46The Future in Our Hands
Written by: SyrinxSilenus
Disclaimer: I do not own any Naruto and Boruto characters.
A/N: So I tried my hands with something I had never expected to write. I know that there are already a lot of Time Travel fics out there, but this idea has been lurking in my mind for a month now. So I finally typed it up.
ENGLISH IS NOT MY FIRST LANGUAGE
(I'm rating this story M just to be safe.)
Pairings: CANON PAIRINGS
WARNING: OP CHARACTERS (I created this fic for my own pleasure so I want to just enjoy writing this the way I wanted. I hate too many complicated things, and I want everything to be easy as much as possible for my characters.)
P.S: For the update on my fics, please check my profile.
P.P.S: A few tweaks in this fic, Isshiki Ōtsutsuki appeared and moved much earlier than in the Boruto series, he battled with Naruto and Sasuke and managed to seal the Nanadaime Hokage when Boruto was 13 years old.
Warning: I haven't finished watching Boruto, just watched up to episode 20 so the following events will only follow the Naruto canon and some Boruto facts that I read. You can all comment facts about Boruto: Next Generations if needed. But I can't promise to follow the canon completely. I hope you'll enjoy my version of Naruto Time Travel.
Without further ado, let's get on with the story!
EDITED: October 18, 2020
Prologue:
A deep hole of despair tore through the blond hero of the Shinobi World, Uzumaki Naruto; doom and fear had paralyzed him as he peered helplessly out of a bowl-like coffin. He didn't know how the bastard did it, but somehow, even though he was tightly sealed in this dimension; he could still watch as the Ōtsutsuki clan trashed the entire Elemental Nation like a helpless kitten. The Nanadaime Hokage grimaced and clenched his fists.
"How did it come to this? After all the hardships we went through, all the deaths, the sacrifices… Why was it still not enough? Why do we need to suffer like this? Is this the fate of all shinobis? To endure torment and die in vain?" Naruto thought to himself, crying in anguish.
He wanted to scream; he wanted to thrash; he wanted to release his power, to destroy this — this stupid thing that made him unable to come to his people's aid. Those bastards had reduced the village he loved to nothing. While he, the Nanadaime Hokage; the supposed Kage of their village and the most powerful shinobi alive, remained sealed inside a coffin that Ōtsutsuki Isshiki devised just for him.
Those Ōtsutsuki. They compelled him to watch as his beloved people suffered and perished at the hands of their clan, while he was helplessly impaled by multiple chakra rods. The physical pain wracking his body was nothing compared to watching the massacre before him. How pathetic could he be? He had the power to protect, but here he was – wallowing in self-pity and crying in vain.
'I really am still a loser after all this time,' he thought bitterly.
Sasuke, his best friend and brother, was currently fighting a losing battle; Ōtsutsuki Isshiki had maniacally used him as a mere punching bag. The formidable Uchiha would die soon, and here he was, just watching like a useless piece of shit.
His family: Hinata, Himawari, and Boruto were facing a newly resurrected Momoshiki. The same thing was happening to all of his friends, and he couldn't do anything to help them. The Ōtsutsuki were mercilessly killing every Shinobi in the world, upholding their promise to erase the Shinobi, along with the Ninja system.
'Is this how it ends? All the fighting and hard work that all of us endured, just to end with this?'
While agonizing inside the empty dimension, Naruto couldn't help but remember what transpired an hour ago, right before he was sealed.
Ōtsutsuki Isshiki loomed over his fallen enemies, regarding them with cold, demeaning eyes.
"Uzumaki Naruto, with the Kyuubi inside you… I suspect it'll take too much work to kill both you and it. Instead, I've decided that I'll just seal you and your demon fox away," he said, voice dull as his pale hand reached out above the coffin's lid.
"What the - seal away!?" Naruto could barely comprehend what was being said. He was in agony, the worry and adrenaline coursing through him being the only reason he had not yet succumbed to unconsciousness.
