A/N: So, here's chapter 20. Great news, guys, the site has finally fixed the view counter! Not sure how many of you know this, but for the past 5 or 6 months, the site's been jank as hell and hasn't been tracking any of the stats for stories. Particularly the view counter. That means the last 6 chapters no longer have a view count of 0, lol. They're still only in the 100s since they only recommenced tracking recently, which is a stark contrast to the first 13 chapters, which are 4,000+. It really makes me wonder what the actual view count of this story is...
Anyway, I'm glad the last chapter was so well received! I really am blown away by the positive response! Again, I really need to have more faith in myself and you guys. That being said, this chapter's a doozy. It was... heavy to write. Emotional. This chapter is a bit shorter, but I think it makes up for that in pure density and the nature of the content. Make sure you pull up your favourite sad song while you're reading. Also, props to the few people who predicted some major plot points for the story. Double props to that one guy who called it back in like... chapter 8. You know who you are.
xXx
Truthfully, he hadn't expected his desperate cry to work. He'd fully expected to have his face caved in and his brain splattered against the wall; such was the strength of his childhood friend.
But, for whatever reason, fate did not have that in store for him. Through sheer force of will or maybe just surprise, Sakura managed to hold back her attack. So, instead of his head resembling a fine mist, she simply punched him square across the jaw.
It hurt like a bitch, and he nearly crumpled on the spot. But he was grateful. Sort of.
Now that the immediate threat to his life had passed, the blond took the opportunity to assess his current situation. Standing before him was none other than Sakura Haruno. His First love. Teammate. Friend. Family.
What the fuck? How?
This wasn't another dream version of Sakura, was it? No, this was undoubtedly the real deal. His aching jaw cemented the fact. His mind began to swim as possibilities started to play out. One of the few things that kept him grounded was the sheer surprise on his old teammate's face, which surely mirrored his own.
"N-Naruto?" She choked out, and the tension in her limbs immediately died.
He... didn't know what to say. How could he? He'd spent who knows how long preparing for a scenario like this. Well, not like this, but he'd dreamed of the moment he could look upon his friends and simply... speak with them.
But... he wasn't back home. He was in Remnant. And now... so was Sakura? How? Why?
Now that he looked at her, there was something off about her appearance. For a moment, he feared it was another genjutsu, and he almost had the mind to send a pulse of chakra through his system. But as his eyes focused, he realized what it was that was throwing him off.
She looked older. Not by much, but definitely older than he remembered her being. Her outfit was different, too, nothing like what she'd been wearing the last time he saw her. More mature. Less militarized.
"Naruto," his fellow shinobi breathed. "Is that really you?"
The blond blinked dumbly. "Y-Yeah," he replied. "I think so." He performed a cursory patdown of himself to be sure.
Truthfully, it felt like a dream. Was it really him? Was it really her? It was surprisingly hard to be sure. But he felt real. He hoped she was real. The Jinchūriki felt moisture gather behind his heavy eyes.
"I can't believe it's really you," the woman before him nearly stuttered.
"Wait," came a voice from behind him. It was Ruby. "This is... your teammate from back home, right? The one you told us about?"
It took a moment for him to register the question for what it was. "Y-Yeah," he simply replied. He couldn't think of anything else to say; such was the emotion overwhelming his mind. He felt scrambled. Disorganized. He had a million questions, each vying for first place in his list of priorities.
It was Sakura who spoke next, essentially ignoring the presence of his team behind him. "You look... exactly as I remember," she said in amazement. There was so much emotion there. So much unsaid. He couldn't even begin to unravel it. Nor did he know how to respond.
"You... You don't," he settled with.
It wasn't meant to be an insult. Just an observation. But it was true. She was... older. Somehow. If he had to guess, she looked to be in her late twenties to early thirties. That kind of change didn't just happen for no reason. It only added to the multitude of questions threatening to split his skull in two.
The pinkette laughed humourlessly. "Yeah," she sighed. "I suppose I don't. A lot happened since you disappeared."
That was a sobering thought.
Naruto swallowed heavily. "What... what happened? To me? To you? Why are you here? How are you here? What —"
He was interrupted by a bone-crushing hug. Not the kind Olive had imparted on him back in Redgold. This was a genuine, honest-to-Kami bone-crusher. In fact, he might have just felt something pop out of place. Despite the pain, or perhaps because of it, he forced his arms around the woman, returning the embrace to the best of his abilities.
Now, this was vaguely familiar.
"Just shut up, idiot."
Yeah. Familiar indeed.
After a full minute of embracing each other, the woman withdrew, stepping back several paces.
"I'm sure you have... a lot of questions."
He nodded.
"I've got a few of my own," she sighed. "I'll try to answer you as best as possible. But before that, who are your friends?"
Friends?
Oh. Oh! Right.
"Sorry," he chuckled. "Sakura, these are my teammates, Ruby, Yang, Blake, and Weiss." Upon noticing the conflict on the white-clad girl's face, he quickly amended, "Weiss is also my girlfriend."
Ah, there it was. That look of conflict was gone. Had she been jealous? Of Sakura? Of their embrace?
"And the last one over there is my friend, Amber. She's also serving as our... evaluator for the mission we're currently on."
The five women offered brief greetings but kept things simple. Clearly, they were all painfully aware of how personal the situation was. Even Amber, who appeared much more tense. Nothing at all like her usual demeanour.
Sakura blinked owlishly. "I'm sorry," she breathed humorously. "Girlfriend? Did I hear that right?" The smile on her face was almost exactly as he remembered. Wide. Honest. Brilliant. But with a tinge of something else. It looked suspiciously like pain. "How exactly did that happen?"
Naruto scratched the back of his head awkwardly, the familiar action evoking an even softer smile from his pink-haired friend. "Yeah, well," he laughed. "It's a long story. One thing led to another... I'm sure you understand."
"Of course," the medic smirked. Surprisingly, she didn't pry. He had definitely expected her to. "Also," she added with a smile. Perhaps he'd spoken too soon. "Your teammates? You sure were quick to replace us," she laughed. She glanced around the seal-encrusted room, and her smile slackened. "Or maybe you weren't..."
Despite the humour in her voice, the joke fell spectacularly flat, and the blond felt the need to defend himself. "I didn't —"
"— I know," the medic cut him off. "I was joking. It's good you've found people," she sighed.
Hmm.
It wasn't long before the lightheartedness completely washed away, and the plague of questions began to bubble to the surface. "Sakura," the shinobi started. "What the hell is going on? How are you here right now?"
What was left of her soft smile evaporated in an instant.
"Ah," she breathed. "I suppose it's only natural to start there." Her tone was alarmingly melancholy.
She looked down onto the cave floor, her bright green eyes languidly tracing the grooves of the vast sealing matrix. She must have picked one spot at random and, in doing so, followed it all the way to the podium the storage scroll once rested on.
"Just... give me a moment," the kunoichi requested.
If her tone was morose before, it was absolutely pained now. Whatever she had to say, he had a feeling it wouldn't be good. Naruto watched as his fellow member of Team 7 approached the pedestal and crouched down. She ran her gloved hands around the neck of the structure, reaching up and around, just slightly out of view. After fiddling around for a moment, she paused in concentration, then frowned deeply. Her hand hovered a moment longer, and he spied her muscles begin to coil.
