Naruto: The Unwoven Threads of Fate

Stealth Team

"That was easier than I expected." Minato speaks out loud but it's really only for himself that he said these words. "Naruto said that he was only a chunin in skill level but I thought he might have strived to improve himself in the years he had here."

"Yes, however having a spine severed would end even you Minato-san." Shibi points out as his masked eyes dart around still on high alert. "That's what makes you so formidable, at the end of the day all you need to end a fight is a well placed piece of steel and you have the best gap closer in the world."

"You'd think that having a spine severed would end someone." Minato offhandedly comments as he reflects on a battle he had barely a day ago.

"Yeah, I know Alvarcus has had his head cut off loads of times and he's still kicking it!" Naruto showers his own unique brand of praise on Alvarcus. It's more of a backhanded compliment than praise. "He's a tough nugget, that's for sure!"

"You can tell me all about it later, for now let's look for the populace of the city." Minato steers the group back on the mission objective. "I'm going to go seal this leyline. If someone who is only a chunin can wield it so devastatingly then imagine what could happen if someone else got their hands on it. It's a disaster waiting to happen. Naruto, could you accompany me? I have a theory I want to confirm."

Distraction Team

"That wasn't me." I blurt out as all the puppets - every single one of them - plummets out of the sky. "It's almost as if their strings were cut. Haha, a puppet joke about puppets! Wow, I need to get out more."

"Some might argue that you need to get out less." Sasuke quips back to me as he slides his blade into its sheath with a sharp click. "Though I'm not sure how you can top destroying a city near single handedly."

"Well, whatever." I stand up and let Sage Mode fade from me. The noise of the world recedes as the pigmentation around my eyes fades back to their normal skin tone. "If I'm not mistaken, that puts me at three thousand six hundred and forty seven. What are you at?"

"We agreed that ninjutsu kills don't count." A sinister smirk blossoms on Sasuke's face. It spells my downfall, my doom, my undoing take your pick. "That means I'm at one hundred seventeen and you're at… wait for it… seventy seven. You lost."

"But but but I mean come on they should count has half - quarter- eighth - something! I killed thousands of them!"

"No. Ninjutsu kills don't count. Have fun wearing a dress."

"NOOOOOOO!" I fall to my knees and wail to the sky.

Minato and Naruto

"How do you know so much?" Naruto asks as he watches Minato work.

They've located the source of the leylines. It's the exact same chamber that brought Naruto, Sasuke and Alvarcus back in time in the first place. Large circular chamber with a dias in the middle. The only real difference here is that it's not in ruins, it's still thriving. Almost, alive in a sense.

"That's the beauty about seals." Minato says as he goes about his delicate brushwork. "Once you truly understand not the how, but the why things work a certain way you can accomplish anything. It's why Seal Masters are both revered and feared. We can - given the right incentive and enough time - and will do anything."

"It seems ridiculously complex." Naruto points out as the singular seal Minato is working on stretches across a full square meter of the floor.

"They can be, it's what turns people off of the art." Minato adds the final line to the seal and stands up. He dusts off his hands and stretches his back. Finally, once he's worked out the kink in his back from bending over for so long, his eyes rest on Naruto. "Now, to test my theory."

"What do I need to do?" Naruto earnestly asks, he's giddy to do anything to help out his hero.

"For now, just listen and stand there." Minato fixes his son in a stern fatherly look. "I need you to understand that there's a chance that once I activate the seal, with the power of the leyline gone you could return to your time. Now, my first plan was to seal the knowledge of this whole event from you, Sasuke and Alvarcus to avoid unnecessary complications but they're not here. So I can't."

"What do you need from me?" Naruto asks, slightly confused. "How would knowing about the past change anything? It's like a history lesson, just first hand experience."

"With how out of hand things got here, Konoha won't want to be blamed for this. Especially if the fact resurfaces in the future. No one likes their past to taint their future unnecessarily." This is what made Minato a great Hokage. He has a firm grasp on both the big picture and the small pieces that make it up. "I need you to convince Sasuke and Alvarcus to keep quiet about it."

"Sure, no problem!" Naruto merrily accepts the unofficial mission. "If we get sent back, I'll make sure they know it's a hush hush thing."

"Thank you." Minato kneels down and places both hands on the seal. "Now, let's see if you stay or go, shall we?"

