Before you read on, please be warned this story:

A) is vastly different from the previous three chapters I had posted, so if you decide to stop reading, I understand.

B) will have slow updates as I'm busy with uni

C) is so far unbeta'd (if you wish to offer your services, PM me and I shall consider it).

Bold speech is Kurama talking

Italics is Naruto's internal thoughts

That said, please enjoy the first instalment of A Shift in Space...

1. Starting Over

The smell of smoke and charred wood was thick in the air, hanging like a physical weight over his battered body, surrounding him from all sides. His lungs struggled to fill up with air and every attempt sent waves of agony through him.

Next to him, the body of his best friend—or maybe a more accurate description would be his only alive friend—shivered violently. A rough coughing sound cut through the ringing in his ears and Naruto just managed to turn his neck in Shikamaru's direction to watch the Nara sputter blood onto the ground.

Shikamaru collapsed forward and spat out more blood, his arm clutching at the gaping hole in his stomach.

Right, Naruto thought almost detachedly, Shikamaru, too, was dying. Soon enough, it'd be just him left in this bloody battlefield.

"I wonder," the blonde rasped, even when he was uncertain if Shikamaru could even comprehend speech at this point, "was it worth it?"

Shikamaru heaved his body back up and leaned against the rock Naruto rested on, wiping at the blood seeping from his mouth, "winning?"

Naruto nodded, eyes surveying the land. Bodies lay everywhere in various states of death; face-first in the dirt, hanging limply from a tree branch, in numerous pierces by the crimson lake.

Shikamaru snorted through his nose. "Fuck no," the Nara spat, and then winced, once again moving to press on his wound in a valiant attempt to stifle the bleeding.

The blond looked around wordlessly, searching for the body of a certain rosette he held close to his heart. Ah, there it was. He hadn't the energy to even remove the sword from her chest cavity.

Shikamaru's rasping coughs interrupted his musings again and he scowled; well, he tried to, but he was too drained to put too much effort into it. "Don't you dare leave before me, Shikamaru." He said in the most threatening voice he could muster but to his dismay, he sounded desperate and broken at best.

A hand grasped his arm and squeezed, causing him to turn to look at Shikamaru again. The Nara's eyes were dispassionate—lifeless—as they gazed into his cerulean orbs. "I don't..." the strategist trailed off, shook his head and tried again, a flicker of something so sad it made Naruto ache to look at flashed in his eyes, "I'm... I don't want to."

Something inside Naruto —whatever remained of his heart, probably— finally completely shattered, so violently he choked for a few seconds. The truth came rushing into him with enough strength he feared he might burst. Shikamaru was dying. Really dying. Soon enough, Naruto would be all alone amidst the hell that was his reality.

Anxiety like nothing he'd ever known before rattled his body and he quickly turned away just in time to vomit whatever was left in his stomach onto the ground. He wiped at his mouth, wincing at how pathetic he must look and turned back to his friend, face grim, "I'm sorry."

Shikamaru's mouth twitched up at the corner —a sad shadow of his old smile— and the Nara looked up at the grey skies. "I don't suppose I ever thanked you."

"What for?" The blond laid back against the rock again, sitting shoulder to shoulder with the Nara, his resistance slowly bleeding out of him alongside his life force. It was now only a matter of time before his death.

"For never giving up on us, I suppose." The Nara muttered and wiped at his eyes with the back of his bloodied sleeve, "you're a good friend, Naruto. It was a... a pleasure knowing you."

Naruto's eyes burned but he blamed that on the smoke. "Don't you say your goodbyes," He warned but it came out as a pathetic plead.

"You and I both know I won't be here much longer."

Yes, indeed. They both knew. But Naruto didn't want to be reminded. Just this once, he wanted to be ignorant. Just this once. "I'll be joining you soon after."

Shikamaru snorted but it sounded more like a choked sob, "I'm a good enough man to hope you do. But selfish enough to wish... to wish you make it out somehow."

