Chapter Text
Team Seven was heading back to Konoha. The mission itself went smoothly, just another escort assignment for some bigshot counsel member of a neighboring town. No crazy mob boss or another Zabuza after them like last time, luckily.
It was about a three-day's journey home, so Kakashi pulls out the latest edition of his educational book series and catches up with some light reading on the walk back. It had been on sale in the village their client was from, and he still couldn’t believe how cheap he’d gotten it for. Maybe God is real, if the heavens really smiled down on Kakashi like that. Now, he’s finally got a chance to crack it open. He does his best to drown out Naruto chattering on about “how much of a loser” their client was, gesturing wildly with his hands at Sasuke and Sakura as they walk.
“ - and he kept bragging about his fancy clothes that were weaved with beaver hair or something - “
She seductively approaches her chosen partner for the night, sliding a hand up his chest-
“I mean, the guy didn’t even thank us for dragging him all the way there - “
The man trails his eyes up her figure, all the way to her lips. She notices his gaze and smiles-
“You see the way he laughed at me?? My clothes are fine!”
“Are you ready?,” She asks, reaching out to grasp the man’s-
“Naruto I swear, if you don’t shut up you’re gonna have it!!”
Kakashi shuts his book and sighs, looks like that was all the reading he could do for the day. He puts his book into his bag and slides his hands into his pockets. Sakura slugs Naruto right in his arm and holds her fist up. Naruto stops walking and clutches his arm, wincing.
Sakura runs to catch up to Sasuke, who has long since lost interest in their interaction and walks on ahead. She steps into pace with him, batting her eyelashes and twirling a strand of her hair like some love interest of a classic romcom. Sasuke continues walking, not wanting to entertain a conversation with his pink-haired teammate.
This is Kakashi’s exciting life. Sometimes he feels like an over-glorified babysitter.
Naruto bounds up to Kakashi, giving up on talking with Sakura or Sasuke. “Kakashi sensei, that mission was too easy! I want a dangerous mission, where I can really prove myself, not babysitting old people all the time, ya know!”
Kakashi sweatdrops at Naruto’s….. enthusiasm. How the hell he still had so much energy after a whole week of hiking through the forest, Kakashi can only wonder. It’s not as if the mission was physically taxing so much as mentally tiring. Walking for long periods of time in the same overgrown forest was tedious in and of itself, let alone their client having a tendency to drone on about his “duties of the utmost importance” within his village. They’ve been doing the same exact task every single day, no variation. Overall, the mission was mentally exhausting on all of them.
The point was, Kakashi felt like doing nothing for the next two days, least of all another mission, so he’s admittedly baffled and vaguely impressed by Naruto’s relentless stamina. “Look, Naruto, why don’t you ask the Hokage about this later? You do know I don’t have that much power over who gets what missions,” Kakashi says absentmindedly, rubbing the back of his neck.
“Sensei! That old man never listens to me!” Naruto yells, loudly. Naruto continues on his tirade about the sandaime as they walk back to the village.
Kakashi sighs for the nth time that day. The debrief on the mission could wait, he’s taking a much-deserved bath when he gets home.
__________
Despite his deepest desires, Kakashi finds himself debriefing the mission in the Hokage’s office. The genin’s presence also required for the debrief was the only satisfaction Kakashi gets. His little slice of revenge. God, his neck is so stiff.
“Well, it seems the mission was carried out successfully with no complications,” The sandaime states, hands clasped in front of him on the desk. He reaches over to grab his pipe and takes a long drag.
“Uh huh! Yeah, the mission went really good, “ Naruto throws his hand up in a mock salute. “No thanks to the client though…” he adds on.
Sakura side-eyes Naruto. She leans over and mutters if he really thought this type of attitude would help him climb the ranks. Naruto grumbles something about the client being the one with an attitude problem. Just then, he perks up.
“Hey old man! When are we ever going to get a super-hard ninja mission? This one was way easier than the bridge guy one, and we handled that one just fine! I wanna super duper top-secret S-rank mission!” Naruto yells excitedly. He steps forward and clenches his fist in front of him, fired up.
