Hey there, just want to inform you guys that this is the first fic that I've ever written. I hope that this story can be a platform for improvement for my writing so just leave a review and tell me what you think I can improve on :). Also, feel free to give me suggestions and ideas for future chapters!

Still undecided on any pairings (Give me suggestions as well!)

A CHANGE OF DESTINIES

Three years…

It has been slightly longer than three years since the Fourth Shinobi World War began. It seemed never-ending. Uchiha Madara and the power of the ten-tailed beast were far stronger than anyone had ever anticipated. He had captured eight of the nine tailed-beasts and was just one step away from victory. However, he had deviated from his original plan to cast the Infinite Tsukuyomi due to the fact that he was unable to get his hands on Naruto no matter how hard he tried. So instead, he had decided to massacre the remaining forces to appease his grudge against humanity and force Naruto to surrender himself to him. Countless lives had been lost as a result; comrades, friends, loved ones, gone and only a third of the Allied Shinobi Forces remained. Morale was at an all-time low.

Still, there was hope. Hope to end the war, and gift future generations everlasting peace. Hope to be free from their pain. And hope to exact revenge on the murderer of their loved ones.

Whatever was left of the Shinobi Forces sought refuge in the ruins of Konoha, a land devoid of the bustling life it once had. Madara, in an attempt to demoralize the Shinobi Forces, had committed mass genocide on the innocent civilians in the various elemental villages.

All the Shinobi Forces could do was watch, powerless to stop Madara's rampage.

In a last ditch effort, they decided to take their last stand. The remaining 30,000 Shinobi devised plan to end the war once and for all: To pave a way, regardless of whatever was thrown at them, for the Sealing squad to use a combined Shiki Fujin and seal Madara and the Ten-tailed beast, silencing them permanently. Though the plan was suicidal and even more lives will be lost as a result, it didn't even bother any of the Shinobi. They had suffered far too many casualties and felt that enough was enough. The war was going to end there and then, whether they survived or not.

And thus, the plan commenced. The forces threw themselves at wave after wave of white Zetsus and reincarnated ninja in an attempt to create an opening for the sealing team.

One man down… The next second, fifteen men… Naruto had lost count of how many deaths there were. He could feel the souls of his comrades leaving their bodies one after another; an unfortunate feature of his sage mode. Still, he persevered and continued fighting, disregarding everything that was happening around him.

After several gruelling hours, the sealing team managed to get within a close enough range of Madara and the Juubi. As he was oblivious to whatever the Shinobi Allied Forces' plans were, he charged recklessly at his main objective as soon as he set his eyes on him: Uzumaki Naruto. The many years of his small 'victories' had made him complacent and this led him to his ultimate demise.

As soon as he fell within the range of the Shiki Fujin, the first half of the sealing team immediately took advantage of his vulnerability and sealed him into themselves, splitting his soul into several hundred fragments, before collapsing to the ground, lifeless. Without Madara controlling the Juubi and the Edo Tensei all but dispelled, the rest of the battle proceeded without too much difficulty. Naruto managed to overpower the disorderly Juubi and create an opportunity for the second sealing team to seal it within himself, the last surviving member of the Uzumaki clan.

The Fourth Shinobi War was therefore concluded… But at what cost?

Over 65,000 of the 80,000 Shinobi involved in the war had perished, along with millions of innocent civilians. Madara was indeed defeated… But he had won the war. The elemental nations would never be the same again.

Naruto was perched atop the Hokage Rock, overlooking the ruins of Konoha joylessly. It was the only structure in Konoha still intact and unharmed, whether Madara intentionally left it this way or not, was uncertain. This place had been their base of operations ever since Madara had captured B and Gyuuki, giving him the power to obliterate the various villages and their previous bases. It was only because there were hidden quarters and rooms throughout the inside of the Hokage Rock that they were able to allow remaining forces to hide from Madara's sight.

Undoubtedly so, Naruto was devastated. He had been suppressing all his emotions during the war for the sake of victory and now, all the accumulated grief he had held back had started to manifest all at once. The realization that he had lost so many friends hit him really hard. Still, he had to put up a strong front for the survivors, to be their guiding light in this hour of darkness.

"Naruto… It's time for your speech." said the last surviving member of the Nara clan monotonously. "Those people down there need some motivation to keep going, they've lost too much in the war."

Naruto turned around to meet Shikamaru's eyes.

"So have I… If i were to tell them that everything would be alright. That life would be better from here on out. That we've won the war. Wouldn't I be spitting bullshit?" Naruto sighed. "What is the point in continuing on with life if you aren't able to share the joy with people you care for? With the people you love?"

