So, for those of you that follow my other story Triple Trouble (available on my Ao3, Wattpad and a friend's ): I'm SO SO SORRY, I thought I uploaded the new chapter, like, a week ago and I didn't so that will be up later today (because it's 5:30 in the morning and I haven't slept yet and I shouldn't even be posting this to begin with but here we are.

Basically, I started writing this years ago and got inspired to start again. The first two chapters aren't great since I wrote them like 5 years ago and forgot about them but they're good enough to serve their purpose.

Prologue

There was nothing left. Konoha was years gone and the last of the villages fell years earlier with only a handful of survivors from the Allied Shinobi Forces left to fight Kaguya. After countless civilian deaths and the shinobi forces reduced to less than 20 the survivors of a war that had raged for nearly 10 years had just about given up hope because even if they were victorious, what did they have to show for it? Their homes, their families, everything they'd ever held dear was gone.

Even Naruto, for all the power that had been given to him so that he could win- from the Rikudo Sennin himself and from eventually having every Bijuu sealed inside of him-was too weak to defeat the Rabbit Goddess Kaguya. When Killer B had died he'd trusted Gyuuki to help him and him to save the world but even with the cooperation of all the beasts, with their numbers so low there was nearly nothing they could do. Countless years of studying between battles, learning everything he could about seals and weapons and the mountains worth of Jutsu, even picking up some (small, very small) Genjutsu skills, for nothing.

There were four Konoha shinobi left and a couple from the other villages in the alliance; Naruto himself, Shikamaru, Tenten, and Sasuke were all that were left out of thousands. Kankuro of Suna was still alive along with three others and Iwa, Kiri and Kumo had three, two and three respectively. Those from the Land of Iron were gone.

Out of the sixteen remaining soldiers only 12 could still fight. Sasuke was almost completely blind from continued use of his Mangekyo Sharingan and sick (he said Itachi had succumbed to something similar during their battle, Naruto decided he didn't want to think too much about what that meant), Shikamaru had been reduced to a talking brain barely able to move and confined to the bunker they'd made their shelter and two out of the three remaining Kumo nin were also sick from exposure. Everyone was thin, provisions running low and no way or place to get more.

Out of everyone, though, it was Naruto who had changed the most. His hair, once short and spiky and decidedly blond had, upon the resealing of Kurama and the subsequent sealing of the other Bijuu-for reasons not even Kurama understood-become a dark red like the blood of his fallen comrades and grown significantly in length, reaching his thighs when down. Even his eyes had darkened, though he wasn't sure if that was from age and war or if that was also a result of the sealing. Years of hiding in various bunkers left his skin pale and the extraction of Kurama left his whisker marks light like scars. He was thin now, baby fat no longer clinging to his face, but still toned with muscle and covered in scarring. The loss of his many comrades, of his surrogate family, the weight of being unable to protect the things he'd devoted his life to had made Naruto quieter, hardened a part of him that had remained soft and innocent for so long.

The idea had come from Shikamaru in a rare moment of humor almost 3 years earlier. Naruto had been scribbling on the walls after running out of sealing papers when someone-he couldn't quite remember who-had made the passing comment of: "It's too bad we can't go back to when times were simple, huh?"

The comment had earned wistful smiles from a few of the last shinobi, whose numbers had been significantly higher at almost 400 at the time.

"Naruto," The now-red-head didn't look up but gave a silent nod. "Can you do that with seals?"

It was supposed to be a joke based off of a remark Naruto had made when he'd first started studying them when he was 18 about seals being able to do anything but it made Naruto think, halting his brush strokes. Space time seals and jutsu had been a thing since long before he was born, they're what his father and Tobirama had used to create the Hiraishin and what Kamui was based off of.

"It might be possible, with enough Chakra and the right formula," He responded, not really thinking too much about the fact he was saying it out loud. "If it is possible it would probably only work one way-not to mention how dangerous it would be. It might not even change anything, time could split and create a parallel timeline even if someone did manage it."

Of course, no one had expected that as an answer but even 6 years into war Naruto was still Konoha's Number One Unpredictable Knucklehead Ninja, even if he was significantly lessknuckle-headed than before.

Shikamaru, of course, recovered from the information first. "Wouldn't it be worth it? To save everyone? Prevent them from facing this?"

