Disclaimer: As you all should know, I don't own Naruto or Naruto Shippuden. Both belong to and are copyrighted to Kishimoto Masashi. I'm just a fan of the series, don't sue me. (Has anyone noticed Shippuden has the word "ship" in it? Maybe it was a hint that the series 'ships' pairings together -shot-)

(chapter title inspiration: Phantasy Star Online: Episode 1 and 2)

Uchū no Hanten
宇宙の反転
'The Universe's Inversion'

Empty Space out of Nowhere

1

-x- Saturday, September 23, Year 419 NE (Ninja Era) -x-

From inside the office within the Hokage Tower, a young man that was twenty-two years old stood proudly. He was looking out the large windows, watching his village with careful, cerulean blue eyes. The village had grown in both scale and population—buildings he'd help oversee the construction to were much taller than the ones in his past. The time of day was close to 5:00 in the evening, a time he could set aside. As his gaze roved over every aspect of the place he'd come to love and grow up in, his eyes briefly made contact with the distant mountain behind Konohagakure.

The Hokage Monument had the previous Hokage's faces upon it; the Shodaime, Hashirama Senju, the Nidaime, Tobirama Senju, the Sandaime, Hiruzen Sarutobi—affectionately labeled as "Jiji" in his past—his father, the Yondaime Minato Namikaze; his self appointed grandmother figure, the granddaughter and grandniece to the First and Second Hokage respectively, Tsunade Senju; the Rokudaime, his sensei, who had been taught by the Fourth, Kakashi Hatake, and lastly himself, the Nanadaime Naruto Uzumaki. Above the mountain stood the new, recently built skyscraper buildings that towered the entire village.

Taking a deep breath which soon turned into a grunt of agonizing pain, Naruto shot his eyes to the empty space next to his head's stone carving. Soon, very soon, there would be a Hachidaime.

With everything that had happened over the last six years of his life, the peace that the Elemental Nations were in was well deserved. The other Kages and their villages were all in good terms with another; no malice between the other, however a few skirmishes of bandits here and there still occurred. From the horrible experience of the Wave mission to the corrupted Akatsuki, Madara Uchiha's insane plans, the ensuing battles that took place and to the eventual sealing of Kaguya Otsutsuki , it was all worth it. Many sacrifices had to be made to get to this point, but with the help of his friends, his precious teammates, he was able to accomplish the impossible.

He may not be wearing the Hokage robes at the moment, namely because he didn't want to—he didn't like the colors so much, now that he thought about it, but he'd never tell anyone that except his wife—however, he donned his specially made haori. It was a cream colored cloak, the kanji "Nanadaime Hokage" imprinted on the back in dark red. He also had the kanji for "Nine" underneath that, symbolic for what he was: the Jinchūriki of the Nine-Tails, and the red flame pattern around the edges just like his father's had been. Underneath, he wore a deep orange-red shirt, with black stripes around the sleeves edges and black pants. Upon his feet, he wore matching black sandals, very similar to ones his second sensei, Jiraiya—whom he endearingly called 'Ero-sennin'—purchased for him during his two and half year training trip. The hitai-ate he was currently holding had the kanji for "Shinobi" upon it, reminding him of his and his friends' struggles through the extreme battle of the Fourth Shinobi War. However, he held it within in prosthetic right arm, which was wrapped up in bandages. It had been severed during his last clash with his best friend.

His spiky blond hair, which had grown out over the years, was trimmed shorter than when he was younger, which was a great feel of independence. His tan skin was still as it was, with his unique three whisker-like birthmarks upon each side of his cheeks. His voice had outgrown its childishness, replaced by a firm volume that captured anyone's attention instantly. The shape of his eyes remained slightly unchanged, as with the bright cerulean shade it held.

While it seemed like he was simply idling the time away, he was in fact waiting for a few individuals to come. He had sent out the fastest messenger hawk to summon one of them from his self imposed journey a week ago. Today, he used messenger toads to summon the others. He hoped he wouldn't have to wait too long. Some force within him was drawing him to abrupt standstills, or in other cases, was drawing him away from the realm of the living. There were often an occasion that he had trouble waking up from his slumber and with assistance from his Tailed Beast companion was he able to rise out of his bed.

Stubbornly, he forced it down, wanting to prolong what was to come for him. He knew he wasn't going to like what he would say to them when they arrived, and he knew they wouldn't like it, either. But, it was inevitably happening, and leaving without telling anyone his fate would be less than pleasing. The fact that whatever is trying to pull him away from this plane of existence was growing stronger, much stronger than he ever thought.

Thankfully, he didn't have to wait for long. He sensed the familiar chakra signatures outside the door. With a strong voice, he simply said, "Enter."