Agony, fierce like the claws of a monster and burning hot like the sun itself festered inside his chest that for a few coalescing second his loudest thought was: make it stop, please, please, it hurts, it hurts... "And then what, Shika?" The blond whispered, turning cerulean eyes back to the bodies on the ground, "Konoha is gone. Everyone's gone."

Someone was wailing loudly in the distance, the sound grating, blood curdling and right down scarring in its sincerity. He supposed they couldn't be blamed, if he had the energy, he too, would be wailing. He was sure that with the amount of sorrowpainhurtanger he had locked in his soul, he could go crying for weeks, if not months.

Shikamaru chose not to reply, settling instead on collapsing against Naruto's shoulder, his strength giving out. He made a small sound of ironic amusement. "Remember when we thought the chunnin exams were hard?"

Naruto snorted, cherished old memories flashing in his mind's eye, as good as they are painful. "Good old days."

"And all we had to worry about was that snake bastard." Shikamaru sighed wistfully. "Wish we could go back."

Naruto nodded even though the Nara couldn't see it. "Things would've been different."

Shikamaru grunted.

They fell into a silence as heavy as the atmosphere. Again, distant cries of anguish and despair filled the air, settling like a heavy block of cement in his gut. Those who still lived either suffered grievous injuries that would soon enough send them to their death or end their ninja career. The few of them were just realising their victory was in fact, the biggest loss they'd ever sustained.

He had the urge to crawl over to Madara's motionless body and deal it some more damage. Tear him apart limb by bloody limb until he was nothing but a pile of trash. But that would be useless. The man was probably dead, or on his way there. The urge persisted, anyway, like a dull throbbing in his fist. He ached to put him in a similar hell to the one he was living.

When that monster marched straight into their home in a one man army, Naruto never imagined their home would be reduced to nothing but ashes. It really should have been impossible to be so strong but Madara was immortal and he didn't hurt or die. Not the same could be said about Tsunade, Kakashi, Sakura and the rest of team Seven who went down fighting till their last breath.

It wouldn't have made him so sick if civilians —children— were spared. As ninja, they all accepted death will find them in the most gruesome ways sometime during the length of their career and they all vowed to die protecting their home— their people. Those people who now lay in pieces, adults and babies alike.

Naruto had no excuse, he should have known in their world nothing was impossible. He should have foreseen a war from a supposedly dead ninja who was a legend in his time. He should have known that the moment Orochimaru found out someone achieved immortality, he'll come barging in to steal the body of his best friend and brother. What could Sasuke do? Too busy trying to keep Kakashi alive he forgot to watch his own side and Orochimaru jumped at the opening with his poisonous canines, tearing at his flesh as the Uchiha collapsed in a screaming pile of agony.

Naruto blocked the memories. They were too painful to dissect. No matter how fast paced the fight was, and the state of half blindness Naruto was in due to the tears clouding his eyes, the memories were vividly burned into his brain to remain there forever.

He became gradually aware of Shikamaru's still body and stiffened, "Shika?"

No reply came.

Fear gripped painfully at his heart, and he strained to catch the faint throbbing of his friend's heartbeat. "Shikamaru." He pleaded softly, reaching to shake the Nara.

His eyes began burning once more, "Shikamaru. Get up."

He choked on a sob. It was happening, his last friend was slipping away. One more person he failed to protect.

Now the tears came gushing out of his eyes in a stream, like a waterfall. He couldn't even remember the last time he cried, all he knew was that it had been at least a lifetime ago. War was neither the right place nor the right time to grieve. And now that the tears were free, they refused to abate. He barely recognised the ugly, agonised wailing that filled the silence as his own until his throat burned with blood.

Something like death squeezed him, for it could only be that as he felt every ugly emotion in the world at once, choking him. They were gone, all of them. He was now truly and fully alone for the first time since his genin days.

Kit.

They would never have dinner together again. He would never hear the sound of their laughter or the exasperated fond amusement they directed at him whenever he was being especially lame.

Kit.