Kakashi sighs. He’s definitely going to hear about this later.
“Naruto, it’s true team seven has been performing well for a genin team, but A-rank missions are still off the table.” The sandaime takes another drag from his pipe. “The Land of Waves mission wasn’t meant to be so high risk. Once you gain more experience and progress through the ranks and study extensively, only then can you take on higher-level missions. We’ve discussed this.”
All three genin droop a little at the Hokage’s words. Kakashi sighs again. Honestly, he should start expecting this regularly, especially from Naruto. He bets that Sasuke probably felt similarly.
Suddenly, loud footsteps come rushing down the hall towards the Hokage’s office. A figure bursts through the double doors, and Kakashi along with his three genin instinctively tense from the intrusion. His hand automatically hovers over his bag with his ninja tools, ready for a confrontation if necessary.
The person is an ANBU agent, judging from the uniform and mask. Although Kakashi couldn’t see their face, he assumed they were in a bit of a panicked rush based on the way they barged into the Hokage’s office. They hastily kneel for the Hokage, waiting for permission to speak.
“What is it? I’m in the middle of a debrief.” The Hokage stands from his desk and places his hands on top. He carries an authoritative air around him.
“We have a situation,” The agent starts, seemingly composed, the only thing giving them away was a slight tremble in their voice. “My unit was sent to investigate a potentially dangerous jutsu caster in the land of grass. The caster has been apprehended, and is currently being held and interrogated by a member of the Yamanaka clan.”
So far, Kakashi thinks the story seemed pretty standard for an ANBU mission. He remembers going on missions of a similar premise often when he was an agent. Normally, the ANBU debriefed late at night, unless it was an absolute emergency. So it begs the question, what was this about?
The agent continues, “We’ve managed to get a few answers out of her, specifically about a jutsu involving time travel.”
Kakashi’s eyes widen. Time travel? He admits it’s not the easiest thing to believe. There were many impressive jutsu to exist in their world, from teleportation to transformation to possessing the capability to move the sea and land itself. That said, time travel seems almost unreal, a fairy tale among aspiring masters of complex forbidden jutsu. It has never been done before, or even attempted. Most shinobi, including Kakashi, didn’t even think it was possible.
Both Sasuke and Sakura look taken aback, their eyes wide. Not surprising, Kakashi thinks, they probably never even heard of time travel jutsu, but he assumes they could only guess about the dangerous implications such a technique could have on the shinobi world.
Naruto gapes and takes a step back. “Huh?? Time travel?! Is that even possible?!!!”
The Hokage holds up a hand to Naruto, effectively silencing him. He turns back to the agent, eyebrows furrowing and jaw set tightly. “Continue, please.”
“She boasted about successfully being able to use a time travel jutsu, but once we started interrogating her about how it worked, she immediately went silent. The Yamanaka are still trying to get answers out of her.”
Kakashi isn’t so quick to believe that the jutsu caster would so proudly expose her accomplishments. “How do you know she’s telling the truth? She could have tricked you into thinking time travel jutsu were possible, trying to spread chaos in the village.”
The agent looks at Kakashi, then back to the Hokage, who nods. Apprehensively, they started, “Lord third, we have proof,”
Everyone in the room tensed.
The sandaime’s eyes narrow. “You mean, she was successfully able to transport herself through time?”
The ANBU member shakes their head. “No, she was able to transport a person from the past to our current time, a young boy about thirteen years old. He’s currently in the hospital due to wounds sustained from his own time, i’m assuming.”
Now, even if he is still rather young, Kakashi considers himself well-versed in the… abnormalities of the shinobi world. He thought he’d seen it all, at least, every possible strange anomaly up until this point. But this, this was by far the oddest thing he’s heard. He drags a gloved hand down his face and grimaces under his mask. What a mess.
The Hokage has a thoughtful look in his eye, the gears turning in his head. He glances at team Kakashi, before sighing deeply. “Your students have heard too much, Kakashi. You all are dismissed.”