Isshiki paid him no heed, instead, shifting his attention to the once formidable man who willed the power of the Rinnegan; Uchiha Sasuke, who lay impaled with the same black rods. His steely gaze pierced through the fallen Uchiha, eyes promising merciless torture.
"Not you, Uchiha Sasuke, you could escape using time-space Ninjutsu. You need to die here and now." Sasuke glared at the man, hatred burning in his onyx eyes while his best friend sputtered blood. He gritted his teeth and forced his body to move, cursing his inability to stand, much less fight. His Rinnegan needed rest, it would not activate with his dwindling Chakra – and Sasuke was already at his wit's end.
"You must've been so busy until now, Nanadaime-sama. Enjoy this brief stay in the pitch-dark I'll leave you in. It'll be your end when we next meet – if you're still alive, that is." The man sneered, voice flat and hard, as if the man he spoke to was a pebble while he was a boulder.
"You better remember those words, 'cause I'm gonna...feed 'em right back at ya!" Naruto yelled, every fibre in his being swearing to kill the bastard in front of him and tear him to shreds.
Isshiki only scoffed at him before starting to seal him. The black aura of the huge sealing coffin started engulfing the area where Naruto was impaled, and then Isshiki weaved his power to 'shrink' the coffin to trap the Hokage in another dimension, in the middle of nowhere and unable to get out…
'Is this how my life finally ends? Hinata, Himawari, Boruto… and my friends... '
Naruto wept, wept for the unfairness of it all. He watched as every single shinobi fell down in battle, regardless of their village; he watched as the village he loved, Konohagakure no Sato, was wrecked and blasted into smithereens. He watched as his friends died one by one.
The first to fall was Kiba, then Lee; Shino, Tenten, Karui; Chouji, Gaara, Kankuro and on and on; the list ever-expanding. The parents were crying, their beloved Genins falling onto the blood-soaked earth as they exhaled their last breath.
He watched and watched… and when the pain intensified like no other, threatening to choke him – he blinked, and then suddenly he stood in a white, empty plane. The injuries on his body had miraculously disappeared, only leaving dry blood in its place. Naruto was suddenly reminded of a time, long ago – when the fox within burst forth, coating him in red and healing his wounds.
"Wha-" He whipped his head around. He stood alone in a white, desolate void, not a speck of anything able to be seen.
"Where am I? KURAMA!" He called out, but the fox didn't answer him… and then, he saw him. A person who he hadn't expected to see again after their first meeting in the Fourth Shinobi World War.
"Old-man Sage!" Naruto exclaimed in surprise as the floating figure of Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo appeared before him.
"Father!" The Nanadaime Hokage startled at the booming voice that arose behind him. He spun around as the Bijuu that he was searching for had suddenly materialised behind him, slitted eyes never wavering from his father figure.
"There you are, Kurama! Do you know where the hell we are!?" He asked urgently, eyes darting frantically; only to have silence greet him. The fox couldn't speak, his mind still reeling at the sudden appearance of the Legendary Sage that they once thought had ceased to exist.
The Sage of the Six Paths shifted his mighty eyes from the surprised Bijuu to the descendant of his son.
"This is a plane created by me, Ashura's descendant, Uzumaki Naruto. I came to aid you." Naruto perked up at what the Sage had said, eyes hardening in determination.
"I will accept whatever help you can give me, Gramps. The fate of the Shinobi world is at stake, dattebayo!" the blond Hokage resolutely proclaimed, already thinking about the chaos that was happening outside.
The old sage nodded.
"Yes, I am aware of the catastrophe that my clansmen have done to the world, and so I would gladly lend you my aid. However, this will be the last time, young Naruto. There won't be a third time. For once I have aided you now, my presence will dissipate and be lost in this place for eternity. I will bestow upon you the rest of my power, and you will become the only Jinchuriki living in the world." Naruto sputtered, not comprehending what the old man was saying.
"Father… " Kurama's voice grumbled, laced with uncharacteristic worry.
"Do not be afraid, my child. My time in this plane had ended a long time ago. My soul has no business in the world of the living now."
