Visits before leaving...

Naruto cleared his tears away and stood upright as he looked towards Sasuke's grumpy face.

"What is it?"

Sasuke stared at Naruto for a bit thinking back to the story of the battle between Hashirama and Madara before he continued…

"I will be training this entire month.."

"But, I wanted to hear your thoughts for the invasion plan since I want to help in protecting the village as well…" Sasuke said.

Naruto took a deep breath to clear his mind.

"Sasuke…"

"I will be going out of the village for three weeks…"

"Why?" Sasuke asked.

"I am going to train as well…"

("WHAT? He is going to train again, just how strong will he become this time?") Sasuke thought as he stared at Naruto.

"I wanted to pack my things now…"

"However, since you have reminded me…"

"I want you to accompany me to Shikamaru's house."

Naruto started walking towards the direction of the house while being followed by Sasuke.

…

….

…

Nara Clan district…

(Knock!)

(Knock!)

(Knock!)

"Yes?" A middle-aged woman appeared at the door.

"Is Shikamaru at home? We are looking for him" Naruto said with a smile.

..

"Oh!"

"Friends of Shikamaru?"

"Please wait." She replied to Naruto and Sasuke with a smile and left to call Shikamaru.

…

Soon Shikamaru appeared with his sleepy eyes.

"Naruto and Sasuke?"

("They must have come for the plan…")

Shikamaru took them to the side of the compound and whispered secretly.

"Naruto!"

"The invasion plan might have a few changes in this time-period since you have already stopped Orochimaru," Shikamaru said as he looked towards Naruto.

"What do we do?"

Shikamaru thought for a bit.

"You said that Orochimaru emerged as Kazekage on that day right…"

.

.

.

"That's true!" Naruto stood up.

"I will rescue the Kazekage." Naruto proudly declared with battle intent brimming across his face.

"Is your body powerful enough to fight against Kage-level right now?" Sasuke asked curiously.

"Yup!" Naruto said as he looked back at Sasuke.

"Shikamaru thanks for your help, we will discuss this in detail once I am back in three weeks," Naruto said as he started running towards the gate.

"Where are you going for three weeks?" Shikamaru asked.

"I am going training!" Naruto shouted back leaving Sasuke and Shikamaru behind.

…

"What do you plan on doing?" Shikamaru asked.

Sasuke stood up silently, as he stared in the direction Naruto went.

"I am going to train," Sasuke said in a cold voice.

"Are you all right?" Shikamaru asked as he stared at Sasuke.

….

….

….

Naruto ran home to pack up all his essentials.

("I am so happy today…") Naruto thought, almost feeling a mood to sing to his joy.

…

"Time to leave," Naruto said upon closing his bag zip.

He then locked the door and walked down the stairs.

Naruto stopped to look at the street.

He thought back to what Karin had felt at that time.

("Karin… I never expected to save you in that forest in the first place.")

("What should I do?") Naruto thought as he looked towards the sky.

….

Soon he bought a few fruits and bags of chips and arrived at the hospital.

("I have to visit Hinata, Lee, Kiba, and Chouji once before I leave")

…

Naruto approached the receptionist.

"Um…"

"Onee-chan, I am looking for a patient.."

"Hyuuga Hinata who was admitted today morning."

"Hyuuga Hinata?" The receptionist asked.

"One moment."

"Also, I would like to visit three other patients; Kiba, Rock Lee, and Chouji." Naruto quickly mentioned.

"Your name?"

"Uzumaki Naruto!"

"Can I call you Naruto-san?" The nurse asked.

"Um!" Naruto nodded

"Please wait by the side."

"I will call a nurse to guide you to those three…"

….

…

Soon a nurse arrived.

"You are Naruto-san, right?" The nurse asked.

"Um," Naruto nodded.

"Hinata-sama is sleeping right now…"

"But I can lead you to Kiba-san, Chouji-san, and Lee-san."

Naruto frowned for a second but gestured the nurse to continue.

….

…

….

Meanwhile….

A few tens of meters above the ground

"Hah!"

"Hah!"

"Hah!"

"Hah!"

Kakashi panted as he climbed a cliff using only his right hand while he bounded his left to his waist.

He contracted his arms by focusing his strength on his fingers and arms as he released himself from the depression in the cliff he was holding onto and jumped onto another spot where his fingers landed in another depression of the cliff again.

("Could cliff climbing be so taxing….?") He thought as he struggled to perform the same set of actions once again.

("Damn, my body is sluggish…")

("Will I make it in time?")

(BOOM!) a depression got destroyed from Kakashi losing his footing, while he struggled to maintain the balance from the backlash of the recent damage.

"Tsk." Kakashi felt his fingers loosening their grip as he rapidly lost support.

Kakashi closed his eyes to concentrate on his chakra network.

He was able to speed up the chakra activity across the network voluntarily.

"Open!" Kakashi shouted in his mind as he temporarily removed one of his natural body strength limiter, upon which he forced his arm to contract to build enough power for a split second and pulled himself to jump across a considerable distance, just enough to land him on the edge of the peak.

"Hah!"

"Hah!"

"Hah!"

Kakashi panted as he raised his head slowly to see a familiar figure in front of him.

"Huh?" Kakashi reacted.

"Yo!" Sasuke greeted Kakashi.

"Huh…You finally made it here…"

"Sasuke."

….

….

….

Soon they arrived in front of Rock Lee's room.

(Knock!)

