"Empyreal Paradox"

By Nes Mikel

Acknowledgment;

I herby acknowledge that the work of fiction presented here is for my own personal amusement and entertainment purposes alone. Most of the story, characters, place names and other etc stuff in this fiction are copyright Naruto, Kishimoto Masashi, Weekly Shounen Jump, and any others I might have forgot.

For non up-to-date readers, this fiction contains characters and events introduced post-timeskip and spoilers up to the latest Naruto manga chapters.

I also humbly suggest reading Garden of Sanctuary and Medusa Javelin first before reading this fiction. Although not a requirement, many things in this fiction will not make sense unless they have been read beforehand. The links to both fictions are in my profile.

With that said, enjoy.

"Empyreal Paradox"

- Chapter Two -

"Stentorian"

adj – extremely loud

"So… what you're saying is that I stayed down here in the dungeons so long that time ended and started all over again? And you were reincarnated as… a Hyuuga?"

The disbelieving look on Naruto's face made it all too clear to Sakura that he wasn't ready to take such complicated information all in one stride. Heck, she herself wasn't so sure of the information either.

Until now, she had always thought that Kyuubi had stopped her from dying and threw her back in time using some sort of ancient archaic spell and reincarnated her as 'Hyuuga Setsuka' with all of her previous memories as 'Haruno Sakura' still intact into the world of the past. Why the nine-tailed demon fox, a tailed beast that had once unleashed massive chaos and destruction upon the then-unsuspecting world would do such a thing, she couldn't understand. She wasn't even sure if she even wanted to understand, everything was just too confusing to her. She dismissed it as Kyuubi's idea of a sick joke, and tried to live her new life as best as she could.

Her first hints of understanding came when she started mapping the underground ruins running underneath the Hokage Tower using her Byakugan just today. When she recognized the patterns of the corridors as the same ones she remembers traveling down in order to visit Naruto, two distinct, yet harrowing possibilities emerged within her. Possibility number one - she was indeed in the world of the past, and these dungeons were simply ancient ruins that remained undiscovered until today.

And then there was possibility number two – she was in a world where time had restarted.

She was in the past and the future at the same time.

It hardly made any sense, but it was more than enough to start her on the road of understanding. It would explain why the Kyuubi told her that she wasn't Hyuuga Setsuka, but Hyuuga Setsuka was she. She was never Hyuuga Setsuka in the first place. Rather, she was going to become Hyuuga Setsuka, just as she was now.

And if, just if, if this was a world where time had restarted, a world where time advanced impossibly forward until the whole world restarted itself, then maybe, just maybe, the immortal ones will survive through the impossibilities of time. She herself wasn't immortal, she had only survived into this world due to Kyuubi's interference, but if the tailed demons were immortal then that meant there was a possibility that Naruto was still alive, down there, sealed away in the dungeons. That was the reason why she had snuck out during break, that was the reason why was down here, and that was the reason why she was so overjoyed when she had indeed found him. It didn't take that long, however, for that joy to fade when she realized that her actions today would only serve to create more problems later on.

Perhaps, Sakura thought, it was better to delay this talk to some other day, where both of them were more calm-minded and more accepting to the current situation. And more decently clothed, she added.

But he deserved the truth, more than anything.

"It's the only explanation I can offer." She said. "At first, when I was born into this world I thought it was the start of my reincarnated life but it soon became clear to me that it wasn't the case. To put it simply, Naruto, this world is the restarted world of the past."

"The past?" Naruto's face tightened, looking as if he was trying his best to comprehend. His face lit up into a smile relatively quickly, the smile setting the previously desolate atmosphere into something brighter. "Oohhh! I get it! So does that mean we get to start our lives all over again?"

Sakura was really beginning to admire Naruto in how he could be so positive about almost everything. It was truly astonishing, especially for someone like him who had been locked down here for an almost an infinite number of years to be able to retain his personality so much. If she had been in his predicament, she was sure that not even a shred of her former self would've remain and would either be an empty shell or a total lunatic. It was almost a miracle how Naruto still was Naruto. No, not almost. It was a miracle.

It was almost just as bad for her, however, to be the bearer of bad news and crush Naruto's hopeless dream of starting his life all over again. "No, Naruto. We're not in the past, we're in the past before that."

The confused, disbelieving look on his face returned. "I don't get it, Sakura-chan. Just where are we, then?"

"We're still in Konoha, and you're still in your underground dungeon. That much you can understand, right?"

"Hey, hey, come on now. I'm not that dumb Sakura-chan! That much is totally obvious!"

She chuckled lightly. "Right, sorry. Here, let me put it this way, Naruto, so it's easier to understand. Technically speaking, yes, we're in the past, but not in the past where we were still Genin. We're in the past before that."

"So we're in the past when we were still babies?"

"Before that, Naruto."

"Before we were even born?"

She slowly nodded. She slightly turned her head away, avoiding eye contact with him, not really wanting to hear what his reaction would be. She expected more disbelief, perhaps even denial. Perhaps, perhaps he was even going to refuse her existence…

"That's so cool!"

