Title: All in Due Time

Summary: During a mission involving the Akatsuki, 15 year old Naruto finds himself 27 years prior to the present. Takes place after Team seven reunion but they retrieved Sasuke, as he is now in Konoha. Fic won't be the same as series.

Pairings: Sasunaru but surprisingly it's not the main part of the story. Other minor pairings along the way.

Warnings: Ummm…. If you don't like yaoi then I suggest you don't read this, even if it won't be too big.

Disclaimer: Never owned Naruto, and sadly I never will. TT

Yes, I know I should be finishing my other stories instead of starting a new one but this idea has been nagging me for about two months, practically BEGGING to be written. So, here I am. There should be no worries about my other stories either because I will finish them. In fact, 'This is My Life' should be finished really soon.

Anyway, let's get on to the first chapter/prologue!!

oOo

Silence.

That's all that was heard as they jumped from tree branch to tree branch, nearing their destination. Feet nimbly tapped the bark as they mentally prepared themselves for the gruesome battle yet to come.

Naruto quickly came to attention of the hand belonging to his brunette leader. He dropped to the ground after the signal was given, along with his teammates.

As soon as they touched the ground, all seven able bodied ninja dashed off into multicolored blurs, heading in the same direction. Not too long after, they're met with an open field. All stopped dead in their tracks.

Small glances from left to right then ensued, each member of the infiltration team taking out a kunai from their pouches. Faces calm yet tense all at once.

The mission was not a simple one. All were chosen specifically for this because it was not to be an easy one. The mission: Infiltrate the Akatsuki hideout before they finish their unknown plan.

Tsunade knew that sending Naruto there blindly was like giving them an early Christmas present, but she had no choice. It was either this, or wait a whole month for Sasuke to come back from his mission, and they couldn't do that. They were racing against the clock. This needed to be confronted now before it was too late. So, she decided to trust her artificial brother and sent him off with six of his fellow jounin and one newly established ANBU, just to be safe. Oh, and a dog.

Now, here they are, in the vast land that separated Suna and Konoha. They heard from a reliable source that the nine S-class ninja were found in this area as of late. Naruto just hoped that Ero-sennin wasn't wrong.

"It shouldn't be long now." Naruto heard Shikamaru speak up, breaking the long overdue silence. The squad leader lazily glanced around at his teammates, stopping at the Byakugan user behind him. "Neji?"

Without question, Neji gathered his hands in front of him. "Byakugan!" Veins sprouted out around his eyes. After some time of standing there, he grunted, pale eyes focusing back on to the leader.

"There's chakra on the side of a cliff not far from here all gathered into one spot. It seems, just like that one time," he spared a glance at Naruto before refocusing on Shikamaru, "they've sealed the entrance."

"Did you notice the kind of seal it is?" Shikamaru inquired.

"It's not something I am familiar with."

The lazy brunette hummed in thought before turning to the rest of the troop. "Let's go check it out." And with that, Neji lead them to the Akatsuki hide out.

oOo

"We're almost done, everyone. Now, all we need is the ni-"

"Ha!"

"… Is there a reason for that rude interruption?"

"Of course."

"Then please enlighten us, un."

"… We've got intruders."

"Excellent. I've been wanting to shave some limbs off as of late."

"And, it seems, that one of them is the nine-tailed jinchuuriki."

"… Even better. Great work, Zetsu."

"My pleasure, Leader."

oOo

Naruto wordlessly inspected the seal up above. No matter how much he wracked his brain, he couldn't identify the inscribed paper placed on the rock in front of them. He knew that nobody else could figure it out as they all crease their eyebrows in thought.

From behind, someone spoke up.

"I know this seal!" Everyone turned expectantly to the green spandex clad ninja, waiting for answers. "Gai-sensei had me train with these when I was a youthful rookie! It would help me with my speed. Yes, Gai-sensei was, and will always be, the greatest tea-"

"Just tell us how we get rid of the seal!" Kiba interrupted Lee before he went into a long monologue. Naruto snickered. "We don't have long. They probably already know we're here."

