Chapter Text
Sasuke slipped into the small town diner quietly. This isolated little town was well chosen as the location for his upcoming rendezvous. It was highly unlikely any of the townsfolk would be able to identify him here and even if they did they certainly wouldn’t say anything about it. Of course, the person that he was here to meet was far more recognizable by the general public, which in theory could cause some problems, but Sasuke remained unconcerned. People in these sorts of places didn't know much beyond their immediate community, typically lacking both the curiosity and the perspective to ask the right questions even if they did notice something out of place.
The small bell hanging above the door frame jangled just enough to alert the restaurant workers of their new dark-haired customer as he stepped inside. Sasuke tapped the dust off of each of his shoes, taking a brief moment to examine the customers scattered throughout the brightly-lit diner. He checked each of their faces individually, looking for any defining characteristic that would indicate that they were secretly the one who'd summoned him here. A series of completely unremarkable blank faces stared back at him as he scanned the establishment. Much to his surprise his target wasn't disguised at all. Instead, he was seated at the farthest corner of the restaurant with a bowl of soup in front of him and a book in one hand. Sasuke slid into one of the empty chairs across from the familiar face.
"I received your hawk," Sasuke greeted Kakashi, "no Sakura?"
Kakashi looked up from his half-finished bowl of soup. "Sakura was in the middle of coordinating the Medical Training Development Program — too busy."
Sasuke watched as Kakashi casually filled his spoon with the hearty looking stew in front of him. The silver-haired shinobi tapped the spoon lightly against the edge of the bowl, knocking off the small drops that clung to the underside of the utensil.
"Shouldn't the new Hokage be too busy to be all the way out here as well?" Sasuke asked.
Kakashi slipped his spoon back into his stew and shrugged. "This was important. Besides, I found an excellent substitute to stand in for me during my absence."
Sasuke resisted the urge to ask Kakashi who he had chosen to lead the village while he was away. He hoped it was Might Guy, just for the sheer absurdity of the choice. "Did you bring any Anbu with you?" Sasuke asked, returning to the business at hand. He knew the Hokage usually traveled with an entourage of elite shinobi, especially for trips to other nations.
"It's a solo trip this time."
"You're not worried about being recognized?"
"I just travel without my mask on. Throws people off every time," Kakashi admitted. His eyes twinkled with amusement as he lifted his spoon out of his stew and restarted the process of tapping it against the bowl's edge.
Sasuke rolled his eyes at Kakashi. So then why are you wearing a mask now?! While eating soup?! He didn't need to say the words out loud, his expression speaking for him.
Sasuke had given up on seeing Kakashi's carefully guarded features many years ago. There were certainly more important matters to attend to in his life at the time, but things were different now. The world was different — safer. Sasuke himself was also a good deal saner. He didn't have to be so distant from the people he cared about now. Memories of Team Seven's relentless attempts at uncovering Kakashi's face brought back warm feelings instead of just cold regret.
Sasuke smiled to himself as he studied the masked man across from him. Just how does he manage to keep his mask on and finish his entire meal at the same time? There must be a trick to it. If there ever was a time to get some answers that time was now. Kakashi was cornered in this small diner of all places. All Sasuke had to do was bide his time. He peered anxiously at his former sensei's bowl and waited for his answer.
"Can I get you anything?" the diner's singular waitress asked as she made her way around to their table.
Sasuke glanced up at the friendly middle-aged woman for a brief moment before returning his gaze to Kakashi's bowl. He wasn't going to miss his chance this time.
"What'll it be hun? I get off in thirty minutes and if I put your order in now I still get the tip."
Sasuke relented to the woman's request and cast his eyes back in her direction. He had to admit he had a soft spot for this type of person; he'd met quite a few on his travels already. At the end of the day this waitress couldn't care less about who Sasuke was or what his business was in her small town. Her apathy was comforting to him, perhaps only because he wouldn't have to answer any unwanted questions about his past.
“Hun?” the waitress waved her hand in front of Sasuke’s face.
Sasuke flinched at the sudden invasion of his personal space and quickly gestured to Kakashi's meal. "I'll have the same. And a glass of water." Satisfied with the simplicity of his order the waitress sauntered back towards the kitchen and Sasuke returned his gaze back to Kakashi's bowl.
Empty.
Every damn time. Sasuke groaned internally and decided to just get on with the meeting.
"Why are we here Kakashi?"
"Naruto is missing, or at least he's very likely missing."
Sasuke's expression shifted in alarm at Kakashi's words.
"Let me explain," Kakashi continued, "Naruto requested some time off from missions about two weeks ago, which is not alarming in and of itself, but nobody from the village is exactly sure where he went. He didn't give me a detailed description of where he was going, he didn't travel with any friends, and after some asking around it also looks like he didn't mention his travel plans to anybody else in the village before he left."
