Starting over

#0 Prologue

Dream no Jutsu

Naruto POV

I ran through the village, desperately trying to get rid of my followers. I'm pretty sure that there are a few shinobi among them, so i really don't want them to catch me. I take another turn and find myself running into a wall. 'Fuck, I must have taken a wrong turn.', I curse in my thoughts. I turn around to check if there was any other way out of this alleyway, but as soon as i turn i get hit by a fist. I fly back right into the wall. I don't dare to open my eyes, because if i would i'd immediately pass out from fear. I feel my hands and my feet getting stabbed and I try not to give them the pleasure of crying out loud in pain, but that doesn't go too well when they start to pour alcohol into the wounds which they create. I open my mouth and start to cry all the pain out...

Dream no Jutsu; Kai

Naruto POV

I woke up, completely drenched in sweat. Sitting up in my bed i look around and find myself in my own house in my bedroom. Beside me lies Hinata. She smiles in her sleep. I get up, throw some clothes on and jump out of our window onto the roof of our house.

The top of the Kage-Monument always calmed me although I didn't know why for the most part of my youth. Now I don't need it to calm me down anymore, because I don't have to fear the villagers or the fact that i could starve to death. Nowadays I usually come up here to think about my life and what I could have done different. I know that those nightmares won't go away because the trauma that I got from my youth is too strong to ever go away completely. But I sometimes find myself thinking about what I would do if I could go back in time and relive my life up to this point. Would I change anything? Would it even matter? I mean, if i could i would try to get rid of those nightmares by simply hiding from the villagers. But I doubt that there is a way to travel back in time.

Well your doubts would be wrong. There is a way to travel through time, but it is extremely risky.

And you tell me now? You know exactly that I want to be able to sleep normally. So, why did you wait so long to tell me?

Because I want you to be absolutely sure that you want to do it. If you are going to do it you won't be able to come back. And you don't know for certain, if something will change or if you will even survive the time travel itself.

Alright, I will think about it. I will let you know when my decision is made.

I got up from my position on the fourth's head and jumped back to my house, while pondering if I should really go back in time and if it was worth risking everything I achieved, just to free me of those nightmares.

As i came home, I started making breakfast for my family since they would be waking up soon. I made some eggs with bacon and put it on four plates. I brought one to Himawari's room and woke her up by opening her blends. She looked at me, took the plate from my hand and thanked me for making her breakfast. As I walked into my son's room I sat down the plate and opened his blends too. He blinked into the light, realized that I was standing in his room and stared me dead in the eyes. He took his plate and then kept staring at me until I was out of his room. That is when I realized that I had destroyed my relationship with my son. I went to Hinata and sat on our bed. She was already awake, because our blends have been open the whole night and so the sun had woken her up. She looked at me while taking her plate and noticed, that something was off. "Hey Naru, what's on your mind?", she asked. " Nothing, I just had those nightmares again.", I told her, while I picked at my food without actually wanting to eat anything. She just looked at me without saying anything and continued eating her breakfast. I sighed, decided that I would skip breakfast and brought my plate back into the kitchen.

As I got into my office my secretary smiled sadly at me and handed me two large piles of paperwork . And to top it all I recently learned that I couldn't use my shadow clones for this kind of work , because they would dispel themselves when they got exposed to too much mental work. I sighed and searched my desk for a weapon to fight my worst enemy, namely a pen.

That night I didn't even bother going to bed, mainly because I didn't want to wake Hinata up. So I returned to my spot on my father's head and gazed into the stars.

Hey Kura, I've made my decision.

So what do you want to do?

I want to go back. I want to see how my life turns out without the beatings.

Any special reason for wanting to leave this life?

Well, to be honest I don't really love Hinata anymore, I like her as a good friend, but she's just not what I search in a woman. I want someone that is caring , someone I can spoil with my love, someone that I can lean on, but on the same time I want someone to challenge me, someone that puts me in my place, someone that tries to get want they want and fight for it. And while Hina is caring and I can shower her with my love, she does never try to get her own will, she doesn't challenge me.

Then there is the issue with our kids. I love them really, but I missed my chance with Boruto and Himawari by not being at home with them but instead spending days and weeks in my office without once seeing them or talking to them.

Overall while my life has been successful in terms of my Shinobi career, my personal life is a mess. I don't really have any friends because of the time I spend in my office, my family is the same and the person I'm supposed to love is more like a good friend to me.

So I take it, that you are absolutely sure about that.

Yes I am.

Okay, I'm going to transfer my knowledge about the jutsu to you. But I have a few questions before you actually decide to go.

I felt the urge to just perform the jutsu as soon as I knew the handsings for it but I didn't because I wanted to do my friend the joy of answering his questions.

Shoot.

Okay, are you going to try and marry Hinata again?

No, as said I see her now as a friend, and the so called love I had for her was just me misinterpreting my loyalty towards her.

Hm, sad, I liked her, anyways, are you going to stay in Konoha, or are you trying to go somewhere else to get away from the villagers?

I plan to, stay in Konoha and to just avoid the attacks, but if I see that there is no use to it or if I get banished I wouldn't wait to go to Suna or Iwa to join their forces.

Sounds like a plan. What are your goals in the 'new' timeline?

I want to become an Anbu or something similar, but not Kage, because that is way to troublesome. I want to find a girl that I actually love. Now that I know what it means, I probably am able to find one.

Nice goals. Well that's it from me, I'm going to miss you, make sure you befriend me again.

I will but I'll miss you too, my friend.

I sighed, looked over the village one last time and then went through the set of handsings that the timetravel-jutsu required. Everything went white when I channeled my chakra into my hands.