Her eyes went wide at his cheerful outburst. "…What?"

"I mean, think about it Sakura-chan, think! Do know how awesome this could be? C'mon! Just how many people do you think get to experience something so cool like this! We're in the past! We're like, reliving history again! Oh man, I can't wait to see what the outside world looks like!"

His last words made her wince. He was going to be disappointed when he sees the Hokage Tower and the condition Konoha was currently in after the wake of their latest war. But what puzzled her the most was how he was taking this news all in. He was taking it in well, almost too well.

"Naruto… why are you so… happy about it?"

His happy antics came to a sudden halt and the look of guilt replaced his normally cheerful expression. "Well…" He sighs. "Okay, you're right, it's something I shouldn't be so happy about. I feel guilty about it now that I think about it."

Now she was the one that was confused. "What do you mean?"

"Sakura-chan… just how far back are we in the past anyway? How many years?"

She was prepared for this question; she expected this one out of him sooner or later. "Today is June 4th, the twenty-third year in the First Reign of the Third Hokage, so… exactly thirty years before you were imprisoned, Naruto."

"How many years before the Kyuubi attacked?"

She certainly wasn't prepared for that one. It took her a while to muster the courage to answer him. "…Fifteen years." She finally said. "Naruto, why-"

"Fifteen years." He repeated after her, interrupting her mid-sentence. "Fifteen years before the Kyuubi… then that means the outside world… doesn't know what the Kyuubi is, right?"

She was now beginning to understand what he was saying. Right now Konoha was a village at war, but at the same time, the village as a whole was unaware of a certain important detail that had haunted Naruto throughout his previous life. Konoha right now had no knowledge of the tailed beasts nor the horrors it unleashes. A Konoha village that had no knowledge of the nine-tailed demon fox was like a dream come true for Naruto.

But life, like all things in general, was just not fair.

Hyuuga Sen, a father of three, the widower of one, the Fifth Generation Leader of the Konoha Village's noble Hyuuga Clan was currently not in his best of moods. The reason attributed to his current irritated mood, actually, was standing right in front of him. A young man, aged fourteen, intelligent and strong, he was Sen's one and only pride and joy.

Hyuuga Hiashi. His son.

But right now, whatever pride he felt for his son was cast away in favor of his current mood. Irritation. Irritation and disappointment. Disturbing him in his sleep in his chambers was one thing, but this was a different matter altogether.

"Hiashi… I thought I knew you better than that." Sen said, sighing. Pushing away the comfort his futon mattress offered him, his hands then reached out for the violet blanket draped across the decorated folding screen so he could cover his bare shoulders. Sitting cross-legged on top of the now-sheetless futon mattress, he then turned back to Hiashi. "Do not make me repeat myself."

Standing beyond the open shouji doors, his son stood in the dark hallways still clad in the dirty drabs of the standard Chuunin uniform, the Konoha forehead protector tied proudly around his neck. He was staring at Sen with hard eyes. "Father…"

"Do not use that tone with me, Hiashi." Sen snapped, snapping his fingers as he did so. "My decision is final, and you should know that better than anyone else. You protest would not change a thing."

"She is but a child!" Hiashi protested almost immediately. "Committing Setsuka to the war front is-"

"Enough with that foolish attitude. She is not being committed to the war front. I have only assigned her to a mundane task in helping the village clean up the Hokage Tower ruins."

"There are still Mist-nins roaming around the village, Father."

"You are being too overprotective of her, Hiashi."

"It's still too dangerous. You talk as if her life is expendable."

"Her life is expendable."

"How can you be so cruel to your own flesh and blood! She is my sister! She's… she's your daughter! "

"She is the very reason why Masaki – your Mother – is dead, Hiashi."

"I can't believe you're still upset over that." Hiashi said, exasperated. "Mother's death giving birth to Setsuka was an accident. If you want someone to blame, you should blame the doctors that operated on her! Not your own daughter!"

"Setsuka is no longer my daughter."

"…What?"

"She is a member of the Branch house now."

First, there was silence. Then, as expected, next came the denial. "…No. Father… you didn't…"

"Don't sound so surprised, you knew this day was going to come sooner or later. I figured it would be much less of a hassle to mark her with the caged bird seal when you were away with your reconnaissance mission. It was a small miscalculation on my part when the Hidden Mist invaded our village at that precise moment of sealing, though. The end result, as you are now aware, is this – you have come back home too early to take this news in rationally. But what is done is done, Hiashi. She is a Branch house member now, and nothing you do will ever change that fact."

Hiashi spoke in tatters, sounding as if he didn't want to believe. "…I can't believe you actually marked her with the caged bird seal... she… Setsuka was only six years old!"

"Then may I remind you, Hiashi, that Hizashi was three when he received his?"

