Previously
Naruto and Naruko escaped, but are face to face with the 4th Hokage, and he's now facing the Nine-Tails, reborn.
Once upon a time, there lived a powerful fox spirit with nine tails. So powerful was this spirit that whenever it shook those tails, landslides and tsunamis would result.
The suffering people gathered the great shinobi clans to fight this menace. Finally, risking his life, one ninja was able to imprison its soul. Having defeated the demon, the brave shinobi died.
That shinobi was…
–
Minato winced and tried not to use lethal force on his son. This red-eyed facsimile of his son, snarling at him.
Hands tore at Minato's body, but not before he made a hand sign, keeping his eyes on the other two also. A block of wood suffered the blow, knobs and splinters bursting through the hole of a clenched fist.
It didn't take a veteran of three different wars to recognize that chakra. Minato acted faster than his body should have, sprinting through the hand signs then slamming his palm down. A bandolier of triple-bladed kunai appeared in his hand. He palmed as many as would fit in his hand and hurled them in separate directions, listening for the hard thumps as the enemy drew near. The Yellow Flash of Konoha was getting older after all. An ugly truth he accepted when he saw red eyes and sharp claws inches from his face.
He leaned backward and snatched the table leg next to him, swiping the entire table directly between him and his attacker… after Minato teleported above him to the kunai he'd intentionally let go past his head. He let gravity do the work, dropping on top of his foe and the flat side of the table pinning him down. Nine tails responded violently and tried to break the table. Minato disappeared again. Five swooshing noises later and the tails ceased moving, each with a triple-bladed kunai stabbing them to the ground. The monster howled as Minato removed the table from its back. His hand came down and made contact.
"This is for your own good!" he said as a paralyzing seal formula spread across his hand and transferred downward.
Naruto squealed as the paralysis took effect. The nine limbs went limp then quickly retracted, fusing into the boy's skin as the air around them settled. Minato watched closely until the boy was fully paralyzed. The boy's eyes went dimmer and dimmer, softly closing. Minato took his unconscious body and shifted him so his back lay against the floor.
Then he inspected the others.
There was a girl with pigtails grabbing her shoulder. Next to her a boy that resembled his son again only this time closer to adolescence, and he was slumped against the wall.
No sign of movement and a noticeable spider-web print on the wall behind him.
The girl recovered and saw the same thing. "S…Sai!" she cried out, getting up on one knee and running to check on him. Minato spied on her before returning his attention to Naruto.
Was the Nine-Tails the cause of all of this, he wondered.
They hadn't had any accidents involving the fox's chakra in years. Kushina had proven that the fox could be sedated, disinterested in the daily affairs of Konoha shinobi and staying quiet inside of her. No one truly knew what a tailed beast was capable of beyond their destructive capabilities though.
The girl called the name 'Sai' once more and started shaking him, getting no response. Minato silently examined the boy in front of him in the same sleeveless, orange jacket and blue pants his son had worn years ago when he first entered the academy. These three could be intruders disguised as his son. He shook his head at the thought, sensing something amiss.
"Sai! Sai, come on, get up!" the girl shouted again.
Minato closed his eyes. "He's going to be fine" he said, exhaling, "Even from here, I can tell he's not seriously wounded."
That didn't alleviate the girl's worries. Eventually the older boy stirred, pained but awake. Blue eyes on a lightly tanned, whisker-marked face.
"Naruko…?"
"Finally," she said, relieved. She looked from left to right. "Where are we?"
"Somewhere you shouldn't be," he said, getting their attention. "Congratulations by the way, that's quite a feat, bypassing a space-time barrier."
The one named "Sai" appeared to take in Minato's appearance. His eyes were familiar; the trembling glare of an enemy combatant that realized who they were fighting.
"You… you're the 4th Hokage."
Minato nodded. "Again, what you've done here is… impressive. What I need to know is how and why. More importantly, why do you look like my son?" His gaze tilted down to his feet. "And why do I sense the Nine-Tails' chakra from this one?"
The one named "Naruko" raised from her crouching position near Sai. "The…. the fourth Hokage? That… that can't be. You, you died years ago!"
Minato stared at her dead in the face for several moments, saying nothing. Silence hummed around them before Sai grunted. Naruko reached to steady him, but he declined and said he would be alright. Minato noted how easily the lie left the teen's mouth and frowned.
"I'm not sure what you meant by that," Minato slowly replied .
Naruko lifted her hand to Sai's ear. "-we're not 'there' anymore, remember?" Whatever that was supposed to mean Sai agreed, eyeballs following Minato as he went to sit down.
This safe house was a single-floor, high-roofed building. The floor lowered at the center. Minato sat on the stairs and cleared his throat. Naruko lost her composure when she noticed the person in front of him.