And now that they're gone, the world would be black and grey once again. No one would smile at him, greet him or check up on him. No one would fill his lonely existence. No one would share his heavy burden with him. No one—

Goddammit you pathetic piece of human flesh, good for nothing sorry excuse of a ninja!

Naruto startled at the bellowing growl of his prisoner. K-kurama?

It listens! The beast gasped mockingly. Yes, Kurama you idiot. Listen up.

What do you want? Naruto thought tiredly. He just wanted to be left alone to grieve.

Pathetic. Kurama scoffed again. So fast to give up.

An irrational wave of anger assaulted Naruto and he growled, a sound fierce and grating and ugly in it's anger: So fast? So fast? Fuck you! My whole family is dead! My home is gone! My teachers, my friends, my wife! So fast?! I have nothing left but their scattered ashes and you have the audacity—

Kit, shut up—

Don't you tell me to shut up! All my life I've slaved away for a shred of acknowledgement— a-and then t-this— this damned world plays this sick twisted game on me! Because I haven't suffered enough already Kurama. I'm granted everything I ever wanted only to have it ripped away from me! Torn to shreds right before my eyes! So fast?! I've died a thousand deaths already and you know that!

Kurama was silent for a few long minutes, endless in their tension. Finally, the beast said, rather quietly, So you're just giving up?

Is there another choice? Naruto cried out in his head, hurt, agitated and plenty done with living.

The reply he received wasn't the one he expected: there might be.

What are you talking about? Naruto exasperated, the headache behind his eyelids intensifying. If Kurama would just stop talking to him so he could close his eyes and pass on to the next life, wherever that was, he'd really appreciate it.

It's… well, I'll be honest with you. I have never done this before. Kurama huffed in his mind scape, stretching his battered limbs. But I refuse to lie around like a wounded horse waiting to die.

For a few long moments Naruto's mind was a swirl of confusions.

This'll hurt. Warned the demon.

Um, Kurama, what the hell are you—

A lot.

Something hot began fizzling inside his numb mind, stopping his thoughts short. Naruto could only stare in confusion at his lap until the temperature of his blood reached uncomfortable heights and he found himself squirming restlessly. Kurama—

Shut up, I need to focus! Growled a pained voice, immediately silencing him.

The torn skin of his stomach suddenly began knitting itself back together in the most agonising way. Naruto startled, just barely muffling a scream. His frustration with his body healing when he really had no intentions of living lay forgotten as agony overwhelmed his senses and flooded his nervous system.

He lost the fight, collapsing forward, an anguished cry tearing his throat raw. Something blue surrounded his vision and a quiet hum of energy engulfed him but that only furthered his pain as the chakra in the air seemed to scald him from the outside too.

The blond writhed as the molten lava in his veins continued traveling to his toes and he was left hurting like nothing he'd ever felt before.

If possible, it got even worse. He felt as if his cells were disintegrating to nothing and his delirious mind barely registered someone else's distant cry. And then he felt his conscious burst into dust.

He landed hard— solid ground meeting his back with shocking force and he wheezed.

"Sasuke-kun!" A feminine voice squealed and Naruto hurriedly scrambled back from the foreign grip on his collar, hard-earned survival instincts kicking in, directing him to kick blindly at his captor, his vision blurry and incomprehensible.

His foot met something solid and, "Dammit usuratonkachi!" A pained yelp resounded and—

In his delirious half-state of mind, he registered that only one person's ever called him that. And that that person was as dead as a person could be. So why was this asshole calling him that? Only Sasuke was allowed to call him that—goddammit, did they not realise how much it hurt to be reminded of his lost brother?!

"Sasuke back down!" Another far away voice barked, one that resembled… the blond's mind came to a screeching halt and what the fuck, is that Kakashi sensei? No way.

Something firm yet gentle grasped his shoulder and he might've kicked them six ways to Sunday if it weren't for his uncooperative limbs and the startlingly familiar cackling chakra this stranger possessed and— no, of course it wasn't a stranger because this chakra could only belong to Kakashi sensei and oh, he must be dead. He must be.