Hiashi's rebelling attitude ceased almost immediately when Sen reminded him of when his younger twin brother received the seal. Closing his eyes and sighing again, Sen shifted his legs around a little before he spoke to his son again. "You have been a thorn in my side for the longest time when it came to the issue of marking Setsuka with the caged bird seal, but marking a younger sibling with the caged bird seal and demoting them into the ranks of the Branch house is the law of this clan. The tradition is the very reason why the Hyuuga clan has survived until now, Hiashi, and it is your duty to continue that tradition. You are the most perfect son I could've ever asked for otherwise, but your overprotective attitude of Setsuka disappoints me. I have been generous in delaying her ritual, but this charade has gone on long enough. It is about time you become more accepting to your clan's duties. Do you understand?"

Hiashi did not answer.

"Do you understand me, Hiashi?"

"…Yes, Father."

"Hmph. Very well, as long as you are accepting to the situation, then I have no complaints. Do you have anything else you want to report to me?"

"…No."

"Then leave me be. I was sleeping before you decided to interrupt me in this rude fashion."

"My apologizes."

"Forget it. Just leave me be."

This time Hiashi said nothing as he shut the shouji doors quietly in front of him. The sound of fading footsteps echoed across the polished hallways until it faded into nothingness.

Teenagers. As if the Hidden Mist invading the village wasn't bad enough, now I have to deal with this.

Blowing out the candlelight and allowing the room to return itself into the comforting darkness once more, Sen shook his head to clear the sense of disappointment slowly filling his mind as he leaned his body back to rest. Easing himself over the spacious futon mattress, he tried to relax as much as he could so his body would accommodate itself accordingly to the alluring sleep. He was going to need it, especially so on a night like this.

What a long, conflicted, and frustrating midsummer night this turned out to be.

Something remarkable was happening in the Hyuuga clan compounds that night, but not in the sense that Sen, the Fifth Generation Leader of the Hyuuga clan was arguing with Hiashi, his eldest son and his eventual successor. Although these arguments didn't happen very often, it happened often enough so the rest of the clan servants knew better than to interrupt the two in the middle of such arguments. This was especially so because, for one, if one were stupid enough to interrupt their conversation – or god forbid, tried to eavesdrop – the end result was not pretty. Although Hiashi was kind and generally dismissed such incidents with a smile, Sen on the other hand was certainly not as merciful. If you were a servant working in the Hyuuga manor and you interrupted them or were caught eavesdropping, you better pray that you still have a relative somewhere in the near vicinity that was willing to feed another mouth. Most were thrown out of the manor with nothing but the clothes on their backs. And as for the second, and the probably most potent reason, was that both of them were proficient in the use of what is rumored to be one of the strongest bloodline limits known to man – the Byakugan – which allowed each of them to possesses near-360 degree vision. Any gossip-loving servant that was stupid enough to try eavesdropping would've been caught in an instant.

Of course, the reputation of Sen throwing out servants of such scandalous behavior was famous among all of Konoha, and, naturally, not one servant living and working under the Hyuuga roof was unaware of their master's policy when it came to such matters. So it was quite remarkable to think that one such servant, hired by the Hyuuga house as a junior attendant just this spring was brave enough to actually try. But what set this attempt apart from the others before her was that she remained unnoticed by neither Sen nor Hiashi throughout their entire conversation.

After holding her breath for god knows how long, the female servant was relieved to see the faint candlelight in her master's bedroom finally disappear. Quietly dropping the simple genjutsu she conjured up around her dark image, she slowly moved away from the wall careful not to make even the smallest of sounds. She now needed to get the hell out of here as fast as she could so she could return to her assigned quarters before anyone else noticed her absence.

The main reason why the other servants were caught eavesdropping on their master's conversation before her was because not one of them bothered to hide themselves well. Most of the servants working under the Hyuuga manor were simple civilians, the only exceptions perhaps the guards stationed around the manor walls. So, naturally, any gossip-loving servant trying to eavesdrop on the two's conversation held no knowledge of ninja arts, much less simple concealment. The Byakugan was a powerful tool that allowed the wielder grand vision, but unless their bloodline limit was actually activated or the user wasn't focused on a particular area they were unable to see past even simple genjutsu. This particular servant was different from the others in the regard that she knew several basic genjutsus for simple concealment, and knew of this small flaw within the Byakugan bloodline that allowed her to actually eavesdrop on them without being caught.

She may be young – only six years old – but she was no fool. She was of course aware of the risks in the event of her exposure (probably thrown out immediately, and probably without any clothes, either), and she wasn't stupid enough to think that she could get away with this indefinitely. In fact, this has been her third successful try, and she was beginning to think that she shouldn't be trying such foolish acts any longer, especially knowing the consequences of her actions. Getting fired here meant losing her only chance at a job and her only chance for a decent future for herself and her little sister. The Hyuugas were generous enough in picking them up off the streets of Konoha after the fall of their clan, offering her and her two-year old sister a place to stay and a chance for a new life. Besides, the only reason why she was even doing this was because of an idiotic crush. She sighed, now walking along the dark hallways at a brisk pace now that she put some good distance between herself and Master Sen's sleeping chambers. Now all she had to do was for her to quietly tiptoe back to her servant quarters and pretend like nothing's happened…

A hand grasped her shoulder from behind. "Not the most beautiful night for a walk, is it?"