Opening the door was an older man, most likely in his becoming forties, with silver hair in an peculiar gravity defying style, garbed in the standard jōnin attire but had his face covered. Normally his hitai-ate would have been covering his left eye out of habit, but this time, it wasn't. He also would have a typical book and reading it about now, but again, he wasn't. His dark grey eyes, both of them, settled on the young man behind the desk, staring out the window passionately.

The next person to enter was a young woman, twenty-two herself, with pink hair and green eyes. She didn't wear the shinobi attire; rather, she had on a modest red and pink dress on with brown sandals on her feet. She kept her bubblegum colored hair short for all intents and purposes. This woman carried herself proudly, and she was the head medic of Konoha's hospital. Upon the center of her forehead was the Strength of a Hundred Seal.

Next to her was another young woman, the same age as the other kunoichi, with midnight blue hair trailing down to her backside. She was also dressed modestly, with a cream blouse, lavender vest and skirt, that reached beyond her knees with brown mid-calf pants underneath. Her sandals were also black like the Hokage's. What stood her apart from the female with pink hair was that she was around four months into her pregnancy.

The next young man within the same age group as the previous duo shunshin'd inside. He was dressed oddly, wearing mostly dark colored clothes under a long cloak that covered his entire body, only leaving his right arm and legs exposed. Around his head was the same material as his cloak only wrapped around a few times, giving him the appearance of a mummy. He, too, also wore black sandals and carried his sheathed katana behind him. He was obviously missing his left arm, but unlike the Hokage, he refused to have a prosthetic arm crafted for him.

Also via a shunshin, another young man—a teenager around the age of fifteen—was present in the room as well. His brown spiky hair was cut to a reasonable length, though his sides were long enough to frame his face. The teen also had dark, black eyes—dissimilar to the deceased Uchiha Clan, however. He wore the Konoha hitai-ate, a jade green and black zip-up jacket, dark grey pants, shinobi sandals and bandage wraps around his arms in a manner similar to Rock Lee.

The last person to stroll in was the Hokage's adviser and personal guard. He had black hair, shaped similarly close to a pineapple and wore casual, simple clothes. They consisted of a black shirt, a white, short sleeve vest that wasn't buttoned up, simple grey pants and shinobi sandals adorning his feet. He also had a budding beard and wore his clan's symbol in the form of a necklace.

"Hokage-sama," all six said in unison, bowing respectively.

"Rise, it's all right." The Nanadaime said as he turned around to face them. He went towards the desk and silently activated sound-barrier seals throughout the room. Once done, the six stood up, curious. Normally, such seals weren't needed when discussing something, unless they were large scale of importance. For this to occur...they had their suspicions on alert.

"I understand you all are wondering about why I summoned you here." A collection of acknowledgment met him and he continued, "I'll get straight to the point since there isn't a reason to sugar coat this; something's wrong with me. I've tried to block it out for some time but it looks like whatever it is, it's trying to kill me." His blue eyes met each one of theirs.

"What? How is that possible?" the teenager asked in utter disbelief, which was one of the question's on everyone's mind. His dark eyes could only stare at the man who had been like a brother figure to him for so long.

The Nanadaime Hokage turned his attention on the teen. "For the moment, Konohamaru, I only understand it as being forcibly reverse-summoned and draining of my chakra. However, none of the Toads have any clue why that is. I've consulted Kurama about it, and he told me he felt the same thing."

"So, he has no idea what's going on, either?" Naruto's adviser, Shikamaru Nara, asked, getting his mind reeling with possible outcomes and reasons. It's only been a few minutes and it was already becoming a troublesome situation.

"No," He paused, his audience hanging on every word as he spoke. "It wasn't long when I started noticing strange symptoms happening to me a few months ago."

"Symptoms?" The pink-haired female, Sakura Haruno, was next to inquire although fearfully. The others remained silent.

"Yes. When they started, it first began as pulses of chakra attaching to mine. Like strings," The Hokage began explaining as he walked around his desk, standing in front of the six he trusted with all his heart. "I caught onto the oddities using Sage Mode and disrupted them easily by flaring my chakra until it dissipated. However, a week later, they were back, but more than last time. Again, I managed to detach them with Sage Mode and everything seemed fine. However, they kept reappearing after being disrupted, with more than the last. They were also becoming harder to destroy and each time they 'latch' onto my chakra, it was being drained little by little, and difficult to recover it, even using soldier pills.

"The last few attempts, Kurama came to the front and used his chakra to destroy them but... since last month, we've both been combining our chakra, trying to pinpoint the hidden assailant, but to no avail. Whoever they are, their intent is to bring me down or take Kurama, as he's felt the tug as well. It's becoming difficult to rest without keeping up a mental defense up throughout the night. The pull has been growing strong, too strong to just resist it. I don't know how much longer I have until whatever it is...gets me. But don't worry, I'm not going down without a fight, but in the off chance it succeeds, I'm entrusting the future of Konoha to you six, especially you, Konohamaru."

