Rated T for canon-typical violence/themes/language
Genre: UA; Dimensional Time-Travel.
Category: Gen
The soundtrack for this and my other fics can be found on spotify user Blaizekit3!

This fic is sequel to The Windmill Turns Both Ways [ID: 9704184]. Read that one first for the full story. Or continue on, if you're a former reader or wild rebel.

General disclaimer that both these fics are based on Naruto pre-700 manga canon. Some anime-only, novelization, or post-700 things may be in it, but many/most things will not. This is just to make things simpler and easier for me, since I'm not current with... any of those.

Many thanks go to bikingrhino and junkie-kun for beta reading, and to evie for letting me pester/bounce off lots of obscure questions about Kiri-nin with them.

I Will Become the Wind

CHAPTER 1 | The First New Mission

Naruto scuffed his sandal on the road, bounced his knee, and looked up into the sky for the dozenth time. The reds of evening were already lighting up the Hokage monument as the sun set. The scaffolding around Tsunade's newly-minted face looked especially eerie in the long shadows.

"Let's just go in, Sakura-chan! It'll serve him right for making us wait around! He has to be doing this on purpose."

"Three days." Sakura crossed her arms, eyes narrowed. "We've known about this meeting for three days already! There's no way you can be late with that much notice! He'll probably say something like, 'oh, sorry, on the way here Pakkun got a thorn in his paw, and it took five hours to get it out'. Yeah, right!"

"That's mean to Pakkun, don't you think?"

"YOU'RE LATE!" Naruto and Sakura screeched in unison as Kakashi stepped into their view.

"You were messing with us! Admit it!" Naruto stamped on the ground.

"It's nice to see you too, Naruto," Kakashi said, lowering the book from his face. "I'm glad you're finally out of the hospital. This mission should help you spend all that energy you've built up over the past few weeks… I hope."

"You already know what we're doing, Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked, still scowling.

Kakashi looked up at the Hokage tower with solemn significance. "I'll let Tsunade-sama fill you in. Let's go."

Naruto felt a thrill of anticipation as they went inside. After all that time in the hospital, re-building the strength in his body—even spending his birthday laying in bed!—the prospect of a new mission was as delicious a bowl of pork cutlet ramen. Extra large.

Tsunade was standing at the window facing the brilliant sunset when they came in. She turned around and sat down at her desk, gazing at them over her folded hands for several silent seconds before speaking.

"Everyone, please remain calm when you hear about this mission."

"What's going on, Tsunade-sama?" Sakura said nervously. She looked back at Kakashi, standing behind them. "Shouldn't our first mission back be… I don't know…"

"Don't worry, Baa-chan!" Naruto said, pointing his thumb at himself. "Chasing after Oto-nin? Akatsuki? Trust me, I've got plenty of aggression stored up for those guys. When do we go? Is it tonight?"

Tsunade closed her eyes with a sigh, then opened them again.

He should have known not to trust that gleam.

"There is going to be a special banquet held in the village tomorrow, with high-level clients and officials from the Fire Country and elsewhere. A lot of very important people will be there."

Naruto leaned forward, face brimming with anticipation.

"You will be… wait staff," Tsunade said with a pleasant smile. "But since you're too untrained to deal with the public, your task will be to bus tables and help clean."

Silence for a moment. Sakura's shoulders slumped, either with disbelief or relief. Naruto fell forward, but caught himself just in time.

"A D-rank mission?" The incredulity sent his voice high enough to crack. Being thirteen didn't help.

"Don't forget, you're still genin," Tsunade said bluntly, all trace of amusement gone. "You just got out of the hospital. The village is still on high alert from Orochimaru's attack and Akatsuki's infiltration. Do you really think now is the time for your team to go out on any big or dangerous missions? You don't have that kind of leeway."

"I'm not Jiraiya-sama, either," Kakashi said. "Akatsuki doesn't care if I'm around."

"Then when is Ero-sennin coming back?" Naruto asked stubbornly, crossing his arms behind his head. "We need to continue our training."

"It's nice to be liked."

"You should be grateful we're getting any missions at all," Sakura said, glaring across at Naruto. "You were in a coma for three months, getting your meals out of a tube just a few weeks ago, and now you want to fight against Akatsuki? Did you forget what happened to Kakashi-sensei last time?"