Kakashi pauses, hesitant. “Yes sir,” Kakashi eventually mutters before he gesturing to his genin to exit the room. All three make no move to leave. Naruto takes a step forward.
“No way! Hey, I wanna know what’s going on!!”
Kakashi pulls Naruto back by his shoulder. “Naruto, we need to leave. This information is highly classified.” In a way, he understands Naruto. Kakashi has a tendency to be a bit curious, and, in turn, nosy. He also wants to know more about this time travel jutsu. Something so powerful could permanently change their world and held the potential to destroy reality itself.
“Sensei, we’ve already heard this much, no way I can just forget about- gah!”
Kakashi firmly tugs Naruto towards the door. He looks back at Sasuke and Sakura, silently telling them to follow. Sakura snaps up and quickly tails after Kakashi and Naruto, but Sasuke remains firmly in place. Why is his team so damn stubborn?
“Sasuke, we need to go,” Sakura says quietly. She walks back and pulls at his sleeve. Sasuke narrows his eyes, whole body still tense. He eventually closes his eyes and sighs.
“Fine.”
Team seven exits the Hokage’s office.
__________
Hiruzen, for better or for worse, is highly confident in his ability to handle difficult situations, even if circumstances seem dire. He played a key role in both the second and third great shinobi world wars, was entrusted by the Tobirama Senju to become his successor, and kept the nine tailed fox at bay while giving civilians enough time to evacuate. Throughout his long life, he’s built up quite a lofty portfolio of accomplishments against formidable opponents.
So when one of his agents barges into his office unannounced and starts spewing all sorts of information on time travel jutsu, he feels unnaturally calm toward the whole thing, like he’s perfectly capable of handling it.
Once Kakashi’s squad leaves the office, Hiruzen sits back down and fiddles with his pipe before putting it away. “There’s something else, isn’t there?”
The agent nods, “The boy, we’ve identified him.”
Hiruzen leans forward and rests his arms on the desk. “And?”
“The Yamanaka sifted through his head and looked into his memories. Turns out, that the boy is Madara Uchiha.”
The third Hokage sucks in a breath.
He might want his pipe after all.
Hiruzen shuts his eyes, forehead wrinkled. To say this is a problem wouldn’t even cover half of it. Time travel jutsu was problematic, sure, but Madara Uchiha? It went without saying that this was highly classified. The damage this could cause if it was leaked would be detrimental to the entire world.
If all of the five great nations were to find out about this, it would throw the shinobi world into chaos.
Hiruzen takes a deep breath and tries to focus on what their current position is. They don’t know how to undo the jutsu and Madara Uchiha, that Madara Uchiha, is in the hospital about a ten-minute walk from here. First, they need someplace to put him. The most obvious option would be a holding cell, similar to where the jutsu caster was being kept. He would need around-the-clock surveillance, chakra suppressors, and an entire squad keeping watch. However. Hiruzen doubts he’ll just sit quietly in a cell with unknown shinobi surrounding him.
Hiruzen is struck with an idea.
Madara is from the warring states era. Constant conflict and war has kept him cautious and untrusting towards almost everyone. Back then, the only ones you could trust were those from your own clan. Look after your own. Those were the words every clan used to live by. They couldn’t afford the risk of placing trust or dependency on another, no matter how impoverished or weakened they became. This innate distrust poses quite the issue for Hiruzen, especially since, even as the child he currently is, Madara Uchiha is by no means weak and most likely won’t surrender himself without a fight.
Which leads Hiruzen to his current solution. If Madara will only trust his fellow clansmen, then he should be placed with a fellow Uchiha.
Team seven is already aware of the presence of Madara, they just aren’t aware of his identity. They’re bound to be curious, including Kakashi, so he might as well let them fully in on this task. If Hiruzen places Madara under the supervision of Kakashi and is in close proximity to Sasuke Uchiha, then he will be less likely to either try to escape or attack Konoha shinobi.
The ANBU agent kneeling before him stares up at Hiruzen, awaiting his orders.