"Kiba's right. It's like last time; they most likely know we are here now." Sakura reminded him of the time they went to rescue the Kazekage not long ago.

Fire lit up in Lee's eyes as he pumped his fist. "Yosh, you are right! I will inform you of everything about this seal, Sakura-san! Then, I could get that da-"

"Today!" Naruto interrupted this time, wanting to see some action.

"Oh, sorry." Calming down, Lee gave Naruto and his teammates the information they needed. "This seal is one of ten, and is the last one to be peeled off as it is in the center. As you can see, all around us are trees. I wouldn't be surprised if they hid the other nine within the forest. But they can't be any further than five kilometers from the center seal.

"These seals also have to be taken off in order; they each have a number on them ranging from one to ten. They need to be taken off within a minute of each, too. But that's the lowest time. The time limit could be longer."

Naruto stared at him curiously. "So, you're saying that after you peel say the first seal off, you have a minute to get the other one, and after you get the second one, you have another minute to get the third and so on and so forth?"

"Precisely." Lee watched as everyone looked at one another.

"That shouldn't be too hard as we can have the person who takes off the first one go over to the ninth one and wait. And if we time this right we could…" Naruto noticed Shikamaru trailing off. He looked over to where Shikamaru was facing to see Lee holding up his hand.

"Wait, there's more." He took a deep breath before continuing. "The thing is these seals are somehow connected in a way that as soon as the first one is touched by a certain person, only that person could touch the other ones as they have a sensor that memorizes the texture of skin."

"So… what happens if another person touches a seal?" Sakura's eyes widened.

"Just like what would happen if you don't take the next seal off in time… boom." Silence consumed them as they digested this new information. The way Lee said that had Naruto gulping, getting antsy.

Chouji finally made himself heard. "But how do we know which seal to take off next?" Everyone but Lee looked up at the seal sticking to the rock, Naruto noticed how there was no number written on the paper.

"The seals know when they have to be peeled off next. The chakra within them gets stronger as if they know they need to be deactivated next."

Angrily pouting, Naruto tried to come up with a plan so they could enter the hide out. He's not the only one as everyone else solemnly stared at the ground, brains in use. Shikamaru got down into his thinking position.

It didn't take long as the brunette suddenly opened his eyes and stood up. His teammates looked at him, hoping for a good plan.

oOo

"They've stopped their pursuit."

"It seems they've stumbled across a problem."

"They're planning on trying to get in."

"Tch. No, Really? And here I thought they just came by for a tea party!"

"Shut up, Kisame!"

"Why don't you come over here and make me, Hidan! I don't care if you're immortal, it'll be much more fun to shave your limbs off over and over again!"

"That's enough, you two!"

"…"

"Did you want to say something, Itachi?"

"… Idiots…"

"I agree!"

"What did you say!?"

"Tobi's a good boy!!"

"Quit cowering, dumbass."

"You were saying, Zetsu?"

"Thank you, Leader. Anyway, they've finished their planning and are about to attempt to open the entrance. What should we do?"

"Let's wait and see what happens."

oOo

Hiding behind a large rock near the cave entrance, Naruto crouched down, getting ready for attack. Right beside him, Chouji and Kiba did the same thing. Kiba silently talked to his furry companion beside him, getting Akamaru ready as well. A little further down, the blonde saw Shikamaru peeking around the rock, his hand holding the ear piece of the walkie-talkie in his ear.

"Everyone in position?" Talking into the walkie-talkie, Shikamaru waited for answers that Naruto couldn't hear. "Good, Sakura?" Another silence. "Yes… Lee?" The brunette's eyebrows furrowed as he called the hyperactive teen's name again.

Naruto glanced curiously at the team leader, wondering what's going on. That is, until he heard a voice within the ear piece that had Shikamaru go spastic as he screamed back.

"Sakura, you don't need to scream!" A small sigh escaped his mouth. "Troublesome woman."

Another scream had Shikamaru rubbing his fingers in his eyes, squeezing the bridge of his nose along the way. Naruto knew that he'll be getting a headache soon. He mentally laughed at his friend's expense.

