Disclaimer: Naruto - I don't own it.
Story Start!
"Ah... crap."
"This is what it means to become somebody who transcends time like Hagaromo."
"Really though... really... I couldn't have gone back to a more... well a better age. I couldn't have woken up to when I was a little older?" Naruto Uzumaki... over 100 years of age, was now trapped in the body of a 7 year old child. He looked at himself in a mirror in his apartment, the same small apartment he lived in alone when he was this age.
He had been too powerful when he died.
Just like Hagaromo before him, his chakra had transcended space and time and couldn't go to a proper afterlife. This had ended up with his chakra... just sort of going back in time.
Chakra contained memories.
When a WHOLE BUNCH of chakra went back in time, what happened was that his memories of his entire life ended up overwhelming his younger body and erased his younger mind in favor of his older mind taking over. Since the Tailed Beast's chakra was apart of his own chakra, when his chakra got sent back, the chakra of the Tailed Beasts got sent back with him.
Thus, both he and his Tailed Beast, Kurama, both got their memories.
*FWOOSH*
His entire body transformed and glowed like gold flames.
"Yeah, figures... Six Paths Sage Mode still works just fine." Naruto entered the divine mode granted to him, which was apart of his chakra, and he looked at himself in the mirror. Naruto sighed to himself and entered a lower mode, transforming from Six Paths Sage Mode into the lesser Tailed Beast chakra mode. The golden glow mostly stayed the same, the design changed slightly, very slightly, and his eyes went from cross pupils to slit pupils.
"Oh, you can activate this mode even with the seal still in place?"
"Well, yeah, my Dad could activate the same transformation, even with a completely different seal than mine. Though, without the key we won't be able to do a Tailed Beast transformation right now." Naruto couldn't easily open the seal without the key. While he had mastered Kurama's chakra in the future, that mastery still transferred back.
Sage Mode, Tailed Beast Chakra Mode, and Six Paths Sage Mode all worked.
Naruto sighed.
"This means... fuuuuuuck... the Akatsuki again... Obito... again... Orochimaru... again... all of that stuff again... and I'm 7... this means the Uchiha have already been wiped out, I can't even stop that from happening." Naruto looked at himself. He had been 6 when the Uchiha were killed, because Sasuke had recently turned 7 at the time. Him being 7 meant that Sasuke was 7, and Sasuke and him both being 7 meant that Sasuke's clan were destroyed.
If there had been anything he would have liked to just prevent, it would have been that for sure.
"The other Tailed Beasts haven't gotten their memories, and they are extremely confused about why they can meet up inside of you." Kurama pointed out to Naruto. The distant connection with the other Tailed Beasts meant that they didn't get their memories back, but it seemed he still had access to their chakra.
Naruto nodded his head.
"Tell Gyuki to tell Bee, to tell A, that Minato's son would like to challenge him to a contest of speed at some point." Naruto wanted Kurama to give that message to Gyuki's chakra inside of him for the time being.
"Why?"
"I have Six Paths Sage Mode, even when this 7 year old body, I should still be way faster than 'the fastest' shinobi by a good amount. Beating A in a contest of speed should help be convince him that I'm the Child of Prophecy." Naruto already knew that A had believed his father had been the one who had been that person. Naruto looked out the window and at Konoha.
Wow.
No super tall skycrapers behond the Hokage monument, and seeing the monument with 4 faces instead of 7 would take some getting used to. Naruto looked at the extremely old TV in his home, and the radio, and he suddenly wished technology would hurry up and catch back up with what it had been during the time he was Hokage.
"So... How are we going to beat Kaguya?"
"Don't need to, if we put a stop to Obito, Madara won't get revived. Madara not being revived means that Kaguya never gets revived, and I'm strong enough to kill Black Zetsu whenever I find him." Naruto wasn't going to stress about that too much. As he was now, even weakened by his young body, there still shouldn't be a ninja during this time that should be enough of a challenge to him to prevent him from solving issues.
