Chapter 9- At the gate
Sasuke and Naruto continued their discussion as the approached Konoha. The two had to scrap almost the entirety of their previous plan. Sasuke had hoped that when Naruto traveled back in time and reformed his chakra, the power of Asura would reform as well, but it seems that was not the case.
Worse yet, Sasuke himself lost the power of Indra as soon as he reached the past.
The duo, rather than approach Konoha using Naruto's trail of destruction, made their way to the main roads and walked like normal travelers. The roads were busy, but in the opposite direction. Many civilians had decided to leave Konoha following the attack of the Kyuubi. Naruto and Sasuke were the only two heading towards the village.
Kurama had run off into the woods overnight, but the two of them would feel its eyes on them every once in a while, and they knew it remained close by.
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Naruto's and Sauske's discussion was not going well, and the two of them were in disagreement over their next actions. Naruto spoke.
"So why do we need aliases?"
Sasuke replied.
"How else are we going to get into the village?"
Naruto scratched his head.
"Why don't we just talk with Sandaime-jii-chan and explain our position?"
"Sandaime isn't even the Hokage anymore, Naruto, you saved yondaime, obviously we'd have to talk to him."
"Ok, so?"
"What's you plan, go up there and tell him 'Hi, I'm your son from far in the future and I'm here to raise and train your son, who is also me, in order to defeat a space goddess.'?"
Naruto nodded and looked at Sasuke with serious eyes. Sasuke questioned.
"Are you really that opposed to hiding our identities?"
Naruto nodded again before speaking.
"We have nothing to hide, and are here to protect Konoha, why wouldn't they accept us?"
Sasuke furrowed his brow.
"I suppose there is nothing I can do to convince you otherwise for the time being."
Naruto nodded again and laughed.
"Yep! How about this, we try my way first, and if it doesn't work out, we'll do it your way?"
Sasuke quickly agreed, however, he added a stipulation.
"Just in case your plan doesn't work, let's try it with disguises on. If it does work we can always remove them later without a problem, but if it doesn't, we won't be able to execute my method without henge, and I don't think you would like to stay in henge for 15 years."
Naruto was willing to compromise, and the two continued to make their way toward the village while discussing the other parts of their plan.
Sasuke spoke.
"The most logical path is for me to be responsible for my younger version's strength gain while you are responsible for your own counterpart.
While my younger counterpart is still in the same situation I was, young Naruto is without the nine-tails, and thanks to the Great Freedom Sutra, our chances of remedying that is zero.
The more we change the trajectory of the past, the less we can predict what happens. One of our most valuable assets is our knowledge of future events."
Naruto disagreed.
"My past has changed, but we can't yet see if it has made a negative impact on my strength. I saved Kushina and Minato, and their presence in my past might be a net benefit."
Sasuke pondered for a moment.
"I guess you're right, but it's not going to be that easy. The nine-tails and your connection to the Bijuu were instrumental in your development and strength.
How do we compensate for that?"
Naruto spoke again.
"We'll figure it out on the fly.
Besides, your past is going to change too. We'll have some problems there too.
Do you think I'll let the Uchiha die?"
Naruto had a rare moment of insight.
"If we've already changed the past with our presence here, we shouldn't try too hard to maintain the past.
Furthermore, we already lost. Its obvious that the past must change in a significant, material way in order for us to triumph over Kaguya.
If we curb our actions due to our fear of unpredictable scenarios, we'll never be able to accomplish anything."
Sasuke reconsidered his position.
"Unpredictability and improvisation is more your domain than mine. There are benefits to your approach as well."
Naruto continued.
"We are not gods. We can't predict every eventuality. The more we constrain ourselves, the more opportunity we miss, and if we can't predict everything, then it would be best to face every situation with as much strength as possible."
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The two continued their discussion and eventually found themselves within eyesight of Konoha's main gate.
Naruto still had a meager amount of life energy, enough to transform his and Sasuke appearance at least.
Naruto touched a finger to his own forehead, and his appearance started morphing. His height shortened, his hair grew and became the trademark uzumaki red. HIs face significantly deaged, and he started to look like a man in his alte 30s.
