The Whirlpool's Fox and Bird fem!Naru
Beginnings and Ending can be the same redhead!Naru

The world was quiet in a way it shouldn't be. No birds singing, no rusting of leaves in the wind. Simply silence. Nothing more, nothing less. The only noise in this world of silence was wheezing. And yet strangely it calmed her, despite the fact that is was laced with pain and that she knew it would be all gone soon.

"You still here?" His voice calmed her, as it after all was one of the few familiar things left in this world.

"Yeah, still here." Silence surrounded them, like the corpses did. Burned remains, rotten or simply just bones. Their world was one, that could not be described as one anymore. No more life. Simply afterlife waited. Opened its jaws wide, them already being in its reach. 13 years of war had made a once beautiful land into this wasteland. The numbers were ironic too. The first 13 years of life had - till then - been her worst, after that had gotten into what she would now call a paradise. Then the war came and death took every life it could grasp. The first of the Konoha 11 to fall had shockingly been Kiba. Took a direct attack of a reanimated enemy to save Hinata. After all an Inuzuka always protects his pack even if it costs him his life. While the war had continued to tear apart their forces, they mourned badly, but it led that they survived the longest. It took their comrades death to realize how bad this situation they were in, truly was.

Pain short through her body, causing her to gasp and blood get into her lung. Coughing and simply driving by old and trained instincts, she managed to survive this fit, but would she the next? Next to her, her only surviving companion had managed to move just as little, to check if she was still there. His breathing was shallower than it had been before, causing her to panic lightly. She really didn't want to die, but in a world like this she really didn't want to live. That reminded her, she had a promise to fulfil.

"Kurama…"

"Like hell I'd want to be in a world like this. I refuse to go down like this, like starving dog. Make sure that Hyuga next to you stays awake, I'll need his eyes to navigate."

"Huh?" No matter how much, Kurama just confused her, she still trusted him and grabbed Neji's hand and sent a small amount of Kurama's leftover chakra into his system. Not enough to possible harm or cause pain, but enough for Kurama to take control over Neji's body for a few minutes.

"What is the fox thinking?" His voice was heavy with pain, not from the actually corrosive chakra, but from the countless wounds on his body. She smiled. Not many in Konoha had taken the idea of the Kyuubi helping them good, only the surviving of the Konoha 11 had taken it well. Shocked that she was his jailor, but supportive. That was all the two needed. Trust.

"Who knows… I sure don't. He seems to need your eyes for something." She heard Neji snort, the topic of eyes and being sealed had lost its pain after Naruto had ripped that seal of his head. Since Kiba's death, they all carried a seal that hindered any reanimation jutsu on them, so they could rest in peace, without having to worry, being their comrades next enemy anymore. All to prevent the pain. Soon all Shinobi wore the seal, just to prevent more pain for the surviving. Some going so far to suicide bomb themselves, to prevent any kind of reanimation, even despite the seal. It had been a mess, it was a mess.

"I have no idea, if this will work or not. It is a one-time deal, but again. I would rather die than roam these lands for an eternity."

"Kurama what is your plan?" Naruto asked, knowing that Neji would be hearing Kurama as well due to the chakra.

"I have no plan, you do though. Make sure that this mess doesn't escalate again or goes down the drain worse. I really don't want to be stuffed into a statue."

Naruto had no clue what to do what that comment, similar to Neji, who actually might have, but was in to much pain to think straight and concentrate on anything else than surviving, whatever Kurama was doing. Then suddenly all she could sense was pain. Pain worse than anything she had felt in her life. It came from the outside and from the inside, clawing herself to Neji, she felt his pain and hoped whatever that fox in her had done was over soon.

It was warm, where ever she was and seemingly peaceful. Unfamiliar noises like the chirping of birds… She abruptly opened her eyes. There were no more birds. They had all fallen to the corrosive chakra of the Juubi years ago, along with most other forms of life. Only people like herself, who were naturally immune to it, had been sparred and those few they had managed to protect, while giving their chakra out to them to protect. Most humans had been whipped off the face of earth back then. Soon the other had build an immunity to it, but it really didn't help. They had already lost by then.

Naruto looked around and found herself starring at the green leaves of a tree. How long had it been since she saw one alive? Or the colour green? All they had was clothes in a red to brown or darker colour. Gently she grabbed a strand of her hair and brushed it away. Ignoring the fact, that it was a brilliant red again and not a matted, dirt covered, dark reddish-brown. Or that it was long again.

"Kurama?" No answer.