He sparks his chakra against the seal.

Sasuke and Alvarcus, Somewhere Outside of Roran

"You really are a schemer, aren't you?" Sasuke makes idle conversation as more and more distance is put between us and the city. But more importantly the Konoha shinobi.

"I'm not sure why this is a new thing." I think we're heading towards Suna. I'm not certain, but there's only sand ahead of us. "I've always been crafty. Being trained under Orochimaru has honed that trait."

"But manipulating not only the Konoha Team, but Naruto as well as me to separate us?" Sasuke continues as we skitter or the sand, leaving as little a trail as possible. "I didn't realize it until you suggested we take our leave. You orchestrated us being apart so we could leave unaccosted instead of forcing a confrontation as they tried to bring us back to Konoha."

"Yuuup." I stretch out the word. "If we decide to go back to Konoha, it's because we choose to not because we were taken there - uh Sasuke? Don't freak out, but you're glowing."

"I'm what - you are too." He says as he whirls towards me, eyes blazing a bloody crimson. "Guess what? It's the same chakra that brought us here."

"Oh good, we're going back. Convenient."

Present

"That's… not good." Yamato blandly sums up the situation once the light fades, only moments after swallowing Sasuke and Naruto.

"It's at this moment that I'm glad I don't have your job." Kiba bluntly says as he moves to Yamato. "Have fun telling Tsunade about this."

"Yes." Sai intones as he also joins the rest of his team. "In the event that we can't get them back, which seems highly unlikely, the duty of the team leader is to notify the Hokage."

"They're not dead." Yamato counters both boys instantly. "Do you really think that any of them would die to a fancy light? Plus look, there's no bodies, no residual traces of them at all. Mukade was a missing nin, but he was not stupid. Call it a hunch, but I don't think that was a lethal light."

'For my sake I sincerely hope so.' Kabuto thinks to himself. He watched as Alvarcus and Sasuke charged in to steal the Hiraishin kunai at the last moment possible. He watched as they breezed right past the Konoha shinobi to capitalize on their shock. It was a good plan, run in, grab the kunai and run out as they were reeling from shock. Then he watched as everything went wrong. And now... 'You fear telling Tsunade she lost Naruto and had the problem of both missing nin Alvarcus and Sasuke solved. I, however, would have to tell Orochimaru that he lost both his next body and his son.'

"Oh god I'm not supposed to bend that way!"

"You're not supposed to bend that way? You can detach your limbs, you're going to be fine!"

"Ow ow ow stop moving! Stop moving! Your knee is on my AAIIIIEEEEEEEEEE!"

"Told you they'd be alive." Yamato simultaneously thanks and curses his lucky stars. It seems that whatever the light did, it just moved them to the hallway outside of this large circular room. But there's not trace of Mukade. "Now we just have to deal with Sasuke and Alvarcus, what has this mission turned into?"

"Hey Naruto?" Alvarcus draws his attention.

"Mmm?" Naruto whines out.

"Sorry about this, but it's for the benefit of everyone."

"MMMmm!" A higher pitch whine comes from the orange shinobi.

Naruto, curled into the fetal position, is unceremoniously hurled through the door. He soars in a perfect arc, directly into Yamato's waiting arms.

"Hey kiddo, you can sit this next bit out." Yamato gently puts one of his charges on the ground to… ahem… collect himself. "We'll handle the two of them."

"Kabuto, it is time we depart." Sasuke firmly says to his mission leader. "Alvarcus is, for lack of a better phrase, doing a thing."

"Good, I wasn't looking forward to fighting that bunch." The Konoha team hears Kabuto's voice for the first time. They had no idea he was there, he could have done some serious damage. "No doubt we would have won, but it is unnecessary effort."

"Summoning Jutsu: Rashomon!" Alvarcus calls out as he appears in the doorway with his hands on the ground. "Don't worry, it'll dispel in an hour or so. See ya later! It was nice chatting and whatnot."

A haunting demonic visage rises up from the ground to take the place of the entrance to the room. They're locked in by it with no other exit. Why fight if you don't have to?

Konoha Team

"I… I can't believe that just fucking happened!" Kiba shouts as he's pointing at the new very sturdy looking door. "They just burst in here, get bitch slapped out into the hallway, and then leave? What the hell?"