When he finished his explanation as best as possible, his most trusted people in his life could only stare in absolute shock and worry. This man in front of them, who went up against all odds in his youth and beginning adulthood, was slowly being taken from them. Just as he wouldn't give up, they won't either.

"Naruto," the dark-haired man, Sasuke Uchiha, began, staring into his friend's deep pools of blue, "I understand what you've been enduring. I've been lightly aware of it, like a phantom pain," Naruto blinked in sudden surprise. With a frown, the former avenger continued, "Try not to forget that Hagoromo granted me equal powers to yours during our fight against Kaguya. While that power may not be with us, a portion of it manifests. To an extent, we can still sense one another," Sasuke said, the last bit coming out slower than usual. This man, despite everything he had done in the past, was the current Hokage's best friend. In fact, they considered themselves brothers and promised one another to remain at each other's side until death does them apart. Unfortunately, something close to death was about to tear that bond apart.

"Can...can this be reversed?" The dark-haired woman Hinata Uzumaki, his wife, asked, her pale eyes worriedly set on the Nanadaime. She suddenly clasped her stomach as if preparing for the child within in her womb to make a bold complaint. The blond turned to her, frowning deeply. He really didn't like saying this to her, but there was nothing he could say to get around it. No, it was best that she know everything.

"I'm sorry, Hinata. I don't know," She gasped at this, and he knew her heart was already in the process of crumbling. He'd have to remedy that soon. "I looked over nearly every text available that could be close to determining this issue but I haven't been successful as I would have liked to be."

Kakashi Hatake, the silver-haired man and the ex-Rokudaime Hokage, spoke up next, "Have you tried alleviating it with your reversed engineered Six Paths Sage technique?" The response from his former student was a somber, disapproving shake of his head.

"I've tried it before, Kakashi-sensei. If anything, that technique seemed to speed up the process."

"Naruto..." Hinata gasped fearfully under her breath. This couldn't be happening! This has to be a mistake or a nightmare! Not after all their hardships together, their struggles and their relationship as well. Why now? When they'd only been married for a year and a half now? When they could finally start a family? The former Hyuga heiress knew she suspected her husband was hiding something but he told her he would tell her in due time. That was why they were here...now she knew why. Why did he keep it from her floated through her mind, and the answer came instantly: he didn't want her, or anyone, to worry. Selfless and selfish of him.

Sakura, seeing Hinata's reaction, glared at the blond. "Naruto! Why would you wait this long to tell us? What about everyone else?" She asked, raising her voice in her growing temper. While she wanted to stay respectful to her Hokage, there were some old habits that just wouldn't die. Shouting at her former teammate who had usually said or did something stupid. This was one of them and she was genuinely concerned for him. "Did you think we shouldn't have known about it or—?"

"Sakura, the reason I hadn't informed anyone until now because there were a few reasons why," he returned her glare with a passive glance, one that didn't harbor any anger for being disrespected nor any of the sort. When he got their attention again, he continued once more, "The number one reason is because everyone would have started panicking just like you did and ask me questions that I do not have many answers to. Can't you imagine the uproar of the people if they were told this? There would've been in an outrage."

The room went silent after that. None of them said another word, only breathed the air around them. It was tense, they knew, but...

"...Permission to speak freely, Hokage-sama." came Kakashi's formal voice. Naruto knew that when his former teacher used his title on him, that meant he was up to something.

"Permission granted, Hatake-san."

Kakashi nodded, a heavy sigh escaping his mouth, his eyes still upon his former student. "Naruto, what have you planned to do now that this...is happening?" The man remained as calm as he possibly could while attempting to block out the worst of his fears.

Naruto glanced at his former sensei and nodded. "There's not much I can do. I've tried everything at my disposal to locate the person responsible... However, I've already written down everything that I want in these scrolls here." He unsealed three separate scrolls that were on his person and gave two of them to Shikamaru, his trusted adviser. However, the last one, he gave to Konohamaru. "Only you six are able to see what's inside. My condition is an S-rank secret, and not to be mentioned outside this room. The contents inside the scrolls also follow. In a nutshell, what are written inside is my will."

The Nanadaime turned his gaze intently on Sasuke, the Uchiha returning it. He was scared, but kept it back. Sasuke noticed, when he squinted, he could see the tell-tale signs of a distortion and flickering particles of light emitting from his best friend's body. They were floating off slowly, like if he were performing some jutsu without hand signs. It was possible given who the young man was, but Sasuke knew Naruto wouldn't purposefully eliminate himself. No, his senses were correct when he felt Naruto's chakra signature lessening slowly every day. The man was using willpower alone to hold on for as long as he could, just to stand here in front of them.