"Old-man Sage..." Naruto murmured.
"Now, now, we don't have time for this. Many people are dying. I will now explain to you what needs to be done."
Naruto and Kurama glanced at each other before nodding.
"I will send you back in time together with the people who still live in your ninja generation. However, I cannot send many people with you, so whoever your clone grabs, those are the only people I can send with you to the past."
Naruto gaped at him.
"T-Time Travel… can we really do that?" He murmured in disbelief. He knew that Sasuke travelled to the past with his son, but it wasn't permanent. They weren't allowed to stay because they didn't belong there.
"Brat. You're talking to the legendary Sage. Of course it's possible," Kurama grumbled, a grin had replaced his earlier solemn expression. Naruto stared at the Sage with awe and waited for an explanation.
"Yes, young Naruto, just like what Kurama had said. I can send you back in time to redo everything from scratch. However, this will be permanent – no turning back, and no coming back to this future. There are also consequences in coming back to the past," the sage stated as he looked directly at the thirty-four year old Kage.
"A person with the same soul cannot stay in the same timeline. So you need to know that when you finally meet with your past self, the two of you will merge after a few hours of making contact." The blond Hokage opened and closed his mouth as he listened to the explanation.
"B-but…..are we going to lose our powers?" he questioned, brow creasing in worry, 'So I need to start from scratch again?'
The sage hummed before answering, "No, I told you, you will be the only Jinchūriki in the world; and that will never change unless you die and choose to transfer the power of the Bijuu to your descendant, or perish with the Bijuu sealed away with your soul. The choice is yours."
Naruto's stance straightened and seriousness gleamed in his cerulean eyes. He didn't know what he would do when that time comes, but he knew that he would eventually figure it out.
Hagoromo nodded in satisfaction at what he saw and continued his explanation.
"When I transfer my power to you, my knowledge will pass on to you, too; and through a chakra connection – the same thing will happen to your companions. However, you will put a seal on your powers and your companions' before merging with yourselves. Your younger bodies cannot handle the amount of chakra that will flood your bodies. The seal however, will gradually let your bodies adjust with your chakra, and the only thing that you will need to hone are your physical strength - control and power won't be a problem."
Naruto nodded at what the old sage had explained and quietly absorbed all the information he had heard. He was glad that he at least wouldn't need to relearn all of his jutsus and control. That would be a pain in the ass, but considering that he would be a toddler and hitting puberty all over again—Naruto stopped his train of thoughts. He would worry about that later.
"Well then, descendant of Ashura, Uzumaki Naruto. You have a mission to fulfill. This is the last time. Farewell, I hope you succeed – the future is in your hands." As the ultimate words were being said, Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo slowly dissolved from existence, never to grace the earth again as his power and essence went inside the Nanadaime Hokage's body.
Inside the corpse of Killer Bee, the darkness that was slowly engulfing the Hachibi suddenly disappeared. One moment he was mourning the loss of his favourite Jinchuriki – ready to accept his fate; then the next moment, he blinked and reappeared inside a very familiar mindscape.
Gyuki blink in bewilderment, staring at a single spot for a few seconds, before he shifted his eyes around the familiar plane to see his other Bijuu brothers – sitting in a circle.
The Ichibi no Shukaku, Nibi no Bakeneko – Matatabi, Sanbi no Kyodaigame – Isobu, Seiten Taisei – Son Gokū, Gobi – Kokuo, Rokubi – Saiken, Rakkī Sebun – Chōmei, and finally; the Kyuubi no Kitsune – Kurama.
"Yo, Gyuki, you're late!" Son Goku greeted enthusiastically; which Gyuki promptly ignored. Instead, he stared at Kurama intently, his majestic eyes never wavering as he dug an imaginary hole in the orange fur of the Kyuubi no Kitsune.
The Kyuubi, upon feeling the intense gaze, pointed towards him, flicked his eyes to the Hachibi, who was staring at the giant fox as if in accusation.