It had taken years to complete and careful planning with help from both Sasuke and Shikamaru to finish it. The seal itself had to be huge and even through Naruto's many protests the remaining shinobi offered their lives to give Naruto the chance to change it. The chakra needed was almost unimaginable for a single person, and they knew from many experiments that it could only send one person, and the time it would take to write out given their situation made the odds seem even lower.

A small group offered themselves as a distraction for Kaguya, one they knew would end their lives, and the others offered their chakra to power the outer matrices of the seal-another sacrifice of their lives and if it didn't work Naruto didn't know what he would do because then he'd be alone and over nine years of devastation had been for nothing, even now it seemed everything they'd fought for had been for nothing-it won't have meant anything if Naruto fails.

The seal was massive, more so than Naruto had thought it would be, and consisted of several parts; a configuration for a rough estimate of the years he'd need to travel back (an event and location to travel to), a matrix for the movement of time and space itself (namely moving the object within the center to whatever time was specified), safeguards upon safeguards, layers of detail to make the trip as safe as possible and the jump as accurate as possible, not to mention the careful configurations of the formula to actually make it work.

In the end it was similar to Hiraishin, only instead of moving the user from one place to another in a way similar to traveling to the near future it was the opposite, going to a location in the past. The amount of Chakra he'd need was nearly immeasurable. The drain those who volunteered themselves would face would be fatal and Naruto would have, if he was correct, barely enough to survive. He'd probably be passed out for a few days and if he were to end up too close to any of the shinobi villages he could be killed or taken prisoner before he could carry out the tasks necessary.

Saying their final goodbyes was hard, the three who were playing distraction had left before the seal was even drawn to buy them enough time and none of them had any doubt the encounter would brutalize all of them. The twelve helping him, consisting of four people who'd become his closest friends and eight others who'd been at the end of their ropes since their villages fell but remained strong in the battle and fought with everything they could, they were the ones who'd had the hardest time. Knowing that whether or not this worked their time was up, they were putting all their faith in Naruto and the weight was heavier than any other he'd felt during the war. They were quick, because they knew if they took too long it would be for nothing, so Naruto sent a clone to gather sage chakra while he made his rounds.

Tenten hugged him tightly and he squeezed back. When the weapons mistress stepped back she looked into his deep blue violet eyes, barely holding back her tears.

"Good luck, Naruto." It was a whisper but firm nonetheless and the most indirect goodbye he'd received.

Shikamaru, mostly paralyzed as he was, couldn't do much but the look in his dark eyes, the grief and hope, relief, fear said everything he wasn't. Somehow it was more of a goodbye than any he could've said out loud. He held out a pale hand and Naruto took it, trying not to squeeze too hard.

"Save us." It wasn't a request and if the atmosphere were any lighter Naruto would've laughed.

The blond-turned-red-head responded just as firmly. "I will." and he would or he would die trying because that's all he's ever known. Never in his life has he ever given up, even knowing that this war was a lost cause never stopped him from trying.

Kankuro, who'd taken over as leader of the Suna division years earlier after Kaguya's wrath destroyed both of his siblings-similar to how Naruto himself had been named Hokage after Tsunade had been killed-shook Naruto's hand, tears smearing the purple war paint decorating his face.

"Save my brother?" It wasn't meant to be a question but it sounded like one.

Naruto nodded. "Of course." Because Gaara had become family to him and his loss hurt him almost as deeply as it did Kankuro.

"Goodbye, Naruto." His voice shook and even without being able to sense negative emotions Naruto could feel the fear pouring off of him because even though he had nothing left he was terrified to see what might happen after death.

"Bye, Kankuro." It was just as likely Naruto would die trying to do this, they had no way to tell if it would work for long jumps, even if experiments with short periods of time worked just fine they were tests on non-living things.

Sasuke had been the hardest. The man could barely see anything beyond blurry shadows and was coughing up blood every time he'd moved too much and seeing him like that hurt because Sasuke was never supposed to be that way. He was supposed to be strong and arrogant and prideful, not weak and sickly. They looked at each other wordlessly for a moment, neither knew how long and no one interrupted them. His Rinnegan eye was closed and Sharingan was inactive for the first time in what was probably years, natural eye now a milky grey instead of deep black and through all the pain he was in Sasuke managed a small smirk.

