Friends

Third Person P. O. V.

Naruto opened his eyes, looking around as he sat up on top of leaves, and was very close to the gates of Konoha. Kuruma did not tell him what time he landed in, but he knew it was before his time.

For one, his father wasn't carved into the rock, meaning he was sent back before he had become Hokage. If he had gone back this far, it had to have been for a good reason. It would have to be a crucial time period that would affect the future, but Naruto didn't know what he would have to change.

He looked at his own body, to find that he was the same as he was in the war, but not dressed in what he had been wearing. Instead, he was wearing a fishnet shirt along with pants similar to Kakashi's. He lifted it up, seeing that not only did he have no scars, but he didn't have his seal. He could also see that his hair, which had a few strands in his face, was pure black instead of blond.

He couldn't help the smirk coming onto his face as he praised Kuruma for being able to mask the details that would arouse suspicion from the ANBU, and the Hokage.

Suddenly, a yellow flash appeared in front of him along with 3 other blurs appearing with it. Naruto held in the urge to gasp as he instantly recognized the Blond man, as well as another recognizable person right next to him.

The starting of that gravity defying hair, and that stupid mask was all too familiar. It was the younger version of Kakashi Hatake, along with Rin and Obito.

"Who are you?"Kakashi had asked him, pointing a kunai at him. Naruto blinked once, looking at the small Kakashi that threatened him. In the blink of an eye Naruto appeared behind Kakashi, turning the kunai around so that it slightly pressed against his covered throat.

He had never been able to pull such a move with Kakashi from his time, so it made him swell with pride that he was doing this. Of course, the pride showed through his smirk and a light chuckle, setting the group on edge even more.

Naruto paid no attention to his father who had been staring at him, wondering how to approach this situation now that the tables were turned, a bit. Minato looked at Naruto as a threat, yet he was also curious about this boy. Curious about why he looked like he had been through war. His eyes were cold and dead as if he knew the pain of loss.

"Release him, and we can talk about why you are here" Minato ordered, his voice much deeper then Naruto had expected. His hand shook when he heard his Father's voice, tears threatening to spill from his eyes. He closed them for a brief moment, making the tears dry up so they wouldn't see them.

He sighed as he moved the kunai away from Kakashi's throat, pushing him towards Minato and the two other genins. He felt cold as soon as Kakashi left, like a part of him had been taken away, just like how he felt when he saw Kakashi dead. Naruto didn't realize just how much he needed Kakashi until he was gone, but not for long.

"I am Menma"Naruto said. Telling Minato that his name was Naruto could have an affect on what Naruto would be like in the future, well the name that is.

He could feel the fox within him stir at his name, signaling he was somewhat conscious. Maybe then the fox could help him out with what he was suppose to do, and why he was here.

Minato nodded his head, thinking about the boy they had found. He seemed to be far from harmless, and something was definitely off. Maybe it was the fact that a dark aura surrounded the boy. Whatever it was put Minato on edge.

Kakashi noticed it as well, and wanted to eliminate the threat as soon as possible. He was giving off hatred and malice, making Naruto flinch from just how much there was. Ever since he had unlocked Tailed Beast Mode, he was able to sense chakra that had darkness or malice in it. Kakashi had a little bit in him, enough for Naruto to detect it.

His Kakashi never had such malice like this one.

Naruto frowned as he remembered the porn loving man. How Kakashi had left him, and didn't even say goodbye. Hatred stirred inside of him, making the Kyuubi stir a bit from such an emotion.

"Tell me, Menma, why are you here?"Minato asked. Naruto wanted to hug his own father, but he had to keep himself in check.

He looked at the 3 friends, and was reminded of his own team. Sasuke was like Kakashi, Rin and Sakura, Obito and himself. Each of them having identical personalities.

Naruto really thought hard about the story he would tell them. He could say that he was a wandering man, a former ninja of a village he could not remember. Or, he could say he was from the future. No, that would mess up the timeline too much. He needed a lie that not too many people would ask questions about. He could say that he came from the village his clan came from, but that would get Kushina involved.

Every story he thought of seemed to have a downside to it. He finally settled on a lie that might actually work. The lie would be that he had lived in the woods as long as he could remember, and people from villages attacked him. So he had come to the nearest village that hadn't tried to attack him. That story wouldn't raise too much suspicion for now.

