Cool, calm wind blew above, gently thrashing his hair as he watched the village below, seated crisscross applesauce. The hokage's monument always gave the best view of the village, even if the village was but a crater. It was nostalgic, ya know? He had frequented his dads head as a kid, and that was before he even knew his dad was the yondaime!

The repair in the village was speedy but it still felt painfully slow. He wanted things to go back to normal, to before Pain attacked. Yamato could only make so many buildings at a time! He wanted Ichiraku back… he wanted a lot back! Being a kid was waaaay better.

Actually, was he becoming old? Nah! He was much too young for that! Well-that's not true. Kakashi-sensei did have a full set of white hair as a kid… So age doesn't really l matter for being old, as old is just a state of being. And he was not old! He wasn't even seventeen yet! He had a full set of blond hair, so take that Sensei!

He did feel rather old though. It was all 'cause of Sasuke. Why did he have to be such an idiot? There was no need to join the Akatsuki! Itachi was part of the Akatsuki so why in hell would Sasuke join? It made no sense! And it was even worse 'cause that bastard Danzo declared Sasuke a missing nin… everything just sucks.

Speaking of Danzo's order, if he brought Sasuke back, would they try to execute Sasuke? What should he do then? He can't, no, won't let them kill Sasuke! …but if he does that, he'll be a missing nin, so why should he even attempt to bring Sasuke back?

"Ughhhh!"

Tsunade really needs to come back sooner, thinking about all of this makes his brain hurt. He wasn't built for critical thought.

Huffing, he unfolded his legs and stood up. Perhaps it was time he decided to be useful? Everyone was down in the village and he was sitting on his ass, watching everyone from above like he was some super important character in a novel. He was only very important, not super.

He walked over to the edge of the monument, staring down at the crater below. He bent his leg, preparing to jump off and go be helpful. Unfortunately, his beneficiary plans were moved back in the timeline when a screaming, blond child slammed into his head.

Naruto tumbled back, rolling to a ball, becoming a mess of limbs with the screaming child. He shoved off the kid, admonishing him, "Oi! Watch where you're going, brat!"

"Eh!" The blond kid stood up, barely reaching his shoulders in height. He was an orange clad, whispered, loud kid. "Who the hell are you calling brat! You're looking at the future hokage here, I'll kick your ass! Believe it!"

Something about this kid was… familiar. Very familiar. Naruto hunched over and stared into the brat's azule-shaded eyes, tracking his different features.

The kid backpedaled, waving his hands through the air sporadically. "Wha-what the hell are you doing you creepy old man!" Then the loud mouthed kid pointed his finger, staring accusingly. "I don't swing that way! Especially for weirdos like you!"

"Old man!? Weirdo!?" A vein was bulging on Naruto's forehead. "I don't swing that way either! And I'm not an old man! I'm sixteen!"

The blond shook his head. "Nuh-uh, you have to be an old dude! I only see old people acting as broody as you seem!" He looked to be thinking over something, scrounging his eyebrows. "…and Sasuke, but he doesn't count! He's always grouchy."

"Wait-you know Sasuke?"

The kid looked at him like he was an idiot. "Of course I know him! He's on my team, ya know?"

So that's how he recognized him. "You're a fake!"

"Eh?! The hell you mean I'm a fake!" The fake put his thumb to his chest, using it to point at himself. "I'm the one and only Naruto Uzumaki, believe it!"

Naruto shook his head. "You can't be Naruto Uzumaki because I am Naruto Uzumaki. So, therefore, you're an imposter!"

"No! I'm the real Naruto, you're the fake!" The knockoff said, shaking his head. "See?" He pulled up his shirt and showed off his seal. "Only the real Naruto has that!"

Naruto pulled up his own shirt, showing the same seal. "Well I have that too! But I don't know how you'd have the nine tails seal… I know! Tell me, who was our first kiss! Say it at the same time."

Tiny Naruto crossed his arms. "Hmph! Of course I know that!"

"I don't believe it! Three! Two! One!"

"-Sasuke!"

"-Sasuke!"

Naruto scratched his chin. "Huh. So we're both real, probably. So why are you here? Maybe I'm just hallucinating you! Release!"

Nothing happened. Shocker.

"Hmm… I guess you might have time traveled, then. Chibi-ruto, what was the last thing you remember before appearing here!"

Chibi-ruto upturned his nose. "Who are you calling Chibi-ruto! I'm not even small, damn it! I'm average height!"

He looked at his younger self in disbelief. "Uh-huh, sure. We were totally average height at thirteen, sure. Anyways, answer the damn question!"

"I am average height!" Chibi-ruto groaned. "And I was training with that stupid pervert! He's so annoying! If you're me, how did you deal with him! He just leers at people all the time!"

Naruto smacked his past self's forehead. "Don't talk bad about Jiraiya! He's a… decent teacher. And he's a really cool guy!"

The blond squinted. "Sure. The guy who does dumb poses and says he is a super pervert is cool."

"Like you're any better!" Naruto pointed accusingly. "You aren't cool either, you wear all orange and are a midget!"

Chibi-ruto squacked. "I'm absolutely cool! I'm super duper awesome and you know it!"

"I'm you!" Naruto pointed out. "I know we weren't cool. But I've become a badass and you're still lame, so I'm allowed to bully you!" He said petulantly, crossing his arms like a child.

