(Previously)

Naruto and Naruko arrived in a version of Konoha that never suffered the Uchiha Massacre; instead, the Hyuga were killed because of two births that happened long ago, causing two families destinies to change. These changed destinies caused a meeting between Hinata and Shisui, which gave Shisui the inspiration needed to convince the Uchiha not to rebel. It also caused Hinata to have a friendship that soured when her family found out. Naruto and Naruko are about to face the product of these changes.

Chapter 4

Minato Namikaze!

–

The dark clouds underneath Itachi Uchiha's eyes said everything. The tireless movement of his muscles and the practice in his gait said more.

Twenty-four hours ago… or was it four hours ago? There'd been a genin with blond hair and a girl half his height running around town. Reports were already being filed, but the last straw was when the genin started gathering chakra in the middle of the street. Okay so maybe Itachi had gotten jumpy. They were after a mass murderer; wouldn't anyone? Shisui didn't see fit to call him out for being rash, so that probably meant something.

"They let them go," said Shisui, not making eye contact with him as they continued their pursuit. "Catch and release."

'Release' meaning two scouts monitor them for the next day and a half.

"Lord Hokage said to keep an eye on them," said Itachi. "There was something unusual about her chakra flow. He couldn't say exactly what it was, but his only conclusion was impossible."

Shisui cocked an eyebrow, his eyes focused on the tracks their quarry left for them. "Which was?"

"That the girl had chakra similar to that of a Jinchuriki." Itachi stopped walking forward. "Like Naruto Uzumaki's, but..." He started again, his thoughts muddied.

"You don't think that boy… I mean, he was friends with that girl."

"Jinchuriki are mysterious in nature. We can't be sure but for the fact that Naruto was the one described being seen the day of the incident."

"But I mean, I've watched him. I've read the reports. He's a brat but he's not a killer."

Itachi balled his fist at his side then released it. "Do you remember when the village hated us?" he asked with half of a smile..

Shisui returned it. "Just us? Yeah, it was like everyday was 'throw-something-at-an-Uchiha' day," he said back. Then he pouted. "Bro, come on. We're a founding clan. Naruto's a kid. He wasn't secretly planning to overthrow the government."

"True, and all it took was someone paying attention to what was going on to change the situation. Maybe Naruto is just the pawn of some greater scheme. Maybe someone needs to pay closer attention when his guard is down."

Shisui nodded his head after a few moments, running ahead of Itachi. "If it comes down to it, I'll use Kotoamatsukami again…"

Then their heads jerked upward, both catching the fiendish shimmer in the air. They looked at each other, and neither of them needed to speak or state the danger. Itachi recognized the sensation in his skin before his famous Uchiha eyes confirmed it. Itachi performed a hand seal and summoned a raven to his shoulder, gave it the message to alert Lord Third, and the crow obeyed and took off from his shoulder. Then he and Shisui stopped moving at half clip, entering dead sprints.

–

Getting away from this… this… himself, it was himself. Getting away from it was top priority.

He didn't quite fall over, but the feeling in his legs became icy and hollow. Naruko took a dive as every one of her senses were assaulted. Beige-colored fluid shot from her mouth until it ran through her fingers, and then she lurched forward, slumped, and finally dropped. Her face went first as the rest of her rattled. The strings of daily overconfidence in herself, removed.

Naruto went almost white as it happened.

"Shadow Clone jutsu!"

The other Naruto watched him as he summoned it, sending the clone to tend to Naruko while he never let the transformed one out of his sight. Kurama flashed his unpleasant rows of teeth as he took a lowered stance, bearing his arms with curled, finger-like claws on each end. Pebbles rolled and floated near his feet.

Just as quickly, a third Sai appeared and cupped his hands around the original. Sai rushed forward once the Rasengan bloomed to life. They were two feet from each other. Then a single foot, and just one step forward before the Rasengan would hopefully stun him. The other Naruto opened his mouth and called out, pushing an invisible shockwave out of it. The Rasengan seized in Sai's hand then popped into blue wisps, and the releasing chakra shoved both parties backward.

The smoke cloud of dust between them parted, a frenzied version of his own face darting for him. There was nothing in his eyes but fangs sinking into prey, a gaze that saw nothing but chunks of meat. Sai crashed into a lamppost faster than he could register exactly what had struck him.