"I have lived in the forest for a long time.....I was attacked by other villages, some saying I was a spy. So I came to the nearest village that hadn't tried to attack me. Here"Naruto said. Kakashi glared daggers at the boy, searching for lies.

Minato knew that this wasn't the truth, but he would get that out of the boy later. Rin and Obito gave a soft smile at Naruto, showing that they had felt bad for him. Younger Kakashi was infuriated that his teammates would fall for such a terrible lie. Even a blind man could see through that lie.

Naruto held his breath for a while, wondering if it had worked. The faces of the 2 smarter teammates showed that he hadn't fooled them completely, but they didn't see him as too much of a threat. That was good for now.

Minato gave Menma a warm smile, muttering something about cruel people. Kakashi was taken back by the fact that his sensei had brushed off the suspicion that easily. Maybe he had a plan up his sleeve.

"Are you guys friends?"Naruto asked. He needed to know if this would change the future. The three looked at each other with different emotions and feelings, only Rin having the look of love for her teammates; it seemed Kakashi and Obito had a mutual feeling for each other, and it wasn't a good thing either.

Kakashi had glared at his teammates, daring them to say anything. Naruto didn't know how to react at the aggressive behavior displayed by the past version of the man he loved.  Kakashi was cocky and never cared what others thought of him. The rules were the only thing that mattered.

Obito was so in love with the idea of becoming Hokage that he even dreamed about it, but he was always compared to the other prodigies that he wasn't. He also had a crush, which wasn't hidden very well, for his teammate Rin.

It seemed vaguely familiar, making Naruto internally smile as he was reminded of his team.

Rin loved both Obito and Kakashi, in a platonic way. She always made sure that they were never injured, healing them if they were. It was her duty as the medic of the team to make sure that they lived. Afterall, on missions, they would be the key for a successful mission.

So when the 3 finally stopped looking at each other, Menma waited for his answer. All he needed was a simple answer that would determine what he would do.

"No."Kakashi muttered, his tone bored as if this answer didn't mean much to him.

Naruto frowned even more as he realized how troublesome this would be. He internally laughed at his friends word he used, just thinking Shikamaru would be so proud of him.

The Uchiha seemed pissed that Kakashi would say such a thing, and Rin seemed as if she was disappointed by the answer. She had wanted Kakashi to accept her and Obito as friends, not just comrades, but it didn't seem it would be that way any time soon.

Naruto nodded his head as he had to figure out how to change the behavior of the young Kakashi Hatake. He needed to make sure Obito had his Rin, and that his parents lived.

No.

No matter how much it hurts he can't save his parents. It would affect the future way too much. They would have to die and he would have to live with that for as long as he lived.

Naruto walked over to Rin watching as the 3 males tensed up at his movement. The girl with purple markings on her cheeks stayed put as she watched the man come closer. She could only wonder why he looked like Minato Sensei. Even if he didn't have the same hair color, he had the distinctive features of Minato.

Naruto got on his knees so he could be at eye level with her. He needed to tell her something important, but he knew one person would be able to hear what he was about to say.

"Take care of them" Naruto whispered to her.

She looked at him, a confused look on her face. So many questions had raced through her head as she wondered if he could sense she was a Medic Ninja. Did he know? She tilted her head in confusion, a little look of fear in her eyes as she looked at Menma, unable to figure out the meaning of his words.

Kakashi pulled out another Kunai and tried to lunge at Naruto, but Minato caught his wrist. His eyes were scolding Kakashi for his rashness, no words needed. The future Copy Ninja only glared back at Menma as he tucked the Kunai away, his glare never leaving Menma.

Naruto felt a bit hurt at the fact Kakashi had tried to kill him, wanted to kill him. He had to remind himself that this wasn't his Kakashi, not yet at least.

Naruto stood up to his full height making him as tall as his own father.

"Well, I guess we should take you to the Hokage for further questioning" Minato said something.

Naruto could feel his tears stinging the back of his eyes. He missed Jiji and Tsunade. He missed how Jiji would wonder as to how he could get rid of all his paperwork, but this was a different time with a different man.

He would have to deal with Jiji and his belief that Orochimaru is still good. He needs the Hokage to be able to kill his own student when necessary. He would be able to save them, but not his parents. He couldn't save his parents no matter how hard he would try. They needed to die for the better.

"Let's go"Kakashi snarled at Menma as Team Minato began to head to the gates.Minato shot Kakashi a quick glance as if to tell him to stand down, but the young Kakashi didn't care.

