What Once Was Will Never Be

Chapter Two

It was a natural reaction—well, for Naruto at least. During the war, they had lost a lot, he had sacrificed a lot, but the one thing that had always held true was that Naruto whenever possible (and a lot of times when it wasn't) protected his precious people. Hatake Kakashi? Yeah, he was on top of the list alongside the rest of Team 7, his first true family. Kakashi was also his Hokage and if the lazy bastard stayed true to his promise, he would pass the hat to Naruto in less than a year. So, of course, the moment Naruto saw Kakashi stumble from chakra exhaustion into the line of fire, at exactly the wrong time, he acted without thinking. Even if this was the same nin who had ripped the souls out of three Anbu without breaking a sweat at the beginning of the ambush.

"Naruto!" several voices screamed.

It was like they had been sucker-punched just before he was hit with the vile green chakra the man immitted like a disease. He even heard Kakashi's anguished "No!" before his own scream drowned out all sound. It was a terrible sensation. It was like his skin was being flayed with a knife of ice before being ruthlessly torn to shreds that started from the top of his head and worked down. His bijuu chakra cloak peeled away from his skin, while his screaming was ripped from his chest. Something was wrong with Kurama.

He was losing him, but the Fox wasn't about to let that happen. Naruto was abruptly pulled into his mindscape. The room literally melted around the edges as he stared mournfully at the Fox. Even if the demon slowed time it would be just long enough for them to say goodbye.

"Sorry, fuzzball, early eviction notice," Naruto joked in a breathless sob from a sprawled position on the ground of his mindscape.

"Since when do you give up Kit?!" Kurama growled. He felt the helplessness of the situation as keenly as his human host.

"Since my soul is being physically ripped from my body," Naruto joked before he gasped in pain. Though slowing time gave them the ability to talk, it also drew out the pain. Kurama roared, his tails whirled behind him irritably, but then they stopped. His eyes widened with a thought that was just crazy enough it would surely work in Naruto's hands.

"The seal! Use the space/time seal your blasted father based improved Flying God technique from," Kurama insisted.

Naruto's half-lidded eyes widened with incredulity, but that quickly turned to determination. Naruto had tried to crack his father's Flying-Thunder-God technique for well over two years. In his research, he had uncovered a scroll that Iwa had stolen from the ruins of Uzushio. It had been the basis for the technique as far as Naruto could discern. In fact, Naruto turned his head to the far wall of his mindscape where the seal waited for him. He had inked the seal himself for Kurama to puzzle over when he had been angry with his lack of progress. Not that the old Fox had done it, or he pretended not to anyway.

The seal was purely theoretical from what he could tell. It was meant to send someone back a few seconds to correct a fatal mistake. He had yet to determine how much chakra input was needed to do something longer, but he didn't have time to wonder about it. He would just throw everything he could spare at it and hope it took him back far enough. He forced himself to stand and walk over to the wall. There was no time to consider consequences, it was either do this or die. He was Uzumaki Naruto Konoha's Number Unpredictable Ninja and he had earned the moniker from the moment it had first been gifted to him. Naruto quickly did the outrageous number of hand-signs but faltered when another harsh ripping sensation flowed through him before he could slam his palms against the seal.

Kurama reacted before he could fall, a tail pressed into Naruto's back to stabilize him just as his palms slammed against the wall in his mind. The world around him exploded as Kurama's chakra flowed through him in a torrent to fill the seal so that it glowed an unearthly red color. The last thought to cross Naruto's mind was the hope that he never had to hear Kakashi, Sakura, and Sasuke say his name as the moment it was clear that he wouldn't make it this time. He would do better this time.