The Will of the Future

1.

—I DO NOT OWN NARUTO—

Hiruzen Sarutobi, Third Hokage of Konohagakure after his successor met an early grave, sighed as yet another pile of paperwork found its way onto his desk. It seems being Hokage is not everything it's cracked up to be. The amount of paperwork is almost insulting to a shinobi; especially one such as Hiruzen who lived through two Great Shinobi Wars.

"Minato, I'll never forgive you for this."

A sudden blinding light had the Third Hokage on his feet faster than most could comprehend, his hand already on a kunai hidden in his robes. There, in the middle of his office lay a man, in his twenties he guessed, a lean and muscular build that seemed to hold a subtle strength. He wore what looked like a tattered Jonin uniform, "though the sleeves are styled much like Minato's" he idly noted. On his chest a vest of some sort, it being difficult to tell seeing as it was practically burned off and covered in blood. His hair, while difficult to distinguish the color because of blood and dirt, reached mid-back and was tied in a low ponytail with two jaw length bangs to frame his face.

"Your orders Hokage-sama?" a bear masked ANBU questioned while in defensive position with his team surrounding their Hokage.

"Send for medic-nins, he is badly wounded, and we need him healed enough to talk. In the meantime, restrain him and let's head to IT." Hiruzen stated with authority.

Bear let out a sharp "Hai" before disappearing in a quick shunshin as the other four ANBU began to restrain the stranger.

—sometime later Naruto POV—

Buzzing filled Naruto's head as he began to regain consciousness. "Where the hell am I." Without opening his eyes or moving so much of a muscle and keeping his chakra even, Naruto began to assess his surroundings.

He was restrained and sitting on a chair, that much he could tell. He idly noted that his wounds—that had been cleaned and dressed—were no longer bleeding; though he knew any sudden movement would have them oozing once more. The air was cold, damp, and smelled of earth and blood.

"Underground then huh. I wonder how the hell I got here; restrained no less. I suppose I should be asking WHO the hell got me here; I was sure that I was the last one. I know I was about to die, they most likely healed me enough to talk. Damn. They got my chakra restrained so I can't use my sensory without raising suspicion. Fuck. KURAMA!"

Naruto's mind remained deafeningly silent. He sighed and thought,"Damn."

—Author POV—

The sudden sound of a metal door opening had Naruto tensing; not noticeably though, he was still under the guise of being asleep after all.

"You can open your eyes I know you're awake." A gruff voice spoke. Naruto had recognized the voice but not the unfriendly tone in which it spoke.

"Jiji..." Naruto thought as his eyes widened and his head snapped up to look at the figure that had just entered with two faithful ANBU flanking his sides. Indeed, it was the one he dubbed as 'jiji,' his grandfather figure who had died years ago. He stared disbelievingly and longingly before a split second later when he drained all emotions from his features and stared blankly.

"What the hell is this?" Naruto asked calmly with a clear undertone of anger for this enemy, whoever they were, used the face of his long dead grandfather.

"I could ask you the same after all it was you who appeared in my office on the brink of death." "and the fact that you look disturbingly like Minato but with longer hair, and those faint whisker marks like young Naruto makes this all more worrisome, yet still intriguing." Hiruzen added as an afterthought.