"I believe that was the best outcome." Sai drones out in his chipper-but-not voice. "Perhaps Yamato could have taken one of them, but not both at once. We are too new a team to work effectively - we would stumble over each other if we attempted to engage and support each one another - where they have been working together since they left the Academy. Despite our number advantage, which Alvarcus could have changed with his Jiongu to be in his favor, we would have lost."

"MMMMMmmm!" Naruto whines out yet again.

"Almost the best outcome." Yamato corrects Sai. "Almost."

Oto Team

"That could have gone better." Kabuto irritably says as we take our leave of Roran. Again. For the second time in an hour. Or was it two decades? That's it, I've had it with this time bullshit!

"I think it went rather well, actually." I can't stop the gleeful smile from staying on my face. The sword came with me. My Void Sword. I have my weapon to combat the Edo Tensei now. It's another thing to scratch off the list. Now, all that's left on it is names and events to stop or save.

"You didn't come away with the Hiraishin Kunai." Kabuto dryly points out. "It was consumed in the light like Mukade was. If you don't remember, that was the entire point of this mission. Now we have to scout for another one. Unless you know the location of one more?"

"I don't know about Alvarcus." Sasuke reaches into his weapons pouch. His hand grasps something and he pulls it out. "But I've got one right here."

He holds up his prise. A three pronged kunai with the telltale yellow paper wrapping around the handle and the inky black marks across it.

"That makes things much easier. Good job Sasuke, you nab it in one of the scuffles?" I ask him as I pat him on the back.

"Yes, when we met up again. You're not the only one who can scheme." Sasuke smugly says as he pockets the kunai once more.

"What are the two of you talking about?" Kabuto asks as he pushes his glasses up his nose.

"Don't ask."

Otogakure, Northern Hideout, Orochimaru's Office

"-and in the ensuing scuffle somehow Sasuke managed to get the Hiraishin Kunai despite being meters away. We promptly made our exit, assisted by a Rashomon gate blocking the door so we couldn't be followed. We made haste to return here, notably ahead of schedule. Just over a week ahead." Kabuto finishes wrapping up what he thinks happened to Orochimaru.

"Anything to add, Alvarcus? Sasuke?" Orochimaru asks as he drums his fingers onto his desk. He seems both eager and displeased that we returned so quickly. He might have wanted us out of his hair for longer, the three of us are the three biggest distractions he has.

"Nope, that's pretty much it." I collaborate the story.

"Nothing worth mentioning." Sasuke sharply nods once.

Sasuke and I had one of those two faced conversations on the way back. To someone who wasn't there, it was idle conversation but to us it confirmed that neither of us want to explain time travel. We're going to keep our mouths shut. It'll make everyone's lives easier.

"I'm curious though." I speak up once again, walking forward to Orochimaru's desk to poke and prod the kunai that's sitting on it. "What do you want a Hiraishin Kunai for? It seems so unlike you to suddenly take an interest in something you've known about for decades."

"Did you really think that no one noticed that you teleported out of this base when you went to test the sword?" Orochimaru asks me with a raised eyebrow. "None of my guards saw you leave. The sensory team reported that they felt an incomparable amount of chakra from you - as in more than all six of them combined - and then you were gone. Not gone as in hidden, Karin would have noticed you, but gone as in not there."

"My, my." Kabuto turns to look at me in a new light. One that promises to dissect me on a table under bright lights. "You're full of tricks, aren't you?"

"Ah. Yes. That." Well shit. I thought no one would notice. Stupid me. I should have figured that Orochimaru would have people keeping tabs on me after our last conversation about me leaving unannounced. "I wanted to keep it a secret."

"It's horribly inefficient." Orochimaru doesn't pull his words. "Takes more chakra than six of my shinobi - though they are on the lower end - and is practically a beacon to any sensor in the area. Hopefully you can study the Hiraishin to streamline your own technique."

He picks up the kunai and tosses it to me. I catch it more out of reflex than thought.

"Uh… thanks? Not sure it works that way since… well… I guess they're both kinda doors to another place so maybe? I mean the Hiraishin is a combat technique where mine is strictly transport and there's really no way to weaponize it and oh wow am I rambling I'm going to stop that now if you don't mind because rambling about techniques that I want to keep secret kind of defeats the purpose of keeping them secret since it's literally talking about them-"

SMACK

"Thanks Sasuke." I rub the back of my head. "I wasn't going to stop anytime soon. Either way, thanks for thinking of me Orochimaru."