He rolled backwards and dodged a fast-moving object that speared the front of a nearby building. A tail and several more, more than he could count, sprung from Kurama's backside. They looked more like chopped meat than a fox's tail; he saw the tissues and bony parts along its edges. Each tail joined in the attack, forcing his movement as they stabbed and smashed. Smoke and debris covered him as he escaped, feeling the air behind him get sliced to ribbons, his ears filled with cracking wood and crumbling glass. It stopped as he vaulted to safety, noticing his evasiveness.

"Weren't you trying to save this girl?"

In the reach of the tailed beast he saw Naruko, her eyes shut and her mouth hanging open. The memory of his chest getting split open and of Naruko slipping from his arms returned. The air rattled while the other Naruto threatened her.

"Let her go, now!" he shouted, hands already in motion. A feral look appeared on his face. "If you lay one finger on her, I'll tear that damned fox out of you!"

The air rattled again. "Oh really? Well come on then."

"RASENGAN!"

The unconscious girl in the monster's grip disappeared, replaced with a spinning blue sphere that widened into a small explosion. The monster leapt back, regrowing the severed tail with chakra.

Sai took the real Naruko and ran, already scanning the area for escape routes. A substitution had worked, but it was impossible to make it work more than once when your opponent was paying attention. He'd just barely scooted his hands under her enough to make a hand seal for more shadow clones when a tail, angry and violently, slashed the side of his face. It broke skin before he realized and broke left, skidding to a halt before getting his footing back. That gave their eyes enough time to meet, and he could see the tar-colored substance expanding over his younger face.

A dark fist spawned from one of the tails tunneled upward, nearly managing to clock him right in the face as it blotted his vision. He wasn't safe, however; a new limb dove out of the first and punched him right in the jaw. He went spinning in the opposite direction and had to fight for all of his senses to return right as he hit the ground with a lightning thud. Naruko landed elsewhere, him eying her, her bruised form lying on her side.

Naruto gritted his teeth and rose with a shout. "Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

Fresh copies of himself surrounded him. In an instant they discovered there was no time to organize. Black-red hands burst through them and a crimson comet wrapped them in an onslaught of harsh blows and growls. The creature dropped to all-fours and its body released a frightening noise.

Ropes of black chakra sprang from its back, sides, and front; all of them attached quickly to the numerous shadow clones around itself. Then they pulled, bringing each Naruto to a sudden end, filling the street with white gray clouds that flattened with a roar.

They were both in clear view now. Naruto Uzumaki and the thing that used to be Naruto Uzumaki.

A drop of sweat fell off his cheek. Naruko was a safe distance from him, but hurt. A column of flame blew from his side. His attacks weren't…

"Itachi, now!"

His attacks weren't-

A dark-clothed figure landed between him and Kurama. The back of his clothes had that Uchiha Clan symbol Sasuke always had on his back, and multiplied into fifty copies of itself. As soon as he blinked it became closer to thirty, split between numerous locations flickering in each eye. A second figure appeared on his right side. This one was Sasuke, but older. "Sasuke?" Itachi's eye twitched but didn't pay him any real attention, too focused on the enemy in front of them.

The other one moved at a blinding speed. Not since Pervy Sage and Orochimaru had Sai ever seen someone move that fast. Chunks of tar exploded from the creature's shoulder, leg, shoulder again, neck, forehead, hand, shoulder. Front and back, the slicing didn't stop until a peek of blond hair emerged from the shroud of chakra. The attacker finished with a knee that blew Kurama backward in a single violent motion, reversing and rolling away from the blow.

Naruto heard the sound of foot-falls before he noticed the other Uchiha kneeling next to where Naruko was, checking on her. "Itachi, take the girl somewhere safe," he said, apparently satisfied.

"Shisui, you can't handle this by yourself." The second teen lifted his head and Sai saw the long, dark marks around his eyes. "You're the fast one. Go and get help."

It took some time for Naruto to stop gripping the kunai in his waist pouch – in that time, Itachi read the questions forming on his face and said, "Uchiha police officers. We've been on patrol and we detected a release of chakra here."

"Lucky we found you," said the one called Shisui with a hint of a laugh.

Kurama, somehow, it was as if his entire body was one big grin at that, every muscle contributing to the effort. "So you filthy Uchiha and your wretched eyes finally managed to track me down."

