Disclaimer: I am not Masashi Kishimoto, therefore I don't own the intellectual property that is Naruto.

Chapter 1

Zzzzz

*ring* *ring*

Crusty eyes opened to the sight of a dilapidated ceiling above him.

'Did I go on a bender last night?'

Taking a moment to stifle his headache, he tried to process what was going on.

'I was helping Kakashi-Sensei deal with paperwork last night, screw Tsunade for making 'Hokage Preparatory' duties sound exciting, downed a couple bowls at Ichiraku's, and then headed home to catch some shut-eye'

Naruto took a moment to gather his thoughts… realizing he was in his old apartment, the one that had been destroyed years ago when Nagato attacked the village…

"…."

No way, that thought was too ridiculous to even fathom. Knowing that he probably wouldn't be happy with the results regardless he forced himself out of bed, and opened his curtains, allowing light to flood into his dainty apartment.

Looking outside, he decided his headache was REALLY messing with his senses. He closed the curtains, hopped back in bed and decided he would deal with whatever problems he may or may not be having when he felt capable of actually forming rational thoughts.

Naruto's new course of action was going swimmingly until he heard a tapping at his window.

Deciding that, no, he still wasn't trying to get out of bed, he determined he would just ignore it. If it were that important Kakashi would've sent Anbu to grab him, and those guys didn't understand the meaning of etiquette when it came to alerting ninja that their presence was required by the Hokage.

Rolling over to fully encompass himself within his blankets, Naruto was just reaching that point where he was comfortable and was no longer restlessly moving his feet around, when the world's biggest bastard decided to show himself.

Of course he couldn't do it like a normal person though, oh nooooo, being the high and mighty Last Uchiha, he had to be a complete douche and perform a low-powered Chidori Nagashi, filling the apartment with electricity from where he previously was at the window.

Naruto, becoming partially numb from the electricity coursing through him, decided that he wouldn't give Sasuke the pleasure of forcing him to get out of bed. He retreated into his mindscape, appearing before his longtime friend Kurama without a word before lying down in the ankle deep water trying to fall back asleep.

"Come closer human"

Naruto skillfully ignored the request

Kurama began growling, shaking the walls and foundations of Naruto's minds cape

"Kurama, can you chill out, I'm trying to sleep"

""

"Zzzz"

"Who told you that name"

"Zzzz"

Kurama, who's anger was now reaching fever pitch, roared while attempting to force as much chakra out of the seal to overwhelm Naruto. The rapid influx of energy forced Naruto out of his placid state, sitting up to directly address Kurama.

"Dude, you've gotta chill, I've got a killer headache, which by the way thanks for not dealing with, and…?"

It was then that Naruto noticed the giant gate with a seal in the middle of it, separating Kurama from him.

"…"

"…Did I go on a bender last night and reseal you?"

Personally, Kurama felt as if he was at a loss of words. 'Has my jailer gone insane? Perhaps I can capitalize on this'

"…Yes?"

"My bad, I've been pretty slow on the uptake today", Naruto stated while rubbing his temples, beginning to stand up and walk towards the giant gate. Taking notice of how short his stride length is, he finally took a minute to evaluate himself, realizing he was small.

Not small like Sakura's chakra reserves (Ha!), but he definitely was shorter than when he went to bed last night.

Being alarmed at this new development, which he realistically should've realized the moment he got out of bed the first time, he quickly took stock of everything that had occurred today so far.

...

"Wait, what do you mean 'who told you that name?'"

Kurama had the audacity to look abashed, turning his head away from Naruto.

"I don't know what you're talking about, but as you stated yourself you resealed me last night, so undo the seal"

Something was up… Maybe some probing was in order.

"Yea forsure, I'll get right to it then… By the way, what's your thought's on the Fourth Hokage?"

"I'D RIP THAT MAN TO SHREDS IF HE WEREN'T ALREADY IN THE BELLY OF THE SHINIGAMI" Kurama defiantly roared in anger.

Naruto nodded to himself, placing his hand on his chin and nodding wisely with his eyes closed, "Ok, I'll admit to being pretty dense and not being sure what's going on, but you're definitely not the Kurama I know. You and dad made up when he sealed your Yin-half into me after you were extracted by Madara"

"…What the fuck?" Now it was Kurama's turn to be confused. How could this brat know about his dad was the Fourth, much less know who Uchiha Madara is?

Naruto, remembering that Sasuke had previously been breaking into his apartment, quickly left his mindscape to return to the real world.

"What did yo do"

"…I don't quite know what you're referring to"

"Cut the bullshit before I talk Kakashi into enacting a 'National Uchiha Appreciation Day', lets see what happens when Sakura's body count goes 50+ after fighting off fangirls and she decides it would be better to just disfigure you permanently"

"…"

"…'

"Hn"

"I never go back on my word Sasuke…"

Sasuke, quickly realizing that Naruto wasn't completely joking, coughed a couple times to cover his surprise before clearing his throat.

"I may, or may not, have spoken the Sage of Six Paths, whereupon we both agreed it may, or may not, be a good idea to try saving Itachi so as to reduce the amount of casualties during the 4th Shinobi War"

Naruto, not really being sure how to react, simply sighed while rubbing the root of his nose

"Think about how many lives could be saved! If we could get Tsunade to cure Itachi, he would be an incredible resource during Pain's invasion and in figuring out what Obito was doing before he declared the 4th Shinobi War!"

"So you're telling me you basically tossed aside all the hard work and struggle that resulted in us successfully bringing peace tot he world, just so you could go back to being a little puppy that follows Itachi everywhere"

Pausing to fully comprehend was Naruto said, Sasuke had to admit that Naruto's assertion was fairly accurate.

"…I wouldn't have stated it like that, but your logic is sound"

"Do you realize how lucky we were to even get as far as we did? If Haku wasn't such a softie we'd have all died during our first real mission. Hell the only reason you didn't become Orochimaru's skin is because you literally surprise attacked him when he, or maybe she, was the equivalent of a paraplegic, and you STILL almost died if not for using a visual genjutsu from the Sharingan"

Sasuke cursed under his breathe, regretting ever telling Naruto about that, but he went a different direction to appease Naruto.

"We can save everybody. Haku was a major part in you becoming who are today, imagine if we could save him, or her, and have extra help when the big enemies start coming out of the woodwork"

Naruto sighed, "It sounds like regardless of my thoughts on this, you and Grandpa Sage already rolled the dice"

"Exactly. Might as well make the best of it" Sasuke commented cautiously, not sure whether Naruto was done giving a fuck, or about to fuck him up.

Moving back to his curtain, he threw it open and looked toward the Hokage Monument, seeing a definitive lack of Tsunade's, Kakashi's, and he partially built face on it.

"Screw you Teme"

Author Note: Hey everyone, I'd been bouncing around ideas and just wanted to put words on paper, so I busted this out in like 20 minutes to see whether my writing was fluid. I'm not sure if I'll be continuing along this idea as it was a quick idea I thought would be an ok premise to write a chapter on. If it's absolute trash, I'd appreciate you leaving a review to let me know, along with any specific criticism's you may have that could improve my writing. Thanks for all your time, and happy holidays!