Chapter Text
The world was dying. The number of shinobi left could be counted on two hands. Most of the shinobi left were so low on chakra they may as well have been fighting civilians. Naruto, Sasuke and Obito were hiding in a nook of a tree, the giant ancient tree one of the few still standing, severely scorched. The three former enemies were huddled over a heavily bleeding Kakashi.
“You know, Obito, I always wanted you to meet my team…” Kakashi pants.
“Kaka-sensei, shh, save your strength,” Naruto murmured, keeping a steady pressure on the puncture wound. One of Zetsu’s clones had stabbed him as he was trying to push Sasuke out of the way. He had just smiled as Sasuke had stared at him aghast. Sasuke, despite his many faults would always be his adorably broody genin and jumping in front of an attack to give him even a few more hours of life was worth it.
“It’s funny … that it took the end of the world for it to happen.” Kakashi coughed, blood spattering the inside of his mask.
“Bakashi…” Obito sighed, pulling Kakashi’s head more comfortably into his lap. Kakashi turned his head into Obito’s lap making eye contact with Sasuke with his remaining eye.
“I’m still proud of you Sasuke, you’ve grown into such a strong man,” Kakashi smiled just as strongly as ever, even if he was coughing up blood. He turned to Naruto next, “And you Naruto, I am so sorry I never took the chance to know you earlier. I should have been with you from day one, it’s what sensei would have wanted…” more coughing, this time weaker, “You truly could have saved the world if things were even slightly different.”
Naruto held back sobs as he felt his sensei growing cold. If only Sakura was here, not lying broken somewhere, her chakra completely exhausted from trying to save so many she couldn’t even heal herself when Kaguya came for her. She could have saved Kakashi, Naruto knew she also deserved this moment with him even if she couldn’t.
“Obito… I forgive you, I am so sorry I was such a failure of a teammate. I’m sure Sakura and Rin will have quite a few words for me when I see them.”
“No you fool, it’s me who’s failed you. You deserve to live, to have happiness. I took that from you, from everyone in my delusion.”
Kakashi weakly shook his head. Naruto sobbed dryly, “He’s right Sensei you of all people deserve a chance at happiness, a redo-” Naruto gasped, his head snapping up to stare at Obito’s last remaining sharingan, then Sasuke’s. “Sasuke, take over for me, there’s something… I can fix this!”
Sasuke took over holding his bleeding sensei as Naruto used his bloody hands to start drawing. “Dobe what the fuck are you doing. This isn’t the time for some hare-brained seal”
Naruto didn’t pause in his work, quickly and carefully sketching out what looked to be a seal, not one Obito or Sasuke recognized but undeniably a seal.
Naruto quickly ripped open his sensei’s already torn clothing baring his chest. He hesitated a second, looking to Kakashi for permission before removing his mask. The three ninjas barely took the time to take in the mysterious face, visibly taken aback by his beauty and the novelty of finally succeeding in seeing him sans mask despite the circumstances. They had all tried at one point after all. The blonde continued to draw the seals up Kakashi’s neck and face over both eyes barely hiding his cringe at the empty eye socket beneath the closed eyelid.
“I saw this, in an old book my mother owned. The Third Hokage had saved some of my parent’s things, I didn’t know they were my parents when I went through them as a kid but the seals I memorized. It’s in my blood to be good at seals you know.”
This meant different things for the three people listening but they all recognized the truth in it. “It’s where my dad got the idea for his version of the Flying Thunder God technique, a mix of this seal and the Nidaime’s.”
Obito looked at the seal on the ground, and then on his teammate, he could see some similarities in a curve here, or a line there.
“It’s a space time technique, like your Kamui, I’ve been thinking about this, for a long time but I never had all of the pieces until now.”
“What does it do, Dobe?” Naruto finally finished one last blood red line at the center of Kakashi’s forehead.
“It’s a time travel jutsu.”
Ironically, it felt like time had stopped for the battle worn shinobi.
“Time travel - Dobe that’s impossible,” Sasuke sounded resolute but his eyes shifted over the seal hopefully.
“We are literally fighting a goddess right now, and this is unbelievable?” Obito and Sasuke stared at the blond in stunned silence, his blond hair covered in blood and dirt, some his own, some his enemies but mostly the blood of Hinata who had ended up taking a blow for him when he had exhausted Kyuubi’s chakra for the third time.