"Naruto," said Shisui, "we wanted it to not be true, but you really are lost now, aren't you. You're wanted for murder on a scale they haven't written laws for yet."

"Uchiha," said Kurama between the spaces of Naruto's teeth, "Naruto isn't home right now."

Shisui and Itachi's expressions deteriorated. The single test they'd given Naruto to prove he was still in there, and he'd just failed it.

Kurama shifted his gaze in no particular direction with visible distraction and a shadow flew past him. A plume of dust where Shisui had stood, and shuriken rained from the sky.

"Shisui, look out!"

Itachi warned too late as the shuriken Shisui tossed came right back at him. He landed on his feet with half of them stuck in his forearms and pain in his eyes. A tail speeded toward him then crashed into Itachi instead, having already gone to assist his ally. "Itachi!" Shisui snatched Itachi away from the other Naruto's grasp and when he teleported to where Sai was, Itachi clutched at his ribs, at least a few of them probably broken.

Sai heard one of them mutter, "Itachi, have you-"

"I've been trying since we arrived," the other said, "Genjutsu is ineffective."

"...well there goes my plan."

They were screwed. That much, Sai was getting. He went to Naruko and felt her pulse. Still there, lower than it should be. His jaw hardened until her eyes started to move. When she saw him his heart rate went back to the double digits. She asked what was going on, and saw just as clearly that they were being studied. "I think it's," she started, "it's been talking to my Nine-Tails, Sai."

"What's it saying?"

She leaned and straightened with his help. "It… it wants to leave." She looked him dead in the eyes with a burdened look. "It wants to know how we came here, and it wants to leave with us."

Sai shook his head. "It must be crazy if it thinks we're taking it anywhere. I don't even know how this thing works yet!"

Naruko's eyes closed and tightened before opening again. "The Nine-Tails sensed the portal-thingy open when we were in danger last time."

"So if we're in danger again, it should-" he concluded, not liking what it implied.

The other Naruto Uzumaki heaved with his entire upper body. Naruto gulped as he helped Naruko get to her feet, knowing that she was putting things together too.

Itachi's eyes swerved towards him. "You two may be our only reinforcements. How's your condition and what do you know about our foe?" He sounded just a little too calm in Sai's opinion. It gave him the creeps.

"We can get him out of here," he replied, "but we need a diversion."

"Such as?"

"I don't know, is there some special genjutsu you can cast with your finger that he wouldn't see coming?" Shisui raised his eyebrow, as did Itachi. Okay, so that was different too. "I guess not."

"What did it mean by 'take him with us'?" Naruko asked. "We're not taking it back to my home with us, are we? To the real Hidden Leaf village?"

He shook his head. "Naruko, like I said, I have no idea how this works. All I know is that you came with me this time, so others must be able to as well." His eyes narrowed. "And I don't trust you, not after what you did-" Itachi's features softened, a puzzle with no right to completion. Sai looked at Kurama. "If we leave him and he gets away, he'll be killed, or hunted down like a rogue ninja."

"The Hokage wouldn't," she said, regretting it. "He couldn't. He's–" Her eyes went to Kurama.

"I accept." The other Naruto pointed at them, Sai specifically. "His power intrigues me."

"What did you mean when you said Naruto could come with you? Are you two related?" Itachi asked.

"Yeah, sort of." The answer was flat and uninteresting, devoid of any meaning or trust. "I know a jutsu that can get him, Naruko, and myself far away from the village." Itachi looked at him gapingly. "You'd never see us again."

Kurama agreed and placed his pointing finger in Naruko's direction. "That Nine-Tails confirmed, no matter how insane it sounds, that that brat is speaking the truth. We have a shared interest in seeing other possibilities, other universes where we might be freed from our prisons."

"So then," Shisui spoke, glancing at Sai. "Your objective is escaping and finding a way out of your cage then?"

Kurama, the remaining half of his face curling with inhuman ease. "I could squash you like a bug right now, but I'm offering you a choice. Let us leave and continue your pitiful human existence. Or, we could stay here and destroy, cause the deaths of countless innocents in selfish battle again and again and again until we're both dead!" His eyes were fixed on Naruko. "Is that what you want?"

Naruko stamped her foot. "That wouldn't happen even if we did let you go. I'm not going to let you hurt anyone else."

