Naruto groaned and tried to open his eyes only to be blinded by sunlight. He quickly shut them again. 𝘞𝘢𝘪𝘵... 𝘴𝘶𝘯𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵. He forced his eyes open once more, blinking a few times to allow them to adjust. It had been so long since he had seen such light. So bright and pure. So warm and assuring. During the war, even the sky seemed to despair as the sun went into endless hiding, taking shelter behind heavy clouds.
"He's awake." The sudden voice startled him in its closeness and quickly pushed away, landing soundlessly on a branch several meters away.
"Woah now, calm down." Said the voice with a tone one would use on a scared animal. Naruto's eyes finally came into focus and once they did they almost popped out of his skull. The person who had spoken was a man in his early twenties with hair as blonde as his own, and eyes that were an electric blue. Hos stance was authoritative and exuded capability without trying to. He knew this man.
"Dad?" He asked in a frail voice. "I knew it I finally died." He commented as if relieved. The other ninja frowned.
"You're not dead. My name is Minato Namikaze, we were just bringing you back to the village to get you treated." He explained. "What's your name?"
He seemed not to have heard the last part. "The village? Do you mean the Hidden Leaf?"
Minato nodded cautiously.
"But-but the leaf... it was... " he trailed off unable to say it. Confusion raged through him. What was going on?
"What's your name?" The man asked once more. This time the blonde responded.
"Naruto." He replied simply. He still seemed to be rather confused.
'𝘠𝘰𝘶'𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘴𝘵, 𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘵. 𝘐 𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘢 𝘴𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘶𝘴 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘖𝘣𝘪𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱���𝘴𝘦𝘥𝘭𝘺 𝘥𝘪𝘦𝘥.' Explained Kurama helpfully. Naruto growled at Obito's name, cursing it. Spitting on it. Hating what he had done to his comrades. Hating the hatred he brought forth in Naruto. Then the fox's words settled and his eyes widened. 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘴... His head snapped up to look at the blonde man. That means that this man standing in front of him was 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 Minato Namikaze. Was 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 his father. It was really him, in the flesh. No time limit or illusion. No sick jutsu of any kind. That man there was the real Minato Namikaze, the man that he aspires to be even before he found out he was his father.
"Hey, are you alright?" Asked a new voice. Naruto's gaze was drawn behind his father to a small boy, around twelve maybe, wearing a mask, with piercing, coal black eyes and strange silver hair. He was looking at him with a familiar inquisitive expression.
"Dear god, it's a mini Kakashi." Commented Naruto without really thinking.
"Excuse me? What are you talking about?" The boy replied, almost offended. Naruto shook his head in disbelief. It was Kakashi, it was really him. He felt a flood of emotion flow through him. All he wanted to do was wrap the tiny, and frankly adorable, Kakashi in a hug. He could so clearly remember the day he died. It had been a month after the man was named Hokage. He was leading some shinobi forces to an enemy hideout. The whole thing was a trap as they soon found out. Naruto, being his second in command, was left at their camp to watch over the remaining shinobi and take over if anything happened. When he took a small break to meditate, he sensed Kakashi's forces disappear. He raced out to their position as fast as he could but he only got there in time to see his precious teacher die in his arms.
Unable to hold his gaze any longer, Naruto moved his eyes along to the girl standing beside him to the left. 𝘙𝘪𝘯, he thought. Her death-by-chidori had permanently scarred his future sensei and set in motion the destruction of the Five Great Nations. Maybe this time around Naruto could prevent that from happening and in doing so also prevent Obito from going insane. Next in line was Obito Uchiha himself. Naruto couldnt help but send a rather harsh glare his way, though he knew this Obito had yet to actually do anything wrong. In fact he had heard that the man was quite kind during his time as a genin, and looking at him now he seemed so innocent. So void of the monster that Naruto knew to haunt him.
Obito scratched the back of his neck and averted his gaze from the intense shinobi in front of him. "Geez. Did I kill your dog or something." He chuckled nervously. 𝘕𝘰, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘮𝘺 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴. Realizing himself, Naruto forced his expression into one of indifference. No. He hadn't killed them. Not yet. Not ever if Naruto had anything to say about it. And he would.