Her frown morphed into a deep scowl. Suddenly and without warning, she pulled her fist back and delivered a shallow punch to the stone. The action more resembled a slap of annoyance, if anything. Regardless, the material instantly shattered, and thousands of pieces of rock flew back and embedded themselves into the cave wall.
"Shit," she muttered lowly. Angrily.
The action was enough to cause the rest of Team RYBWN to tense. But they eased their stances upon seeing their shinobi teammate's lack of reaction.
Naruto eyed his childhood friend carefully. She'd always been quick to anger. But this? This was a deeply seeded frustration. One he didn't know the source of. And whatever was frustrating her was enough to worry him.
Sakura stood slowly, then reapproached the blond. She met his eyes, and he could immediately discern the raw emotion simmering at the surface. She wasn't even trying to hide it. She opened her mouth to speak, then closed it when nothing came out. This repeated two more times until she stopped and shook her head weakly.
He wanted to push. To get those answers. Kurama had been right. All the answers to his questions were sealed in that scroll. Now they - she - was unsealed. He needed to know why that was the case. But he didn't push. Maybe because he was afraid of the answers. And even though he should be ecstatic at reuniting with Sakura, dread slowly began to creep in as the seconds trickled by. There was no end to the possibilities her presence meant. And right now, his imagination was running rampant.
"I..." His fellow Konoha native finally managed, catching his attention. "I don't know how to say this," she sighed. "So I'll just say it. I'm not here. Not really."
What... did that mean?
Upon seeing his look of confusion, the medic smiled a sad smile. "I'm just a Kage Bunshin," she clarified.
Kage Bunshin? She was a shadow clone? What? But then —
"— Where's the original you?" The shinobi asked in confusion. If her clone was here, the original her couldn't be too far away, right?
Again, that sad look of resignation. "The original me is long, long dead, I'm afraid."
...
Naruto felt his heart freeze and his world come spinning to a stop. Confusion and terror clawed up his spine and gripped the back of his neck tightly. Dead? Sakura was dead? That didn't make any sense. None at all. She was right here, talking to him! Or, her clone was.
"I-I don't understand," he managed to choke out. "You can't be dead. I've... only been gone for a few months..."
But a few months was a lot of time, especially considering the state of affairs he'd left his world in.
"And," he added, how can you be dead if your clone is still up and around?"
The medical shinobi fixed him with a long, pensive look. "Kage Bunshin," she muttered. "You don't need to maintain concentration to have them function. They're autonomous. Independent. Imagine if someone fired a Gōkakyū jutsu but was immediately killed. The fireball would still continue on until it detonated. It's the same with a Doryūheki. The wall, filled with whatever chakra was initially put into it, would remain standing even if the user perished.
Naruto blinked. That... made sense, he supposed. For obvious reasons, he'd never really experimented with his own death and the effect it would have on his clones. Nor had he seen a fellow shadow clone user die while their clones were still active. But where would the chakra go when the clone dispelled? Would it just disappear? Evaporate like water? He was... too afraid to ask.
How... Why... What...
Too many questions. Way too many questions. He didn't know where to start. How to word anything. But he needed to say something. Not stand there dumbly. Get the answers he hadn't even known he'd been searching for.
...
"Do you remember when you told me about your parents?" The pinkette suddenly asked.
What?
"How, during your fight with Pein, when your seal began to rupture, your father left an imprint of his soul within you to activate at such a time?"
He did remember. Oh, how he remembered.
"Or when you fought to master the Kyūbi's power, and the soul fragment of your mother arrived to help you?"
He nodded wordlessly, not daring to trust his voice based solely on the rawness of his throat.
"Think of it like that," his friend smiled. "Think of me like... a fragment of the original. Here for one last goodbye."
The mere mention of goodbyes was what did him in. The rawness of his throat. The painful swelling in the sides of his neck, just below his ears. The burning, blurring pressure in his eyes and the bridge of his nose. It was all too much. Without realizing it, warm liquid trickled down his face, staining his flushed cheeks.
This wasn't how it was supposed to go. Not even close. He opened his mouth to speak, not even remotely aware of what he planned to say. A mistake, clearly, as his voice failed him, cracking sharply upon the first syllable. It resembled more an animalistic whimper than a proper word.
And as quickly as the despair set in, the blond found himself enveloped in another hug. It was softer than the first. More tender. Pink hair tickled his face, and a pair of strong arms wrapped him tight. He felt the heat of her body. The softness of her skin. He felt her heartbeat. And it hurt to know it would be for the last time.
Vaguely, he swore he heard something from his team behind him. Hushed whispers. Maybe more. It was hard to hear past the thundering in his eardrums. Had they heard everything? Part of him hoped they did. He couldn't imagine having to explain this to them again. Vaguely, he knew it was because he didn't want to have to acknowledge it again. Did they even understand what was going on? Probably. They were smart. Maybe that's why they hadn't rushed him yet.
The embrace ended far too quickly. He was still too choked up. Too raw and emotional. But they couldn't stay like this forever. He was still cognizant enough to recognize that shadow clones were not indefinite. As morose as it was, he needed answers before she was... gone.
"How are you here? In Remnant?"
Somehow, be it a divine miracle or unprecedented control on his end, the blond managed to ask his question without faltering.
Sakura eyed him up and down, glanced at his companions in the back, then grimaced. "Before I answer that," she began, "Can you tell me what you think happened to you? During the final fight against Kaguya."
For every second that passed, the blond felt his resolve harden. Each swallow of saliva was done a little easier. Each breath he took shuddered a little bit less. "I... Don't remember much," he admitted. "We fought. Sasuke and I were at our limits. Kaguya didn't seem to be. I don't know how exactly, but there was a light at some point. Blinding. Painful. Then I woke up in a forest in the middle of nowhere."
"And this," the kunoichi gestured to the area around her. "This is where you ended up? Remnant?"
He nodded.
"What exactly is Remnant? A city? A country?" She asked with a critical eye.
Naruto shook his head. "Remnant is the name of this world."
Sakura frowned, then dipped her head. "Of course it is," she laughed dryly. "What a fitting name."
The Jinchūriki furrowed his brows. "Sakura... If you know how I can get home, I need you to tell me."
His old teammate's eyes narrowed, and she shook her head slowly. "Naruto..." she muttered. "I don't... I don't think you're putting the pieces together. Or maybe you're refusing to..."
Again, with the melancholy. If he didn't know her better, he'd swear she was pitying him.
She breathed painfully. "I never left the Elemental Nations," she gestured to herself, then to him. "Which means neither did you. You're still here. This world, Remnant? It's all that's left of home."
Then, it clicked.
...
Huh. Strange. He'd been prepared for a proverbial sucker punch, and this certainly didn't disappoint. But... that was all there really was to it. He almost wanted to feel the accompanying nausea. The anger. The denial. It'd help provide a basis for an argument. Not a good argument, of course. But something to latch on to. Something familiar.
