"You're a fool."
"Your point?"
"No, seriously. Naruto, you're making a mis- are you even listening to me?!"
"Of course I am... what were you saying?"
"NARUTO!"
"Calm down," ink flows like black rivers across the Rocky ground and he wipes a hand across his forehead in a weak attempt to deter some gathering sweat "I know what I'm doing - everything'll be fine!"
"I can't believe yo- why? Why are you still trying Naruto? If something like this could be achieved than we would have done it years ago!"
Uzumaki Naruto stands, blue eyes which were previously dulled with loss and bad memories alight with a new and intense spark of naked hope.
This will be it, his last chance and his final stand. If this does not work... no, it has to, he refuses to even consider the alternative.
It's easy, second nature really, to internalize his thoughts and bring forth a great tsunami of chakra that permeates the air around him, sinking into the ground in the nearby vicinity and setting the ink - specially made to conduct chakra for fuuinjutsu - ablaze with a haunting glow. He feels a stirring in his subconscious as Kurama - brave, strong Kurama - sends as much of his own natural chakra as he can. Not much, in comparison to what he would have been able to do years, or even months back, but appreciated all the same.
" Hey - Kakashi-sensei..."
The glow intensifies even further, much to Hatake Kakashi's shock, and the strain is beginning to show as Naruto grits his teeth. The blonde's limbs shake with the effort of simply holding himself upright and blood begins to leak out of his ears and nose.
Kakashi wants so desperately to move, to drag his student away from the array, to protect what little he has left, but-
" run "
-it's already to late.
*BOOM*
XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX
"OYYYYYYY! If you want any breakfast you brats better get your asses down here right now or so help me I'll-!"
The sun was too bright and the mattress he was laid out on was one of the most uncomfortable things he had ever had the dubious pleasure to lay upon.
The Matron's voice was shriller than any alarm clock he had ever had the opportunity to own ( and later break ).
The creaking of the stairs as the stampede of kids ran towards their breakfast was uncomfortably loud. And the rancid stench of an orphanage full of partially malnourished children was overwhelming to his sensitive nostrils.
Uzumaki Naruto wasn't happy, not by a long shot. There was so much to be done and so little time before everything began to crumble at the seams, so little time of he wanted to save everyone.
But it had worked - he was back and he could. No. He would do it. He would succeed, where before he had failed.
And so he rolled over in his creaky little orphanage-approved bed and breathed in a deep sigh of satisfaction with an edge of accomplishment.
In that moment one would find it very difficuly to find a happier little jinchuuriki than he.