"He might not be fine," he explained. "I'm still figuring out who or what I'm looking at so I can't determine if I used the appropriate amount of force or not. Right now he's just had his chakra neutralized with the Uzumaki-sealing method. It's a low-level gimmick that a genin could break if they tried, so I'd suspect you're not an enemy ninja." He eyed the Konoha headband on the older boy and the one wrapped in the girl's hair like a bow. "Even if we're from the same village, I would start talking if I were you two."
–
The first thing Kurama noticed was that the light hurt. Everything zoomed in suddenly.
Vertical lines across blue-colored ceiling, a thin oppressive line bordering the beige-colored paint moseying down the walls. He was in a large room with three other people. The boy and the girl that looked like him, and an older-looking man with dull blonde bangs lining his face, a dark blue, Konoha-style athletic jacket and pants. Eyes that remained still and focused on him, drawing rivers of information from his every breath and twitch. The man they called the 4th Hokage… who should have been dead by all accounts and logic. There they were, beaming into one another, rationalizing the circumstances.
Kurama realized that his arms and legs were bound with rope and funny-looking paper with black markings.
"Hey let me go," he said, "let me out of here!"
"After what you did?" said Naruko. He didn't offer any comforting reaction and that made the girl scowl. The 4th Hokage said nothing.
The boy swallowed and coughed. "...where am I, and who are you?" he said, earning mixed looks. The older 'him' and Naruko weren't convinced.
"We're… well we're in Konoha, I think. Don't you… already know who I am?"
A weary, uncertain energy ran through his face. "No."
Her shoulders lowered. She looked behind him then said. "I'm Naruko, Naruko Uzumaki. You're… Naruto Uzumaki..."
The older 'him' came into view. Same hair color, clothes similarly damaged, sitting on his right. "What the? Did he hit his head or something?
Naruto. He thought about the name briefly. The name tugged at him, made his thoughts lopsided as he struggled desperately not to be dragged underwater. He wasn't sure how to feel about it. It... lessened him.
"No," he said with a breath. "That's not my name. My name's Kurama." The girl's face became tightly corked. "You got the second part right."
"Amnesia?" the older 'him' asked.
"It wouldn't be the strangest thing that happened today, Mister Sai." said the Fourth, wrists pinched between his elbows and closing his eyes. "All I know for sure is that it was the Nine-Tails I was sensing, and now, this boy who looks just like my son, says he's not who you say he is."
"I… I'm sorry," said Kurama, gazing at Sai. "Did… did I do something wrong?"
Sai's face went hot. "You're kidding right? You tried to kill us and everybody else over there! I don't know what kind of game you're playing but-" He stopped and looked deeply at him. Some moments passed and he looked away from him, closing his eyes. "Forget about it."
Naruko's face whipped back and forth. She stood suddenly and pointed angrily. "Oh hell no, I'm not forgetting anything! How could I? He tried to kill us! We… the old man tried…" A dark thought ran across her face and Naruko lost her steam, breathing unevenly.
Now it was Kurama's turn to be mad. "Heeeeey I don't even know what you two are yapping about! One moment I was in the village, and now I'm waking up in some creepy dungeon all tied up! Get me out of here!" he shouted, kicking and screaming.
"Sai," Minato interrupted, "Naruko, Kurama. If you're all from Konoha as you say, but different versions of it, I believe then that you are all aliens from other worlds."
Kurama frowned. "Aliens? What is he talking about?"
"There's a theory in modern fiction called the multiverse. Basically, if we're standing here right now, in Universe A, living our lives until the moment we die then, somewhere else, there are other worlds exactly like ours where different versions of us are standing right here, right now. That place is called Universe B."
"This guy's not making sense!" Naruto continued kicking his feet.
"I didn't even think it was possible. I wouldn't, except for the fact that you all bear the marking I placed on my son when I sealed the Nine-Tails inside of him, and the same kind of seal my wife Kushina had placed on her when she was…" His voice drifted.
"Your son?" Naruko and Sai said in unison, something sparking in their faces.
The Fourth nodded and answered, "His name is Naruto after the hero my sensei wrote about in one of his books."
Sai and Naruko's faces practically glistened. But then Minato raised his palm.
"The resemblance is uncanny, yes, but first, tell me what you remember. Each of you comes from a different world where different events took place? Start from the beginning."
Sai straightened. "Ye, yeah, I, well, in my world, I'm Naruto Uzumaki. The villagers always treated me like I was some kind of freak. I never knew why until I met Jiraiya-sensei." The Fourth twitched. "He took me away for training so I wouldn't get kidnapped by a dangerous group called Akatsuki." Sai touched his belly. "They want the Nine-Tails that was inside me. I left the village prepare, and when I came back I was on a mission to rescue my friend. Things didn't go the way I planned… because of Orochimaru."
"Orochimaru!?"
"Ye, yeah. You find that strange too, huh. Big surprise." The Fourth gestured for him to go on. "I know it probably sounds crazy but it's the truth."
