#Naruto time travel

[uh-oh-its-bird]

There are so many naruto time travel fics out there but what I need SPECIFICALLY is an ANBU era team of Kakashi, Tenzo, Itachi, and Shisui getting flung into the founders era.

Like. Ok just looking from the political side of it that's;

A) 2 very young and VERY powerful Uchiha's (one of which is the future clan head!! Politics!!)

B) A very fucked up baby mokuton user who's still in the middle of being deprogrammed and can totally pass for Senju

C) The free wild card that is Hatake clan lore on top of having a stolen sharingan. On top of *that* him being the team leader of a team of kids who, in the time period context, should both be at eachothers throats and probably not be expected to obey the commands of someone not only from another clan but a way smaller one

Theres SO much potential there!! So many political implications in virtually ALL of the directions!!!!

Yk what as I'm typing this out I'm having ✨️ideas✨️ so let's make some story points to sort those out:

• I think itd be neat to have this happen like. A year? Ish? Before the massacre? So age wise, and full disclaimer I'm referencing Google and Wikipedia rn so I could totally be wrong, I think that's :

Kakashi (18)

Tenzo (17)

Itachi (12)

Shisui (15)

Could be wrong about the ages but honestly it's my world you're just living in it, so.

Then me going totally purely off of my own headcannons, were going to say they came in a about a year before Izuna died and place the founders ages as:

Madara (23)

Hashirama (23)

Izuna (19)

Tobirama (18)

Big fan of Tobirama being the youngest between the 4 but projecting the aura of someone as old as like. Idk, however old Madara is. Very funny to me, 10/10

• I'm personally a big fan of dogteeth kakashi so we're running with that all the way home. Also a huge fan of the "Hatake's are a distant, more feral cousin of Inuzuka clan" hc along with some sprinklings of "back in the day they had a bit of a Reputation(tm) for being a 'lill wild, and everyone generally tries to avoid them. Which isn't too much of a problem because theyre a very small out of the way clan from Iron, they just have a big reputation in contrast to their size.

In more modern times tho, along with (obviously) having dwindled down to a single depressed teenager, they've become a lot tamer over the years due to village life. Kakashi is a Hatake, 100%, but he is NOT up to the standards of this time. Which becomes a bit funny when people see him, go "oh FUCK it's a Hatake" and then start edging slowly towards the door like he's about to rip their throat out with his teeth. Meanwhile he's standing there like 🧍‍♂️"am I that ugly."

Give me a scene where, finally used to this reaction to him from the general shinobi population, the team starts to use it to their advantage.

"Give us the scroll or we'll let the Hatake off the leash to have his fun with you. He's been awfully hungry latley you know, hasn't had fresh meat in days"

Kakashi, feeling kind of stupid, gave his best growl.

It caused an almost immediate, embaressed flush to rise to his face, but he didn't let up. It sounded more like an almost pathetic puppy growl than anything to his ears, but apparently it was enough to convince the trembling enemy nin because he slowly lifted the scroll up in offering.

Wow. Now he couldn't tell if he was embaressed for himself or for this guy.

Probably both to be honest.

• So like. Itachi is the clan heir. That's big. That's important. Let's do something with that.

First off, I had a great time reading this one fic (tho I don't even remember what the fic itself was about now, oops) where a plot point of it was how Sasuke is just a walking stereotype of main house Uchiha. Like people look at him and they don't just go "oh that's an Uchiha." They go "oh fuck that's an UCHIHA Uchiha." He's so fucking painfully, obviously related to the very tippy top of the clan that anyone not blind can tell. It's in the way he looks, it's in the way he talks and treats those around him, it's in the way he fucking holds himself. You look at him and every other stereotype about the Uchiha clan is there in big, bold letters. (On top of that he's also a dead wringer for Izuna, which I'm such a sucker for and desperatley wish people would do more with)

So like let's give that to Itachi here because it's so fun for several reasons.

First off; Sasuke in this is like. Straight up a doppelganger of Izuna, just a few generations apart. They could be twins. Itachi, as I'm sure you are aware, is Sasuke's big brother. So let's take some liberties and say that Itachi could absoloutley pass as a blood sibling to Izuna and Madara.

He is however 12, so we're also going to say that the only people who get to make this connection is anyone who's seen the siblings when they were also at a similar age.

On top of that however he has the 'walking amalgamation of all the stereotypes of the main Uchiha house' so anyone who isn't blind will look at him and assume he's somewhere in the sphere of 'important main house person' tho who really knows how distant the relation may be exactly. No one !! That's who !!!

Second; He's the fucking clan heir!! What the fuck!! This bit would have the most impact after all the messy time travel reveals when things have settled down a bit, so it'll sit in the back pocket for a bit. Save it for some fun shaking up later down the line so we don't run out of all the fun reveals too fast and bore the readers, yk?

When it is brought up tho it'd be fun to maybe have some fucky Itachi and Madara mutual understandings of the way things work.

• So. Madara is like a bit of a scary bed time story to Uchiha children, right? Like. "Ooo make sure you don't get too obsessive or fall too deep into your grief and always stay loyal to the village or you'll end up just like Madara!!"

Something something Uchiha-Village relationships are tense as hell, something something Madara fucking over a lot of the clan with his whole. Everything., Something something scapegoat and old stories, something something 'people have probably been talking a lot more about how "god dammit this all started with Madara" in recent years.'

Now with that in mind let's take a look of what our time travelers think of Madara:

Itachi is a good Konoha soldier. Itachi (as has been very much fucking proven) would rather beat a possible problem before it even exists with a hammer till it dies an ugly bloody death than even RISK it blossoming into a proper problem. Itachi does not like Madara. Itachi personally, quietly thinks they should maybe wait till the village is formed then carefully arrange a little accident for him before he goes off the rails. He, even more quietly, maybe even thinks it would be a kindness. Allow him to be remembered well by the village instead of scorned.

Shisui I think is cautiously optimistic about him. He's the kind of guy who gives the benefit of the doubt, who weighs the options, risk and reward, but includes things like hope and compassion in his calculations. Yes, Madara was a uhh. Thing. That happened. But in every story his big blow up always come from one specific event; Izuna's death. So if they stop that from happening, wouldn't it secure both a better future for them and Madara? The history books never went into detail about Izuna, he doesn't know what he's like, but maybe his involvement in the future, on Konoha's side, could lead to even more profits for them long term. At the end of the day he's not against killing Madara (though to be clear, they are at first operating on trying to avoid all interactions with historical events and return home without touching things) but it'd be nice, to manage to get a happy ending for everyone. Unrealistic maybe, but nice.

Mmmm hear me out actually, maybe Shisui, after interacting with him a bit, finds that Madara reminds him of Itachi too. They definatley both have that "I would do unspeakable things to even dream of my loved just one more time" energy, if you know what I mean

Anyways; Kakashi and Tenzo are both neutral on Madara. Yes, they learned about how he betrayed the village when young just like everyone else, but they weren't getting the bed time stories and "do this and you'll end up just like him" warnings like the Uchiha's. They're possibly leaning into negative but are detached from the situation enough to just go "well he hasn't done it yet and his brother is still alive so he won't any time soon" and be done with it

• Now, on the the total opposite side of the spectrum you have Hashirama and Tobirama. People are brought up in Konoha to fucking IDOLIZE these guys. You can not tell me our team of time travelers wouldn't be at least a little awed to speak with them.

I think Tenzo would be the most wide eyed about Hashirama, both for the baseline "holy shit that's the Shodai Hokage" and also that fun juicy mokuton user imposter syndrome he has going on for him. That guys DNA is inside his body!!! Holy shit wait does that mean if someone did a blood relation test with them he might read as being related to him?? Fuck were gonna pocket that for now but like. Mmmmm potential.

I'd say Itachi is the most hesitant about Tobirama but again, village loyalist, so.

You know what tho maybe Shisui is the most hesitant about him (though still largely positive) he both def grew up looking up to him but can also see the anti-Uchiha policies people inact now with the implications that Tobirama would have approved of it. He doesn't know if he would, but like, he has to wonder.

Kakashi is probably the most normal about them (and also has experience in being close to a hokage (Minato) to know that at the end of the day they are painfully human) Don't get me wrong, he's still in some sort of awe! He might get a little lightheaded at the thought of seeing the God of Shinobi in proper battle, or the possibility to see the famed genius of Tobirama with all the different jutsu's he's invented. You can't tell me Kakashi didn't spend a little extra time reading about him when he was trying to make Chidori. Honestly I'm gonna roll with that and say he had a bit of a phase as a kid where he was a total fan boy. Maybe sprinkle in the good old HalfHatake!Tobirama hc to add some faint daydreams a lonley babykashi had after his father's death, about getting to meet him as family. Like cmon, little genius idolizing and projecting on some big history figure only to find out they're actually related? Can you say potential?

Anyways he did eventually grow out of the phase, probably got unattached to it all and lost interest after the whole "losing everything he loved" bit of his life. And at the end of the day, he doesn't have any real complex personal hang ups on the founders like the others do. Thus, most normal.

• And then my favorite most special boy, Izuna !! He's for sure the one they're all most neutral about. He's not actually taught about in the academy? There's probably some throw away line about him in some history books somewhere, but he died young and was quickly buried by the looming shadow of Konoha. The only real knowledge had about him in modern times is just a vague "Yeah he got killed by Tobirama which lead to peace being made but also lead to Madara losing his shit"

Poor Izuna he's the linchpin for it all but was left an unremarkable footnote of history. My boy deserves so much better

Tenzo doesn't actually even know who he is, that boy got bare minimum education under Danzo and Izuna was NOT included.

Itachi and Shisui mmmaybe have some small little fun fact here or there buried in stories from the older members of the clans but like. It's gonna amount to just "yeah he had a great katon" and thats about it.

I WILL SAY HOWEVER. Itachi sees him and instantly is that one PTSD dog meme. Sasuke is a BABY but holy shit Izuna looks exactly like he'd expect him to grow up as and it's making him FEEL THINGS. Also he's so bratty little brother coded !! He's an entire 7 years older than Itachi but Ifachi keeps fucking up and trying to big brother him it's embaressing.

And ofc Itachi didn't go into the first meeting thinking he'd see some weird older mirror version of his beloved baby brother who he misses and worries about very very much. So like. There's for sure going to be some conflict there. If their first meeting is a scuffle (which it probably will be) I think Itachi would keep hesitating to attack. On full run away mode. Which is probably for the best bc he shouldn't try to fight Izuna anyways honey he's like double your bodyweight and you're strong but you aren't THAT strong.

• Pointing back at both the 'Itachi does not like Madara and has quiet thoughts about how it'd possibly be in everyone's interest to just kill him' and the 'Itachi and Madara quietly bond over being clain head/heir during stressful times (w pressure from the elders especially)

I can see 2 outcomes of a potential bonding conversation with them:

1) They come to understand eachother better.

Madara wants to be on good terms, he looks at this kid and sees one of his brothers eyes and the others quiet determination. He can tell Itachi doesn't like him for some reason, and it's frustrating because he doesn't know why. He wants him to like him. He wants to be able to offer his hand and have it taken. It hurts, to be looked at with such suspicion from a face that has traces of Izuna's.

Meanwhile Itachi . . . Itachi looks at Madara and he sees someone who gets it. Gets it like no one ever has. It scares him. He looks up at this man, this horror story he's been told to fear becoming, and he sees himself. And this realization shakes him. It makes him think, makes him wonder. He's so, so sure of his loyalty to Konoha. More sure than he is of anything else in the world. But . . . But if something happened to Sasuke, if he had to choose—

And maybe it softens something in him too, along with the (honestly healthy) dose of fear. It forms a little crack in his shell, just enough to maybe, maybe let Madara through. Just a hair.