"Naruto... your body..."

"I know, Sasuke. That's one of the visible symptoms of me rejecting the... 'Chakra strings', as I call them."

Wordlessly, Sasuke activated his Sharingan and immediately picked out the foreign chakra that was present within his friend's body. Not only that, he could faintly make out hundreds of 'strings' Naruto spoke of. They were currently tied down to the man's chakra, siphoning little bits of it as well as the vibrant red chakra that signaled the Kyubi's. He didn't know he let out a gasp of shock until he had everyone's attention on him.

"S-Sasuke-san?" Hinata called worriedly, feeling a bit light-headed.

"Hinata, activate your Byakugan and take a look at Naruto."

The pregnant woman, feeling even more dread, did so and covered her mouth to halt her squeak of surprise. Her eyes had found the same issue Sasuke found, however to a formidable degree. Instead of seeing hundreds of those 'strings' she actually saw thousands of them. They were like leeches, attracting and devouring her husband's chakra as if he were a magnet. "N-Naruto..." She could barely keep standing and her clan's dōjutsu activated at the same time. The Uzumaki matriarch nearly collapsed but was caught quickly by her husband. The others were on high alert by this action, and Sakura quickly rushed to the former Hyūga's side, immediately scanning her condition with her green, glowing hands present.

"Hinata!" Naruto grew terrified and ushered her to the nearest chair post-haste, ignoring every ache that creaked as he moved. Damn it, it was getting harder.

"She's fine, and so is the baby," Sakura reassured them—more to Naruto than the others—as she finished administering the medical ninjutsu and her quick diagnosis. "Just a little bit of stress. She needs to remain seated for a while to rest and regain the chakra she used for activating her Byakugan." The blond sighed in utter relief but never left his wife's side. He chided himself mentally for causing her such strain. Once the room settled down from the tension, the only present teenager made himself known.

"So, Sasuke-san? How bad is it? Is Naruto-niichan going to be okay...?" Konohamaru asked hurriedly, glancing to the man in question. When the Uchiha didn't answer his trailing query, he grunted a loud to get his attention. "Hey, answer me! Please, tell us what you two see!"

"...Naruto," Sasuke started, his right eye deactivating his clan's kekkai genkai while he narrowed his eyes at his Hokage. "Those things you described are leeching off of you."

"How bad? Is there a chance we could disrupt them and figure out how they keep returning?" Kakashi, having been slightly afraid of asking, did so anyway.

"That wouldn't be a good idea, Kakashi," Shikamaru said, having overheard everything so far and came up with a possible, conclusive theory. "We've been told that Naruto had started out destroying them by flaring his chakra. We know that they returned in a week's time, with more of these 'strings' attaching to his chakra flow and absorbing it. Every time he has done this, it gets more difficult." The Nara paused momentarily to exchange a knowing look from Naruto, "By the looks of it, you've made the situation worse. By expelling your chakra to those 'strings', it appears you may have sent more of it through them, like receivers, and they responded back by amplifying their quantity and strength."

"I think... Your Nara friend... is correct."

'I feel he may be right, too.' Naruto thought back to his inner companion. It pained him to hear Kurama speak with such weakness; the Bijū himself was doing everything in his might to sever the strings' attachment on the both of them, to no such success. Just staying in his current standing position was taxing Naruto's willpower.

Sakura looked down in remorse after Shikamaru finished explaining his theory. She was still in denial herself, but...now that she had a better look at Naruto, he looked like he was in light pain just by standing there. If only she could have seen it sooner, she and Tsunade-sama could have at least attempted to finding a way to help him! It wasn't fair. He always helped them in some way, shape or form. Why, why couldn't she ever return the favor? While in her personal monologue of thoughts, Kakashi silently observed his ex-students, Naruto's wife, his adviser and the Sandaime's grandson. If only there could have been something he could have done...

"Kakashi-sensei, Shikamaru, Sakura, Sasuke, Konohamaru, Hinata," Naruto spoke all of their names with a pained smile evidently masked with a false smile. Unfortunately for him, they saw right through it.

"Naruto," Hinata gently touched his face with her free hand, her lavender eyes filled with such overwhelming worry that it hurt. "Please... Don't smile like that." The blond let his fake smile drop, replaced with another pained expression. Without her Byakugan active, she could still see right through him and differentiate between his real and unreal smiles.

"Sorry, Hinata," his left hand met and stroked her face as tenderly as he could, "I didn't mean to make you—"

"Shh, it's... it's okay. It's all going to."

Hinata lightly trembled under his touch, in fear that he would drop dead at any given moment. Her mind was still in denial, still believing this was some cruel joke or a well-thought out genjutsu. But, she could still feel him. He was still beside her right now. Although it was true, why did she feel like crying her heart out. "W-why couldn't..." Hinata tried but couldn't bring herself to finish her sentence. Naruto seemingly knew where it was going and answered anyway.