"Yeah, yeah… I'm not going to take it back." A pause then, "Because it's true." Another sigh before Naruto heard Lee's name once more.

Shikamaru's head suddenly shot up. "Why didn't you answer before?" A small smile adorned the lazy ninja's face as a small chuckle was heard. "Figures. Well, just keep it in from now on because you're going to have to hear Neji as you move around."

Although Naruto wouldn't be doing much, he must say that the plan wasn't that bad.

Neji was supposed to be standing on top of the huge pinnacle of the lonesome cliff that was about 500 meters in diameter. His job was to use his kekkai genkai to lead Lee to the next seal that had the most chakra within it. And of course, Lee would be the one getting all the seals as he was the fastest.

Sakura was to wait for Lee to get the last slip of paper before attacking the rock that it was on, smashing it into oblivion.

Now that Naruto thought about it, it's almost like the plan they used in the mission to retrieve Gaara.

Naruto snapped out of his musings as he noticed the look of concentration on Shikamaru's face. He stepped closer to him to ask what's up but he's interrupted.

"It's begun. He got the first one." Naruto was suddenly pushed forward but regained his balance before he fell over. Over each shoulder he found Kiba and Chouji watching the captain closely, waiting for more updates. He opted to not punching the two idiots on his back as he also listened for an update. He felt something wet drop on his nose and looked up to see Akamaru looking at Shikamaru over him.

"Lee got the second one." Shikamaru told them in monotone. Kiba shifted behind Naruto.

"That's was with three seconds to spare." Naruto chanced a frightened glance at the dog lover, not believing that they almost went boom so early in the game. He silently prayed for Lee not to stumble or get lost.

"The third one is secured." Shoulders released their tension slightly as they still watched in anticipation. They heard a faint rustle of leaves far away to the right, knowing that it was Lee.

Fingers were thrust out into his vision, three standing up… two…

"Four." Naruto could feel the two behind him sag in relief as he let go of the breath he didn't know he was holding. "Lee! Listen to Neji!"

Eyes widened as breaths were held once again.

"He almost has it… Lee! You only have six seconds!" Naruto tumbled as he and the other two got closer to Shikamaru, wanting to hear what's going on. The desperation in his voice made it sound like Lee wasn't going to make it. Only two seconds now. "Five."

Naruto felt weight being lifted off his shoulders as Kiba stood up straighter, leaning against Akamaru behind him and Chouji fell to the ground. The blonde, however, just stayed where he was, frozen on the spot; he couldn't believe how stressing this was, thrusting your lifeline onto one person's shoulders.

The brunette spoke once more. "Was that west or east, Neji?!" Shikamaru's eyes widen as he twisted his head from left to right, futilely searching for a green spandex wearing ninja. "Lee! That was west! Got it? He meant west!!" It amazed Naruto how active the lazy boy could get when it came to it. "Neji, he needs more directions!" The kitsune looks behind him to see Kiba holding seven fingers up, then six… five… four… three…

"He has Six!" Shoulders slumping, Naruto combed a hand through his hair. "Okay Lee, this one should be easy…"

There's a tense silence this time, all waiting on Lee. "Seven!"

"C'mon, Lee! Just three more!" Chouji stood up once more. Naruto gave his chubby friend a small smile before turning back to the brunette. Then he got distracted as he heard a rustle behind him.

"There's no way we could fail now!" He watched as Kiba smirked, getting up from leaning on his dog. "Isn't that right, Akamaru?" A bark was his answer. Naruto took it that he was agreeing.

This time, as he turned back to the leader of the group, Naruto's smirking. Kiba's right, there's no way Lee would fail because if he did, he'd probably tell himself that he needed to run 600 laps around the entire field, then do some more training, as punishment.

Pumping his fist into the air, Naruto cheered his youthful teammate on, "You have this Lee! There's nothing that can stop you!"

"Eight." A smile appeared on Shikamaru's face. Naruto thought it's because of the faith the three of them have in the other ninja.