"I can't possibly encourage them to be hopeful and confident, when i myself, am a fucking mess. I'm not that big of a hypocrite!" Naruto bellowed in anguish.

Naruto thought back to his carefree days as a genin. Despite all the hatred he received as a child, Naruto dearly missed the villagers… and his friends. He had been through hell, sacrificed so much to finally gain the acknowledgment he so dreamed of. He finally had friends, he was happy. Then that accursed war erupted out of nowhere and fucked everything up. Damn that Madara! He had taken everything away from him!

Of the Konoha 12, only Shikamaru and he had survived. The others had been killed, murdered relentlessly whilst fighting for peace. Their Sensei, gone as well. All that remained were broken survivors, Shinobi and villagers with barely any will to live.

Shikamaru shook his head and sighed. He could see it in Naruto's eyes, the hyperactive optimistic teenager was but a remnant of the past. The person in front of him was a broken man. The war had robbed him of all of his joy and happiness; There wasn't a shred of hope in the man remaining.

"Shikamaru." Naruto called out as his head turned back to look over gaze at the destroyed village."Is there… Is there a way? Is there a way to go back and prevent all this from ever happening? I have heard of space-time ninjutsu. Maybe…"

Tears welled up in the eyes of the blonde haired ninja. He knew it was hopeless. If such a powerful jutsu existed, someone would've discovered it by now. Far smarter ninja have existed before him. But he couldn't help but wonder if there was a slight possibility.

"I don't know if such a jutsu exists, I'm not even sure if it's even possible. But all that isn't important right now, we can think about it in the future," Shikamaru lectured. "The people need you now. They just went through a shitty war and right now, you are the only one who can give them ho-"

"Forget the speech! I'd rather be captured by Madara than spew lies and false hope upon my comrades!" Naruto interrupted as he shunshin-ed away.

"How troublesome…" sighed Shikamaru.

Shikamaru was not a fool by any means. He knew that things would never go back to being how they were before. Although there was finally peace and understanding amongst the various elemental villages, the future was looking very bleak. The repercussions of war would eventually take its toll on the people. Survivor's guilt, PTSD and various other post-traumatic illnesses would start to develop amongst the people eventually.

He had wished Naruto would inspire the people and alleviate this outcome. But he knew he could never force him to do such a thing. Naruto had already shouldered so much of the burden by himself and he would never put such a heavy burden on his now-fragile 'brother'.

-3 Months later-

Naruto had tried to convince himself that everything would work itself out for the past 3 months but every single day, he hoped that everything would return to how it once was. He couldn't help but reminisce about the happy-go-lucky life the village once had. He believed that the feeling of desolation amongst the villagers would gradually dissipate but whenever he entered his tailed beast mode, the rampant negative emotions would just seep into him all at once.

He had had enough of this. He couldn't, he wouldn't stand for it anymore. He knew he had fucked up! His friends weren't meant to die during the war, heck the war shouldn't have even occurred in the first place! If he had known that this was going to happen, that all those lives were going to be lost, he would have just submitted to Madara and let the Infinite Tsukuyomi plan succeed. It would be much less painful that way.

He was going to find a way to save everyone.

He was now more adamant than ever.

Naruto decided to consult his tenants to enquire about any possible ways reverse the flow of time and prevent everything from ever happening.

Entering the depths of his own mindscape, he could see all nine tailed beasts peacefully sleeping in a beautiful field. This place was seriously the epitome of sanctuary. Exquisite flora and fauna decorated the grasslands beautifully as the 'Sun' shone gloriously on the backs resting legendary beasts. Naruto had made a conscious effort to get rid of that disgusting sewer-like mindscape he had Kurama live in for years (yes, he felt guilty about it) and replaced it with something more comfortable and welcoming for the sake of his new guests.

When the Juubi was sealed into Naruto near the end of the war, the sealing squad had made a considerable effort in splitting it up so that the 8 captured tailed beasts would once again, be themselves.

Although he did want them to roam freely, doing as they please, he had a consensus with them to keep them sealed within himself for the time being, until the world became a safer, more stable place.

"Everyone! Please, wake up, I need your help!" Pleaded Naruto as he woke the tailed beasts from their naps.

"Let me guess *yawn*, you realized that you've had enough of this pathetic outcome and you want to find a way to go back to the past to save everyone, am i right?" Kurama said as he gently shook himself awake. "Well i can tell you now that it is impossible. That kind of jutsu doesn't exist. If it did, someone would have exploited it and screwed everything up by now."

"How do you kn-" Naruto asked meekly, slightly surprised.