"I don't know," The blond held his wife in his arms, bringing her close as possible. He truly had no answers, aside from Shikamaru's plausible conclusion. "I'm sorry." He only hoped he was currently experiencing wasn't worsening or anything.

"Dammit... Naruto... It's back!" the low rumble of the nine-tailed Bijū's voice echoed within his conscience. The Nanadaime cursed to himself as he jinxed himself. "The strain... it's... d-draining..."

'Kurama, hang on!' Naruto internally and physically panicked.

The large fox tried to reply, but he was growing weaker by the second. "...C-can't stay...awake... Need...to rest..."

'Kurama! Don't, if either one of us fall asleep, they'll multiply and suck us dry!'

"I... I'm... s-sorry Naruto..."

'Damn, this isn't going well. I need more time!' the Seventh Hokage could only count down mentally in slow motion for how long it'd take for his tailed beast friend to fall into his slumber. Because the Nine-Tails was fueling and cycling their chakra in rotation to keep as many of those 'strings' at bay while Naruto himself focused on finding solutions. Now that the Kyūbi was succumbing to slumber, Naruto would soon follow suit as the Jinchūriki.

The visible symptoms were slowing making themselves known as the time ticked away. Naruto stubbornly gripped his wife's hand as hard as he could, though his eyes were growing heavier. The noises around him were beginning to buzz as useless sound to his ears. He could hear them call his name over and over, but they sounded so far away. 'Kurama, please... don't fall asleep...' Naruto called out to his inner friend. His pleas fell on deaf ears, unfortunately, and he could only strain himself to remain focused. Every color in the room mashed together like a blur and suddenly, the room started to spin.

"—UTO!"

"NA—TO!"

Their screams sounded muffled to him, as if he were surrounded by soundproof walls, reinforced with chakra sealing formulas. The blond Uzumaki didn't even realize when he had unwillingly released Hinata's hand. He didn't realize when he had collapsed to the ground. He didn't realize when he felt nothing when his body hit the floor, either. Everything around him felt so dull, so tasteless. He hadn't known that sweat was running profusely down his face, nor was he aware that his left hand had clammed up. But what he could feel, was that his very essence felt like it was being eaten alive.

Naruto couldn't feel his chakra circulating through his body any longer, but he was strangely still aware of his surroundings. Just barely. He could feel other arms around him and lifting him up. He could feel they were rushing him somewhere. The hospital was his guess. Suddenly, the only color was white, then it blurred about until it was grey. The next thing he could faintly make out was faint blonde and amber conjoined together. He knew those colors only belonged to one person.

"...Baa-chan..."

"Even if you're a grown man, you better not die on me, gaki!" He could definitely hear the medic-nin's threatening plea, full of grief. But she, like the others, sounded like if she were behind a concrete wall. Gosh dammit, why did this happen so soon? He should have had more time to discuss what he wanted to tell them. People, he assumed, were moving all around him, rushing to grab essential tools and utensils necessary. Their voices, while still sounding muffled to him, were going nonstop.

Gentle but worried hands that he recognized were on his face, and drips of salty water fell onto his face. "Naruto!" The voice cried and the blond, while feeling his consciousness slip into the recess of his mind, unable to take control, tried to claw back to his wife's voice.

'Hinata!' Naruto yelled, feeling himself slipping away even further as she called to him over and over. No, no, no, no! The more he tried to struggle and force himself forward, the harder it was to take control. Those damned strings had finally latched on the only thing it hadn't taken from him—his soul. While it was being pushed back into his subconsciousness as a result of his chakra being siphoned—thus weakening his body physically—the strings dragged his very essence away from the spiritual connection of his body.

Dammit!

The last thing Naruto heard before the complete darkness took him over was the sound of Hinata's pained cry of his name.

-x- Unknown Location -x-

The entire layout of this location was filled with unending grey blocks of surfaces, stretching far and wide without ceasing. The pits below led to nowhere but an abyss, most likely a never ending death to those foolish enough to test their bravery. Everywhere was the same gray scale of colors; everything was colorless as far as the eye could virtually see.

However, on one of those small surfaces lied a rather colorful splash against the doom and gloom atmosphere. Lying face up in a puddle of clothing, as a batch of blond, spiky hair, that was identical to the sun's rays. Looming over the pile was a man with dark, spiky hair that shot out in every direction. He wore a mask over his face, that was designed to look like a crescent moon. He wore dark colored shirt, pants, shinobi sandals, and had a katana sheathed and strapped to his back. The last notable thing was a familiar symbol imprinted on the back of the man's shirt.