"So, you're just going to... what?"
"Well, my chakra transcends time... which means, I'm now trapped in a loop. I get no afterlife, and I'm going to relive my life over, and over, and over again for all eternity. I'm going to be able to do everything and more. So, during this loop... why not see how good I can make the future?" Naruto could see how this was going to play out.
Unlimited timelines.
Thanks to his chakra transcending time and space like Hagaromo, Naruto was going to be doomed to forever keep creating new timelines with his actions, until the day that he could become like Hagaromo and figure out how to exist outside of space and time in the same way. That meant he would have an infinite amount of chances to do everything he wanted, and who knew, maybe eventually he would transcend into a loop before the Uchiha massacre, or he would go back to the day or his birth.
"So, what is the first thing you want to do?"
-The Next Day-
"Winner, Uzumaki Naruto!"
"You're petty."
'Worth it.' Naruto raised his hand in victory as he looked down at the defeated Sasuke, with everyone too shocked to say anything. Kurama inside of him was very amused that the first thing that Naruto did when going back in time, was defeating his rival in a taijutsu battle using the years of experience that he had.
Sasuke was shocked, just stunned at his loss.
Everyone was.
"That was an amazing improvement Naruto, you did well. Glad to see you taking class seriously." Iruka nodded to Naruto and marked down the improvements.
Just like a teacher.
"Nah, I didn't improve at all, I just decided I'm sick of pretending to be weak and holding back. As I am now, I don't think you could beat me Iruka-sensei." Naruto wasn't going to try and hold back his skills at all. He might be lying about pretending to be weak, but he wasn't going to pretend to be weak now that he had awakened the chakra and memories of a previous life.
Iruka seemed to be amused.
"Oh, well, I guess we could always spar and see if you can keep up. Just because you beat your fellow student, doesn't mean you should get a big head." Iruka smiled at Naruto in a very friendly way, though he seemed slightly annoyed.
Iruka felt he needed to put a student back in their place.
Good.
'Sounds good to me. I mean, if you think you're able to beat a Jinchuriki who mastered their Tailed Beast, we can spar.' Naruto WANTED to say that, but even if he wasn't going to be holding himself back very much from now on, he still didn't believe it would be a good idea to just come out and be THAT honest either. There was a difference between not holding back as much, and being fully honest either. "Sounds good to me, if you think you can handle the Uzumaki clan's power, we can go?"
"Oh, so you've been studying your clan in yur free time." Iruka waved for Sasuke to leave the fighting area, and the boy refused to look away from Naruto for even a moment.
Sasuke's eyes were trained on Naruto.
Naruto lowered his goggles over his eyes.
He entered his Initial version of his Six Paths Sage Mode, his eyes turning yellow and pupils becoming crosses. His physical body was amped up to a level that Iruka wouldn't be able to match in their taijutsu spar. Since it was Six Paths Senjutsu, nobody would be able to sense anything was different about him either.
It was awesome that his younger self wore goggles.
"Okay then, I'm ready whenever you aarrr-" Iruka was not ready.
Iruka was NOT ready.
Naruto moved too fast for Iruka to even track with his eyes, hear with his ears, or sense with his shinobi sixth sense. Iruka felt a kick to the center of his chest that knocked all the wind out of him, and sent him flying towards the school. Naruto kicked him with just enough power to put Iruka THROUGH the wall, but not enough power to do more than maybe crack a rib or two. Painful, but for a shinobi it was a minor injury that could be worked through and healed by most medical ninja.
Iruka was not ready at all,
"re... ow..." Iruka was dumbfounded when he found himself in the middle of a room full of students from a different class altogether. He was imbedded in the wall of a classroom that was not his own, and everyone there was completely shocked by what had happened.
Naruto outside was grinning.
Nobody knew what to say at all.
