Chapter Text
“I will take that we didn’t make it, right Sasuke?”
“Hn, it appears so.”
It was a very devastating sight. The world and its inhabitants were all reduced to ashes by the very being known as the Rabbit Goddess, Kaguya. They tried to seal her back away by using the Sun and Moon Seal that Hagoromo gave them. At first, they succeeded. Or so they thought.
Without warning, Kaguya managed to break free. She was not happy, and ever since that day, the Fourth Shinobi War continued. Kaguya used her powers to drain the chakra bit by bit from the world. As a result, she polluted the air until it became poisonous to living beings. One by one, shinobi from the Shinobi Alliance fell.
The food supplies they had shrank every day without stopping. If not for Sakura and the other medic-nin who invented soldier pills, they could not have held on much longer. It had been three years since the war started, and the remaining humans could be counted on one hand. To make things worse, that fucking Zetsu was also alive and made a hellish one-man army by impersonating the dead, including their abilities.
The two shinobi watched their friends and allies offer their lives to help them escape from Kaguya. Because they knew that if the two shinobi were caught, then it was truly over. Kakashi and Sakura sacrificed themselves for them so they could find a solution in Uzushiogakure.
“You two knuckleheads! Don’t you dare lose yourselves after this, or I will make sure I punch you guys in the Pure Lands!!!” shouted Sakura as she distracted an army of Zetsu.
“You two are my precious pupils. I saw you grow and who you’ve become, and I’m sorry. I know I might not be the best sensei, but I want you two to know that I’m proud of you,” said Kakashi while giving them the recognizable two bells each. Then, he disappeared with Kamui to face the mad goddess.
After they arrived in Uzushio, they set up a barrier array. Then the first one who broke down was Naruto. He cried and cried. He felt that he was a failure as the leader of the shinobi. Yes, the alliance made him their leader, their Kage of all shinobi, the Rengokage. That’s why they didn’t hesitate to give their lives just for him to survive. Their hope.
Sasuke watched his other half cry. To be fair, he was numb to emotions. He couldn’t care less about the unknown shinobi, but the deaths of their friends from the Konoha 12 and the rest of Team 7 did hit him. Hard. He just hugged the poor blond boy, his lover, his Sun. He could do anything as long as the Sun lived. He was the Moon, after all.
They scavenged the site, looking for any scroll that could help them. After one week, they got an answer. It was a scroll of time-space seals. It was an incomplete fuinjutsu scroll, but nothing couldn’t be fixed by the Number One Unpredictable Ninja.
“Hey, Sasuke-teme. If we travel back through time and prevent this war, our friends won’t die, right?” asked Naruto as he opened the scroll, already trying to make a new seal.
“…Of course, Dobe. You are the only one in this whole world who believes they can actually time travel,” Sasuke said exasperatedly, but he didn’t reject the idea.
“Actually, after reading the scroll, this time-space seal is quite similar to Hiraishin. I already learned all the fuinjutsu knowledge from Edo-Tensei Dad, dattebayo!”
“Well, if it weren’t for Kaguya canceling the jutsu, he could’ve spent more time with him,” he added silently.
“In theory, at least, we need a whole lot of chakra. Did you realize that we are both on the verge of collapsing, Naruto?” Sasuke sat down beside Naruto and watched him fiddle with the seal.
“Well, that’s…”
“We will help you, Naruto,” the octopus-bull tailed beast offered.
“Gyuuki…”
“It’s not just him. All of us,” said Matatabi while looking at Naruto in the middle.
“Actually, everyone except you, Fox Breath,” Shukaku, the Ichibi, said while swaying his tail at Kurama.
“WHAT?!! Hey, I don’t agree…”
“Stop it, Kurama. We all know that you are very close with your human jinchuuriki. He needs you,” Saiken shut Kurama up as he remembered his time with Utakata.
“No way. What will happen to you all then?!! I can’t lose you too,” Naruto protested.
“To be fair, we can still exist in the other timeline,” Son Goku answered.
“But because we need to unite the jinchuuriki to truly achieve peace for us tailed beasts, we can create a chakra imprint in you,” Isobu, the turtle bijuu, followed.
“The chakra can be used as a memory transfer to the tailed beasts. Maybe we can cooperate with our hosts better in the future,” Kokuo nodded.