"...Interesting... so the technique worked after all. Who knew the Mangekyō Sharingan's abilities could be further extended when multiple users joined together...?" the man spoke his thoughts a loud, knowing full well his guest was out cold. "I shall inform the leader of this development and see if our plans revolving Konoha's Jinchūriki will still be in place."

One moment he was there, the next, he was gone, via a time-space ninjutsu.

A few minutes after the mysterious man's departure, the pile of clothes moved on its own as if possessed by a ghost. It wiggled around until the head popped out, revealing more of the sunshine locks, large, cerulean eyes, and unique whisker marks on the face. It was the Hero of Konohagakure, the Seventh Fire Shadow, Naruto Uzumaki. However, something seemed quite different...

'Where am I?' He wondered as he tried to adjust his eyes to the colorless and empty atmosphere. He had a terrible headache, as if he had awakened from a horrible hangover. When they did, he blinked and rubbed his eyes. 'All right. Either whatever happened to me was a horrible nightmare or...' When he reopened his eyes and took a real good look around, they widened in shock. 'Okay Naruto, this is a Kamui dimension. This is not what I expected to wake up in. If this is Sasuke's stupid idea of a joke, I'm going to strangle him, man to man.' His face twisted into a low frown as he tried to stand up.

His attempted was thwarted by the evil that were a pile of clothes.

'What in the world?' Naruto groaned bitterly as he tried again, only to stumble in his futile endeavor to stand. 'Ah, the problem is here. My foot's just tangled right here. Hm, unhook here and... it's out.' He wiggled his feet together and then stood up perfectly fine. The Uzumaki felt something was incredibly off but couldn't pinpoint it just yet.

'It's unfortunate, but it looks like I'm stuck in this dimension until Sasuke willingly lets me out. Gosh dang it. This is the last time I'm going drinking and joking with that bastard.' While he was irritable, he didn't honestly mean that harsh comment. The Uchiha was—still is—his best friend that he worked hard and long to save from his darkness. 'Better check and see how Kurama's doing. He'll probably scold me for that and not help with this headache.' Taking a deep breath, Naruto sat into his usual meditative position, relaxed himself as much as possible while closing his eyes. When he felt the light pull, he took the initiative and delved into his mind to reach his furry companion.

He expected his mindscape, having changed from that dreary sewer to the brightened, sunshine appearance. What he got was the opposite—it was the sewer again! The only thing that changed about it was that it seemed more clearer and the water was mostly gone. Unfortunately, it returned but only as a shallow amount. What the hell happened? Filing the oddity away for the time being, Naruto scurried ahead, slightly panicking until he found the familiar chamber where his companion of twenty-two years resided.

When his eyes landed on the slumbering mountain of fur, curled up in a ball (Naruto wouldn't dare call Kurama 'cute' in fear the Bijū might revoke their friendship and eat him) he sighed in deep relief. He knew he panicked for nothing, but he still couldn't put his finger on it. Naruto couldn't recall the last time the Nine-Tails fell asleep due to what appeared to be chakra exhaustion. 'Hm, another oddity to think about later,' he thought and decided to wake up the fuzzball.

"Hey, Kurama, wake up."

Nothing.

"Wake up, Fuzzbutt."

Nope.

"Come on, fuzzy. Don't make me tickle you."

He tried tickling. Kurama didn't budge.

"Wow, that got him last time I attempted. Maybe because we weren't sober from when we went drinking out with Kiba that one time..." Naruto pondered until another idea hit him.

"Oh furball, I have bacon."

No reaction.

"He's resisting bacon. He must really be exhausted then."

"Naruto, shut up, I'm trying to sleep." Finally, some sort of response! The blond grinned as he stepped forward and patted the fox on his head, where the gigantic eyes of the sleepy kitsune were glaring daggers at him.

"Good, you're finally awake. I was honestly getting worried about you."

The bakegitsune shuffled a bit until he was lying his large head atop his front paws and watched his host intently. "Something drained me of my chakra, large quantities of it, which forced me into a induced hibernation," he began explaining, still feeling tired, "To be quite honest, I have recovered a little under a fourth of my chakra. It seems to be returning at a slower pace for some reason... Whatever the cause had been, it felt unpleasant."

Naruto nodded in agreement, having sat down beside Kurama and folded his hands underneath his chin in a manner worthy of Sasuke. "I woke up not too long ago with an infuriating headache. It felt like that time I went out with Kiba and when you refused to help me through it."

"Of course," his companion huffed lightly, "You were being a brat again and didn't listen to me when I told you to stop after the fifteenth round. Thus I refused my healing services."

"You cared so much you were being a jerk."

"Quite."