Menma had made him lose his cool composure, and that irked him. While Kakashi was silently seething, Naruto was looking at Konoha.

He took it all in, memorizing every detail. This may have been his home in the past, but it looked better then the future home he had. He even took a moment to sneak a glance at Kakashi, a little tug at the corner of his lips began to form a painful smile.

Minato noticed the look Menma had; It was the look of pure happiness. It wasn't the look he saw earlier, the look of having been through war. Menma was hiding something about his past, Minato was sure of it. Why else would this man have such mixed emotions and looks. What made Minato very curios is the way he looked when he saw Kakashi.

The look of familiarity, a connection being made with Kakashi and someone else. From the moment Menma had seen Kakashi, he had a look that said Kakashi was familiar in some type of way. Perhaps Menma knew his father, Sakumo Hatake. That would be a good explanation as the two looked a like.

Minato shook his head as he entered the Hokage's building with Menma and his team behind him. They walked up the stairs, and as he stole a quick glance at Menma, he saw that look on his face again; it was familiarity. Had Menma been to the Leaf Village before?

Before he finished that thought, he was met with the door to the Hokage's office, knocking twice. A soft 'come in' could be heard, signaling it was fine for him to enter. He could have sworn there was a look of happiness in Menma's eyes as the door opened to reveal the Hokage.

Menma could cry from happiness from seeing Lord 3rd.

"Who is this, Minato?"The Hokage asked. He was suspicious of this man that had appeared. A man that almost resembled Minato. A man that seemed to have been through so much by the dull look in his blue eyes.

He noticed the slight twitch he had when he heard a sound. The reactions seemed as if they were out of fear. No doubt this boy has been through war, but he looked so young. A pang of sadness filled him as he thought of young kids going through the horrors of War, and what war had brought. He was barely younger than Minato, maybe 17 years old.

That's when the Hokage noticed the whisker marks on his cheeks. That was an odd marking for anybody, especially since he doesn't seem to be from a clan he knew of.

"Menma" Naruto spoke up.

Hiruzen searched his brain to see if he recognized the name. He wondered why Menma did not give a last name. He thought about all the clans inside the fire nation, but the name Menma was not used at all. So who could this boy be?

Hiruzen did the signs for the seals to make sure nobody would hear there conversation. The ANBU that surrounded the room stayed put, each and every one of them swearing to secrecy without saying anything out loud.

Kakashi tensed up once again, but he felt as if he could trust this Menma. No, he couldn't trust anyone. Look where trust got his father.

"Kakashi, Rin, Obito, leave"The Hokage ordered. The 3 genin were surprised that they would not be able to talk about the strange man, but they all bowed their heads, leaving through the window.

Naruto smiled as he thought of the times Jiji had said people should use the door. Now here he was now, upset that genin jumped out the window. He definitely needed to live. He needed that humor when he returned to his own time. He needed his Jiji. He needed his friends. He needed his Kakashi.

Minato walked closer to the Hokage and turned to face Menma once he was at the Hokage's side. Naruto stepped forward, but stopped when multiple ANBU had Kunais at his throat. He gulped, but showed no fear. He had seen war, and this compare to war was like playing games. Maybe even baby games if you factored in Madara and the re-animations.

"So, you want to know my real story?" Menma asked. The 2 men in front of him nodded. The ANBU jumped back to their places when they saw he was not a threat. No need for violence.

Menma sighed a bit and stepped even closer to the Hokage. His Jiji raised a hand and signaled for him to stop. Hurt flashed into the blue eyes of Menma, but was quickly replaced with cold eyes.

A shiver went through the Hokage's body. Those eyes were dead and lifeless. This man seemed to be bipolar. Or maybe there was something here that brought him great pain.

"The truth, Menma. Not a lie. A lie will get you kicked out of the village and you will not be returning."Minato warned. Naruto knew that he couldn't say he was from a village because they could ask.

The best possible answer would be one that could mess up the timeline in the future.

Or Naruto could say he didn't remember what happened to him. He could say it was too painful to talk about, but he would raise suspicion either way. They had known he had lied and that was bad.

Menma shifted a bit, still getting used to the presence of his father. Father. He wanted to scream at his father, ask him why he would risk his life for the village that would be destroyed in the future. He held his tongue, suppressing his emotions as he was trying to save his village. He understood why he had done what he had done, but it still hurt to know that he chose the village over his own son.