The Fourth's gaze lowered briefly. "For some odd reason, something about you tells me that you aren't lying."
Kurama didn't know what the Fourth meant by that. He gave Naruto a once-over – he didn't seem odd or special in any particular way. That they looked alike was about the only disarming thing about him. Though his features brightened with the Fourth Hokage's apparent trust.
"My team, Sakura, Captain Yamato, faced him and a guy named Kabuto and…"
Everybody listened as Naruto's breathing grew heavier.
"Orochimaru did something to the Nine-Tails. I can't sense it anymore or talk to it, or use its power. It's like there's some kind of hole where it used to be. I woke up in Konoha in Naruko's world."
It was time for Naruko to speak. "I didn't know any of this when Sai appeared on my porch. He helped me pass my exam and then we got attacked." Hurt spread across her face and she mumbled the rest. "Afterward, we woke up in a different Konoha that looked exactly like mine, but everybody was really scary and paranoid."
Naruto turned his head to Kurama. "That's where we found him. The Nine-Tails in his body spoke to Naruko's and said it wanted to go with us. The only way we know how to make my power work is when my life is in danger. It's happened three times now."
"Is there anything else?" the Fourth asked them.
They peered at Kurama who said, "I… I can't remember anything like that. Not saying that you're lying, but it all sounds crazy to me. The last thing I remember was walking with Hinata-chan back home. Somebody hurt her and she fell down. I… I don't know what happened after that. I woke up here." He glanced at Naruko. "You look just like me, but, like, a girl version."
Naruto and Naruko looked uneasy. The Fourth's shrewd gaze fell deeper on them.
"Three kids with different but similar backstories," the Fourth exclaimed. "Each having some experience with a Tailed Beast. I have to say, all of this is bizarre. If all of you are from a different world altogether then you, I hate to say this, but you don't belong here."
"What do you mean?" asked Naruko, rapt.
He clarified, "All three of you believe that I'm dead, yes?" The other two nodded and Kurama, searching his thoughts, recalled hearing about the village's history. "The event that caused my death didn't occur here in this world, obviously."
"The Fourth died protecting Konoha from the Nine-Tails," Sai confirmed.
The Fourth's face was grave. "I suspected so, and it was probably one of the closest calls I've ever been in, but there were other casualties. Your version of events doesn't match up with mine." He looked at Naruto. "You're literally the same person, born with different chromosomes at different times perhaps?" In a heavier tone he muttered, "If Kushina and I had a daughter instead of a son, you're exactly what she'd probably look like."
"Kushina… that's my mother's name?" Naruko asked.
"No, I can't be sure of that," said Minato. "If some details are different then perhaps in your worlds you simply bear the same name as my son. I would have to interact with and study your Konoha. Unfortunately we have a bigger problem to examine." He rose to his feet. "Think of a stream going straight and flowing normally." He pretended to pick something off the floor. "Then pick up a stone and throw it into the river. The water moves in all sorts of directions. Throwing a stone, or three stones, into the water disturbs it."
"We're the stones?"
The Fourth nodded at Sai. "By being here, yes," he said, giving Kurama a glance. "Being here in a parallel world, you're influencing the natural order of things by being here. There can't be four copies of the same person." He chuckled. "Well, not in most cases anyway."
The other two laughed as well.. Kurama wondered what they found funny about this.
"I don't really understand," said Naruko, "but if we're not supposed to be here then why were we brought here, and how do we get back? Iruka-sensei still needs my help! We left him back in my world, he could be hurt or worse!"
The Fourth placed his hand on his chin. "If the Nine-Tails in Sai's body has been affected somehow by interacting with the seal containing it then the answer must involve your seal somehow."
"My seal did this?"
The Fourth crossed his arms. "I can take a look at it, see if we can figure something out and maybe,figure out a way to bring you three back to wherever universe you came from. It's incredibly lucky that you three happened to run into me. "
Kurama didn't doubt that the Fourth Hokage was a skilled, intelligent human and probably more capable of figuring out this mystery than any of them. There was, still, something eerily distant about him. A too-readily accepting nature and a blind sense of confidence in the supernatural.
He noticed the shadow creeping over the man's face.
Were they really talking to the Fourth Hokage of the Hidden Leaf?
–
Kurama Uzumaki, hmm?
Yeah, that didn't make sense.
Still, Sai was happier seeing his younger copy acting normal. He didn't sense any of the fox's chakra. No part of the fox remained except the whiskers. The boy took the explanation they gave him innocently enough – cobbled together as it was, the idea that he had siblings from another world seemed to delight him as much as confuse him. He seemed to shadow Naruko's every step from the moment they let him go. The Fourth took him apart in seconds with no warning of their arrival.
They'd left the room in the safehouse (a mess) for a grassy clearing outside of it. The Fourth asked them to stick closeby and not wander, finding a bunch of logs where they could sit. He continued studying Sai and asked him to remove his shirt so that he could examine the sealing on his stomach. Fingers traced the black markings of the seal, and chakra pulsed through the Fourth's fingers with surgical caution.