Or 2) we pull one of those "The conversation ends with them agreeing verbally but mentally they're on 2 VERY different notes."

Madara, nodding and looking at Itachi meaningfully: "Yeah it can be hard, but all we can really do is try to make the world a safer place for the ones we love. (To create Konoha, to keep my clan safe. Izuna safe. And now to keep you safe too.)

Itachi, nodding slowly: "Yeah. No matter how hard it is (even though I think I understand you more than anyone else Ive ever met) we have to try to make the world a safer place (by killing you in your sleep once Konoha is formed) for the ones we love (My clan. My village. Sasuke.)"

• Also pointing back at the 'Hatake warring clan era reputation,' the 'Tobirama is half Hatake' and also now pointing at Tobirama's title as the White Demon. Small thing but it'd be neat if there was some small throw away line that the nickname lowkey started in part because of the absoloutley terrifying reputation of the Hatake combined with Tobirama's own Everything(tm) like it just had some influence on how some view him. Give me Uchiha's making dog jokes ab him it'll be funny

• Ok but now the actual plot thoughts. Yeah I know I kept you waiting sorry about that.

So time travel! Probably due to a mission gone wrong. Some ruins or some ancient crumbling scroll that wasn't even supposed to do fucking time travel but was so old and corroded that it somehow managed to transform into a whole other seal by pure bad luck. Or good luck I guess, considering it could have just turned into a nuke.

Our favorite team of disasters are very very alarmed !!! What the fuck !!! Obviously they don't default to thinking time travel, but they immediatley know something is wrong. The landscape has changed, though the big landmarks are still there. The mission was complete anyways with no injuries so they just retreat to Konoha. Only oops !! It's not fucking there!!!

Queue alarm.

Shisui is the first one to suggest time travel because he's quirky like that. And there's a very easy way to confirm this theory.

(Also we're going to say that Konoha's location is a valley a few miles out from the Naka River that borders the Senju / Uchiha territories.)

This is convenient because that verification method involves checking in on where Itachi and Shisui know the old Uchiha compound should rest.

They do it in full stealth mode, the second they saw Konoha was missing Kakashi as team leader decided they'd treat the land as enemy territory. They all agreed ofc, for all they knew this WAS enemy territory now.

And, ofc, yeah!! There's the old Uchiha compound!! Being active!!! There are people there!!!

"What are the odds Fugaku-sama decided to have the clan return to their homeland for ahh, cultural enrichment?" Kakashi asked weakly.

"Time travel." Was the only reply he got from Shisui, whispered reverently as the boy vibrated with excitement on the branch.

Itachi just gave him a look, radiating a level of dissaproving disbelief that no normal 12 year old should be able to make. Kakashi would know, he was that not-normal 12 year old once.

From there they decide a no interference policy. Hands off guys!! They probably debate it tho, like, a good amount. They all have ✨️opinions✨️ except maybe Tenzo who's lowkey still in the middle of trying to learn how to be a person and is following Kakashi's lead 99% of the time. Especially since they're still in mission mode and this is like a super serious discussion and he really does know the least ab the founders overall.

They probably debate the merits of going to Uzushiogakure bc seal help but it's really far and they don't actually have like, just any leverage with them. They already decided not to fuck with the future so it isn't like they can trade secrets and warnings. At least if shit happens here they have some plausible deniability, being, yk, 2 uchiha's and a senju-passing guy with Mokuton. Kakashi's kinda fucked tho in that regard but he isn't going to be doing the party ANY favors with his clan heritage.

Which means it's time to potentially get desperate enough to interact with Tobirama !!! Which will inevitably lead to them bumping into a Uchiha patrol or something!!! I don't know honestly

• Anyways want Hashirama and Tenzo to interact. He has so many issues like holy shit. Let Hashirama give him the hug he deserves. I want him to violently adopt him. New brother acquired!!!

I said before but Tenzo is still reprogramming from ROOT. Let Hashirama impact that! Let him help! They can make flower crowns and photosynthesize together idk

Hashirama would be so happy to have another mokuton user, I think they should be able to sense eachother extra strong and like 'ping' off of eachothers chakra, it'll be fun

▪︎ I'm not thinking toooo hard about power scaling and this is fanfiction so a) don't quote me on this and b) for the love of all that is holy don't take my words as gospel

But for this fic specifically I'm ranking the founders and Team Ro, weakest to strongest (in a clean, fair fight head on w no time to prepare) :

Itachi (he's fucking 12 guys. But also he is like. FRACTIONS under Tenzo and Shisui. If he were 13 I'd let him be above or at the same level but like. He's 12. Cmon.)

Tenzo - Shisui (they're like JUST under the next 2 tho like seconds behind)

Izuna - Tobirama

Kakashi ( by the skin of his fucking teeth and the advantage that is his stupid amount of jutsu's and lack of self preservation)

Madara - Hashirama

And again that's not counting like. The specific situations, time given to prepare, potential dirty tricks they could play (I think the Konoha tricks would play a fraction dirtier than the others, who are slightly more used to big open battles vs the ANBU squad who does all sorts of shit in all sorts of places) plus like. Mental state and team ups.

Tenzo or Shisui couldn't take down Izuna or Tobirama but if they teamed up I'd allow it. Kakashi would get his ass kicked by Hashirama or Madara but he could survive a minutes longer than the others would

Itachi is doing his best

But like

He's 12 guys

I love him and he is terrifyingly competent but he won't win 1 on 1 with anyone unless he has some sort of advantage. Minus Shisui and Tenzo who he does have the advantage of regularly fighting, so.

• I think they do get to go back home in the end. It takes a ton of work tho and they probably do need to get Mito's help with it, Kakashi can show them the seal they got brought here with but it's an ACTUAL one in a trillion miracle it didn't fucking atomize them. So it needs a lot of touch ups

Anyways !!!

I have a little more rattling around in my brain but I'm really tired and also starting to think about other things now so I'm gonna stop here. Might come back and add to it later so stay tuned if you're into that

Full disclaimer I'm not gonna write this. I don't have the proper energy and it'd probably end up being too ambitious of a project if I tried. I'd love to see it happen tho, so like !! Big open invitation to absoloutley anyone who might want to take even a fraction of the ideas I've listed.

@ me if you do tho I wanna see the final product

[foxxy-sensei]

In the end, there was no hope.

The lands were ravished and most of the people were gone. Not even the animals seemed to be spared.

The goddess wanted her chakra back and she was determined to have it. The remaining few knew there was nothing left to do, but give in. But what are humans, but bodies filled with egos, determination, and desperation.

There were very few of them left.

Many of her friends had died before the goddess was even released. Neji, Tenten, Choji, Gai, Inoichi, Shikaku Tsunade, and Gaara… Friends and family lost to the initial war. It only got worse from there. Slowly, but surely, the rest of her chosen family started to disappear from her life. Stolen from her by a selfish and vindictive woman.

She had just lost Lee a few days ago as he fought off an army of white Zetsu so that the rest of them could escape. He told her he was okay with this death. It would allow them to live and he would be able to see his beloved team again.

Naruto sighed tiredly. She wished she could say she cried, but she had no more tears to give. Only a prayer that what her friend wanted, came true in the end.

But that was a few days ago.

Now, the only ones of her precious people that were left were Kakashi, Sakura, Sasuke, Shikamaru, Hinata, Kurama, Obito, and the reanimated body of her father. And she knew that, soon, she would probably lose them as well.

For now, they had made their great escape. With the help of a makeshift boat and some seals, they had made it to the waters of Wave Country and crossed the perilous, whirlpool filled waters into Uzushiogakure. The only thing that truly kept them safe was Hinata and Naruto’s affinities for water chakra and Naruto’s Uzumaki blood. She had gripped the edge of the ‘boat’ so tight that the wood bit into her palm and caused her to bleed. The waters seemed to calm a bit after getting a taste. It was then that most of them realized that the destruction of Uzushio had to have been either an inside job or something far more sinister.

They stepped off their boat and onto the beaches. And while the others went on ahead to scope out the ruined village for suitable shelter and food, Naruto and her father were left standing in the sand, the Jinchuriki trembling with rage. Minato laid a comforting hand on his daughter’s shoulder.

“No one could be bothered to come here and lay the dead to rest.” Uzushio had been destroyed. The village was left in ruins… The dead were left in the sand. When her precious Konohagakure had been destroyed, Naruto had risked her life to go back and lay who she could to rest in a funeral pyre. But Uzushio was Konoha’s sister village and no one had bothered, in all of the years, to make sure that their fellow shinobi and citizens had seen a proper burial. Just left them to the sands and sun.

Minato hung his head. “I’m sorry, Naruto… Kushina. If I had known the Sandaime hadn’t seen to it himself, I would’ve come here personally to have it done.” He felt like he had failed his wife and daughter… More than he already felt, anyway.

Naruto bent to kneel in the sand and carefully picked up the skull of what seemed to be a fallen Uzushio shinobi. She was quiet for a long while, just wondering about who the poor soul could have been before they died. Finally, she spoke up.

“I will collect the remains of the dead and lay them to rest in a pyre on the far side of the island. Please let the others know that I would like to be left alone until then.” She created a few clones that set out to work. But before the real her could start the task as well, she felt her father’s gentle hand on her cheek, turning her head to make her look at him.

“I will never leave you alone. Not again. We will do this together.” He placed their foreheads together for a brief moment before pulling away and moving to sift through the sand for bones to collect, creating a few clones himself.

They worked quietly throughout the day and well into the evening. The rest of their group were scarcely seen except for when they were handing off scrolls with bodies that they had found themselves. No words were exchanged. Just quick, mournful glances. Shikamaru always seemed to be able to find the real Naruto when he was handing over scrolls. He would always brush his fingertips against the backs of her hands before disappearing into the shadows again.

The two had gotten closer during the war. They had spilled their souls to each other, surprising themselves about their choice in confidante. Shikamaru had a more analytical mind, so he always thought he would end up breaking down to Kakashi, as he was someone who was logical and reminded him of his father some, and would be able to talk him through his troubles. And it was no secret, Naruto’s love for Sasuke. He was her best friend and her brother. It was more likely for her to turn to him with her woes. Or at least Sakura or Hinata.

But that’s not what happened. They chose each other. No matter how unintentional.

They were out hunting for possible food and scouting for white Zetsus when they were suddenly surrounded. Shikamaru had taken a hit and was trying to convince Naruto to just leave without him and she ran with him hanging off her shoulder. He told her that he would hold them off. She was their powerhouse. He knew that she and Kurama were important pieces to survival. He needed them to live. But Naruto thought the opposite. Shikamaru was their tactician. Even if she could not go on, she knew he could help the others through anything. To her, he was one of the most important people. So it enraged her to hear him speak of sacrificing himself.

She created a clone and was quick to hand off the dark haired shinobi, mumbling about a cave system she knew was not too far from their current location. Shikamaru started to argue, getting angry himself, but Naruto would hear none of it.

She turned to give the shadow user a scathing look. “We will discuss this later.” She said with a growl in her voice.

Shikamaru was surprised, but said nothing more. He just nodded his head and surrendered himself to being whisked away. It was only hours later, after his wounds had been cleaned and the clone was able to feed him, did Shikamaru get to see the real blonde again. She looked tired and singed, but unwounded. Her clone handed over what little food and drink was left before dismissing itself. She was able to eat it quickly and in silence before the man who sat across from her finally just snapped.