His Jinchūriki didn't have a comeback for that. Both remained in a relatively companionable silence for a while. During this time, the blond had gone through his memories and came down to some haunting truths. What happened earlier; his blacking out, the noises muffling out and his vision going haywire as Kurama had fallen asleep... It had happened. He hoped it was just a terrible nightmare, but...

"It...really happened, didn't it?" Knowing exactly what he was talking about, Naruto nodded somberly. After exhaling a low sigh, Kurama spoke up again, "I'm sorry. If I hadn't fallen asleep... If I hadn't succumbed to the pressure... We would still be there."

Naruto shook his head in disagreement. "It's not your fault. It's more on me. I asked you to help me, and you could have stopped me but you believed in me that I could find an answer while you kept the effects at bay. So, for that, it's me, my friend. I offer my apologies to you."

"We'll never get anywhere if we blame ourselves for the past mistake, so for our sake, we shall both take it."

"Sounds fair," the blond agreed. He scratched his head as he glanced around his mindscape. "Man, I had thought I'd rid of this and changed it over the years. Being married, becoming Hokage, and with a child on the way changed the way I thought of myself. Now it's back to square one." The Seventh Hokage was bitter that the incident ripped him away from his family and friends. He and Hinata had learned, when she was three months in, that they were having a boy. Technology had evolved and expanded, thankfully.

But, his son...

Naruto frowned deeply as he thought about his unborn child and Hinata's well being. He had more time to think about it, but he was sure he and his friend were stuck in a Kamui dimension. The only one capable of that was Sasuke, and the Uzumaki knew the former avenger wouldn't have been so cruel as to use the technique on him. Or, maybe he did and was trying to save him from his demise? If so, maybe he wouldn't be so angry at his friend and thankful his last minute idea did the trick. However, deep down, it didn't feel like something Sasuke would do.

"Naruto," Kurama's voice broke into his thoughts, "I may have not paid much attention to you since you were nineteen but... Since when have you been this puny?"

All right, that was unexpected and out of the blue. Naruto cocked an eyebrow at the furry chakra monster while his expression read complete bafflement. "Kurama, you know you're like thirty skyscrapers high compared to my height. I've always been smaller than you because I'm a human." The bakegitsune shook his head and held up one of his claws to the blond.

"No, Naruto. I didn't mean that. I mean, since when have you looked like you were a midget brat?" the Bijū rephrased his question. "I understand most humans don't look the same, but this is ridiculous. You haven't been that height since you were around three years old."

Blinking and utterly confused, Naruto stood up and looked down into his reflection to see what the heck Kurama was going on about. What he saw nearly made him scream. His right arm, the one that had been severed, was there. But it was pudgy and skinny, as if all his baby fat decided to return. His legs, now that he recalled, felt so much shorter. He examined them and noticed their were many sizes too small. His tiny hands patted his face, smacking his cheeks down when he felt the flabby and puffy cheeks toddlers have before reaching their childhood stage. His hair, once short, was back to its original form when he had been this size.

Weirdly enough, the scars that didn't heal properly remained, much like his Chidori scar.

But other than that...

"I'm a freaking kid again?!" Naruto all but yelled in disbelief. He took several breaths to calm himself down before continuing his rant. "Did all that leeching suck out my age, too?" He was being half sarcastic here but it still had warranted the question regardless. Shaking his head in light fury, Naruto wondered, "Does this mean I have to go through puberty all over again or is this some sort of joke?"

"I do not... believe this is a joke, Naruto. To me, you still feel as if you are twenty-two, yet in a way, you also feel much younger than that. Is your physical body the same as here?"

Oh, right! He quickly exited his mindscape and into the physical realm, where he had deduced his situation in the Kamui dimension. Opening his eyes from his meditative position, the blond held out his hands in front of him and groaned. He didn't need to check the rest of himself to figure out he reflected what he looked like in his subconsciousness. 'This is dreadful. How in the world did this happen? I'm beginning to wonder if those leeching strings were draining my soul and chakra or all of me in particular.' He glared down at his midget feet and frowned. It actually looked more like a toddler pouting because he didn't get his favorite toy.

'I can't exactly figure this out, no matter how much I think about it. What I'd give to have Shikamaru's genius mind and advise to help out right now...' Naruto ran his tiny hand through his wild and untamed hair. His body somehow reverted into toddler size and he couldn't figure out too many guesses as to why this odd phenomenon happened. Kurama was just as clueless as he was, so even if they brainstormed the idea together, they wouldn't get any closer to the actual solution. 'I best stop moping around and figure out what I'm going to do with my much too large clothes now.'

Best to accept this and move on than not.