“If you had our chakra imprints, I’m sure you would be lucky. SUPER LUCKY, SEVEN!” Chomei buzzed with excitement.
“Everyone… I promise. I promise I will save all of you, dattebayo!”
“I guess I’m gonna be stuck with you, Kit. I will make sure that you are not alone. Well, minus the Uchiha outside releasing killing intent.”
“Ooops, I must’ve spaced out for quite a while. I’ll tell him our plan.”
.
.
“Oii, Dobe. Are you okay?” It was rare to see Sasuke with a worried expression.
“I’m fine. For the chakra supply, the tailed beasts can help us out.”
“Okay, I will hold a genjutsu barrier until you finish the seal. How long will it take?”
“Thirty minutes at the latest.”
With that, Naruto began to reconstruct the seal. Sasuke, on the other hand, was trying to erase their traces with his Mangekyo. The reason Kaguya hadn’t detected them yet was because they hadn’t used any chakra ever since they arrived in Uzushio. At most, they survived with seals that Naruto invented over time.
“The moment he activates that seal, I’m sure that bastard goddess will find us here,” Sasuke thought as he shook his head. He couldn’t afford to feel pessimistic right now. His top priority was to protect Naruto.
Just as he feared, the moment Naruto filled the seal with the tailed beasts’ chakra, he immediately sensed their presence. Kaguya and Zetsu. Their hearts beat wildly. The two survivors knew that they were out of chakra and stamina. They surely couldn’t fight Kaguya like in their first encounter, but they couldn’t afford to lose here.
“There you are, my beloved grandchildren. You two must come back to me as one.”
“NO YOU DON’T, YOU OLD HAG! SASUKE!!!”
“ON IT, Amaterasu!!!”
The black flames hit Kaguya, but of course, they weren’t effective. Fortunately, their goal was only to distract her. Those few seconds were all they needed.
“HIRAIJIKUU NO JUTSU (Flying Thunder Time-Space Technique)!”
They were transported, yes. However, it was nowhere. It was the space where they met the Rikudou Sennin, Ootsutsuki Hagoromo. The first thought they had was, well… they were dead, obviously. Honestly, Naruto just accepted that fact.
“I guess the seal wasn’t enough. I’m sorry I dragged you into your grave, Sasuke.”
“It’s fine, Naruto. I think it’s better to die together like this,” Sasuke just shrugged it off.
“Fortunately, the seal worked just fine…”
Both of them froze. The voice was definitely not from either of them. Slowly, they tried to sit up, and they found the source of the voice. It was from the true god of shinobi, Hagoromo.
“Hagoromo-jiji! Hold up, you said the seal is working?! But we’re both in this space. Aren’t we pretty much dead?” Naruto launched a rapid-fire question.
“I concur with whatever he’s saying,” Sasuke nodded along.
“Let me clarify. The time-space seal is doing its job, but I needed to interfere in the space before you jumped through time.”
“Figures. It must be about our identities and what time we’ll even land in later, right?” said Sasuke.
“Oh shoot! Well, the time I assigned was at the Kannabi Bridge. I mean, to stop it all, it must start with Obito.”
“Not bad, but we can’t just appear out of nowhere claiming we saved him, Naruto. We couldn’t risk interrogation by the Nara and Yamanaka.”
“Right…” Naruto sweat-dropped at the fact.
“That’s the reason I delayed the seal. I had to create your identities so no one could refute your origins. I found two boys in the Land of Lightning that you can use. The problem is their age and the time point of your travel.”
With a casual wave of his hand, the surface of the space changed. It was the scenery of the aftermath of a war in a small village. There were two twelve-year-old boys who had almost similar features to them lying on the ground bloodied.
“The blond child’s name is Namikaze Raijin. He was actually the half-brother of your father, Naruto. The reason the two were separated was because your father and his first wife were chased down by bloodline hunters in the Fire Country. The husband survived, but he didn’t know where his son and wife had gone.
He settled back in Lightning and remarried after five years, then had Raijin. Unfortunately, the wife didn’t survive childbirth, so his mental state wasn’t favorable. Half conscious and half crazed. He sometimes hit Raijin, but also loved him enough to teach him all the Namikaze legacies.