Kakashi chuckled weakly, “Konoha’s number one unpredictable ninja after all.”
Sasuke blinked looking down at his dying sensei, out over the dead and scorched earth littered with the dead of both friend and foe. There was no use trying to save this world, despite what Naruto thought, but a world a year in the past? 5 years? 10? Well, even Sasuke couldn’t help but be optimistic. “Okay, what do we need to do?”
Naruto smiled at his friend's response, it felt good to have Sasuke back even for just a little while. He looked to Obito, his newest most tentative ally. The older, scarred man nodded, also willing.
“How much chakra we have depends on how far we can send him back as far as I know. I don’t think I can prevent everything… your dead teammate… ”
Obito winced, “I’ve given up on saving her a long time ago. If you can get Kakashi back to… the Uchiha massacre… or your birthday even. Those two events shaped me into someone who could do all this just as greatly as Rin’s death. I didn’t truly kill who I was until then, even if I was good at hiding it.”
Naruto sighed in relief, scared that not being able to save Rin would be what pushed Obito into saying no. “Sensei I know I haven’t asked, but please, there is no one I trust more, no one stronger to do this than you. If Sasuke or I went back then we would fail, we’d be too young to make a difference. But you could.”
Kakashi was deathly pale now but still breathed out an agreement. Naruto smiled motioning for the others to pull Kakashi’s body over onto the seal. It was a slow process as they didn’t want to nudge his wounds more than absolutely necessary. Naruto was almost positive this wouldn’t work with a dead man.
Once he was placed in the center he guided Sasuke and Obito to one of each of the three points which they had just noticed. “Ideally this would be done with more people but … I think this can work since we all have monster chakra reserves, you know.”
Sasuke rolled his eyes, the most childish thing Obito had ever seen the young Uchiha do.
“Kaka-sensei, I can’t guarantee this will work, and I have no idea if I can do this safely but since … well you know” he was already dying, he meant, what worse could they do to him? “As far as I can comprehend the theory your body won’t survive the trip but your thoughts? Soul? The stuff that make up you will, and should seamlessly join with your younger self. It’ll probably hurt.”
“I’m going to be a kid again. Joy.” Obito snorted at his long-time friend's sarcasm. “I trust you Naruto. It doesn’t matter if it hurts. To be able to be with you all again. That’s something I can gladly endure pain for.”
It was the most honest he’d been with them, well maybe not completely but the lack of mask showed them that Kakashi really couldn’t hide his expressions at all. The mask really had done all the work.
Naruto shook himself out of it. “Sasuke can hold the genjutsu hiding us for just a few moments, then when we need to throw all of our chakra into it … let it go and focus on only the jutsu.” He didn’t have to say out loud that this would make them completely vulnerable to the goddess. They would not be able to defend themselves. They were putting their all into sending Kakashi back for better or worse. The world would end here in this version of the future.
The seal started to glow as Naruto fed his chakra into it, Sasuke joined him only half a second later, Obito shared one last lingering look with Kakashi, everything being said with a single look. This was a chance, a chance for Kakashi to make up for everything, to clean up after Obito and himself, one last time.
“I know if anyone can talk me out of those grand delusions I had it’s you Bakashi.”
Kakashi teared up at the trust Obito - his students - were putting in him. He never thought he could live up to their expectations but damn it he was going to even out of pure stubbornness. The seals on Kakashi’s body were the last to start glowing, almost blinding in their brightness. They glowed white despite being made of blood and being powered with three very different chakras.
It was almost beautiful.
Naruto nodded at Sasuke, “Obito, open your Kamui, but only within the seal.” Obito did just that, a large hole opening underneath Kakashi, the seals seemingly holding him above it. Sasuke released the genjutsu hiding them, a rush of sound of those last few fighting and screaming and dying surrounding them all. As it dissipated all three threw every last particle of their chakra into the seal. Kakashi was blinded by one last flash of light as everything went dark.
The last thing he heard was three almost simultaneous thumps and Kaguya’s high cruel laugh. His last precious people were dead, and he was pulled into an infinite darkness.