Naruto Time Loop

Naruto Time Loop

Lesget loopy

Chapter 1 by cubiccum cubiccum

Naruto was surprised to wake up in his own bed, to say the least. He'd been sure that a sand ninja had turned the foundations of his apartment to dust in the battle ye-

He shot upright. The battle! What had happened? Last he remembered, he'd been sprinting full tilt at the fight between Orochimaru and the old timer. A shimmering blue wall had flickered into existence in front of him, and sure that he could punch through such a flimsy barrier, Naruto had catapulted himself forward. Cut to waking up in his bed.

Heart in his throat, he scrambled out of bed and threw on his clothes as fast as he could. Not even bothering with the door, Naruto launched himself out his window and began frantically jumping over rooftops towards the Hokage's tower.

Konoha was fine. Gone were the deep scars that should have been left by the battle, and the bodies that people should not yet have been able to bring themselves to clean up. Naruto had higher priorities than wondering about such things at the moment, however. Channeling chakra through the soles of his feet, he ran up the side of the tower towards the office at the top. The window was open, and Naruto barreled his way through it. Inside Ibiki, Anko and Sarutobi sat in deep discussion.

"Old timer! What happened? Where's Orochimaru?" It was a rare experience to see Sarutobi or Ibiki surprised, or to see Anko without a smirk on her face. Both happened as soon as Naruto mentioned Orochimaru. Shock and caution came across all of their faces, each of them springing to action in a different way. Anko leapt across the room, pinning Naruto to the wall. Sarutobi flashed through an array of hand seals, causing each entrance to the office to slam shut and seal. Ibiki leant forward in his chair, the head of interrogation realizing that he may have to play good cop in this particular questioning. Sarutobi turned to Naruto.

"Naruto. Where did you hear about Orochimaru? And why would you be trying to find him?" His voice was low, a little dangerous. Naruto was baffled.

"Whaddya mean?! He tore through Konoha yesterday! And he tried to kill me during the second bit of the Chunin exams! We've talked about this, old timer!" Naruto struggled against Anko's hold. Sarutobi and Ibiki shared a glance.

"The Chunin exams only begin today, Naruto. How could he have attacked you during the second task?" Naruto was shocked. Had they lost their memory?

"The Chunin exams started a month ago, gramps." Sarutobi gave a long-suffering sigh.

"Naruto, now is not the time for your pranks. You need to get to the exam center before your team fails for lack of attendance." Ibiki raised his finger.

"Sarutobi, a moment. I think it's important that we give this due thought. For all we know he's fallen victim to some sort of temporal jutsu." Sarutobi let out an exasperated snort.

"Ibiki, the list of confirmed occurrences of time travelling jutsu is minuscule. And none of them come close to the span of time of a month."

"However, every one of them is tied to the Kyubi." Sarutobi considered Ibiki's words for a moment, then sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"The two of you need to get to the exam center. I'll talk to Naruto. He'll pass the first stage if his teammates do." Ibiki nodded and got up to leave. Anko slowly let go of Naruto.

"Actually, sir, I'd like to stay. If it's about Orochimaru, then I'd... well I think it's important that I hear." Sarutobi's expression softened.

"Of course Anko. You'll need to get to the exam center by the end of the first task though." Anko nodded.

"I understand. Thank you, sir."

What followed was an in depth interrogation about the goings on of the last month from Naruto's perspective. Anko had to leave part way through, a troubled look on her face, to introduce the second exam to the rest of the genin. Sarutobi grew more and more concerned as Naruto spoke, and when all was said and done stared at him for a long minute.

"Naruto, I'm going to have to ask that you don't tell a single person about this. We have the potential to stop this attack before it can truly begin at the moment, but that will only last for as long as Orochimaru is unaware of our knowledge."

Naruto clapped his hands together and grinned. "Gotcha gramps, my lips are zipped."

With that, Sarutobi undid the last of the privacy seals around the office and ushered Naruto out. Naruto's stomach was rumbling, but he decided it was more important to go see how Sakura and Sasuke had done on the exam. From his memories of the test, Sakura hadn't even needed to cheat, and Sasuke had managed easily with his sharingan, so he wasn't particularly worried that they had failed. It was a surprise, then, to find his pink haired teammate in tears while being chewed out by her black haired counterpart.

"At least the dunce knew not to show up! Seriously Sakura, what were you thinking?" It was a rare occasion, seeing Sasuke this worked up.

As much as he enjoyed annoying Sasuke, Sakura crying was far more important. "Hey! Don't yell at 'Kura like that!"

Sasuke whirled around to look at him. "Ugh." He groaned. "I just can't deal with both of you right now. You." He jabbed his finger at Sakura viciously. "Explain to him what you did. I'm going to go train." His piece said, the boy stormed off towards the training grounds. Naruto sat down next to Sakura.

"What's the bastard talking about, 'Kura?"

She needed to take a moment to get some control before replying. "I- I dropped out of the exam."

Naruto blinked for a couple of seconds. "But you're super smart, 'kura! You shoulda been able to breeze through that test!"

In Naruto's memories, Sakura hadn't had the slightest issue with the academic questions. So that meant...

"It was the last question. They said if we failed the exam at any point after taking that question, we'd never be able to take another Chunin exam again. I sat there, thinking that it wouldn't be happening in the next exam, and that there were still two sections left, and if one of us failed it would mean the rest would never graduate. I know I would be fine, there are plenty of academic placements for genin, and Sasuke cares more about his than he does rank but." She sighed. "Then I thought about you. How if we did this wrong, you'd never graduate. Never rise through the ranks. Never become Hokage. And I just couldn't take that risk. I'm sorry." She was looking down at her feet as she finished.

Naruto, on the other hand, was ecstatic. She cared! She cared about him! This could only mean one thing. "Does that mean you're saying yes to the date?" He asked, a massive grin stretching across his face.

Sakura looked up at him, aghast. "What? No! I couldn't take that risk as a friend, Naruto. Just doing something nice for someone doesn't mean you want to date them." She got up and started walking away. "Idiot! Honestly."

Naruto was confused. He didn't really understand what Sakura meant by that, but hey, at least it got her to stop crying. He stood, and began wandering home. When he reached his apartment he climbed back in through the window, made a cup of instant ramen, slurped down the noodles, drank the broth in an instant, and fell into bed with a satisfied smack of his lips. His eyes closed peacefully, and he drifted off to dreamland.

Only to find himself in front of a titanic cage with a nine tailed fox staring balefully from within.

"We need to talk."

What does the Kyubi say?

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