But it never came. Of course, it was bad news. And like all bad news, it brought pain and disbelief. But... was it really as unexpected as he would have liked to believe? The clues were all there, even from the beginning. The shared language between the people of Remnant and the Elemental Nations. The familiar colloquial terms that appered throughout ancient Mistralian texts. The similarities between Aura and Chakra. The list went on. And what really sealed the deal now, was the very presence of a visibly older Sakura standing before him.
...
He was in the future. Not an alternate dimension. Not a parallel world. But for so much to change? How far into the future was he? The annals of history had been wiped clean so far back that even the world itself went by a different name. Maps had been rewritten, scarcely resembling the world he once knew. He wasn't a geologist, but just how long did processes like that take? And for chakra to evolve... devolve... change into Aura... just how long did it take for a species to devlop like that?
"How... how long?" He struggled out. "How long have I been gone?"
Silence permeated the room. He was sure he could hear his teammates' breathing if he focused his ears. Eventually, a low, shallow sigh left the woman's lips.
"There was a seal on the podium that functioned as a sort of... chronograph. It wasn't designed to last forever, so it's hard to say exactly."
"How long?" He repeated.
...
"It... stopped working after a thousand years," came his former teammate's reluctant reply.
...
Ha. 1,000 years. At least. No wonder Sakura had shattered the thing in frustration.
...
He... had nothing. No quip. No joke. No self-comforting words. He couldn't even begin to bother minimalizing the information. That wasn't good. He needed to keep his mind moving. He couldn't afford to get stuck on the details. But how could he not?
He sat motionless. Stunned. After several seconds - or maybe minutes - his brain began to reboot., and the neurons began to fire. He hated that it made sense. Ancient fuinjutsu used to hold Sakura's shadow clone for an indeterminate amount of time. It made more sense than both he and Sakura being sent to the same alternate dimension at different times. Maybe. Did it? Honestly, none of it made any fucking sense. He was just trying to convince himself that it did while conveniently refusing to think further about it.
But now... he couldn't help but think further about it. Everyone... Everything... They were all gone. Killed by Kaguya, maybe. He still didn't know what ultimately befell the deity; she didn't seem to be around anymore. Regardless, even if his friends and family hadn't been outright killed by her, they'd... well, like Sakura herself, they were all long, long, dead. Time had killed them. Did it even matter how long it'd been?
What's worse, there was nothing he could do about it. Travelling between dimensions was one thing. It was rare and highly circumstantial but proven to be possible. But travel through time? He didn't have the spirit to even hope to believe.
A soft, familiar hand brushed his cheek, wiping away the free-flowing tears. Oh. Great. He was crying again. Or was he still crying from before? It was just what he needed. Why? Why now? He needed to focus. Listen. Think. He didn't have time to cry like a baby. That could come later. So why wouldn't the tears stop? It was embarrassing. Frustrating. Immesurably so. Now, in front of so many people, he —
"— I'm so sorry, Naruto," Sakura whispered painfully. Moisture threatened to spill from her own eyes, but thankfully, she held on. For his sake and for hers.
It was only now that the blond could fully appreciate just how much she had changed. As he'd noticed earlier, her appearance was older. More mature. Almost, dare he say it, motherly. And right now, she was looking at him somewhere between how a friend would and how Tsunade used to.
She was still just as beautiful as he remembered, but she wore the unmistakable aura of someone who'd been through a hell of a lot. Just what had she seen in the time he'd been gone?
Naruto leaned into her touch, savouring the warmth. If he closed his eyes, he could almost pretend... No. He couldn't. No matter how much he wished he could.
"I-I thought..." the shinobi choked out.
"I know," his teammate nodded. "It makes sense. It was one of our earlier theories for what happened to you. If we had more time to think and plan, I'm sure Sasuke would have gone looking."
A look of resignation passed over her features. "But... after a while, we began to assume you were dead."
He tilted his head at the admission, prompting her to continue.
"You just disappeared in the middle of it all. Not a trace. Kaguya, the bitch, wasn't exactly easy to read. And she never revealed what happened. Now I know for sure that she didn't even know."
"But why did you think I died?" He asked. "Getting sent to another world... or dimension was pretty plausible, considering Kaguya's abilities."
Thankfully, it was becoming easier to talk. To focus.
Sakura sighed. "Don't get me wrong, many of us still held onto the theory. Kaguya already tried to divide and conquer us once, so we thought she might try again. But after a while..." she shrugged. "If she had sent you to one of her worlds, she should have been able to track you down, kill you, and absorb your chakra and the Kyūbi's."
That was true. It'd been something he dreaded in his early days in Remnant.
"Since that didn't seem to have happened, the most likely scenario was that she got you with her All-Killing Ash Bones."
The blond shuddered at being reminded of the technique.
"It made sense, you know? Why there was no body. But after nearly 10 years, a lot of us reconsidered the other world theory."
Wait, 10 years? They'd survived for another 10 years? That was nothing short of incredible. At his raised brow, she continued.
"There weren't any signs of the Kyūbi reforming," she explained. "It only took the Sanbi a few years to reemerge after the Fourth Mizukage was killed during Kirigakure's Civil War. We knew the Kyūbi would probably take longer, given he had so much more chakra, but it was around the 10-year mark that had many of us revisiting the topic. We knew Kaguya didn't get ahold of the fox; things would have gone a lot differently if she had. So, in the end, the ultimate theory shifted back to her sending you to another world. And without Sasuke, there was no way to reach you."
Without Sasuke? He supposed that meant...
"I can tell you one thing, though," his friend smiled. "No one guessed that you got sent forward in time."
Yah. Neither had he. It probably took some serious smarts to come up with that theory.
Also, Kaguya. Right.
"What happened with Kaguya? You implied she was still around after I disappeared. How... did any of you guys survive?"
The question evoked a surprising response. The pinkette simply began to laugh. There was no humour in it. Instead, it was a pained laugh. An accepting laugh. One that brought out no small amount of derision towards the Goddess.
"To call what we did surviving is painfully generous," she said, shaking her head. "I guess there's a lot to catch you up on. But... before we get to that, let's take a short break. I – you, need a break."
Wait, what? A break? What was this, the evening news? They most certainly should not be taking a break. He was barely holding together as it was. To delay any more would be —
— The blond was nearly bowled over as four teenage girl-sized missiles impacted him from behind. Had he not kept up with his daily stretches, his spine would have likely snapped in two, reinforced body and Aura notwithstanding. As it was, he simply released a loud 'oof' and stumbled forward several steps. It took him a moment to register the sensations for what they were. It was his team, of course. No doubt they'd been listening intently to every word. And the news hadn't exactly been hard to understand. Hard to believe, sure, But they seemed to know what was happening. What had happened.
A slew of soft 'I'm sorry's' and other soothing words of comfort came forth. Truthfully, their words meant very little. It was their actions that meant the world to him. Because really, what exactly could be said that would help in any way? But their presence, their contact... that was real. Something he could latch onto. Something to believe in. Because even if they remained utterly silent on the matter, their willingness to simply exist beside him was enough.
