Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of its affiliated characters.

Prologue: A Pebble Cast Upstream Creates Many Ripples

He stared into the woman's eyes. Two pale, emotionless eyes that reminded him of how Neji's had before the Chuunin exams, all those years ago, yet infinitely worse. Had it even been an hour since the young man had died saving his and Hinata's life? Who could have guessed that things would have fell to pieces so quickly, so uncontrollably? It seemed fitting that all he could think of at this moment were his regrets. Regret that he hadn't spent more time with the people he called his friends, his precious people, when he'd had the chance. Regret that he wouldn't be able to save them and spend that time with them after the fighting was over.

He turned his attention towards the third eye on the woman's face. Blood red with multiple concentric rings echoing away from the pupil and nine tomoe dancing a symmetrical pattern along them. To think that a single eye could hold so much power, that a single eye could be used to erase the entire world's free will.

His arms hung broken at his sides and blood oozed out of his mouth and down his chin while he hung suspended in midair by the woman's arm as she her hand clamped unyielding around his throat. In her sleeve a face out of a child's nightmare looked mockingly upon him. It would only be a few more seconds now before his chakra was completely drained and he was nothing more than a lifeless husk, the world's last hope dying with him. He had no more final gambits, no more last second plans, and he had a feeling that he'd cashed in his lifetime supply of acts of providence. He was well and truly defeated.

He wearily turned his gaze down at Sasuke, the only other person in the world who might truly be considered alive at this point. Obito's, Kakashi's and Sakura's broken bodies already lay scattered across the battlefield and everyone else was trapped within the power of Infinite Tsukiyomi, and for more reasons than one that was an end far more terrifying than dying.

When his eyes finally found the Uchiha, he was surprised to see him gazing back at him with a look of intense concentration. It was an admirable feat considering the other man's body was just as, if not more, broken than his his.

Sasuke flashed him a triumphant look as their eyes met and silently, the young man mouthed a few words that he couldn't mistake.

'It's all…on you now…usuratonkachi…'

Blood began to pool around and leak from Sasuke's Rin'negan eye before it suddenly and violently burst in a spectacular spray of blood just as the last of his own chakra was drained away. His vision faded away into darkness and he was consumed by the sensation of falling, falling…fal-

A twelve year old, blond haired boy, who had just a few nights before become a ninja, jolted awake into a sitting position. Images flashed through his mind, years of experiences flashing by so quickly that he could barely comprehend more than the simplest details before something new was being shown. Soon the images began to fade, like a dream one remembers for the briefest moments before truly waking up.

The blond boy blinked in confusion, looking around the room as if he was unfamiliar with it before vigorously shaking his head and rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. A frown crossed his face as he remembered the events of several nights ago before reversing into a large grin. He leaped out of bed and began to prepare for the day. Today was his first day as a ninja of Konoha.

Deep within the confines of the blond boy's spirit a slumbering entity awoke, revealing a crimson eye with a black slit pupil. It lifted its head and looked around its confines before raising a hand to grip one of the bars and frowning. For the briefest moment it had sworn that those bars didn't belong, that it had had the room to stretch its legs.

'Foolish dreams…'

It explained away the momentary ripple in its chakra as something to do with that odd tremor of emotion it had felt a short while ago before lowering its head to slumber once more.

In a forgotten corner of Konoha, within the room of a long neglected shrine there was the sound of something clattering to the ground. The only occupants of the room were an array of horned, laughing demon masks, all of which rested undisturbed from their positions hanging along the wall.

All of them but one.

Lying on the ground was a single mask with a long crack running down the length of its face.

A black man with sunglasses twitched from his position underneath a waterfall as he felt a momentary shift in his partner's chakra.

"Yo Hachibi, is something the matter? Your vast beastly chakra just went pitter-patter!"

There was a moment of silence, then a deep voice responded from within the man. 'No…I don't think so at least. There was a ripple of some sort, but nothing noteworthy. Don't worry about it."

…

'Oh and Bee?'

"Hmm?"

'Your rapping still sucks.'

'Chōmei, are you ok? Did something happen?'

'Nothing worth taking note of. Don't worry yourself about it Fū'

The young woman huffed and returned to aimlessly staring at the sky.

"Booooorrrrrrrrrreeeddddd"

A brown haired man in a light blue yukata walked leisurely through a sparsely wooded forest. He froze for a moment before looking up at the sky.

"Perhaps a change in destination might be in order."

A massive man in distinctive red armor shifted in his seat as he felt the chakra of the demon within him ripple briefly.

'What was that Gobi?'

Silence was his only answer.

A middle aged, red haired man froze in his wanderings.

'Did something happen Yonbi?'

'Maybe if you'd actually call me by my name I'd be willing to share.'

The man grunted and continued on his way.

A young looking man jerked violently as he regained full awareness and control of his faculties for the first time in nearly a decade. Memories rushed back to him and he thanked any gods that might be that he was alone at that moment before grabbing a hooked cane from where it rested against his desk and heading for the window. He paused in the middle of unlatching the window, looking back at the room.

'I could stay. Try to…fix things. I owe it to my-NO! I can't let myself think that way. If I stay I'll simply make an easy target for that…man when he comes back to reinforce the genjutsu. The best I can do is make things easier on the rebels.'

With that thought in mind, the man opened the window and leaped away into the night.

'What was that Nibi? Is something wrong?'

'No…I don't believe so. Don't worry yourself about it. There isn't any change in my chakra.'

"Sand Burial!"

Blood soaked into the animated sand, not a single drop dripping onto the ground below.

"Are you pleased with this blood Mother?"

…

"Mother?"

He could still feel his mother's presence in his chakra, but for the first time in years she failed to cry out in jubilation at an offering of blood. For the first time in years, the voice that had broken his psyche to pieces, the only voice that gave him encouragement now, was silent.

Deep within the hidden mountain reaches of the Land of Fire, a massive, elderly toad lifted his head, staring off into the distance at something no one but he could see.

"Ohohoho, you clever, clever child…now all we can do is wait and see if your gamble has paid off. For all our sakes, I hope they can pull it off."

Author's Note: I've always been interested in Time Travel/Peggy Sue fics, but I've rarely seen one that doesn't automatically give the time traveler all of their knowledge of future events and the only stories I've really seen dance around that subject in the Naruto fandom are Team 7: A Retelling and Afterthoughts, so I decided I wanted to play around with the idea. Here's to hoping you all enjoy it :D

Chapter 1 should be out within the next few days (Ahahahaha, oh god that certainly didn't happen.) and after that? Well I suppose that depends on school and such.

Posted 11.9.14

Edited 2.14.15