"Your thanks, while appreciated, is unneeded." Orochimaru has a tinge of amusement on him from my rambling. It's pretty rare that I actually get flustered anymore. "Now, I have work to do."

The three of us take our leave. Kabuto heads out to do his own thing - probably torturing some poor sap while claiming it's for medical purposes - and Sasuke and I head towards the Lounge.

The Lounge

"So." Sasuke says as he pours himself a steaming cup of coffee. "We gotta talk."

Here it comes. He's going to bring up the teleporting thing. I know it. I showed him so much the past day. Sage Mode. He found out I can teleport. Oh man, this conversation is going to suck.

"Sasuke I-"

"Shut up." He sips his scalding beverage while staring at me over the rim of his mug. "Do as I say and keep quiet."

"Uh-"

"What did I just say?" His eyes narrow at me as he places his mug on a table. He takes one of the grander chairs. "Sit down, shut up and do as I say."

I hang my head in shame and sit across from him. I don't speak, not yet at least. I assume he wants to ask questions or something.

"Summon Murasakino." He evenly says as he leans back in his chair to watch my reaction.

All he gets is a brow scrunched in confusion as I go through the hand signs for the summoning jutsu.

"Oh Alvarcus!" Murasakino says the moment the smoke clears. "It's so rare to be called on so quickly by you! How can I help? More scarfs? More clothes for your friend, Sasuke? He was quite a hard one to pin down, wasn't he?"

"Ahem." Sasuke clears his throat, drawing all ten eyes - eight from the spider and two from the shinobi - to him. "It was me who asked him to summon you."

"Oh? This is unusual." Murasakino shoots a sideways look at me with three of her eyes. I shrug and gesture at Sasuke.

"I've asked him not to speak, for now." Sasuke cooly sips his ironically steaming drink. "I know that it is unconventional for someone who is not a Summoner to ask you a favor, but I need an expert and you are the best I know."

"Well… I suppose it depends on the favor?" Murasakino speaks, but it comes out as a question.

"Do you have any dresses in stock back at your Nest?" Sasuke finally breaks his stoic resolve as a smile forces its way through.

Five Minutes Later

"I immediately regret this decision." Sasuke's face is twitching. His hands are both balled into fists and he's forcing himself to stay collected. "You're too good at that."

"At what?" A feminine voice leaves my throat as opposed to the usual. It's higher, fairer, more delicate. "Walking?"

"Yes walking!" He shouts at me. "Alvarcus why?! How?! When!?"

Okay, so walking might be a bit of a stretch. I'm strutting around in my green dress. There's no way around it. There's a subtle yet eye catching swing to my hips. My arms aren't swinging through the air, they're gracefully parting it as they move. I've even added a little flare to my hands, just a subtle movement to help draw the eyes lower to more… interesting bits shall we say. I slightly roll my shoulders, enough to be noticed and cause my chest to twist yet not enough to seem unnatural.

Oh and did I mention I'm under the effects of Naruto's Sexy Jutsu while I'm wearing my green dress?

Long dark black hair cascades down my back. Two brilliant yellow eyes poke out of my bangs, they're full of playfulness with just a hint of danger. My long slender legs seem to stretch for miles. My feet are daintily tucked into a pair of green high heels. I fill out this dress perfectly.

"Sasuke, sweetheart, please call me Midori." I turn towards him. I place a single hand on his chest, the other goes around his bicep. I lean in close, crossing into personal space just enough so that Midori's assets brush against his chest. "Say it with me now. Mi. Dor. I."

"I am super uncomfortable and would like you to back off. We can call the bet off, I'm okay with it." Sasuke attempts to reason with me. All he gets is a widening playful smile in return. "Please?"

"Sasuke, sweetheart, what happened to 'sit down, shut up and do as I say?' I know it might be hard for you to believe, but some people enjoy not being in control."

A cold feeling washes over us both. It rolls down the hallway and causes the hairs on the back of our necks to stand on end.

"I am very, very glad I do not have a daughter."

Amegakure, Akatsuki Headquarters

"Sasori. Deidara." Pain fixes his eerie gaze onto two specific spectral members of the group of S-rank shinobi. "You have one month to prepare. We move on the Ichibi next."