Sasuke frowned. It wasn't like Naruto to keep everyone in the dark about his plans. Kakashi was absolutely right to be concerned.
"He's been gone for a little over two weeks, and we've received no word from him since his departure. Naruto was last seen heading North-West towards either Kusakagure or the Land of Earth."
Sasuke knew Kakashi must have tracked Naruto through Kusa already, seeing as they were meeting deep in Land of Earth territory. Their rendezvous spot was currently situated a good distance to the West of Iwakagure as well, so the unpredictable knucklehead wasn't heading towards this nation's hidden village. Where was Naruto going? Sasuke wondered.
"So far he's been easy to track," Kakashi smirked as he spoke, "I haven't even needed the help of my ninja hounds." The newly appointed Hokage slid his empty bowl to the edge of the table and raised one pointed finger to the restaurant wall that was nearest to the kitchen. Hanging in the centre of a group of old picture frames was a freshly mounted photo of Naruto, his arm slung casually over the shoulders of the diner's head chef. He was beaming into the camera, holding a bowl of the restaurant's signature soup. The plaque underneath the tacky photo read 'Hero of The Hidden Leaf - Uzumaki Naruto' with the date from the previous week embossed along the bottom edge.
"Easy to track is right. Maybe this is just a vacation?" Sasuke snorted at the blonde idiot. What kind of shinobi went around taking celebrity photos at small town diners? The audacity of the act was actually quite humorous.
Kakashi chuckled. "It's definitely possible that he’s just on a vacation, but I have a few reasons to believe otherwise. I wouldn't be here if I didn't think this was serious. Of course, if we're being completely thorough then we must admit that Naruto might have just wanted to do some sightseeing in the Land of Earth."
"Yes, but if that's the case why travel all the way out here? This area isn't exactly postcard-worthy. And why not tell anybody, especially you?" Sasuke asked.
Kakashi seized his opportunity to tease Sasuke. "Well maybe it's something he's embarrassed to talk about. Maybe, he has a secret Iwa lover?" Kakashi purred a bit on the last word.
Sasuke choked at the thought. He felt his temperature rise as he shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "Kakashi, you're the Hokage now. Shouldn't you be watching what you say in public?" Sasuke quickly checked the faces of the other diner patrons to see if they'd overheard, but none of them shifted away from their own mundane conversations.
"So what if I'm the Hokage? What does that have to do with Naruto taking a lover?" Kakashi asked.
Sasuke's face continued to burn red with embarrassment at the idea. He stared down at the sticky tabletop between them and thought about his lighthearted friend. Naruto’s not like that right? Naruto likes ramen, and training and… summoning toads. Not illicit trysts in foreign lands.
"Come on Sasuke, you're both old enough now. And a lot of people met their current partners from other nations during the war."
Sasuke had never imagined Naruto as someone's 'lover' before. He shook his head to dislodge the images conjured up from Kakashi's devious words. "I- If that was really the case, then I ask again why are we here?"
"Well, we both know that if Naruto had actually met someone he wouldn't shut up about it," Kakashi's teasing relented and his face hardened into seriousness once again, "it's actually the absence of communication that's worrying me."
Sasuke nodded, relieved that they were returning to regular conversation once again. "Any other clues about where he might have gone?"
"Only that he put in a pretty large order for sealing scrolls and instant ramen a few days before he left — provisions I imagine."
"Any evidence to suggest he was attacked or abducted?"
"Nothing so far. I would have expected a ransom note by now if he was captured. We’ve seen an increase in organized crime in the smaller nations lately so his disappearance could be related. But that scenario also begs another very important question, just who would be capable of holding him in one place?"
Sasuke leaned back in his chair, fiddling with the edge of his cloak as he mulled over the question. In theory there shouldn't be many jutsu that Naruto couldn't overcome just by shear force alone. And Kurama being with him more than made up for the fact that Naruto's decision making could be a bit shaky at times. The clever old fox would steer Naruto back onto the right track if the situation demanded it. Unfortunately, this left Sasuke with only one conclusion about this particular scenario. If someone had abducted Naruto they were either very cunning or very powerful, or both. "I can see why you took the time to come all the way out here," Sasuke said.
"There's not many missions that require a house-call from the Hokage, but losing Naruto is a matter of national security. Our mission is to find him and get him back to the Land of Fire as soon as possible."
The waitress brought around Sasuke's stew and he dug into it appreciatively. Kakashi had been right to request him for this assignment. Nothing about Naruto's disappearance felt right, and his closest friend was either in serious trouble or currently making an enormous mess — one that he would inevitably need help cleaning up.
********
Sasuke and Kakashi moved at an impressive speed through The Land of Earth’s rocky back country. Naruto had left an obvious set of tracks along each dusty stream bed and expansive boulder field that they'd passed, so he’d been easy enough to track. The two of them had crossed a distance by late afternoon that had probably taken Naruto a few days to cover at his exploratory walking pace.