A snarl appeared as he thought of the fate of the village. The chakra of the nine tails mixed with his own blue chakra, masking the nine tails within him. The fox was trying to calm down the Naruto as anger only brought out his own chakra, and that wouldn't end well for the,

"It's too painful to talk about, and I would rather not bring up such painful memories. My village is gone, war took my village. Let's leave it at that."Menma's voice was very low and sounded like a growl, his eyes turning into slits for a split second.

The ANBU rushed in front of the Hokage and Minato. This Menma was a threat to them, but the Hokage did not see that. He saw a boy that was broken. Hiruzen moved from the desk and the ANBU.

He walked towards Menma, hesitating when the boy looked up with eyes that glared daggers. It was a warning to not get closer, but Hiruzen knew that look. He knew it all to well.

Menma watched the man, wondering if he was really doing this. Minato watched the older shinobi, telling the ANBU to let him be. The Hokage had something to prove and that was the fact that Menma was broken. The Hokage held his arms out and wrapped them around Menma. The hug was foreign to him. The only person that had ever touched him or got that close to him was Kakashi., and he was dead.

Everybody he cared for died for him. Friends. Friends died for him. Menma broke out into tears, unable to hold them back any longer.

"Broken. You are broken. No boy should go through what you have."Hiruzen whispered.

Menma backed away from the man. He backed away from the hug.

He knew it was true, but it hurt too much. It hurt to hear the man he once knew as the most amazing Hokage would call him broken. Naruto thought of all the times he felt broken. All the times he wanted to give up. All the times he told himself he wasn't worth it.

He had friends to fix the broken pieces, but it was different this time. He had no friends to tell him it will be alright, but he would change that.

Emotions started to flow into his heart. Anger. Sadness. Happiness. Each emotion made him want to scream at his father to stay alive. He wanted to tell jiji that Orochimaru would never become good again. He wanted Kakashi to know it would be alright. He wanted to fix everything, but he wouldn't. Menma wiped his eyes, and put on a serious look.

He would need to tell Hiruzen that he wanted to become a shinobi of the village. He needed to live in this village before he went to see the future outcome.

"I would like to become a shinobi of this village, Hokage-sama"Menma spoke lowly. Minato smiled a bit. He was glad that this man was willing to fight for the village.

Judging from the information he has gathered, Menma seemed to be at Jonin level. The ANBU went back to their corners of the room, ready to strike Menma down if need be.

Hiruzen smiled and gestured for Menma to come closer to his desk. Menma smiled as he got closer, thinking about how fun it would be to become anything but a genin. It was funny seeing that he was the strongest shinobi there, yet he was a genin. He could tell Sasuke was probably shaking his head and saying he was the best and not Naruto. Naruto couldn't have done it without the stupid fox that was inside of him.

Kuruma stirred around, playfully growling at the way he was being spoken of.

"We will need to test your skills, as well as interrogate you for precautions, but after that we should be done."Hiruzen said. Naruto nodded as he looked at all of the paperwork on the desk.

That made him want to be Hokage a little less, but he would go with it. Maybe he could ask his father if he could tell him his secret once he becomes Hokage.

Menma stepped forward and extended his hand out so he could shake his Jiji's hand. Hiruzen smiled and shook Menma's hand. Menma soon shook his own father's hand. He hoped that he would be able to help with Minato's team. That was the team that would caused the war. The team that would cause the destruction of the world.

Naruto thought about becoming ANBU. He would have be able to do more dangerous missions that could affect the future. Maybe by being in ANBU he could test his own skills and limits.

If he became ANBU, they could teach him to control his emotions, maybe even get rid of them. After what had happened during the war, and everything he's ever been through, he wanted nothing more than to get rid of them.

It would also put him under Danzo, who he would kill for doing what he did to the Uchiha clan, and to the ROOT. Getting rid of Danzo would make the future better for everyone, including himself.

He will reshape the future, a future with Konoha.

With Kakashi.

With friends.

Friends.

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In case I was unclear, or it's a bit confusing, Naruto's appearance changed as to protect his identity, and make sure Minato doesn't get too suspicious. He has the same facial features, with black hair (Like Menma), most of his scars are gone, and he has his blue eyes. The symbol on his stomach is hidden under a genjutsu so no one can see it. Hopefully this clears everything up :)