"Sai," whispered Itachi, somehow processing the information better than everyone else, "You realize that if you take Naruto with you, he won't be your ally. He's the Nine-Tails now. It will be waiting for any opportunity to kill you."

He smirked. "I'm more familiar with that fox than anybody else here."

"I don't trust everything you've said either, but how can you be sure this jutsu of yours can transport the Nine Tails to this other world it mentioned?"

Before Sai could explain, the air moved. ANBU in animal masks, eyes concentrating on them from afar. They were all dressed in black and perched around the alleyway on both sides.

"No one will be going anywhere Itachi," a firm voice said, silencing them. "Naruto is responsible for the murder of nearly an entire clan and many more."

Sai twitched.

The old man was there, alive and well; gone was all of his white and red, replaced with a dark layer of clothing, a helmet with a long black ribbon, arm guards and sandals. Dressed for battle, his tone cold and direct, and everything on his face spoke danger.

The other Naruto glared.

"I have overlooked Naruto's misdeeds and pranks for long enough." Sai couldn't tell what it was, but he knew that something in the old man's voice said that he was drawing from an unpleasant past experience. He thought back to his time with Jiraiya, how the perverted sage and Orochimaru had once been students of the old man, and neither Jiraiya or the old man could bring themselves to stop Orochimaru. "I am no longer Hokage, but I must take responsibility for this."

"Third Hokage," the words tumbled from the other Naruto's mouth with no regard for the people listening.

"Nine-Tails, you have caused our village great suffering. It stops here, no matter what form you've taken." The Third Hokage palmed the back of one of his arm guards. A staff thicker than his arm appeared from a cloud of smoke underneath his arm. Thin tears cut down the sides of his face, tears that had already begun to dry. "Naruto Uzumaki is your last damned victim."

"What do you mean, gramps?" said the other Naruto, his voice shockingly normal. "Do… Do you think I'm some kind of monster?" The elderly shinobi flinched at that before Naruto's voice deepened. "Because if you do… I would think about your next move very, very carefully."

No one moved.

Its voice went back to how it was before, as Naruto peered at Sai. "Old man," Sai said first, "I, I don't know if it's really you, but… we can take care of this.

The elderly man used a voice Sai didn't ever remember him using. "I don't know what nonsense you're playing at, but this is not the time."

"Now!"

The air turned purple. Around them, chakra sprang from the ground, making walls that cut everything inside of them off from the outside. An ANBU stood on the other side of each wall. More flanked the old man, weapons already drawn.

"The Four Violet Flames Formation is a barrier that can contain even a jinchuriki," the Third said to Sai and Naruko. "Shisui and Itachi will protect you while we take care of this once and for all."

Shisui and Itachi looked at each other. Naruko opened her mouth to argue but said nothing.

"Old man," Sai started to say, but the rest of the ANBU weren't paying attention to him, and the elderly man he'd looked up to all his life was fixated on murdering him.

Sarutobi's gaze bent towards him. "You call yourself Sai, yes? Your sneaking into this village and disrupting the peace has not gone unnoticed. I sense you aren't here to cause harm to us or that girl with you. Leave us to finish this task and we'll discuss your reasons for being here."

"Old man, listen to me! I really can take him somewhere. You don't have to do this, we can help him!"

"That's enough! I won't allow this mistake to go on any longer."

The other Naruto laughed once more, probably amused at seeing the tides turning. His pupils, facial marks, and posture changed again into something more feral. "I would listen to him, Third Ho-ka-ge."

The first ANBU to make a move got sliced in half with a single swipe. More leapt in after, falling back when two more of their rank fell.

Kurama promptly landed in front of Sai and Naruko.

Itachi and Shisui spun around, slashing the air with their blades. Kurama leapt above them, replying with punches and claws when more ANBU pursued him in midair. Three copies of Shisui engaged him and retreated when Kurama swept a tail made out of chakra at him.

Sai and Naruko made hand seals to produce more Shadow Clones on either side of them. Which quickly exploded when a white-haired monkey man grabbed both of their heads and smacked them together.

The Third Hokage leapt over them, his pole-arm now missing. "Itachi, keep a better eye on these two," the white-haired, armored monkey creature ordered before it ran to assist the old man.

The old man was now engaged in a fist and jutsu fight with Kurama. Kurama seemed to be putting pressure on him, and each time he did Shisui or a different ANBU stepped in, parried one of his attacks, and backed up for the old man to get another blow in.