The Fourth Hokage was running a seal-testing exam on him. Sai stayed quiet and tried not to move too much or disrupt whatever the Fourth was doing. The man gave off a strange, gentle warmth. It was the sort of feeling he got whenever he was with Kakashi or Jiraiya-sensei. If, or rather when he got back, his teachers would never believe this story. He'd gotten to meet the Fourth Hokage, the hero of the Hidden Leaf and probably the greatest shinobi who ever lived.
He got to meet the Fourth Hokage, the greatest shinobi who ever lived!
The Fourth's questioning had driven Sai into a new school of thought. Parallel worlds like the ones he, Naruko, and Kurama were from. He'd gotten so focused on just getting back home he hadn't thought about where they really were, or what they were doing by being here.
Naruko seemed to be adjusting, but he knew he had to get her back home and check on Iruka, her sensei, the Iruka that existed in that world and had never met or heard of a Naruto Uzumaki. The Iruka who'd tried to kill him for not being the same person as Naruko, blamed him for kidnapping her.
He pushed the thoughts down. The Fourth Hokage finished and said it was okay to sit up again. Naruko and Kurama were watching from nearby, or at least they were earlier. Naruko appeared to be demonstrating something and Kurama looked starstruck.
"-and once I become Grand Hokage, everyone will respect me!" she said, pointing her thumb at her chest with a smile.
"Wow, that's awesome." Kurama closed his eyes and smiled, fists balled excitedly. "I wanna' be Hokage too someday. That'll be easy once you make me your pupil!"
Naruko, whose face was covered in black swirls and patterns, looked confused. She started stammering about how he wasn't old enough but Kurama ignored her. Next she tried to say that he wasn't anywhere near experienced enough to train with a real ninja like her. Kurama blew his cheeks out and took her to task, stating that a real ninja would be glad to train someone. When she grabbed a fistful of his collar, he sweetened and explained that he merely thought she looked and sounded awesome, buttering her up until Naruko released him and rubbed the back of her head.
The Fourth pivoted and air seeped from his nose, clearly regretting it when he handed Naruko the marker she used to draw on herself. Sai inwardly admitted her drawing skills were decent, for a kid anyway. He had a few pointers…
Naruko's eyes sharpened. "Look, kid, if you want to learn from a badass ninja like me, I can't stop you, but if you wanna' be Hokage then you're going to have to wait a loooong time!"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean that we're rivals for the Hokage name. I've seen you fight already. The title of Hokage goes to the biggest, strongest, most important ninja in the village. When you're ready, come at me anytime, anywhere, I'll take you down!"
Kurama didn't look intimidated. Rather, he replied with, "Alright, challenge accepted!"
Sai hid his smile when the tingling sensation around his ribs stopped. With the sealing examination finished, the Fourth brought them all together. "I've got some good news. The Uzumaki Sealing Style that I was taught seems compatible with the seals you three have. Naruko and… Kurama… have identical seals. Sai, yours is similar, but the chakra signature is different. The handwriting is spot-on, definitely my own."
"If that's the case then you're, I mean, you have to be the same Fourth Hokage in my world, and Naruko's, and…"
"In theory, yes," the Fourth said. "The Fourth Hokage from your world and I must have had similar training to fashion a seal as complex as this." He looked at them, mouth setting into a firm line. "However, let's still remember there are some differences. I'm dead in your worlds. I can't even fathom how different your Konoha's history must have been or how the council reacted to my death. Oppositely, I might react to events in your worlds differently, and any action I take in response to something I learn about from your worlds would be something unnatural in this one. Something I couldn't possibly have known about could become known to me."
"Uh…"
"So let's not make rash assumptions and not talk about our histories too much, k."
Disappointed groans came out of each Naruto Uzumaki in the vicinity.
The Fourth sighed. "My son is Naruto Namikaze. He's about your age, Kurama. His mother passed away years ago when the Nine-Tails attacked our village."
Sai didn't hide his shock. "She did?"
"Yes, I'm afraid so. I received the credit for sealing it away, but the truth is neither us, or the village, would have made it if she hadn't sacrificed herself. I thought I could seal the beast elsewhere, but there just wasn't time," the older man explained, sadness evident in his voice. The power and confidence in his tone quickly resumed. "For the sake of my son and the village, I must ask you three to leave this world immediately so that your presence doesn't harm anyone. I've studied the seal on Sai's body and come up with something that should come in handy."
He showed them a blade. Looking closer, Sai realized it was a kunai with a long handle and curved prongs on the sides. They were marked with jutsu symbols: the mark of the storm god, Raijin. Naruko and Kurama traced the kunai's shape, eyes hungry with questions.
Sai saw Kurama in his peripheral vision. The boy's expression flattened from awe to boredom.