Kakashi turned his doleful look from Naruto to Sakura.

"You're not going to be the only genin there," Tsunade cut in, picking up a stack of papers and tapping them on her desk to straighten them. "I decided to add your team at the last moment because Naruto's recovery was going so well, and this was the only mission I could get you on without any fuss. You're free to spend another day on standby if you're not feeling up for it."

Silence.

"Then if there are no relevant questions, you all are dismissed. I have other things to do today than listen to your complaining."

She looked extremely annoyed. Naruto wondered if the banquet was interfering with her, too. He muttered darkly to himself as they turned to leave.

"Wait just a moment, Naruto."

He turned back around to face Tsunade, scowling.

"I need to talk to you for a few minutes. Close the door."

Sakura glanced at him curiously, then back at Tsunade. Kakashi motioned for her to follow, and she did, looking back over her shoulder. Naruto did as asked and shut the door, his foreboding growing.

"Just so you know, there is a more specific reason why I don't want you to go too far outside the village until Jiraiya gets back. And why it's better for you to keep a low profile on this mission."

"Huh?"

"The Barrier Corps detected an intruder in the village a while back—not long after you woke up the first time. The worrying thing is, they left or escaped before anyone could see them, so we don't know their identity or motives for certain. There was only one clue: the corps placed the breach at your apartment."

"An intruder—" Naruto's mind quickly panned back to the times, past and present, when Itachi showed up for him. "Itachi?"

"It's a possibility, considering the intruder managed to slip past the guards and the barrier. We suspected it was someone in Akatsuki. But we couldn't understand why they would return to the scene of their own crime."

"But… if that happened way before I came back, why didn't you tell me sooner, Baa-chan? Did they come after me at the hospital or something?"

Tsunade shook her head. "Not that we know of. After that happened, we made sure to have someone watching you all the time. The toads took turns with it at first, which is why Fukasaku-sama was there. The ANBU took over after Jiraiya needed the toads to help him with his investigation. Ever since then, there has been a lot of discussion. Given your state of… absence, not everyone thought it was the best use of our resources."

She paused, leaning on one hand, then shook her head again. "The point is, even before you came back for good, I knew something was off. If Akatsuki succeeded in taking the Kyuubi, not only would you not be able to wake up, there would be no reason for them to risk coming back here. There would be no reason for anyone to come after you."

"So…"

"I think they were trying to investigate it, too. They found out someone stole the bijuu before they could."

Naruto stared.

"Anyway, Jiraiya will be back soon, and I would like you to go with him."

That was enough to gave him a spark. "Really? How soon? Are we gonna go after Orochimaru?"

"Right now, Akatsuki may or may not know that you've returned. I want them to stay in the dark about that for as long as possible. You and Jiraiya will leave the village quietly, at night, while there aren't as many people around. It might not do any good. It's just slowing the inevitable. But once you're out, moving around from place to place will make it harder for them to track you."

Naruto wasn't sure if this was good news or not. The way she was talking felt too similar to her attitude in the other timeline.

"But… I don't want to be safe if that means I can't do anything." He took a step froward, gesturing for emphasis. "Are you saying that I'm only being allowed out 'cause that'll throw off Akatsuki? What about my training? What about Sasuke and Orochimaru?"

Tsunade stood up and went back to the window, not answering for several moments.

"If there's a chance you're right about what Orochimaru can do, we need to know as soon as possible," she said eventually. "If not for that, I'd say it's too risky. Shorthanded as we are, we can't send you quick backup if things go wrong. But we can't allow that jutsu to exist here. There are too many people who would cause havoc with that kind of power."

She turned back to Naruto. "You had better find out how this whole thing starts."

Naruto stared up at her with determined eyes. Then, a small smile, as he curled his outstretched hand into a fist.

"You can count on it 'ttebayo!"

The restaurant manager eyed the line of genin critically, arms crossed. Naruto, Sakura, Ino, Chouji, Shino, Kiba, and Hinata all stood side-by-side under his scrutinizing gaze. They had already changed into their simple uniforms: black pants, black vest, white shirt, and black bow-ties.

"This is who Hokage-sama sends for my restaurant's most important event?" he sniffed. "These ridiculous security measures keep me from hiring out of town, and they make up for it by sending these kids to help! Do any of you have experience?"

