what could have been

chapter 1:

Boom!

A resounding explosion echoed throughout the forest as a blur flew out of the smoke, naruto vaguely recognized him as his sensei Iruka, he was clearly injured and out of balance, a second blurr followed after him at hurtling speed, intending on finishing the fight, naruto ran as fast as he can hoping desperately that he could make it in time to save his sensei, but mizuki was just too fast, naruto was still an academy student, how could he even hope to compare to a chunin's speed? In desperation, naruto clumsily threw out a kunai that he had picked up from the battle remains knowing full well it wasnt gonna make it in time, mizuki was right there, about to plunge a kunai through iruka's throat. He blinked once, and they were both gone, they just... vanished, in front of his eyes, a second later he felt 2 fingers poking his neck, then he slumped unconscious with his last thought being a hope for iruka to be alive somehow

(In an alternate timeline)

Sasuke laid dead at the feet of madara uchiha, kakashi is dead, sakura is dead, most of the allied shinobi are dead, exhausted, injured or unable to fight.

Naruto, the only one left standing fell on his knees

" i... i give up"

A low chuckle resounded in the previously silent battle field

"Naruto uzumaki, how peculiar" madara said in a half amused voice as he walked slowly towards him, "i didnt expect you to last this long, but at last... the Kyuubi is mine" madara chuckled as he plunged his hand forward intending on knocking naruto out for an easier extraction, but suddenly, naruto... started glowing? In a fast flash of white, madara's hand met with air as naruto suddenly vanished, then madara in slight panick, noticed his extended hand glowing as well, everything around him was glowing, a bright flash of white, and the whole world was no more.

(In naruto's mindscape)

' wasn't i supposed to be dead? ' thought naruto as he opened his eyes and pulled his focus to kurama who had a very serious look on his face, almost...dreadful, suddenly naruto realized that Kurama's attention wasnt on him, he was looking behind him, Naruto turned as fast as he could, fully expecting madara to have infiltrated his mindscape, but he found an old man with pale wrinkly skin floating in an odd position, his face was tense, like he was concentrated on something, but the blond couldn't tell what that was.

"naruto" called the old man, "i don't have much time, kurama will explain the details"

naruto, in his shock, didnt say anything for a few seconds, and then he opened his mouth to speak but the old man faded away in front of his eyes, everything became blurry, and then naruto woke up, in a forest, that looked odly like konoha's.

(In the present timeline)

Naruto woke up, the white ceiling of the hospital greeting his eyes, suddenly, all of his memories slammed his mind as he snapped into attention, only to notice the old man hokage sitting at the left of his bed, naruto relaxed slightly as he saw the gentle smile the third was giving him, "what happened to iruka?" Naruto blurted out before the hokage can say anything. The hokage looked calm as always, "he is fine"

"But i saw mizuki about to..."

Naruto grimaced then he said in a low shaky voice "kill him"

"He survived" the old man replied, clearly knowing something the blond did not.

"What happened?" Asked naruto, a bit worried now, it wasnt usual to see the old man act like that.

"We'll talk about it some other time" hiruzen said in a commanding voice, "you have been unconscious for 2 days, you have missed some lessons in the academy, focus on recovering for now" the hokage said as he walked out of the room.

Naruto, left to his own thoughts, kept replaying the fight in his mind, over, and over, and over again, someone had poked his neck, who was it? Did he save iruka as well? What the hell happened?

(2 days later)

Naruto was mostly recovered, mizuki had targeted him before iruka arrived so he had been badly injured, but in a better shape than iruka was at the end of the fight, the blond arrived to the academy. a bit later, naruto saw a guy he didnt recognize, he assumed he was the substitute teacher since iruka is probably not recovered yet, naruto had visited his room before leaving the hospital, iruka was still unconscious, but he was recovering well according to the old man.

(Older naruto's pov)

He woke up in a forest that looked suspiciously like konoha's, his vision was hazy, unfocused, his muscles and bones ached so bad, but he had to get up, he had to kill madara and take the second chance that was given to him, but where even was he?

"BRAT!"

He finally heard kurama shouting at him to listen, he was too disoriented to realize kurama was talking to him at first.

"What" naruto replied as impatient as his body posture, ready to lunge at any second.

"Calm down, we are safe now"

"WHAT!" Naruto shouted furiously "where are we, what about everyone else?" Naruto demanded in an angry tone "you left them to die?" Tears were starting to come out of naruto's eyes, "take me back"... "NOWW"

"NARUTOO" kyuubi shouted at the blond hoping he'd calm down enough for him to explain, "listen to me, everyone is safe now, just listen"

Naruto took a step back, calming down enough to listen to what the kyuubi has to say, knowing that kurama wouldnt lie about something like his friends' safety.

"What, where are we" naruto demanded impatiently

"We are in the past"

"..."

"..."

"What?"