"Why are you staring at me!?" The fox snapped in irritation as he glared at the giant ox.
"This bizarre phenomenon smells like your Jinchuriki's doing, Kurama," Gyuki deadpanned, and the rest of the Bijuu nodded in affirmation. The fox scoffed and grumbled complaints under his breath before sighing and decided to speak.
"Alright, I'll explain the situation," Kurama's voice boomed inside the mindscape and all the Bijuu looked at him expectantly. The Kyuubi then started retelling one of the strangest things that had ever happened to him and his favorite Jinchūriki, to his fellow Bijuu.
Sasuke's blood dripped on the ground as he glared at the man who destroyed everything they persevered to protect. His crimson and purple eyes were flashing with hatred.
All his sacrifices: him enduring the pain of leaving his family behind, unable to watch his only daughter grow up to be the amazing Kunoichi that she was now, suffering so many cold nights without the soothing presence of his wife for seven years – just to get rid of the threat that was looming over them from Kaguya's dimension and clansmen. All of those efforts and sacrifices were all proved to be in vain – because his worst nightmare, the one that they had so desperately been trying to avoid had unfolded before his eyes.
"Farewell, Uchiha Sasuke…" Ōtsutsuki Isshiki grinned maniacally as he held out his palm and readied a deadly attack, one that would blot out the formidable Uchiha forever. But just as Isshiki was preparing to release the attack, the most bizarre and unexplainable thing happened.
A flash of bright, golden light flickered into existence beside the Uchiha, grabbing the bloodied body before flickering out of sight without a single word; not even giving the incredulous Ōtsutsuki a single glance.
Isshiki blinked in disbelief, shock parting his lips as he tried to comprehend what had just transpired. Then fury overcame him.
Anger consumed his entire being. His eyes grew bloodshot, threatening to bulge out of their sockets, and his heart pulsed in his ears and through the veins on his forehead.
Then he screamed in unadulterated rage.
"UZUMAKI NARUTO!"
Uchiha Sakura raced towards her daughter in desperation. Her sandal-clad feet scraped carelessly on the blood-filled earth, as she jumped towards her daughter.
"SARADA!" The medic screamed.
She pushed her daughter out of the way of incoming chakra bullets, slamming into her side like a bull. Sarada flew into the grass nearby. Sakura shot chakra into her legs, skidding to a halt, her sandals preventing a collision with a familiar ruin, their previous home.
Sarada slowly picked herself up from the dirt, gazing at her mother in shock. The spinning black and red of her newly acquired Mangekyō Sharingan stared wildly at the disaster surrounding them. The village was literally reduced to smithereens.
The Uchiha Matriarch stood tall in front of her formidable foe. Her Byakugou seal was surrounding her body as the center point of her power glowed in bright pink color. Her eyes were not showing the slightest amount of fear as she cocked an arm back and threw a devastating punch to the ground.
The earth quaked and caved in from the brute force of the punch, creating a powerful wave of boulders that rushed towards another member of the Ōtsutsuki clan, the resurrected Kinshiki.
The white figure didn't hesitate to fire, the two forces instantly colliding. A colossal explosion followed, engulfing the entire area.
Kinshiki floated in the air, waiting for the smoke to dissipate, leaving nothing but earth and dust. He smirked, satisfied at the result; unaware of the golden flash that had whisked the mother and daughter away and flickered out of existence as it completed its task.
Inojin and Shikadai ran as if the apocalypse was literally upon them. Trepidation was visible in their pale faces as they each looked for their respective parents in the ruins of their village.
There were explosions from afar as they ran, creating a few vibrations here and there; but they ignored them. Their sandal-clad feet were dirty and mixed with blood. The same thing happened to their clothes, comparable more to linen scraps than actual clothing. The two boys had seen better days, but all of those shortcomings were ignored by them as they desperately shouted their parents' names, hoping to hear an answer behind the scattered debris and broken establishments surrounding them.