"Naruto?" The same familiar voice called and slowly, like a haze, the thick blanket cloaking his mind slowly began to lift and he became gradually aware of the lingering smell of sweat and dew in the air.

His eyes cleared for him to briefly see a flash of silver hair before he squeezed them shut again because this had to be a dream and seeing Kakashi's face was the last thing he needed. It might just tear him apart.

"Naruto, can you hear me?" Fingers caressed the side of his head carefully and he flinched away from the touch. Whoever it was, took that as a sign of pain. "Hey, open your eyes."

Don't you dare, don't you dare open your eyes Naruto, don't—

He forced his lids up despite knowing better to be met by the familiar gaze of the Copy Ninja Kakashi. He held his breath.

No. fucking. way.

Right above him, and surrounding him from three sides were Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno and Kakashi Hatake… just ten or so years younger.

Kurama! Kurama you piece of shit! Naruto cried furiously in his head, dispel this genjutsu right this instant! We're under attack! Ku-ra-ma!

Kit, settle down! Kurama growled menacingly. Would you stop fugitively running like a headless chicken?

What's going on?!

I sent us into the past—

What?!

—and it worked.

Kurama what the hell?! The blond was well on his way to a full-blown panic attack. Time travel?! You couldn't clue me in before?! Besides the fact that it's impossible I could've at least mentally prepared!

Kurama snorted. Pathetic, you human lot, all of you. I don't even know why I bother.

"Naruto?" Sakura's timid voice effectively interrupted his inner debate. "Are you okay? You look like you've seen a ghost."

Three. His mind quipped unhelpfully.

"I…" His dry throat struggled for a while to produce a sound as his shell-shocked brain scrambled for solutions and answers to this new impossible reality unfolding right before his eyes. "I think I've lost my mind."

Kurama scoffed in his mind scape but otherwise remained silent.

Sasuke —or this mini version of him anyway— snorted, hand cradling his bleeding arm. "I believe this round goes to me."

This round…? His eyes scanned the grassy clearing, noting various weapons impeded in the ground and tree barks. Three wooden posts sat a distance away and another memory floated at the edge of his conscious. Right, training ground three.

Cerulean eyes once again sought out a pair of charcoal ones regarding him warily. He needed to get away before he did something incredibly stupid.

Judging by his surroundings, he was training with team Seven in this reality. And he just lost a spar to Sasuke— "I... gonna go back home. Don't feel well."

"You do look a little green." Sasuke agreed with a little smirk, "wound you too badly? Tsk."

"Right, ha ha," Naruto grimaced as he got up, "I'll uh, see you."

And then he hopped away from there as fast as his twelve year old body was able to carry him.

Sometimes during his trip to his old apartment, a violent bout of nausea nearly knocked him off his feet and he scrambled to the closest ally before emptying his stomach's content. He sat crouched over a puddle of puke for hours, dry heaving, his body shivering violently and sweat trickling down his back, drenching his shirt. Naruto moaned— his whole body hurt all of a sudden. The ache in his stomach was nothing compared to the one brewing his head. He wouldn't be too surprised if it exploded.

Should I be this sick? He asked Kurama, only because he was seriously beginning to worry he was going to kill himself from all the puking he had done.

I'm not sure. I'm guessing this is the effects of your older conscious replacing your younger one. I did anticipate side effects. Also... Kurama trailed off, and added, almost sheepishly, there's been a minor... disturbance.

What? Naruto asked, a little scared. This world was too good to be real and he was still partly convinced it's an illusion. But he didn't want anything to ruin it either way.

It appears someone travelled back with us. Your friend wasn't dead after all. His soul got caught in my vortex. Kurama informed and Naruto stopped breathing. His friend... he couldn't mean...

Naruto was on his feet in an instant— a stupid move really, seeing as his body was barely capable of basic human functions. It was no surprise when he swayed lightly on the spot and nearly collapsed, but thankfully his grip found purchase in the wall, saving him from a probable concussion. He had to find out for himself, he had to check, he had to—

"Look, it's the demon brat!" A shrill voice laughed, interrupting his thoughts.

