Obscuring the beginning of sunrise, gray clouds spread across the horizon. Menma glanced at the quickly receding backs of his friends. Blue eyes shifted forward, taking in the quickly approaching branches, giant mushrooms pock marking trees, forest floor, and the deep ravines tree roots bled into. He breathed deeply, suppressing his natural reflex to draw Nature Chakra from the environment, it was an inborn desire to 'taste' the new surroundings he was traveling through.

Doubt colored his expression as he bounded across dark tree limbs.

"As those clouds foretell nothing good, take your own advice of your father—brother. Worrying will only cause you to falter and your concentration is needed for the upcoming battle, have hope for a different outcome." Kurama's encouraging voice resonated through Menma's mind.

"Wow, did you just say something nice to me?" Menma mused quietly.

"I have done so before."

"Well, if you have… I must have blocked it out, probably traumatized me with the weirdness of it." Menma replied cheekily in his head. He reached his hands up and tightened his forehead protector determinedly.

"Tch. Whatever."

The fox's eyes widened and Menma's jaw dropped open, causing Minato to look at him in question.

"I didn't just have a Uchiha moment." Kurama repeatedly mumbled with old Minato replying each time, "Yes, you did actually."

Eventually, Menma ignored their antics and began warily scanning the monochrome forest innards. The storm had spread threateningly along the expanse of the sky since sunbreak.

Biting wind swept through waves of grass, wood cracking against the harsh gale. Menma's skin tingled as anticipation pulsed through his now thrumming body. They were close.

Minato's fingers made small movements and they both disappeared, only to appear not far away in an alcove created by an upturned boulder. Dark looming trees and mushrooms stood tall around the blonde headed figures.

"My chakra sensing indicates we aren't far from a lot of chakra signatures and we need to discuss tactics." Minato answered Menma's unspoken question.

The younger blonde nodded, before placing seals around their crouched figures and on the stone they were leaned up against.

"What do these do?" Minato said curiously, with graceful fingers hovering over one of the papers with intricate designs on it.

"It's a camouflage barrier, hides: chakra, sight, sound and smell, basically making us invisible for a while."

Minato mentally noted to ask him to teach the design of the seal to him when they got back to Konoha. The older blonde gazed upon the ominous clouds—battle isn't going to be pleasant drenched in rain, hope I don't get a cold. — before looking back at the cerulean eyes of his brother.

"Since the Third Hokage is low on manpower he sent his most powerful for the best distraction. We won't have any backup—well you kinda are the back up with your abilities. With that in mind we'll go with a classic, I'll hit the frontline directly and you will attack the sides with your shadow clones, stopping any circling tactics, that should do the trick, right?"

Menma laughed, "Yeah, but I was thinking a little sabotage would work as well, wouldn't it? Make them weaker when we do fight them."

Minato nodded approvingly. "But we can't spend too much time on that plan, since our job is to be a distraction for Team Kakashi."

"Right, so give me twenty minutes to spread chaos thoroughly." Menma's dark smile exposed glistening canines. Minato suppressed a shiver with the knowledge that Menma was on Konoha's side.

Minato forced a chuckle and then smoothed his face into a serious expression. "We'll use the radio transceiver headsets, as it will make the Iwa nin think that it is not just two people, but a group they are up against. Creating just a little bit more confusion and fear when they realize that only two people are taking on an entire army. Of course this tactic won't work against the stronger willed… but then you do use hundreds of clones so you practically are more than one person," Menma tensed slightly at the unknowingly informed comment his brother had let slip. "which guarantees more fear that one person is making so many shadow clones."

"Remember, don't forget to notify me of any outliners—" Menma squinted. "Uh, you know, the crazy people you won't be able to take out easily—" Minato added.

"Yes. Yes, I do." Menma nodded knowingly.

"—just in case you need any help. And I'll do the same."

As Minato gazed sternly at him, the older let a smile break through. After pressing a couple buttons on both headsets, he handed a radio head set to Menma. "Go wreak havoc, brother. And inform me when you're done through the private frequency I tuned your headset to, then we can start phase two."

The older blonde leaned forward and grabbed the back of Menma's neck, pressing their protector covered foreheads together. "May the Will of Fire be with you." The 'brothers' said in unison.