Words were exchanged between the two that were surely regretted later on, but words were also spoken that they both needed to hear and say. Shikamaru spoke of his regrets, fear, and feelings while Naruto spoke of her own fears, anger, and dwindling self-worth. They both spoke of the hopelessness that they felt.

They found solace in each other that night. And what started out as clumsy hands and desperation, slowly turned into lingering touches and the budding feelings of love. Which is how Naruto ended up curled into a ball with her face shoved into the dark haired shinobi’s chest with his arms wrapped securely around her as she slept after the funeral pyre.

They had found shelter in what used to be a library. It was one of the only buildings that didn’t seem to be in complete ruin. They had set up what few bedrolls they could find around a small fire that they had created in the center of the room, ventilated through a hole in the roof. Naruto and Shikamaru shared a bed roll while Kakashi and Obito also laid side by side. Sasuke looked surprisingly content laying between Sakura and Hinata as they rested their heads on his shoulders. Minato, being a reanimated corpse, had no need for sleep and took post against a shelf as he read through what scrolls were left in the room. They were resting quietly for a bit, but the silence was eventually broken.

“We cannot continue on as we have been. Resources are limited and Kaguya will find us again soon enough. There is nowhere to run on the island. Nowhere to truly hide. And even if we stood our ground and fought, even if we were able to defeat her, who is left in this ravaged land that we have to fight for besides each other?” Obito spoke in a quiet tone as he sat up to stare into the fire. No one seemed to have an answer for him, but everyone seemed to hold each other a little tighter.

After a moment of quiet, the room suddenly started to get hotter and Naruto squirmed a bit in Shikamaru’s hold as Kurama’s chakra spilled its way out of the seal, forming itself into a miniature version of the Kyuubi no Kitsune. He had done this many times in the past after Naruto unlocked his seal so that he could come out and speak to the others freely.

The little fox stretched and brushed his body against Naruto’s back before turning his attention to the older Uchiha.

“Ever since her escape from the moon, my siblings and I have been discussing the matter.” Kurama’s deep voice coming out of the little fox always sounded weird to the Konoha shinobi, but they were used to it by now. “She was powerful. Too powerful. The Sage feared her and made sure we all knew how truly terrible it would be for her to roam this world again. Long ago, before we were all captured and turned into weapons for you humans, we had come up with a plan. One that would work in theory, but would take a significant amount of chakra to pull off and would only be succeeded by one or two of us.” The fox pawed at the locks of Naruto’s golden hair that had grown to about the same length as Hinata’s as time had passed. Once he was sure he had every awakened shinobi’s attention, he settled down against Naruto’s back and huffed in contentment when Shikamaru buried his fingers into soft fur to pet it. “We contemplated the possibility of time travel. Of using space-time ninjutsu to stop the rabbit goddess from coming to be again. Chakra is easy to send away and we believed that it would work, but then there was the possibility that it wouldn’t. That one of us would make it back to the appropriate time and would be overwritten by our younger selves and that the task would have been for naught.” He sighed. “So, then, we contemplated sending a shinobi back. If they went back far enough, they would not be interfering with their own existence and would maybe be able to succeed. But then we were captured and our hatred for your kind increased and we gave up on this plan… Until now.” He lifted his head to look back at his host and her, lesser in his opinion, boyfriend. “We have been talking and we would do it for her. For Naruto.” He turned to look at Minato. “But we could never complete the how of what we were trying to accomplish. But we are here in Uzushio now. Where the world’s greatest Fuinjutsu users originated and made it their business to complete impossible tasks. And we just so happen to have the leading expert in space-time seals and ninjutsu here with us today. I’m sure, with the help of your daughter and any leftover scrolls here in the village, you can create a seal that can accomplish this feat. And I, and my siblings, will power it willingly. Even if there is only a portion of our power left, I’m sure it would be enough to send one and maybe two of you back a significant distance.”

There was a moment of silence before Obito let out an angry huff. “Thank you for that fantasy of a bedtime story, fox. I’m sure to sleep well knowing that tomorrow may as well be my last.”

Kurama growled. “As much of a fantasy as your dead sensei sitting in the same room as us now. As much of a fantasy as you becoming the Juubi Jinchuriki and surviving its extraction. As much as a fantasy as the malevolent goddess who roams the land with her plant minions, hoping to drain your chakra away from you.”

Minato let out a distressed laugh before standing abruptly and heading towards the door. “You all get some sleep. I’ll see what I can come up with.”

Obito glared at the fox. “You’re really having Sensei waste his time with this?”

Kakashi let out a sigh and pulled the blanket up and over the Uchiha’s head. “Just go to sleep, Obito. Besides, Sensei has all the time in the world.” And with that, nothing else was said for the rest of the night.

***

It was a couple of months before anything was actually discovered.

They trained and cleaned up the island, but tensions were high. It felt odd that Kaguya hadn’t come for them yet. Everyone was driving themselves crazy with the thought. Was she toying with them or did she really not know where they were?

Naruto found a few hidden, underground rooms that only opened up to her Uzumaki blood on a seal and was able to find a ton of scrolls and books on Fuinjutsu that she happily showed to her father. She created clones and the both of them studied to their heart’s content. Naruto even found scrolls on the barrier that protects Uzushio. Apparently, it harnesses sage energy to keep the whirlpools going and puts up a type of force field around the island that hides chakra. It was designed so that enemies would never know what type of forces lay in wait on the other side, which may explain their small reprieve. It was also made so that the only people who could get through were the families that made up the island and anyone whose blood was keyed in later.

Which meant there was definitely foul play when it came to the destruction of the island and its people. Naruto wondered if she even wanted to know who the betrayal lay with. Wondered if it would do her mental wellbeing any good. So she threw herself into her Fuinjutsu studies and helped her father search for any clue on what Kurama spoke of being viable.

They caught a lucky break when Naruto found another hidden room in the Uzukage’s tower. It held many secrets and told the history of Uzushio and each family that called the island home.

Naruto looked into the Uzumaki first, of course, and learned that the last Uzukage, Uzumaki Arashi, was forced to marry his distant cousin, the daughter to the daimyo, in a political marriage after his first wife and child died by poisoning. His second marriage is what resulted in the birth of Naruto’s mother, Uzumaki Kushina and her younger brother Uzumaki Ryu.

Minato was surprised. He never knew that Kushina had a brother. He actually wondered if the woman knew herself and if that’s why she never told him. But he and Naruto were even more surprised to learn that the woman who was Arashi’s wife before the political marriage. Was a woman who went by the family name Namikaze.

Namikaze was definitely not a family name for any of the islanders. In fact, Minato knew that his lineage lay in a village not too far from Kumo. Maybe the Uzukage had met a one off member of Minato’s family and gotten married. They put the thought aside with the promise to come back to it later.

They learned more about the Uzumaki clan being related to the Senju and Uchiha clan through the Otsutsuki clan and about how Uzushio and Fuinjutsu were created.

They caught a lucky break when the second family they looked into was the Hoshizora clan. Or more importantly, Hoshizora Sora, the creator of the offshoot Uzumaki clan who specialized in seals meant for transportation. In other words, a specialist in space-time ninjutsu and seals. Coded copies of his journals were found in the hidden room where Minato sat for hours to read through them while his daughter followed along at a slower pace. She was, by no means, stupid, but she was not as quick with learning and reading as her father. She also got tired, unlike the reanimated man. There were many nights where Shikamaru, Hinata, or Sasuke had come looking for them and found Naruto asleep with a book hanging loose in her hand and her head on her father’s lap. The man would slowly untangle his fingers from her golden hair and set the book aside so that her friends or boyfriend could take her to bed. He would give a quiet thank you before continuing his reading.

A few weeks later was the first night in a while that the group had Minato actually join them for dinner. They sat on the beach under the stars with the fire cooking the fresh fish they had managed to catch that day. The entire group glanced up and gave small smiles when they heard the barely there steps in the sand from the former Hokage. He sat down gracefully next to his daughter and bumped shoulders with her as she picked at the fire in front of them with a metal stick. Naruto huffed and leaned into her father’s side. Shikamaru, on her other side, didn’t seem to mind at all.

There were quiet murmurs as everyone talked amongst themselves until Minato finally decided to speak up.

“I’ve figured it out. A seal that can help us traverse through time. Just like Kurama said.” His voice was quiet, but it was heard by all of them. They group stopped their conversations and looked at the blond man over the fire. Even Kurama came out of his seal to settle himself into Naruto’s lap and listen. Minato sighed and ran his fingers through his thick hair. “It’s a seal that has only been used by the Hoshizora clan once and is confirmed to work. The downside is how much chakra it takes to attempt. The amount is so significant, that the one person who used the seal went into a coma and almost died. And even then, they only succeeded in sending someone back to the day before. The seal was then labeled a Kinjutsu and locked away to keep anyone else from attempting it.”

Kurama huffed. “Well I have a significantly more amount of chakra than you worms. And I’m ready to give it all up. My siblings have their portions that they’ve provided to Naruto as well. You will get to where you need to.” He blinked lazy eyes at the blond. “So…what are the rest of the conditions?”

The slight building of excitement in the group at the thought of the out-of-the-box plan possibly working simmered down quickly with Kurama’s question.

“You wouldn’t be here explaining this to us with such little enthusiasm if there wasn’t something else involved. So what is it?” Kurama grumbled.

Minato was quiet for a long moment as he stared into the fire. He knew his daughter had high morals. He knew what he was about to say might hurt her a bit. He felt like crap for even having to bring up the suggestion. The only thing that pulled him out of his spiraling thoughts was a hand reaching over to grab his own and intertwine their fingers together. He looked down at his cracked, pale skin, and compared it to the smooth, tanner hand of his daughter’s. He gave a squeeze back and steeled himself for the rest of this discussion.

“If we were sending someone like Kurama back, then we wouldn’t have to worry about this other condition. He is already only made up of chakra. There’s no body to be involved. We would just send him back and he would just assimilate with his past self and that would be the end of it. But as we’ve discussed, we can’t take this option because it would take the majority of his own chakra to send him back far enough to make a difference. By the time he got to that point, he wouldn’t have enough chakra to merge with himself and be the more dominant soul. He would just be absorbed and this would have all been for naught.” Minato started to fiddle around with Naruto’s fingers. “So, we would have to send one of us back. But the issue is that we are not made up of only chakra and a soul. Neither now or at any time in the past. We cannot just send ourselves back and hope for the best. The only way to do this right would be to send us back to our past bodies. And the only ones who could do that and actually make a difference are either me, Kakashi or Obito.” He let out a chuckle. “And I don’t know about the two of you, but I enjoyed the way I lived in the past. To have to take that life away from myself… To essentially take away my own life. I can’t do that. It may not have been the longest or the best, but it was fulfilling.

Naruto squeezed her father’s hand again and there was a moment of silence before Kakashi decided to speak up.

”I agree with you, Sensei, but is there any other option for us?” They all looked at the undead Hokage solemnly, but eagerly.

“There is one other option.” Minato said quietly. This is the part he knew his daughter would disagree with. He turned his head so that he could look at her in her blue eyes that were the exact same shade as his own. “Naru-chan, do you remember when we first started looking into the families that lived on the island before the fall? And how we found out that the Uzukage was married to a woman by the name of Namikaze before he married your grandmother?” With her confirming head nod he continued on. “If you remember, they had a child together, but both the mother and child died from some type of poison. If we send your soul and chakra back to right before the child dies, I’m sure your chakra would burn the poison away and you would be able to overtake the body.”