The smile then disappeared as the look of horror crawled across his face. "Wait. What was that?!" Silence stumbled into the four boys (and dog) as three of them waited for something, anything, to happen. "Neji, where is he?" As Shikamaru said this, he got into his bag and took out another walkie-talkie, throwing it to Naruto, who quickly put it on.

"-southwest… He needs help, now!" Neji's voice could be heard in the ear piece, sounding urgent. Naruto turned back to Shikamaru, silently asking what's going on.

"Tch. I knew this wasn't all going to be easy. Turns out, after getting the eighth one, a trap was activated. I need you to get there as fast as you can," Shikamaru sent Naruto a meaningful look, "and take out whatever it is that's blocking Lee's way. All Neji said was that it was living and huge with a lot of chakra.

"If you keep heading southwest from here, you should be able to find him no problem. And remember; do not touch any of the seals! Activated or deactivated. Got it?" Naruto gave Shikamaru a curt nod before dashing off, southwest from the spot they were standing in.

"How much time do we have left?" Lee's voice screamed into his ear as he heard him panting. A small whoosh could be heard afterwards. 'Sounds like Lee's having trouble, no wonder Neji sounded desperate.'

"Only seventeen seconds. Naruto, you're almost there." Hearing this, Naruto gained more speed, hoping they'll get the ninth seal in time.

A huge bang could be heard ahead of him, and then a small wind picked up. Getting closer, he could hear the grunts, not only in the ear piece, but also close by. A tree branch rustled nearby then he found himself in a tiny clearing with a huge… thing… in front of him.

Without taking a second to analyze his opponent, knowing that they were limited on time, he attacked it. Using two kunai, he threw them at it, trying to get its attention. It worked.

"Lee! Go and get the seal! I got this big brute!" In the distance he heard an "Okay, thanks Naruto-kun!" then he was left alone.

Now that he knew that he could take his time, he used it to look the enemy up and down. A few seconds of analysis had him at the conclusion that it looked like an anorexic star. Sharp, even. It couldn't be any taller than six meters, maybe even seven. The arms and legs looked like the shuriken points, only skinnier. And the head looked like a butcher knife. This was not something you would want to mess with.

Before he could even come up with a plan, Naruto dodged out of the way. Not long after, wind picked up once more as an aftereffect. He tucked and rolled back into a fighting stance. The anorexic star got back up as it pulled its head out of the ground where it tried to slice Naruto in half, vertically.

This time, Naruto looked at his opponent more carefully. His fleeting gaze stopped as it shot back to a red dot, the size of an egg, right at the base of its 'neck'.

Sticking a hand into his back pouch, Naruto took out two shuriken, throwing one at the red dot. It was easily deflected, though. Instead of being put out, Naruto smirked, loving the challenge. He threw the other one at the dot and headed up into the trees above.

As he's hiding, he heard Shikamaru come in. "He's got the ninth one!" Wow, and he didn't even hear Neji give Lee the rest of the directions. "Naruto, how are you doing?"

"Fine, just going to finish this bastard off then I'll head back over!"

"Okay, see you in a bit."

"Be careful, Naruto." Sakura told him as he crouched onto the branch.

"Don't worry about me, I'll be fine."

"…Okay." He smirked as he was once again concentrating on the star below.

Tying a few explosion notes to his kunai, Naruto threw one at it. The kunai got deflected to the ground right under the star thing. As the explosion was about to go off, he threw two more in the ground right by it, an idea coming to mind. Getting out his last kunai, he jumped off the branch toward the enemy. The first explosion went off, then the next two.

The distraction was perfect. He's about to reach the dot before a rip was heard but he ignored it as his kunai embedded itself into the center of the red dot. An eerie quiet came to his attention before he heard soft beeps. His eyes widened in realization and he leapt off of the monster, backwards. At the last second, he covered his face.

Then everything happened at once. Naruto got the wind knocked out of him as he was blown away by the explosion of the anorexic star, then he's falling to the ground. As this was happening, Shikamaru started talking. Naruto couldn't hear it as he fell straight to the ground. The loud crash that he made sent everyone with a walkie-talkie into panic mode. Everyone began yelling, wondering if he was okay.