The grandmother of Raijin was Uzumaki Miko, the youngest sister of Uzumaki Mito. The Namikaze were a clan that had connections with Uzushio before its destruction.”
“To think I had an uncle without even knowing,” Naruto looked at the young Raijin in the space.
“How about the other one?” Sasuke asked.
“The other beside him was Uchiha Raen. His father was actually the uncle of your mother, Uchiha Mikoto. However, it’s said that he cut ties with the clan because he had given his heart to a woman outside the village. Sasuke, you must know that when an Uchiha gives away their heart to another, they treat it as a part of their soul.
However, the elders disapproved of their relationship, so they ran to the Land of Lightning. They had two children, Uchiha Shinra and Uchiha Raen. The husband and wife died when Raen was about seven years old and Shinra was thirteen years old. One interesting fact is that they were the first Uchiha hunted by Root.
While young Shinra died because of an illness at the age of seventeen. Aren’t these boys in a similar situation to both of you? They were the perfect identities to occupy.”
“Yeah, to think the ending of our brothers was almost the same.”
“So, Hagoromo-jiji, what’s the problem if everything is this perfect?” Naruto asked while tilting his head like a fox. Sasuke, on the side, thought it was absolutely adorable.
“The real problem is the time jump. It was five years before the Kannabi Bridge,” Hagoromo stated.
“Actually, that’s perfect,” said Sasuke while crossing his arms over his chest.
“Huh?” Naruto was even more confused.
“Seriously, Dobe. We have five years’ worth of building a reputation here. That way, we’ll have a solid foundation. Maybe we can also do other things on the side, for example gathering the Uzumaki survivors.”
“You… why?”
“Well, back then we were kids who both thought that we were the last living Uchiha and Uzumaki clan members. If we save the Uchiha, we can also save the Uzumaki. Besides, that Danzo was also the reason Raen lost his parents! Don’t forget that Uzushio’s fall was also because of that bastard! Now imagine if we gathered all the evidence in his face. I-we can finally kill him legally this time,” Sasuke explained with overflowing fury.
“We’ll make sure that happens, dattebayo! Also, we can even take the Ame orphans and raise them ourselves before they actually make Akatsuki.”
“Nice idea there.”
“Then it’s decided, isn’t it? One more thing, Kurama. You would be another anomaly because there are two of you existing. Luckily, we can disguise your chakra as part of nature chakra with the help of your other siblings’ chakra imprints. It is no longer filled with hatred anymore. So take care of your host, okay Kurama?”
“Of course, old man! I’m not going to leave the kit anytime soon. However, how can you disguise it?” Kurama’s voice was actually heard by everyone, including Sasuke.
“You will understand after Naruto becomes Raijin. It’s in the Namikaze technique. I can’t explain here because our time is almost up. I will redo some of the memories of the two before their deaths to make sure you will pass any type of interrogation.”
“Thank you, Hagoromo-jiji/Hagoromo,” they bowed slightly to thank the Rikudou Sennin.
“You’re welcome. I hope you two have a safe journey. Also, although you two have the souls of my children, that doesn’t mean you are the same people. So, I approve of your relationship in the future.”
“WHAAAT?!!!” Naruto’s face turned red from embarrassment.
“Hn.” Sasuke agreed on the spot with a blush on his face.
“OI, SASUKE-TEME! WHY THE HELL ARE YOU AGREEING?!!”
“He’s not wrong though.” Sasuke turned his head away without meeting his eyes and coughed awkwardly.
“Alright, goodbye you two.” Hagoromo waved his hand, then the space distorted. Everything went black.
.
.
The first thing Naruto noticed was the smell of iron and burning. It was nothing new, actually, if you spent three years in nonstop war. He lifted his heavy eyelids. When he opened his mouth, his throat was so dry. His whole body felt like the aftereffects of Sakura’s heavy punch.
“Urrgh, I feel like a wreck. Where am I anyway?”
He looked at his surroundings. It was the remnants of war, that’s for sure. He surged his chakra to sense anyone who survived. Unfortunately, there was only one person. On the bright side, it was his Moon’s chakra. He looked at the black-haired boy beside him.
“Sasuke, wake up!”
