Never Again: A Naruto Fanfiction

Chapter 3: Stress

"Naruto!" Sakura shouted as she dodged over a Zetsu and quickly smashed her fist into its, sending it flying through the air. "He's coming!" Naruto groaned as he pulled his chakra rod out of the dead Zetsu. 

"Everyone get back!" He shouted. "Sasuke, you ready?" Sasuke strolled up the blonde, a small frown on his face.

"Ready as I'll ever be." He said as his Rinnegan flared, drawing out his sword. "I think we can stop him this time." Naruto laughed a little bit, but it was stiff and filled with tenseness. 

"We'll make sure to beat him, we won't lose!" 

They had lost. Terribly. Naruto's eyes fluttered open in his bed, his entire body aching. He had been training. A lot. He would spend most of the days fighting his own shadow clones, working on his speed. 

He also had his clones training nonstop on perfecting the Rasengan, but it was a lot harder than he could remember it being in the past. He had spent hours upon hours trying to perform it better but had failed in all of his attempts so far. 

Sitting up on the bed, he wiped away the sleep from his eyes and stretched before slowly getting up, his bare feet touching the cold wooden floor. What was his next move? Besides training, what else could he do to improve himself in order to save the future?

A lightbulb lit up in his mind and he quickly hurried to get dressed, not worried since it was his day off. 

Hiruzen Sarutobi was visibly frowning as he peered outside the Hokage Tower's windows, gazing upon his village with a troubled look in his eye. If Naruto was indeed Naruto and spoke the truth, then he would die soon, and the village would soon fall as well. 

He did not wish for that to happen, even if Naruto was an impostor and possibly lying, he would still take the necessary precautions that needed to happen. 

While thinking about Naruto, his frown only deepened. 

The blonde boy knew too much, and the absolute best-case scenario of him knowing this knowledge was that he was indeed from a broken future, instead of a knowledgable shinobi skilled in the art of the Transformation Jutsu, which Hiruzen could feel no chakra of the such coming off the boy who claimed to be Naruto Uzumaki.  

The Seventh Hokage. . . such a claim was almost ridiculous if not for the fact that Naruto could go into deep detail about how things would go in the future. Tsunade as the Fifth, Kakashi Hatake, who was dead in this timeline, the Sixth, and then Naruto as the Seventh. He didn't know what else to truly believe. 

His thoughts were interrupted when Naruto walked through the door. "Hokage-sama, I need your help." Hiruzen turned around, quickly putting on his grandfatherly smile. 

"And what can I help with you, Naruto-kun?" He asked slowly, trying his best to study the boy, but he remained a blank slate, almost emotionless like one of Danzo's Root agents. 

"I need you to help me go shopping," Naruto admitted, immediately breaking his entire emotionless stature, a small, embarrassed blush appearing on his face. Hiruzen rose an eyebrow. 

"I thought the Seventh-" He began, only to stop as Naruto immediately placed a finger over his mouth, causing the Hokage to stop speaking. 

"Not around them." Hiruzen's eyes widened slightly. He had sensed the Anbu hiding in the ceiling? 

"How did you know?" 

"I'm not speaking any further until they leave. While I realize they are your protection, I am no threat as of right now."