Sasuke was next, and Naruto touched his forehead as well.
Sasuke still looked like his 16 year old self from when the duo fought Kaguya. Naruto's technique however quickly changed that though.
Sasuke's form was transformed to that of a middle aged woman. Sasuke frowned.
"What are you doing, dobe?"
Naruto smirked.
"You're the one who insisted on disguises, and I thought this one would be best?"
Sasuke didn't rebut.
"Let's just get this over with."
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The two of them walked up to the main gate of Konoha. Some gate guards stood to either side, and there were 4 of them, two on either side of the gate. Three of them wore the standard uniform of a Konoha chuunin while the last wore a jonin vest.
Konoha had increased its guard force following the Kyuubi attack, wary of a surprise attack from one its enemies while the village was still weak and reeling from the tailed beast.
One of the chuunin called out.
"Halt, Konoha is under lockdown due to the recent attack. Unless you are here on official Land of Fire business, you are to submit to a search and interrogation before entering."
Naruto replied.
"I need to speak to the Hokage. I have business with him. Can you let him know that an Uzumaki wishes to speak with him?"
The guards looked at Naruto like he was an idiot.
"I don't care what clan you're from. You need to submit to search and interrogation first."
Naruto continued to speak.
"Look, I'm related to Minato, can you let me pass?"
When Naruto called the Hokage directly by name, the gate guards noticeably stiffened and their hostility increased at the Faux Pas.
The jonin stepped out and spoke.
"Yeah, and I'm the first Hokage's third son.
Look, we don't take kindly to your disrespect."
Naruto was starting to get frustrated.
"I'm telling you to listen to me; I need to speak with the Hokage. "
Sasuke put his hand on Naruto's shoulder and whispered to him
"Calm yourself."
The jonin was noticeably incensed. However, he tried to remain professional.
"Submit to search and interrogation, or leave."
Naruto sighed before continuing.
"Okay, make it quick."
The jonin pointed to Naruto and spoke.
"I will be conducting the search of your person, your companion will be searched by one of my subordinates."
One of the chuunin, a kunoichi, stepped out
Naruto and Sasuke stood before the respective parties.
The jonin questioned Naruto
"Before we conduct the search, do you have any weapons to declare?"
Naruto sighed.
"I have no weapons."
The jonin grunted in acknowledgement and started the search. He began patting down Naruto but stopped when he reached the small of Naruto's back.
He suddenly jumped back and called out to his subordinates.
"Surround this man!"
Naruto looked around in confusion.
"What's going on?"
The jonin sneered
"No weapons to declare, huh? Then explain this!"
The jonin held up an kunai and continued.
"I found this in the small of your back, trying to sneak it into the village.
You are hereby under arrest for suspected terrorism and in connection with the act of terrorism that befell Konoha yesterday."
Naruto was shocked and shouted at the man
"You're a damn liar! I wasn't carrying any weapons, and I'm not a terrorist, I'm related to the Hokage for Heaven's sake!"
The jonin ignored Naruto's outburst and commanded his allies.
"Subdue him!"
Naruto cursed under his breath.
"God dammit."
Naruto roused his chakra and concentrated. He built up a small amount and released it in a pulse. The wave of energy impacted, and threw back the ninja that had surrounded him. The 4 gate guards were taken by surprise as they hadn't detected any chakra fluctuations from the man before this moment.
The jonin reacted first, and though he was thrown back, he landed on his feet.
"ENEMY NINJA!" he yelled, and he fired a signal flare into the air.
The other three ninja got back onto their feet, and where they had been somewhat unfriendly before hand, they now had true killing intent focused on the redhaired man before them.
Sasuke ran over to Naruto and hissed out a few words.
"We need to get out of here right now. No amount of explaining is going to work."
Naruto smiled grimly, and without a word, grabbed Sasuke by the arm. Naruto focused his chakra to his legs and made a quick seal with his hands.
"Shunshin no jutsu!"
And Naruto and Sasuke disappeared in a cloud of smoke.
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The four gate guards found themselves in the Hokage's office under the gazes of Minato and Shikaku.
The four remained kneeling with their heads bowed. Minato broke the silence.