Fast paced footsteps echoed as multiple people approached him and he clumsily whirled around just in time to block the leg aimed for his face. Still functioning off survival instincts, he kicked at his attackers supporting knee, knocking him off his feet. He heard a pop but didn't stop, his fist already colliding with the man's face, breaking his nose.

The brown haired man cried out in alarm and pain and Naruto heard more voices and footsteps approaching but his vision was beginning to blur and cloud over and he could barely stay upright.

Two figures hurtled towards him, calling him the ugliest of names, fists ready. Naruto pushed against the fatigue, survival instinct still going strong, and bought two hands up catching the mens' fists and freezing their attacks in place. "Stay. Away. From. Me!" He growled, irritated, tired and pained. He tugged each man in the opposite side, sending them crashing into the brick walls of the ally.

"You bastard!" A fourth man cried but at this point, Naruto could no longer make out faces, just distorted images of bodies rushing towards him, three of them coming from all sides.

There was no way he could defend against all of them in his condition but he had to try. He didn't imagine they'd be too averse to murdering him at this point in time. He had faced this treatment more times than he could remember in his childhood and it occurred to him if this was really the past, he'd be enduring it all over again.

Something sharp sliced deeply into his shoulder blade and he grunted in pain as he fended off one of the men, sending him crashing into one of the dumpsters. His vision blackened momentarily and then, a piercing pain exploded in his knee joint and he fell forward, his right leg buckling unhelpfully beneath him.

A shrill laugh echoed, "that's right demon brat! That's what you get you monster!"

A sharp kick found home in his gut and he stifled off a pained cry, curling up on himself to block off the following attacks. His faceless attacker growled unhappily, "scream you brat!" Another kick and this time Naruto wheezed, earning a sadistic laugh from one of the men.

The blond wondered if he should just lay there and hope they got bored soon seeing as his sight was useless and a sense of numbness was beginning to spread through him. He knew he was going to lose consciousness soon but the important question remained, would they let him be or continue beating him to death?

Suddenly, it stopped. It was almost disconcerting. One second there was pain and taunting calls, the next there was still and frigid air and no movement at all.

"What do you think you're doing?" A young voice spoke quietly, but it seemed to echo through the whole ally, cold and furious, dripping with venom.

The amount of killer intent that reached Naruto nearly made him wheeze but it was so familiar, he had to push past his initial reaction to curl into himself and listen carefully.

"Let us go!" One of the men demanded, voice angry but it wavered with the undertones of fear. Naruto imagined he was shaking if his voice was anything to go by.

"I said," the same voice growled, and now there was a healthy amount of steel injected into his tone, "what. Are. You. Doing?"

Naruto heard approaching near-silent footsteps and then the familiar chakra touched his senses. It was dark, heavy and quiet like a deep ocean in the middle of the night, filled with creatures so frightening, so dark, they were only found in the worst nightmares.

Naruto stopped breathing. "S-shikamaru?"

The usually soothing chakra of his best friend that gave a sense of safety was a thunderstorm now, roiling and cackling beneath skin. Naruto couldn't remember the last time he saw Shikamaru this angry. It was perhaps when Temari was killed during the beginning of the war.

"We're trying to get rid of the demon brat! He doesn't deserve to be—" the man giving the hateful speech screamed and choked, making Naruto wish he could see to know what the hell was happening.

"I could kill you." Shikamaru warned in that same dark voice. He sounded so much like his healthy adult self in that moment, Naruto was a little breathless. "Right this instant. I could squeeze your pathetic breath out of you."

Suddenly gasping was heard and then, like a prayer answered, Naruto's vision cleared a little. He saw one of the men on the ground gulping down air frantically, hands clutching his throat. Shikamaru's shadows were shrinking back to the small boy standing at the edge of the ally and one of the men was already scrambling away like death itself was tickling his heels. "Run away before I change my mind."

