According to the laws of the universe, while traveling through space and time was proven possible by the Fourth Hokage, it was impossible for two of the same entities to exist in the same timeline. Therefore, when Naruto initially designed his seal, he intended to travel at least twenty years in the past. It was just a few years before his birth, which allowed him to still exist in that period of time. Since Uzumaki Naruto already existed in the world, the universe would have to alter the soul of the original Uzumaki Naruto so that two of the same entities didn't exist at the same time.

The possibilities to how the original "Uzumaki Naruto" of the parallel universe would be altered was almost infinite. Red hair instead of blond hair, a mild temperament instead of a hotheaded temperament, a child prodigy instead of the dead last, Alternate Naruto could embody the opposite of everything he was. Because Naruto had traveled to a parallel universe, Alternate Naruto might not even have to be altered in the first place because the differences in the world already ensured that Alternate Naruto was a separate entity from himself.

However, because Naruto didn't pour enough chakra into the seal to travel back at least twenty years, the seal didn't function properly. The seal was revised after Shikamaru and Kakashi reviewed it so that when Naruto activated the seal, both his body and soul would be sent back. There wasn't any point to going back in time if Naruto was dropped into the past and his soul bonded to the most compatible body there since he still wouldn't be capable of the feats Naruto was. It was only his soul that traveled through time and space, hence why he was subjected to the sensation of his body being reconstructed and deconstructed repeatedly until he was taken to the Kyuubi Attack, as it was named in the history books.

The alternate version of himself was already born but even still, there wasn't any other compatible body his soul could enter. The universe still couldn't allow two of the same entities to exist at the same time so when his soul entered his alternate self's body, their souls battled for dominance. It was a given that he won control of their body. Unlike how the body aged by the years, a soul aged by maturity and experience. Naruto's soul was battle-hardened, war-weary, and jaded, a far-cry from the infantile and innocent soul of his alternate self. It was tragic that he robbed away his alternate self's future, but he was selfish.

Years of war could change anyone, and not even Naruto was exempt from that. It took two years for him to change but the change in himself was irrevocable and affected everyone around him. He lost his innocent naivety, grew more cynical of the world, became jaded and paranoid. He learned the hard way that he couldn't save everyone no matter how hard he tried and how strong he was; there was always going to be a time where he was simply too late. While he was willing to die for his friends and by extension, the people they also cared for, he wouldn't die for people he was unfamiliar with anymore; he wouldn't sacrifice himself for the unrepentant shinobi who refused to acknowledge their wrongdoings to him.

He was guilty that he robbed his alternate self's chance for a future, but he would do it again if it meant that he could save his family. Naruto would like to think that his alternate self wouldn't mind, but he wouldn't delude himself into thinking that. He couldn't know that and never would. He would simply carry the guilt of stealing someone else's future. He didn't deserve forgiveness for what he had done, even if he was another version of his victim. He wasn't going to justify his actions because regardless of his reasons for doing so, he didn't change the fact that he stole someone else's body from them. Naruto was no better than Orochimaru for that.

When Naruto woke up, it was around three in the morning judging by his internal clock—his telling of time grew more accurate out of necessity once war broke out and more so when he was forced on the run. His eyes were slightly gritty with sleeping sand in the corners of his eyes. It irritated his sensitive skin and he let out a pitiful whine as he tried to rub it out. His mouth was dry and felt like sandpaper and his stomach was emptier than his arsenal of jutsu during his Genin days. Overwhelmed by sudden irritation and the need for food and water, he let out a wail. Ironically, Naruto screeched even louder because of how ear-splitting his cries sounded even to his own, still developing ears.

Naruto could sense at least four ANBU flittering in and out of his drastically shrinking range of sensing. Some didn't bother to mute their chakra signature because they were within the village and it was a time of peace, not to mention that Naruto was a baby. However, the majority were too accustomed to doing exactly that. He could rival the Byakugan with his range of sensing when he was in optimal condition but now that he was a baby, he could just barely reach his senses out to ten feet; even then, he could only manage that much with the combination of his own sensing ability and Kurama's ability to sense any malice. It helped that he was naturally a Sensor-Nin and Karin had forced Naruto to drain all the chakra she had left in her body before anyone else could take advantage of it—a gift to the man who could have been the prince of Uzishiogakure that never fell.