Menma smiled hesitantly at his brother before crossing his fingers in front of his chest and setting jobs for his newly formed shadow clones. Who, after getting their supplies ready, transformed into inconspicuous foxes, that then ran out toward the enemy's camp.

"You realize I don't have to actually leave to complete phase one, right? My shadow clones can do it."

Minato's face blanked before he started chuckling oddly, "Of course, I knew, I'm just one for theatrics you know…."

"Uh huh." The younger blonde shook his head with a crooked smile.

Minato ignored him and began checking his weapons and seals while he waited for the signal to start from Menma. The younger brother turned his head away from Minato as his sensitive hearing picked up on a soft brush of sandals not far from their temporary hideaway. Minato jerked his head up as he sensed foreign chakras. The older man's body tensed. The darker cerulean eyes slid their gaze over to Menma and caught the relaxed stance that the younger blonde kept.

"Don't worry, the seal isn't faulty and it will work for another four hours at least. Of course, if they try to come inside, they won't be able to; then they'll know something is here. Although, by then we'll have to take care of them, so that we can remain undetected. Well I guess you can worry a little." Menma tilted his head contemplatively. "I need to figure out how to ward people away from the seal barrier as well eventually. It will be perfected when I do."

The young Jonin preceded to pull out seal making utensils and began weaving symbols together for a Sustaining and barrier seal for the captain Kage Bunshin's.

Minato kept his senses trained on the intruding party and returned to checking his equipment. Satisfied, Minato rested his arms on his neatly folded legs beneath him and watched as the enemy soldiers darted above them without looking back in suspicion. The older blonde sighed in wonder and stared at the seals Menma was mapping out flawlessly.

A blonde eyebrow rose, "Is that—! Kami, I didn't know that was possible, are you going to use that on your shadow clones?"

"Yeah, some. The leaders of the groups at least. So that the captain can send a clone notifying me if more clones are needed or if strategic measures need to be taken, thus the ones with the seal on them won't waste any chakra on making clones and instead they will fight the higher level enemy nin—since they won't pop until they run out of chakra… and it's easier controlling my clones with leader clones."

"How many are you going to make?"

"Clones? Depends on how many nin we're up against. My fox disguised clones will give me that information in a couple minutes."

Minato's serious gaze leveled upon Menma in consideration. The younger brother raised an eyebrow in response. "You know what will be even quicker in ending the battle?" Menma rested his chin in his hand as he waited exasperatedly for the answer to the rhetorical question.

The older Jonin rubbed the back of his head at Menma's response. "Um, if you carry the Hiraishin seal on you when you go to do your shadow clones, then it will duplicate with your shadow clone and I can use it as a means to further my techniques' radius as you surround the army."

"That's a good plan, but how many times can you use Hiraishin without depleting your chakra reserves?"

Minato inclined his head conceding to his brothers' fair point, "And so we wait for the head count of the Iwa nin."

Menma nodded sharply and started creating some clones to help finish his sealing work.

After a tense while, Minato began hearing shouting in the distance, he turned to see Menma smirking at the ground with his eyes shaded. The older pursed his lips and wondered if he should ask how his little brother was sabotaging the enemy. Still deliberating he tensed as he observed Menma's eyes widen. "How many?"

"Were there originally this many people?" Menma thought as he responded to Minato's question. "At least forty troops. And this is probably just a division of their army."

Minato's lips thinned. "The question is what are they doing with this large amount here and where are the rest of their troops. I need to send a message to the Hokage." The older blonde quickly bit his thumb and summoned a toad, he relayed the information to the toad and then quickly sent it off.

"Well, the good news is the sabotage took out a big chunk," Minato cast a sharp look at Menma. "I mean I poisoned, incapacitated and eliminated about eighteen troops, sir." Minato nodded in acceptance and stood up with a grim expression.

"Alright, only five thousand five hundred nin to go." Menma muttered as he mimicked Minato's actions. The younger rushed to avoid another harsh reproach and said, "So we should get started. You want to put your seal on me Minato?"

"I already placed it on you." Minato responded with an amused glint in his eyes.

"What? When the fuck did that happen?" Menma exclaimed. Minato shrugged smugly before tensing again and casting an impatient look over in Menma's direction.