The second man didn't need to be told twice.

A smaller version of Shikamaru came into view and Naruto watched from his position on the ground as the Nara crouched next to him, features serious. A warm palm cupped the underside of his head and helped him up into a sitting position. "Seems like I made it in time," Shikamaru said, features hardening, "I thought I was going crazy when I saw you getting beaten up in an ally. But some instinct pushed me to come here. I'm glad I did."

"Huh?" Naruto said stupidly, watching incomprehensibly as the Nara nestled him against his chest and stood up with the blond in his arms.

"Come on, we'll talk when you're patched up— and you better explain what the hell is happening here." Was the Nara's only reply before a soft electric pulse shot through Naruto and his conscious flickered out like a dying candle.

Something soft, and incredibly gentle touched at the top of his head, elegant fingers stroking fluffy blond hair. It sent a certain wave of comfort through Naruto that chased away the last of his nightmares and allowed light to reach behind his eyelids.

He became gradually aware of his other senses; the soft breeze tickling his bare torso; the warm rays of sunshine on his skin; the quiet sound of a gushing tap in another room; the soft lulling sound of a fan... and then came the pain. He grunted, his hand immediately reaching for his aching shoulder only to be stopped half way.

"Don't do that," a feminine voice discouraged and Naruto wondered why his body wasn't reacting to a stranger's voice and creating some safe distance.

It became clear when he forced his eyes open to be met by the sight of a familiar woman, albeit much younger, without worry lines and greying hair ageing her up. She looked so different now he was surprised he forgot how beautiful she was before circumstance ripped her of her most important person just like it did his.

A small smile tugged on her face and she gently lowered his hand back down to his side, "I'm sorry, did I startle you? I didn't mean to. I'm Yoshino Nara, Shikamaru's mum."

Naruto managed a small nod, throat incredibly dry now that he realised in this world she didn't know him. In another life, this woman came to care for him like he was her own and became something of a mother figure to him. But now he was some stranger— one of her son's classmates, just another kid.

"He'll be back soon, he went to get some ramen. He said it was your favorite food. Are you and Shikamaru close? I didn't realise he had friends besides Chouji." Yoshino Nara rattled on with a thoughtful frown, her fingers resuming their mindless hair stroking, "I could've sworn nothing could get him off his butt if he didn't have to. He must really care about you."

Naruto blinked slowly, slightly lost. A small but now manageable headache still pulsed behind his eyelids and he wondered how bad his injuries were that Kurama's chakra hadn't healed them yet.

Kit, I just launched us fourteen years into the past, Kurama's familiar growl echoed in his ears, resounding with disbelief. I barely have any energy left to spare. I need to lay still and rest up for the real fights to come. You're on your own for now so don't get yourself killed.

Right. Of course, what did Naruto expect?

"Would you like some water?" Yoshino mused, getting him to refocus his undivided attention on her. He needed some time, if just seconds, to collect himself so he nodded and watched her leave.

He immediately turned around to study his surroundings. He was laying on a comfortable green couch by a low wooden table. In his direct line of sight was a window letting in sunlight and in the corner sat a small TV. An ache formed in his chest; he knew this room, knew it like the back of his hand. How many hours had he and Shikamaru spent crouched over this same wooden table, hunched over scrolls, battle plans and occasionally, a shogi board?

How many times had they fought over who'd take the couch he was currently lying on and who'd take the bed?

The smell of tea permeating the air was the cherry on the top. If he'd squeeze his eyes shut for a few seconds, it'd be like old days, like how it was before the war started and destroyed everything he ever held dear to him.

Just as his eyes started stinging again, Shikamaru came into sight, a steaming cup of tea in one hand, and a cloth in the other. He set the tea on the table and crouched by Naruto's side, mouth pressed in a pensive line as he placed the drenched cloth on the blond's burning forehead. "I'm sorry I didn't get you earlier."

