years since I felt that jutsu," Madara spoke, floating up out of Menma as chains fell from his sleeves. "But this time..."
He flew at Naruto in a blur, too fast for Naruto or Sakura to react. At the last second, as a chain shot forward to bind Naruto, Minato appeared in front of Naruto with Kushina, throwing a kunai to block the chain.
"Minato, Kushina!" Sakura cried out. "How are you..."
"I brought one of Minato's kunai," Naruto grinned tossing it to Minato who caught it and smiled. "He's come to take it back, along with his son."
"Is this yet another ripple in this world?" Madara mused. "Fine, I will allow you to keep the Nine-tails. For now."
As he spoke, Naruto hurled the kunai Menma had dropped at him, the kunai flying straight at the Sharingan. Just as it made contact, Naruto and Sakura both glimpsed the sphere, which shattered. Then Madara was gone.
"Who was he?" Minato questioned.
"He's our problem," Naruto smiled. "He threw us into this world, which is why so many strange things happened."
Suddenly, Menma glowed green for a moment before his hair returned to being exactly like Naruto's, if a little dirtier. Kushina and Minato sprinted over to him, Kushina cradling him and gently shaking him to wake him up.
"Then, you two are..." Minato began as Naruto and Sakura began to glow white.
"Naruto, is this..." Sakura began but trailed off.
"Looks like you two are going home," Minato stated.
"Thank you for saving us," Naruto smiled. "And thank you for everything. I'm glad I was able to meet you."
"You'll see them again when you get home," Sakura whispered.
"I know," Naruto replied. "Again, thank you for everything."
Minato smiled and nodded as the light grew brighter. Then, they were standing in the crater in the park again. They were home. Naruto turned and looked at the Hokage Monument again and smiled, seeing his father's face where it belonged again.
"We're home," Naruto smiled as the cloak he was wearing faded into nothingness.
"We should go find the others," Sakura stated. "I can't believe they weren't looking for us!"
"We were basically in a dream right?" Naruto questioned.
"Yes," Sakura nodded.
"Then we were probably only standing here for an hour or two," Naruto stated.
"Good point," Sakura nodded. "Well, in that case, it's after my bed time. I'll see you tomorrow Naruto."
Naruto nodded and Sakura turned and walked away. As Naruto walked toward his house, B and Sasuke both walked out of an alley to walk beside him.
"What are we going to do about not being strong enough?" Sasuke questioned. "Four Jinchuriki failed to win when fighting together."
"I know," Naruto nodded continuing to walk. "I have a plan. However, we will need to take a trip to the Uzumaki clan's home in Uzushiogakure. And we'll need someone that can do the Impure World Reincarnation and the Reaper Death Seal. The person will die doing it, but will be very helpful in the mean time."
"I could get Orochimaru out of a Curse Mark, assuming we could find one," Sasuke suggested. "But we would need to give him a spare body so that he didn't die before using the Impure World Reincarnation. And what does this have to do with the Jinchuriki?"
"I have only half of the Nine-tails inside of me," Naruto stated. "I need the other half in order to be truly at full power. After I retrieve the other half from the Third Hokage, I will have you reincarnate the other five Jinchuriki. After that, I'll have to show you my plan, not tell you."
"Alright," Sasuke sighed. "We'll go tomorrow."
"Not tomorrow," Naruto said turning to him. "There's something I have to take care of first. The day after tomorrow we will go."
Sasuke nodded and he and B left. Naruto sighed and climbed the stairs leading to his house then opened the door and stepped inside. He closed the door, took off his shoes, and walked into the kitchen where Minato and Kushina were waiting.
"Please sit down," Minato spoke.
Naruto sighed and did as commanded but refused to look at his parents.
"Naruto," Kushina spoke up. "We're sorry about earlier. We were just..."
"We were worried about you," Minato stated. "We were worried that you were too worried about her and not worried enough about yourself. We were worried that you were spending too much time with her, not doing what you need to. We were wrong."
"Come again?" Naruto blinked staring at them now.
"We're sorry we tried to convince you to leave Hinata," Kushina said. "We didn't see how much you cared about her. We didn't understand how you felt."
"You should," Naruto stated. "You two are married."
"That's true," Minato nodded. "We should have understood. But the difference was, we were never three fourths of each other's will to live. We never needed to know that the other was alright in order to be able to function. If one of us died, yes, the other would be devastated but we would move on, eventually. If Hinata were to be killed, or you were, the other one could never move on. You care about each other too much. Thanks to Sasuke and Neji, we now understand that."
"What do you mean?" Naruto questioned.
"Sasuke showed your father the emotions you showed him," Kushina grinned. "And Neji explained that every day, Hinata wakes up and prays for your safety, prays for your safety over breakfast, then lunch, then dinner, then before she goes to bed. And that any time she has free time, she is with you before anyone even has time to say where she would be. Speaking from a girl's perspective, we don't pray for someone that much unless we ourselves can't live without them."
"So you know that me and Hinata love each other," Naruto summarized. "I could have told you that."
"Yes," Minato nodded. "You could have and I'm pretty sure you did. We're sorry we didn't listen to you and we will support your relationship with Hinata fully, as we should have done."
"Please forgive us," Kushina requested.
"I forgive you," Naruto smiled hugging them. Man, they are going to do a one eighty when they find out."Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to bed. I've had a very long two hours. I'll tell you about it over breakfast."
Minato and Kushina both nodded and wished him a good night. Then, he disappeared into his room, and was unconscious thirty seconds later.
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