what could have been
Chapter 2: what happened?
After kyuubi had finished explaining who the old man was and how he was able to send him into the past using his residual chakra, Naruto's mind was running on overdrive as he processed everything kurama had just told him, could he be in the infinite tsukuyomi? No, that's not possible, madara still needed the kyuubi before he could enact his plan. That means... "so we're actually in the past?" Asked the blond hesitant of the feeling that is creeping inside him, is that hope? The blond couldn't tell but he can't afford to hope now and have his hope crushed later. "Yes" replied the kyuubi looking naruto dead in the eyes, "we are not supposed to be here, but we are, the universe would inevitably try to remove us from where we don't belong, according to the old man, we have about 3 weeks here before we die or disappear so listen carefully, we have to fix as much as we can to ensure that the time we came from never happens again"
Naruto contemplated this for a solid minute visibly relaxing his tense muscles every second that passes
"I understand" the blond said seriously, understanding that the whole world's fate is now in their hands, he got a satisfied nod back from the kyuubi.
(In the third's office)
The third hokage was doing plain and boring paperwork as usual until one of his trusted anbu appeared in his office
"Report" said the third calmly
"Hokage-sama, a new ninja at the gates informed us that he wishes to see you, upon further investigation he said that he is looking to reside in konoha for a while, he doesn't have any marks indicating any association with any of the hidden villages, our sensors have detected that he isn't displaying all of his chakra, but suppressing most of it, he could be a serious threat"
"I'll handle it, come with me"
The third disappeared in the signature leaf shunshin, his anbu following
(At the gates)
2 swirls of leaves, the hokage and his anbu appeared in front of the gates of konoha, the third immediately locating the new ninja.
"Who are you and what is your business in konoha" the third said in his commanding voice
"Hokage sama, my name is haru, i wish to reside in konoha for a few weeks"
"What clan do you belong to"
"I am an orphan sir, i do not know who my parents are"
The hokage was not deterred in the slightest, he knew that there was a lot of orphans produced by the third war, the casualties were massive, and judging by haru's appearance, his supposed age could mean that his parents were 2 of those casualties.
"Why are you looking to stay in konoha?"
Naruto was nervous, very nervous, he was lying to the hokage's face, to his jiji's face, but he kept his facade up, not letting any of this show on his face, he just had to say what they planned in advance
"As i said i'm an orphan, i don't really have a home nor a place to reside in, so i have been wondering around the nations trying to expand my knowledge, make connections and find a place i could call home"
"So you are telling me that if you like it here, you wish to stay?"
"Yes" the blond answered without hesitation, knowing full well that he couldn't possibly stay here, but he could just lie and say he didn't like it or make up some bullshit excuse about how it doesn't feel like home.
The hokage after a lot of contemplation replied: " i approve your request, you will be granted an apartment that you will have to pay rent for, but you will be watched at all times, you will have 1 month to make your decision, if you wish to stay here then you will have to undergo some interrogation sessions and you will still be watched until you are trusted, am i clear?"
"Yes sir" haru inclined his head slightly in acknowledgement
(After 2 days)
Naruto has just finished studying the anbu's rotations, he needed an opening to use his shadow clones and start enacting their plans, if they knew that he can do shadow clones then he would be in big trouble, first he has to find out exactly when they are in the timeline , naruto thought it would be easier to check how old his younger self is at the moment. the opening in the anbu's rotations would be at night, exactly at 7:23 pm where there would only be 1 guard left that has to go for a couple of seconds to inform another squad to take his place, that would be enough time to make his shadow clones and put chakra suppressing seals on them to avoid detection, he was confident he could suppress his and his shadow clones's chakra to an undetectable degree, he intentionally showed a bit of his chakra at the gates to avoid suspicion but he preferred to be safe and put the seals anyway. the blond didnt know why they only left 1 guard, maybe there is an anbu shortage? Very possible considering the importance of anbu for the village, naruto doubted this chance would occur again, maybe it wouldn't even happen today, but he had to try, after preparing the seals, he pulled all his attention 5 minutes before the shift happened, expanding his senses and trying to find the perfect moment to start, then he sensed the anbu's signature getting away from him, this was his chance, naruto made 10 shadow clones, he didn't wanna make too much since it would increase the risk of getting caught, he wasn't worried about someone sensing his use of chakra since the shadow clone jutsu doesn't use chakra but it divides it, so theoretically if he could suppress his clones' chakra to an undetectable level, no one would feel anything. Each shadow clone proceeded to apply the chakra suppressing seal and activate it, then they all spread out in different directions making sure to be hidden in the dark and hoping to make as much impact as possible, naruto came to konoha for 3 reasons, first he needed to know what time he landed in which is best found from his younger self, second he needed to exterminate all spies in his village and extract information from them, especially kabuto since he wanted the snake gone and that would mean that the third hokage would not be killed, third get rid of danzo since he was the cause of many of the incidents that caused the blond and his friends to suffer, there was no point going after obito currently since he doesnt even know when he is in the timeline, so konoha seemed like the obvious choice.