Both men had remained optimistic about their search for Naruto so far. There were no signs of other ninja in the area as far as Sasuke could tell, which almost entirely ruled out the possibility of Naruto being unexpectedly abducted in the midst of his travels. It did add an additional air of mystery to the whole situation though.
"I've got something!" Kakashi called to Sasuke from the other side of a particularly large boulder.
Sasuke leapt over the giant stone with ease and walked over to where Kakashi was inspecting the area. Kakashi was standing among the remnants of a camp — Naruto's camp to be precise. The signs of Naruto's presence here would have been obvious to anyone who knew him. Used ramen cups and disposable chopsticks were scattered everywhere, the breeze making them roll in little circles along the sandy ground.
Kakashi pointed out an an empty water canteen tucked behind a rock, which Sasuke immediately recognized as being from Naruto's travel bag. Closer to the base of the large boulder they found the telltale ring of stones and bits of charcoal from a small cooking fire. Next to that lay the biggest giveaway that Naruto had been here recently — a bright orange sleeping roll spread out along the ground, the fabric creased from the weight of the sleeping body that once occupied it.
"Why does everything always have to be orange?" Sasuke tried to break the uncomfortable silence that had settled over the two of them as he shook out Naruto's sleeping bag. It was empty, mirroring the hollow feeling creeping into Sasuke's chest. Neither man was saying it, but finding Naruto's camp in disarray was both alarming and disheartening. It left them with only one conclusion: something had happened so suddenly that Naruto didn't have time to break camp.
Kakashi furrowed his brow and turned to visually scan the area again. "I'll summon the ninja hounds to search the area for Naruto's scent. If something happened to him they should be able to pick up his trail again."
Sasuke stepped back from the scene and took stock of the surrounding area, hoping another clue would present itself if he refocused on the larger picture. It was frustrating to admit but their search was back to square one. He climbed back up the side of the large boulder beside Naruto’s abandoned camp, fighting the strong gusts of wind that were tugging at his hair and blowing his long dark bangs across his eyes. The strong winds in this region were almost certainly being focused and strengthened by the large cliff face that towered over them just to the North of the camp.
Sasuke looked down at his feet. The sizable boulder that he was standing on top of must have acted as a shelter from the relentless wind. Naruto would have chosen this spot specifically so that he could get his cooking fire started for the evening. Sasuke spun around slowly, studying the area with his sharp eyes. Stretching out to the horizon were pockets of trees and groupings of boulders, all similar in proportion to the one he was currently inspecting. He walked himself through Naruto's thought process as he set up camp. Only one question stuck out to Sasuke, why set up camp so close to the cliff face? Nearly any other spot in Sasuke's field of view would have been a better choice, if only to avoid the continual gusts of wind.
Sasuke shifted his gaze over to the enormous wall of rock to the North. Naruto must have wanted to be close to this cliff. He scanned the ledges and dips of the entire cliff face. About three quarters of the way up on the Eastern side there was a noticeable gap in the rocky surface — a cave entrance.
"Kakashi! don't call those hounds just yet. We still have some investigating to do here," Sasuke called down to his companion while pointing up to his discovery on the cliff face.
Sasuke and Kakashi dropped down through the cave's narrow passages with relative ease. It was an almost vertical descent once they were inside, but their ability to infuse chakra into their feet made it simple enough for the experienced shinobi. Sasuke slid his hand across the damp rock walls. There was a regular pattern of gouges and holes chiseled into the rock as they descended. People had been here before them, and not just Naruto. Judging by the numerous hand-holds carved into the walls the previous visitors must have been civilians. Sasuke grimaced at the thought. Anybody unable to use their chakra to suspend themselves against the walls would have had a hell of a climb to get to the bottom and back out again. He let his fingertips linger on a mineral buildup within one of the holes in the rock. People must have been carving footholds and hand-holds into these surfaces for centuries by the look of it. Whatever was at the bottom of the cave was certain to be ancient.
The cave dipped to the right after their descent, opening gradually into an expansive chamber full of enormous stalactites and stalagmites. Fully formed columns of mineral deposits stretched from the top to the bottom of the cathedral-like space, giving it the deceptive appearance of a grand piece of architecture. Kakashi popped a large flashlight out of his bag and lit up their way forward into the darkness. They had left the afternoon sunlight behind a while ago, and would be in complete darkness without their own sources of illumination. Sasuke pulled out his own hand held light and waved it through the cavern ahead of him, letting it wash across the walls, dipping over and behind each of the sparkling columns that marked their way forward.
Sasuke and Kakashi rounded two particularly large columns at the centre of the cave and found themselves standing in front of a set of elaborately carved ruins. The chiseled stone before them looked like it was once an alter used by an ancient clan, with a series of concentric circular platforms and tall, thin poles arranged to mirror the grand scale of the cave’s natural stalactites.