Taking steps towards his discarded clothing, Naruto picked up his shirt he had been wearing and the mesh that he'd been wearing underneath. He separated them with slight difficulty—being that his tiny fingers got tangled up and he had unwind those first before continuing his task—and pulled the shirt over his small frame. Instead of fitting his muscle-toned body like he was used to, it looked more like a dress now. It took some time, but he managed to adjust the oversized shirt to fit him as comfortably as possible. The rest of his stuff, it was no dice, so he didn't even bother.

Naruto felt completely naked without any underwear on, but he couldn't do anything about that.

'If this is all my stuff from then... I should have had those blank scrolls—ah!' The man-turned-boy smiled a bit as he found, in his pants pocket, the blank scrolls he carried on his person. He'd been getting into the sealing arts his clan, the Uzumaki, had been known for and took a deep interest in whatever he could find. Most of it were trial and error, and he felt he got the hang of it. He was nowhere near mastery level like his mother, father and Ero-sennin, but he created a seal that allowed him to use two nature chakra and combine them to form a temporary nature transformation. So far, he had much interest he using what was known as the Scorch Release and practiced with it whenever he could.

He hadn't bothered with the other types yet, having set his focus on that nature transformation type.

Anyway, back to the present, Naruto took out one of his blank scrolls, opened it up and prepared to seal the rest of his things into it. To the best of his ability, he folded his haori, undergarments, pants and placed his shinobi sandals and old bandage wrappings in place and properly sealed them away. With that done, he rolled up the scroll and collapsed it into his miniature hands. With nowhere to go in this colorless world of the Kamui dimension, he was stuck.

Then, the unexpected happened again: his stomach growled.

"Great," Naruto frowned (because he certainly wasn't pouting, no siree!) and flopped back down on his rear. "I'm stuck in this dimension, stuck in this underage of a body that has the mentality of a three or four year old toddler, I don't know how I wound up here in the first place and I'm hungry. I'd kill for a bowl of Old Man Teuchi's ramen right about now. Fan-freaking-tastic!"

"Stop pouting and stop acting like a brat. You're the Nanadaime Hokage; start acting like it."

"I'm not pouting and I'm not acting like a brat," Naruto denied with utmost certainty. "I honestly think it's this new body of mine that's making me react this way."

Kurama rolled his eyes. "Sure, blame the body."

"If I ever get something to eat, I'm going to eat a ton of bacon and you won't get any of it."

"You wouldn't dare."

"Oh, I would."

"Now I'm convinced; you're definitely acting like a brat now."

Bijū and Jinchūriki gave each other a death glare that could have started forest fires due to all the sparks building up between them. Their banters, while playful and meaningless at times, usually lightened the mood if a situation escalated far beyond their control and drew upon tension as it dragged on. Kurama was mostly trying to distract the boy, or man or whatever he was now, in high hopes he'd focus on getting them out of here.

However, just as their staring contest was coming to a conclusion, Naruto suddenly yawned and stretched. Strangely, he felt tired now. "Ah, who cares anymore," he lamely gave up and decided was the best time to take a nap. Why he thought that when he could possibly be in a hostile environment ran by him wordlessly. "I think I'll work on it after I sleep..."

Feeling something bad would happen once the idiot stopped being aware of his surroundings, Kurama attempted to get him preoccupied with something else. "Naruto, how about we work on something of yours, like chakra control? Just in case it hasn't dwindled from your unusual shrinkage," His response was met with an extended yawn and a half glare.

"It's too bothersome... I'll do it later."

"Naruto, don't go to sleep."

"But I'm really tired, Kurama." The blond replied, which nearly sounded like a kiddish whine. "Ugh, man. I really need sleep if I'm 'whining' like that. Feels so embarrassing."

"Naruto—"

"...What?"

"Don't fall asleep. Whatever you do, don't—"

The fox didn't know how, but in those short couple of seconds, his Jinchūriki was already out like a light. He had curled into a ball and dozed off faster than he could say 'Ramen' out loud. Watching and listening to the now stated child sleep like a rock (again), Kurama sighed deeply. 'I'll just have to keep my senses open as he rests. To be honest, I'm still not caught up on my own sleep. Perhaps if I exercise minimal use of my chakra, I could recover a little more at a time without giving up my awareness.' He thought and shifted again until he was comfortable. 'Naruto, I hope you think of something to get us out of here. I have a bad feeling about this whole thing we've been caught up into.'

Revision of Chapter 1, done! Hope you all liked it.

In regards to some of the reviewers from Bloodbound, I have changed some things around, like Kushina surviving as an example. She's one of my favorite characters so I felt really bad for killing her off last time. That's the only one I'll tell you though, so for the rest, please look forward to the next chapter's revision.

I tried to keep Naruto in-character, or as much as possible.

Also, I've taken concepts from Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time/Darkness/Sky versions about the time traveling and the fabric of space. I did the same for the fanfiction The Nearest Place to the Heaven, as well. Anyway, ciao!

Edited: 8/23/2015