Menma shook his head and started creating shadow clone leaders and sealing each one with a sustaining and barrier seal. Each shadow leader performed transformation to fool the enemy into thinking there was more than just Menma and Minato fighting them. Menma then created a troop of two hundred and fifty clones for each of his shadow leaders. The twenty-two leaders led their soldiers as quietly as possible to surround the entire Iwa nin troops, while taking patrols out along the way.

"Don't worry, I got your back brother." Menma said clapping Minato on the back. "I can see that." Minato responded dryly with a slight smirk.

The blonde brother's nodded at each other and shot off to their self-assigned posts within the mission.


Sweat dripped slowly across his flushed face, he glanced around scanning the area for any nearby ninjas before taking a quick breather.

"How odd. Your chakra is draining fairly quickly." Kurama rumbled into his cavernous dwelling.

"Those shadow clones drained a fair amount to begin with, replenishing a large amount of them, while fighting high level ninjas is not exactly easy." Menma snarled back.

"Hmm. It seems you need to take a break. The belief that you are talking to somebody when nobody beside you is physically present is, my dear brother, a delusion. Thus, you are delusional." A voice drawled. "Although— it is also a symptom of exhaustion, except that is far less likely don't you think?" Minato said sarcastically as he appeared beside Menma with an arm slung causally across Menma's shoulders.

"Fuck! Don't do that!" Menma rested a hand on his chest in an attempt to calm a heart that was doing a remarkable impression of a jackhammer, while also lowering a kunai he instinctively pulled out. "… motherfucking, kami…" He sulked as he realized Minato had unintentionally—unlikely—caught him off guard.

"Irritability is also a symp—" Minato cut off. Wondering why Minato had suddenly stopped talking, Menma curiously turned from his angry red mushrooms he was growing on the ground. The younger blonde knew it wasn't an enemy sneaking up on them, since as a countermeasure he had placed discrete shadow clones surrounding himself.

Dazed eyes stared into the distance, "I need to go. It's Kakashi. Take a break before continuing, I'll be back soon or I'll send a message." Minato rushed his instructions, then disappeared.

"Hai." Menma said despondently in to the empty air, the warm sensation of his fath-brothers' arm still lingering on his shoulders.

Absentmindedly scratching his cheek, he observed the battle between his shadows and the enemy ninja.

He felt more clones die and quickly replenished them with a thought and chakra. His knees shivered as if thinking of giving up on keeping him upright. Blue eyes glared at the ground. "Hmm…" As another troop of clones extinguished and with the act of replacing them, his knees hit the dirt packed ground. Menma breathed deeply. "Somebody found the weakness in the unsealed clones, huh?" A tug of Kurama's chakra and his body was trembling with temporary energy.

"Mmmh" A pleasured sigh escaped his sinfully grinning mouth, then he cracked his neck.

The clones watching his break area blinked as they realized the Original had already disappeared. They abandoned their post and ran excitedly into the fight.


A man grunted and strained to keep standing as a blonde man appeared balancing on one foot on top of his head. Menma squinted at the surrounding forces.

"Tch. Where is he?"

The man below tried attacking the blonde standing on him, but Menma evaded every effort to get him off while still searching for the culprit that was destroying his clones so easily.

"I wonder why the rest of the troops are battling so far away from this guy…Wow the ground is pretty fucked up."

Kurama rolled his eyes.

The cerulean eyes widened a fraction as he caught on. He smiled smugly at his quick wit before leaning down and placing a chakra suppressor seal on the man's head. The enemy collapsed and Menma's legs landed on either side of the downed man's head to stabilize himself.

A simple cut and blood pooled around the unlucky man. The blonde created some more clones before running off to his break area in the woods. His eyebrow rose when he realized his clones had abandoned post in order to join the fun.

He scoffed and made some more lookout clones. Menma groaned as he slid to the ground using a tree as leverage against his back. The blond wrapped his arms around bent knees and clutched them to himself using them to rest his head on. Blonde hair tickled his face as wind blew through his hideout.


Monochrome light was fading. The black clouds above had yet to open up and let the rain fall and thunder pounded upon earth exasperating the pain of Menma's headache. The jonin's head pounded as he harshly ground his teeth to keep awake. He had sent out more captain level sealed shadow clones in order to compensate for the clone fodder that was dying too quickly. In an effort to conserve energy he wasn't creating chakra dense shadow clones anymore, thus, they popped easily. All in all, his chakra was drained and the remainder of it was fighting to keep at least some resemblance of balance with Kurama's chakra.