The third Hokage stands up, supporting himself with his hands pressing on the desk. He walks toward the window overlooking the rest of the village. “When will he gain consciousness and be cleared?” Hiruzen questions, taking a drag from his pipe.
The agent clears their throat, “The doctors say in about two days, sir.”
Hiruzen nods, “Please continue to keep an eye on him. In two day’s time, I’ll summon team Kakashi to be Madara’s primary supervisor. You are dismissed.” He waves a hand behind him at the ANBU agent.
The agent nods, before promptly leaving the Hokage’s office. Hiruzen sets his pipe down and faintly smiles. Seems that Naruto is, in fact, going to get that super duper top-secret S-rank mission he’d wanted.
__________
Sasuke has suspicions. Whatever the hell that interaction was between the agent and the Hokage, they were hiding something.
After the debriefing-turned-emergency-meeting, their team all went their seperate ways. Well, only after Sakura had tried to convince him to go on a date, to which he politely declined to. Then the dobe badgered Kakashi about getting ramen at Ichiraku’s because of their success on the mission. To be completely honest, ramen had actually sounded quite good, almost offering to join Naruto. Ultimately, he decided against it because he has a reputation to uphold, damn it. Kakashi, as usual, said something about catching up on some light reading. As for Sasuke, he headed straight home after escaping his conversation with Sakura. A whole week with all three of them is too much for him to handle. He’s about had it up to here with his teammates.
Which leads him to the present, sitting on his bed after showering and changing into clean, comfortable clothes. Contemplating. Alone.
Obviously time travel is something that they should all be slightly concerned about, but they already apprehended the caster of the jutsu, so why were the agent and the hokage so tense? Sure, apparently there was some runaway from a completely different time period currently being held in the hospital and it’s kind of a big issue, he gets that. Still, Sasuke can’t shake the feeling that the agent knew something else that they didn’t think they could say, or more accurately, didn’t think they could say in front of team seven. He bets it’s about the jutsu caster. Maybe she was a rogue shinobi formerly of konoha?
Sasuke sighs and lays back onto his bed. He’s too drained to think any more about this. Maybe he’ll drag Naruto with him to go snoop around tomorrow morning. It’s not like he could bring Sakura since she would just snitch on them, not that he would even want to bring her. He shuts his eyes and falls asleep.
__________
Since his body hates him for some reason, Sasuke is up at the ass crack of dawn with a kink in his neck and the heaviest eyebags he’s had in months. And of course, he’s one of those people who can’t go back to sleep no matter how hard he tries, of course. He slowly sits up, groaning a bit and rubbing at his neck aggressively.
Normally, he doesn’t mind waking up so early in the morning. He enjoys the routine, forces him to be more productive. It helps with his focus and performance during their missions. To get stronger, strong enough to defeat that man.
Today though, as he drags himself to his tiny bathroom and stares at the dark circles under his eyes, he wants nothing more than to go back to bed. This was the one time he allows himself to sleep in just a bit, since they usually get the day off after a longer mission like this, and it’s gone.
Fuck it, if he’s gotta suffer, then Naruto gets to as well. The incident at the Hokage’s office is still bothering him anyways, and he’ll need someone to shove the blame onto if they get caught. So, with newfound motivation to see his teammate, he slides his shoes on and heads off to the dobe’s apartment.
He knocks loudly on Naruto’s apartment door, knowing that Naruto’s the type to sleep through an earthquake. He knows this because a couple of months ago that actually happened. Ten seconds of knocking later, when Sasuke is about ready to break the damn thing off its hinges (not like it’d be that hard, since it’s literally rotting at the corners, like the rest of his apartment), Naruto’s door creaks open.
Naruto is in his pajamas when he answers the door, still rubbing the sleep from his eyes. His hair is messily sticking out of his head, even more chaotic than usual. Fluffy, Sasuke’s mind supplies unhelpfully.
“S’suke… jeez what time is it?” His voice is quiet and soft.
Something weird happens to Sasuke. He feels his heart lurch a bit. Fuck, what was that about?
Sasuke mentally shakes himself out of it. “Get dressed. We’re going to the hospital.”