Naruto recoiled and let go of her father’s hand. “Overtake the body? Take over someone else’s life?”

“A life that was already lost. Don’t think too hard on this, dobe. It sounds like a solid plan.” Sasuke spoke up from seat across the fire. “You would be older than your parents then. Which means you would be in a time to stop the destruction of Uzushiogakure. You would be able to help stop the beginning of the Third Shinobi War. You would be able to keep your mother from having to be Kurama’s reluctant Jinchuriki. Don’t think of this as you taking someone’s life. If you need to, think of this as you being reincarnated as this person.”

Naruto wanted to argue. She really did. But she had nothing to say. It was all logical, even if she didn’t like it. She gave her friend a pout and crossed her arms over her chest. “I hate that when you decide to speak in more than undecipherable sounds, it’s to call me an idiot and be logical.” Sasuke rolled his eyes at the girl. Naruto decided to let it be. “So… The rest of this lies on me, huh? The idiot of the Leaf Village.”

Minato frowned and opened his mouth to disagree with her words, but Shikamaru beat him to it. The dark haired shinobi reached out and pulled at her hair with a stern tug.

“Don’t talk about yourself like that, Naruto. You are not an idiot. You’re strong, brave, loyal, an excellent tactician on the fly, and one of the smartest people I know. I can look at seals and know that it takes more than a little bit of intelligence to be able to learn the art and make it work. You’ve been learning with your father for less than a year and I’ve seen you do some amazing things with it. Imagine what you can accomplish growing up on an island full of people who know and teach the art. You’ll be a seal master in no time.” Shikamaru leaned forward to kiss her cheek, causing the blonde to blush. “I know you can do it.”

Minato watched the interaction with a fond smile on his face before clearing his throat and sitting up straight.

“And, Naru-chan, because of how much chakra we all have to spare, it wouldn’t be impossible to say that we wouldn’t be sending you back alone. We’d have enough chakra to send back another person to around the same time. The only problem would be figuring out where to place them.” He looked around at everyone else. “I know it’s highly improbable, but does anyone know of any deaths at a young age that would fit our needs?”

Naruto frowned, not likening the way it was worded, but looked around at her friends, hopeful.

Obito and Sasuke shook their heads. “There were, obviously, many deaths in the Uchiha clan, but I don’t know of any actual young deaths from the time we’re thinking about.” Obito mumbled.

Kakashi sighed and leaned into the older Uchiha. “The only death I knew about around that time was my mother. But she was older, so that won’t work.”

Sakura folded her arms over her chest. “My family have always been traveling merchants. There’s not much I would be able to do even if I knew of anyone who had a young child who died.”

Shikamaru had his hands sitting in his thinking position, a habit he couldn’t kick. “I think… I remember my father telling me the story of how I got my name. There was a Shikamaru before me. My grandfather’s younger brother. My father told me that the clan documented that he had been born on the night of the new moon and had died not too long after suddenly and unexpectedly. My grandfather had been devastated about losing his little brother and had named my father Shikaku in his memory. My father, in return, named me Shikamaru with permission from my grandfather.”

Sakura spoke up quickly. “Lady Tsunade used to tell me stories about how babies would sometimes be born with blocked chakra networks and would die suddenly due to it and no one knew what it was for a while. She actually told me that story because of Lee. She said it was a miracle that he lived to be the shinobi that he was.” A tear fell down the pink haired girl’s face that she swiped away very quickly as she continued to speak. “That is more than likely what caused the sudden death of your great uncle and sending your chakra and soul back would more than likely be the influx of chakra needed to unblock those chakra passages and allow for the body to live.” She gave Shikamaru a hopeful smile.

Shikamaru looked at the Hokage. “So we have another possible candidate.” He suddenly flinched, turning his gaze towards Hinata. “Unless you know of someone as well, Hinata?”

The lavender eyed woman had been quiet the entire conversation, deep in thought. She gave the shadow user a bright smile. “Even if I did know of someone, Shikamaru-kun, I would not say it now.” Everyone looked at the Hyuuga, confused. “This war has been tough. And we have all had many losses, but we have also found something here with each other that we’ve never thought possible.” She looked towards where Kakashi had his head rested on Obito’s shoulder and how Sakura held tight to a Leaf Village headband that was attached to a red cloth. Lee’s that he had gifted to her before his sacrifice. And then looked down at how Sasuke held tight to her own hand, probably not even realizing it completely. “Yes, we have all made new connections here. And you, Shikamaru-kun, have the most obvious one with Naru-chan.” The blonde and shadow user blushed. “And I can easily say that I would rather lay down my life here for the opportunity to send you two back together so that you can, one: save our world, and two: be with each other for the rest of your days, surrounded by the people you love and without worry. Please allow us to do this for you two.” Hinata bowed her head, stunning the young couple.

Kakashi gave his closed eyed smile from across the fire and bowed his head as well. “I couldn’t have said it better myself, Hinata-chan.” There were hums and nods of agreement from everyone else around the fire.

Minato smiled and gave a sudden clap. “Then it is decided! I will work on the seal and then, we will do what was thought to be impossible.” He stood and ruffled his daughter’s hair gently before making his way back towards the Uzukage tower.

Kurama huffed at the humans in his life and turned around to face Naruto, having been quiet the entire time. “You better make sure that I’m your Jinchuriki again, brat. I quite like how you treat me.” Naruto gave Kurama a sad smile that slowly transformed into a bright one as she reached her arms around the fox to give him a tight hug. “Don’t squeeze so tight, human.” He grumbled, but didn’t dare to move away.

***

It only took three days of sketches with Minato and Naruto going back and forth about the seal before they were able to paint the official seal on the floor of an intact sealing room in the tower.

Three days of the others meditating and trying their best to not waste any excess chakra. Three days of making peace with themselves and saying their goodbyes.

Naruto was, obviously, the one hit the hardest with the situation. She was about to lose the rest of her friends and be stranded in a time she knew nothing about. Alone until she could be reunited with Shikamaru again. When her father wasn’t bouncing Fuinjutsu concepts off her, she was spending some time with the others.

She had been forced to take lunch with Hinata and Sakura on the first day, listening to the girls talk and try to teach her small, quick things about medical ninjutsu, chakra control, and how to be a real lady and kunoichi. Things she had been neglected in learning when she was much younger.

That same night, Obito sat next to her at dinner and was adamant with talking to her about how she couldn’t become a stick in the mud like Kakashi used to be. The silver haired man had rolled his eyes from across the fire at that. He told her that even though her past hadn’t been the best, and he was mostly to blame for that, that he wished she would use this new life as a new opportunity to live the way she was supposed to the first time around. Naruto had just patted his head and force fed him some of the fish that was cooked for dinner to shut him up. Kakashi laughed outright at the Uchiha’s stunned expression.

Sasuke had woken her up early the next morning to go out to the beach and watch the sunrise on the other side of the island. And he had decided that he would teach her how to handle a sword while they were there. Naruto whined about how she wasn’t going to learn Kenjutsu in a morning, but her broody brother didn’t care. He made her create clones so that she could at least learn the katas. “I’ll have to learn this all over again, Sasuke. I’m not sure why you’re insisting on this.” Naruto had mumbled as the Uchiha corrected her leg positions.

“Because I hope, dobe, that the techniques will imprint themselves on your soul and your chakra. Because if it does, just a little, that’s just one step closer to you being able to protect yourself without me there.” the Uchiha said before stepping away to make her do the move again. Naruto wanted to mention how she had been without him for a while now, but she kept it to herself. If it made him feel better, she was not going to ruin it.

Once she was able to escape the impromptu lesson, she was with her father for the remainder of the day until Shikamaru came to pull her away and feed her dinner on the roof of a mostly intact building. Now, if their small dinner turned into a make out session as well, Naruto wasn’t complaining. But then soft and playful touches and kisses turned into bruising holds and desperation. Like most of their intimate moments. It often made Naruto wonder if they would have ended up together in a different life. If the war had never happened. If they weren’t some of the last few people left. Every one of their intimate moments felt like a last goodbye, but that was the life of a ninja. Maybe she was just overthinking it. Later, before they went back down to join the others, Naruto draped herself over Shikamaru’s body and ran her fingers through his soft hair as he stared up at the sky. “Shika, you know I won’t hold it against you if we get to the past and you didn’t want anything to do with me.” Naruto whispered, putting out all her insecurities in that one simple sentence. The shadow user stopped breathing for a moment before he let out a full bodied laugh, jostling the blonde and making her give an irritated huff.

“You troublesome woman.” Shikamaru wrapped his arms around her waist and rolled them so that he was pinning her to the roof with his body. “You won’t be getting rid of me so easily. We Nara may be lazy, but once we have something or someone, we keep them.” He leaned down to give her a kiss.”And I plan on keeping you, Naru. For the rest of my days.” The blonde blushed and gave her boyfriend a small smile before pulling him down to kiss her again. They never ended up back with the rest of the group that night.

Naruto would have spent her lunch with Shikamaru the next day, but Kakashi was quick to swoop in and take her away to a secluded spot in the woods not far from the tower. He whistled and sat behind her, brushing and braiding her hair. It was a habit that he had started with the girls not long after running for their lives from Kaguya. It had started with Naruto after her hair had grown long enough to start getting in the way while she was trying to fight. She was about to hack it all off one night, but Kakashi stopped her and made her sit patiently as he conjured up his memories on how he used to braid Kushina’s hair back when she was pregnant. Naruto had smiled at him and gave him a small hug, asking if he could do it again for her every once in a while. It eventually turned into him braiding Hinata and Sakura’s hair as well and he did it all happily.

Naruto sat quietly as she nibbled on some fish while Kakashi worked. When he was done, he rested his head on her shoulder so that she could see his eye smile. “All done, Naru-chan.” Naruto sighed and leaned back into the man that she had come to think of as her older brother. Their relationship was weird and strained at first as it seemed like the silver haired man wanted nothing to do with any of his students and then he started to focus on one. Naruto had resented him for a while, and after Sasuke had left, she downright hated him because Kakashi had all but disappeared from her life. But then she left with Jiraiya and when she came back, she was mostly indifferent about her old sensei, if not a little excited to see him, or anyone that she had known, really. He was, technically, still her sensei after all of that, but she slowly started to see him less as that and more of a weird older brother who didn’t know how to truly interact with other people. She had told him as much and he had huffed with a blush on his cheeks and demanded she call him Aniki, which she had refused for the longest time until after they lost a lot of their forces after the initial battle with Madara and then Kaguya during the war. They had been hiding in the mountains of lightning country and Kakashi had had a fight with Obito, so he was huddled close to Naruto as they tried their best to stay warm. Naruto had grumbled and hid her face in her knees as Kakashi had, essentially, draped his body over hers as she was kind of a furnace. “I love you. I really do, Kaka-aniki, but please don’t use me to hide from your boyfriend.” Kakashi had blushed and tried to make excuses as his sensei, Naruto’s father, had laughed from his seat not too far from the both of them. But then Kakashi had realized what Naruto had called him and he held her tighter then, trembling. Naruto ignored the tears that she could feel seeping into her shirt as the man hid his face against her back.

“Thank you, Aniki. Do you want the rest of the fish? I’m not very hungry.” Naruto asked, reaching up to tug at the silver haired man’s mask. Kakashi swatted at her hand and bumped his head against hers.

