In the middle of the forest one would think that it would be peaceful. But that is not the case. Two people were in a small clearing fighting. The clash of metal and occasional yelps of pain echoed through the forest. Beyond the forest there was, or rather, used to be a village. Now only rubble and corpses remain. There were few still alive; maybe 100 at the most left from the thousands that once were there.
Friends, comrades, teammates, loved ones, all lying on the ground bloodied and lifeless. Death lingered in the air as the final enemy went down. The people who were still alive but severely injured turned to look at what once was their village, their home. Konoha was no more. Orochimaru had succeeded in that, but he would not live to feel the pride for long.
Uzumaki Naruto, along with Tsunade, Jiraiya, and quite a few ANBU, were still fighting. The final battle was about to be won. Orochimaru was tired, out of energy and out of options. Or so they thought.
"I'll make you pay for what you've done! I will kill you right now myself!" Naruto yelled as he charged to finish the guy off.
The snake smirked and subtly went through hand seals; when he finished he made a big circle with his arms. What appeared to be a black hole popped into view in the place where he had gestured.
"Wha-what's happening!" Naruto began to panic.
"If I'm going down, I'm taking all of you with me!" the snake yelled before slumping over.
All the people behind him held tight to a tree; however, Naruto was too close to the black hole and began to move forward. He grabbed hopelessly at the dirt, making scratch marks, but it was in vain and he ended up being pulled in
"NARUTO!" almost all the people yelled. The hole closed, leaving the people one more life to mourn over, amidst all the other lost life.
Naruto was in the strange hole: first everything was black, which seemed to be absorbed up by red, and then everything went white as Naruto saw a blinding flash of light. He closed his eyes, trying to shield them. After the pain that felt like he was being ripped apart stopped, he opened his eyes.
He wasn't too sure where he was at first but then, once his eyes came into focus, he realized where he was. In his apartment, on his bed, in his room. He stood up and looked out the window. He saw Konoha intact, and there were only four faces on the mountain. He also noticed that he could rest his head perfectly on the window sill.
"Ok, now I'm confused... WHAT THE HELL HAPENED!" Naruto yelled to himself. He went to the bathroom and as he was washing his hands he noticed himself in the mirror. He saw his hair was so short! He had grown it out a long ago so he could look more like his father. He was stopped from his pondering when he heard snickering.
'You got something to do with this, fox?' Naruto asked the laughing Kitsune.
"Actually, yes. That jutsu that the snake bastard used was a portal. It was meant to send you to the beginning of time in hopes that you would be killed, since the planet was not yet created."
'Great... so where are we then, hmm?'
"Well, I couldn't let you go floating around in an endless abyss, so I altered things."
'The red I saw then was you, then?'
"Yep and congrats on turning twelve, again," Kyuubi snickered.
'You sent me back to the time when I was twelve? Are you serious? So I'm the dead last again? Gee, thanks.'
"Wrong, you've still got all the power you had when you were twenty three. Oh, and you might wanna hide your foxy accessories. Your class mates would freak if you came like that."
'But everybody knows I combined with you when I almost got killed and tried to save Sasuke.'
"True, but that hasn't happened yet, and all your little friends are alive and well. For now any way..."
'So Sasuke, Kiba, Tenten and all the others who Orochimaru killed are still alive? Stupid fox, I could kiss you!"
"I'd prefer it if you don't..."
'Remind me to let you go hunting near a rabbit hole later.'
"That's the kind of thanks I'll take" the fox said happily, licking its lips.
Naruto went to go check his calendar to see what day it was. He nearly screamed in frustration. Graduation day for the academy students. But then Naruto smirked. 'This could be fun...'
Naruto looked at the clock. Only 6 o'clock. He had an hour and a half yet before he needed to graduate. He thought about how well things were for him when he was older. Now, he wasn't even a genin when he was actually an ANBU. He sighed.
'Now I have to wait another ten years to meet my son...'he thought as he hid his 'foxy accessory'.
Oh yes, Naruto had been married, and was expecting a son or daughter in 8 months. The wife, of course, was Hinata. He had helped her to boost her confidence throughout the years. Now he was back to square one with her.
He figured he'd go out and do some shopping while he waited for the time to pass. He ate more than just instant ramen now that he knew how to cook. He went and counted the money in his wallet before getting dressed and leaving. As he left, he compared how under-furnished his apartment was, compared to his house in the future. He looked at his hands, deciding to get some gloves to hide his claws. At least he could wear his old favourite clothes.
He walked to a ninja clothing store and went in to look around. He quickly found what he needed: a pair of gloves that had steel on the back of the hand and at the tips of the fingers, sewn in-between the material. That way, he wouldn't accidentally claw anything by grabbing onto it. The metal part on the finger tips even swung back if he needed his claws.
He grabbed them and went to the cashier, who didn't even look up from the magazine he was reading. He punched in the exact price and, when Naruto gave him the money, he took only the right amount without even looking up. Naruto left, happy not to be over-charged, as he knew he used to be when he was little. He even heard the man tiredly say "Have a nice day, please come again."
He then decided to get a lot more groceries, since he had plenty of money to spare. As he walked into the store the girl at the counter was asleep. Naruto walked in and got everything he needed. He went over to the girl and gently woke her. She drowsily opened her eyes, blinked, then began ringing things through, head still resting in her arms.
She gave the total that showed on the screen, not even adding things to it! Naruto gave her the money and happily went on his way. 'Sheesh if I had known that people were like this in the mornings I would have done all my shopping this early!'
Naruto quickly went home to put the food away, gloves already on, then ran out towards the academy training ground. He still had a half hour before he needed to be there, so he decided to get in a small workout.
A half hour and many destroyed trees later, the warning bell rang. Naruto smirked as he walked into class.
'This time round I'll show them who the dead last is.'
"Can we hurry this up, I want that rabbit meat!"grumbled Kyuubi as Naruto'sslitted blue eyes scanned the class room until he found an open seat.
'Let the fun begin' Naruto thought as he sat down.
