Back to the past, Believe it!

Background among Foreground

Hiruzen looked at the papers sitting untouched on his desk as he walked into his office. No one seems to think about the paperwork when becoming Hokage, he sure didn't. He shook his head as he straightened the stack on his desk. Their interesting occasionally, these ones in particular are mission requests, and he'll get a good laugh every once in a while.

A few knocks on his door snapped him out of his thoughts and a automatic, "Come in." Escaped his mouth. His visitor opened the door quickly but Hiruzen knew there was no ill will behind the action. "Danzo, whats the rush, if I may ask." Hiruzen asked calmly, he looked at the papers once more before pushing them to the side of his desk.

Danzo's face was blank, as it usually was these days. "I have been called upon some important buisness." Danzo admitted. Hiruzen hummed, nothing he wasn't expecting. "Where to, If you'll allow me to ask?" Danzo held back a scoff before he shook his head instead. "Its not too far, not even outside of the leafs borders. Hiruzen nodded, "Well then, I hope you make a safe return." Danzo nodded. "As do I."

Hiruzen didn't bother question his friend further, he knew it would be pointless. After he had ordered Danzo to dismiss his... ROOT, Danzo has been rather touchy when it comes to Hiruzen. He can't blame the man, he had spent a lot of time with ROOT and it would be hard to let it go. But now his friend understands that his methods were simply... He shook his head.

He hoped Danzo wasn't truly that cruel of a man, but he can acknowledge that he is a buisness man.

Naruto made no attempt to interrupt, it wasn't his place to do so. Well, he didn't want to even speak with Hiruzen, he was in fact following Danzo. He made a mental note to not come into the Hokage tower, especially when he is trying to spy on someone, its just bound to not go well. Naruto looked from where he was and decided that this should be where he stops for now.

His grand escape wasn't all too grand he has to admit, no one really cared he was even there in the first place, its the usual, getting stared at 'n all. Naruto sighed as he exited the building, the humid air mixing with his skin.

Shikamaru was waiting for him, "I would have gone faster if I knew you were following me." Naruto huffed. Shikamaru shrugged, "Well, you were obviously following Danzo, I didn't want to interrupt." Naruto shrugged. "All I got was that he is going somewhere." Shikamaru nodded and hummed. "Then he may just be scouting out a new area for a new base." Naruto frowned, "So soon?" Shikamaru nodded as he motioned for Naruto to follow him. It seemed the Anbu were ordered to stay away from Naruto.

Shikamaru supposed that if Naruto can run and escape from Anbu, Naruto can run and escape from any violent villagers. And with the increase in security, any type of threat to the villages jinchuriki is diminished.

"This was actually around the time his move happened actually." He admitted. He remembered it in their original timeline, his father wasn't very happy about the elders absence, he never was. Because instead of Danzo being Hiruzens go to for strategy it was his father, and while his father is happy to do so, for the hokage, for the sake of the village, blah blah blah, it was annoying that the elder could leave whenever he desired to do so.

Naruto shrugged, "I'll leave it to you then." Shikamaru huffed before he shook his head. "Did you get any word about Jiraiya?" Naruto frowned at the mention but shook his head. "No, It was only ever brought up once, it seems they are either still trying to get in contact, or they gave up on the idea." Shikamaru didn't respond, he could tell that Naruto was getting antsy.

Naruto wasn't stoked by the idea of meeting Jiraiya despite their relationship in the previous timeline. Shikamaru knew why, if Jiraiya came it was due to the fact the Jinchuriki was kidnapped and was in danger of being killed. Which meant tightening the seal that kept the nine tailed fox at bay. Which is what the three of them hope not to happen, not in the slightest.

Shikamaru wants Naruto's ability to use Kurama's chakra again, as soon as possible and Jiraiya will just get in the way in that scenario.

Naruto stopped walking and looked up at the sky, it was cloudy. "I think, its going to happen soon." Shikamaru frowned at the lack of clarity. "What is?" Shikamaru asked, a little irritated. "Everything." Naruto said. "Sasuke getting a life changing seal, Kurama may or may not be sealed away until I graduate, Danzo moving bases." Shikamaru gulped, Naruto was clearly hitting his emotional limit.

Shikamaru didn't really know what to say, he knew that, all of it. And yet they both are at several different stand points. He was the one to let Sasuke go, and now Naruto has to make a seal that may or may not kill his friend.

Naruto looked from the sky to the ground. "Alright that may have been a little dramatic." Naruto admitted. "But its all getting shoved at our faces all at once!" He said, raising his voice. Shikamaru didn't reply, but he couldn't help but agree. It really was, he didn't even want to talk about Shin.

"Well, what else can we do?" Shikamaru asked as he brought his hands to relax behind his head. "This is about as much as I expected, going to the past, I mean." He admitted. "I mean, I thought it wasn't going to even work and we'd die in the process." He chuckled, the sigh that came out of his friend indicated he agreed. Shikamaru frowned, "Once we get in the motion of finally having a set in stone plan, everything will go ten times faster."

Naruto nodded as he looked at his fake hand, clenching it into a fist. "I say the next step, as time travelers, is to get our summons back." Shikamaru smiled and nodded despite himself not even having one, perhaps this time around he'll research a couple.

"Yea, that sounds like a set 'n stone plan." Shikamaru agreed. Naruto didn't bother following him as he walked towards death forest. Naruto's plan for the rest of the day was to meditate and prepare his body to handle a summon again. Naruto groaned as he realized the very possible reality of having to go to summoning tadpoles before anything else.

He really hopes he doesn't have to go through that again, and no ill will towards his teacher but he really hopes Jiraiya doesn't get onto him when he gets the summoning contract.

Naruto frowned, Katsuyu doesn't want any of them going back until they have summons to their names. But he can't really see how he is going to get the summoning contract otherwise. Jiraiya carries it with him 24/7, Naruto elected to leave it as a problem to think about when he begins to meditate.

(Is there anything you guys want to 1000% see as I finally make my way to timeskip? Because I already have several events lined up, but I could always do more. OR just like before I may have bonus chapters, It can be during the future, or despite the story having progressed after time skip 'n all that, it could be before they traveled in the first place.... Well its really up to you guys, because I couldn't care less if I ended up writing it or not, so I'll leave it to you guys lol.)