Nightmares can be preferable to reality

Hinata had seen Pain pin him to the ground

She had run to stop it or at least give Naruto a breather, a chance to gather the chakra for more attacks.

She hadn't managed to do much, quite frankly she had been stabbed in the torso after a moment of fighting and then losing consciousness, but she had told him how she felt about him.

And then she had seen, it.

The very demon that Naruto housed. Seeing it manifest in his place.

The Kyuubi,

the Nine-tailed demonfox.

In the state in which she saw it, it only had 6 tails, but also a skeleton on top of poor Naruto's body. A gruesome sight.

Then darkness consumed her, bringing the Nightmare

In the vile dream she had seen Naruto almost die by the hands of the Akatsuki leader, stabbed by hundreds of the dark chakra blades the Rinnegan user had at his disposal.

She had seen it and not dared to move of fear for her own life. She had just watched it all unfold with her Byakugan, and even worse, watched it end

Pain ripping the Kyuubi out of Naruto with one hand on his chest and one on the Kyuubi's neck and then left with the Kyuubi struggling in his grip, leaving behind Naruto

At that moment she could finally move, speeding towards him, hoping she was not too late, that she could still save him from the cold grip of death. But she hoped in vain.

She held him as she felt his grip on life itself slip and let go. His eyes were closed his face dirty, his robe torn. She held his head in her arms while he became unreachable. She knew it was too late but yet she still held him close, while the tears strode down her cheeks and the sobs became a blurry sound of sorrow.

Hinata woke up crying. Crying for what she had seen in the dream realm. It took a few moments of consoling from her cousin Neji to ensure her that she had only had a bad nightmare. That she was in what was left of a building in Konohagakure. After the Shinra Tensei not much of the village had been intact but some buildings were, and they had been converted into hospices for the wounded. And there were many.

Hinata, couldn't believe it, she survived. But what of Naruto? What of him?

Looking at Neji, it seemed like he had read her mind and tried to avoid eye contact combining it with a pained expression. Hinata couldn't believe it, he was dead, as in her dream?

Before she could begin to cry, Neji stopped her. Simply by telling her what had happened.

Naruto in the 6-tailed Kyuubi form had fought Pain, fought him and won. Or at least it had driven him off.

Afterwards things had gotten dire

Naruto had started powering down after defeating Pain. But only to the fifth tailed form. At that the Kyuubi had stood on its hindquarters and wrapped its tails around its thin blood red frame like scarves. 3 tail wrapped around its waists as belt and the 2 remaining around its shoulders. It looked like the 4-tailed version, but strangely tranquil in its form and movement.

Then it had spoken

Spoken!

It had expressed joy in being free; thanking Pain for attacking Konohagakure and harming so many of its hosts loved ones.

Then it almost cackled with laughter as it reached a decision.

It would pay them.

Pay them for being hurt. Pay them for being dear to its host, spurning him to hate when they were harmed and to let go of all self control. And the coin was Chakra.

Sweet healing Chakra, aiding the entire village with its restorative power.

Hinata and all the others had been saved by a tailed beast's whim.

But their life had a price; the Kyuubi had run off claiming to have strength to regain, to build, and puppets to thank. It had been too fast. It had escaped the few Shinobi who could still stand. Neji among them. It had Quickly disappeared in the forests.

The Kyuubi was on the loose.

And it was it in Naruto's body.

It was in complete control of him. Using him like a marionette or like Orochimaru had used his bodies.

Shikamaru and his unit had not found Pain's real body all they had found was some strange deep prints in the ground at a hill top.

so they had nothing, no Kyuubi, no Pain, the whole invasion of Konohagakure had been a total loss on their behalf.

That was 2 days ago.

The Village had received help from its neighbours in Sunagakure, the Kazekage himself having showed up to aid in the rebuilding. Konoha could not afford to seem weak, not in a time like this.

A day earlier messengers from Kumogakure had showed up, the Raikage demanding a meeting of the 5 Kages.

That dire had the situation become.

The big five weren't the best of friends, but that they banded together to stop Akatsuki was a testimony to the threat level that Pain and his organisation held.

They had to be stopped before they could catch up with the Kyuubi. Before they could extract it and in effect kill Naruto.

But the five villages had to catch The Kyuubi as well. But where, where could it be?

Hinata had a searing headache from this question alone.

Not to mention who would search for him! The 8 man team would be an obvious choice but still, the Kyuubi was so insanely powerful that it was beyond her level of understanding.

The strongest Jonin would be called in for this mission and what would they do when they found it? would Naruto get hurt, or was he unreachable already?

One thing was for sure, the capture of the Kyuubi would be a task taken on by the combined forces of the 5 great Villages. Nothing less would be foolish. Konoha and Suna didnt have the necesary resources to track it on their own while rebuilding.

Besides the other villages would send their best ninja to ensure that the Kyuubi didnt fall into the hands of Akatsuki.

Well I decided to make this after I read about the 6 tails transformation last night, hope you like it, I certainly look forward to write the next chapter