"This looks like Kaguya's technology." Sasuke knew that Kakashi would get the message behind his words — be careful and don't touch anything.
Sasuke looked closer at the most central platform. It had the appearance of an enormous calendar of stars and constellations. It must have been five metres in diameter, decorated with carved symbols laid out around the outer edges. It reminded him of some of the astronomy tools he'd seen in development at Konoha's Ninja Tool Research Facility. Next to the central platform he spotted a lump of fabric on the floor with a few large scrolls stacked next to it. This was without question Naruto's travel bag; the iconic Uzumaki swirl stitched across the top flap and Naruto's large summoning scroll both being unmistakable.
Sasuke opened the pockets of the abandoned bag one at a time, pulling out their contents: a few changes of clothes, water, food pills, and a sizable amount of small scrolls — just like Kakashi had mentioned back at the diner. Sasuke moved to the smaller side pockets of the weathered bag. A basic medical kit, a compass, and some half-eaten salty snacks that were popular in the area. Sasuke scrunched his nose in disgust as he stuffed them back into the bag. None of this was going to help him figure out where Naruto went. He checked the final pocket, pulling out a small blue notebook with an accompanying thin red pencil tucked into the spiral bindings.
"Kakashi, over here!" Sasuke called out into the dark space surrounding him.
Kakashi popped up silently over Sasuke's left shoulder just as he cracked the small notebook open. The first page contained a pull out map of the area with the cave location circled. This was good. They could confirm that this cave was Naruto's final destination now. Sasuke flipped through the first few pages carefully, the full picture of what Naruto was up to slowly emerging with each new piece of information.
There were notes everywhere, covering every corner of every page, in multiple orientations. Sasuke twisted the small notebook around as he read each line. Naruto had written out detailed descriptions of advanced fuuinjutsu, complete with diagrams and instructions. He must have snuck some restricted reading material out of the Hokage's Archive Library back in Konoha.
Kakashi shook his head in disappointment and muttered to himself, "you'd think he would know not to steal scrolls from the Hokage by now."
The next set of pages had a completely different theme, containing written references to old myths and legends from multiple nations. There were tales of ancient burial sites, powerful shamans, and great beasts, and although the details were vastly different depending on which culture the myths originated from, there was a common thread identifiable amongst all of the stories. Each one alluded to a great power that could send a person back through time. Sasuke suspected that Naruto had been collecting all of these legends as he completed his missions over the past year. He was widely requested across all nations, being considered the hero of the war, and he would have had plenty of opportunity to document local stories as he traveled.
Sasuke opened the notebook to a page that was completely circled in bright red pencil. It was a Land of Earth legend about a set of ruins that was ceremonially used by local clans to send people into the past. The story wasn't detailed. Just a brief narrative about a beloved local shaman disappearing in front of people’s eyes while performing a clan ritual in a sacred place. Following his disappearance the 'life energy' of everyone doing the ritual was depleted and the entire clan needed to recover in the dark of a cave for two days and two nights. When the clan returned to their home on the third day they found detailed likenesses of the vanished shaman across all of their ancestral carvings. The ritual had been a success and the clan had taken it as a sign that their gods were watching over them.
"The 'life energy' they're referring to is probably chakra," Kakashi proposed his theory over Sasuke's shoulder.
Sasuke nodded in agreement. "And this is probably the site of the shaman's ritual," he said, nodding towards the carved circular platforms on their left.
Sasuke was starting to put the pieces together and it wasn't looking good. He hated to admit it but all the clues were now leading him to believe that Naruto had come to this location with the expressed intention of traveling through time. But why? What could he possibly want to do in the past? Sasuke knew that there were endless answers to his own question. Naruto's past was filled with loss, the same as his own. The possibility that some of that pain could be mitigated or eliminated entirely was certainly very tempting. Sasuke frowned and flipped forward in the notebook. Naruto had drawn out a small calendar of dates across the entirety of one of the pages. One particular date and location was circled in thick red lines at the centre of the whole layout.
''Third Shinobi World War - Kannabi Bridge'
"Oh no, no, no…" Kakashi's eyes went wide as he digested the words Naruto had circled.
The rest of the red text, scrawled across the page in Naruto's signature sloppy penmanship made Sasuke's stomach flip. He let out an involuntary gasp as he registered the implication of the words.
'Save Obito'
They both stood in silence for a while.
"Well fuck." Sasuke's jaw tightened in frustration at his former team mate's idiocy.
"He wouldn't..." Kakashi trailed off, holding his head in one hand.