Raising his head, he spied Amber across the room, leaning against the cavern's wall. She wore a deep look of contemplation, her face an unreadable mosaic of emotions. He could only imagine what she was thinking. It didn't take long for her eyes to meet his, but as they did, she made a point to convey as much sympathy and understanding as possible. Funny, considering how little she probably understood of the situation. Not like it was her fault, though. Still, she hadn't challenged him or Sakura on the claims. He appreciated that. But he was also confused by it. If he was in her position and only knew what she knew, he'd be asking questions.
As his team reluctantly moved away from him, Weiss remained steadfastly at his side. He lacked the words to describe how grateful he was for this. Now more than ever, he felt like he needed an anchor. Something, or someone, to ground him.
"Uhm," Ruby broke the tense silence of the room. "Sakura, right?" She asked the kunoichi.
The pinkette smiled a disarming smile at the younger girl.
"I know this might get answered later, but I was wondering," she paused. "How exactly did Naruto get sent to the future?"
Naruto exhaled heavily at the question. Obviously, he was wondering the exact same thing. He just hadn't come close to organizing his thoughts and questions yet.
"Don't mind her," Yang interjected. "Time travel is her favourite sci-fi trope. That or the multiverse."
Sakura smiled softly at the girl. "Well," the medic sighed. "I'm sorry to say, but I don't really have an answer. Time travel has never been documented before. So, unfortunately, unlike your stories, I don't think there will ever be a proper explanation for this. At least, not right now."
The scythe-wielder pouted minutely, then nodded. "That's okay," the 15-year-old frowned. "I kind of figured. I just thought maybe... Well, you know."
Naruto had an idea of where her thought process lay. If the method of travel was known, it could, theoretically, be replicated. Alas, as he'd suspected, that wasn't to be. It didn't come as a surprise, but it still hurt to be reminded.
...
A cold hand squeezed his own, causing him to gaze into his girlfriend's eyes. There was a myriad of emotions there. Worry. Confusion. If he had to guess, the girl was at a loss for what to say. He couldn't blame her. He would be, too. Though, unlike him, she seemed to accept that words would either not be enough or were a moot point. Instead, she quickly leaned in and placed a chaste kiss on his jawline. The physical contact didn't last long, barely a second, really. But he craved more. He craved the comfort.
"We're here for you," she whispered, her presence still intimately close. "I'm here for you."
Ah. He'd been wrong. There were still words that held weight. Leave it to Weiss to find them.
Naruto sighed as he sought the eyes of his former teammate. As much as he'd like to freeze time and process everything, he needed to learn what happened after his disappearance. About... the past.
Emerald-green eyes met his oceanic blue, and a softness passed between them. "I really wish we had more time," Sakura lamented, echoing his thoughts. "I'd love nothing more than to know how this," she gestured to the couple, "came about."
Her voice held an almost dreamy tone, one that sent alarm bells ringing. Despite the seriousness of everything. Despite the tragedy and the loss... Sakura was still a romantic at heart. The thought brought a smile to his lips.
"So," the combat medic started, shaking her head. "I guess I should start from the point you disappeared."
Naruto nodded tentatively. He didn't know if he was ready to hear this. He supposed it didn't matter.
The ghost of his once-teammate sighed, "After you were gone, it didn't take long for Kaguya to turn the tide of the fight. Sasuke..." she sighed sadly.
Naruto could probably guess what happened to his brother figure.
"He did a lot better than you're probably thinking," Sakura grinned.
Oh?
"He knew he couldn't win. He was always arrogant but never stupid. So, he did the next best thing. If he couldn't beat Kaguya, he could at least deny her the easy victory she thought she had."
"And how exactly did he do that?" The Jinchūriki asked. "The two of us at full strength could barely keep up with her; how'd he manage to cause enough damage to deny her a win?"
"Well," the Hokage's former apprentice smirked, eyeing the Remnant natives peculiarly. "He blew up the moon."
...
What?
...
"What?" Came five girlish cries of disbelief. It seemed even Amber, who'd withdrawn herself from the conversation as much as possible, couldn't help but speak out.
...
"Yeah, no," Naruto frowned. "Sasuke didn't have the raw power to blow up the moon. Even with the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan and the Rinnegan, that kind of strength isn't possible."
Sakura nodded in agreement. "You're right. More than anything, the Sharingan and the Rinnegan granted Sasuke powerful techniques. But they didn't actually provide raw power. That was always your style."
Indeed it was. If Sasuke was the scalpal, then he was the grenade.
"But," the woman added, "When you were... ripped from time," she spoke the last part almost as a question. "I'm sure you noticed that, with the exception of the Kyūbi, the rest of the tailed beasts were left behind."
He did, in fact, notice that. It was the reason his chakra network was so utterly fucked. It was — wait. Hold on. Kurama had said that Tsunade might have been able to fix the damage. Or repair it somewhat. And standing before him was the former apprentice of the very woman he needed. Sakura had been highly attentive while studying under the former Hokage, and she seemed to be older than he last remembered. There was a good chance she had reached or even surpassed his Godmother's level.
It was something he latched onto instantly. As soon as the opportunity presented itself, he'd ask about it. Maybe something could be done. But for now, he still needed answers.
"Are," the blond paused, trying to shake the cobwebs from his head. "Are you saying that Sasuke used the remaining tailed beasts to blow up the fucking moon?"
Sakura was silent for a moment, allowing the idea to simmer. "Pretty much," she laughed.
Un-fucking-believable.
"Un-fucking-believable," Yang muttered. "What was the point of blowing it up? Was he trying to style on her?"
Naruto's brows furrowed. Despite the ridiculousness of the last Uchiha's actions, he knew why the avenger did what he did. He turned to face his fellow blonde. "Do you remember when I told you about Kaguya's Eye of the Moon Plan? The Infinite Tsukuyomi?"
"Ah..." the brawler drawled. "Vaguely?"
It was Weiss who filled in the gap. "You mentioned it was her plan to cast a mass illusion, using the moon as a medium, to enslave the entire world."
Looks like someone had been paying attention.
"Wow," the pink-haired woman grunted, causing the group to face her. "I'm... surprised that you've told everyone everything. You must really trust them," she said appraisingly.
"Definitely," the shinobi responded immediately.
"That's good to hear," the kunoichi breathed, almost in relief.
There seemed to be nuance there he wasn't privy to, and while he would've liked to think on her words, he had other things to prioritize.
"Okay, I think I understand. Sasuke used the rest of the tailed beasts to shatter the moon and free everyone from the Infinite Tsukuyomi. That's definitely one way to do it. Really makes me wonder why we didn't do it earlier."
Sakura looked uncomfortable at the thought.
"What?" He asked upon noticing her look. "What's wrong?"
...
"Naruto," came a soft voice. It was Blake, surprisingly. "Do you... understand what destroying the moon would do to the world?"
The blond winced. Not particularly. He must have zoned out in astronomy class.
Upon seeing his look of discomfort, Blake frowned. "The moon is responsible for the tides and ocean currents. It —"
"— Wait," Ruby gasped in astonishment. "You're saying when the moon broke apart, there were 300-foot-high tidal waves that wiped out everything?"
The group remained silent at that.
"No," Blake sighed. "This isn't a movie. Realistically, Remnant's tides would have indeed shifted. Drastically. But the impact on the world would be more ecological than physical."