"EEP!"

Jumping at least a feet into the air, she quickly spun around to see who she was being spoken to only to collide face first into the knees of the said person. Painfully landing on her rear and rubbing her nose, she looked up and saw, to her horror, the other son of Hyuuga Sen. Hyuuga Hizashi.

"Hi-Hizashi-sama! What are you-"

The taller man crouched down and cupped her mouth with his hand, silencing her immediately. "Quiet now, you wouldn't want to get caught now after going through all that trouble of eavesdropping on the two, right?"

Busted. She had been focusing too much of her attention on trying not to get caught by her two masters while they were arguing with each other, and instead was careless in expanding her attention outwards. Tears were starting to streak out of her eyes, and her body couldn't stop shaking. It was all over now. She had been caught red handed by none other than Hyuuga Hizashi. What was she going to tell her little sister? That they have to live in the streets again just because she was doing stupid stupid like spying on her crush? Their bonds as siblings will no doubt be forever strained, especially after a betrayal like this… or rather, how were they going to survive living in the streets again? Orphans living on the streets were never looked on kindly, and with the village now in the midst of war, it made things only worse. One foolish action had doomed both her and her sister's future forever.

Tearing the hand away from her mouth, she was instantly on her knees and bowed down so deep her forehead was touching the hallway floors. "Please… please forgive me Hizashi-sama! I will never do it again! Please don't tell Sen-sama or Hiashi-sama about this! I will do anything, so please…!"

"Don't worry, I won't tell my brother or my father about this."

"Eh…?" Those were words she certainly wasn't expecting to hear. Shocked and confused, she looked up from her bow to see Hizashi smiling softly upon her.

"It's all for the sake of my brother, right?" He asked in a reassuring tone.

Her face turned scarlet red almost instantly.

Noticing her blush, Hizashi chuckled. "I figured as much."

"I-I was only worried for him, Hizashi-sama." She explained, stuttering. "Ever since… ever since Hiashi-sama rescued my sister and I from the streets, I… I owe him a large debt, so... so I thought... the least I could do was to be aware of his troubles... to help him as much as I can… and, and I was happy! I was happy to find out that he had returned from his mission safely, so I…!"

Hizashi smiled. "I understand. Don't worry; we'll keep this a secret between you and me okay? Father won't be happy to know that I've been eavesdropping on them either, anyway."

"Eh?"

"Tell you what. I'll go to Hiashi-niisan's room and try to cheer him up for you. How does that sound?"

She couldn't help but feel astonished by his offer. "B-But Hizashi-sama… that's…!"

"Don't worry about it, Mikoto-chan, in fact, I insist. I was on my way to his room anyway. Now you go back to your quarters and get as much sleep as you can. You have a long day ahead of you tomorrow."

Noticing the slight emphasis on Hizashi's words when he told her to go to bed, she knew immediately it was futile to argue the point. Bowing once more in front of him, she broke into a small run. Brushing her long black strands of hair away from her face, she was crying tears of relief. She wasn't going to get fired! She was still going to be working in the same house with her precious Hiashi-sama! She was skipping in joy by the time she reached her room. Closing the door quietly behind her lest she wake the other servants up, she dived into her blankets and drifted off into sleep almost immediately.

Haruno Mikoto was going to dream good dreams that night.

Hell yeah!

He was about to go to sleep himself when a light tap announced the presence of the visitor. After all, he had been hastily recalled from his to-be long-term reconnaissance mission and further exhausted himself when he stormed into his Father's room and argued with him after learning that his little sister had been sent out of the house to help the excavation process in cleaning up the Hokage Tower ruins. Had he had a little more strength left in him he would've disregarded his Father's subtle order of not to take off after his sister, but too many things happened all at once this day and sleep was threatening to take him over.

Meeting this visitor, however, was something he couldn't shy away from, even from sleep. To be brutally honest, Hiashi wasn't practically keen on seeing this visitor, but he knew what must be done.

He was his brother, after all.

"Come in."

Hizashi wasted no time in letting himself inside his room. His manners were proper when he opened and closed the shouji doors in front and behind him and situated himself in the room in such a way that symbolized his submissive position. Kneeling down in front of Hiashi, Hizashi sat there, motionless, waiting for Hiashi's signal. It was the traditional way of a Branch house member greeting in a member of the Main house. "At ease." Hiashi said and he too sat himself on the zabuton pillow. "What is it you wanted, Hizashi?"

Hizashi's serious expression dissolved as he broke into an easy grin. "Niisan, you're just too kind for your own good sometimes."

"…I don't know what you're talking about." Hiashi replied monotonously.