"This is the Hiraishin. I based it off my teleportation technique."
He took the kunai and threw it into a tree. Then he disappeared into thin air and reappeared next to the tree, hand tightened around the kunai.
"My technique is based on the Second's and allows me to travel through space at will to any place that bears this Flying Raijin seal. But I don't think your power works exactly the same, Mister Sai."
"Wait, my power can do stuff like that, let me move like you do?" said a flustered Sai.
The Fourth Hokage swung his head around. "Like I said, not exactly. There are techniques of the past that were said to transport the user through time, some through space. Yours does both. That's unheard of, but unless I've wasted the past half hour tinkering with your seal, it's very possible. This kunai is important for you to master Sai."
Walking over to him, the Fourth offered him the specialized kunai with the blade end pointed away from him. Naruto accepted it and tested the handle with his fingers, feeling the heaviness of it.
"We'll call this the Flying Raijin device since it fits how you're going to use it. WIth time you can figure out a better method, but for now, I've modified the seal on your stomach to function whenever you hold the device. It harnesses the flow of chakra in your body and, if I'm right, should activate your power instead of your body instinctively activating it when you're in danger."
"...the Flying… Raijin?" muttered Naruko.
The Fourth palmed his chin. "Hmm you're right, it's not a very fearsome or cool-sounding name. Let's see, how about we call it… the Namikaze-Senju-Uzumaki-Style Thunder God Bridge Seal? Yeah, that'll do." He clapped his fist and hand together. They didn't say anything as he repeated the name to himself and speculated on using the name "Raijin" for short; whether it sounded cooler that way or not.
Was this really the Fourth Hokage everybody called a hero? Was he really this lame?
"Hehehehehe, that name sounds awesome!" said Naruko, getting a glance from Sai.
"Now that that's settled," said the Fourth with an approving nod, "this seal was used by the Uzumaki clan in order to monitor the flow of chakra in the body whenever ninjutsu was used. The seal will keep track of the chakra that disappears from your body whenever you activate the seal, and the paper will change as a warning for when that chakra runs out. I have to guess that the amount of chakra needed to pull matter across space is gigantic, if my Flying Raijin technique is any indication."
"How much chakra do… you think it will take for me to take us home?"
"I'm sorry Mister Sai, but there's just no telling until you try it. I've no idea if this will actually work or not because I haven't tried it," he said behind friendly, closed eyes. "When I teleport I barely feel it at all, but that took years of hard work and training to make it useful. The Uzumaki have stronger chakra than most, adding to the fact that you're all apparently Jinchuriki. I think if you put your mind and heart into it, you'll be able to pull it off without any risk… provided you follow what the seal tells you."
Naruto glowed hearing that. Naruko and Kurama, too, were standing at attention. The Fourth stood some feet away from them. They gathered around Sai, Naruko wiping the marker from her face, Kurama sheepishly staring around, waiting to be told what to do. Naruto wondered what must be going through the younger boy's mind. Surely he found all of this as crazy and unbelievable as they did? He knew who The Fourth was.
Naruko. Naruto tried to go with the flow, but the memory of Naruko losing consciousness thanks to that blast of killing intent from Kurama never left him. Then he remembered lying right to her face, watching her succeed at jutsu that took him weeks to months. The terror in her face when she learned the truth about him, and that same terror when they'd arrived here. She'd replaced it with questions and fake bravado, and said little more. Sure, they'd stopped Kurama from killing more people. They hadn't truly fixed him, no matter how he might be acting now.
He wondered if he could trust them, or if they trusted him at all. Maybe that was just the nature of people from other worlds knowing each other on some deeper level. If they really were the same person maybe they didn't need to build trust. Like how siblings, parents, and children always knew when to hug each other or to hold hands going down the street.
"Now, Mister Sai, I want to be as transparent as possible," said the Fourth. "Whether you successfully make it back to wherever you came from or not, heed this warning. I would have killed you in a flash if I didn't mistake you for someone. If you end up meeting another version of me or in a different location, the results might not be so lucky. Not only that, but if the theory of alternate universes is true then, certainly, you could wind up in an infinite number of weird places influencing or witnessing any number of weird events., meeting copies of people you think look familiar, maybe even family members."
"I know that, it's just like you said, we're like aliens or something."
"You need to understand the gravity of this though." The Fourth grimaced. "Wherever you go, you could be setting off a terrible chain of events by existing where you weren't naturally supposed to be. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Say, if you were to cross over to another world in one direction, what else might be getting pushed back or even towards you in the same direction? If we use the stream example again, throwing pebbles into water makes waves, sends droplets into nearby grass, onto rocks.
"What I'm saying is that you should be paranoid, all three of you." His eyes burrowed toward Kurama. "You told me that the Nine-Tails tried to possess him before you came here" Toward Naruko. "The villagers launched an attempt on her life." And back to Sai. "And you met them after waking up in a place that was unfamiliar. As the common denominator, Mister Sai, I advise you, be careful of who you speak with and who you let know about this power you apparently have."