Sasuke watched Kakashi pace back and forth behind him. They were both running through the best and worst case scenarios in their minds. No matter how Sasuke played it out Naruto saving Obito would forever alter the sequence of events that had led them to this moment. There was a reasonably high likelihood that they'd never see the peace they'd fought so hard for in the war.
Kakashi must have been coming to a similar conclusion; he wore the telltale expression of a man in pain. Sasuke couldn’t decipher whether the older man’s distress was due to the walking tension-headache that was his favorite blonde student or just a reaction to being forced to unexpectedly relive his most painful memories. Sasuke supposed it didn't matter — either way Naruto was already somewhere in the past and about to make an enormous mistake.
Sasuke waited for his Hokage to decide how they would proceed.
"Well, we have to do something. We can't just let him go through with this ridiculous plan. Let's figure out how Kaguya's damned ruins work so we can send you back in time to stop that moron," Kakashi ordered. He turned towards the enormous platform with an air of authority befitting his new status as village leader.
Sasuke nodded in agreement and swung his light back across the old ruins. Just don't do anything stupid until I get there Naruto, he thought to himself. If you screw this up it could change the course of everything we've ever known.
********
Light and sound streaked all around him as Naruto fell backward. Except he wasn't falling, and he wasn't sure what was up or down anymore. Everything looked like streaks of colour sliding past him — probably a symptom of the speed he was traveling at. Broken fragments of conversations caught his attention as well, also slipping past him at a high velocity. Are there people here? Naruto wondered to himself. He struggled to figure out what this space would even look like if he did slow down. For the moment he couldn't really move most of his body. The power of whatever it was that was pulling him was rocketing his body backward at an ever increasing speed.
Naruto gasped for oxygen, his awareness turning to the burn in his lungs. He was simply moving too fast to catch his breath. There was also the possibility that this space didn't even contain oxygen to begin with. Naruto panicked and started desperately clawing at the empty space around him, hoping to find something to grab on to before he ran out of breath. Shimmering streams of light and sound slipped through his fingertips like smoke. He needed to do something fast! He wouldn't last much longer without air.
"Kurama, what the hell is happening?!" Naruto cried out.
The tailed beast was clearly just as confused as Naruto. "Maybe you triggered Kaguya's ruins by mistake?" he offered.
Naruto's eyes went wide, and he felt the tug at his core pulling him back with more intensity. Kurama was probably right about what had happened back at the cave, but they didn't exactly have the time to go over any more details. They were quickly approaching something — something enormous. He could sense it. Craning his neck back Naruto could make out a large shimmering white wall in his peripheral vision. We’re headed straight towards it! There’s no time left to figure this out!
Naruto braced for impact.
The explosion was enormous over Konohagakure. Like a lightning storm or a fireworks festival happening all in one explosive burst. The resulting shock wave rippled between the buildings and down the streets, knocking over any of the unlucky souls who happened to be out so late at night. Leaves were stripped from trees, windows shattered, and anything not nailed down was propelled down the centre of each street. Right away lights were flicked on across the village, people emerging from their homes in a panic.
Naruto crashed through the sky, emerging from the centre of the explosion and slamming hard through the rooftop directly below him. There was no time to stop himself or even slow himself down, but at least Kurama had the sense to cushion his fall with a large manifestation of chakra.
Naruto took in a huge lung full of air, the relief in his oxygen-deprived body immediate. He groaned and readied his body to move. If his internal teammate had been correct about triggering the ruins early then he knew exactly who's roof he'd just put a human-sized hole into. And the warm, soft, groaning lump that he'd just landed on should be his...
"Mom!"
Naruto jumped off of the flattened woman, his joints aching and protesting at every shift in his weight. "Mom! Are you alright?" Naruto reached for the half-conscious redhead, cursing himself for never learning medical ninjutsu. Is she injured? I don't know what signs to look for... "Shit shit shit." He looked up and down his future mother's body, checking for wounds beyond superficial bruises and cuts. She was groaning in pain, eyes still closed. That was a good sign right? Or was it the other way around? It was silence after a head injury that was bad right? He couldn't get his thoughts in order.
"Naruto, I cushioned the impact with chakra. She should be alright." Kurama chastised the teen, "you need to get started with the seals though. We don't have much time."
"This is too soon! We were supposed to have more time to prepare! I don't even have all of my gear with me!" Naruto cried.
"It can't be helped," Kurama's deep voice boomed deep inside Naruto’s psyche, "we need to move, NOW!"
"Alright, alright." Naruto stood up and took a deep breath. He'd spent months researching and plotting hypothetical scenarios so that he would be ready for whatever he encountered when he got to this time-line. This particular predicament was in his notebook as "Time Travel Plan K"— the scenario in which he emerged in this time-line right on top of Kushina. The premise being that two Kurama's existing inside two separate jinchuuriki was too big of a paradox for one reality and the universe would seek to correct itself immediately by slamming the chakra of the two jinchuuriki together.