Darkness crept along the edges of his vision. Another batch of clones. A sharp tooth dug in and hot wet liquid gushed from his fleshy lip. The temporary burn helping him remain conscious, for now at least. Menma felt his inner companions roll their eyes.

"So stubborn." Kurama muttered.

Before Menma could respond, if he actually intended to, a toad appeared with a Hokage emblem scroll. The toad eyed him, Menma responded with his name and held out his hand impatiently. The amphibian leapt forward and dropped the message in his outstretched hand. Eyeing the toad that hadn't left, Menma wiped the fresh blood from his lip and pressed it on the scroll with some chakra. It glowed, unsealing itself, and without further ado he unrolled the scroll. After scanning the information, he hummed, "Interesting. Apparently, most of the other troops of Iwa nin that were unaccounted for were attacking the main borders, but then they seemed to panic and most abandoned the fight. The forces I'm fighting probably sent word of their status—" "Plight." Kurama coughed. "and the Iwa nins' resolve faltered... Well and Ero-Sannin was leading the defense against Iwa…"

"Thus, I assume the Iwa divisions I'm fighting will be retreating soon."

"Sorry," A croak caught the blondes' attention. "But are you talking to me?" The toad asked puzzled.

"No." The blonde stared at the orange and red toad oddly before the toad became embarrassed for some reason he couldn't identify.

Menma quickly jot down his status on the mission and Minato's absence, then he resealed the scroll handing it to the toad who immediately leapt away.

Shadow clone memories suddenly began bombarding his head, the ache intensifying to migraine level, he vomited as he yelled in his head, "My clones are so stupid!" A weakness filled his limbs. Swaying with lightheadedness on his hands and knees, he passed out.


Cold numbed his fingers as he regained consciousness. He groaned at his sore body as he pushed himself up to his feet and wiped vomit from his cheek. "Fucking retarded ass… bastards…They should have known better than to all pop at once… abuse I tell you." He snarled quietly.

Kurama and Minato's roaring laughter was a dull ache in the back of his head as he ignored the implications of what he said. Although the two presences he hosted were not so kind.

"They were your clones. Thus, it was your own stupidity that lead to you passing out."

"I thought I had fixed this problem by using the captain shadow clones as the people that manage that whole situation. And the captains definitely should not have expelled at the same time as the others with the larger amount of experiences accumulated in them."

"They are still you, just as thoughtless as the original."

Menma scoffed and turned away… from nothing since he wasn't in his mindscape originally and another toad was staring at him nervously.

Menma lifted a brow inquisitively.

The toad shook its head and cleared its throat. "Minato-sama says 'Status is: Obito is dead, he was… crushed under a rock… and Kakashi is injured. I moved Kakashi and Rin into a safe enough location … I contacted the Hokage about the situation, requesting to stay with them, he ordered us to return home and to pass the mission of destroying the bridge onto you since we are unable to. I assume that our mission was successful if he's moving you onto another mission without someone else to provide distraction in place of you…. Be well, little brother…' the end."

Shivers imperceptibly quaked through Menma's body. A cold dread slithered through his insides making him nauseous. The jonin swallowed dryly.

"B-but I thought since I convinced Minato to tell Kakashi the real purpose behind the tri-pronged kunai, it would prevent this from happening…" Menma thought judgmentally.

"Hmm… it would seem that not everything bad that happened in your past can be changed completely." Past-Minato considered. "But it can be altered."

"So go on. Finish altering this version of events as best you can."

Menma clenched his fists and nodded determinedly. "Obito didn't die in the rocks last time, he was only crushed. If we get there in time we may be able to save him from the Crazy One."

The toad watched the mental conversation in fascination. Before saying, "I think I'll just go, since you received the order…." No response from the blond. The toad sighed and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Menma blinked as he felt a presence disappear. Cerulean irises contracted as he focused on the outside world and took off into the trees, toward where he and Minato parted ways with the kids. Large branches swayed beneath the weight of his chakra density as he traveled swiftly beneath the blackly clouded night sky. Drops of rain left trails of red burns on his exposed skin, they quickly healed only for more streaks to appear in replacement. He passed the point at which the two brothers left Minato's team, he paused a moment to catch the scent of the troublesome Uchiha and darted away following the old trail. Tall shoots of bamboo, trees and foliage once again obscured the blond.

