The Windmill Turns Both Ways

Slither

The extra help turned the skirmish around. With the Zetsu imposters taken care of, the Sealing Corps managed to seal almost all of the enemy's Edo Tensei summons on the field.

Younger Naruto was getting tired, and his clothes showed a few slashes and scrapes, but he straightened with a victorious grin. His few remaining Bunshin all flopped to the ground.

The Zetsu were extinguished. And the best part was he'd taken them all down on his own. Everyone else had been too busy fighting the revived Uchiha and the other zombies. Because he fought, the Sealing Corps was freed up to catch the Edo Tensei. It felt good to help in a real way.

Naruto stepped over a Zetsu with a large crater in its body from his Rasengan, the multiple remaining bunshin behind him vanishing with puffs of smoke. He wanted to see how things were going on the other side of the field.

They were just finishing up on their side, as well. Everyone was gathered near a row of sealed bodies, everyone looking exhausted and battered.

"I'm gonna send out another wave of bunshin before the Mode wears off again," the older Naruto said. The younger watched in awe as he called up a few flaming-gold copies that jumped up into the air and sped away at incredible speed. It made him glad he'd dispelled his own tired-looking, puny bunshin before coming over.

"Can you tell us what's happing on the other battlefields? What about the revived Uchiha?" a Suna kunoichi from the Sealing Corps said.

He started explaining what they knew, talking quickly and gesturing wildly. The younger Naruto didn't pay much attention to their conversation. He noticed there was one body still being wrapped up among the busted-up rocks and torn earth of the battlefield. A sealer was there, and Kakashi was standing over the body, holding his wrist and looking down at the process.

"Hey, Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto hopped over beside him. "What is it—" he saw what his sensei was looking down at, and his mouth changed into a surprised 'oh'. He recognized the cracked and peeling face belonging to the body on the ground, a face that was soon completely covered in a white wrap at the hands of the sealer. "H-Haku!"

"Zabuza was here, too," Kakashi said, moving to lower his headband back over his eye. "Sorry you missed them. They would have found it interesting to see you, too, since they remember you just as you are."

It shouldn't have been much of a surprise. Orochimaru liked to use the Edo Tensei to throw familiar faces into battle. He suddenly wondered if Sasuke had seen the Uchiha clan yet. In the excitement of everything else going on, Naruto had momentarily forgotten about Shisui's warning. Orochimaru was probably going to force the clan into a confrontation with Sasuke soon.

"I heard you had a tough time in Suna," Kakashi said. "We heard you managed to escape after Orochimaru's attack, but everyone was worried. You're probably the first Konoha shinobi to visit Ame and leave alive in the last twenty years."

"Huh? Oh." Naruto kept forgetting his new friends were once considered to be extremely dangerous criminals. But his older self seemed just as comfortable around them as he felt, and that was all the assurance he needed.

Naruto shrugged. "You didn't have to worry about me, Kakashi-sensei! Not even Orochimaru can stand up to Itachi and Nagato and Konan. They're going to help me get back to the past, too. Oh, wait—I haven't even explained about them yet! See, when I left Suna—"

"The older you explained some while we were fighting. We needed a little elaboration after he dropped in yelling not to seal them." Kakashi glanced past Naruto and tensed.

Naruto turned to see Itachi, Nagato, and his older self approaching. The Sealing Corps were packing up their tools behind them.

"It's been a while, Kakashi-senpai," Itachi said with an open smile, an unexpected action that made him seem somehow younger than when he was still alive.