"Ecological?" Their team leader echoed.
"Yes," the ravenette replied. "The oceans are the progenitors of all life, according to most academic theories. And many believe they play a crucial role in global homeostasis. The complete shifting of tides and ocean currents would have likely disrupted a lot of ecosystems, resulting in a mass extinction event."
Naruto glanced at his childhood friend. "Is that right?"
"Mass extinction event?" Sakura hummed in morbid amusement. "That sounds about right. It's good to see that the people of this age are so well-educated. But..." she sighed. "Honestly, that kind of stuff was the least of our worries. At least in the beginning."
As was the common theme of the afternoon, pain blossomed across her face.
"Really..." the pinkette muttered. "I don't know how to describe it." Her face twisted in thought. After a moment, it softened. "Imagine what would happen if an explosive tag detonated right next to your head. Now apply that on a planetary level."
Oh.
"The moon didn't just crumble apart nicely. It exploded."
That would mean...
"It'd be like if a moon-sized fragmentation grenade went off," Ruby breathed.
"There... must have been a lot of shrapnel," Weiss spoke in realization.
Sakura released a pained laugh. "That's putting it lightly. In case any of you were wondering, assuming it's the same as when I last saw it, what's left of the moon right now is about one-third of what it used to be."
...
Only a third?
"Yeah," the war veteran muttered. "One-third. About a third was blasted into space. A third remained orbiting. And the final third was sent straight down to the planet."
Kami...
After a long silence, the pink-clad woman began to tap her finger across the crook of her crossed arms. "Do you remember when Madara was first revived? When he fought Gaara and the Tsuchikage? You had clones in the area for that, right?"
Naruto nodded. How could he forget?
"Well, you remember when he pulled an asteroid out of space and dropped it on the battlefield?"
He nodded.
"Wait, wait, wait," Yang jumped in. "The fuck you mean?"
The shinobi waved her off, promising a recap of the events at a later time. If the conversation wasn't so serious, he might have laughed. This all must have seemed terribly outlandish to their audience. He honestly wondered how they could even hope to keep up.
"Well," Sakura continued, "imagine that, but worse. Thousands upon thousands of those rocks, but hundreds of times larger, peppering the planet without respite."
Holy shit. He tried to imagine. He really did. But how could he? That level of destruction was...
"No wonder the maps look different," the shinobi chuckled morbidly.
Sakura sighed deeply. "Well, that's one of the reasons."
And what did that mean?
"After the moon was destroyed, it didn't take long for Kaguya to kill Sasuke."
A wince of pain shot through the Uzumaki's chest. Given the context and the story leading up to it, he'd been expecting that. Prepared for it. It didn't feel like it mattered. It still hurt to know.
Naruto quickly stammered out in a desperate attempt to scrounge up some sort of bright side, "B-But with the moon gone and the Infinite Tsukuyomi over, everyone would have been freed, right? That has to count for something."
"It did," Sakura agreed. "For a few minutes. But the moon being destroyed happened quickly. It didn't take long for the debris to start hitting the planet. People had essentially been freed from their enslavement and thrown directly into hell. It... wasn't pretty."
No. He supposed it wouldn't have been.
...
Hearing such events... It was almost too difficult to accept. There was next to no frame of reference for him to compare it to. Simply hearing, 'and then hellfire rained down and wiped out most of humanity,' was surreal. Almost fictional. But it wasn't. And the shinobi didn't have the luxury of his Remanantian teammates. To them, it must have been like learning of an ancient natural disaster. A great earthquake from thousands of years ago. Or a sizeable volcanic eruption that destroyed a prehistoric city. To them, it must have felt academic.
But to Naruto, it wasn't academic. It was the ultimate fate of many of the people he'd come to know. He wondered if those events had been written about at some point. If they were, they'd been subsequently forgotten. Nothing but dust from long-since crumbled history books. It was painful. Morbid. And not nearly as distant to him as it was to the rest of the world.
"Fortunately, the survivors organized quickly, and thankfully, Kaguya seemed busy with the mess Sasuke created."
"Aside from you," Naruto began, his tone weak. "Who survived the initial destruction?"
The medical ninja made a strange face. Something of a smile mixed with a frown. "Surprisingly, many shinobi managed to survive, their ninjutsu proving invaluable. The civilian population, however..." She didn't need to say much more. Without ninjutsu, survival would have been limited to those living in or around shinobi villages or the extremely lucky.
"Right," the blond muttered, saving his friend from having to spell it out.
What a mess.
What a fucking mess.
Was... was this really worth it? Knowing all this? Maybe ignorance would have been better. Would forever chasing the impossible dream of making it home be better than knowing... this? He didn't know.
He felt a series of hands grip his arms. All four of his teammates were holding onto him in a show of support. They each seemed to be on the verge of saying something. But in each case, words failed them. He couldn't blame them. Words were failing him, too. It was funny. This directly affected him in a way it didn't for his teammates, but they each wore grim expressions uniquely their own. Narrowed eyes. Wide eyes. Soft eyes and hard eyes. He could see the torrent of emotions they tried to keep at bay.
Hmm. Even if they weren't experiencing the same pain he was, they were empathetic by nature, almost to a fault. His pain was affecting them. There was... solidarity in that. A small amount of comfort to be found.
"Holy shit, dude," Yang managed to vocalize.
Well, leave it to her to summarize all their thoughts.
"I'm so sorry, Naruto," Sakura frowned. "I imagine you were hoping for better news. I'm sorry I have to tell you this."
The blond nodded his head. It wasn't her fault. Not by a long shot. The news was beyond shitty. But despite his earlier thoughts, this would eventually bring him closure. Pain now, but closure nonetheless. And he was grateful it came from Sakura, of all people.
One last goodbye, indeed. Not everyone got such a gift.
"There's more to it, isn't there?" Came his surprisingly level question.
Sakura nodded minutely. There had to have been. They hadn't even touched on the fact that she was older. Or why her shadow clone had been sealed away. Or what happened to Kaguya.
"You're right," the woman from the past nodded. "Some more bad news, of course," she said bitterly. "But also some good news, I hope."
Naruto nodded. Okay. Time to hear the end of it. He was starting to become numb to it anyway. That probably wasn't a good thing. No, it definitely wasn't a good thing. But they only had so long until Sakura's shadow clone was gone. And he needed the complete picture.
His former teammate took a deep breath, casting her gaze around the cavernous room. Her eyes lingered on the various sealing matrices, shifting from one to another.
"For a long time, all we could do was keep mobile and avoid Kaguya," came the follow-up explanation. "She was pretty intent on consuming all the chakra of the world. And since Sasuke had destroyed her means to harness it quickly and efficiently, she had to do it the old-fashioned way."
Naruto frowned. "Not to be rude, but wasn't most chakra centred around the tailed beasts?"
Sakura shrugged. "You'd be surprised just how much chakra the entire population of the world amounts to, as depleted as that population was. If you remember, Kisame Hoshigaki alone was said to have as much chakra as a tailed beast."
Hmm. That's right. Wasn't his moniker 'the tailless beast?'
"And even still," the pinkette continued, "one of the few things we could do was help keep the remaining bijū away from Kaguya."