As if on cue a terrible ripping feeling started to twist deep in Naruto's stomach. It felt like his abdomen was being slowly torn apart — the firey chakra in his depths pushing relentlessly towards Kushina's own Kyuubi chakra. The woman on the floor writhed in pain, her consciousness gradually returning to her within the great wave of agony that rippled out from her core. With a gasp Kushina's violet eyes suddenly snapped open and she frantically scanned around the room for answers. Her panicked gaze settled on Naruto's form hovering over her, silhouetted against the flickering ceiling light above him, "Minato?" She reached for him weakly, "what's happening?"
The next wave of Kyuubi chakra ripped it's way out of their seals and both Uzumakis rolled their eyes back in pain. Naruto didn't have time to answer Kushina's question. He dropped to his knees and heaved. He'd felt the pain of having Kurama ripped out of him before, but his previous experience did nothing to prepare him for the intensity of this feeling. This time he wasn't in the midst of battle. He didn't have the advantage of adrenaline to distract him from the brutal tearing sensation deep in his gut. They would need to work fast or both Kushina and Naruto would die here, each of their Kyuubi being violently torn from them as the time paradox corrected itself.
"Kurama, I'm going to… need some… cover while I do this." Naruto's words came out in small gasps as the pain rippled from his core. The next part of the plan would be violent for sure, but it had to be done. His fingers went to work quickly, stripping his top off, and pulling a small scroll out of his back pocket.
"The village will figure out we're here soon, if they haven't already," Naruto said as he pushed some chakra into the scroll. With a small poof a porcelain ink pot and brush appeared in Naruto's hands. "Kurama, we'll transform a part of you using Tailed Beast Mode. Surround the apartment! Hold off anyone who tries to interfere!"
Kurama paused. "Are you sure? This will become a whole new footnote in Konoha's history."
Naruto smiled warmly at his cautious friend. "Yeah, just don't kill anybody alright? They'll just think Kushina's seal weakened and you took the opportunity to rampage a little bit. This'll all be forgotten about by the time you really do show up in Konoha."
Naruto took another look at Kushina. She'd passed out from the pain again and he knew that this experience was only going to get worse for her. "I'm so sorry mom," he whispered as he gently laid her back in the centre of the floor and started painting sealing symbols in a large circle around the both of them.
********
Minato Namikaze was moving through Konoha at a slow pace. Tonight was his assigned evening to patrol the Southern districts of the village and it was turning into another long boring evening of hopping across rooftops. It was getting pretty late — most families had retreated to the warmth and familiarity of their homes already. The only sound Minato could hear was a young couple excitedly chatting in the nearby park. They reminded him of Kushina and himself when they were teenagers, sneaking around just to hang out on park benches and wait for the sun rise together.
The experienced jounin perched himself at the edge of the clay rooftop that he'd been standing on. The night air smelled sweet with spring blossoms and the village felt peaceful for a moment, which was something of a rarity considering they'd been at war so for so long. He sighed and ran his fingers through his shaggy blonde hair. This would be an evening better shared with someone special. His thoughts wandered back to his girlfriend again. It was about time for him to propose to Kushina. They certainly weren't those mischievous teenagers anymore.
Minato took another last scan around the area and felt a cold shiver surge across his skin. Something's wrong —
He barely finished his thought as the air exploded all around him in a brilliant flash of white light. His weight was thrown off of the rooftop, taking a few loose clay tiles with him. Minato righted himself in the air and infused chakra into his feet for a clean landing onto the side of the building adjacent to him. What the hell was that? Are we under attack? I didn't sense an enemy!
Minato immediately readied himself for a fight as he looked around for any sign of a threat. The young lovers in the park had certainly been shaken up by the blast but nobody was really injured. Lights were turning on in the apartments all around him, and the few people unlucky enough to be caught in the middle of the street were taking cover where they could. He scanned the surrounding buildings: no signs of fire, nor any follow up explosions. This had simply been a singular, large, undirected blast of air that had swept through the village. Minato could see none of the damage that would be expected with an enemy attack. His mind raced through the next few steps he should take. If they were dealing with an enemy infiltration then he needed to secure his assigned district and hurry back to the Hokage for further orders.
On the way he would stop at Kushina's and check on her.
Minato rounded the corner of Kushina's district at great speed. He had been picking up on a new chakra signature as he got closer to her neighbourhood and it didn't exactly feel friendly. Maybe this was the enemy that he was expecting to find earlier?
A young kunoichi, probably a chuunin from the looks of it, stumbled out in front of him on the street. "Oh good!" she lurched to a stop in front of Minato, "y-you're a... jounin right?"
Minato warmed his expression and nodded in response at the shaking girl. He didn't let his face convey his alarm but he was concerned about the state of his more inexperienced comrade. Her eyes were all over the place. She was panicked and unfocused, as if something had given her a serious fright.