There it was, that drop in his voice, again. It was like talking to a different person entirely. "People desire all sorts of things, especially things that they've lost or sacrificed. If I weren't skeptical or cautious of the dangers of such an ability, I would want to find a world where my wife was still alive. I would… I would probably do anything just to see that world. Thinking even more selfishly, I'd want to abandon this world and stay there, be happy, Will of Fire be damned."
"So… you think that if we go somewhere new, there might be people like the Akatsuki wanting to take advantage of us, or of me specifically," asked Sai, trying to put the dots together.
"It's not something I would take lightly, if I were in your position. Anyways, it won't be useful guidance at all if you don't test the Namikaze-Senju-Uzumaki Bridge and get it to work."
The long-named kunai acted as a sensor. The paper and the markings on it read "Uzumaki Naruto" and showed a projection of the chakra amount remaining within him. Pervy Sage had always said that Naruto had more chakra than anybody in the village. A big, fat zero showed on his hand. That was the timer to let him know when his chakra had recovered to a point where it was safe to use again.
Naruto Uzumaki had gone from 9-tails to 0.
All that was left was to concentrate. Sai closed his eyes and gripped his wrist, struggling to mold chakra in his belly the same way he did with the Nine-Tails'. Something responded deep down, opening a doorway for him and the others to go through.
The air in front of him twisted and wiggled. Heat and cold blended together, colors bent and fought for supremacy until the rift opened right in front of them all. A shape of moving air, a mirror-like reflection of the nearby surrounding trees and buildings that squirmed into existence.
The Fourth's mouth hung wide. "Fascinating," he said in a breath.
"Woah, what's that? Did you make that Na… uh Big Brother Naruto?" added Kurama. The added title made Sai flinch, but he acknowledged all the same.
Naruko threw her head back and forth, fists curled in front of her face. "This is gonna' take us back home, right?"
Naruto wasn't sure about that. "Lord Fourth," he said. "I don't know what this is."
"It's something called a wormhole. They're a form of scientific phenomenon that connects different points in space, forming a…" The faces he received made him clear his throat and start over. "...well it's kind of like a tunnel that connects two different places." He circled the shimmering, nearly invisible gate, briefly sticking and then retracting his hand from it. "Entering it could take you anywhere. It might be thought-controlled, meaning you just need to concentrate on where you want to teleport, or it might require a special seal to bring things from one side to the other. Look at the seal on the kunai." Naruto did just that and saw that the fat zero had been replaced with a countdown. "In exactly that amount of time it will be safe for you to use the jutsu again."
Naruto wanted to cheer. Maybe now he could get in touch with the toads from Mount Myoboku. First things first, though. He ushered Naruko and Kurama next to him. "Alright," he shouted, "here we go guys. This next trip is taking us home! L-Lord Fourth Sir, I-I don't know what to say or how to thank you…"
The older man smiled and showed his palm. "Just getting yourselves home and not blowing up all of reality is thanks enough for me. As much as I'd love to go exploring, I have a duty to the Hidden Leaf Village and to my son. I hope the little modification I did to your seal aids you in your journey, Mister Uzumaki." He paused. "One more thing before you go."
The Fourth suggested they talk in private. Sai acquiesced and, once they were out of earshot, the older man leaned closer.
"I made sure to reinforce that boy's seal while he was out." He showed Sai a slip of paper. "I wish I had more time to understand all of this. That boy is a Jinchuriki with a chakra network that isn't normal even for Jinchuriki."
"What do you mean?" Sai whispered as he took the paper.
"The seal I used to seal the Nine Tails allows a small amount of its chakra to bleed through. It's supposed to mix with a Tailed Beast's chakra over a long period of time but that boy he… it's as if that step was skipped entirely."
Sai's forehead scrunched. "When we found him he said something strange. He said the fox shoved a bunch of its chakra into him and it's, it's like they fused." Sweat rolled down the Fourth's legendary face. "But he's acting normal now, right? The fox isn't controlling him."
"Are you sure about that?" The truth of course was that he wasn't. If it wasn't all over his face then his held breaths made it obvious.
"He's totally different from how he was before, like he hit his head or something."
"You need to keep an eye on him. He could be acting, maybe even waiting for an opening to strike. If the fox should resurface use the reinforcing seal on that paper. It'll repress the chakra again. One-use only. After that you'll need to find a seal master." He guided Sai back to the portal, his face reassuring. "I know that you'll complete your journey and make it home safely, Sai."
Eye to eye, both ninja exchanged confident gestures. Sai thanked Lord Fourth and turned back to the two people waiting on him.
"You ready, Naruko, Kurama?"