"How'd you do it?"
His friend sighed. "In whatever way we could. We ran. Hid. Fought when we had to, though that almost always amounted to varying degrees of sacrifice."
It must have, given the enemy.
"It was brutal. The world was in ruins. The amount of debris ejected back into the atmosphere from so many large-scale impacts blocked out the sun. Wiped out a lot of plant life. Then, animal life. Caused an ecological disaster. It made surviving hard enough without Kaguya hunting us down. In rare cases, it made hiding easier, though it was hardly ever worth it."
Naruto listened intently. He didn't want to — couldn't interrupt. His spirit felt weak, and he didn't trust his voice.
"We kept at it for... years. Lost a lot of people. Friends. Family. Over time, most of the bijū were captured and consumed, only making Kaguya stronger. More difficult to avoid."
The girl released a shuddering breath. "That's pretty much why I'm here."
Naruto frowned. "I don't understand."
...
"You're a time capsule," came a sad voice. All eyes turned to Blake. "You couldn't beat your enemy, so you decided to leave something behind."
The kunoichi smiled sadly. "Bingo. I'm... essentially a record of the shinobi era. A... warning to those who come after."
The blond blinked. "Those who come after?" He echoed while looking at his Remnantian teammates.
"We knew we'd never be able to beat Kaguya. But we also figured she wouldn't just stay here forever. She made it clear that her goal was to reclaim all her lost chakra. After that... we... well..."
"You were hoping she'd move on? Go back to where she came from?"
If the Jinchūriki was being honest, he'd almost completely forgotten that the Ōtsutsuki was a fucking alien. He'd only been made aware of it in the last minutes of their battle.
"Either that, she'd eventually die of old age, or someone else would come to finish her," the pinkette laughed derisively.
"Is that even possible?" Naruto questioned. "Also, can someone like her even die of old age?"
"I don't see why not," Sakura shrugged. "She wasn't an actual god. Just a really powerful entity. So unless her alien biology rendered her functionally immortal, then... well, like I said, we were also hoping she'd just leave."
That... that just felt so... defeatist. Like they'd given up. It was hard to stomach. But even so, could he really blame them? Without him and Sasuke, what could they have done? They'd struggled and survived for as long as they could. At some point, they had to face reality.
He supposed that... sort of explained why Sakura's shadow clone had been sealed away. "So, what were you supposed to do? Reach out to future generations and what? Teach them ninjutsu? Like the Sage of Six Paths did? Also, why not just seal away some books and scrolls? Why did it have to be a person? Or, shadow clone in this case?"
Sakura nodded in agreement. "Well, written records are great so long as someone can understand them. We had no idea how long I'd be sealed away, but we figured culture, languages, and societies would have changed over time. If anything survived at all," she sighed. "And there was no way to know who would uncover everything. Would it be bandits and grave robbers? Or archeologists and historians? I was sealed to protect that information and pass it on to the right people."
"Are you saying..."
A puff of familiar white smoke heralded the arrival of a large scroll. The kunoichi hefted it onto the ground as if it weighed nothing. "We crammed as much information into this thing as we could. Think of me as its guardian."
Interesting.
"Also, to a lesser degree, I was supposed to educate or warn people of Kaguya's threat, even if she wasn't around anymore. At the very least, as you surmised, I was supposed to pass on the teachings of chakra, assuming there weren't any chakra users left."
Hmm.
"Then what's with the setup?" Naruto asked.
It was her turn to echo his words. "Setup?"
Naruto nodded. "If there were concerns that there wouldn't be any chakra users left, why make it so that you could only be released by someone with chakra?"
Sakura blinked oddly. "That's not right," she muttered. "It shouldn't have —
"— Also, what was with the genjutsu seal at the mouth of the cave? If you were trying to rejuvenate future generations, why set up something that would drive people away?"
Sakura's eyes narrowed as confusion mixed with irritation. "First of all," she frowned. "Don't be mistaken. This wasn't just my idea. The decision to invest so many resources to seal me away wasn't made just by me. A lot of voices went into it. Second of all, I have no idea what you're talking about. We never set up a genjutsu around the area. It would have attracted Kaguya's attention instantly. Finally, the method of how I would be unsealed wasn't limited by chakra. It was supposed to have been proximity-based, so I don't know what you're talking about."
Naruto blinked. "Well, there was definitely a large area of effect genjutsu seal set up to repel anything and everything. And you only appeared when I manually unsealed you."
The pink-clad woman hummed in thought. "I don't know what to say. The genjutsu might have been a decision made after I was sealed."
"After?"
She hummed in acknowledgement. "It wasn't a rush job. It was a carefully planned process. We weren't under threat at the exact moment I was sealed, so we had plenty of time to address contingencies and protocols. Naturally, my memories of that ended when I was sealed, so perhaps the decision to add a defensive genjutsu came after? I really can't imagine why, though; it's not like anything we had could have fooled Kaguya. As for the other inconsistency... I have no idea why that would have been changed. It doesn't make any sense," she frowned.
That was... strange. But it seemed like his former teammate had no more answers on the topic, so he chose to move on.
"Right," Naruto sighed. After a moment, he eyed her carefully. "I meant to ask, why a shadow clone? Why not the real you?"
Sakura blinked at him. "A few reasons. We didn't know the long-term effects of sealing a living being. Sure, living things have been sealed in the past, but never for as long as we planned. But more importantly, would you have been okay with being sealed away while everyone else stayed behind?"
No. Definitely not. Stupid question.
"Yeah," the woman smiled. "Everyone else felt the same. The decision to use a shadow clone was very much intentional. And if you're wondering why it was me specifically, it was because I had the most seniority and the most chakra. So the idea was that one of my clones would last the longest once unsealed."
Naruto blinked. Sakura had the most chakra at that point? Not to sound too harsh, but damn. Then again, it could have been her Byakugō no In. That technique was no joke. It was enough to temporarily elevate its user to well beyond their limits. The blond nodded diplomatically. His head was starting to hurt. So much information to keep track of.
"Naruto."
His eyes refocused on the woman before him.
"The fact that you're here right now and that the world still has life in it makes me think that Kaguya hasn't been around for some time."
Oh. Right. They still hadn't established what the fuck happened to the Rabbit Goddess.
"I'll stop you there because I can tell you're going to ask, but I don't know what happened to her. I was sealed when she was still active, but... there's something else. Something big."
Okay... was this the bit of good news she'd alluded to?
"This might be good news, or it might be bad."
Great.
"Not long before I was sealed, others came to challenge Kaguya."
What? Who?
Seeing his widened eyes, the pinkette quickly continued. "We're pretty sure other Ōtsutsuki's arrived in the Elemental Nations."
...
Other Ōtsutsuki's? There were more?
...
Of course, there were more. Why wouldn't more of that insane alien clan come?
"Why would they challenge Kaguya?"
Sakura shrugged helplessly. "They didn't exactly introduce themselves or put out a mission statement. They had similar features to Kaguya. And strength. And once they showed up, they immediately started fighting her. We don't know why; we were just glad for a little respite. Because once the fighting started, we were the last thing on her mind. It really allowed us the reprieve we needed to plan out this whole thing," the pinkette muttered while gesturing to everything around her. "It was also part of why we thought this whole thing was necessary."