Not long after, he began to smell foreign scents and metal in a coverage of denser trees. His body slowed when he smelled Kakashi's blood, he stopped where a patch of dark blood stained a moss plagued branch. Menma turned his head away from the dry blood that seemed too large for a simple cut across Kakashi's eye. At one point the trail of Obito and Kakashi split ways from Rin, "foreign scents carried her away" before they converged on Rin's trail again. Huge trees obstructed a rocky hill that looked recently dilapidated. The young Jonin's body froze. He took a deep breath, jumped down into the collapsed section of the cave and pressed his ear to the boulder hoping to hear a faint whisper of breath or heartbeat. Menma growled in frustration. The blonde tensed when he felt the light touch Obito's chakra. He grinned.

In order to focus on Obito he sent off sealed shadows to the Bridge of Kannabi, knowing they could certainly finish an explosive job without him; especially since they each carry condensed chakra and could turn into bombs themselves. The clones just had to wait for nobody to be on the bridge.

"Okay, let's do this." Menma said placing his arms in front of himself as if in prayer. An inhuman motionlessness stilled his body's movement as he drew upon Nature Chakra. Power lightly shook the ground as if presenting the authority Menma had over the earth around him. The blonde's horizontal irises appeared as he gazed on the weakness' of the rocks before him and the placement of Obito's body. He rolled his shoulders back, gripped the rock with his chakra and pulled. It jilted a few smaller stones loose, but he confidently lifted the boulder above his head and threw it. A loud snapping of wood, rustling of leaves and impacted earth met his sensitive ears. This process repeated two more times before he finally reached his goal.

Hard eyes softened as they gazed down at the mess of Obito's body. The small body was a wreckage of pulled skin and crushed bones grotesquely poking through tender flesh. The wounds wept sluggishly as his body made an effort to stay alive. Menma leapt down further into the cavern and onto the large outcropping of rock the young Chunin's body lay. Kneeling down in the splatter of blood Menma unsealed a bandage from one of his scrolls, tightening it around a tear in the boy's abdomen, inflicted by his own ribs, it was the most concerning bleed.

Menma bent down to listen to Obito's breath to determine if the ribs had punctured his lungs. "Nope, but his breathing is barely present along with his heart rate. Can't move him without knowing if his spine is broken either." Menma let go of nature's chakra and pressed his finger against Obito's forehead. He closed his eyes and released a pulse of his own chakra into the boy's body, an image of the broken parts of his body played across his mind's eye. A frown marred his brow. Hairline fractures splayed along the thoracic spine.

"I can't heal this." He growled.

"Create a healing stasis seal on him, as you bring him back then." Past-Minato supplied.

A blonde eyebrow rose in contemplation, then he shook his head, "It's takes at least four hours to create a healing seal for someone I don't know well. There are specific attributes and intricacies that need to be detailed perfectly in order for the seal to not kill him. I don't think he has that long and I don't know exactly when the Crazy One will come."

"Then make it in your mindscape. You know time is distorted here. Then copy it over physically from memory." Kurama waved off his host's concerns. "Have some clones create a stretcher, move him to a privacy sealed location and bunker down in your mind for four hours; while your clones set up intravenous bags of morphine and saline and bandage the rest of his wounds so he doesn't bleed out. He doesn't need to be awake with this many injuries."

Menma quickly set about following Kurama's plan. He and his two clones gently moved Obito onto a stretcher they made out of branches and a sleeping bag. Obito released a pained grunt as he was set down. Menma's eyes snapped to the boys glazed black eyes. Menma's face softened and he gently placed his hand on Obito's head, brushing hair and tears from his eyes. The chunin's eyes fluttered closed again.

The blonde jerked his head in a nod toward the shadow clones and they moved the stretcher carefully up the rocks and into the surrounding forest. Chancing upon a carved out trunk of a large oak tree, the three began setting up camp, which included placing an invisibility-privacy seal on the tree. Menma chakra pulled from his healing scroll the prescribed bags for the morphine and saline as well as the I.V. lines and needles and handed them off to his shadows. The clones set up the I.V.'s on the young teen's arms as Menma sat leaned up against the tree in order to go into his mindscape.