He noticed the girl narrow her eyes as she inspected every inch of his body. Not in a perverted way, but rather as if by doing so she would find the answer to a particularly troubling question. She saw his questioning eyes on her and spoke her mind. "I don't mean to be rude, but how are you even standing? Not even an hour ago your chakra was almost completely depleted. It usually takes weeks to recover from that. You shouldn't even be awake." He blinked at that trying to form an explanation. He just gave up and shrugged.
"I'm used to it, I guess." This earned a rather curious look from Minato.
"What do you mean 'used to it'?" He asked. Naruto turned his full attention to the man. The jounin held back a shiver at his eyes that held an odd mix of ice and warmth, all while somehow still being gaurded.
"Well if you're in the middle of a battle and your chakra hits zero before your opponents, you can't afford to pass out. Especially when everyone is counting on you to win." His voice held none of the warmth nor ice in his eyes, but rather held the confidence and experience of a mich older man accustomed to the ways of war.
"So you've been fighting on the front lines then? You seem kinda young and I've neer heard of you before." Minato said skeptically. Naruto rose a brow and contemplated his words.
"Well, I'm nineteen." He commented offhandedly. He thought about it. Most of the ninja he commanded 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 older than him. But at the same time, only he or Sasuke could directly face Madara or Obito in battle. Fighting on the front lines were viewed as his obligation since no one else effectively could. Age never came into account in his war, only capability. Though he had heard that younger had been assigned to such positions in the later stages of this war, but maybe it hadn't come to that just yet.
"Nineteen! What was the Hokage thinking." Minato exclaimed loudly. 𝘖𝘩 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘵. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘏𝘰𝘬𝘢𝘨𝘦! He knew he was in the time of the Third Hokage. In his time, Naruto had been named the Seventh Hokage after both Kakashi and Tsunade died and no one else seemed fot for the roll. But Lord Third would definitely know something was up.
He rubbed his temples at the ipcoming headache when he froze. Minato and the three others froze in response.
"𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘵?" Obito whisper-yelled. Naruto sent a glare his way warning him that he better shut up. He could sense an incoming group of enemy ninja. By realization dawing his face he knew that his father could as well.
All five ninja hid in a small bush for cover. The enemy came into view, Naruto counted fifteen. Had his chakra not been almost completely depleted, he could have delt with them no sweat. However it was, so he needed the other's help. Judging by the strength and the amiunt of their chakra, there seemed to be about five jounin and ten chuunin. He relayed this information to the others.
"Alright. Sensei and I will go for the jounin. Rin, Obito take the chuunin, at least stall them until we finish." Instructed Kakashi confidently.
"Aww. Look at you, spouting tactics like a little jounin." cooed Minato. Kakashi looked annoyed while the others just sweat dropped.
"No." Voiced Narito in response to the chuunin's plan.
Kakashi looked offended. "What's wrong with it? That is a perfect plan, I'm sure it could work."
"Firstly, you should never send a medical nin out in the battle field. What if they get injured? How will they be able to heal you then? They aren't as accustomed to outright battle as other shinobi. Second- you are only a chuunin, facing jounin even with blondie over there," he jabbed a thumb at Minato who was listening intensely to Naruto's explanation and nodding along all serious like. "Would not end well. Besides you are better off with Obito because you are teammates, therefore you can coordinate your attacks."
Kakashi looked a little pissed. "Well then what would you suggest?"
"Minato and I will take the jounin. You and Obito take the chuunin. Rin stays here incase anyone gets injured."
"You're injured. And low on chakra." pointed out Minato.
"I've faced worse odds and came out alive. Besides, I have a secret weapon." said Naruto, leaving everyone to wonder what he was talking about. "Just give me a minute." They all waited and watched as he became stock still. After a minute or so of this, his eyes were rimmed in a golden orange and his eyes were a yellowish color. Minato looked on in surprise, recognizing that the boy had entered sage mode.
"Alright, let's go."