Naruto watched as the frown on his friend's face became even more pronounced, took notice in the way his fist curled tightly in his lap and the self-deprecating look in his brown orbs. The blond reached forward with tentative fingers, and flicked the Nara square between his eyebrows, not bothering to hide his disapproval. "None of that, Shika."

Shikamaru scowled, swatting Naruto's hand away, "You could've died."

"Yet, I'm alive." Naruto challenged, and was met by silence from his companion. Good, he thought. And then they fell into a pensive quiet in which Shikamaru's mother returned with a glass of water and left just as quickly, claiming that he husband was nearly home and she was yet to finish cooking them a meal.

"What did you do?" Shikamaru finally asked, falling back with a quiet thud so that his back rested against the table. "We're young again."

"I didn't do anything." Naruto uttered with a touch of defensiveness in his tone, "It was Kurama. Didn't even bother to alert me."

Kit, we've been over this. I wasn't sure it'll even work.

Naruto ignored the voice in his head as he rattled on, "One second I want to die, the next I'm healing and it feels like death... and then the world sort of disintegrated right before my eyes. And the only warning I got was that it's going to hurt— understatement of my existence, if you ask me."

Fine, be that way. Kurama huffed.

Naruto expertly tuned the fox out. Once he was done feeling like he was stomped over by a thousand Chouji's, he'll consider talking to his prisoner, but not before then.

Partner, kit, we're partners.

Oh my god, can I think for one second without interruption?!

Jeez, you sound like your mother when it was her time of the month.

Yes, that's exactly the kind of conversation I want to have right now.

It was always a pleasure to watch your father stumble over himself trying to appease her. Always managed to stick his foot in his mouth.

You're trying to get on my good side by talking about my parents but I'm onto you. Naruto huffed internally but struggled hard to suppress a smile.

"So, Kurama preformed time travel?"

Naruto tuned back on the outside world when Shikamaru's words interrupted his inner monologue. "I think so."

"And I got sucked into it?" The Nara said with slight exasperation colouring his tone.

"Pretty much." Naruto confirmed, and this his eyes darkened with something a little suffocating, "of course at the time... we thought you were dead."

A heavy, dull mood suddenly descended on the room and Naruto looked away, his blue eyes suspiciously luminous. Shikamaru sighed quietly and seconds later, Naruto felt the other boy's forehead press against his side in an uncharacteristically vulnerable moment, "Maybe I was... I don't know. I remember seeing Sakura's body and thinking... how much her death resembled Temari's..." the Nara seemed to choke on his words for a few seconds, in which he swallowed forcefully and ploughed on, "and I remember this ugly, vicious pain in my gut, and then it was gone."

Naruto squeezed his eyes shut in a vain attempt at blocking the recent memories. Shikamaru's dark chuckle made the hairs on his neck stand uncomfortably, "Imagine my surprise when I woke up to the sight of my mother cleaning my room."

Naruto sympathised with him by patting the Nara's head comfortingly, "What'd you do then?"

"Well, I thought I had gone to the afterlife," Shikamaru snorted and then sighed again, a bone-deep weariness resounding within the soft sound. It was almost painful to listen to it, for Naruto felt that same aching exhaustion deep in his very cells. "But then I see... I see you getting beaten up in that ally. It was so... so strange— like having a split vision. I don't know what possessed me into going there and checking."

The blond frowned at the strange phenomena his friend had just laid on him. "You 'saw' me." He deadpanned, eyebrows rising incredulously, "what do you mean you 'saw'?"

"Fuck if I know." Shikamaru grumbled, irritated with this new confusing reality that was so much like his childhood, but at the same time, so different. "It was like a kick to the ribs and the kind of instinctive nagging you feel in battle. Like a strange prickling at the back of my head in which I know there's a kunai coming for me in my blind spot."

Naruto's eyebrows had steadily climbed up his forehead during the Nara's explanation and were now threatening to disappear behind the cloth keeping his fever at bay. "Weird."