Naruto instantly becomes more awake and decides the best course of action is to screech whatever dumb thing is gonna come out of his mouth. “WHAT?! Why are we going to the hospital??”
And just like that, whatever mysterious fuzzy moment he had for Naruto promptly evaporated. Sasuke clamps Naruto’s mouth shut with his hand. “Shut it. Or do you want to wake up the entire village?!” he hisses.
“Armph oou imphhrd mmor mmphnngg??” Naruto innocently inquires, still so loud.
“I can’t understand a thing you’re saying,” Sasuke mutters, already shoving Naruto by his face back into his apartment to get ready.
Then, just because his blond teammate simply is a horrible little terror in Sasuke’s life and a menace to society in general, he opens his lips as much as possible under Sasuke’s hand and proceeds to lick and slobber all over it.
Any and all positive feelings toward Naruto are officially gone.
“What the fuck is wrOng with you?!” Sasuke yells, and, oh god, his voice cracks. Very. Loudly.
His reputation. Gone. He can never show his face to the village again. He’s going rogue.
Sasuke grabs Naruto and rubs his hand all over the front of his shirt in petty revenge. Naruto, the little shit, fucking cackles.
“Forget it.” Sasuke spats. He turns to leave the apartment.
Naruto disappears inside his home, presumably to get changed. His laughs can still be heard all the way outside the apartment. He emerges five minutes later in a fashion medley of orange on orange on more fucking orange. At least his mood seems to have mellowed out a bit.
Sasuke starts walking toward the hospital, hearing Naruto trail closely behind.
“So, why are we going to the hospital,” he asks, in a normal volume this time, “I was asking if you were injured?”
Their shoulders brush a little, walking side by side now. Sasuke does his best to ignore the fuzzy feeling returning. “I wanted to find out who the kid that got time traveled is, since we got kicked out of the office early.”
“Oh, I got it now! You wanted to snoop around n’ stuff!” Naruto says.
They make their way through Konoha’s pathways. The hospital isn’t that far, about a fifteen-minute walk. Logically, it shouldn’t feel like it takes that much time. Unfortunately, anything having to do with Naruto is, in fact, never logical, Sasuke has gathered. They spend the entire walk in dead, awkward silence.
It occurs to Sasuke that he’s never really spent time with Naruto one-on-one before, except during their training in the land of waves. That was different though, since they were actually training, not just walking through town at five am. The atmosphere was not nearly this stiff. He sure as hell isn’t going to do something like initiate a conversation, though.
Besides, Naruto cracks. “So… Whyd’ja ask me to go? What about Sakura or Kakashi sensei?”
“Idiot, why in the world would I ask Kakashi? He’d be obligated to tell the Hokage what I was doing. Same with Sakura. She would just get nervous and tell Kakashi.”
Naruto raises his eyebrows, “I doubt Sakura would snitch if you asked her nicely.” Naruto rubs his hand under his chin, “Hmmm, though you might have to go on a date with her after, ya know?”
Sasuke scowls and Naruto laughs at his expression.
Once at the hospital, they sneak in through a window and decide to manually check each room themselves. They can’t really just walk up to the front desk and ask, Hey! We’re looking for a time traveler who’s being held here under strict surveillance by the ANBU! Also, he’s apparently an S-rank government secret. Mind telling us which room he’s in?
Both of them scope out the first through third floors with no luck. Maybe Sasuke should’ve expected this. He doubts the room is just a plain one, either. ANBU agents are probably crawling around anyway, guarding him carefully.
“What the…” Naruto starts. He’s a few feet away, peeking around a corner.
Sasuke walks over to where he is, and peers around the corner above Naruto’s head. It’s like a tornado touched down in the hallway. There are ripped curtains, bandages, needles, and various other medical supplies strewn across the floor of the hallway. At the end of the hall, a window is open. He catches a glimpse of the kid crawling out of it.
Sasuke’s eyes widen.
It was only a second, but it was long enough to see the signature Uchiha clan symbol on the back of his mantle. His clan. That, and the sword he carried at his back.