"There's a... it's the... tailed..." she was gasping and shaking as she forced the words out, "Kyuubi!" She pointed her arm in the direction she had just run from. It was the direction of Kushina's apartment, and Minato felt his stomach drop. Without another word to the terrified chuunin he took off on the rooftops towards his girlfriend, knowing that the emergence of the fox meant she was in serious peril.
Minato's fears were confirmed as he cleared one of the taller rooftops in the area. Glowing in a blaze of golden chakra before him was the hulking form of the Nine-Tailed Demon, thrashing it's monstrous tails wildly from side to side. Debris was raining down onto the street below as the demon's tails ripped through the upper stories of the surrounding buildings. The beast was right on top of Kushina's apartment — It looked almost like it had manifested around it, or in a worst-case scenario, it had crushed the building entirely.
"Kushina!" Minato charged towards the chaotic scene, dropping onto one of the less damaged rooftops next to his girlfriend's apartment complex. He watched as two jounin worked together to battle the giant glowing fox. The first jounin pulled attention towards the demon's right side with an earth jutsu while the second took the opportunity to launch a series of large shuriken into the fox's snarling face from the left. Not a terrible plan if timed correctly, thought Minato, at the very least it'll give us a chance to study the beast's defenses and speed.
The jounin were skilled and the shuriken hit their target, slicing right into the side of the Kyuubi's snout. Except they didn't slice. The shuriken just... bounced off of the surface of the fox. This beast is like an enormous wall of chakra — impenetrable, Minato thought. His heart dropped as he watched two glowing tails shoot out and knock the attacking jounin back to street level, the crunch of their rag-doll bodies against the street making Minato wince in sympathy with their pain.
Minato analyzed the battle before him quickly. He could sense that something was off about the whole situation. It was an odd thing, being able to get this close to a tailed beast on a rampage in the middle of the village. What's going on here? Minato could infer that the Kyuubi had emerged from Kushina, his girlfriend being the current host for the great beast, but there was something bothering Minato about the quality of the fighting before him. The glowing Kyuubi above him roared and swung an enormous claw past a group of young chuunin on the roof opposite to Minato.
That was it! He swung PAST them. The Kyuubi is in a defensive position! Minato realized. The large glowing fox wasn't trying to chase down and kill the shinobi in the surrounding area. It was even going so far as to alter the intensity of it’s attacks based on each shinobi's skill level. It wasn’t trying to hurt them!
Based on what Minato knew about tailed beasts none of the attacking shinobi should have been able to get this close without getting wiped away, and the infamous tailed beast bombs were conspicuously missing as well. He reassessed the battlefield. The two jounin who had been knocked to the street were regaining consciousness and picking themselves up for another round of attack. The Kyuubi didn't hit them hard enough to kill them? Minato was shocked. This performance was nowhere near destructive enough to be believable as a true tailed beast rampage. Minato was left with only one logical conclusion — the demon was protecting something.
Minato used the sloping roofs of the nearby buildings as cover as he slipped around to the other side of Kushina's apartment block. One of Kyuubi's tails swung past him and it was moving fast — a hell of a lot faster than the swing the demon took at the other shinobi earlier. Minato exploded with speed while changing the trajectory of his advance. His quick thinking allowed him to easily dodge past the second tail slamming into the rooftop where he'd just been positioned. Broken ceramic tiles rained down around him as he looked back to where he'd been only a moment earlier. If he'd only altered his speed and not his trajectory he would have been flattened. Minato froze, a cold unnerving sensation shooting through his nerves and down his spine. He spun around slowly, turning to face the Kyuubi. Those giant empty fox eyes were locked directly onto him.
"We have company," the Kyuubi's voice emerged for the first time in a deep baritone.
Minato stayed frozen on the spot. It must be talking about me, he thought to himself as he pushed chakra into his legs in preparation to move. This battle was about to pick up in intensity, but Minato was far more interested in one question — who exactly had the Kyuubi been warning?
Minato created a few shadow clones, scattering them in all directions, hoping to draw the violent swings of the demon's tails towards his copies. He ducked away from the confusing scene and snuck himself onto an apartment rooftop directly across from the bubbling yellow torso of the great beast. His shadow clones were doing their job and taking on the brunt of the action at the moment. Minato crouched down and peered through the translucent yellow form. There she was! Kushina was lying back on her apartment floor, seemingly unconscious, but he couldn't be sure if she was breathing at this distance. Her long red hair was splayed out on the floor beneath her and her arms were laying out to her sides. Please be alive, he prayed as he continued to survey the scene.