"You complain about me wearing orange but you still wear orange! You're not cool either!"

"You should have seen me when I fought Pain! I look so badass! I was super cool!"

Chibi-ruto tilted his head. "Pain? Like being hurt? Well I fought pain too, then! I've been hurt before and got past it!"

"Not pain the feeling." Naruto rolled his eyes. "I mean Pain the person! The leader of Akatsuki!"

"What's Akatsuki?"

"You're still in the chunin exams, aren't you?"

Young-him nodded in confirmation.

Naruto waved his hand. "You'll learn about them later. Basically, they suck! But Pain sucked more than all of them. See the crater down there?" Naruto paused to let Chibi look.

Chibi-ruto walked towards the edge slowly and cautiously. Reaching the edge, a look of horror and anger filled the boy's face. "Pain did this." He turned back to Naruto for confirmation.

"Yes." Naruto said, bowing his head.

"And-and you fought him, right? You didn't let him get away with this, right? We kill him for this, right!?"

Naruto sighed, putting a hand on his younger self's head. "I did not kill Pain."

Chibi smacked his hand away and looked at him in disgust. Red eyes glared at him. "You let a guy destroy the village and you just-just let him live?!"

"I never said he was alive."

His younger self seemed to calm down a little, throning back to the massive crater to stare. His eyes seemed to be locked onto the sight of Pain's attack, glued to the destruction. "Then who killed him?"

""Pain did."

"He killed himself?" Chibi said incredulously. "Why would he do that? And he shouldn't have gotten off so easily…"

Naruto smacked the boy in the head again. "Don't be so dumb. Pain was a person too. Just because he did bad does not mean he should be, say, tortured."

"He destroyed the village!"

"And?" Naruto said, looking disappointedly at the blond. "Should the Yondaime have been tortured?"

Chibi-ruto looked aghast. "Of course not! The fourth was amazing, he-"

"So why should Pain be tortured?"

"Because he destroyed the village."

"And the Yondaime killed thousands of shinobi from Iwa, Kumo, and Kiri."

"Huh." Chibi looked stumped. "Well, he still killed less than Pain! So Pain was worse!"

Naruto shook his head and sighed. "That's a whole different argument. The reason that the Yondaime is loved by us is because he brought a lot of good to Konoha. The reason we hate Pain is because he caused a lot of pain to Konoha. But what of Pain's loved ones from his village who benefit from Konoha being hurt? Is it wrong for him to do what we do back to us?"

"…yes?"

"Why?"

"Because-because he still hurt Konoha! That's… I don't know." He slumped.

"Well…" Naruto scratched his chin. "You're right on one thing. It was wrong what Pain did. But, in a way, it is also wrong what Konoha did to other nations. We have harmed many innocents just as Pain had. Actually," Naruto leaned in as if he was telling a secret, "I think you'd find it interesting that Pain only attacked Konoha because shinobi from Konoha ruined his village and killed his loved ones."

Chibi met his eyes, eyes which were no longer crimson but azule. "So… both were wrong?"

"Mhmm. When you kill someone you bring pain to their loved ones. Their loved ones then seek you out and kill you. But your loved ones will seek revenge, perpetuating a cycle of hatred and grief."

"But if the cycle is caused by people hurting each other, how could you prevent people from harming one another?"

Naruto groaned and rubbed his eyes. "I don't know! That's what Pain entrusted me to find when he died."

"Uh…" Chibi looked confused. "I think I'm missing something."

"Pain was also taught by Pervy Sage. Jiraiya-sensei wanted to end hatred, something he originally entrusted to Pain who failed to find a viable solution." Naruto let Chibi soak in his words.

"Pain realized that I had not followed the cycle of hatred by not killing him in revenge for Jiraiya-sensei. Because of this, he revived the whole village from the dead, killing himself."

"Wait-wait-wait." Chibi-ruto put up his hand. "Pervy Sage dies!? Pain can bring back the dead!?"

Naruto nodded, jokingly saying, "Believe it!"

"So why didn't he revive the people who Konoha killed?"

"No clue."

"Wha-that's stupid!"

Naruto held up his hands in a 'what can you do' pose. "Maybe there was some kind of limit to the jutsu? Or he learned it recently?

"That's still a dumb answer…" Chibi whined.

"What do you want me to do? Time travel and tell Pain to change his actions?"

"Can you?" The blond said, tilting his head.

"No!" Naruto waved his hands.

"You're boooring." Chibi paused and seemed to have a lightbulb go off. "Actually, how did you beat Pain?"

"Well," Naruto scratched his neck. "It was a mix of sage mode, rasengans, the kyuubi, and strategy!"

"The hells a rasengan or a sage mode?"

A blue, tiny, spiraling ball formed into existence in Naruto's palm. "This is a weak rasengan." He slammed it into the ground, causing a small explosion.

Chino's eyes widened. "Woaaah. And that's the weak version? Maybe we do become cool…"

"See? I'm the coolest!"

Chibi ignored him. "And what's a sage mode?"

Naruto grinned widely. "Spoilers!" He did little, mocking, jazz hands.

"C'mon! Tell me!"

"Nope!"

"Tellll meeee"

"Nahhhhhh"