Naruto tried to shake him, then he noticed. His body had shrunk. Yup, it was the new twelve-year-old body he inhabited in. What caught his attention were the seals on his arms. They were very delicate seals with navy blue ink. He recognized the patterns, but not the style.
“These seals… their foundation is like Uzumaki seals. But the style is too neat and light compared to the bold and thick Uzumaki-style fuinjutsu.”
“Uuungh,” Sasuke let out a small groan.
“Finally! Wake up, you Sasuke-teme!!” Naruto began to shake the other’s shoulder.
“Slow down, Dobe! You’re just making it worse.”
Sasuke woke up slowly and put his hands on his head. Seriously, it was the worst headache he had ever felt. He looked around just like Naruto did a while ago. He stared at his own body, then at his other half’s appearance.
“The seal was a success. You look different, Naruto.”
“I could say the same to you.”
Yes, their appearances had also changed. Naruto still had his sunshine blond hair, sky-blue eyes, and sun-kissed skin. However, his whiskers only had two marks on each cheek. His upper hair was like his older version, just neater, while the lower part was longer and straight, tied in a low tail. On his arms were seals in a style he did not recognize.
Meanwhile, Sasuke’s hair also looked identical to his older version’s. But his hair was also longer, just below his shoulders. He was like the male version of his mom at this point. The most shocking thing was that he still had his Rinnesharingan in his left eye.
“I think the headache was caused by the original body’s memory transfer,” Sasuke bit his lips as more flashbacks were thrown into his head.
“What are you talking abou…? AWWWW, I take it back. It hurts like HELL!” Even Naruto’s memory input was hurting him.
Sasuke was quite astonished. He knew Raen had almost the same childhood as him. He felt his love for his older brother. Raen awakened his Mangekyo after losing his parents. At one point, Raen was also determined to get revenge on whoever killed them. He trained every jutsu from the scrolls his father brought from the clan when he ran away, with the help of his older brother.
Then came the pain of losing him while Uchiha Shinra gave him his Mangekyo Sharingan and transplanted it into Raen. Luckily enough, Shinra was quite skilled in medical jutsu, which was why Raen got his Eternal Mangekyo. There were additional memories of him being close to Raijin, but Sasuke was sure it was the Rikudou Sennin’s doing.
As for Naruto, he was crying his eyes out again because now he could remember and feel what Raijin experienced. Raijin was also considered the madman’s son, a monster, an unlucky harbinger. It was because of his Namikaze bloodline limit, Gale Release. He could control any wind around him. The range depended on the user’s capability, and he could use any wind jutsu without hand signs if properly trained.
When the villagers harassed him, he unconsciously used his bloodline limit to protect himself, hence the epithet of monster and harbinger came from that. Raijin also had complicated feelings toward his father. One day, he taught him all his Namikaze knowledge. Suddenly, the next day, he threw things at him. Thankfully, Raijin could dodge them all.
Raijin was grateful, yet he also hated his father. It was the same feeling Naruto had toward the Third Hokage. Yes, he was grateful because the Hokage was one of the people who loved him, but also because of this person, his childhood became miserable. Hmm? There were other memories that had been added too.
“Wow, these new memories are quite interesting, dattebayo!” Naruto chuckled.
“Hn. They were taken from our past and adjusted to fit these bodies. Then no one can refute our bond now,” the Uchiha scratched his head because some of the memories were… nostalgic.
“So… I call you Raen from now on?”
“Well, looks like it. What do we do now, Raijin?”
“The old fox is sleeping at the moment, so it’s just the two of us. First, let’s pack up our things and money, of course!”
“Hn. Also, we need to change our clothes. We’re definitely not going to wear these.” Raen dusted off the dirt from his torn outfit.
“Then let’s go to Amegakure as our destination. It’s quite a distance, and we might actually find some Uzumaki survivors on the way, dattebayo!”
“If that’s the case, we need to make a moving island in the Whirlpools. I can use my Rinnesharingan to create the island, but with your senjutsu, you can create life and nature on it.”
“Raen, why the Whirlpools? Isn’t it better to just go to Uzushio?”
“No, we can’t risk it. The island we make will be a moving island after all. We can make sure no one finds out about the survivors there. Besides, with your barrier seals, I’m sure it will be well protected.”
“Okay! So, Whirlpools first, then Amegakure, dattebayo!”
“Hn.”