He weakly told them he's alright before slowly standing up. He began his trek back to the others but stopped. Looking down he grabbed his stomach. An unwelcome feeling overrode him as he started his walk again. After awhile, he shook it off. No use dwelling on it, he had other things to do.

With the Akatsuki in mind, he sprinted off into the trees. Finally feeling back to normal after a couple seconds, he tried to contact the others.

"Hey, how's everything over there!" Naruto wondered if he worried everyone with the way all four ninja who had walkie-talkies on them sighed in relief.

Shikamaru began his brief explanation. "Lee already got the ninth seal, and is almost here to get the tenth. He has twelve seconds left before time is up."

Neji picked up afterwards. "At the rate you are going, you should be here in around twenty seconds. So make sure you come prepared for battle because we won't wait for you."

"Gee, thanks guys." Naruto said sarcastically, smirking as he heard a small chuckle from Neji.

"Just make sure you get here soon." Shikamaru spoke up again.

"Yeah, yeah, I got it. I'll be there really soon." He sped up a bit, anticipating the battle. Naruto dodged around another branch and found himself back into the flat grounds where everyone else was. As he's running, he could see the others getting bigger and bigger.

With three seconds to spare, Naruto watched Lee jump on the side of the entrance and rip off the last seal. Not long after, Sakura charged up and ran straight at the boulder blocking the entrance, punching it with all that she's got.

Roving his eyes to the others, he could see Kiba and Akamaru jumping up and down, screaming for him to hurry up. Then, everyone moved to hide as they waited for the dust to clear.

After a few seconds, Naruto was back at the rock he was hiding behind before, arriving earlier than Neji expected.

He noticed how Kiba chanced his eyes his way for a mere second, then doing a double take. The blonde got a little squirmy under his friend's gaping stare before finally talking.

"What?"

Kiba quickly recovered. "Dude, what happened to the scars on your face?"

Naruto didn't waste a second as his hands flew up to his cheeks, eyes wide in panic. Not feeling any indent on his cheeks whatsoever, only smooth skin, Naruto hastily lifted his shirt up. He used some of his chakra to show the seal on his stomach, hoping against all hope that it's still there.

It's there, to Naruto's relief, but the color seemed to have changed. Instead of the usual black, the color switched to a bluish-purple. His eyes also caught another difference in the seal.

Before he had the chance to analyze it further, the dust cleared and he noted how it became really quiet once more. Not too far away, he saw Neji and Sakura behind another rock with Lee lying on the ground, chest heaving. Neji was trying to look into the black cave with his byakugan.

Then, to Naruto's astonishment, he signaled everyone to move in. Not wasting any more time, they jumped towards the entrance. Neji and Naruto both look from the left and right sides of the opening, respectfully. Suddenly, Naruto whipped out his kunai, blocking an oncoming projectile from within the cave.

It was as if the deflected senbon needle fell in slow motion because as soon as it hit the ground, everything happened after the big bang.

Naruto and his team covered their faces as they were flown back from the entry way. Landing awkwardly on the ground, Naruto peaked over his arms to find a huge pile of rocks where the cave used to be. Although he really wished he could sit there and recover a little longer, he couldn't. He and his teammates quickly got up and into position, waiting for the first strike.

At last, the first to attack was one of the Akatsuki. The Akatsuki member sent a flying white object towards Naruto but it was intercepted by a raging white dog that swatted it away. Not long after, the white… bird… exploded. Looking back at the person who sent the bird, Naruto wracked his brain for the name.

He had long blonde, one eye covered, and Naruto distinctly remembered he's big in art, clay bombs being his specialty. Though, he couldn't remember the guy's name! Dan… David… Die… Deidara! Yeah, that's it. There's another guy behind him with a swirl on his mask.

Eventually, Naruto turned his back on those two fighting; Kiba and Akamaru seemed to be up to par with their opponents, dodging most of the blows. He watched as the others go into battle. Shikamaru was fighting against this guy with pale blonde hair that's slicked back. His weapon looked like one of a shinigami.