"Make your report."
The jonin stood up, saluted and replied.
"Yessir."
The gate guard continued.
"We were standing guard at the main gate this morning when a red haired man with blue eyes and a middle aged woman with black hair and eyes approached the gate.
The woman was mainly silent during the encounter, but the man spoke freely. He claimed to be a member of the Uzumaki clan and tried to enter the village."
Minato interrupted the man.
"You said that this man had red hair and blue eyes?"
The jonin replied.
"Yessir. He was middle aged and looked like he was somewhere in his late 30s of early 40s. He had no detectable chakra, and his life signs were feeble, but we had no sensor ninja to determine his strength with any authority."
Minato gave a quick glance to Shikaku beside him, who returned the look. Minato then frowned grimly and ordered.
"Continue."
The jonin resumed his brief.
"The man was somewhat combative in his speech and initially refused to undergo search and interrogation. I was able to persuade him though and personally undertook the search.
He declared that he had no weapons on his person before the search, but I ended up finding a hidden Kunai near his beltline on the small of his back."
Minato frowned again. His stare bore into the jonin, who was visibly withering below his Hokage's intent.
"Did you really find a hidden weapon?"
The jonin was sweating.
"Yessir!"
Minato commented.
"Last chance. Did he conceal the kunai?"
The jonin looked down in shame and remained silent
Minato looked at the three chuunin and dismissed them.
"You three leave. I have business with your squad leader."
The three gave a sharp salute and exited the room. Their jonin squad leader remained. Minato interrogated.
"Why did you plant a weapon on this man?"
The jonin kept his eyes facing the ground while he replied.
"I apologize Hokage-sama, but he was insulting you, and I intended to arrest him and have him sit in jail for a day to atone.
He claimed to be related to you and kept on insisting to meet with you while using your name without honorifics."
Minato pinched his nose between his eyes and let out a sigh.
"What happened when you tried to arrest him?"
The jonin answered.
"We surrounded him and prepared to take him down, but we were lax in our preparations because we thought him to be a civilian without chakra.
He attacked us, creating space to grab his companion, and the two of them disappeared in a cloud of smoke.
Minato said
"Describe his attack."
The jonin replied.
"It was a wave of pure force. I was unable to see his hand seals, so I cannot identify, but I suspect that it is Wind Release due to its invisible nature."
Minato had a grim look on his face.
"You are hereby ordered to continue in your duties, but you will not draw pay for two months. Now leave."
The jonin saluted and left without a word.
Minato looked at Shikaku and asked.
"Whats' your assessment?"
Shikaku thought for a moment before replying.
"It is fairly evident that this is the same man that interrupted you fight with the Kyuubi.
The fact that he tried to enter the village per proper guidelines while he could undoubtedly sneak in is great news, it speaks to a lack of hostility.
However, we attacked and framed him, meaning that we might have just soiled our relationship with him for the future.
The most concerning news is that he has a companion who we were unaware of.
Luckily, he did not kill any of the four ninja that attacked him."
Minato sighed.
"I am forced to agree, but what should our next steps be?"
It was Shikaku's turn to sigh.
"We can't find any record of this man or the jutsu he's been using. He fits the description of no one found in any bingo book.
All we have is the testimony of your wife stating that he is an Uzumaki, and the man's own admittance in front of the guards.
We have essentially nothing, and can't do anything until he appears again."
Minato nodded in agreement.
Shikaku then probed.
"Speaking of your wife..."
Minato glared at the man.
"... have you two made up yet?"
Minato tried to steel his expression, but Shikaku looked at Minato with mild curiosity while scratching his chin.
Minato remained silent while Shikaku continued.
"Man, women sure are troublesome. My wife yelled at me for three days when I forgot to tuck in Shikamaru the right way, much less try to seal a demon in him."
Minato's expression finally broke its normal stoicism, and it was evident that the young Hokage was upset.
"Shikaku, get out."
"Yes, Hokage-sama."
Once he was alone. Minato held his head with both his hands. His wife, Kushina, was currently extremely mad at him, and he couldn't even get a word in edge wise. It was only serious fight the two had ever had, and Minato was a loss.