Book of New Dawns: Red Clouds of Hope

Chapter 1: How We Got into This Mess

Notes:

Hello, welcome to my first fanfic I've ever uploaded. It's a standard time-travel shenanigans deal, but hopefully it's got enough of a unique flare to keep it interesting. It's also just a touch AU-y before the time travel even starts, basically because I don't think Sasuke and Sakura's relationship in canon is at all healthy and so I basically cut it. And I just like Genderfluid Naruto as a concept, representation is awesome, so yeah, that'll be a thing.

I also have a weird thing where I'm not sure which names I want to give techniques (original Japanese, literal translation, English anime or VIZ translation), and so I'll just pick and choose as I go, and maybe even fuse the names from two different sources if I just prefer how it sounds. (For example; the Body Flicker Technique. That name, the literal translation, sounds too clunky to me, but 'Teleportation Jutsu', the anime's translation, is not an accurate description. So, instead, I'll call it the "Body Flicker Jutsu".)

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, or any product associated with that property.

Naruto

It had been another day of preparing for the duties of Hokage. Another official meeting. Admittedly, a slightly more interesting meeting, a Shinobi Union conference in Amegakure. It had started with promise; discussions about the moon-falling threat he and his team- mostly Hinata- had defeated just three days prior.

Unfortunately, that had quickly devolved into official apologies to Kusa for not informing them of the threat soon enough, reparations, and heated discussions on creating a repair budget for those villages hit particularly hard by the rain of lunar rocks.

He was bored out of his skull, and, honestly, he'd much rather be home. His and Hinata's relationship had only just began, a timid thing squeezing through the confines of their combined social awkwardness and emotionally stunting upbringings. He wanted it to work so badly, and he knew that every second spent watching the Ishi and Jōmae representatives argue about the option of tax breaks for construction workers was a brushstroke on the seals over their hearts.

Huh, since when was he a sloppy poet?

Well, at least he was with some of his favourite people. Kakashi, as the Kage closest to the incident, had to attend and he chose Sakura and Naruto as his escorts. Sakura sat next to him, upright, a look of concentration on her brow, nodding when something that actually mutually beneficial was said.

Overall, it was fairly convincing. But he knew her, knew that politics and budgeting where her least favourite part of her own occupation as a senior medic; she was no doubt using the empty words to think about her own project, her goal to establish a psychology centre for children.

Super gramps above, sometimes she was his favourite person. Aside from Hinata, of course.

And then there was his final favourite person in the room. Behind him, Sasuke loomed. He didn't mean to, of course. Really, he was trying to find a corner in the distinctly circular room. But his dark clothes and hair, and the raw feeling that he Didn't Want to Be Here combined to give an ominous tone that reminded Naruto of a raven's caw.

Officially, Sasuke wasn't here. He wasn't listed as one of Kakashi's official guards, didn't appear on any of the registries. But after the moon fall incident, it was decided that Sasuke should stay within Konoha's walls.

The council's rationale was that if he had only been available, things might've gone a lot smoother for the Hanabi rescue team. Hinata might not have been trapped with Toneri, might not have been used to fight the one she loved.

Naruto didn't agree with that. Didn't agree with the blame game, the what ifs. Sasuke's hesitancy to stay wasn't healthy, but Naruto knew how the weight of the home he betrayed pushed down on his friend. Sasuke didn't even have a place to stay in Konoha, what with the destruction of his family home; he'd been sleeping on Naruto's sofa for the past two nights.

And so, when the chance came to get Sasuke out of the place that made the raven-haired man's skin crawl, Naruto had taken it, making the Uchiha his +1. Given his status as the saviour of the world, no-one begrudged Naruto's extremely unconventional action, though he knew it might affect his credibility down the line.

Naruto snapped his attention back to the conversation on the floor. If he wanted to represent Konoha properly, he ought to try and scrounge up some information to make up for his deficit.

"Lord Hokage, how feasible is it to move that much material in just three months?"

"Mah, well, it really depends on whether we can get Wave onside, doesn't it? If we just assume we can, I'd say it's very fair to say we could do it."

Sasuke

Moments later

Everyone here could sense it; every ninja here, at least. How could they not? An ocean of malicious chakra burning at their nerves. Some of the smaller village members froze; some of the smarter ninjas ran. The stronger ninjas, including Team 7, took battle positions.

A black window cut into the space in the middle of the floor. Yomotsu Hirasaka, Sasuke recognised. Which meant the being emerging, a humanoid with perfect pale skin and horns that curve over their forehead, was an Ōtsutsuki. And, given their horns, a main branch one, not an offshoot like the Toneri boy Naruto fought. Damn.

It was a tense few seconds before the being spoke.

"Perfect. You're not going to make me chase you."

Sasuke's vision dyes red as his Dōjutsu shines through his eyes. He can see the Shadow Clone Naruto has already created without seals, hiding under the desk to gather the Natural energy he'll need. But that's not where his eyes are focusing. Sasuke feels the burning within him, the heat and the pain. He channels it through his eyes, straight into the celestial being before him.

'Amaterasu.'

Unfortunately, the flames don't strike the being- who, now that Sasuke is thinking, would probably just absorb it or something anyway- rather one of the wooden people that appear around him. The puppet, controlled without Chakra Strings, throws itself at one of the frozen Nadeshiko nin, attempting to burn her with it. Sasuke intercepts, ducking beneath its poorly thrown-up strike and kicking its legs from under it. The puppet dissolves into wooden chunks as the debris from another puppet, one that had met the business end of Sakura's fist, slice through it with the force of any blade.