His eyes watered involuntarily because—damn it, he just lost his parents the night before! He wasn't ready for the onslaught of emotions that overwhelmed him like a broken dam. There was so much potent malice that the villagers were directing at him. Even if he had to retrain his sensing skills, Kurama's special sensory ability was at full throttle since he only lost a handful of years out of the centuries that he had already lived out. More than half of the entire civilian population loathed him so much that they were letting out the smallest silver of killing intent, the most that the average civilian could deal out. But sensing all that miniscule killing intent at once triggered a flashback for him.

"Why do you get to live while the Fourth is dead?"

Naruto was six when he was roughly shoved out of the way by a woman. She was paler than the average villager, with short, dirty blond hair and dark green eyes. She wore a lavender qipao with three red circles that were vertically aligned on her skirt. She looked at him with a nasty frown on her face, as though he was less than the dirt on her shoe.

"If you weren't born, the Fourth would've never died in the first place," she spat. She looked like she wanted to beat the life out of him but refrained from doing so. Her fists were clenched and the longer Naruto stared at her, the redder her face became.

"Don't look at me like that, Demon!" she snarled angrily and she jerked her body away from him, not wanting to stand in his presence any longer. Her bag of groceries teared at her sudden movement and her food fell to the ground. With an angry growl and huff of frustration, she began to gather her food from the ground.

Naruto remembered the lesson of manners that Jiji had drilled into him. He picked up the three apples that the woman missed and handed them to her when she stood up. She sharply turned her head at him and kicked him in the stomach and away from her.

"Stay away from me, you monster!" she screeched. She eyed the apples that he dropped critically and smashed all three under her foot with vindictive glee. She kicked Naruto three more times, twice at his head and a third at his stomach. He let out a wheeze and began coughing uncontrollably. She didn't hold back with her kicks at all.

The smell of blood hit his nose and Naruto realized that his nose was bleeding profusely and so was his head. There were black spots in his vision and his head ached like nothing else. Right before the woman walked away, she spat in his face and said in a dark tone, "Just die, you freak. You would be doing the world a favor if you just drop dead."

Tears pricked at his eyes and grew into a river of tears. He sniffed pitifully and whimpered quietly. He shifted left and right in his crib and shoved his fist into his mouth to muffle his cries. One of the ANBU concealed in the ceiling of the room dropped down and walked to his crib. He was lifted in the air and tucked in the crook of an ANBU with a dog mask. His eyes widened in disbelief when he registered his chakra signature to be Kakashi's and his heart swelled with warmth.

Kakashi prodded his finger at Naruto's fist, trying to pry it out of his mouth. Naruto obliged easily and gave him a toothless smile. Kakashi's mere presence was enough to chase his demons away. He whipped out a plastic bottle of baby formula and pried off the lid to it so that Naruto could gnaw at the bottle nipple with his toothless gums. He let out a happy giggle when Kakashi held the bottle near his mouth and began to suck on the bottle nipple.

It was a humiliating experience to be reduced to a mere infant so severely dependent on the care of others, but it was one he would soldier through, nonetheless. That it was Kakashi who was looking after him at the moment was a major plus which made the situation all the more bearable. There wasn't much Naruto could do as an infant, so he spent most of his time tormenting anyone put on the glorified babysitting duty.

Only Kakashi was left untouched by the terrifying force that Naruto could be as an infant when he really put his mind to it. It was great entertainment after a few weeks, having sensed the sheer dread that the ANBU began to emit. When Genma was put on rotation to guard him, Naruto was gracious enough to spare Genma from his usual tactics as thanks to the man who was overlooked by many in the future-past yet was invaluable in his help to Naruto. It was absolutely hilarious to sense the smugness that Genma radiated for a full week, rubbing it in other ANBU's faces that he was apparently initiated into what the ANBU were cheekily calling the "Naruto Protection Squad".

It wasn't helped by the fact that Kakashi and Genma were fiercely overprotective of Naruto and were completely wrapped around his finger. A single toothless smile had Kakashi glowing with silent joy while a gurgling laugh filled Genma with pride. It didn't take long for Kakashi and Genma to start competing to be Naruto's favorite. It was mind-bobbling to wrap his head around, but he chalked it up to their own devotion to his dad, given that Kakashi was his last surviving student and Genma was part of the squad tasked with guarding him. Plus, Kakashi and Genma always had an odd rivalry between them that wasn't widely known, but mainly threw pointed jabs and cheeky sass at each other.

Naruto couldn't wait to learn how to speak again so he could put the both of them on a crusade to gut Gai-sensei when he made his first word "Youth!"