Time Travel? What The Fuck?

Chapter 12: Repercussions

Consciousness came slowly to Naruto. It was fuzzy at first, like a heavy blanket draped over his senses. But slowly it was lifting, and he became more aware of his surroundings.

There were waves outside, and the sound of wave crashing against surf woke him further. Where was he? The last thing he remembered was... it was...

Right, Haku. He hadn't died, and neither had Zabuza. Relief flooded through him as he lay on what was presumably a futon. But what had happened afterwards? After he had passed out? Had they left? Had Kakashi-sensei gone and finished him off? He didn't know.

The sound of pages turning caught his ear, and slowly, he cracked an eye open to see who it was.

"Welcome back to the waking world," someone drawled from across the room. Naruto blinked and rubbed at his eyes, propping himself up on an elbow to see who had spoken. He was met with the sight of Kakashi-sensei propped up against the wall with his book, reading. Or he had been, Naruto noted once he noticed his eye was on him rather than the pages.

"Kakashi-sensei," Naruto croaked out, throat surprisingly dry and, despite the gravelly edge, voice questioning. Kakashi noticed and set his book down so as to give the boy his full attention.

"You've only been out for two days," he said, answering Naruto's unspoken question.

"Two days?" He echoed in shock.

"Yes, chakra exhaustion tends to do that to a person," was his sensei's almost-snide remark - almost snide, because there was still concern in Kakashi-sensei's voice and in his statement. But still, it was a little jarring to Naruto, who had only experienced severe chakra exhaustion two, maybe three, times in his life. And those times were limited only to intense training and going all out in a fight. And he hadn't really gone all out with Haku. Not even close.

Noticing his confusion, Kakashi-sensei explained. "Do you remember the chains you summoned on the bridge?" He asked. Naruto frowned, recalling the memory. He had been confused and surprised by them, but hadn't really put a lot of thought into it. There had been more pressing issues at hand. Like making sure Kakashi-sensei wasn't decapitated and that Sasuke didn't kill Haku or vice versa. That didn't mean, however, that he didn't recognise them. He had seen his mom use them to hold down Kurama when he had stolen the beast's chakra. But thinking back, how had he summoned those?

"They are a rare Uzumaki kekkei genkai," Kakashi-sensei filled in. "I've only seen them once before, and, quite frankly, I'm surprised you managed to awaken them yourself," he continued. "Using them the way you did at that power must have drained your reserves more than any jutsu you're used to. So it's natural you'd suffer chakra exhaustion."

"Wait," Naruto said, sitting up straight, ignoring the wave of dizziness that washed over him from the action. "I have a kekkei genkai? For real?"

Kakashi-sensei nodded solemnly. "It would appear so."

Naruto blinked, taking it in. He had a kekkei genkai. Him. The Uzumaki clan had a bloodline skill. He really shouldn't have been surprised, considering he'd managed to pull it off, but some part of him still had doubts that it was just his mom, somehow. Or some other reason he couldn't think of. To actually think that it was his own power he'd managed to unlock, instead of some other borrowed power, it was amazing. He could hardly wrap his head around it.

"Wow," he breathed. Then, in a louder voice he exclaimed, "I'm awesome, y'know! Take that Sasuke, look who's got a kekkei genkai now, y'know!"

"I think you're getting a little too excited over this," Kakashi-sensei voiced, sweat beading on his brow.