The clones wrapped the cuts, Obito's head and put splints on his broken legs and arm. The bones were broken in several places, which requires professional help so they didn't try to straighten the awkwardly angled limbs. The two shadows kept watch over the surrounding forest and Obito's faint breathing.

"Do you think we might have an oxygen tank? I can't remember."

"I doubt it, we most likely used it to blow something up instead of what it's supposed to be used for. Granny would so kill us if she found that out. 'The prepping of that scroll was to help you keep people alive until you can get them home, not so you can waste them on things that you could have used your chakra for!'" The second clone finished in a surprisingly good impersonation of Tsunade.


Menma's eyes snapped open and took in his surrounding; Obito pale on a stretch covered in a blanket with clear cordage attached to his arms and his naked shadow clones playing poker beside the poor unconscious boy.

Noticing the Original was finally awake, a clone said, "We tried to get Obito to join in but he said he had to honor some prior engagements before he could have fun. It's a pity really. We have your insanely good luck in gambling, thus we're both losing."

Menma's lips thinned, then he let loose a sigh in consternation. He dispelled the two troublemakers and created new ones. "Okay, whoever finishes the healing stasis seal perfectly and first gets a cup of ramen."

The two exclaimed joyously before getting to the task at hand. The clones both brushed the seal from Menma's memory in the mindscape. When the last intricate piece of the healing seal was done, both held their seals up to Menma for inspection. The blonde Jonin held them in front of his Kurama chakra eyes to see the detailed pieces in the dark and scanned them for mistakes in the sealing algorithm or smudges in the lines.

He sighed as he only saw perfectly made seals. He sealed one of the healing stasis seals in his healing scroll at his hip. Menma threw cups of ramen at both of them and proceeded to kneel next to Obito. He laid a tan hand on the boys pale sweaty forehead before placing the stasis seal on his chest in an area void of wounds and pushed chakra into the inked design. A glow briefly covered Obito, and Menma watched with relief as the Chunin began to breathe easier and relax into his morphine induced relief.

Menma sat with his back against the tree and watched his clones make their ramen with bottled water and a weak fire jutsu. He closed his blue eyes and breathed the Nature chakra surrounding him, color appearing around his eyelids as he naturally sank into meditation while he waited for the status on the bridge from his clones. He tensed as he sensed a presence slither along the chakra pathways of trees and the earth. He began to get up to fight it.

"Don't, Menma. You are not at full capacity at the moment and you have someone you need to look after right now."

Menma growled before glancing down at the broken boy. The Jonin huffed before sitting back down and allowing an unnatural stillness to come over him again. He sensed the Crazy One around the site of Obito's downfall, he felt as a frustrated and angry frequency in the Aloe Vera's chakra let loose from their usually tightly controlled core and let out a contained breath as they slinked back from whence they came. Menma's fists tightened on his thighs.

"Now I have no idea of what they plan to do in the future to revive Madara."

"On the bright side, that will just make this whole time traveling thing more interesting, right? If we don't know what to expect all the time."

A glare heatedly rejected Kurama's comment. "How am I supposed to plan for something if I don't know if specific events are happening or not. Why did he even choose to do this to Obito in the first place and not another Uchiha? Is it because he is the black sheep of the clan?"

"I have faith in you, Naruto." The jonin smiled a bit at past-Minato's confidence before shaking his head.

"Well, you could also do some reconnaissance like a Hokage would do for a potential threat against their village."

Menma nodded in acceptance to the suggestion.

"But first you can take a nap while you wait for the bridge to blow."

The blonde man's gaze focused outside of the tree cave as the sky poured rain.


A/N: please don't kill me through the internet matrix!

Took me awhile to finish up this chapter because I kept putting it off and I'm busy personal shit and I'm a bit of a perfectionist with writing.

Yes, I know you all hate me and love me at the moment. Mixed feelings suck. I hate cliffhangers by fanfiction authors that never finish the work, especially if it is good work. But I plan to finish this, even if it takes a while.

Hope you at least enjoyed this chapter. It was longish, not at long as you were expecting I'm sure, since it took forever. Are you at least a little satisfied?... wont be a while til the next so, yeah...

GFoY out.

**Running the fuck out of... nowhere cuz I'm typing this, but still you get the idea (scared of ya'll, if you don't)**