Title: There's Power in Numbers

Summary: Left alone in a demolished Konoha, Naruto resolves to go back in time to change Konoha's future. Right before he departs, he meets a group of people who agree to accompany him on his journey. How will things be different with these new allies?

Pairings: None

Warnings: OOC, Time Travel

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Negima.

Sorry about not updating in forever; GOD, I HATE HIGH SCHOOL! But anyway, I'm doing a MASS UPDATE! And I was rereading some of my stories and thought: Oh dear lord, I wrote that? For shame… So, I put a poll on my profile about which stories I should rewrite. I won't be offended.

And as a note for that, I won't be changing much – usually just adding more description and showing foreshadowing and such. I won't be changing the pairings or the major plot points, but I may tweak a few small things, nothing major though.

Now, onto the story! Enjoy!

Chapter Eleven – Nightmares and Talks

Naruto opens his eyes to find himself in his subconscious. 'What the hell? Why am I here? I was trying to sleep!' He turns around to yell at Kyuubi but he stops and his mouth drops open. 'What the fuck?' he thinks, staring through the open doors into the dark, empty cage.

'No…Kyuubi's gone! How?' He takes a few tentative steps towards the cage before shutting his eyes and willing himself out of his consciousness.

When he opens his eyes once more, he comes face to face with a burning building. He jumps back in shock. "What's going on?" he murmurs in confusion. He looks around and his eyes widen. Konoha was in smoldering ruins.

He looks around in fear. "No way… this isn't possible!" Naruto takes off down the road towards Konoha's center plaza. When he gets there, he stops and stares at the slaughter in front of him. Everyone, all the people he ever cared about, were lying dead or dying in front of him. His eyes widen as he takes in the faces of the people who had come to respect him in his old life.

The deranged laughter of Madara steals his attention. He spins around, looking for the bastard that ruined his old life. "You can't win, Naruto!" his voice booms. "You can never win!" The force of the booming voice causes the ground to quake and Naruto falls onto his back, staring up at the sky, darkening with clouds. "What? Are you just going to lay there as the rest of your friends die? You were supposed to be their hero! Now look at you! I thought you said you'd change everything! Where is that peace you sought so fervently for?"

Naruto turns to his side and presses his hands to his ears, attempting to tune out Madara's taunting. "Shut up!" he shouts, closing his eyes. "Just shut the hell up!" He closes his eyes as the now-muffled taunting continues.

One taunt clearly pierces through his hands and echoes in his head, "You're just letting your friends die."

Naruto's snap open and he sits up with a jolt. He looks around panicked to find himself sitting in his room on his bed. He holds his head as tears enter his eyes. 'It was just a dream… a horrible, horrible nightmare. He lowers his head and closes his eyes but they snap open when a thought enters his head. 'Where were the kids?' He slowly lifts his head back up. 'The kids weren't there. That future can't happen because they weren't there. They promised to help. Madara can't win. Not anymore.'

With a relieved sigh, Naruto looks over at the clock sitting by his bed. 4:27. He sighs and lies back down on his bed. 'God, I've never had nightmares like that before… And quite frankly, I don't want anymore!'

He closes his eyes before instantly opening them again. 'Okay, note to self: do not close eyes unless you want to see your friends' corpses staring up at you.'

He groans and sits up. "Looks like I won't be getting anymore sleep," he mumbles, holding his head with one hand. His eyes flash to the door as it slowly opens. 'Who the hell gets up at this time?'

Kaede makes her way into the room. "I was meaning to tell you this yesterday, but I wanted to wait for my suspicions to be confirmed, but I decided that that would not be wise, de gozaru."

Naruto blinks before sitting up, turning on the lamp by his bed. "What is it?"

"I had the feeling that someone was following us on our way back here yesterday, nin nin."

Naruto froze. That was bad. That would mean that someone knows what's going on. The kids could be in trouble. Suddenly, he relaxes. "Okay, could that feeling be mistaken as someone watching us, and not following us?"

Kaede pauses, considering the idea. "That is a possibility, nin."

Naruto sighs. "Okay, then I'll talk to the Old Man today. There's a possibility that he was the one watching us through his weird crystal ball of his."

Kaede frowns slightly. "I thought magic had no effect in this world," she says in surprise.

Naruto nods and shrugs. "I know. I don't know what he's doing to have that thing work." He sits up with a sigh. "But I guess I should head over soon. It would not be smart to show up for my team meeting late, even if sensei's gonna show up hours later." He gets off his bed and smiles at them. "You should try to get more sleep. Kyuu said he'd train you while I'm out."

Kaede nods before leaving, closing the door behind her.

Naruto sighs and runs a hand over his face. 'Okay, let's get ready so I can talk to the Old Man…'

Soon, Naruto was walking through the lobby to the front door. He asks the butler to tell the kids where he went and slips out the front door. He creeps along in the shadows, heading towards the Hokage Building.

Once he reaches it, Naruto scales the side and pushes open the window to his office. He creeps inside and closes the window. Naruto turns around to see the office empty and a mountainous stack of papers sitting next to the Hokage's desk.

Naruto shakes his head and then sits in the chair. He puts his feet up on the desk and waits. After a few minutes of waiting, Naruto looks over at the imposing stack of papers. Sitting on top is the mission with Tora. Naruto scowls. That damned cat was always escaping.