“I know you’re stressed out about everything that’s about to happen, Naruto, but please at least try and finish your food. You don’t want to make bad habits.” Kakashi let out a dramatic sigh and tossed himself back against the ground. “Geez, what are you going to do without your dutiful aniki in the past? You’ll starve or train yourself to death.”

Naruto rolled her eyes and slapped Kakashi’s leg. “Stop being so dramatic. Besides, I’ll have you again eventually.”

Kakashi let out an amused huff and sat back up. “But then you’ll be the oneechan. I won’t be able to big brother you.” He said with a pout. He tugged a little at her braid.

“From the stories Obito tells from when you were kids, I’m sure you’ll find a way.” She giggled when Kakashi pouted and threw himself back on the ground again while calling her mean.

Not too long after lunch, Naruto and her father had completed the seal. Naruto wanted to wait until the next day to try activating it, but the others, once they learned about it being complete, did not see the need to wait. They all joined the two blonds in the sealing room and Minato explained how it would all work. The seal essentially pulled chakra from any source that wasn’t the chakra or soul being transferred until it eventually drained it. Once all of that was complete, and the seal had built up enough energy to do what it was designed, it ripped the chakra and soul from the intended travelers and transplanted them to where they needed to be. Which means that Naruto and Shikamaru would have to concentrate on their own tasks of leading their energies exactly where they needed to go after they ended up in the correct time.

Minato explained that the seal would not hurt the others, but would more than likely put them to sleep before they died of chakra depletion. Naruto bit her lip and trembled as her father approached her and Shikamaru and drew seals on their foreheads that would help guide them and keep the seal from draining their chakra as well. Minato had seals painted on his hands as well so that he could keep the seal going until the very end.

There was no need for goodbyes in the moment either, as everyone had already made peace with what was about to happen. Naruto had as well, reluctantly. But that didn’t stop her from crying tears that she hadn’t in a while. Shikamaru turned to her and wiped them away before giving her a kiss and whispering that everything would turn out fine.

Right before Minato was about to activate the seal, Kurama released himself from Naruto’s seal and pulled as much chakra with him that he could compress into a slightly larger form without invading the entire room and without completely pulling it all from Naruto. “I’m counting on you to make yourself my Jinchuriki again, brat. Do not disappoint me.”

Naruto let out a choked laugh and bowed her head. Of course those would be Kurama’s parting words with her. “You got it, fuzz ball.” The Kyuubi huffed and they all turned to Minato to begin the seal. The man nodded and began a long sequence of hand signs.

”Remember, Naruto and Shikamaru, concentrate on your intended vessels and where your souls and chakra should migrate. Do not waver.” They both nodded, determined, and Minato quickly finished off the rest of the hand signs. “Fuin!”

Immediately, the others began to feel it. One by one, the seal drained the chakra from the remaining shinobi in the elemental nations. The more chakra they lost, the more the seal began to glow. They were all sitting down already, but Sakura was the first to wane and eventually fall over onto her side, asleep then gone, as she was the one with the least amount of chakra. Hinata was next. Naruto had to close her eyes tight to keep from seeing her family die. But she could still feel them leave her. Her body trembled so hard that Shikamaru had to wrap his arms around her and hold her close, whispering to her that everything would be okay.

Kakashi, as dense as his chakra was, was the next to falter. He reached out to take Obito’s hand before falling unconscious. The Uchiha took him into his arms and held him close as he and Sasuke followed the others into death not too long after.

Kurama’s chakra would take the longest to drain, but it was draining surprisingly fast. The fox shifted uncomfortably as he pulled more chakra from Naruto’s seal to compensate before there was almost none left to pull. He left that there so that his Jinchuriki didn’t die before the sealing was complete. Eventually, he became small enough so that he could curl up against Naruto and Shikamaru and let the girl bury her fingers and face into his warm fur. He let out an amused huff, but said nothing more. No words were needed right now.

When Kurama’s chakra was finally gone, Naruto was a sobbing mess. Shikamaru held her as tight as he could and told her it was time for her to concentrate. They didn’t have time for tears. Naruto slowly pulled herself together as the seal started to pull away at her father’s chakra.

Just then, off in the distance, the two blonds could feel the Uzushio sage shields break and then they felt her. Kaguya. She had finally found them.

Minato let out a loud and vindictive laugh as more Edo Tensei cracks began to form across his borrowed body as his chakra left him. It was too late for the goddess. By the time she arrived, the seal would be complete. He smiled and looked up at the two travelers.

”Good luck to you both. I love you so much.” He forcefully pushed his remaining chakra into the seal and his body crumbled apart.

Naruto and Shikamaru gripped each other tight as they could feel the seal pulling at them, ripping them apart. The last thing Naruto heard was the vicious scream of the rabbit goddess in the distance before everything went dark.

***

Light, colors, and sounds slowly came back to her. Everything felt odd as she tried to move around and realized that there was no actual body holding her together. She looked around and noticed that she was in a room where attendants rushed around and what looked like doctors tended to a pale woman with long, curly, golden hair who held tight to an equally as pale baby with red tufts of curls on its head. Both of their breathing was labored and they didn’t look like they would be alive much longer.

This, Naruto realized, was her vessel. She slowly floated down towards the child and the woman, probably its mother, opened her eyes and seemed to look right at her. A gasp escaped the woman and she used trembling arms to hold the baby up to Naruto.

“Please,” she whispered. “Please save my baby girl.”

The doctors sighed and tried to make her put the child down. “We have someone still working on it, Uzumaki-sama, but the poison is something new from Suna. It’s not anything we’ve seen before.” The doctor didn’t sound particularly sad, but he knew this was a lost cause. Their Uzukage would not be happy.

The woman shook her head and held the baby closer to Naruto. “Not you. The angel. Please save my baby.” The doctor thought that the woman was hallucinating and marked that down as a symptom of the poison, but Naruto knew the truth. The woman could see her and thought she was an angel. With pure determination, she forced her chakra and soul to take on a more human form. Naruto reached out her hands and covered the woman’s hands on the baby, giving a slight squeeze before she shifted them to gently stroke the baby’s head. Naruto could feel the seal that her father painted on her shift around until it settled itself on the baby.

This was it. She was about to take over this child’s life. She understood, realistically, that the child would not survive much longer without her intervention, but it still pained her to have to do this.

“Thank you.” The whisper startled Naruto out of her thoughts and she glanced at the woman as she started to feel her chakra being absorbed into the small body. “Thank you for saving her. My little Tsubaki will grow stronger than the rest. She has an angel on her side.” The woman’s face looked pained, but she was still smiling. She slowly lowered the baby back to her chest and started to hum a song. Color returned to baby Tsubaki’s skin as Naruto’s essence started to burn away at the poison that was ravaging the body just moments ago.

The doctor was stunned and called for aid as it looked like the child now had a fever when just a few seconds ago she was ice cold.

The door to the sick room slammed open and a man with long red hair ran into the room. He fell onto the bed next to the woman and reached out to touch her pale cheek. “Nikko! I came as fast as I could.” He looked over his wife before turning his attention to their baby. “No one explained anything to me. What happened to my wife and child?” He said with a growl, turning his attention to the doctor. Uzumaki Arashi, the Uzukage, was not a man to be trifled with. He had a reputation that made people tremble if they saw him in battle. He wasn’t just named after the storm. This man was a storm.

The doctor looked away, wondering where his help was. “It is poison, Uzukage-sama. Something from Suna that we’ve never seen before. There seems to be nothing we can do, but your child has started to develop a fever and your wife is having hallucinations. We have them marked down as more symptoms of the poison.”

Arashi snarled and stood. “If you are not going to do anything for my family, then what is the point of you?” The doctor flinched away, but Nikko lifted a weak hand to take her husband’s. And just that quickly, the storm faded and the man returned his attention to his love. As dangerous as a shinobi this man was in his daily life, he was always a gentle soul to those that he loved. Naruto, who was just barely finished with being assimilated into the child, was getting a bit of whiplash from the swinging emotions in the room.

“Arashi. I’m sorry that I have to leave you.” Nikko whispered as her husband came closer. The man tried to shush her, but she just shook her head and brought their baby closer to him. “You won’t be alone though. An angel has saved our Tsubaki. Raise her well. Raise her to be strong and brave.” She gave him a weak smile. “Raise her to be a warrior far more tenacious and powerful than any Namikaze before her.”

The Uzumaki’s hands trembled as he reached up to stroke his wife’s hair out of her face. “I promise, Nikko. Tsubaki will want for nothing and she will be the fiercest woman anyone will ever encounter. I promise.”

Naruto closed her eyes, giving the two their last moment together just as she was finally absorbed into the body of the baby. She opened her eyes to a white room with a small bundle laying on the floor not too far from her. She slowly approached and looked down to see a small baby girl with curly red hair and blue eyes just slightly darker than her own. She did not look well either. Silent cries came from the child and her face was scrunched up as if in pain. Naruto got down to her knees and reached out to lift the baby. When they physically touched, the sound of the cries hit Naruto like a slap to the face.

“Tsubaki,” she whispered. “I am so sorry, little one.” She rocked the baby gently in an attempt at comfort. It seemed to work as the cries started to quiet down and got softer. “I’m so sorry that this has happened to you.” She pulled the baby into a soft hug. “Rest now. Everything will be okay.”

On the island nation of Whirlpools, a baby opened ocean blue eyes to the world to see the blurry form of a red haired man leaning over her and crying. The baby let out a little gurgle to try and tell the man that everything would be okay. A gasp escaped the man and the baby felt large hands scoop her up and left her against a solid chest.

“Oh Tsubaki. Thank the gods. Nikko was right.” He nuzzled his cheek against hers. “Your mother was right. You were saved. I promise this will never happen again. Papa will keep you safe, okay?”

The baby, Tsubaki, just let out a little sigh and closed her eyes, too tired to do anything but sleep.

***

Not too far away, in the Land of Fire, a certain shadow user had significantly less time than his counterpart to come to peace with what was about to happen.

His chakra and soul took shape in a small room that was familiar, but foreign at the same time. A small medical room inside the Nara compound. A place he did not see often from before.

Inside the room a woman with dark brown hair was having a difficult time with coming to terms with what the doctor was trying to tell her.

Green glowing hands hovered over her youngest son. A precious life that she had only just brought into the world the day before. She was told that he didn’t have much longer to live.

”His chakra passages are blocked, my Lady. No matter what I try, I am only prolonging the inevitable.” The doctor said with much sadness in his voice.

The woman stood and glared at the man with tears in her eyes. “What use are you if you cannot save my son?” She asked with a hiss, forcing the doctor out of the room. She knew she wasn’t being completely fair, but her heart was breaking. She returned to her child’s side and whispered to him that he would be okay. That she would take care of him forever.

Shikamaru watched this and let out a small chuckle. Troublesome woman. He reached out and placed a hand on the baby’s head, wishing he could alleviate some of his grandmother’s pain, but he was more concerned about assimilating himself with his vessel in hopes that it would survive. He hoped that what Sakura said was true and that his chakra would force the body’s coils unblocked.

As soon as he laid his hand on the child, he could feel the seal transfer itself and he heard the woman let out a gasp. He glanced over and saw her looking right at him with tears in her eyes.

“Please don’t take my baby.” Shikamaru was confused at first, but if he thought about it he knew how this must look. If she would see him, she was more than likely seeing him as a wavering light. She had just heard that her baby was in a dire situation. He must look like an angel or a grim reaper, come to take a soul. Unfortunately, that was half true.