Naruto hummed. No doubt. If multiple Ōtsutsuki's were running around tearing up the world, then waiting it out was undoubtedly the best option. Also, the reason for the fight likely had something to do with the Goddess shirking her 'duties.' It seemed her clansmen had indeed found out about it. That, or they felt she'd been taking too long to harvest the planet. He was fuzzy on the details. Come to think of it, he didn't actually know what they knew about they Rabbit Goddess' circumstances.
"Remember how I said the moon's destruction was just one of the reasons the world maps likely looked different? The fight between Kaguya and her clansmen was surely the other reason."
Naruto nodded dumbly.
If a bijū could reshape mountains with the flick of its tail, he could only imagine what multiple fighters, each exponentially more powerful than all of the bijū combined, could do. Would it be enough to reshape the land? Probably. Destroy mountains? He could see it. Wipe away coasts and sink islands? Maybe.
"I'm not telling you this to scare you, by the way," Sakura added. "Whatever the result of that fight was, it was decided after I was sealed. And since, I'm guessing, the world isn't currently ruled by impossibly strong, ghostly pale, otherworldy individuals, that means the threat has passed."
Her emerald eyes were locked onto the Remnant natives. "Is the world ruled by ghostly pale, otherworldly individuals?"
"U-Uh... No?" Ruby answered lamely.
For a moment, the Jinchūriki swore he heard Amber take a sharp breath. Hmm.
"Right," Sakura added. "Then do with that information as you will. Kaguya doesn't really seem to be around anymore. It might be too much to hope for, but maybe her clansmen beat her and dragged her back to wherever they came from."
Would that be too much to hope for? Probably.
"That's pretty much it," Sakura stated, the etchings of fatigue marring her face. "You disappeared. Sasuke blew up the moon. The survivors spent the following decade or so keeping out of Kaguya's sights. Her clansmen showed up and started battling it out with her."
Naruto sighed tiredly. "And you, a shadow clone, were sealed away as a contingency to pass on knowledge in case society fully collapsed."
The pinkette nodded. "Pretty much. Although I'm starting to think my purpose here is irrelevant."
Naruto tilted his head. "How so?"
"Well, you're here now. So my presence is a bit redundant, wouldn't you say?"
No, he probably wouldn't say.
Naruto shook his head. "What, you think I should respread ninshu across the land?" He frowned at the idea. "I'm neither the Sage of Six Paths nor want to be."
She remained silent at his refusal.
"Plus, the people of the world have Aura now. And despite what some would say, the world is actually relatively stable. I'm not sure if re-introducing chakra would be a good idea."
The combat medic's eyes narrowed. "Aura?"
At the same time, "stable?" Came Blake's incredulous question.
He looked between the two, deciding to answer his former teammate first. "Aura is... similar to chakra. Imagine if chakra was made of only Yin energy."
Sakura hummed in thought.
"There's a lot of differences, sure. But that's... the closest explanation of Aura I can think of. I'm assuming people either developed this energy independently, as a way to survive after Kaguya, or it's derived from chakra as a sort of evolution."
The blond immediately turned to face Blake. "And I'm sorry, but yeah, stable. Things aren't perfect here, but Remnant's last major conflict was, what? 80 years ago? We had four world wars within 50 years in the Elemental Nations."
That managed to humble the ravenette. It wasn't his intention. This wasn't a competition. But it was true. Remanant, despite its flaws, was vastly more stable than back home.
...
A brief yet awkward silence blanketed the group. Naruto suppressed a shaky sigh. Was that it, then? The ultimate fate of all his friends and loved ones, summarized into a thrity-minute discussion. Somehow, that felt so... wrong. And yet, he knew he couldn't bear to hear the details. Not that the shadow clone before him would subject him to such.
"Come here," the medic beckoned him over.
...
"Okay," came the shinobi's automatic reply. Without realizing it, his body was already on the move, if only because the woman was again using her 'combat medic' voice.
Dropping onto her haunches, Sakura gestured to the spot directly in front of her. "Sit here and face away from me."
As the blond moved, he tilted his head to the side. "Why?" He grunted.
Strangely, or perhaps worryingly, she chose not to answer him. At least, not until he planted himself onto the ground.
"I'm going to look you over," she finally replied. "As we already mentioned, when you came here, the Kyūbi was the only bijū to tag along. The others stayed behind."
Oh. He could see where this was going.
"Even though they weren't technically sealed inside you, at least not in the way the fox is, their removal must have caused some damage." The kunoichi paused momentarily. "Actually," she added. "They probably did a lot of damage. I'd like to see how you're still alive. Call it a professional curiosity."
Ah. Well. It saved him the awkwardness of asking her to fix him. If she could fix him.
Within moments, the shinobi felt the familiar, warm sensation of chakra enter his system. As a simple diagnostic jutsu, it lacked the accompanying soothing yet itchy tingle of medical chakra he'd become familiar with over time.
The rest of his team gathered around the duo as the process continued, their interest piqued.
Ruby hummed while the medic-nin worked. "Naruto told us he was pretty bad off since coming here. Are you going to heal him? You're a medic, right?"
"Doctor," Sakura grunted in concentration.
Yang shuddered. "Oh, brothers, not another one," she groaned tiredly.
"Wait, really?" Naruto chirped, twisting to look at his friend. She reflexively shoved his shoulder so that he was again facing away from her. "Did you finally close the gap between you and Tsunade?"
The pinkette simply grunted, the meaning behind it ambiguous.
Naruto craned his neck to face his team leader. "Don't worry, Ruby. Sakura's the second-best healer I know. And that was before I left. I can only imagine how good she is now. I know she'll do the best she can."
"Great," Yang chimed in. "Just what we need. Naruto up to full strength so that we can become completely irrelevant." The comment earned her dual elbows, one to each side of her ribs, from Weiss and Blake.
After several more seconds, the radiant heat ceased as Sakura leaned back onto her heels. She was silent. Eerily so. Any longer, and he would have begun to get nervous. Thankfully, the kunoichi wasn't one for dramatic flare and simply chuckled.
"Naruto," she breathed. "How, in the name of Kami, are you alive?"
Not... exactly what you wanted to hear from your doctor.
"That bad?" The blond asked tentatively.
"Worse," Sakura sighed shallowly. "Look, I'm assuming the Kyūbi healed you up once you got here, correct?"
Naruto nodded. "That's what he said. Why? Did he fuck it up somehow?"
The pinkette hummed. "Not entirely," she frowned. "I mean, no, because he undoubtedly saved your life. But yes, in the sense that your pathways are fucked beyond almost all recognition."
Yeah, he already knew that much.
"But you can fix it, right?"
Sakura chuckled humourlessly. "No."
...
Well, fuck.
...
"Seriously?" The blond questioned, irritation creeping in. "The fox speculated that Granny Tsunade might be able to fix me. You were her apprentice, so — "
"— And I surpassed her a long time ago," she interrupted. "So, believe me when I say there's nothing that I, nor anyone else, can do."