"Oh come on now. I know you overheard the conversation between Mikoto-chan and myself. We're twins, Hiashi-niisan, I know you like the back of my hand. And, consequently, that same principle should apply to you as well."

"You purposely talked to her so I will overhear."

"Precisely."

"Look, if you're angry with her, then don't be. She only acted on her best of intentions. She really looks up to you, you know?"

"…I'm aware."

"If you want someone to blame, then blame me instead."

"Tell Mikoto to make sure she doesn't try anything of the sorts ever again. I will be powerless to stop Father in the event she is caught."

"Noted."

"The same applies to you as well."

The corner of Hizashi's mouth curved a little upward. "Noted."

"Is there anything else you want to inform me?"

"Yes, actually. About Setsuka."

Here we go. "…How is she?"

"Better than I could've ever hoped, actually. She's taken it in relatively well. She still has bandages around her forehead, though. The skin around her seal only started healing recently."

"And yourself?"

"…How'd you guess?"

"Funny. You already know the answer to that question. You just answered it ealier."

"Point. I'll be fine. The headaches started to recede since yesterday."

"You shouldn't have attempted to try something so foolish."

"If you had been in my position, wouldn't you have done the same?"

The older brother didn't reply.

"The reason why Father delayed Setsuka's sealing ritual until you left the village for an away mission was precisely because of that." Hizashi continued. "He was afraid that you would jump in and put a stop to Setsuka's sealing ritual."

"Like you did."

"I don't think Father actually expected me to try. He was quite surprised about it, actually." He chuckled. "You should've seen the look on his face when I burst into the room."

"It's no laughing matter. You could've been killed."

"Father won't kill me as long as he sees me as still useful. But Setsuka on the other hand…"

Hiashi nodded solemnly. "Father still hates her."

"He won't try anything direct." Hizashi said, trying to reassure him. "He still cares a lot for his reputation. He can't afford to have Branch house members dying left and right."

"Even though he ordered the entire Branch house, you included, to the war front?"

"At the very least Setsuka was spared."

"Okoi and Saemon were newlyweds, and they were obviously not spared from the order. I have doubts about Father caring about his reputation anymore, Hizashi."

"The passings of Juubei-san, Hyouma-san, Okoi-san and Saemon-san was indeed a tragedy, but similar scenes are occuring all over the village, Hiashi-niisan. It's a time of war now. I doubt anyone will even care."

"…Hizashi."

"Yes?"

"Have you pulled any favors and asked someone to watch over Setsuka?"

Hizashi nodded. "I did, actually. Called in an old favor. He actually was assigned to supervise the Hokage Tower excavation process, so asking him to watch over Setsuka wasn't all that difficult."

Hiashi made a face. "Don't tell me you didn't…"

"I did."

"Dan?"

"The one and only."

Barring a miracle, Tsuburaya Dan knew he was doomed.

"Hiashi and Hizashi are going to kill me."

That above statement was going to come true very soon unless he could figure out where in the seven worlds their younger sister disappeared off to. Even though he was twenty-one years old, seven years senior to Hiashi and Hizashi, the three of them were, at one point, Genin teammates. And being teammates, Dan also knew the two of them better than any other ninja among the Hidden Leaf when it came to one particular detail.

They were geniuses.

They graduated from the Ninja Academy four years earlier than the standard ninja curriculum and were elevated to Genin status in the same year when Dan himself was stuck as Genin for three previous years straight. His teammates from before had already become Chuunin (one of them being yet another genius), leaving him all alone, forced to being paired up with these new kids that was seven years younger than him.

At the time, it was like having a great blow dealt to his already shattered pride, but that all soon changed when he started to understand these two better. They soon became great teammates and friends, and they were the ones who encouraged him to take up again on the dream of him becoming Hokage of the Hidden Leaf someday (even though they did add sarcastically that he had his work cut out for him). Indeed, they worked together so well that they managed to pass the Chuunin exam that same year, and although they have drifted apart since then due to missions, they still met each other from time to time. Dan's only regret was that Hiashi and Hizashi were still minors and it was still illegal for them to drink alcohol. He really needed some drinking buddies.

Although Hiashi and Hizashi didn't talk about their clan that much, Dan understood how complex clan business could be and didn't bother the two about it. He guessed they only considered him a friend because he never questioned them about their clan (at least, in depth, as he had to know at least how their Byakugan worked lest they work improperly as a team), and so in return they had offered to help him become a better ninja. Sometimes, however, he wished they went easy on him because their training regime consisted of doing things that were usually way beyond his capabilities. If he didn't know any better, he may have thought that they were making fun of him by telling him to do the impossible. He did know one thing about them and their clan however. The two of them were very, very overprotective over their little sister.

And if they learned that she went missing under his supervision while the entire excavation crew struck break…

Oh god.

"Where are you? Seeeetsuuuukaaaa!"

Sakura sneezed.

"Is something the matter, Sakura-chan?"

"Nothing, Naruto. It's just… I'm not sure, but I think I'm forgetting something."