They were. The Fourth watched as they locked hands and Sai walked toward the gap of moving air. The wormhole sucked them in and closed behind them. As soon as they vanished the wormhole blew out a yellow-gold-blue hiccup of light. Minato kneeled and began making seals.
A teardrop hit the ground when he was finished and activated the memory-erasing jutsu.
–
It was one of the 4th's not-so-safe houses they were in. The masked duo stood around briefly and exchanged glares, realized that they were in the middle of a space-time detection barrier then, quickly, cast themselves into the void, reappearing just around the edge of the barrier.
The fake Madara touched the dirt, sifted it, and rose. "They've been here," he answered when asked, eyes poking around the area. "I'd say recently." He started in a direction.
"How are they evading us, I wonder," Madara asked, more amused than curious.
"If your intel is correct they should be completely unaware of our presence."
"A lag, perhaps," suggested Madara.
The fake Madara continued leading the search, finding a clearing, empty and disturbed. "A possibility; we are, after all, working in completely untested waters. Their jutsu might be faster than ours."
"Maybe. Still, I've watched events unfold. Naruto isn't the most observant person. He gets distracted easily. All we have to do is catch him in a moment of calm, we strike then and make our terms."
The fake Madara paused and said. "Here." He pointed to a shimmering curtain of air. Just as the wheels of a Sharingan began to spin, someone grabbed the faker's hand. "What?"
"We may want to rethink our approach," said a third Madara. This one wore a mask of black fires. He looked the fake Madara in the eye, directly into the fake Madara's spiraling, orange-colored mask.
Their hands went to their sides. "How so?"
"If we chase them blindly through each parallel world, we find ourselves at a disadvantage. What we need are pawns, spies…"
–
Naruto always remembered his first time in the Land of Waves. It was Team 7's first 'real' mission as ninja; Sasuke had almost died, Kakashi had almost died, and Naruto had his first taste of how harsh this life could get. He'd sworn to never give up or go back on his word. That was his ninja way
It was the first time he'd made contact with the 9-Tails…
They'd found themselves on the bank of a huge body of water, and seeing an excellent opportunity to teach his protege a thing or two, Sai told them that they would be crossing the water, on foot, until arriving at the mainland. Naruko of course jumped to the challenge but Kurama… Kurama… Kurama didn't know the water-walking jutsu or how it was even possible. Naruko's smile went broad and toothy, taking 'her' new student to the side and running through the basic steps for gathering chakra.
Eventually they gave up and Naruko volunteered to carry Kurama on her back for the time being. The trek across the water took about half an hour. Naruko began singing and humming, carefully adjusting her head so that Kurama could hold on to her tightly. Naruto led the way, hand nuzzling the thickened handle of the kunai Lord Fourth had given him.
He tested the Fourth's seal and watched the marking on the kunai's handle change. There was a timer there, just like the Fourth had said: 7 days and 4 hours, so they'd need to spend a week here. He pouted; an entire week!? Why was the time limit so long this time when they'd easily hopped to a new world before? A moment of frustration filled him until he heard Naruko's voice.
"Huh, what's wrong Sai-sensei?"
"Hm, oh nothing," he said, continuing their journey with his hands tucked in his pockets.
They didn't quite make it to the shore by nightfall. A small peninsula became their campsite; if he'd been here by himself, he'd have pushed harder and kept going, but then he looked at Naruko, clearly worn-out from her combined walk and doing her best not to show it. Kurama on the other hand was knocked out, making things even more difficult for Naruko, keeping her arms clamped around his so that he wouldn't crash into the sea.
She laid down with a distinct weightlessness after placing Kurama on the ground. Naruto left and returned in seconds with twigs and branches to start a fire. He dredged up the long hours he'd spent in wilderness survival courses and made a fire pit, sitting with one of his knees pressed to his chin. The size of the special kunai made it too big to fit in an ordinary holster, so he had to lay it down next to him. Naruko scooted closer to the fire.
"I know it feels like we're lost, but uh," he said to her, scratching his head. "I'm pretty sure there's a bridge somewhere around here that'll take us to the Land of Waves."
Naruko frowned. "Are you sure we're not just lost, Sai-sensei?" He smiled with a pause. "What's that weird look for?" she asked.
"Hmm, oh I uh… I'm just surprised."
"Surprised at what?"
He closed his eyes and chuckled. "Surprised you're still calling me sensei."
The girl reddened.
"You taught me cool jutsu."
Somehow, she reddened even more.
"And you helped me get my headband and graduate even though I almost got you arrested."
Sai couldn't stop the grin growing on his face as Naruko reddened even, even more. It stopped when she threw her gaze at him.
"-but you lied to me and got Iruka-sensei hurt, so don't let it go to your head," she said, practically shouting at him. "I'm still angry with you."
His mouth dipped and he focused his attention on the fire, his face and the dark little ponds therein lit from the bouncing orange tails of fire. Naruko didn't say anything for a while, occasionally glancing at their sleeping guest as his chest moved up and down regularly.