"Go!" It's simple, and his voice is hoarse, but it shakes the kunoichi from her head and she runs. Sasuke draws his blade just in time to parry another wooden warrior, running through some hand seals around it's handle to manifest a Chidori Blade, lightning screaming through the metal as it cleaves through the puppet's blade and arm. He dodges back just as what appears to be some kind of Fishing Hook, of all things, constructed of red chakra slices through the air where he just was not a quarter of a second before. An Iwa Guard who was brave enough to fight- Akatsuchi, if his brain bothers to remember- isn't so lucky, and the hook slips through him, before yanking back towards the Ōtsutsuki it came from. As it leaves his body, Akatsuchi falls to his knees; even without his Sharingan, Sasuke could've seen the earth-filled slightly purplish-red Chakra caught on the end.

Sasuke pushes forward; the perfect moment arriving to do so as the celestial dodges a Mini Rasenshuriken Naruto hurls his way. Sasuke smirks in satisfaction; he wouldn't have cleared it if Naruto was using a full-sized one, but he obviously couldn't afford to do that with so many potential victims around. Maybe they should've ran; they needed to get this bastard out of the village.

Kakashi, obviously thinking the same way, rushes the man as purple lightning crackles around his hand, which launches itself into the stone wall that forms between them at the Kekkei Mōra user's command. The wall's chakra isn't his, it's Akatsuchi's. Sasuke realises. That's what the Hook's for.

Sasuke comes in from the celestial's right, slashing at the man, attempting to distract him as Naruto comes rocketing over the wall, Kurama mode blazing and Rasengan in hand. The celestial twists his body and grabs Sasuke's team-mate before the sphere lands, and Sasuke smirks as the clone bursts into smoke and hot air while the real Jinchūriki appears from sage-knows-where to slam a much larger Rasengan into the celestial's back.

Unfortunately, his Byakugan flicker into blue Rinnegan and he disappears, leaving nothing but a trail of glowing red paper cranes. A huge ball of purple energy carves through a support pillar towards Naruto and Kakashi, but the Ōtsutsuki isn't the only Rinnegan user and Sasuke pulls through his, appearing before the projectile and absorbing it into his waiting chakra coils.

"A Rinnegan, huh? I'll admit, that's impressive." The Ōtsutsuki laughs. "To think, a monkey like you can play with a dangerous tool like that. I'll have to reformulate my strategy." His eyes change again, this time to Red Rinnegan, filled with tomoe. Space behind him begins to split, another black pane opening.

"No Chance!" Sakura's already there, Yin seal bleeding down her face. Sasuke knows from experience that a kick like that one will hurt. And, more importantly, it'll rocket the celestial to the edge of Ame, if not out of the village entirely.

A burst of Chakra reaches his ears as Naruto's Sage Clone finally completes its mission, and Naruto blasts past him, chakra cloak shifting as he moves as he enters Six Paths Sage Mode. Sasuke launches himself after the blonde, very nearly as fast.

Ame's perpetual rain cools his skin as the Ōtsutsuki attempts to right himself in the air, but every time he tries to slow himself either he or Naruto manage to land a shallow blow to keep him moving. Unfortunately, not long past the village walls, Rinnegan blazing a deep blue, he manages to catch Naruto's fist and launch himself off of his chest, into the air, where he rights himself finally.

The seriously pissed off celestial grinds his teeth and extends his palm. A flash of deep purple chakra singes the air, throwing gale-force winds that Sasuke has to brace against. The chakra congeals into a titanic sphere, not unlike a Rasengan in appearance but more like a Tailed Beast Bomb in construction and getting continuously larger. If the sphere gets past them, Amegakure will be wiped off the map.

"Naruto!" Sasuke calls. One word, to convey a lot of meaning.

"Right!"

Susanoo is an odd feeling. Every cell in Sasuke's body burns, but at the same time, it's strangely nice. Like a long stretch, if your skin was made of fire. As the purple construct bleeds into the shining gold pushing past Naruto's form, the feeling changes again; the warmth of Naruto and Kurama's chakra sinks into his burning form and soothes it. Kurama roars, his Susanoo-armoured form towering over the skyscrapers of Ame as they take a heavy step forward to brace themselves. Naruto pools the vast sea of chakra together, changing the ratio, constructing a Tailed Beast Ball. Sasuke gets to his part in this; a blade manifests in the Tailed Beast's hand, and Sasuke carefully slides it into the building mass of chakra, adjusting it just so that it becomes a part of the attack's construction, rather than a reason to detonate prematurely.

The two attacks meet, and the three of them place their combined avatar strong against the resulting explosion, a shatter of purples, golds and blues, protecting the village behind them, ensuring they suffer nothing but perhaps temporary blindness.

Overall, it made a great distraction, providing more than enough time for the slightly slower members of the team to arrive. Sakura's fist, visibly glowing with Chakra, slams down into the celestial's crown and the Water Dragon Kakashi summoned slams into the nape of his neck.

A satisfying Crack signifies the destruction of the Ōtsutsuki's horns and, even from within his construct, Sasuke can hear his unsteady breathing as the air is knocked from him. The celestial collapses to the ground and glares, but he's clearly out of chakra or he'd try Yomotsu Hirasaka again.

Sasuke approaches the downed figure, his and Naruto's construct dissolving as they walked.

"I… admit. That was glorious. You've far surpassed… any expectation I had made." The celestial wheezed. Obviously, Sasuke tensed. In the ninja world, you only congratulate your foe on your defeat if you're genuinely that honourable, or if you have one final surprise. And, given the short time they'd interacted with this Ōtsutsuki, Sasuke didn't get the impression he was honourable.

Sasuke's Susanoo is reforming as the celestial's eyes switch to blue Rinnegan once more, and glow fiercely, bright, brighter yet brighter until Sasuke's vision is dyed blue instead of red.

And then, they're falling.