"Kurama?" she called out again, just this time purely in her mind. Still no answer. What ever he managed, had probably drained him badly, so she decided to allow him to rest. In hopes that her Kurama actually came back. Now that she saw a green, alive tree she was convinced that Kurama must have meant time-travel. How that was fully possible was beyond her and she in no frame of mind to even attempt to figure it out. Like Kurama said, it was most likely a one-time deal and she trusted her partner on this.

Naruto stood up, just to lose balance and stumble forwards. Her body was smaller now, so of course her sense of balance would be messed up right now. Her brain was thinking in her real size, while the body thought in its real one. She was caught by warm arms, but just by the gently pulse of chakra she knew it was Neji.

"Is it real?"

"Yes." So simply, yet unbelievable to her.

"We can fix it Neji. We can fix it. This time we'll make sure that no one dies. Not Kiba, not Hinata, no one of ours." Stretching out her senses she tried to find their chakra signals, just to make sure they were okay. The first to find was Lee unsurprisingly, they were rather close to a training ground he used. As her senses moved more and more into Konoha, she flinched, feeling all the negative emotions against Kurama in their hearts and also against her. Despite it taking a troll at her nerves, she wanted to make sure they all were save. Having felt all their friends, brothers and sisters, she calmed, allowing Neji's chakra to calm her nerves. He had become her root to ground her in the war. She was the tree everyone saw, but even a mighty tree had just as mighty roots to keep it steady.

"They are okay… Neji, do you know, when exactly we are?"

"Shortly after Team 7 returned from wave. So, your change of personality change could be blamed onto meeting Zabusa and Haku and that it finally sank in what being a shinobi means." Naruto just nodded, glad that Neji was there, she was be lost without him or Shika. They had been her advisors, they balanced each other rather well. Neji being the rather pessimistic one, Shikamaru being the realist and she the optimist. Well was once. She was more realistic now.

"Makes sense. So, we need plans. Orochimaru?"

"Kill him directly at the exams, if we have to use Kurama's corrosive chakra, you gained from your father." Naruto sat down, still nor trusting herself to not fall over, if she would start pacing.

"If he uses the curse seal to escape?"

"Then we sneak up on Anko and get rid of it or we seal him and then burn him." As someone who survived the Juubi and its aftermath, she liked Neji's fast ideas on how to get rid of people, but in general if she hadn't, she might actually fight him to straight him out again. Nodding, at least that was Orochimaru of the list. Kabuto though was way harder, since he was a Konoha Shinobi, despite being a spy. Naruto looked to Neji.

"Kabuto is going to be a pain."

"Not if we get the drop on him. He still not has as much skill as he did by the time we fought him. A well-placed Juken strike is enough." Turning around to her friend Naruto simply stated: "A well-placed Juken strike kill everything, that is killable." She growled when she saw Neji's smirk. She jumped right into his trap. Again. Just like the last 265 times he laid it out for her.

Hours later, they got to their feet. They had made a rather rough idea on what had to be changed, yet their bodies were tired and both needed a good night's sleep. When they were getting close to the village Naruto was about to split from Neji, who stopped her.

"You are staying in the Hyuga compound."

"Neji, we're not in our Konoha, where I was a welcome guest in your home. Currently I'm the hated prankster 'Uzumaki Naruto the guy who is going to become Hokage'."

"Who says they are going to know?" Sometimes she hated the fact that all of the people she held that close to herself were geniuses. They always got under her skin, especially in situations where she was tired, nervous or back in a place where the most she could feel was hate towards her tenant, who had actually done nothing wrong.

"Thanks."

"Tomorrow don't forget your henge." She just nodded. She had forgotten that she used to run around as a male Naruto with hair blond like her fathers. Back before becoming a ninja she used to believe her red hair was cause of the hatred.

Getting into the Hyuga compound was easier than it should have been. At least that was what Naruto believed, but didn't mutter it. Neji either thought the same or she was just being paranoid about safety. Though they did have the Byakugan, with which the most adults could easily see the entire compound and beyond. If something were off, they'd immediately notice it. She followed Neji though the unfamiliar corridors, surprised that they actually didn't meet anyone. It was rather awkward, that she considered Neji one of her best friends since the invasion, but actually only ever been in his home after Konoha had been destroyed for the first time. His room was very similar to the one she remembered, just the pictures were missing. She threw herself into his bed and rolled to the side so he could get in. In the war being close meant safety. She was saver the closer she was to Neji.

"Good night, Neji."

"Night, Naruto."

Calm breathing, along with feeling Neji's of calm chakra and the fact that she felt Hinata's chakra close enough to feel that she was okay, without actively using her sensor skill, lulled her into a dreamless sleep. They could fix it and they would.