He turns away from the papers in a huff. He couldn't remember a single shinobi telling him that they'd never chased after that damn thing. His ear twitches and he looks at the door. He could hear footsteps coming down the hall.

He makes himself comfortable and lazily looks around the room. The door opens and a slightly shocked Sandaime watches Naruto sitting in his chair with his feet propped up on his desk, looking right at home. He had forgotten to ask, was the boy Hokage in the future?

"Ah, Naruto-kun, what brings you here?"

Naruto frowns at the man. "When I was walking my group of kids back to the hotel, were you watching us through your crystal ball?"

The Sandaime blinks. "Yes, actually, I was. How did you know that?"

Naruto shrugs and looks off in a random direction. "One of the kids felt like someone was following us. When I suggested your crystal ball, they said that could be what they were feeling, because, technically, you are following whomever you're watching in that thing."

The Sandaime nods. "Now, is there a reason you're sitting in my chair?"

"I had forgotten how comfy this chair is," Naruto says, getting up. "It's all yours, old man."

Naruto moves to leave, but Sarutobi stops him. "Ah, Naruto, there's something I need to ask you."

The blond boy blinks before turning back to the elderly man. "Okay," he says slowly. "What's wrong?"

The old Sandaime sits down. "Kakashi is concerned about something you said during your meeting yesterday." Naruto pales slightly. What did Kakashi notice? "He said something about you really wanting to kill a certain 'perverted pedo'." The old man clears his throat. "I'm going to be blunt about this, Naruto, were you ever raped?"

Naruto falls silent. He didn't know what to say. The mere suggestion was so ludicrous it was laughable! Yet, Sharingan Kakashi, said to be the most observant shinobi out there, had come to that conclusion. And the Sandaime Hokage of Konohagakure believed it! Naruto couldn't help it, he bursts out laughing.

Sarutobi was taken aback by Naruto's sudden laughter. He thought this was… funny? This is no laughing matter! His eye twitches and he feels the urge to hit the boy rising within him. But he quickly calms himself – what kind of Hokage hits a child?

"I'm sorry," Naruto says, once he gets himself back under control. "I just couldn't help it. How could a shinobi as observant as Kakashi believe that's what I meant by that? It's absurd!" He snickers. "I said I wanted to kill a perverted pedo, I meant Orochimaru." Naruto then scowls. "There's no way I'm letting that bastard do what he did again!"

Sarutobi looks relieved. Well, at least Naruto hadn't been raped… "I'm glad you can find humor in this," he murmurs around his pipe.

Naruto sighs and shakes his head. Speaking about Kakashi… He frowns. "Hey, Kakashi came by my apartment yesterday… did you know that?"

Sarutobi frowns before sighing. "I specifically told him not to go find out those answers for himself!"

Naruto raises an eyebrow. "He might think that you've been keeping secrets from him; maybe he doesn't trust you," the boy reasons. "Trust is important," Naruto says thinking about Sasuke. He certainly couldn't keep the other boy here if he didn't trust Naruto. "Trust is the only thing he couldn't give until the very end," Naruto murmurs to himself.

"Hm?" Sarutobi asks, "What was that? I didn't quite catch it."

"Oh, nothing," Naruto says with a fake smile. "I should probably be heading back now. I'll see if I can go quell Kakashi's concern." With that, he turns on his heel and strides out of the office.

Naruto jumps along the rooftops toward the apartment of his favorite sensei, Iruka. It had been tortuous to watch the other man die, but he was alive now and Naruto could prevent his death.

Landing on the platform, Naruto puts on a happy grin and rings his doorbell. He had no idea why he was knocking on Iruka's door, but he just thought the man should know the truth – no matter how unbelievable it may seem.

A slightly drowsy Iruka opens the door. "Naruto?" he asks with a frown. "How did you get my address?"

'Shit,' Naruto cursed in his head. Damn his carelessness. "Hokage-jiji gave it to me, Iruka-sensei! I wanted to see you! There's something… something we need to talk about…"

Iruka was frowning now. The previous night, Kakashi had mentioned his theory about Naruto being raped, after he went Mother Hen on that perverted idiot – who reads porn in front of children? But anyway, could Naruto be about to tell him that it was true? Iruka gulps in foreboding and shakily says, "C-come in, Naruto. I-I'll make you some ramen, okay?"

Naruto nods and walks into the room. He glances around in nostalgia. It was exactly how it was when the man dies a few years later – maybe he had a few less books on the shelves now, but that was the only change. Naruto sits down on Iruka's sofa and gulps. Could he do it?

What would the man say? If someone told him what he was about to tell Iruka, he wouldn't believe it one bit – it was just too outrageous.

When Iruka enters the room minutes later, he hands Naruto his ramen and sits down across from him. "So, what did you want to talk about, Naruto?"

Naruto fidgets for a second before saying, "You can't freak out about what I say, okay? Promise me that." Iruka hesitates. He couldn't freak out? But if it was true, he wanted to kill the bastard that did that to the kid! "And you can't tell anyone," Naruto adds. Iruka frowns. This was getting worse and worse. How would he exact revenge? "Promise me!" Naruto insists, there was a desperate look in his eyes that had Iruka caving.

"Fine, I promise I won't freak out or tell anyone, okay Naruto? Now please, what's wrong?"

Naruto takes a deep breath. "I'm from the future."

Mwahahahaha! I'm evil, aren't I? Yes, I am leaving you hanging there, this isn't some joke.

Don't forget to take my poll!

-MosukeHinata