Changing the River of Time

Dreams

Gai's death was extremely early in the war. An effort to end it before it truly began, a desire to ensure his students wouldn't have to go through it too soon in their lives. 

It failed, for who could have predicted the extent of Madara's regenerative abilities? 

But Gai tried, and for that Naruto would always respect the man if he didn't already. But his death harshly impacted everyone who knew the bright jonin- especially Lee and Kakashi. While Lee took to remembering his late mentor by keeping his Nindo alive, Kakashi had lost a rock of support. 

He was never truly the same, after that. 

The shine in Kakashi's eyes, that none of his students even realized was there, vanished without a trace. Sad looks were sent towards him from all corners- mostly the other, older jonin and others from his generation. They had seen him like this before, after all. Seen his light and life bleed away in all forms but physical- and even then, they were just barely spared that. Kakashi was disturbingly punctual to everything, a tightness in his body and tone and chakra that no one could accurately identify. He was like a robot, throwing himself into battle and missions with no care for his own safety.

This change terrified the remnants of Team 7, but especially Naruto.

The only thing that seemed to lift the fog was when Naruto returned from Uzushio, a new seal on his mind and a way to save everyone they'd lost. But first, they had to defeat their foes, for the seal couldn't be interrupted once created, and they couldn't take any chances for Zetsu or Madara to go back with them. A reformed Obito would be accepted, but Naruto didn't have the luxury of waiting for that change to happen. 

He had to step up and do what he needed to plan for the worst, even as his hope for the best burned brightly. What was that saying...? 'Hope for the best, plan for the worst'.

That summed up the entire war pretty well. Explained where many early casualties came from, too.

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"Aki-nii?"

The red-head looked at the blond, easy grin fading away when he saw the serious look on the kit's face. He only got that look when something big troubled him. "What's up?"

The kid hesitated, an action that made quite a few red flags go up in Aki's head, and sat on the ground in front of the red-head. The sun shone down on them, the fading lights slipping through the surrounding leaves. "Do you ever... get strange dreams?"

Aki blinked at the kit, confusion on his face. "Strange how?"

"Well..." Naruto shifted, crossing his arms in thought. "About being older? I dunno, it's weird. Like a memory that you've never had?"

Aki blinked and frowned in thought. "Do you remember anything from these dreams?"

The blond nodded, frown deepening. "Yeah. They weren't good dreams." At Aki's silent prompting, Naruto sighed and ruffled his hair. "They're always sad. Like... I dreamt about someone that looked like Sakura-chan, and I think it was her. But she was... Different. She had short hair and was awesome and kind and a medic! But we were in a war or something because she let an ugly pasty thing stab her while she healed some guy I thought was the Teme for some reason. And then, the other night, there was a better version of the Teme, but still reckless and- Aki-nii, are you okay?"

The red-head paled a bit, his face taking on a stern blankness Naruto didn't like. "What's wrong?"

Kurama, what's happening.