When another ANBU fell from a wound to their stomach, Sai caught Itachi's gaze. The Uchiha police officer had a sickly look in his eyes. He muttered something to Sai that made him pause. Then, he shifted to where Sarutobi and Kurama were fighting. "Are you sure that your jutsu will work?"

Itachi Uchiha. The person who Sai knew had made Sasuke's life a living hell, betrayed his village, and caused Sasuke to abandon everyone and go on a quest to murder him.

"I just need an opening and me and Naruko will run to him."

Itachi's replying nod came with a final word of caution. "And if the Nine-Tails attacks or tricks you?"

"I think it wants to get out of here as much as we do."

Itachi accepted this and rose with the Sharingan spinning beneath his eyelids. Sai grabbed Naruko's shoulder, letting her in on their next move. He could tell a part of her had broken when the old man refused to hear them out. So, they would have to ignore his order. Maybe even fight him.

There was no guarantee of success, but they did it anyway.

Itachi, for his part, casted a genjutsu that struck the nearby remaining ANBU all at once. Bodies collapsed in a daze, submitting to the power of the Uchiha clan's prized visual jutsu. Sai raised an eyebrow at the number of crow-like birds that filled the area.

Sarutobi slid backward, staff guarding him from the front. He coughed and noticed that Shisui was by his side. His enemy stopped attacking for the moment. When Sai, Naruko, and three shadow clones each sprinted toward them, Itachi flanked them, hands running through hand seals. A flame spewed forward, blinding Sarutobi as Sai and Naruko raced ahead of him.

"Itachi, what are you doing?"

The older Sasuke didn't respond. Shisui, initially confused, remained in one place without helping or aiding Sarutobi. The staff in the latter's hands came alive and snatched Naruko's arm.

The little girl in the black shirt and orange pants dissipated into thin air. Naruko and Sai were in front of the transformed boy now in a staredown. "First things first," Sai said. "I don't know how to make this work. At all."

For the first time that day Naruto seemed uncomfortable.

"This is treason Itachi," said Sarutobi at the top of his lungs.

"Please Lord Hokage," said Itachi. "Give them a chance and we can solve this dilemma without any more bloodshed."

That didn't suit the old man in the littlest bit. "I have to do this, Itachi! Those children will die! The fox will destroy this village!"

While they argued, Naruto flashed his teeth.

"How do you jump between worlds?"

"My life and Naruko's were in danger, and before that, I almost died."

"Then we have our answer."

"Wait-"

Kurama lurched, grinning ear to ear as he wrapped his tails around them. Sarutobi pivoted, rolled around the attack. His hands blurred.

"Fire Style: Dragon Bullet!"

A dragon head-shaped burst of fire erupted into view and then vanished. Sai and Naruko watched the ground instantly get farther away as their flight launched. Their voices turned into wails. They were so high Sai thought they were on top of the Hokage Monument again. When he tried to move his arms or free his legs, they couldn't move an inch, or make hand seals, or brace for any manner of impact. This was Kurama's strategy.

The ground started getting closer. They were gone before crashing into it, leaving many tired and wounded shinobi behind on the battlefield of another reality.

–

Recently disturbed gravel. An uneven beating in his chest. A couple of small fires on the ground, stretchers and medical teams running out with them. Sarutobi scanned the battlefield, muting the curses from his thoughts.

He stomped out a tiny fire on the ground that matched the one in his chest, feeling his muscles relax in the worst way imaginable.

This afternoon had been nothing but despair on him, and his village. A clan, dead, and a prized teacher at the academy murdered over nothing more than paranoia. Today there were at least ten dead, valuable shinobi, not least among them the body of Kakashi Hatake, his eye socket visibly empty as if an animal had scraped the Sharingan from his being. Sarutobi couldn't unsee it, Kakashi shoving him out of Naruto's path before the monster struck the white-haired young man down.

Fugaku arrived already dressed for war. The battle waa for all intents and purposes over, at least for now. One look from Fugaku to his son, a face of disappointment and genuine fatherly disapproval. After the debriefing, he sent Itachi and Shisui elsewhere.

"Your son," Sarutobi began with a careful tone. "He and Shisui followed the intruders right to Naruto's location."

