So if you're wondering why it takes so long to publish a part, look at the pic above. (*cough cough* and TikTok *cough cough*)

"You are a genius," Kurama stated sarcastically. "Oh, look at me! My name is Hisato and I have some severe PTSD. Heh, that rhymed."

Hisato has been in his mindscape for over 30 minutes getting lectured by Kurama. It wasn't like the man planned on having some sort of flashback, but Kurama wasn't having it.

"Kurama," Hisato started, "please just shut up already. I get it."

And he did. He really did. Hisato messed up, questions were going to be asked, and a trip to Inoichi may be ordered. That was the last thing Hisato wanted. He wanted the timeline to be as intact as possible, but a trip to Inoichi might ruin all of it. This secret... the secret Hisato holds, it must stay with him and Kurama. No one else should know. No one else needs to know what he did. What brought Naruto to the point of suicide.

Hisato looked down at his hands, the scars of hardwood and battle littered them, disappearing under the sleeves of his shirt. They were fading, for only the deepest of cuts could leave a mark as long as they have. Kurama heals them quickly, only leaving light scars that stay there for a year at the longest. Hisato then slipped off his black shirt, making his way to the bathroom in his apartment. He took notice of the tattoo on his arm, a reminder of a promise he made a year after his mentor's death. His eyes then slid to the left side of his chest, a scar made by a lightning jutsu, just missing the heart, and one of the two scars Kurama can't make disappear.

"This ends now!"

Hisato collapsed to the ground, knees pulled up to his chest, head in his hands. A pulsing headache rang through his head. His hands racked through his scalp, pulling out some of his recently dyed, brunette hair.

"Shut up," he murmured. A running girl.

"This is your fault!"

"Shut up," he said a bit louder, pulling himself to his feet, looking at the stranger in the mirror. A heart stopping.

"You're the reason she's dea-"

"I said, SHUT UP!" the man shouted, punching the mirror in front of him. The mirror shattered on impact, the shards scattering across the room. His knuckles were bloody and the cuts were already healing. The brunette pulled the glass shards out of his hands before the wound closed around them.

"Shit," he muttered, stroking back his hair with his right hand. "There is literally an Anbu outside and I have to go and make a scene."

He looked down at the sink, and his whiskerless face reflected back at him from a particularly large piece of glass. Kurama had done something to remove them, and Hisato felt like he was missing a part of himself.

The brunette shook his head, he was Naruto no longer, he couldn't take that from the Naruto of this time. Hisato sighed, looking at the mess he made and began to pick up the glass shards and dispose of them into the small trash can beside the sink. He was almost done when he heard two loud knocks outside his door.

Hisato quickly finished picking up the glass and went to the door. "How nice of you to finally knock Tora-" he said, only to have to look down and see that it in fact not Tora, but Naruto. "Oh, sorry Naruto-kun, I thought it was someone else."

Naruto looked up at the tall man and squinted. "Do I know you from somewhere?"

Hisato sweat dropped. "I'm the one who helped you out at the training ground a while back."

"Eh? That was you?" the boy questioned, giving him a one-over. The man in front of him was tall, probably around 6 feet, and was pretty lean, not Kakashi lean, but also not too built. The muscles were obviously seen, after all, the man didn't have a shirt on. There was also a pretty wicked scar on his chest, which made him cool in Naruto's book.

"Yes, that was me," Hisato stated in a slightly exasperated tone. He brought his hand up, as if to scratch his head when he seemed to notice something.

He grabbed Naruto's hand and pulled him inside, not giving him enough time to protest. The door was quickly closed behind the boy, and the man ran off to the bathroom and then came out wearing a long sleeved shirt.

"What was that all about, dattebayo?" Naruto all but screamed.

The man looked a bit sheepish, scratching the back of his head with his hand. "Ah well, I felt a small breeze and wanted to put a shirt on."

Naruto gave him the eye that practically said 'I don't believe you', but didn't say anything about it.

"Anyway, what brings you to my apartment," Hisato asked curiously, trying not to think about how weird it was that he was in a room with himself. Well, he's used to being in a room with himself (shadow clone Jutsu) but that wasn't like the situation he was in now.

"Well," the blonde started, "I heard a loud crash and I thought that I'd come and check it out." The boy was blushing a bit, scratching the back of his head. "I didn't know that I had a new neighbor, and wasn't sure if you hurt yourself -ttebayo."

Hisato smiled at him. "That was very kind of you, but as you can see, I'm quite alright." He could feel a slight flash of chakra outside his window, and he turned his head to look. Tora was sitting outside on a tree in plain sight and made a pointing gesture at Naruto. Hisato just shrugged in reply and Tora disappeared from his line of sight.

"Anyway, mister, what's your name again?" Naruto asked. "I don't even know if you told me the first time we met."

Hisato smiled a bit. "Ah, my name is Hisato Arata, but you can just call me Hisato."

"The name's Naruto Uzumaki... heh, but you already knew that," Naruto stated sheepishly.

Hisato looked at his younger self with a slight smile on his face. The boy was young, one of the youngest members of the Rookie 11 as they were dubbed later on in Konoha, and he certainly acted like it too. The main word is acted. Naruto had gone through some hardships in life, and when the beatings didn't work, the boy was just flat out ignored. The blonde craved to be acknowledged, and Iruka, Teuchi, and Sarutobi weren't enough for him, making him feel selfish. Naruto acted out. He wanted to be acknowledged, using pranks to make people mad at him. He didn't care if he was beaten because it was a form of acknowledgement. Hisato knows the feeling that Naruto is probably still feeling all too well.

"Well Naruto, how would you like to have dinner with me?"

Interacting with Naruto shouldn't affect the timeline too badly.

...

When Naruto left his apartment after the meal they shared, Hisato went to his window and opened it so Tora could come in.

"Did you need me?" Hisato questioned, closing the window behind Tora.

Tora nodded. "The Hokage told me to take you to Shikaku Nara as soon as possible. I decided to make Shikaku-sama wait for a bit." Hisato could practically feel Tora grinning.

"Well then, let's get going," Hisato stated, allowing Tora to grab his arm and sunshine them to the Nara Heads office. Tora knocked and with a quiet 'come in' they entered the room.

There was nothing interesting or notable about the room as far as Hisato could tell. It was a very plain room with wooden walls and floods, accompanied with shelves lined with books and binders, along with many filing cabinets. Shikaku sat at a wooden desk, papers littering the whole thing, stacking about as high as the Hokage's paperwork.

"Troublesome," the man muttered, standing up from his seat, stretching his back out slightly. "Making me wait all this time."

"My apologies, Shikaku-sama, Hisato-san here had a prior engagement to attend to," Tora stated, bowing slightly, but Hisato knew he was grinning under that facade.

Shikaku grumbled something under his breath before turning to Hisato. "Anyway, I'll keep this short because I have a meeting in five minutes, but I need to talk to you more later." Hisato nodded and Shikaku continued. "You were able to meet the requirements for the title Jonin, approved by both Kakashi-san, Hokage-sama, and myself."

A small amount of pride swelled in Hisato's chest, but the man just nodded and said, "I'm honored Shikaku-sama."

Shikaku eyed him wearily before handing Hisato a hitai-ate and Jonin vest. "Do you swear to protect Konoha and it's people?"

"I do."

"Then serve Konoha well, Jonin Hisato."

{May 23, 2020}

Also in need of an editor. DM if interested.