"I prefer buffets and yakiniku," Chouji said, digging in to a bag of chips.

"Ino helps at her dad's shop," Naruto said. Ino elbowed him forcefully in the side.

"Can you greet guests and wait on tables?" The manager asked her.

"Sure! And Naruto can stick to taking out the trash and cleaning toilets, he'll be good at that," Ino said cheerfully.

The manager looked at Naruto disdainfully. "Yes. You, and you, and you."

He pointed at Chouji and Kiba in turn. Chouji was still eating chips, and Kiba was busy tugging on his bow-tie to loosen it. Even without the usual hoodie, Akamaru rested atop his head.

"I want you three to keep away from the food and the guests. We'll find you some cleaning work."

"What? So the girls get to talk to people, but we don't?" Naruto complained, rubbing his ribs.

The manager ignored him. "The dinner is set to start in two and a half hours, and I've just found out we have a special delegation from Kirigakure to deal with, too. I need one of you to run buy some squid ink for a Land of Water dish I'm adding."

"Leave it to me! I can run faster than anyone here!" Kiba said, and Akamaru barked.

The manager closed his eyes as if restraining himself, or maybe gathering inner strength. "Alright then. We have a lot of work to do in the meantime. My crew will take the lead and show you all what to do. Everybody hustle!"

After they were each given specific directions on where to go, they were dismissed to go find their tasks. It was a lot like being led into battle. Naruto moved to follow Chouji, but stopped when he saw Hinata standing in his path.

"Naruto-kun," she said hesitantly, looking down, fiddling with the buttons on her uniform vest. "I'm-I'm glad to see you're okay. Um, it's not just me—what I mean is—you were in the hospital for so long, everyone was worried."

"Ehhh," Naruto said dubiously. "But nobody visited me much, 'cept for Sakura-chan and Kakashi-sensei."

"That's not true," Hinata said. Her face was going red, and she started talking faster with every word. "W-we all did at first, but they stopped letting us after a while. Tsunade-sama said it was to keep you from getting sick. Sakura convinced her to stay if she learned how to watch the machines and write things down."

"Baa-chan did what?" Naruto was distracted by this bit of info.

"Why are you two standing around?" a voice barked from the kitchen's doorway.

Hinata jumped. "Ah! S-sorry!"

She turned and fast-walked toward the door, spluttering apologies. Naruto followed at an unhurried pace, just to get the manager's blood pressure up.

By the time the dinner started, it felt like they had been working forever already. Naruto was not sorry to be shooed into the back the moment the first big shot contributor showed up. They had always been his least favorite type of civilians to deal with.

Naruto ended up cursed by Ino's suggestion. The manager had him constantly dragging trash and cleaning pans once the first round of cooking was done.

There was a brief lull after that. It found Naruto, Kiba, and Chouji lounging in the back of the restaurant, half-lurking around the big horizontal freezers in the hopes that no one would need them.

"I thought I would be able to make my comeback doing something more important," Naruto said, messing with his bow tie. It had fallen apart somehow, and he had no idea how to fix it.

"Me'n Akamaru caught a whiff of some ANBU hanging around outside," Kiba said. "That's who is really guarding this place. Guess we really are nothing but busboys tonight."

"It can't be helped," Chouji said. "We couldn't even pass the Exams."

"We're about to serve the dinner plates. You guys have to go collect all the appetizer stuff. Hurry up!" Sakura called out on the way over to them. She turned on her heel and left without waiting for an answer.

"We're never getting out of here," Naruto grumbled, sliding down from the freezer he sat on.

The room was decorated to look light and airy, with translucent silk streamers strung between huge paper lanterns. With all the people, the room seemed bigger than it really was. Only a few were still sitting at their tables; the rest had gotten up to socialize. It looked surprisingly casual, despite all the showiness. No one spared Naruto more than a glance as he pushed his way through with a round tray, aiming for a less populated table near the edge of the room. He reached for one of the empty plates.

"Naruto?"

Naruto turned to see Shikamaru, looking strange dressed up in a suit and tie. Asuma, Kurenai, and a few other jounin stood in a loose cluster behind him.

"Shikamaru! What the hell? How do you get to hide out over here when all the rest of us have to work?"