"Dobe."

Naruto could've cried right then, it took every ounce of control he had not to.

"Teme," He barely managed to get it out, it'd been so long since they'd called each other that. They were too concerned with war and, until the last couple years, been stationed in different camps.

With what little strength he had Sasuke pulled Naruto close to him, even after nine years the Jinchuuriki had barely grown having leveled out at around 167cm, and held onto him tightly, burying his nose in the younger man's oily red was odd, when he could actually see Naruto with red hair. He'd known him as a blond their whole lives and as much as he never would've admitted it if circumstances hadn't been what they were, he missed it. Even now he was almost glad he couldn't see it and could pretend it was still blond. He did, however, wish he could see Naruto's face one last time, see his bright smile again before he died even though he knew he'd never manage one even if he could.

He ran a thin pale hand across the shorter shinobi's jaw, tilting his head up as best he could before pressing their chapped lips together. It was technically their second kiss but it felt like second nature. There wasn't time for budding relationships in an active war zone and they had no time alone but none of that mattered anymore, time fell apart around them as they kissed, there were no wandering hands, no heat or passion or anything Jiraiya had written about when he was alive. It was love, so much love, and anger and pain, grief and longing, relief and happiness and goodbye and everything neither of them ever said. Even with the metallic taste of blood and dry chapped lips it was everything either of them could've wanted and when they pulled apart they could still feel the phantom pressure.

"Make Team 7 what it was meant to be, and do what you do best: save as many as you can." It was spoken directly into his ear and Naruto knew that all of them, those they've lost and those he was about to lose, they would all be with him-even if he could never truly be with them again.

"Always."

They didn't move from their embrace for another moment, lamenting what could've been and wishing they had more time.

"It's time." Someone said, likely knowing that if they didn't do this right now, Naruto would never leave.

They both nodded and Naruto guided Sasuke to his point on the seal, showing him where to pump his chakra. When he turned to make his way to the center a cold hand grabbed his ankle.

"Naruto, take this." Sasuke held out his sword to the red head. Over years of war Naruto had become well versed in nearly every weapon available and if Sasuke could give him anything after all the grief he'd put him through, this was the least he could do.

"I'll take care of it." Because if he said anything more emotional than that he wouldn't be able to leave.

Even still, a part of him didn't want to go through with it, it felt wrong to leave this timeline and abandon everyone. Because dying in another timeline meant never seeing these people again, they would be there but they wouldn't be his and it felt like a betrayal, but knowing that he could save them made it feel like any pain he could ever feel would make it all worth it.

One person was posted at each point of the seal creating a clock and one at a time, starting at the top, with Sasuke, and working their way around counterclockwise, they began pumping their chakra into the seal. Wind whipped around the redhead standing in the center as Chakra surged through to him. Naruto released his clone, accepting the sage chakra into himself, just as the last person began pumping their life into his seal. He took a deep, shaky breath before he pumped chakra into the center. Sage chakra, his own chakra, and each of the Bijuu inside of him shared theirs as well went into powering the seal, speeding up the vortex of wind and time.

It was like standing in a hurricane, the seal below him glowing bright blue, visibility diminished beyond the center matrix. When he could sense that there was enough chakra for the final step he bit deeply into his thumb and drew the key to the seal on his palm slamming into the center, releasing it. Everything around him turned white and he closed his eyes, allowing himself to be sucked into the vortex as the seal continued to take energy from him. As his eyes grew heavy he knew he'd either wake up in the past or wake up to twelve corpses-or he wouldn't wake up at all.

He prepared himself for any outcome as he finally let unconsciousness take over.

The next chapter will be out after I finally get caught up with Triple Trouble (After the monster that will be chapter 10 because if it goes according to plan it will be about 15k+ words which is about 2-3 times as long as any other chapter). If you want to read that it's available on my Ao3 and Wattpad both under the same name: KoreanOreo

It's also available here under my friend's account name: ChocolatePhantom93

I won't be transferring that story here because it's too much trouble for both of us and those who've been following Triple Trouble since 2016 (I wasn't allowed to have an account at the time but now I clearly do so all new stories will be available here as well as on both my Ao3 and Wattpad)

Anyway,

Thanks so much for reading and don't forget to review!

~KoreanOreo~