Fugaku didn't appear enthused. He was busier watching the sheets getting put on top of the bodies. "Where did they go?"

Sarutobi let out a deep breath. "When we cleared the debris the two intruders and Naruto were gone."

"Gone?"

"Yes. The one named Sai claimed that he could take Naruto and the 9-Tails somewhere where we would never see them again."

"...a pocket dimension?" Fugaku asked, with suspicion in his tone.

Sarutobi was about to confirm his suspicions when he sensed a presence. It was there and gone in an instant. Fugaku had noticed it too yet retained his composure.

"Lord Hokage," a passing ANBU approached them, puzzled. "Is everything alright?"

Fugaku and Sarutobi paused. Then, with sternness, Fugaku said everything was fine and told the ANBU to stay on alert. The 9-Tails was still missing. It was a lie that no one expected young Naruto to become the monster he harbored. Everyone expected that, desired it, embraced it even. None had predicted that he would vanish into thin air.

Much like the man in the kimono who Sarutobi and Fugaku didn't see sneak by.

–

After arriving on this world Madara found himself greeted with the presence of many Sharingan. Supple, green with inexperience, belonging to baby Uchiha playing around in silly little masks and carrying big swords to make themselves look more intimidating. It would've been an insulting play if it weren't so shocking. The one in his hand, or rather the one in the tiny jar inside his hand, belonged to Kakashi Hatake, whose actual death at his hands went unnoticed thanks to some quick genjutsu and timing.

Madara's real objective of course was the shimmering oxygen some thirty or forty feet in front of him, courtesy of one Naruto Uzumaki. A Naruto who crinkled space and time as easily as drawing a breath.

There was no other sign of them in this reality. Madara checked the village residential records (a few close calls admittedly, the new Uchiha Police, while fascinating, were rather observant) and found the boy's residence condemned. He went to the information centers, libraries, and questioned more than a few citizens and shinobi. The Hyuuga Incident had shaken the Hidden Leaf to its core. "The village that loves together hates together." The Will of Fire it seemed would soon raze the village and leave nothing but smoldering remains. No mention of a single Uchiha death.

He couldn't imagine what series of events made the Hyuga fall and the Uchiha thrive. It was a guilty pleasure he kept buried under his rapidly-changing understanding of causality. The presence of a militarized Uchiha police force implied some unpleasant things about this world. Where was the version of him that should have lived here? Naruto Uzumaki had met his doppelganger as an entirely different gender so parallel selves must have existed. The person calling themselves Uchiha Madara must have perished in this world before the eradication of the Uchiha could take place. There was an Itachi here for sure, palling around with the descendant of Kagami Uchiha going house to house and knocking on doors.

What the hell had transpired in this world?

Regaining himself, Madara pressed on to search for Naruto. He found resistance in the form of a silver-haired ANBU who definitely did not share Uchiha blood. Kakashi Hatake the wondrous shinobi stalked him, calling out his mysterious behavior and the not insignificant amount of bodies he'd left behind since infiltrating the village. Madara smirked, absorbing the history of how the Leaf elected an Uchiha – an impossibility he counted toward the strangeness of a parallel universe – to be Hokage, but the greatest secrets no matter what form of reality one found themselves in were always locked away in the mind. Yes, he'd killed people, he told Kakashi, and soon, he would kill him too.

And so he did. The crackle of electricity in the impostor's hands, Kakashi Hatake's doppelganger's hands mattered about as much as a tree falling in the middle of the woods. Madara gazed down at the corpse of Kakashi Hatake with emptied contempt. They were fakes, Madara decided. The Sharingan in Kakashi's pale, shocked face was beginning to lose its powerful color. That wouldn't do anyone any good. The solution was a product of a Leaf elder named Danzo Shimura and his meticulous, if not fiendish research into the Sharingan and its utilities. Even a fake Sharingan had its uses.

There was just one thing left to do.

It wasn't very hard given the explosive activity taking place in a certain part of the village. In a matter of minutes he located the devastated alleyway, learning from the chatter among the battered ninja that the 9-Tails had woken up inside Naruto and that he, the real Naruto, and the young girl had disappeared without a trace. Madara saw the 3rd Hokage (alive, just as in the other world with that girl Naruto Uzumaki) and the current 5th Hokage (Itachi's father) arriving and concealed himself even more thoroughly. The 5th's Sharingan moved to his previous location. The man was sharp.