"I'm a guest," Shikamaru said. He didn't look any happier about being in formal wear than Naruto did in his busboy uniform. "They only have some of you genin helping with this thing, anyway."

"Us genin? You mean—"

Shikamaru shrugged. "I guess you didn't hear about it yet, being comatose and all. I passed."

Not long ago, Naruto would have been surprised to hear that Shikamaru already passed. But he'd seen what his former classmate would be like in the future.

Naruto grinned. "That's great! Congrats!"

"Stop chatting and get back to work!" the manager snapped on his way by, appearing from nowhere.

"Okay," Naruto said, but he stuck his tongue out at the man's back and stayed put out of sheer stubbornness.

"They're all tense because the Mizukage actually showed up," Shikamaru said, inclining his head. "Most of the other guests are business and government types, not shinobi. This is supposed to be a contract pitch session more than anything."

Naruto looked over to where Shikamaru indicated. He saw a short kid talking to some important Fire official, and wanted to ask who he meant—but who else could it be? The short guy was the only one with the hat dangling behind his shoulders, the kanji mizu printed on it.

"Normally, none of the Kage would bother to come all this way to talk about the next Exams, much less intrude on a dinner with clients from the Fire country. But apparently he really wants the next one to be held in Kirigakure. I have to play ambassador to his hand-picked genin team now. It's such a pain."

Naruto noticed the Fire official talking to the Mizukage had a strained smile, nodding short, hurried nods as if he hoped someone would come along to interrupt the conversation.

"I can't believe that shrimp is a Kage." Naruto laughed.

"Well he is, so shut up before he hears you, idiot."

Right at that moment, the Mizukage's pale pink eyes slid past the person he was talking to and landed on them. Naruto yelped and hid behind his tray.

"S-Shikamaru," he hissed, but the other boy had already turned around to strike up a lively conversation with Asuma. So much for loyalty. Naruto peeked around his tray.

The Mizukage's neutral expression didn't change, and in less than a second his gaze traveled on to something else. But Naruto couldn't relax right away. The moment they made eye contact, he suddenly remembered what Zabuza had told them about Kirigakure's old graduation ceremony. Was that this Mizukage, or had it been the one before him? His weirdly young appearance made it hard to figure out.

"Naruto! What's taking so long? They need help in the kitchen!" Ino scolded him as she zoomed by with a tray full of food.

Irritated by the command, yet grateful for some reason to move away from the spot, Naruto stomped back into the chaos of the kitchen.

The banquet didn't end until well after midnight, and all the genin were left frazzled, tired, and sweaty. Even Naruto and Sakura had to admit that being on standby might have been better. When Kakashi reminded them that their team would be meeting again bright and early the next day, he sounded entirely too cheerful.

"Easy for him to say," Naruto muttered before they dragged themselves home. "He'll be late, anyway."

Despite their lack of enthusiasm, they still showed up: Sakura with her hair frizzy and unstraightened, and Naruto, who fell back asleep under a tree in anticipation of their long wait.

But that morning, something incredible happened.

Something unbelievable. World-shattering.

Kakashi showed up at the scheduled time.

"Morning!" he said casually, raising a hand in greeting. He paused at the sight of his students staring at him. "Oh. Are you still asleep?"

"That's it," Naruto croaked blearily from his position on the ground. "That explains why I'm hallucinating."

"Since you guys had such a hard time yesterday, I thought you deserved a reward for your cooperation," Kakashi said. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a sheaf of small, rectangular papers.

"What's that?" Sakura cautiously came over to look at them.

Naruto climbed to his feet as gracefully as someone climbing out of a swimming pool. "What are we doing?"

"I heard from Tsunade-sama that you had some interest in learning how to use your element," Kakashi said to Naruto. "It's a good idea. I showed this to Sasuke before the exams, so it's only fair for you two to start on the basics as well."

Naruto and Sakura looked at each other and then back at him. Naruto tilted his head in puzzlement.

"Do you really mean it? We're not going to have to chase after stray cats or clean toilets or scrub dishes today?" He narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

"Okay. Who are you, and what have you done with Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura said, hands on her hips.

Kakashi looked at them silently for a couple of seconds. "You're both aiming for something even higher than passing the next Exams, right? You're going to have to start now if you hope to reach your goal. Besides, with Naruto leaving soon, it may be a while before we have any more missions together."

