Changing the River of Time

School's Out!

Gaara was among the last of the Kage to die- one of the firsts being Tsunade. Being one of the last 3 Kage, he was well protected to the point of stir-craziness.

It didn't matter in the end; someone got into his head and destroyed the person he became. The Zetsu clone used some kind of seal to trap him in a loop of his childhood, only brought to his present. He saw everyone he loved turn against him, look at him with fear and disgust and anger.

The only way he knew it wasn't real? The hate in Naruto's eyes. The blond man only had eyes like that for three beings- Madara, Obito, and Zetsu. But he still couldn't escape it, for while he knew it wasn't real...

It felt like it. He lashed out in his sorrow, accidentally harming anything that came close.

But, once again, he was subdued by the sunshine blond, brought back just in time for Zetsu to run him through, dealing a fatal blow while Naruto could only watch in horror.

Gaara's last words, after finally getting the blond to focus on him instead of immediately going after the weed?

"Don't lose yourself, my friend. If you lose the person you've become, they'll win."

Naruto didn't know how true those words turned out to be, for while he technically won the war... he lost what little remained of the person he'd always been in that last battle. Lost everything he was fighting for, lost who he was.

And then there was one.

.

.

.

Barely covering his entertainment, Aki placed his hands on his hips. Hiruzen had no such qualms over letting his amusement show with a peal of near never-ending laughter over the painted stone faces staring at them from behind the window. "Young Naruto seems to be in high spirits," the Hokage chuckled, puffing on his pipe.

Contrary to Aki's timeline, Naruto went even further beyond painting the faces. How, you ask?

Well, two things one must know. One, a genius prankster is quite creative. Two, a sealing master prankster is even more so, this time with the tools to bring every creation to life.

That's right. Each and every one of the faces on the mountain had a silly hat over them made of glitter. The first head had a daisy growing from the top, the second had a cat angrily perched. The third had a giant pipe hanging from its mouth instead of a hat, and the final head had dog ears. All colored with the appropriate glitter, of course Anyone who tried to take them down would become ground zero for a glitter bomb with the intensity to cover all of Konoha, Aki was willing to bet. See, he was the first victim that particular seal saw. He had made the mistake of poking a miniature statue of himself made entirely of glitter.

That little thing covered the entire compound in the sparkly sand (not including the garden, as protective seals ensured nothing from the Prank Wars got into the garden. Yuki would have everyone's heads otherwise). Now imagine something several times bigger than Aki.

It might reach past Konoha's walls. And when it did, Aki was sure to conveniently be in Uzushio, as his clones had a minor dispute they needed the original for.

Not that he told anyone what touching the glitter constructs would do, of course. He wouldn't ruin the kit's fun.

Though the scolding the kit got from his teacher was hilarious to watch, as it was on the trip back that someone finally touched the glitter. The explosion was enough to pop the clone watching the interaction, and Aki couldn't wait to get back and see the carnage.