"I dedicate this fight to Hinata, the only person here who tried to cheer for me against Sasuke earlier. Hinata, thanks for the support, and thanks for always cheering me on when I'm training by myself." Naruto smiled at Hinata, who just blushed a crimson red. She couldn't thank him, because he had just brought too much attention to her at the moment. He smiled at her. 'She's so cute... Hinata, even now, is just the cutest... and to think I got to marry her.' Naruto felt all warm and fuzzy seeing his wife when she was younger.
"You killed sensei!"
"He's not dead, just stunned and the wind was knocked out of him. If I tried to kill him, he would be dead." Naruto watched and saw Iruka was walking out of the school building.
He was injured but fine.
"Na... Naruto... seems... you weren't lying about holding back." Iruka was forced to come to terms with the fact that Naruto had been telling he truth. He had sensed that Naruto didn't wish him any ill intent with that kick, and that meant that Naruto had not wanted him dead. "... Seems we have a prodigy in class."
Naruto smiled.
"Not only am I a prodigy, I'm THE prodigy. I've already mastered the Shadow Clone jutsu, and I've even learned the 4th Hokage's legendary Rasengan. I can also use jutsu from multiple elements, including Wind and Earth." Naruto started to brag. "... and I can do Jutsu with one hand." Naruto raised a single hand up.
*POOF*
A clone of himself appeared, and he gave himself a high five. Everyone heard the clapping sound of his hands, and that showed the clone was physical in nature. Iruka was downright stunned when he saw Naruto prove his words without a moment of hesitation. The students didn't quite understand what Naruto was really talking about.
Naruto clapped his hands together.
"Earth Style: Earth Wall." Naruto created an wall of stone underneath him, and the wall separated Iruka from the class. Naruto looked down at Iruka with a grin, showing off that he could use the earth element with ease. Naruto jumped off the wall and extended his hand out.
Iruka watched.
Green chakra was visible coming out of Naruto's hand, and it was shaped like a scythe blade from his wrist and slicing claws in front of his hands.
The technique he used to cut of Kaguya's arm.
Naruto sliced through the earth wall as he jumped down and landed on the ground, showing his mastery over wind elemental chakra as well.
"Oh..."
"I've also mastered Fire Release and Water Release, thanks to my Kekkei Genkai, the Boil Release." Naruto even bragged to Iruka about having a bloodline limit. Naruto called upon the Tailed Beast chakra inside of him, and steam started to come out of his body in large amounts. The wall behind him protected the other students from being burned. Still, they could see the steam going above the wall and they could hear his words.
Iruka got to see it.
He could feel the raw heat of it making him sweat from the distance he was at.
"Yo-you have a kekkei genkai... that's wonderful news." Iruka managed to hide his astonishment. He was glad that Naruto seemed to be strong, but he wondered how Naruto had hid this from the school for so long.
"I don't just have 1... I have 3 Kekkei Genkai, Lava Release, Magnet Release, and Boil Release. Since you plan to tell Gramps about this, you can tell him that when I was training by myself, I discovered I could use those Kekkei Genkai." Naruto knew that Iruka was going to report everything he saw, and that was kind of the point. Everything he did today would get reported right to the Third Hokage, who was still alive and well at the moment.
"Do you plan to tell the Third Hokage the truth?"
'Nah, he wouldn't believe me anyway, he would just think you're manipulating me. It would be better if he just thought I've been training in secret, and been hiding the results.' Naruto couldn't see anyone believing him if he told them the truth. The only person who he could get to believe him would have to be either Kakashi or Jiraiya, since he would have a lot of information he shouldn't have.
"How are you going to explain knowing the Rasengan dumbass?"
'Easy, I could just say that I heard a story from a drunk ninja who was around to see Dad use it, and then I recreated it for myself.' Naruto could easily lie about how he learned it. It would be good enough of a lie, since many leaf ninja had seen the 4th Hokage use the Rasengan to save their lives. Them telling drunken stories about it and him hearing it would be a very believable lie.
He was Naruto.