"Nevertheless, I'm definitely fucking glad, Uzumaki." And Naruto felt a sharp pinch to his side, in which he retaliated by thumping the Nara on the head. "Only you could throw yourself back in time and nearly kick the bucket on the first day."

"Hey!" And Naruto moved to follow his indignant cry with another hit to the Nara's unprotected skull, but this time Shikamaru's hand shot out to grasp his wrist before the hit connected, not bothering to even raise his head, "It's not my fault some assholes decided it's the perfect time to gang up on the Nine Tails' container!"

Shikamaru's head shot up, and Naruto was rewarded by his darkest glare, one that usually made his enemies flee for cover, but the blond knew it wasn't directed at him, "Gods Naruto... if you only knew how hard it was to let them go... I wanted to kill them so badly..."

With the space sufficiently filled to the brink with Shikamaru's killing intent, Naruto had to thank whatever god was still watching over him for Shikaku's absence. Otherwise the clan head would have been racing here with explosive kunais, wondering who died.

It was always strange whenever he got a taste of the other man's darker intentions. For such a collected and laid-back man, Shikamaru surely had a sinister presence when he wanted to. Much like his shadows, the Nara's killing intent was dark, like deep black waters, silent with the promise of danger and chilling to the bone with the intensity of the soon to be delivered pain. The blond was sure as hell glad he was never at the receiving end of it. It reminded him a little of Zabuza's menacing presence and if he was a lesser man, his body might've seized up at the feel of it.

"As much as I appreciate your protectiveness," Naruto finally said, slowly, so that every syllable sunk in, "I don't want you to be charged for a crime like that... they are fellow Konoha shinobi, after all."

"Fellow Konoha shinobi my ass!" Shikamaru hissed, and it really was a strange sight to see a familiar frightening expression on such a young, different face, "We're heading for a world war and there are people of our own home attacking a citizen. Could definitely do without them."

Let it be said, war, and death had made Shikamaru ruthless. And in all honesty, Naruto couldn't blame him, for after all the death he had seen he too had become what others might call insensitive.

"So now what...? Do we want to let things play out the same or do we want to tweak things a bit?" Naruto deliberated their options, "I mean, I don't know about you but nothing short of tying me to a chair with chakra robes will prevent me from intervening."

His companion eyed him with a contemplative glint in his dark eyes and then, like a weight dropped, Shikamaru's shoulders slumped almost in defeat, "Of course we'll intervene, how could we not? Doesn't it make us trash if we let out comrades die a second time when we can prevent it?"

Those who break the rules are trash, but those who abandon their comrades... those are even worse than trash. His sensei's words came rushing to the forefront of his mind with a bang of nostalgia and a sharp stinging in his chest. Oh yes, the words that he shall never forget for as long as there was life in his veins.

"So we change things." Naruto concluded in a sombre tone Shikamaru was now all too familiar with, especially after seven years of war, "I'm assuming we're twelve... and that it's before the chuunin exams seeing as Sasuke is still here..."

Shikamaru dragged a tired hand down his face and stood up to eye Naruto sternly; meeting his blue, blue gaze unflinchingly, "Alright before all that, you're on bed rest and you'll be getting some sleep before that overworked brain of yours starts forming plans— that's my job— no, don't give me that face, sleep. I mean it. Don't make me knock you out again. You've earned a day of rest. As hard as it is to believe, the moon won't fall on our heads any time soon, we plan tomorrow, for today, let's rest okay?"

Naruto huffed, "Look at you, bossing your superior."

"Ah, ah," Shikamaru said, and there was a familiar mischievous streak in his eyes Naruto hadn't seen in forever, "your Hokage position is unofficial, technically you're still a Jounin therefore we're equals. Off to sleep."

"Hai, hai, Kaa-san." Naruto sneered, squeezing his eyes shut.

"Bastard."

"Love you too."

Word Count: 6,500 words

A/N: while each of you is entitled to their own opinions and can freely express them in the review section, what I seek is criticism, not hate. English is not my first language, and no matter how much I improved I still feel lacking. Please be kind to me.