"We're sealed inside of you, genius! We can feel all your emotions and hear your thoughts!" Son Goku mocked. "We can feel you drowning in self-pity and depression for the past 3 months! So much so that we've probably become depressed ourselves!"

"Wha-" Naruto blushed in embarrassment. "Th- then why didn't you mention this earlier?!"

"Well, Naru-chan, we wanted to give you time to move on, if ever possible." Matatabi admitted.

"I tried. I really did…" his embarrassment quickly turned into sorrow as tears welled up in his eyes. "They didn't deserve to die! I can't live on knowing that they died meaningless deaths! If there is any way that i can save them, even if it means sacrificing myself… I wou-"

"For a jutsu of that scale, the amount of chakra required would be… incomprehensible," Saiken interrupted, not wanting the man to lament any more than he already was.

"You'd probably need at least the power of several tailed beasts combi-" Kurama declared but quickly did a double take as his eyes hovered over his roommates "It is actually... very possible now that i think about it… Since all of us are here and all..."

"HOWEVER, we do not know of any techniques that would solve your problems… And that's where you come in." Kurama grinned. "You provide us with the knowledge, we'll provide you with the chakra!"

Naruto glanced towards the other tailed beasts, each of them smiling at him with a look of determination etched on their face, ready to help their favourite blonde in any way.

Naruto couldn't help but grin, an expression that had been missing from his face from a long,long time. He silently thanked the heavens for blessing him with such amazing comrades.

"Thank you...everyone…"Naruto said as he phased out from the mindscape.

Despite being filled with all the determination in the world, Naruto still didn't have a clue where to start. He did not know the first thing about space-time ninjutsu nor about anything that relates to it.

"Dad… Mom… What do i do now? What can i possibly do to save them?" He murmured to himself.

He had always thought of his late parents during times when he doubted himself. He had used them as his pillar of hope and motivation to carry on with life, to stay strong and continue to be a beacon of hope for everyone. They were brave shinobi who had sacrificed themselves in order to protect him and Konoha. He looked up to them immensely.

His mother was Uzumaki Kushina, a beautiful red-haired woman renowned for her fiery personality and random outbursts. She was a very capable ninja in her own right and extremely knowledgable in the art of Fuinjutsu(Sealing Techniques) as she was from Uzushiogakure, a nation feared and destroyed due to their extensive understanding of Fuinjutsu.

"Fuinjutsu… Maybe i could…" He pondered.

He knew that fuinjutsu was a very versatile technique and that it could be applied to almost anything in the world. Perhaps he could utilise fuinjutsu…?

Then his thoughts moved on to his father, Namikaze Minato, the Fourth Hokage of Konoha and one of the most skilled Shinobi to ever live. The mere mention of his name would strike fear into Konoha's enemies due to the fact that he single-handedly wiped out an entire battalion consisting of over 1000 Shinobi. The yellow flash, which he was known as during the course of the Third Shinobi war, was also rather skilled in the art of Fuinjutsu, having learnt it from his wife, Kushina. He had adopted Fuinjutsu and implemented it in one of his deadliest techniques, the Hiraishin. An S-Class Space-Time ninjutsu that allowed him to manipulate the dimensions of the universe.

Space-Time ninjutsu… Could it be? Could the Hiraishin be a key in going back to the past? One thing's for sure, Naruto now had a lead. But to even understand the concept of the Hiraishin and Fuinjutsu would not be easy let alone mastering it and using it to get back to the past.

Thankfully, during the setting up of the makeshift Shinobi Alliance headquarters in Konoha, they had discovered the Fourth's secret study hidden deep within the bowels of the emergency shelters inside the Hokage Rock. It was filled with innumerable books, study material, scribbles and notes. Had it not been for the information available in this room, the sealing squad would never have learnt the Shiki Fujin seal that tore Madara's soul apart and sealed them into the Sealing squad's martyrs, allowing them to end the war. They had during that time, also discovered notes leading up to the Fourth's mastery of the Hiraishin but were unable to comprehend any of it due to the sheer complexity of it all and they had eventually given up because of time constraints.

Naruto knew that he now faced the greatest obstacle of all time. He had to accomplish something he had never managed to succeed in in the past throughout his entire life. He… had to study.

Thankfully, he has one of the most brilliant minds in the world to help him conquer this task in Shikamaru, a person he fully entrusted his life with. As well as several tailed beasts with several millennia worth of knowledge.

He finally had hope

That is it for my first chapter guys! Might have been slightly shorter than the average fic but I felt that I should leave the rest for the next few chapters.

Remember to leave reviews, advice and suggestions~