She pulled her knees to her chest., "Do you think he's okay?"
"Yeah, I'm sure he is," he said after a few moments, knowing that she meant Iruka.
"I don't think he is." She looked at him with eyes that wobbled in the glow of the fire.
"Of course he is ya moron! Iruka-sensei's one of the toughest ninja out there." He closed his eyes again, lips taut and fighting back whatever was in his throat. "I don't know about the sensei from your world but I know he's really tough too, I mean, you saw the way he got me back there. I didn't even see it coming!"
Naruko's cheeks rounded and she tried to hide her nose against her sleeve.
"I think we can go through the Land of Waves and take the bridge all the way back to the Hidden Leaf Village. Then we can figure out if we've made it back home or not. I know a family who lives in the Land of Waves too." He wondered if Tazuna and Inari would still remember him after all this time.
"I still don't know why those creeps attacked us. People in the village pretended I didn't exist ever since I was born. Why now?"
His stomach sank. "Naruko, I thought about it over and over again. The reason why people treated me worse than dirt. You and me, we've gotten the same treatment because of a monster we've had inside of us since we were born."
"It's not fair. I didn't ask to have this stupid fox put inside me!"
"Neither did I, but that's what happened, isn't it. We've got to bear that for the sake of the village and everyone in it. You said you want to be Hokage, right? Well the Hokage puts everybody else first. We can't be weak or cry just because life is unfair." He raised his right hand and stared at it. "It's almost unbearable isn't it? The feeling of being alone?"
She stared at her feet as he continued.
"There was a time I didn't think I had anyone, anybody I could count on or who counted one. That all changed and I got put on Team 7. You would've too, I'm sorry for that. Still, once you've got people who depend on you, you won't feel so alone anymore. It doesn't matter how some people look at you once you've got real friends. They're the ones that matter."
"Team 7?"
"Yeah," he said, nodding in reply. "Sakura-chan and Sasuke. Kakashi-sensei. Maybe you'll meet them when we get back."
"Sakura?" The look on her face became raw.
"Yup," he said, nodding again, "she's there too. Though you might want to wear a helmet around her." When Naruko asked what he meant by that, he changed the subject.
"Even Sasuke? Really, that stuck-up jerk and his dumb hairdo?"
He twitched. "Even him," he replied eventually.
Her eyes went upward to a sky that was thick with darkness, starless and still. "Yeah, I don't believe you, and even if I did I don't care about Sasuke," she said, her voice changing afterward. "I wouldn't mind being on Sakura's team though."
"–I never knew my family."
The two heard Kurama's voice, still lying on his side with his eyes wide open. Naruko jumped a little while Naruto watched the younger Naruto; furrows already forming in his forehead.
"Me and Hinata-chan talked about hers a lot," Kurama continued, "she said her parents died when she was really little, and her uncle and clan raised her. I never met them."
"Hinata, you said her name before," asked Naruko. "I know a girl by that name, but she's a weirdo and never seems like she wants to talk when I say hi to her."
Kurama rose so he was sitting straight. "Take that back, she's not a weirdo!"
Naruko dug her heels in. "She totally is though! I swear, she always gets really sweaty and starts stuttering whenever I get near her!"
"It's because you're a weirdo and she probably doesn't want to talk to you!"
"Hey, if anybody here's the weirdo it's definitely you, fox-boy, so don't call me a weirdo!" Naruko yelled, sticking her tongue at him.
Kurama returned it. "Don't call my friend a weirdo then!"
"Woah guys, woah, come on, stop fighting," Sai interrupted. "We're all basically related to each other so start being nicer to each other."
They were silent. Naruko pressed her knees together and her vision darted from Kurama back to the campfire. Kurama's vision was on her then the fire.
"Are you guys really my siblings? What was it you called it, like… me but from another village just like mine or something?"
"Kinda," said Naruko.
"Yeah it's hard to explain, but we're you, different versions, older. There's a lot of stuff that hasn't happened to either of you yet, but since I'm here I can teach you those things in advance!"
The mood lightened and the breeze pushed the fire's warmth onto each of them.
"I took classes in the academy about jutsu, but I'm not really good at any of them," said Kurama.
Sai and Naruko beamed at one another. Naruko sat forward and climbed to her feet. "Consider yourself lucky you're here. Under my tutelage, you'll be pumping out shadow clones and climbing trees in no time, believe it!"
A tiny grin worked across Naruto's face.
Once upon a time, there lived a powerful fox spirit with nine tails. So powerful was this spirit that whenever it shook those tails, landslides and tsunamis would result.
To fight the spirit, the suffering people gathered their greatest shinobi from every clan. There was a brave shinobi who was able to seal the fox spirit away for good, but his wife died in the process. When she died, he died as well.
That shinobi was called the 4th Hokage.
Naruto Mugenden
Chapter 5
The Fourth Hokage!
END