He reached out his hand to the woman who hesitated at first, but lifted her own to touch it, making a shiver run down her spine. She seemed to relax though, as if feeling something familiar. The Nara may be an underrated clan in the village, but there were things about them that not everyone knew. The clan were shadow users because they were born with shadows in their souls. The blessed children of Daikokuten, the god of great darkness. Their chakra was easily recognizable to any other Nara in the vicinity because of this. They used the shadows because they were born from the shadows. He didn’t understand the lore of his clan at first, thinking it was just a silly story, but he knows now. Has lived the lore for the remaining days of his previous life. Shikamaru’s soul and chakra, by now, were enriched in darkness.

His great grandmother recognized him for who he was. A shadow. A Nara.

The woman nodded her head, not knowing exactly what was going on, but knowing what must be done. Shikamaru nodded his head as well and turned his attention back to the baby, placing both hands on it and forcing his chakra and soul into the vessel, hoping that the intense influx of chakra would do what it needed to.

Shikamaru opened his eyes to darkness and found himself laying on his back, his fingers just barely brushing against something small and shaking. He turned his head and could make out the small, frail shape of his vessel. The original Shikamaru’s soul. He could hear little pained breaths as the soul reflected the body’s ailment.

He rolled himself over and brought his body closer so that he could wrap around the baby and touch his cheek with a gentle touch.

”I’m sorry that you didn’t have more time in this world, but I thank you for everything you’re giving me.” He placed a kiss on the baby’s head. “Rest now, Shikamaru.”

In the dark of the night in the middle of the Nara compound, a woman held her breath as she watched as color returned to her baby’s skin and a thick shadow settled into the corners of the room. Her hand trembled as she reached out to give him a gentle touch and let out a relieved sob when she felt a strong fluttering heartbeat under her fingers. She picked up her baby and held him to her chest as she cried and thanked the ancestors and gods for sending someone to save her son.

”You are so strong, my little fawn. My Shikamaru. And you have a family full of shadows who will protect you and make you stronger.” She whispered to him as she rocked the boy back and forth, smiling when he let out a little sigh. “Such a Nara already.”

She stood and moved to the door to introduce her little deer to his older brother and the rest of the clan.

[secret-engima]

iirc, all the time travel stuff was not, in fact, written by kishi, so it’s not surprising that it’s actually consistent.

well this ask got buried for an age and a day asldfkjasdf.

but yeah that's likely why XD.

[alumort]

Read here

Dear readers, I'm glad to inform you; after 2 years... Neji time travel AU is BACK!!

Hope you enjoy :] friendship and love and sowing plot seeds mayhaps ALSO might be good if u backread because i rewrote everything lolz

[mugiwara-lucy]

This is even better than the Naruto-Boruto time travel arc!

Artwork inspired by the fanfiction “come out of the ashes” by SilverStudios5140 on AO3. 

I’m already back with another piece! ~ Minato and Naruto (aka Raijin in this story) taking a walk through the village and chatting. Maybe they just ate dinner at Ichiraku’s and are returning home now.

I personally like how this turned out, hope you like it too! Thanks for taking a look! :)

[garlicsunshine]

yamz: i will hit this mouthy kakashi brat with no remorse. i do not care that he is 7, and i do not care that his sensei, a hokage, is standing right here. i will serve justice.

yamz 2 seconds later: lord fourth, so sorry u had to see that. may i say what an absolute honor it is to meet u.

(the lost tower movie)

[lilshoots]

Okay, okay, okay. Have been wanting to draw something based on @hibiscusseaart mdtb time travel marriage AU for way too long, and now I have this🫴🫴🫴

[hibiscusseaart]

So about Time Travel Tobirama

He gets back in his childhood, the period when Kawarama was already dead, but Itama still alive, just cuz I like Itama alive and well, ok. (also i love the idea of Itama the weed shinobi by @oh-no-its-bird so)

And he starts to think and strategise smth like "Ok, I need to kill Black Zetsu, but idk where he is. But he should be around Uchihas, so I must come closer. But I cant just go there, we're not in peace, they'd kill me. And I don't exactly know when Black Zetsu is gonna try to manipulate Madara. So I also have to monitor Madara and make sure Izuna doesn't ever dies, to ensure that Madara won't lose his shit".

So, he's really logical and his conclusion was "So the easiest way to monitor the Uchiha clan is to marry an Uchiha." But he can't just marry a random Uchiha, it'd be shitty for politics he is the clan heir after Hashirama after all + it'd be nice way to strengthen peace via marriage. Plus he needs to keep close eye to Madara. So. Marrying Madara it is. Or Izuna. But first of all, Izuna is annoying and second he still needs very carefully look for potential signs of Black Zetsu corruption and it's better to do that when they're in close quarters. So the best case scenario is Madara's hand in marriage.

Killing Madara might be easier, but Hashirama would be sad. Plus I think the ppl who helped him to be sent in the past (coughnaruto who said that) told him smth about that Madara and Hashirama are Indra and Ashura reincarnations and be like "What if daddy Sage gets angry..."

So yeah no killing Madara. Even though he kinda wants to.

And to be clear, he had this plan in the few days he's back in his baby body. He's like 10-12 or whatever, when Hashi starts running to the river to meet Madara. Oh and Itama is safe and sound cuz Tobi said fuck Butsuma and went to safe his baby brother.

So one day Tobirama follows his brother to the river to actually meet Madara before his father decides to fuck everything.

So, Tobirama's the most fucked up honeypot mission officially begun. Tobirama is gonna be like "Ok i need to impress a 12 yo... But I cant just show him a cool jutsu, he might think about me as a rival or whatever... Kids like praise and cool things... Maybe I can tell him that he's cute and find him a cool stick? Should I ask Anija to make a cool stick?"

He meets Madara (without a stick, Hashirama might've suspect smth) and be like "Wow, Anija who would've known you've made such a cute friend" (Tobirama is hard cringing in his head, he's not the best in honeypot missions) and Madara, being about 12 year old, is standing there covered in mud, cuz Hashirama threw him into river or whatever + the little hc that he's kinda ugly when he's in his teens. Like Madara thinks of himself as strong and cool, but not particularly handsome with his wild hair and eye bags.

So Madara is smitten cuz wow pretty boy with red eyes said that He's cute!!!

Tobirama looks at Madara's dopey smile and thinks of the first phase as a success. Now Tobirama starts to spend some time with Hashirama and Madara to monitor their surroundings from their clans, while Itama distracts their father, and also try to win over Madara when he is still an impressionable kid. Plus he starts hinting that they may be Senju and Uchiha and that they should be prepared. But well they're kids who wants to escape all that war and just play with a peer so.

Long story short, Madara be like "So we're gonna make a village and then I'm gonna marry Tobirama!"

Tobi "fuck yes, a bit ahead of the schedule, but sounds good, i'm in"

Hashirama is outraged bc THATS HIS LIL BROTHER!!!

So Tobirama plays hard and makes Madara promise to marry him when they're old enough.

But then well, they're still found out and they still have a fallout cuz of their clans. But Tobirama made them promise to try hard for peace (and marriage), so now they just have to wait til Butsuma dies and Hashirama can become a clan head.

Tobirama tries not to be so efficient at killing Uchihas cuz he will be their family later so he tries to avoid it and just knock out or use some non lethal methods. Hashirama mostly fights Madara and it's almost sparrings at this point. Itama works on his weed empire and learns healing.

Well one day Butsuma dies and Hashirama and Tobirama bully their Elders and rush to try for peace. Tajima (who I think is still alive) is suspicious of all of it and stalls af.

So one day on the battlefield Tobirama says "So, marriage when? You promised asshole", making all the Uchiha and Senju stumble and "HUH?!"

So now many of the Senju and Uchiha now know that Uchiha clan heir apparently proposed to the Senju heir ??? Everyone is confused.

Madara, still crushing hard on Tobirama, catches this opportunity and bullies everyone to allow peace and let him marry Tobirama. Uchiha allow it only cuz everyone knows how crazy Uchihas about loved ones and Madara is the strongest one. They kinda afraid that if they won't allow it, he'd go crazy (he would).

So Madara gets his trophy wife Tobirama, Tobirama gets his safari zone with Uchihas in their natural habitat.

Tobirama is a surprisingly good husband to Madara, cuz with all that Zetsu thing, he's attentive as hell. "Something bothering you, dear husband? Do tell me everything."

At first they think he'd learn things and will tell that all back to Senju, but Tobirama tries to assure them "I don't really care about details. Tell me about how it makes you feel." (he looks for the signs of Zetsu corruption)

So basically Tobirama marries Madara to become his therapist. Madara is very much in love and constantly brags how much his spouse loves him and that he always listens his worries.

Izuna is mad as fuck about all of it btw. He thinks that Tobirama has ulterior motives and hides something. (He's right. ) But Tobirama dutifully plays his part as an attentive spouse and makes plans for bettering Uchiha clan just so that the village won't suffer. He'd probably would prescribe them regular therapy for everyone who awoken Sharingan.

also @fashionredalert write a snippet for this au with madara in the mud! pls check it out!

[equill]

You missed the mark! (Time Travel)

Extra: Otsutsuki

(they learn Kurama is willingly there)

anndd more sketches to give

[oh-no-its-bird]

Thinking about my desire for a mistaken identity time travel fic where Obito and Sasuke get tossed into the warring states, but bc Sasuke looks like an Izuna clone and Obito for some reason gets the wild hair look back, they keep being mistaken for Madara and Izuna.

Notably, they keep being mistaken for Madara and Izuna as they are in the middle of attempting to beat the ever-loving shit out of eachother.

And because Obito likes causing problems for Madara and Sasuke shrimply does not give a fuck and might even appreciate the fake identity alibi, they do nothing to actually deny the mistaken identity. Obito actually encourages it, usually by loudly agreeing with whoever shouts "omg its Uchiha Madara" as he lights shit on fire.

Anything to cause the real Madara more problem, right? Karma, bitch aa

He actually wants to cut his hair short again but the temptation of getting to continue to ruin Madara's reputation is too good, so he doesnt

ANYWAYS. Thinking about all of the above again w the context of my "Kakashi is related to and bears a resemblance to Tobirama" agenda thats been steadily growing in like. Actually, I think almost every Kakashi fic Ive written so far (oops)

Maybe I want Kakashi in this now. Maybe I'm also thinking about Tenzo, who got the same "oh for some strange reason my hair is longer now" treatment as Obito and with the Mokuton, can now be mistake as Hashirama by those who have never seen him. Or even people who have seen him but logically assume he's wearing a henge.

There's only one known man with the power of Mokuton-- why would the ever believe it wasn't Hashirama (unless they were close enough to the man to truly doubt it on a personal level)

I have no real ideas for an overarching plot, but like. Obito, Sasuke, Kakashi and Tenzo mistaken identity time travel my beloved,,

Kakashi and Tenzo traveled + landed together and Obito and Sasuke did the same so neither group is aware of the other

(Kakashi and Obito eventually figure it out bc of the shared eye connection I think)

But in the mean time they actually keep managing to avoid each other bc they'll hear rumors ab "Uchiha Madara" being spotted in the town over (Obito continues to be very loud about it very on purpose) and then avoid going there, while Sasuke hears the same, figures its Obito, and sprints over to try and bash his face in

Obito finally eventually gets cornered by Kakashi, Tenzo, and Sasuke and gets his shit rocked fr fr send tweet

Sasuke and Kakashi bonding moment(s) where we tackle the uhh. Everything. Of canon. And Sasuke gives Kakashi a crumb of respect back or smthn

Idk but I just want to see Sasuke call him sensei, don't ask me how we'd get there

Meanwhile when they're finally like, exposed or whatever there's just SUCH a mess there to be had

I'm choosing Uchiha Hikaku as my first contact bc I love him dearly and think he serves as good middleground between ranks of importance and relevance

So like. Picture this.