"Forgetting something?"

"Never mind, Naruto, forget what I said. It probably isn't that important anyway."

"Dan never figured out that we were making fun of him during training, right?"

"Right."

"Ignorance is bliss, isn't it?"

"Very much so, Hiashi-niisan."

"Get up Hizashi, we're going."

"Where to?"

"To the Hokage Tower ruins. I can't shake the feeling that Dan screwed up somewhere along the process."

"…Agreed."

Elsewhere, the 'other' genius ex-Genin teammate Dan was referring to earlier was not exactly having the time of his life either. Sure, compared to the other shinobi assigned miscellaneous war-aftermath duties (he pitied the ones who were assigned duties to ship dead bodies to the morgue, especially the ones who found the mangled bodies of people they once knew), he was probably among the ones that were better off. But nothing was more boring than being assigned to sentry duties.

It was quite infuriating, actually. He was a Jounin for crying out loud, has been for the past ten years since the young age of twelve, and even an accomplished shinobi at that: the twenty-two year old's fame rivaled that of the already near-legendary 'Sannin'. But instead of fighting the invading Mist-nins still roaming around the village like he wanted to, here he was – Hatake Sakumo, the ever-famed 'Konoha's White Fang', stuck on top of a rooftop doing the most boring job a ninja could ever do.

Granted, it wasn't a total loss. If any Mist-nins made his way towards his position that meant they were most likely strong enough to evade capture thus far. And if the opponent was strong, nine times out of ten, they were usually famous too. If he fought somebody strong enough to evade capture, and if they were someone famous, then that was going to be the perfect opportunity for him to improve his already impressive resume. He wasn't going to let the 'Sannin' hog all of the spotlight if he had his away. Dammit, if only duty didn't keep him here…!

"Now now, you're not thinking of abandoning your post and going after stray Mist-nins, are you Sakumo?"

The voice of the other reason why this whole sentry duty thing wasn't a total loss came drifting over from his earpiece. She was the voice of his childhood friend, his other ex-Genin teammate, and his lawfully wedded wife: the voice of Hatake Midori.

"Midori, you've got to let me in your secret. How come are you so proficient in reading my mind?"

Her cheerful response soon came from the other end of the radio. "Elementary, my dear Sakumo. You're just too much of a simpleton."

"Hey, hey, you lovebirds cut it out now, you hear? I swear, I'm going to puke in my mask if you two keep this up."

"Nagi, you're such a spoilsport."

"A spoilsport, am I now? Kaede, we're all in the middle of an important mission here. Yes, it's boring, yes, sentry duty sucks, but nevertheless it is an important duty and it's up to us to spot any enemies that dare try leaving Konoha. You'll get your chance yet, Sakumo, so just be patient, will you? After that, you two can waste your radio frequencies acting out whatever fantasy you so choose."

"Why, Nagi, I never knew you had this pervert side in you."

"You wouldn't know the half of it, Sakumo. Why, just last night in bed, Nagi wanted to-"

"GODDAMN IT KAEDE!"

"Now if you two 'lovebirds'… (giggle) are done… 'arguing'… (giggle) we now have a situation on our hands."

With Midori's warning the cheerful atmosphere shared between the team of four suddenly died and turned ice-cold. "What is it, Midori?" Sakumo asked over the small microphone attached to his headset. He brings his left hand over his earpiece so he could hear her voice better.

"Proximity alert on Position 43-42-95-12. North-North-West… they're moving in on your location, Sakumo."

"You say 'they'… multiple enemies?"

"Two, a male and a female. Ready intercept course by heading into Position 44-42-96-14, ETA is estimated in forty-three seconds."

"Looks like you got your wish Sakumo. Good luck."

"Thanks Nagi. Midori, got any info on them?"

"Hang on one second… got it. Squad 14 was readying two Mist prisoner-of-wars for transfer into holding cells when the two Mist-nins broke into a sudden argument and they started resisting. Apparently they managed to knock out the entire escort squad unconscious and successfully managed to escape and are now headed towards your direction… oh, this is interesting."

"What is it?"

"These two Mist-nins were Mist-nins the Sannin fought and captured after they've done battle with Utono Kagerou and her master."

"Mist-nins that fought the Sannin who in turn managed to escape? Now that's interesting." Sakumo's right hand drifted over to the handle of the chakra blade strapped onto his back. "This'll be a good opportunity for us to one-up the Sannin for once!"

"They were briefly questioned by the Sannin to see if they knew of their whereabouts." Midori continued. "But they claimed they had no knowledge, and so the Sannin handed them over to Squad 14 so they in turn could transfer them to their holding cells. Seven seconds left, Sakumo. Be safe."

"Nothing to worry about, Midori. These Mist-nins got nothing on me."

"Don't get too cocky Sakumo. You still owe me dinner. Don't you dare die on me."

Sakumo couldn't resist transmitting one last snide insult. "Like they always say, ladies first Kaede."

"Hey!"