They couldn't comprehend what had happened to their beloved village. One moment, the two of them, together with their other male classmates, were waiting for Boruto at the outskirts of Konoha's forest to later play video games together.
Then suddenly, a powerful ball of energy landed near them and detonated instantly, immediately killing Metal Lee, Denki, Iwabee, Mitsuki and their other classmates. The only reason Shikadai and Inojin survived was because of the huge boulder that the two of them were using as leverage to doze off. However, the two teenagers lost their consciousness after the initial explosion. When they woke up, this was the image that greeted them.
They pushed their tired legs to run, trying their best to ignore all the dead bodies of the Konoha citizens that they ran past.
In the middle of their run, a massive earthquake sent the two of them tumbling to the ground. Picking themselves from the ground and spitting out dirt, they rubbed the dust out of their eyes and lifted their blurry gazes to the ruined establishments around them. Two pairs of eyes immediately widened with fear as they saw the boulder threatening to fall, and they slumped in helplessness as they covered their heads from the collapsing building.
They screamed at the top of their lungs as tears of trepidation and desperation rolled down their cheeks, unable to do anything but to accept their impending doom.
Right before they were flattened by the collapsing rubble though, they were unexpectedly whisked away by two golden clones.
Uzumaki Hinata hugged her eleven-year-old daughter to her chest as she deflected the fatal attack that Momoshiki fired towards her daughter using Kaiten. Her son, Boruto stood beside them and glared up towards the very much alive Momoshiki. The pale man was floating in the air, staring at the three of them emotionlessly.
"How are you alive, dattebasa!?" Boruto yelled, face contorting with anger. The person in question however, laughed mockingly.
"That's for me to know and for you to find out! But you will be dead in the next few seconds, so you shouldn't bother yourself!" the insane creature exclaimed as he aimed an attack towards the Uzumaki family.
Boruto readied his Rasengan in a futile attempt to protect his mother and sister – but before the attack happened, Uzumaki Naruto suddenly appeared in a flash of bright golden chakra.
"Dad!" Boruto screamed in surprise as young Himawari cried out for her daddy.
"Naruto!" Hinata exclaimed happily, hope surging through her as the protective warmth of her husband's arms enveloped her.
Naruto carried her as the clone grabbed their children. The kids immediately clung to their father, eagerly seeking protection in the comforting power of their father.
"Damn you, Uzumaki Naruto! You're supposed to be dead!" the Ōtsutsuki raged, readying another attack to fire, but he only caught a glimpse of the Nanadaime's smirking face before the family of four blinked out of existence.
In the war-torn village, a few important figures vanished, a bright golden shroud of chakra grasping them before they met their impending doom: Senju Tsunade, Hatake Kakashi, Nara Shikamaru and Temari, Yamanaka Ino, and lastly her injured husband, Sai.
All these people vanished in a flash, never to be seen again as the future timeline exploded and disappeared from existence alongside the members of the Ōtsutsuki clan.
Fourteen people were gathered in the area, holding their aching heads as a few grunts and groans echoed around the forest.
"W-what happened?" Uchiha Sarada asked, disoriented. She blinked twice to clear her blurry, onyx eyes. A few voices echoed the same question before the parents snapped out of their daze and fussed over their respective children.
"Sarada, are you okay?" Sakura fretted as she checked her daughter for injuries, but aside from a few scratches, she was unharmed. The worried mother sighed in relief.
"Mom!" Shikadai and Inojin screamed as they attacked their mothers in a tight hug, crying earnestly as they finally felt the soothing feeling of their mothers' warmth.
Temari and Ino clutched their respective sons to themselves, crying in relief at seeing them alive after witnessing so many dead loved ones, and Shikamaru enveloped his wife and son in a much needed hug as they basked in each other's warmth.
"Baachan, Sakura-chan, I need your help." Naruto's voice snapped them all out of their fleeting relief.
The two medics snapped their heads towards the serious voice of their Kage, and there stood two bright clones, carrying the two barely conscious figures of Uchiha Sasuke and Yamanaka Sai.
