Mending The Past To A Better Future

Ch1. Blank Slate

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Naruto Uzumaki swept her long blonde hair over her shoulder, uncaring that it seemed to sweep through the blood and grime caked into her black and orange zip-up sweater. The wasteland that laid around her glowed under the dawn of a rising sun. It was too beautiful - the way the oranges bled into the pinks and yellows and purples, casting a warm light over the carnage and chaos. She didn't let herself squint as the sun became more piercing. It was almost time, anyways.

Naru had watched Hinata fall first. Neji's sacrifice had seemed vain in the end. But watching the kind and shy girl who had taken such a brave step forward in the face of adversity get slaughtered with countless other shinobi had made her so angry. And yet, for all that anger and pain, it hadn't stopped Shikamaru from taking that kunai to the heart, or Sakura, from getting crushed. It hadn't stopped Kakashi from exhausting all his chakra, and Sasuke from getting decapitated either.

Her back felt cold from where her mesh had been sliced open, but she paid it no mind. Soon enough, she wouldn't be here anymore. It was only a matter of time before Madara was back. Obito was still alive, and oddly enough on the Allied Shinobi Forces' side. But still, it felt counter - productive to save a world when there was no one left to see it. No one left to save.

They had set up camp a few kilometers back, and Naru vaguely heard as the flap to their tent was swished open. She doesn't turn to look at him, content to watch the sunrise on what might be her last day. His last day, too.

'Are you ready, Naru-chan?' Obito asks quietly. When she turns, the first thing she notices is that he looks tired. His eyes are drooping, and he looks exhausted. Naru shares the sentiment, and her throat tightens when she sees the sealing scroll clutched in one hand, and the brush and pot of ink in the other.

'I am,' She says, with the confidence they both know she doesn't feel. She meets him halfway and they settle down on barren ground, criss cross, the seal and ink between them. 'We don't even know if the seal will work,' She warns him. 'If this doesn't work in our favor then we'll both probably end up dead.' It's a moot point, though. Kurama had already agreed to supply most of the chakra, and she was going to lose him in the process.

'We'll end up dead, anyways,' He shrugs then hesitates, an apprehensive expression crossing his scarred face. 'Look, Naru. I know what you're going to do. And, if things don't work out, then that's entirely okay.'

She shakes her head defiantly, her whiskered cheeks set in a firm pout. They're covered in blood and bruises and theres a chance she won't even make it out - but it's a promise she intends to keep even if it kills her. 'I have no intentions of dying, Obito.' A wry smile skims over her lips. 'But this one thing can completely change how this war goes, if it'll even happen. And besides, nothing could be worse than the alternative.'

'If you're sure.' He hands her the brush and opens the pot of ink. Naru quickly gets to work. The sun is almost high enough, so Madara should be on the way. Naru barely pauses for a moment, her hands working deftly over the paper, the brush stroking the paper with precision.

"Kurama told me the effects of the Space-Time seal." She murmurs as she works. It'll be disorientating at first. I'll probably pass out somewhere in a ditch to put it lightly. And the way it works is that to keep his chakra from going into overload to send me back, my body will most likely regress. That might be a problem. I'll be smaller, so my body won't be prepared for combat, and my chakra control will suffer.'

'It's going to look funny though, when a ten year old beats the Akatsuki's ass,' Obito jokes. She doesn't reply and instead focuses on drawing out the remaining characters on the seal. When she's done, she casts the brush away with a careless glance, turning to face Obito.

'You ready?' At his nod, they hold out their fingers simutaneously and bite. Naru watches with facsination as her blood trickles down the small cut and drips onto the scroll, Obito's doing the same. The blood sizzles, and then Naru's pressing her palm into the center of it, Nine-Tail's chakra coating her like a fire infused blanket.