Once More by ItsHardToFindAPenName

Chapter 1: Back to the Past

"Ah, Naruto!" The fox head cried out in relief. "A little help here, please?"

Naruto's left eyebrow twitched. "Couldn't you just, like, shrink yourself, or transform into something smaller and easier to get out?"

"Ah," all the heads nodded slowly. "Good point."

After some more struggles, and a huge puff of smoke, Naruto was now sitting on the damp floor of his mindscape, facing all nine Tailed Beasts who were each in the size of a grown up Akamaru.

"So... care to explain?" Naruto looked at the beasts inside the cage.

"Well... um... it's just a little accident, you see..." Kurama started.

"What do you mean 'a little accident'?" Naruto asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, you see," Kokuoh, the Five-Tails, began. "You remember that we left quite a lot of our chakra inside you when we bumped our fists, right? Turns out that the more powerful we are, the stronger the chains binding us inside the Juubi's body are. Therefore, when we were absorbed back into that statue, those chains became significantly weaker, and a normal Tailed Beast Bomb was enough to break us free from the binding."

"I see," Naruto nodded in understanding. "But that doesn't explain why..."

"I was getting there," the Five-Tails stopped him. "After that we were able to talk with you again, remember? Then, that knucklehead over there," he pointed one of his tails towards Goku, who scratched his head sheepishly, "decided to break us free with another combined Tailed Beast Bomb. I told them it would be dangerous, but sadly, no one listened – except for me and little Saikyo here," he rubbed the Six-Tails' head with another tail. "So we did it anyway, and the Juubi's body was completely obliterated."

"So the Juubi's body was destroyed," Naruto nodded again. "That's good, right?"

"Yes... but, well..." Kokuoh suddenly hesitated. "You know that the Juubi was the God Tree, the source of all chakra in the world, right? When it was destroyed, all the chakra from inside it exploded in an instant with an extremely powerful force, and it somehow ripped us from that timeline and sent us back to the past. And it also pushed us into the seal in your stomach."

"Ooh! So that's why I have my twelve-year-old voice, and why I was holding the Forbidden Scroll out there! We were sent back to the day I graduated from the Academy!" Naruto exclaimed in realization. But then, something crossed his mind. "But what about the others? Did they get sent back to the past, too?"

The Tailed Beasts shared a worried and regretful look.

"Naruto," Gyuki said. "A blast with enough power to send one back to the past will reduce everything to light particles. Not even Madara's strongest Susanoo could survive that explosion. It is incredibly lucky that you have us; otherwise you would have been erased from existence together with Madara and everything else. About the others... I'm afraid there's nothing you can do for them anymore, Naruto."

Naruto's shoulders slumped. So in the end, it was nothing different. He still couldn't save anyone. He couldn't do anything to protect the people he loved. Tears started to well up in his eyes again, rolling down his cheeks and silently dropping into the already soaking ground.

Then he felt something warm and fluffy wrapping around him. He raised his head, and saw Kurama embracing him with her red tails.

"It's true Naruto, that you have failed them. But think, if you really feel that bad about it, then this is your chance to redeem yourself. We're in the past, when everything hadn't happened yet. Work hard, and stop Madara from completing his plan in this timeline. Protect everyone you love this time; don't let them die meaninglessly like before. Besides," she added with a chuckle, "look around you. This time you are not alone. You have us together with you now, and we are friends. Friends are supposed to help each other, right?"

"Right! This time we're with you, Naru-kun! That Madara guy will not be able to ruin the future we create together anymore!" Chomei added cheerily.

Naruto looked at all the beasts around him, his eyes widened. Everyone of them was looking back at him with trusting and encouraging eyes (Well, except for Saikyo and Chomei; they don't have eyes anyway). A feeling of warmth suddenly bloomed in his heart, and he felt happy, and stronger than ever. He smiled, wiping tears away from his eyes and stood up.

"Thank you everyone. This time, I swear I will not fail!" He raised his hand, and they bumped their fists again, strengthening the bond between them once more.

"Good job my dear. Now go," Kurama pushed her jinchuriki's back. "There is one person who needs to be saved by you right now."

When Naruto faded away from their view, Matatabi looked at Kurama.

"I can't believe even you can become motherly, nee-san."

"Heh," the vixen chuckled. "Even I can't believe it myself, either."

Mizuki was smirking. Right after he finished this annoyance of an Academy teacher, he would go find the demon brat, take the Forbidden Scroll from him and bring him together with it to Orochimaru-sama. Then he would become a Sound ninja, and gain the power and fame he couldn't get being a mere teacher in Konoha!

His train of thought was interrupted rudely when a foot landed on his face, sending him crashing into a tree nearby.

"I'll kill you for hurting Iruka-sensei! Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

Mizuki's eyes widened in horror when the forest was filled, literally, with thousands of Naruto.

"Now, ready to die, bastard?" The army of Naruto grinned wickedly while cracking their knuckles. Mizuki gulped.

"I'm screwed, am I?"

"Yes." The whole army echoed before pummeling the poor traitor to the ground.

Iruka was appalled seeing Naruto performed a forbidden Ninjutsu in such a large scale. Not only that, the boy didn't even show any sign of fatigue after releasing the jutsu! And he defeated a Chuunin-level shinobi just by himself!

He smiled weakly. 'You have really become strong, Naruto... You might even surpass the Third, no, all the past Hokages someday... '

"Heh heh... Guess I might have overdone it a bit..." Naruto grinned sheepishly, while dragging a mess of flesh and bones called Mizuki along towards Iruka. The older man smiled, and waved him.

"Leave that Naruto. Come here and close your eyes."

This was it. This was the time. Naruto could not ever forget this, even until the last day of his life...

"Congratulation, Naruto. You're officially a Genin of Konohagakure."

Once again in two days (or who knows how many days had passed), Naruto began to cry his heart out, this time on the chest of the older man.