The first clone went to check if mizuki is still alive, he didn't know how to sense chakra signatures when he was a kid so he didn't know mizuki's chakra, that made his job of finding him a lot harder, he decided to wait for the next day and discreetly watch the academy, if he was there then that would mean that his younger self still didn't graduate since mizuki was dealt with upon his graduation.
(Next day at the academy)
There he was, mizuki was there still teaching, naruto also spotted his younger self in the last classroom which means he is still 11 years old and would be graduating this year, the clone made another clone and dispersed it effectively relaying the information he just got to all of the other shadow clones and the original, but he couldn't just kill mizuki, he is still a sensei at the academy, that means that if he went missing then there would be a lot of investigation going into it, naruto didn't want that, soo his plan was to plant evidence against him hoping it would be reported to the hokage and he would be dealt with accordingly, but what evidence could he dig up? Did mizuki even do anything suspicious before betraying konoha? Naruto didn't know, but he had to find out, so that night the clone followed mizuki to his home hoping to find any clue on where to start, only that there was no houses anymore where mizuki was headed, it was just rocks, and the forest is beginning to decline in trees the further he went, finally naruto noticed a small cave in a distance, 'so that's where he was going' thought the clone as he contemplated what to do next, "finally you've arrived" a calm arrogant voice called from a distance.
"i had to teach an academy class and avoid any kind of suspicion before i got he..."
"You can bore someone else with your excuses" kabuto interrupted harshly, "orochimaru-sama wants the scroll of sealing, your job is to get it and come back to otogakure, you have 5 months to do it, is that understood?"
"Yes"
"Good, now go back before anyone notices your absence"
With nothing left to say, mizuki turned and headed straight back where he came from.
They didn't mention any other plan, that means that mizuki either decided to turn on konoha recently or he had been a spy with no recent orders, naruto had a feeling that it was the former since a spy collecting information for that long had to have been discovered by now, especially one at mizuki's level. 'So there is no evidence yet' the clone deduced calmly thinking of a plan to deal with mizuki, if mizuki didn't do anything yet, maybe the blond could force him to do something, slowly a plan started forming in the clone's mind, he made another clone then dispersed it, again relaying all the information he found out to the other clones.
(With the other clones)
4 clones were watching danzo's root base closely since it was bigger than they initially thought, they needed more than one so the clone made 3 clones purely to study the root's shifts and how they operate, after all the blond didn't want a root agent accidentally slipping away reporting that it was the new ninja that was infiltrating the root headquarters, for that reason naruto had decided to either slip in completely unnoticed or murder every single last one of them, he was hoping he could avoid the second option, but either way he had to be there in person, a clone might not be enough, no matter how powerful it is, a simple trick, a simple blow, and it would be over, it's way too risky for that, all the clones have to do now is gathering as much information as possible for the next week, then they would make a plan based on everything they know.
(Naruto's POV)
Naruto was wondering around the village, not doing anything suspicious, he had to be as normal as possible, so he went to restaurants, occasionally recognizing a few faces, they were young, but most importantly, they were alive, they were his friends, the ones that protected him till the end, that fought on his side knowing the impending doom that is madara uchiha, knowing that they might not return alive, a single tear escaped naruto's eye as the faces of those people flashed before his eyes, they were dead, disfigured, broken, slashed, left in their own pool of blood.
It was haunting, the blond almost fell down on his knees again, in the middle of the streets.
"Listen to me"
Naruto vaguely heard the kyuubi saying, not conscious enough to understand, it was like a trance, of misery and sorrow
"Naruto" called the kyuubi again
Naruto, now in his mindscape, turned slowly to the kyuubi, with those lifeless and empty eyes
"you have a second chance to fix all of this now, you can't let it go"
"I failed once,... nothing is gonna change this time"
"Brat" kurama had called calmly with a tone that resembles empathy, naruto had never heard him talk like that.
"You just saw them, they are your friends, your very much alive friends, are you just gonna give up and let them die again?"
The kyuubi was right, naruto couldn't afford to give up, his friends were alive, his village was still standing, everyone was still there, he could save them all.
"I..., you're right"
naruto shook the tears away as the light began to creep into his eyes, familiar determination slowly settling there, the hesitation slowly vanishing, he would not fail this time, he would save them all.
A/N: this is my first story so please don't be harsh, you can tell me if you have any constructive criticism about it tho ,enjoy :) .