Beginning Anew (Naruto Fanfiction)

Second Chance

Sasuke blinked repeatedly as he stood on his tip-toes in his bathroom, staring dead straight at the large mirror before him. He was 11. The jutsu had worked and everything was fine. Totally fine. It's not like his left eye was a rinne-sharingan or anything. While he didn't mind having the eye considering it would be near impossible to get it again, he did find it unfair that he didn't have the required chakra reserves. At all. 

At least I don't have to hide from anyone. He mused to himself seeing as he had returned 3 years after the massacre took place. While a part of him was bitter that they had arrived too late for that, he found himself content with the situation.

It had taken him years to come to terms with what had happened. It didn't make him any less hateful of those that caused his pain, namely a bitch boy named Danzo, but he had learned to move on. The only thing on his mind now was to get Itachi's shit together.

He soon left the bathroom, tripping too many times to count as he adjusted to his new body weight, and fell face first onto his bed. He knew he probably had to go to the academy tomorrow and pretend to be a little shit but he couldn't bring himself to care. For now, he would dream about tomatoes. 

-

Shikamaru laid in bed, re-evaluating his existence. Maybe we should have just died, he concluded. It wasn't his laziness resulting in this train of thought, at least for the most part. It was the fact that he had gone into shock 5 times in the past hour since he returned.

He sighed softly, getting out of bed and making his way to a mirror. He stared blankly at his young self. Light shone from the window, signalling that it was dawn. Since this was a Nara household, Shikamaru wasn't concerned about his parents waking up anytime soon. He had a bit of time to prepare for the inevitable reunion with his family. 

He was overjoyed, really. He had wanted this more than anything ever since he had first lost them. But, he was also reluctant. Any wrong move could make him suspicious. After all, he was a 25 year old war veteran. 

Even if his body was to his advantage, his eyes had seen too much to hide. He was smart but so was his father. He had to play his cards right if he wanted to stay under the radar. I wouldn't mind being an orphan again... Troublesome... He thought, knowing full well he was being an angsty shit but in his defence, he had earned it. 

Sighing, Shikamaru glared at his reflection and flipped it off. Dragging himself to his bed, he cursed at the world before letting himself fall in the comforting void of sleep. 

Shikamaru finally joined his family for breakfast after his mother had sent him a death threat for the 3rd time. He stared at the meal before him, letting it sink in. It had been years since he had a home cooked meal, much less made by his own mother. He thanked all the gods he could think of, hell he even thanked Naruto and Sasuke since the two idiots were basically gods among shinobi, and dug into the food. 

-

Naruto was just about ready to jump off the Hokage Monument again. Even if it meant an angry Kakashi holding him tightly and lecturing him for hours. Honestly, the initial aspect of that just tempted him more. After spending an hour cleaning his shitty apartment, it was essentially sparkling. Even the wood was shiny.

Naruto nodded to himself in pride at his handiwork before groaning out loud as he realised he no longer had a distraction. Now, don't get him wrong, the ball of sunshine was overjoyed about the prospect of rewriting history and saving everyone but it wasn't easy to come to terms with the fact that he had failed this badly. 

"Oh shut your trap, Kit. You've done enough. Get some sleep before you decide to burn down half the village."

"But Kuramaaaa," The Uzumaki whined, "I wanna complainnnnnn. Oh! You think I could finally be emo like Sasuke?" 

"Oh hell no, I ain't dealing with another brooding toddler, especially one that can actively talk to me. Now go to sleep before I make you."

"Your so meannnnnnnnnnnnnn but fine. I'm doing this because I want to."

"Sure brat."

"Grumpy Fox"

After that incredible exchange, Naruto plopped onto his bed and fell on his back. Letting the years worth of exhaustion drown him, he accepted the peace found in the darkness. 

-

Neither of the trio wanted to be at the academy but fate seemed to hate them so here they were. 

Sasuke sat at the back next to the window, his bangs now sitting on the left side of his face rather than being parted equally from the middle. Sasuke wasn't stupid enough to just rely on his hair so he spent the entire morning regaining his chakra control in order to place a perfect henge over his left eye. 

Shikamaru also sat at the back on the opposite end of the class. He had thoroughly observed the entire class, including all his lost comrades, before deciding to 'fuk it' and slam his head on the desk. He had hoped the force would give him a concussion but he had greatly overestimated his young self and was left to deal with a dull migraine instead. 

Naruto grinned widely as he looked at his magnificent ART. Future Deidara could be heard quaking in the Pure Lands out of pure fear of Naruto's capabilities, the young blond was sure of it as he gazed, almost lovingly, at the dick drawn on Hiruzen's stone face with such mastery that it doubled as a middle finger. 

Naruto has a big heart. He has always had a big heart. A heart so big it managed to turn an erratic yandere man-child to his side after showing him a vision of his dead love. This, however, did not mean that Naruto was not aware of just how bad some of these people were.

 Hiruzen happened to be one of those people. It was a love-hate relationship really. After all, Naruto knew better than most that people were complicated. Too many greys overlapping with one another. 

The only reason he felt salty towards Hiruzen is because the old man actually had the power and ability to change things but chose not to. Naruto, along with his fellow time travellers, was well aware of everything Hiruzen had turned a blind eye to. Especially the can of shit eating worms that was the entire Uchiha Massacre.

Much to Sasuke's displeasure-turned-realisation, Naruto had never been one on revenge so instead he stuck to pranks. A good laugh was enough for him to move on from multiple genocides. He totally wasn't lying to himself. Nope. Instead of dwelling on the matter, Naruto chuckled at the enraged chunin and made his way to the academy before anyone could even notice him. 

Taking his seat next to Sasuke, he put on his innocent and loud façade, ready to face the world as an exasperated Iruka entered the class.

-

"So, what now?" Shikamaru asked blankly, gazing at the clouds. The three were currently in an open field in the forest, enjoying the peace and ignoring reality the best they could. Of course they couldn't for long seeing as that was a luxury they didn't own just yet. 

"Well, chakra-wise we're back at stage one. Experience-wise, we're essentially the most fucked up people to exist right now." Naruto stated, munching on a flower that he recognized as the one Ino had shown to him during a mission. 

"Hn, we still have a year till the chunnin exams. What should we do for now?" Sasuke hummed questioningly, leaning on the tree closest to the others. 

"Well, for starters, might as well get rid of Danzo. I have a plan to expose him so I'll take care of it. Other than that, it would be best to get along with everyone." Naruto voiced his ideas, watching the others for their reaction. He expected the look of disgust and anger at the mention of Danzo giving him confirmation to go ahead with his plan. 

"Troublesome... Fine. Let's get the rookie 9 together again I guess." Shikamaru sighed but the small smile on his face said otherwise. He wouldn't mind being with his friends again, even if they weren't his.

"Hn."

"Alright! We're gonna make the best future ever, dattebayo!"

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