He listened until footfalls caught his attention. A man in a purple kimono faced him, wearing a different kind of mask, black pits instead of eyes, regarding him carefully, searching for any hostile movement. Madara did the same and quickly accepted that they were, in fact, the same in regards to their caution.

"Have you finished your business here?"

"Yes," he replied, not taking his eyes fully off of the kimono-wearing man. "And if the sight in front of us is as it seems, we'll have to follow them."

"Follow them?" the kimono wearer asked.

"Yes, follow," he answered cooly, "As I said, our Sharingan should be powerful enough to open the gateway individually, or at least they should be…" he concluded, voice mischievously lowered.

The kimono wearer glowered behind his mask. "It is hard to believe that another version of myself could be so petulant."

Madara, the original, not the impostor, let off a grin. It was a petty thing to call the other Madara Uchiha an impostor, but he supposed that his counterpart from this world was probably thinking the same thing about him. Perhaps it was wrong to call a version of himself fake. They did, after all, share the same goal.

"I mean, considering you had the same idea to pose as an idiot among a gang of killers so that your cover wouldn't get blown, I'd say you're just as childish as me, To-bi!"

"Ugh, let's just get moving," said the fake Madara.

"Hold on, I want to know something."

The fake Madara paused mid step with some irritation.

"How did your Naruto Uzumaki become so… malignant? I haven't traveled through many worlds, but so far I've observed two versions of myself who are distinctly similar. The Naruto Uzumaki from my world lives with his suffering and hasn't succumbed to the level of a bloodthirsty beast. He fights the futility in his heart daily. Yours gave into the beast's influence and embraced it. Why?"

The fake Madara stared at him. "Do you really want to know?"

He nodded.

Then the fake Madara started for their objective, saying nothing more. Madara blinked. A fake Madara, he thought to himself as he followed after him. Yes… yes that would do.

–

Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki were childhood sweethearts. During their courtship Kushina taught Minato much about Uzumaki-style sealing and barrier ninjutsu. Formulas could be applied to larger bodies of chakra. These formulas cast a barrier of differing size and magnitude around a specified location. One such barrier surrounded the Hidden Leaf during times of high foreigner traffic or times of military conflict. To the team of shinobi responsible for monitoring the barrier, positioned around a floating water sphere chamber, it was imperative that anything entering the village, with a strong amount of chakra, represented by a larger bubble, be reported to the Hokage.

There were outskirts to the village that often sent up false positives. Children rummaging around and playing in abandoned houses. Animals chasing birds, teenagers fooling around, and sometimes just a tourist or a small child getting lost. There was of course an exception.

Minato stopped in the middle of his jog when something, a group of somethings to be vague, tripped the barrier to one of his safehouses. This started two thought processes: first, that someone had not only found the location of his safehouse, and second, that they'd breached the interior despite the teleportation barrier placed around it that would warp away intruders.

The only things that could safely enter were people Minato incorporated into the barrier formulas to allow passage, and something with enough chakra to break the barrier down with sheer force.

Minato activated the Flying Raijin and landed crouching inside the breached safehouse. At first nothing appeared to be different. That was until he noticed three people lying on the carpet. A blond-haired teenager, a young girl with pigtails, and… Naruto.

But it was Naruto's face and… something else. Eyes that definitely weren't his, whisker marks that resembled deep gouges more than birthmarks, and teeth that resembled knives. Standing in front of him, face vicious and sharp, seeing Minato there with neither of them making a move. The disfigured doppelganger of Minato's son slowly, carefully twisted his mouth into a grin.

Minato heard the creature recognize him as the Fourth Hokage before an orange tail came right at him.

–

Chapter 4

END

Author notes:

When I write dialogue for certain characters

- Minato, Kakashi, Sarutobi are all meant to be formal, polite, direct, and grammatically correct (to the best of my ability)

- Naruto, Bee, and Naruko (especially) use slang, colloquialisms, simplified language, stutter, and are grammatically inaccurate. Basically if my word processor gives me a blue line to tell me that a sentence could be worded better, I make sure to ignore it as a way to stylize how Naruto is usually slow to grasp things in Part 1. I try to write Sai as being more learned and formal. He's still verbally rough around the edges (like me), but he tries more than Naruko does.