You are Hikaku. You're sent out to investigate some rumors about Madara and Izuna fucking shit up and causing a general mess some ways away. A henge, a slander campaign, the real Madara-sama is sure.

You get there and find 3 people fighting.

(Obito, Kakashi and Tenzo's first interaction. It's tense. They may all come from the final battle, after Obito changed his mind, but there were a lot of things left unsaid and also they all probably just wanna beat the shit out of eachother anyways. Things happen, things are said, a fight is had)

Two of them bear a passing resemblance to Madara and Tobirama respectively, and the 3rd has the look of a Senju to him.

Ok. So, Senju slander campaign? Gone... wrong, he'd assume by the fact that they were all fighting.

You then recognize that the fake Madara has mismatched eyes (!!!! What the fuck !!! Culturally significant thing there !! Was he born like that? Was it a transplant?)

And the fake Tobirama(?) has a whole stolen sharingan he seems to be ACTIVLEY using (WHAT THE FUCK!!!!!! SOUND THE ALARMS!!!!! BLOODLINE THIEF ALERT !!!!!!!!)

You debate between just watching or entering the fight, but then the fake Tobirama makes some sort of reference to his sharingan eye belonging to the fake Madara's.

All thoughts come to a screeching halt.

Ok. So. Gonna get involved now.

There's a clear side here (Uchiha vs potential Senju) Hikaku can not leave his clanmate to die, and he doesn't yet know how he might have been involved in the slander campaign so it's honestly best to put this guy in his pocket and bring him back to Madara anyways

So Hikaku enters the battle, everyone makes appropriate shocked pikachu faces bc no one noticed him and aw shit it's gonna get more complicated, cool, awesome, great

(Also note; Hikaku became the eventual Uchiha head after Madara's defection so there's also a "oh shit no way" reaction from Obito specifically who knows this information. And also maybe Kakashi who I imagine knows a lot of Konoha's history and politics)

Battle continues, Tenzo uses Mokuton, Hikaku gets appropriately freaked the FUCK out at the idea of another mokuton user

Then Sasuke comes crashing out of nowhere , yay !!!

(Kakashi and Tenzo, who did not know Sasuke was here yet and are only seeing him for the first time, make more surprised pikachu faces)

Sasuke, who... possibly knew Kakashi and Tenzo were around and may have been avoiding them, wanting to signal that for now at least they were all on the same side (against Obito) nods to Kakashi specifically and gives a tense and sort of stilted, "sensei."

SO. HIKAKU IS KIND OF GOING THROUGH IT OVER HERE NOW.

Sasuke is a dead fucking wringer for Izuna in the way that only a direct relation can be. I'm talking they could absoloutley pass for twins kind of relation. Worst of all, they look around the same age (Sasuke is only a few years younger)

Hikaku is no longer fighting with a strange Uchiha against Senju agents he's now fighting with an Uchiha against another Uchiha (who's a dead wringer for his clan heir !!!!) He does not know who to believe or what side to exist on.

(Had this false Izuna called the fake Tobirama sensei? Oh god—)

Things happen, whether they lose or escape I don't know but it ends with an incredibly confused and concerned Hikaku returning to the Uchiha clan compound with tales of bloodline theft, another mokuton user, and horrifically— A possible sibling, lost and raised by the senju in secret.

Yeah. So. Madara won't react well to that. Madara won't react well to that at all.

(Izuna won't either, in the slightest. Does... does he have a twin...? Did he have a twin once, lost too early for their parents to bear to tell them...?)

It's incredibly hard for the Senju to deny any involvement when Hikaku has sharingan perfect memories to share of the fake-Izuna (Sasuke, they had called him Sasuke) standing side by side with a man who resembles Tobirama and another who is very fucking clearly using Mokuton. And that's "very fucking clearly using mokuton" seen by someone who has SEEN mokuton used in battle. Multiple times. He will not mistake it for anything else.

Anyways oops sorry for creating a horrible political scandal and also probably making the Uchiha/Senju wore like 10 times more charged teehee </3

(Obito doesn't give a shit. Sasuke swings violently between caring both too little and too much depending on the hour of the day and how the issue is framed. Kakashi and Tenzo are.... distracted. And undecided. And care about this issue from an "aw shit but Konoha wait no—" view point)

Ummmmm anyways endgame Konoha is made early (but possibly with a bit more blood involved) and Hikaku is made Hokage bc I fucking love Hikaku, yay the end !!!

[atoriv-art]

older designs for my specialest guy

[nell0-0]

AHHHH! He lost his EYE in the war! AHHHH!

I am perfectly normal about your last comic. I swear. Very normal. Just...not at all sobbing and emotional over it. You should know that. Definitely. ;_;

It's so good and so sad!

Yep ;u;

Glad you liked it tho!

Take the broken mask drawing as symbolism (?). A piece of him is now forever a part of Mask, and there's no taking that back.

There are many protrayals of Fierce Deity out there, but I like to think he ain't necessarily mean (quite the contrary), just a bit out of touch with how hylians work and feel. Fierce Deity deemed some things necessary for Mask's survival and well being, and not necessarily all of them were free of consequences. It was done with good intentions tho. If only he bothered to explain/tell Mask that...

Tormenting Twilight a bit is fun sometimes too ksksks

> Context about the ask HERE

> Twili Twilight looks HERE

> Continuation of this HERE

[pokeberry5]

was reading gravity of tempered grace and got consumed by the thought of izuna with an older tobirama

[rainybyday]

a question but also an idea dump

has there been a Kakashi time travel fic to his time in Team Minato and he's scared or overly cautious of Obito? Like I'v seen a couple where he is just either very nice to his team mates or he's going through trauma hell to be very jumpy over everything. But like, is there one where he is just kind of fresh out of the war or during the fourth war and the first thing he wakes up to is his old team?

Minato which, while dead, he still saw and had some sort of closure with him

Rin, depending on when he traveled back, is a girl he spent years regretting her death but understood through years of friends helping him that she made that choice, or saw her ghost, and is stable now of his feelings about her

Obito on the other hand? Obito who he despaired for years, who he based his personality and character on, who turned out to be the killer of his second family, who hurt his village and friends, who started a world with the world, who wanted him to essentially kill him (the same way he did with Rin), and if we go further, who died after he saved his students when Kakashi was willing to be that sacrifices instead.

Honestly, I think he would have fresher newer trauma from Obito all over again. I think Kakashi would have spiraled if Obito lived after the war, yes maybe he will forgive him or whatnot but you can't tell me he wouldn't have some sort of complicated resentment for all that he did and the impact it had in some sort of twisted way in his life. Kakashi is a shinobi, he is an adult, he has trauma. He will not just feel one type of emotion for other people because he himself knows to see the world in a shades of gray. But emotions are a funny think and they take time to react and mask them.

So imagine Kakashi back to his younger days and the first thing he sees is Obito yelling at him, getting angry at him, blaming him

You know what most people talk about when it comes to trauma? Flashbacks. But for Kakashi, he's flashback was real and staring right back at him.

He will attack Obito, maybe run, maybe keep fighting him, to kill or defend himself? I don't know, you usually don't know when you are faced with the face of your trauma yelling right in your face when you are at your most vulnerable.

Needless to say, Team Minato is very concerned for their youngest.

[stu-dyingstudent]

Sakura Haruno fic recs: time travel AU

I'm finally getting around to recommending some good Sakura-centric time travel fics! There are plenty of them out there and they can be kind repetitive, but I always eat them up. Typically speaking, I really don't care much for the whole introduction bit at the start where it's the actual process of her being sent back... So just make it past there before you decide whether or not to continue!!! Also, I'm starting to think this list is getting kinda long, so maybe I'll do a second one?

I've been dying to post some of these fics in a list, so please enjoy!

Started: 2024.08.16

Last Updated: 2024.12.02

note: feel free to check out my master list which has a bunch of Sakura Haruno fic recs (all organized)!

----

Sakura - lilac haze || ffn/ao3 || M || minasaku || time travel AU || complete

AU. Non-Canon. Time Travel. Please see inside for full warnings. Cross posted on Ao3. On his deathbed he was granted eternal peace and place to rest for all of time. Of course that was not appealing to him. Ever unpredictable to the end he had a counter offer. One that the Sage had to consider. In which Sakura's going to have a rough time. A really rough time.

If there is one thing I want you to take away from this list, it is this fic right here. I kid you not, Sakura is one of the best fics I have ever read. I have never felt so gutted, so heartbroken, so giddy, so stressed, all from one work. It's a masterpiece all while being criminally underrated. The characterizations and storytelling are beautifully done. You feel for the characters and the relationships formed along the way are truly great. Please share this author some love.

Check TWs before hand!!

.

The Misadventures of Kakashi and the Girl From No Where - Goldfishlover73 || ao3 || kakasaku || M || time travel AU || complete

When a girl called Sakura seemingly falls in the sky, Kakashi is skeptical. Far more skeptical than the rest of Team Minato are. War is approaching quickly and this strange girl is leaving more questions than answers in her wake, Kakashi must decide where his trust and loyalties lie in a constantly changing world.

Told in the perspective of Kakashi in his youth! Really interesting take and I love how strong Sakura is in this in addition to the fact that we get to see a different side of Kakashi that we aren't used to.

.

Anachronistic Drift  - Elesrea  || ffn || gen || T || time travel AU || incomplete

Her plan was flawless. Save Shisui. Save the world. Time-travel, Sakura-centric AU

Sakura spends years training to be sent back in time and save the world from Sasuke. Whilst masquerading as her younger self, she poses as an unofficial ANBU to stay anonymous in her efforts of changing the shinobi world for the better.

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Tourniquet - lilac haze || ffn || T || minasaku || time travel AU || complete

She was his tourniquet. She stopped the bleeding, she stopped his bleeding. She stopped his pain, his despair, his loneliness. She was the first face he saw. She was the first person he trusted. She was the first person to keep his secret. She was his tourniquet. He did not love her. He only loved the idea of her. SakuraXMinato. Time-Travel Fic. Alt. Universe

I quite honestly think this is a hidden gem amongst time travel AUs since I never see people recommending it, but Touriquet is so good! What's interesting here is that it isn't Sakura that's playing with time, but rather Minato. The night of the Nine-Tails attack, rather than dying, he is sent to the future where post-war Sakura is the one to find him and keep the former Hokage alive. It's a delicate situation and one which is kept a secret from many, but through Minato's depression and difficulties with his new life, Sakura becomes a close confident.

Same author as Sakura! I gotta read more of their works

.

Armour-Sleeved Single Hit - thatdamnuchiha || ao3 || T || madasaku || time travel AU || one-shot complete

Sasuke always told Sakura she was weak. Even after she trained with Tsunade for years he only had eyes for Naruto whom he considered strong. She would forever be invisible to him no matter how many mountains she toppled. Being a member of Team Seven despite Sasuke’s refusal to acknowledge her meant she got herself into her fair share of sticky situations. Getting stuck a hundred odd years in the past had to take the cake though. But she was just a weak little girl and compared to the shinobi of old she’d be ridiculously pathetic. Sasuke had said she was weak to him – a modern day shinobi who hadn’t been forced into battle after battle like they did in the Warring Clans Era. Obviously she’d be nothing more than a spec of dirt in the eyes of the Founders.