Sakumo shut off his radio and drew his chakra blade from his sheath. He immediately dashed forward and spotted the two figures trying to scale the village walls almost instantly. It was night, but the moon high above provided him enough illumination for him to be able to tell the two Mist-nin's genders apart. The one that emerged out of the left side of the building was undoubtedly male while the smaller one that emerged right behind him was female.

Surprisingly, it was the female one that noticed him first. "Fuck! Of all the people we could possibly run into…! Just fucking great!" A female with an attitude, too, he noticed.

"I guess that saves me the trouble of introducing myself. Then I suppose I should enter into the cheesy speeches of doom?" Sakumo said as he carefully balanced the chakra blade in his hands in order to give them his best intimidating look. "Give up, or die."

The male Mist-nin seemed to look like he was ready to give up altogether. "Konoha's White Fang Hatake Sakumo… dammit… see? I told you this was a bad idea…"

The female, however, was having none of it. "Fuck this shit! We're going through, White Fang or not!"

"But…"

"If you want a future together with me, then we've gotta do something about this guy first!" Sakumo noticed tears in her eyes. She was trying to be brave in front of him, but was failing miserably. "Get out of our way!" The female screamed at him, drawing a kunai and charging right at him.

Sakumo sighed. "Very well, death it is."

It was a bad move on the female's part for her to recklessly charge at him like that. Sakumo only had to use a simple body flicker technique to take the female's behind and sent a crushing blow to the back of the female's head using the solid end of his chakra blade. With a sickening crack, he rendered the female Mist-nin unconscious near-instantaneously. A part of her skull must've caved in. It was unlikely she survived that.

"Miwako! You bastard… you bastard!"

He was never the one to admit it out loud, but Sakumo was a good manipulator when it came to controlling people's emotions during battle. In an instant, he had analyzed that these two were a couple of sorts, and cared quite deeply for one another despite their polar opposite personalities. Using this knowledge to his advantage, he had quickly disposed of the female in a brutal fashion in order to lure the male Mist-nin into a rage. And rage was never a good thing, especially so in the midst of a heated life-or-death battle. The cool-headed ones always came out on top in the end. Two quick body flickers and a thrust here and there, and the male Mist-nin was now bleeding profoundly from his two new fatal wounds. The Mist-nin wordlessly crumpled down into the ground and lay still next to the unmoving body of the female Mist-nin. It was all over in no less than ten seconds.

Sakumo was ready to turn his radio back on so he could inform his team on his victory when he suddenly heard the male shinobi cough.

"Guh… gah…"

"Still alive, huh…" His eyes ice-cold, Sakumo brought down the chakra blade in front of the Mist-nin's neck. "You must've dodged at the last second to avoid instant death. Quite admirable, but I'm afraid it's going to prove futile in the end. Don't worry, though. I'll ease your pain now."

"W-Wait… p-please…"

"If you're going to plead for your life, then you know I would hear none of it."

"I know you won't… cough …spare me… I only have… one last request…"

Sakumo contemplated this for a second, but he was quick to make up his mind. Might as well listen to what he had to say. "Go ahead. I'm listening"

"Miwako…she… cough …still alive…?"

"The woman?" Sakumo turned his attention back to the still female lying next to the man, and noticed to his astonishment that she was still breathing. He quickly bent down next to her and examined her, but seeing the large dent in her head he knew it was hopeless. Sakumo shook his head. "She's alive. She won't last long without medical help, though. And even if we do save her life, most likely she'll end up as just a vegetable. What are you going to have me do?"

"She's… cough! …pregnant…"

Sakumo froze.

"Please… keep her alive… she's going to be… a mother to… a daughter… we even decided… cough cough …on a name for her… her name… cough! cough!"

The man's pupils were starting to dilate. He was drifting off from this world at a rapid pace. Sakumo leaned over closer. "A name? Tell me quickly. I'll do my best to grant your wish."

The man smiled one last time as he breathed out his last words into Sakumo's ears. Then, ever so quietly, the man closed his eys and ceased to breath.

And thus, yet another life faded away into the fleeting darkness of this already tragic midsummer night.

It took Sakumo ten minutes for him to finally turn his radio back on. It was an astonishing amount of time for someone like him, especially so because ten minutes was all the time he needed for him to snap out of his revere. Not even his first kill gave him remorse like this, and he was beginning to hate himself for taking too much time. He pressed the button on his headset and called for his wife. "Midori?"

"I suppose congratulations is in order? But what took you so long? I was getting worried for a second."

"Not now, Midori. Just send me medical over here. Stat."

"What's the matter? Are you injured?"

"Nah, I'm fine. I need them for something else."

"Well… okay, I'll send for one as soon as possible, but… what happened Sakumo?"

"…It's just…"

"What is it?"

Sakumo looked up to the bright night sky with a sorrowing look on his face.

"War sucks, doesn't it?"

Sakumo had a feeling that he was going to remember those last words for the rest of his life.

The name.