A drawn-out silence passed between the group. More bad news. When the idea of her healing him first took root, he'd tried not to get his hopes up. He'd mostly resolved himself, knowing that his former strength was gone. If not permanently, then for a long, long time. And while, luckily, the false hope hadn't been around long enough to spread, the information still distressed him. Greatly so.
Sakura sighed from behind him. "Naruto, you should be dead. The damage done to your system was clearly worse than anything else you've suffered by a mile. The fact that you didn't die from shock alone is a testament to your overall fortitude. I don't think you fully appreciate just how lucky you are. The fox literally stitched you back together."
He knew that. But still.
"Yeah, well, he could have done a better job," the Jinchūriki sighed softly.
"No, Naruto. He couldn't have. The damage done to your body... I genuinely have nothing to compare it to," she sighed. "Look, imagine if someone painstakingly taped back together a piece of paper that was shredded. That was you. You were the paper. The Kyūbi was the person taping the paper. And the tape was his chakra."
He remained silent.
"Naruto, your chakra system is literally being held together with duct tape, bubblegum, and a prayer."
Despite his mood, the blond suppressed an involuntary grin. "Okay, okay. I get it. Can you stop? Your analogy is stupid and doesn't make any sense."
"No, shut up. My analogy is great," she chuckled. "I'm serious, though. The fact that you can use chakra at all is a miracle. You're a barely held-together piece of paper right now, and the only way to repair your chakra network would be to completely shred and process you through a proverbial paper mill."
Hmm.
"That would kill you, by the way."
Ah.
"And not in an 'I can resuscitate you' kind of way."
Damn.
The blond felt a tight squeeze on his shoulder. "But you know, if you train, you should be able to get stronger. Increase your control. You wouldn't be able to grow your reserves since your capacity is technically the same, but you should be able to increase the amount of chakra you can handle without stressing your system too much."
That caught his attention. "I have been training," the blond replied. "And I've gotten stronger since arriving here. But what was that about my reserves being the same?"
Sakura hummed. "Yeah, your reserves are pretty much the same as before. That didn't just go away. It's your system that's changed for the worse. Your chakra pathways. So, instead of worrying about running out of chakra, you need to worry more about how much chakra you can use before you overstress your barely hanging together system."
"Huh," the shinobi responded dumbly. "I couldn't tell. I could have sworn I felt chakra exhaustion before."
Sakura shrugged. "It's probably your brain trying to reconcile the foreign sensation. I can't imagine what this would feel like, and neither can you. So your brain is equating it to a familiar feeling that you already recognize means, 'stop doing this or there will be consequences.'"
Huh. Made sense. Sort of...
Suddenly, that ever-familiar feeling of an unpleasant itch exploded across his back as heat flooded his system.
"S-Sakura?" He stuttered. "I thought you said —"
"— I did," she replied quickly. "But that doesn't mean I can't make things just a little bit not as bad."
...
"I'm not fixing you. There's no fixing this. But I should be able to strengthen your chakra pathways a little bit. If you're lucky, you might be able to tap into the Kyubi's chakra again."
!
That would be incredible. Talk about an upgrade.
"Do not get your hopes up," she hissed. "I can tell you right now that things will not be anywhere close to what they were before. At best, you'll have access to a little more of your chakra and be able to use a small portion of the fox's without killing yourself."
How did she know using the fox's chakra was lethal to him right now?
...
Well, she was a combat medic, he supposed.
"I'm a doctor," she laughed.
He nearly froze at her words. Was she in his head?
"I could tell what you were thinking," the pinkette added, answering his unspoken question. "'How does she know the fox's chakra will kill me?'" She imitated, "Well, with a system as mangled as this, there's no doubt that you can't filter his chakra. And if you can't filter it, not even a little, it's pure poison to you."
Ah.
"Don't get me wrong," she sighed. "Even if you are able to use his chakra again, it'll be in small amounts and will undoubtedly cause you some damage. But it might not kill you."
Well, better than nothing. But still, did he really have to go back to having conditional strength? He was past that, wasn't he? Why should there be consequences to being strong?
Troublesome.
As his personal, though temporary, doctor continued to work, the blond resigned himself to his thoughts. Now would be a decent chance to process all the new information, especially with those most precious to him nearby.
His immediate thoughts surmised the overall situation.
Shit.
xXx
A/N: There it is. Like I said, heavy stuff. This is the canon divergence I've been alluding to in the past few chapters. Sorry for the awkward stopping point. I had more written here, but I decided to tack it onto the next chapter. I just unloaded a lot of information, and it's all heavy dialogue, making this a bit of a harder read. I didn't want this chapter to drag on too long. The next chapter will have some follow-up as well as some action.
Regarding how Naruto got sent to the future... There genuinely isn't an explanation. At least, not one I'm willing to provide. Sometimes, things happen unexpectedly and seemingly without cause. That's Chaos Theory, baby. Or maybe it's the concept of indeterminism... Regardless, I'm not looking to break out the math equations or delve into the specifics. If you want, the best way to look at it would be like how Thor sent Jörmungandr to the past during the most recent God of War game. Just two really powerful entities breaking space-time in a really big clash.
As for how much time has passed since the fall of the Elemental Nations and the rise of Remnant... I'm not going to say. Simply because it doesn't matter. The most you'll get is more than 1,000 years (about the same amount of time that passed between Kaguya's original sealing and modern Naruto). But anything more than that wouldn't really matter. The first written records in the scope of human history came about 5,000 years ago. Works of fiction I'm familiar with, such as Mass Effect and Halo, seem to think 50,000 to 100,000 years is how long human civilization needs to recover after a big reset. It's up to you guys to imagine what works best. How long would need to pass for all records of civilization from the Elemental Nations to be forgotten? 1,000 years? 10,000 years? 100,000 years? When you decide on an answer, that's how long passed.
The bits about the effects of the moon being destroyed are... purely speculation, lol. I'm no scientist, so all that was based solely on what YouTube videos and questionable online articles I could find. Sorry to simplify it to 'rocks fall you die' concept, but it made sense to me.
And, yeah, I'm not really sure if Sasuke, even with 8 bijū, Mangekyō Sharingan and the Rinnegan, would be enough to explode the moon. Probably not. But I'm writing it anyway.
Also, remember that there's a difference between what we, as the audience, know and what the characters in the story know. We know why the Ōtsutsuki, such as Momoshiki and Kinshiki, would want to fight Kaguya, but characters such as Naruto and Sakura probably wouldn't at that point.
Finally, I'm sorry for including the peripheral Ōtsutsuki, however briefly. I personally hate what Boruto has done with them, even if we got some fantastic animation and fight sequences out of it. It's just... too much, man. Naruto's about ninjas! Not alien invasions. Says the guy writing a time travel fic.
I'm sure I've got more to say, but I can't just let this A/N go on forever. I'm usually pretty good at answering reviews or PMs, so if there's anything you want to bring up, I'm happy to discuss it.
See ya'll next chapter. It's also a doozy, lol.
Also, let me know your what your favourite sad song is. For me, currently, it's 'Five Hundred Miles.' The one from the movie Bullet Train. Terribly sad song but a good inspiration when writing sad shit.