The fact he was a Jinchuriki was proof that he wasn't an imposter, so people couldn't pretend like he wasn't Naruto. The Third Hokage knew that a tailed beast breaking free would mean that he would stop living, so the Third Hokage would be kind of forced to just believe that Naruto had been hiding his true potential for his own amusement.
-The Next Week-
"I see, I must say... That sure is surprising, I should have been keeping a much better eye on you, that is for sure! You've been working very hard!" Hiruzen Sarutobi laughed as he spoke to Naruto.
"Wow, he believed you."
'Well duh, both my parents were geniuses, both were prodigies with my Dad being a legend. Me being a prodigy is super easy to believe for anyone who knows who my parents are... actually, it would be harder to believe I wasn't a genius.' Naruto mentally stuck his tongue out. For the Third Hokage, who had seen people like Orochimaru, Itachi, Minato, and many other prodigies in his lifetime, the idea that Naruto was just another prodigy wasn't hard to believe at all.
If anything, Hiruzen must be excited by the prospect of him being a genius.
"So why did you decide to stop hiding this power?" Hiruzen was very interested as he leaned forward.
"I was sick of pretending to be weak, and everyone making fun of me. Itachi-sensei told me when he was training me, that I should pretend to be weak..."
"Oh... Itachi-sensei?"
"Well yeah, he taught me a lot of stuff when he had spare time." Naruto told a half-truth, in that Itachi did teach him a few things... in the future, just a couple of very tiny and casual lessons in the heat of battle. Hiruzen was half-suspicious, but not of Naruto.
"What else did he teach you?"
"Itachi-sensei taught me how to control my Tailed Beast, and he used his Mangekyo Sharingan to help me tame the Kyuubi." Naruto absolutely just told a full, bold faced lie with that one.
"You little shit!"
'Oh deal with it, this way I can use your chakra and nobody will raise an eyebrow or try and detain me.' Naruto didn't want to just come out and tell everyone that he became friends with Kurama just yet. It would be easier to just tell a lie that Itachi used his Mangekyo Sharingan to tame Kurama, and that now he could use his chakra freely. 'Anyway, it was either this, or tell a truth that nobody will believe.'
Hiruzen wasn't shocked.
He was thinking.
'So... Naruto awakened 3 Kekkei Genkai, learned his father's Rasengan, mastered the Shadow Clone jutsu, can use multiple forms of elemental transformation, has mastered chakra shape transformation, can use jutsu with one hand, and he can control his Tailed Beast.' Hiruzen thought as he added that all up and looked at the ceiling. He didn't detect any lies in that Naruto was Naruto, he could still sense the boy was the boy, and the seal was still in place so it was indeed Naruto standing in front of him.
Naruto was Minato and Kushina's son, and they were 2 of the strongest prodigies to ever come out of Konoha. It wasn't impossible that Kushina had multiple kekkei genkai to pass down to him, since there was a woman in the mist who was reported to have multiple as well.
A Prodigy Jinchuriki with talent surpassing the 4th Hokage.
'A Jinchuriki with talent surpassing the 4th Hokage sounds too good to be true, but the fact it is true must be making Hiruzen super happy inside... because this means the 'Kyuubi' will never escape, and Konoha now has the most powerful weapon.' Naruto could see the gears turning in the Hokage's head.
"Well Naruto, that sounds amazing."
"Too amazing to let me waste my potential in the academy, right?" Naruto asked Hiruzen.
"Much too amazing, you're right about that. It would be a shame to not have you working alongside another prodigy like you. I think your power would be best served fighting alongside a ninja who might be able to teach you a thing or two."
"Like Kakashi Hatake, I mean, he is famous for having a Sharingan and being rivals with the super fast guy with bushy brows. Kakashi, famous for cutting a bolt of lightning in half with his legendary Raikiri... he was also the 4th Hokage's student right... who else would keep up with me better than Kakashi right?" Naruto made an excellent case for why he believed that Kakashi should be the Jonin who he was assigned to work with.