Neji's fighting against… a plant? Oh, wait! There's someone inside it. Naruto turned away quickly from the strange sight. Now, he was faced with Lee and the shark dude he could never remember the name of, no matter how many times he's threatened by him.

Then the last two fights were with Sakura against a blue haired woman…was that a flower in her hair? And Chouji was against this tall guy with a mask covering the bottom part of his face.

As he rotated around once more he found himself face to face with a weasel. Not literally, of course. A few meters away stood the older version of Sasuke.

Uchiha Itachi.

Making sure not to look into the other's sharingan eyes, or the fingers that would point to him, Naruto got ready for his battle.

Then their fight began.

Naruto charged in with a kunai in hand but didn't attack as he disappeared from sight before he reached his enemy. Then he reappeared behind Itachi and sliced through him, only to find a few seconds later that Itachi used Kawarimi no jutsu.

Before he was able to cover himself again, a blow was landed on his cheek, sending him flying into the pile of rocks that used to be the cliff. Ignoring the ache in his head, he could feel a small tug in his stomach. Naruto dismissed it as he slowly got up. He disappeared once more as he quietly used his Kage bunshin no jutsu. He created two clones, sending one to distract Itachi for awhile.

Hoping that Itachi wouldn't see through it so quickly, Naruto used his other clone to create his Rasengan. The blonde notices quickly how his chakra level was lower than normal. He tried not to dwell on that as he went all out on creating the Rasengan. However, he didn't get to finish it as a punch was sent to his stomach. He doubled over as he released the two bunshins.

"Weak." He heard Itachi's voice before he was kicked into the rubble once more. This time the pain in his stomach redoubled. He could hear the quiet footsteps of the S-class ninja. Naruto quietly lied on the rocks, waiting for the other to come closer. Right when Itachi walked in front of him, Naruto jumped up, ignored the excruciating pain in his stomach, and punched the Uchiha in the nose.

Naruto put his hand on his stomach as he watched Itachi skid back into a boulder, vanishing afterwards. He vaguely wondered in the back of his mind why he couldn't summon as much chakra as usual. Before he could register what he was doing, Naruto sent a kick behind him. His foot collided with a taut stomach.

"You haven't seen anything yet." He answered, watching the older Uchiha fly back. Said ninja slowly got up to a kneeling position, and then Naruto couldn't see him any more. Sensing something from his right, the blonde side jumped to his left, trying to avoid any strikes. Though it didn't work as he was blown away with one of the Katon's the Uchiha's were famous for.

His back hit a huge rock, being pushed up by the oncoming flames. When the flames finished, he slumped to the ground. As time wore on, his midsection felt like it was getting torn in two.

The Kyuubi holder didn't notice the Akatsuki member before he was lifted off the ground by the collar. He was shoved against the boulder again. Naruto punched the other in the face once more, following up with a knee to the stomach. Itachi loosened his grip and Naruto took this chance to hold onto the other's wrist. Using as much chakra he could, Naruto mustered up enough chakra in his right hand to make a Rasengan.

Naruto tightened his grip on the struggling wrist before shoving the smaller than usual Rasengan into Itachi's stomach. Letting go of the wrist, Itachi flew back into another boulder.

Without any support to hold him up, Naruto fell to the ground, facing up to the sky. There was no way he could fight anymore. No matter how much he detested giving up, he had no other choice; he couldn't move one single bit. It's as if his chakra evaporated into thin air.

Darkness began to creep up on him, his stomach on fire. Movement of rocks was heard; he knew that it was Itachi getting up once more. Naruto attempted to move his limbs but that was proven a useless struggle. Before he lost all sense of space, he noticed the boulder he once was up against began to come closer to him.

Then there was nothing but darkness.

oOo

To Be Continued…

oOo

OMG!! I actually finished the first chapter! I can't believe it! O.O

Thanks for reading the first chapter and please review!! I need some feedback! And let me know how I did on the fights because it was my first time writing fight scenes.