"Her name is… Anko.

"Mitarashi… Anko…"

This was it, then. He was finally here. He finally comes across the dreaded wooden door of light. And this time, this was no dream. This time, it was going to be for real.

Sakura was actually against his decision of wanting to come up to the surface and out into the open world at first. She kept on insisting that there were still many things left she had to explain to him, about how Konoha was in the midst of a war and how the village wasn't particularly keen on seeing new faces emerge so suddenly, yadda yadda yadda. Indeed, he was still quite confused with a lot of things, and Nartuo was pretty sure whatever Sakura said was right. Listening to her advice was probably the smartest thing he could've done, and probably was the obvious decision to make. But not even Sakura was going to stop him from getting his first taste of freedom in what felt like ages. And from what Sakura has been telling him thus far, AND if he understood it correctly, it was quite literally ages indeed.

Another factor that contributed to his decision was when Sakura informed him that he looked not much older than she currently did in her six-year old body. She told him that it was probably due to effects of him staying down there in the underground dungeons for so long, a combination of his different aging style compounded with the effects of malnutrition that forced his body to regress in age or something complicated like that. Nevertheless, that meant that he currently looked like the exact same age as Sakura, and…

Setsuka, he corrected himself. He had a feeling that he was never going to get used to calling Sakura as Setsuka in front of everyone else. She literally pounded him into the ground of that fact, stressing how important it was to maintain balance or something, but he was still going to have to be extra careful when he called her name. He was relieved, however, when she told him he could call her Sakura as long as they were by themselvers. That was more than enough to get him to agree to the deal. All he had to do was to pretend that Sakura was under the ninja alias of Setsuka, right? No problem. It was like playing ninja, just like he did with Konohamaru corps way back then.

There was of course remorse associated with remembering all the people he knew from before – especially Sasuke – but to know that he'll be able to see them again cheered him up almost immediately. When he mentioned this to Sakura she again erupted into a fit of fury, telling him something along the being wholly inappropriate because it was introducing unbalance to the space-time continuum or some other whacky continuum-thingy, but all Naruto had to do to make her change her mind was in being the stubborn self he always was before. Even near-infinite time did nothing to change his personality, and he was quite proud of it.

Ah… the door… the door of light was finally opening. Together with Sakura, with endless possibilities in front of him, this was his first step into a brand new world…!

Two kunais emerged in front of their necks.

"Going somewhere, children?"

"Stentorian"

adj – extremely loud

"Empyreal Paradox"

- Chapter Two -

-END-

Author's Notes:

Warning: Wall o' text.

Is it just me or do these Author's Notes get longer and longer after each successful update? But anyways, first things first, my most sincere apologies for the late update. Holidays quite suck. Hope this chapter makes up for it. Happy holidays, everyone!

Second, as I was reading over the reviews I got for the last chapter, I had apparently confused a heck of a lot of people on the whole timeline issue. Hopefully this chapter clears some, if not most of it up. Please tell me there are no more confused people. Please.

Third, for the sake of making the plot for Empyreal Paradox work, I had to modify a few certain important details from the canon Naruto storyline and add a few additions of my own. To name a few examples, I took the liberty of adding Dan's family name (never introduced), Mikoto's former family name before she was married (never introduced), the name of Hiashi and Hizashi's father (who I'm guessing is the old guy who appeared in Hiashi's flashback scene but we never learned of his name), and the name for Sakumo's wife (he had to have one, didn't he?).

In addition to these additions, changes were made to a few of the canon character's ages. So far in the story, the ages for Mikoto and Anko have been altered (Mikoto is now slightly younger and Anko is slightly older), and I also took the liberty of guessing Sakumo's age. This has been done for the mechanics of Empyreal Paradox's plot to work. I will make mention of these age changes as more characters are introduced later on in the story (and believe me, there are quite a lot), but as for the rest, assume they are the same ages as mentioned in the databooks. Ah, the wonders of wikipedia.

As for the semi-OC characters of Sen and Midori, since these OC's 'technically' do exist within the canon Naruto storyline (hence the reason why I call them semi-OCs)… I'm not really breaking my promise of avoiding getting the OC's into main roles, right? Hopefully they wouldn't be too hard for you readers to adjust to. Hopefully. As compensation, they wouldn't be as important as the other canon Naruto characters and will only receive smaller roles. OC's, with the exception of one (I think you can guess who already), will only continue to serve filler roles as promised (such as was the case of Nagi and Kaede in this chapter).

I think that about covers it. If I missed anything, then it's my bad.

Oh, that reminds, if I failed to reply to your review, I'm really, really sorry! My excuse is that I am a very lazy man and I'm kinda shy to answer people's reviews. Nevertheless, I appreciate every single one of them and I always read them over and over again if only for the simple reason to cheer me up when I'm down. Thank you, everyone, for your reviews. They are much appreciated, and always will be.

Till the next chapter!

- Nes Mikel

Chapter Two, Complete, December 30th, 2006