Jinchuriki, and that meant he wasn't going to be allowed to take missions by himself, no matter how strong he was he was going to always have a powerful ninja with him to cover his back. There was no other ninja in the village better suited to that, and better suited to working with him than Kakashi.
"His reputation really does precede him." Hiruzen laughed.
Kakashi of the Sharingan was a really famous ninja.
"Itachi-sensei respected him a lot, but he always disliked how Kakashi had a Sharingan." Naruto agreed and kept the lie going.
He would one day apologize to Itachi.
"Well then, I guess it would only be right for me to give you a rank higher than Genin... seeing as you took down a Chunin in hand to hand easily enough, your Taijutsu skills are on par with a Jonin... and you have mastered at least 4 types of elemental chakra... to become a Jonin you need to master 2... and..." Hiruzen looked at Naruto.
He placed Naruto under a Genjutsu.
Naruto noticed.
"... and I was able to break out of a genjutsu with the ease of a Jonin. My Ninjutsu and Taijutsu skills are both beyond Jonin level... and I can break out of genjutsu with extreme ease. Not to mention... it would be a really big power move to make your Jinchuriki, a 7 year old, a Jonin." Naruto could see the gears of a Hokage working.
By making him, the Jinchuriki, a Jonin at age 7, he was signalling to the other villages that his Jinchuriki was a prodigy on the level of those like Minato. It would create a level of respect for him, and would cause people to hesitate when dealing with him.
"Oh ho... so you understand."
"I do, I do. I would be glad to accept the position of Jonin, and take missions with Kakashi-sensei." Naruto stated with a wide grin. 'This means I won't be able to see the others at the academy very much, but whenever I'm in the village Hinata will still follow me around... and I know whooping Sasuke's ass is going to make him target me... so at least I'll have a reliable way to get in contact with those 2.' Naruto hated that he was abandoning them.
Still, he had a lifetime worth of memories, and his goal was to make the world a better place much sooner. If he could make the world more peaceful, much faster, this time around then his friends would all have easier lives to live in the future as well.
Even if they never knew he was their friend, he would still do his best for them.
"So, what is your plan to save the other Jinchuriki?"
'Well... first I'm going to kidnap Fu, since her village doesn't value her and paid the Akatsuki to take her away. Once she's safe in Konoha, I can make plans for the others easily enough.' Naruto already knew what he was going to do there. Her village wanted her gone, to the point she was forced to live outside of her village. With that, all he would need to do was kidnap her and he could protect her.
With Fu under his protection, the Akatsuki had zero chance at all of ever getting their hands on her. She would be safe, and with 2 Tailed Beasts under the protection of Konoha, with his knowledge, that meant that the Ten Tails would just never be revived at all.
No Ten Tails, no Kaguya.
"Naruto?"
"Sorry about that, I was just imagining what kind of missions you would send me and Kakashi-sensei on together." Naruto laughed in a goofy way, rubbing the back of his head. He couldn't let anyone know that he had full contact with his tailed beast, and could speak to him whenever he wanted to.
Thankfully he was a goofball, and people would believe he was lost in his own imagination.
"Tell you what, as a celebration for for your promotion to Jonin... why don't I treat you to some Ichiraku Ramen tonight... you've definitely earned it after all your hard work." Hiruzen placed his hand on Naruto's head.
'Now I feel bad for lying.'
"He wouldn't believe the truth anyway."
'Still, it sucks to lie to this man.' Naruto smiled all the same.
Hiruzen promoting him to Jonin.
It felt good.
Chapter End!
Please Leave Me Lots of Nice Long Reviews, But No Flames Please!
Fun Fact: Jonin exams are pure anime only.
The conditions for Jonin are very simple, you need to have mastered 2 elements, be skilled enough for the position, and be recommended by somebody... and Hiruzen could easily reconmmend and promote Naruto.
The only reason Naruto never became a Jonin in canon was because the idea of a Genin becoming Hokage was super funny to Kishimoto.