(Knock!)

"Lee-san I am coming in," the nurse said as she entered the room.

Lee struggled to sit upright on his mattress upon their arrival. The nurse ran to him and helped him up.

"Lee-san there is a friend who wants to meet you."

"Huh?" Lee raised his head.

"Yo!" Naruto greeted him.

…

Naruto sat by the chair beside Lee's bed while Lee looked at Naruto.

Naruto lifted a basket to present Lee with the fruits he bought for him.

"I wish you a speedy recovery thick brows."

Lee accepted the basket and kept it by the table beside him.

Lee turned towards Naruto.

"Naruto-kun"

"Thank you for warning me today…" Lee said as he bowed his head a bit.

"It's all right!" Naruto quickly interrupted as he got up from his chair to prevent Lee from bowing.

"I just wanted to drop by to see you before I go for training…" Naruto said as he headed towards the door.

("Training huh?") Lee thought, feeling dispirited about the current condition of his body.

"Thick Brows!" Naruto called as he stopped by the door.

"Take a good amount of rest."

"I don't want to hear anything about you straining your body before you recover…"

"After recovery, you can train to your heart's content" Naruto concluded.

Lee's expression brightened a bit as he raised his head towards Naruto.

"Good Luck on your training Naruto-kun" Lee smiled towards Naruto.

….

Soon the nurse and Naruto arrived by Chouji's room.

(Knock!)

(Knock!)

(Knock!)

"Chouji-san I am coming in," the nurse said as she entered the room.

She was stunned to see a person in total opposite of Lee.

Chouji munched on chips like a vacuum machine through a dirt-filled floor.

"Chouji, if you keep eating at this speed, you will be stuck in the hospital," Ino complained while Asuma stood by the side scratching his head on what to make of the situation.

"I will survive on chips and fruits today."

"Asuma-sensei has promised to take me to BBQ tomorrow, that's where the I am going to eat healthy."

Chouji said as he dug his hand into the bottom of the cover again while he turned towards the nurse.

"Huh?" Chouji looked at her.

"Chouji-san, there is a friend who wants to meet you."

"Is it Shikamaru?" Ino looked towards the door, only to see Naruto enter in with three baskets of fruits and a bag that contained different varieties of chips.

"Naruto-kun!" Chouji called in the excitement of seeing the bag of chips in Naruto's hands.

"Yo!" Naruto waved at Chouji as he approached by the side.

"Um?" Asuma looked at Naruto.

Naruto walked towards Chouji and handed him the basket of fruits and the bags of chips.

"Thanks a lot!" Chouji grinned at Naruto.

"I wish you a speedy recovery man!" Naruto replied.

Soon Naruto left towards Kiba while Chouji indulged himself in his snacks again.

Asuma thought back to Naruto's actions in the battle tower.

"Sensei?" Ino nudged at Asuma.

"Is there anything wrong?" Ino asked curiously.

"No," Asuma said as he inhaled his smoke.

….

Naruto visited Kiba and gave him a basket as well.

"Naruto…"

"Thank you for saving Hinata." Kiba lightly bowed towards Naruto.

Naruto felt a bit helpless at his actions.

"You see, their problem has been there since birth," Kiba said as he looked towards Akamaru who was sleeping by his side.

Naruto and Kiba talked for a while before Naruto left.

…

"Onee-chan"

"Yes?" The nurse looked towards Naruto.

"Can you lead me to Hinata's room."

"I want to leave this basket for her. I will leave without disturbing her."

The nurse thought for a bit before she nodded to Naruto's idea.

….

Naruto entered the room quietly.

He saw Hinata lying on the bed with her eyes closed and a blanket over her.

Naruto smiled as he walked to the table beside her and left her a basket.

He turned towards the nurse,

"Onee-chan!"

"Can you get me a small piece of paper and a pen?"

"Sure." The nurse nodded as she left the room and came back with the items.

Naruto wrote down a message for Hinata on the paper and left it by the basket.

…..

Soon he came out of the building, as he made his way to the exit.

"Naruto!"

Naruto stopped midway as he looked at Shikamaru.

"Shikamaru!"

"Went to visit Hinata?" Shikamaru asked.

"She was sleeping, so I could not meet her…," Naruto said in a dejected voice.

"I see…."

"But I did get the chance to meet Lee, Chouji, and Kiba." Naruto scratched his head as he smiled towards Shikamaru.

"Chouji too huh?"

"Shikamaru, I will be leaving for training right now…" Naruto said as he walked towards the gateway.

"Naruto!" Shikamaru called out.

"What is it?" Naruto asked without turning back to look.

….

Sasuke stood up silently, as he stared in the direction Naruto went.

"I am going to train," Sasuke said in a cold voice.

"Are you all right?" Shikamaru asked as he stared at Sasuke.

….

"I want you to be careful of Sasuke…"

Naruto turned back in shock.

"I just wanted to let you know, because he already left the village back in your time," Shikamaru said, not mentioning how Sasuke had reacted Earlier.

"I see." Naruto nodded as he finally left the hospital.

Shikamaru stared at the place Naruto was standing.

("Let's just hope that there is no catastrophe in this timeline…")

….

….

Meanwhile….

A man approached the bed Hinata was sleeping on...

He looked towards the basket that was placed on the table.

("a paper?")

He grabbed the paper to read the contents.

He skipped across the lines until….

"Naruto?" The man frowned as he stared at the name on the bottom of the message.