Sakura manages to find herself in founding-era Konoha! While trying to prove that medical ninja are capable fighters she unknowingly gains the affection of Madara Uchiha. After all, the Uchiha find beauty in strength. Super cute read!

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here are the fruits of your labor (would you like a cherry on top?) - snickiebear || ao3 || M || shisaku || time travel AU || one-shot complete

Shisui smiles and it is unlike any smile she has seen before. She cannot remember the last time she had seen a smile. 

Sakura manages to fix everything and now tries to live her life in a past she doesn't know. Shisui is the first to find her and the two of them form a close relationship that continues through her journey of recovery.

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The Moon Knows Best - darth_healer || ao3 || E || madasaku || time travel AU || complete

The Moon has played a cruel trick on Madara. He's still home, but it's not the same. Instead of a tranquil forest, there's a colorful vibrant village. Instead of the cliffside he knows so well, it's a collection of Senju faces, one of which belongs to his good friend Hashirama. And instead of Hashirama, Madara is saddled with a very interesting, pink-haired girl. MadaSaku in which young Madara goes forward through time.

Madara finds himself far into the future where the first to stumble upon him is Sakura. He's such a brat, but his and Sakura's interactions are rather entertaining.

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In the Magic Hour - summersirius || ao3 || E || minasaku || time travel AU || complete

It's not perfect, but everything is beautiful. —Minato/Sakura

A sharingan mishap lands Sakura in the past where she drops down in front of team Minato. With her hope of returning to the present time dwindling, Sakura excepts her new life and tries to make the best of the situation and the new bonds that come with it. The dynamic between Sakura and the older generation is quite refreshing and her mentor relationship with the former team 7 is great.

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Stumble - writer168 || ao3/ffn || gen || T || time travel AU || complete

Sakura wanted to die.Sasori was fine with staying dead.But it seemed fate had other plans for them, because when they both wake up younger with blood pulsing through their veins, they had to remember how to live again.Time Travel AU

Sasori and Sakura are both sent back in time and they try to make a difference in their respective villages. Told in the perspective of both characters, but primarily Sakura. She ends up forming a pretty sweet bond with Ibiki and Genma (which I love) and they help her through some things. Sakura has a rough time

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A Twist in Time - wolf08 || ffn || sasusaku || T || time travel AU || complete

With Konoha on the verge of destruction, Sakura is sent on a last-resort mission to save her world by travelling to the past. Join her in coping with her old body's shortcomings, testing the natural laws of time, falling in love all over again, and rediscovering who she is.

With Sakura frustrated at being back to where she started in her becoming of a shinobi, she begins to train with Sasuke. This time around in her life, her relationship with her brooding teammate isn't so strained. Pretty cute read imo

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Return & Rehash - SpaceNugget11 || ffn || sasusaku || M || time travel AU || incomplete

"You," Sakura snarled with bared teeth. Sasuke gagged for air, clutching at her forearm, but she only pressed harder into him. Her green eyes crackled, and she wished she could burn him alive with the heat of her anger.

Sasuke and Sakura certainly did not end in their last life on goods terms and it is prevalent from the moment Sakura awakens and attacks her teammate.

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An Inch of Gold - KuriQuinn || ffn || sasusaku || T || time travel AU || complete

Team 7 is sent on a mission to investigate a disturbance outside of the village, where they encounter an unconscious girl in a crater. The mysterious Sarada insists she's a shinobi from the Hidden Leaf trying to rescue her teammates. When the team discovers she possesses a Sharingan, things become even more unbelievable. [Part of the Legacy of Fire Series]

Sarada lands herself back in time all while crashing into another team 7 mission gone wrong. An Inch of Gold is in multiple perspectives, but they're all done quite well. Sasuke and Sakura are obviously rather flustered by the situation and the fact they have to deal with it in front of the team makes it quite entertaining.

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These Eyes of Mine (I Can See) - tsukuyue || ao3 || gen || time travel AU || complete

They've lost. Naruto was dead, killed at Kaguya’s hands. Along with him died any illusions of hope that they could win. They couldn’t win, but perhaps they wouldn’t need to. In attempts to stop the Fourth Shinobi War from ever occuring, Sakura is sent back in time to the moment of her birth. Protecting the people she cared about would be much easier if she knew all the facts. OR Where Sakura can see the dead, and Danzō deserves to die.

I'll be honest, I can't remember much, but I do remember that it was really good! I believe a large focus is the Uchiha massacre.

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Trials of Change - Espoiretreves || ao3 || gen || time travel AU || complete

Haruno Sakura made a promise. Looking in the eyes of her Shisou and the reanimated Hokage, she took on the most important mission of her life. Go back in time and try to prevent the 4th Shinobi War. Now, Sakura is back to her 5-year-old body, with all the knowledge and haunting memories of the future. She vows to keep her precious people safe and stop certain events from happening, without altering the timeline too much. The trials her emotions and logic put her through have her questioning her very existence, but for the sake of peace, she has to push forward. No matter what.

If you love Shisui then you'll definitely like Trials of Change. Him and Sakura form the most wholesome friendship ever and try their best in taking down ROOT. A huge cast is present here and the whole thing is just great. It seems as if everyone has some character development lmao.

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Time Flies Like An Arrow - Katlou303 || ao3 || gen || K || time travel AU || complete

Sakura traveled back in time with the intent of changing everything, but something went wrong, and now she's four years old having nightmares about impossible monsters and losing friends she has yet to meet.

I always like the ones where Sakura isn't fully aware she time travelled. I find it interesting in this fic to see how oblivious Sakura is to her situation, she's a four year old in mind and body. However, she still feels the need to make a difference in the lives of the people around her.

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cut the head off the snake - itsthechocopuff || ao3 || T || time travel AU || complete

when eighteen-year-old, post-war Sakura is thrown back into her tiny, pre-Academy body, she makes a decision. she'd had a childhood once already, and this time, she's more interested in Not Dying when the inevitable shit hits the proverbial fan. so she will work harder, care less, kill more, and smile when she's done.and hey, if she ends up reviving an extinct nature transformation to attract the most corrupt, power-hungry man from her timeline, all the better for her, right?

Sakura decides that her first order of business after traveling back in time is to infiltrate ROOT and that's exactly what she does. Sai, Shin, and Shisui are all great characters and team Ro is present as well. Very good!

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The Danger of Smudged Storage Seals - bluemingqueen || ao3 || M || kakasaku || time travel AU || complete

Sakura should have known that Naruto taking an interest in seals would lead to disaster.

In hindsight, maybe she should have looked to see if the piece of paper she’d pressed a chakra-laden finger to was the explosive seal or the slightly smudged miniature storage seal containing all of her shinobi registration documents.

Perhaps one of my favourite kakasku fics and this was just recently completed too! Genin Sakura is sent back in time due to a faulty seal and maybe it was for the best? She ends up joining Team Minato and forms some great friendships in addition to a super sweet parental relationship with Minato and Kushina. There's a really good balance between training, missions, goofing around, heartfelt moments, etc.. I think the author did a fabulous job with the characterizations as they all feel accurate and unique to themselves. Also, fuinjutsu-user!Sakura??? Yes please! Slow burn kakasaku where they are both immature idiots

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A Second Chance - Invisibleninja12 || ao3 || T || sasosaku || time travel AU || ongoing

A 15 year old Sasori turns up in the Leaf Village almost one year after Sakura defeats him (in canon). Not knowing what to do with this young, (semi) innocent Sasori, Sakura hides him from the world.

A teenage Sasori somehow manages to land himself 20 years in the future and he isn't quite sure what to make of it. Sakura feels she owes it to Lady Chiyo to help out (a bratty and emotional constipated) Sasori and ropes Sai into assisting. I've really been enjoying A Second Chance so far and I really love that Sai has a large role!

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Q: Do you guys like my little comments? If you look at my other lists you'll probably notice that I tend to reuse some of what I say (bc I'm lazy), but for the most part I try to add something new whenever I put a fic on a list. I know that descriptions aren't always very helpful, so I like to put a little something for y'all to get a better idea of what to expect!

Send me recs if you have any!!!

[tossawary]

I do like time travel fics for a variety of reasons. It can be fun to see a "perfect run" fix-it fic running through the canon storyline again. There is a little suspension of disbelief required for some of them, because at some point, the little changes for the better or big tragedies averted should start to mess with the world. Very good time travel fics take this Butterfly Effect into account.

It is VERY fun to think about time-traveling characters who immediately break the plot, because they fail to or don't even try to keep things on a certain track. I love seeing authors use this jumping point to explore entirely new directions for canon. It's off-roading time!!!

Some characters are happy to work within the systems of their worlds. They'll put up with the little indignities of having do to things again and are able to act their way through a redo. (And apparently have incredibly good memories, like, damn.) The cost of keeping things roughly the same is something that they're willing to pay in order to reap specific benefits at the end of the journey.

Other characters would prefer to break the systems of their worlds. They have no patience to play by someone else's rules if they have the power to do otherwise. They may think that the world is broken as it is and needs to be changed. They may be unable to let certain injustices happen again no matter the cost to their ability to predict the future. (I admit, I have a preference for this, because I think it's more interesting, and if the protagonist is a heroic figure, I like the idea that every single life is worth trying to save if you can try.)

Anyway, this is all to say that I just read the last 100 chapters of "Naruto" and apparently Naruto was the only person keeping Sasuke from following through on his unhinged and vague supervillain plans at the end there. If you sent Sasuke back into the past, let's say from a battle with Kaguya going poorly back to the Uchiha massacre or something, and he retains his adult body or any of his abilities (full Sharingan + Rinnegan)? I cannot see that Sasuke trying to give Konoha a shot again. I don't think he trusts like that anymore.

I think he would immediately 1) kill Itachi if Itachi forces him to do it and he can't convince Itachi to join his side, 2) kill Danzo and any ROOT agents who get in his way, (2.5) kill Zetsu and Madara if he can find and catch them, and also Obito if Obito forces him,) 3) kill or try to kill the Third Hokage, and potentially 4) try to declare himself the new Fifth Hokage. Winning a lot of these fights just by taking eeeeeverybody by surprise. Or something like that, you know? I think he'd at least try to immediately do some reckless revenge murder.

If time-traveling Sasuke is stuck in his child body for a redo, and can't set himself up as the new dictator of Konoha or the new shared enemy of the shinobi world or whatever, then I think that he might just run off and join Orochimaru again. I think he would make early deals with Orochimaru for the relative freedom that offers.

Like, Sasuke just does not strike me as a particularly stable person who gives a shit about maintaining a comfortable life for everyone around him. He does not care about Konoha's image. He does not want to settle complacently into a comfortable life within this corrupt state. I think he'd rather drag out the rot and set everything on fire than sit through the frustrating false civility of politics or go to school again, if he had any choice in the matter.

A time-traveling Sasuke would not behave like a time-traveling Naruto or Sakura! So, if I had to do a time-traveling Sasuke, I'd probably reach for the "break-it" rather than the "fix-it". Konoha struggles to deal with this new, mysterious, Rinnegan-wielding Uchiha who appeared out of the middle of an incomplete massacre, just killed the Hokage, and declared himself the new one, completing the Uchiha coup at the eleventh hour. (People are saying he looks like Uchiha Izuna come back to life, apparently???) Oh, shit, someone secretly go get Tsunade and Jiraiya right now, fuck.