"Sai!" Ino exclaimed in alarm at seeing her husband's poor condition.
"Anata!" Sakura worriedly called out and was beside her blond teammate in no time, Tsunade following not far behind her.
Without question, the medics worked their magic; immediately healing the bruised bodies of the two men.
Sasuke grunted as the pain in his body disappeared under the comforting power of his wife's chakra. He let out a shaky breath, succumbing to the familiar warmth that surrounded his body. He laid there and felt his heart rate begin to slow down, his body gradually relaxing. A few minutes later, he sat up and looked at the back of his best friend, belatedly realizing the new golden cloak of their Kage.
The previous pajama-like chakra-cloak of the Nanadaime Hokage was nowhere to be seen. Instead, it was replaced by a long, bright golden cloak resembling his second stage chakra cloak's appearance and his father's own Hokage cloak. The Truth-Seeking orbs that he had previously lost in the Fourth Shinobi war had returned on his back, and the black staff of the Six Paths Shakujo was held securely in his right hand. His distinctly short hair seemed longer than before, resembling the Yondaime Hokage's golden locks.
"Naruto…what happened? How did you escape the sealed coffin? And where are we?" Sasuke mumbled out rapidly. His Sharingan and Rinnegan flitted around as he took in his new surroundings. A subtle crease of unease appeared on his brow as he stared at the silent man. The rest also quietly stared at their Kage, waiting for an answer.
"Naruto?" Tsunade asked, brow furrowing worriedly at the uncharacteristic silence of the man she'd known since he was still a snotty twelve-year-old brat.
The Nanadaime Hokage's chakra-cloak suddenly disappeared, together with his staff and the Truth-Seeking Orbs, and he finally turned to stare at the rescued shinobi.
He looked a bit different from before. Maybe it was the sudden change of his normally short blond locks which danced lightly in the wind, but his resemblance to the deceased Yondaime Hokage was much more evident with his current, changed appearance.
Cerulean eyes were sparkling with power, effortlessly exuding a powerful presence even as he stood there silently. The remaining survivors of the war-torn future couldn't help but stare in awe at their Hokage.
"I'm sorry, I wasn't listening… I was talking to the Tailed Beasts just now," he said as he let out an exhausted smile.
"What do you mean by 'Tailed Beasts'?" Temari asked suspiciously, noting the plural term the blond Kage used to address his supposed only Bijuu.
The blond woman was quite confused and still a little bit dazed from the sudden change of scenery and atmosphere that surrounded them. She took note of the quiet forest, the bright clear sky and the absence of the previous explosions that signified the Ōtsutsuki clan's havoc. Naruto opened his mouth to answer her question, but someone called out to him.
"Naruto?" This time it was his wife, Hinata, who worriedly reached out for him. He walked towards her and wrapped an arm around her waist, rubbing his hand soothingly on his wife's back.
"Don't worry, Hinata. Everything is fine. I'm just checking out the exact timeline we landed into." At his answer, everyone had a questioning look on their faces, except for the three people in the room who immediately realized the implications.
Shikamaru and the former Rokudaime Hokage – Kakashi, simultaneously face palmed while Sasuke's eyes widened in realization; inwardly sighing in exasperation as he shook his head at his best friend's luck as if silently saying, 'Only you, Naruto… '
"Yep, we're in the past." Naruto said, smiling wryly at his friends' facial expressions, before bracing himself for the impending exclamations of...
"WHAT?"
Well, what could he say? This was an obvious declaration of his title as 'The Most Unpredictable Ninja in all the Elemental Nation'.
And this was also the start of a fresh adventure, to save the world from eternal damnation. To protect the dreams and future of the many people living in this world.
From here on out, the future was in their hands...
A/N: Aaaand that's a wrap! I would like to give my sincerest gratitude to all the people who helped me with this fic. Your insights and suggestions helped me a lot and this story would only be a pile of junk if it weren't for your help.
Here are my awesome betas!
Gheloured
Kurupira
MiloOfTheKey
Hotarubushi
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