"Leaving soon? What are you talking about?" Sakura looked at Naruto as if expecting him to contradict that statement.

"I'm gonna be traveling and training with Ero-sennin again as soon as he comes back to the village," Naruto said, scratching the back of his head.

He expected Sakura to protest against him leaving their understaffed team, and braced himself for the inevitable onslaught. But it never came. She just said 'oh', then turned back to Kakashi.

"What are those slips of paper for, sensei?"

"These are made from a special kind of paper, and they are a litmus for determining your elemental affinity. Channel your chakra into it, and the way it reacts will tell which element you have the closest affinity to." Kakashi held up a single slip between his fingertips. A couple of seconds later, it crumpled in a radius from his fingers. "This is what happens if your affinity is lightning."

"Let me see!"

Naruto already knew his affinity, but he reached eagerly for one of the papers anyway. He focused on the little slip, took a breath, then channeled his energy into it.

With a sharp sound, the paper split in two. Naruto grinned up at Kakashi.

"It looks like you have wind," Kakashi said. "Wind is the sharpest of the elements. It works well for someone who specializes in offense. Unfortunately, I can't use it myself. I can explain how it works, but you'll have to learn the details from someone else."

Naruto stared at the two halves of the paper, excitement bubbling up in his chest. He couldn't wait to try out the Rasen-Shuriken. His older self had explained some of it to him, but explanations never worked as well for him as actual experience, anyway.

"Which one do I have, sensei?"

Sakura watched with wide-eyed fascination as the paper fractured and crumbled in her hand. The pieces fell away and got swept up in the breeze. She looked up questioningly.

"You have earth." Kakashi gave one of his eye-smiles. "That's good. I have several good doton jutsu I can show you. But before either of you can get around to using any jutsu, you have to learn how to mold your chakra into an elemental form. For some people it just takes visualization, and others need to have a physical representation or goal to get a feel for it. Sakura, your chakra control is already good, so I don't think it will be a problem for you. On the other hand, earth demands a great deal of stamina. You probably would have been better off with wind, which requires less, but has more technical difficulty than Naruto probably realizes."

Both of them were scowling now, but as usual, it had no effect.

"Okay then, let's get started!"

They spent the rest of the day trying to learn how to shape their chakra into an elemental form. While Sakura decided to try visualizing it, Naruto eventually had to resort to holding blades of grass between his palms to try to slice through them with wind energy.

It was more difficult than he expected. By the time they were ready to stop for lunch, Naruto was breathing hard, bits of grass stuck to his face. Sakura flopped down to the ground the moment Kakashi said they were going to take a break. Naruto sat down beside her and eagerly ripped open his lunch box.

"Ugh, I didn't think this would be so hard," Sakura said, sitting up heavily. "I thought I might be able to use this to compete with you and Sasuke-kun, but I don't know…"

Naruto chewed until he had cleared his mouth enough to talk. "Y'know, while I'm gone, I'm gonna be training with Ero-sennin so I can get stronger as soon as possible. Maybe you need to do something like that, too."

"Yeah…"

Naruto kept eating, but at a slightly slower pace. He was trying to think of how to approach it. The Sakura he met in the future could turn a building into splinters with a single punch and heal pretty much anything. But what were the chances that this Sakura would listen to him?

"Those last couple weeks in the hospital, you got really good at reading the machines and stuff. Maybe you should ask Baa-chan if she'd be willing to train you. I mean, you're smart enough to learn all that."

Sakura shot him a look, like she was suddenly suspicious of his compliments. "Maybe, but being able to read the machines wouldn't really help me in a fight." But there was uncertainty in her tone.

Naruto shrugged and let it go. They continued to eat, making mostly small talk.

"Okay everyone. Ready to get started again?"

They continued training into the evening, each making small, incremental progress with their element. It didn't feel like much considering the hours spent, but Naruto couldn't help but get excited when he thought about mastering the Rasen-Shuriken.

After all, they still had time to find Sasuke before Akatsuki made any big moves. Maybe years.

If they could improve fast enough, there was a chance to make up for letting him leave without a fight.

There was still so much to do.

Thanks for reading! I'm very happy to be back. Chapter 2, Orochimaru's Footsteps, will post June 8. Please look forward to it!