Upon closer inspection he could make out a second figure through the Kyuubi's glow. He was certain of it. There was a man in Kushina's apartment, and he was standing directly over Kushina's collapsed form. This was the enemy shinobi that Minato had been looking for — the one the Kyuubi was protecting. The man's lips moved, speaking into the isolated apartment, but Minato couldn't make out what he was saying through the wall of chakra between them. The enemy knelt down over Kushina, still moving his lips as though he was speaking to her and carefully slid her green dress over her hips and past her undergarments, exposing her bare legs and stomach to the room.
Minato's vision blurred and he saw red. This man — this enemy — was taking Kushina's clothes off! Every muscle in his body surged with chakra and it felt like a fire exploded in his chest, urging him to move. Minato launched himself at the side of the Kyuubi's torso.
"Rasengan!"
Minato's chakra laden fist slammed into the Kyuubi's side, causing the bubbling yellow chakra of the demon to ripple and pulse all around him. He drove the swirling ball harder into the side of the fox. There had to be a way through!
********
"I'm so sorry mom. I'm so sorry mom. I’m so sorry mom." Naruto was repeating his little mantra over and over as he tugged Kushina’s dress up. Why couldn't she just wear a shirt and pants like a normal person? Naruto thought. He blushed as he got an eye-full of her white panties. This had to be the most embarrassing way to get reacquainted that he could possibly think of. Naruto looked away, knowing that he just needed to focus on the sealing jutsu he'd prepared for this moment. The pain of their merging chakra was getting more intense as the minutes ticked by.
A loud explosion rippled through the air from his left and Naruto's head snapped back in that direction.
“Dad!”
Naruto was ecstatic to see the familiar face on the other side of Kurama's chakra. He didn't bother to register the rage on Minato's features or the rippling explosions of energy radiating from where Minato's Rasengan twisted and tore against Kurama's own swirling golden energy. Naruto's heart leapt and he instinctively smiled and waved at the furious jounin. It's really wonderful to see him again, Naruto sighed to himself happily.
Naruto watched as Minato dispelled his Rasengan, flickering away briefly in order to dodge one of Kurama’s tails. He almost immediately reappeared in the same spot, slamming his next Rasengan back into Kurama’s side. Naruto could see that his father was yelling something at him, but he couldn’t quite make out what the words were. The roar of the swirling chakra around him was all he could hear at this point.
"Naruto! Stop waving at the Fourth! You need to concentrate. We're about to run out of chakra!" Kurama barked at the enamoured teen.
Naruto righted himself, looking back down at Kushina again, choosing to ignore his raging father for the moment. He knew Minato wouldn't be able to get through Kurama despite his efforts, and Naruto simply didn't have the time to focus on anything but the woman pinned underneath him. "Right! Here we go!" He swirled the last few seal signs onto her belly with his ink brush and placed his tools to the side. He made one last check of the seals he'd painted on the apartment floor, himself, and Kushina, and nodded in approval at his own work. It was now or never. Naruto slammed his fingertips into both of their bellies at the same moment and twisted. Kushina's back arched up in pain as all of the chakra stored inside of her was violently ripped out in one terrible rush. Naruto held his fingertips tight to her stomach, knowing that her Uzumaki genes should protect her from the instantaneous death that other jinchuuriki would experience under similar conditions.
Kurama's whole form swelled and pitched around both of them as the two Kyuubi chakras finally merged. Being at the center of it all felt like a great wave of energy crashing all around and throughout Naruto's body. He gasped at the intensity of the union and gripped tighter onto his mother's abdomen. "One more step to go!" Naruto yelled to no one in particular and wrenched his hands in a second twisting motion across the two exposed stomachs. Kushina once again bucked underneath him and arched her back painfully. Tears leaked from Naruto's eyes as he dug his fingers deeper into her spasming stomach.
"This will be over soon! Just hang in there mom!" Naruto watched as the painted signs all over the floor slid their way onto Kushina's form and spun around the place where his fingertips connected to her skin. He felt Kurama's chakra split into two pieces above him, half of it funneling itself down his arm and back into Kushina's body. This was going to be a really similar seal to the one gifted to him by his father, but adapted to suit this unique situation. With a final loud crack the sealing finished and Naruto's fingers released from their positions.
"We did it!" Naruto threw his arms up in celebration as he watched Kushina's body slowly relax onto the apartment floor. Her muscles loosened from their tensed state as she inhaled and exhaled in one long slow breath.
Naruto sighed deeply. I saved her, he thought.
"Now we need to escape the village," Naruto spoke to Kurama as he crawled off of his future mother and stood up in the destroyed apartment. "Hey Kurama, we need to get out of here before —" Naruto pitched forward, his eyes rolling back into his head. High above him he could feel Kurama's form dissipating in a large poof of smoke. The walls and floors of the apartment around him groaned and settled back into place as the fox's torso vanished around them. "before—" Naruto slammed face first into the wooden floor, his chakra entirely spent, “before they catch us..." Darkness enveloped his vision and exhaustion took him.