Once upon a time, there was a nine-tailed demon fox, whose mighty tails could crumble mountains and cause tsunamis. No one knew what had unleashed its fury, and no one knew how to appease it. So the greatest ninjas reunited to find a way to destroy the demon.

One of them went to find the fox on a full moon, where the arcane powers are strongest. Their battle echoed across the distant land, and as the skies unveiled the silver globe hanging in the heavens, the demon's roar of agony shook the ground, and the evil beast vanished from the face of the Earth. Neither the fox nor the brave ninja were seen again.

Tokyo, present day.

The sky rumbled menacingly, its black clouds advancing upon the Japanese capital with all the ill will Mother Nature had managed to summon, and the first fat drops of water made their frenetic way towards the ground. Most people took the hint. The streets emptied, or filled with umbrellas -black, for most- and the capital seemed to quiet under the rain.

The first streaks of lighting zapped overhead, and thunder clapped. A lighting blot dived deep, defying the laws of physics by sinking straight past the captors of the highest buildings, down, down into the streets. Thankfully, the one it landed in was completely empty.

Alive. He couldn't believe it. But he could feel his painfully drumming heart inside his chest, hear his gasping breath release and absorb humid air, and he could see. On the other hand, he couldn't feel his power at all. Yondaime had managed to seal it, and in his present state there was nothing he could do to change that.

Grunting, he pushed himself away from the humid ground. And suddenly realized that something was very, very wrong. He couldn't feel any of his tails. His hind legs were too long. And...He looked down. His paws were furless, clawless, star-shaped. He'd recognize those anywhere. Human. He was human.

Glaring up at the pitch black sky, Kyuubi opened his mouth and roared, cursing all of Minato Namikaze's ancestors to Hell.

Snapping his jaw shut, he difficultly recoiled against the first hard surface he could find. Yondaime was gone, and he needed to get himself out of this mess. Where was he? The stone in his back was alarmingly dull in essence. The three walls surrounding him were unnaturally smooth, and so was the ground. This had to be human made.

Cursing to himself, Kyuubi looked around. There wasn't anything worth of interest, and so he began analyzing his form. He had on the strange, fake fur humans liked to put on their bodies. With the cold rain, he was beginning to understand its use. He shivered. Humans were so weak. His hind feet were also wrapped up, albeit with thicker material. Reaching down to smell, he realized how much his senses had dulled. The sound of the rain deafened his ears, and he could hardly hear anything else. His vision had lowered, due to the darkness, though not alarmingly so. Night would be another story. His nose was the worst off; he actually had to stick it to the material in order to get the smallest whiff.

He mentally reached out. At least he could still read the energy fluctuations. Energy sources -living beings- were rare, small in his immediate surroundings. The ground did not hold any trace of its usual flurry of activity. As if men had pounded it so thoroughly it not lay empty and consumed beneath his feet. The hollow lifelessness of his support was making him nauseous.

And then he picked up human fire. There were several, actually, heading in his direction. Flattening himself against the stone, Kyuubi cursed. He couldn't fight, and there was nowhere to hide.

Uchiha Itachi gave a disapproving click of his tongue as the arm he was trying to mend recoiled away from the disinfectant, and gave his brother a stern look. "Where did you find him again?"

The boy didn't move entirely away from him, aware of what would happen if he tried. The three previous attempts had made their point. He observed Itachi with clear suspicion, and often glanced back towards the younger Uchiha.

"In the streets," Sasuke replied. "He was getting pounded by a group of thugs, and when I saw he couldn't walk-"

"You took him with you." Gently he grabbed the arm again, and met the boy's fierce gaze. "I know it hurts," he told him sternly. "But it'll be worse if I don't do this."

"I don't think he understands you," Sasuke remarked. "He didn't answer me when I asked him who he was."

"He gets my meaning," the elder Uchiha assured, smirking in satisfaction as the arm in his hand grudgingly relaxed. He brought the disinfecting cloth upon the skin once more, slowly. The boy didn't budge, but released a low growl when the alcohol touched his injured skin. Itachi shushed him, quickly cleaning the wound before taking out some Band-Aid. "They didn't miss him, did they?" he muttered darkly. "Strange kid, though. Can't speak, stand or walk, and you said he looked like he'd lived his life on a desert island?"

"You don't know how long it took me to get him into the car," Sasuke sighed. "I figured he'd gotten locked up his entire life or something."

"You called hospitals?" Itachi finished bandaging the arm, and moved to the right leg, inspecting the damage with careful fingers. Nothing looked broken, but the bruises on the skin were impressive.

"They haven't heard of him. He had no papers, nothing on him except for his clothes."

The kid hissed, and he removed his hand. "I see you coming," Itachi informed his brother. "You had the exact same behavior when you brought Iyoka home and asked us if we could keep him. This isn't some lost puppy, Sasuke."

"I'm not twelve either," the younger Uchiha snapped back. Jerking his head in the kid's direction, he added, "He needs help. And he won't tolerate the asylum."

"True." Itachi observed his brother's guest with impassive eyes as the young human slowly edged away from him and, strangely, towards Sasuke. "He trusts you, doesn't he?"

A shrug. "I helped him out. He knows I won't let him get hurt."

"He's smart, then."

A raven eyebrow rose. "You doubted that?"

"I doubt it with anyone his age who can't talk or stand," Itachi replied carelessly. Then, in a drawling voice, he added, "Do you have anything to eat? I didn't get time to buy something after you called. Ramen's fine," he finished as Sasuke sighed, and headed towards the kitchen.

Wild eyes widened brusquely, and a small sound emerged from the boy's throat. A call of some sort -except the kid didn't seem to have any idea of how to make use of his vocal chords.

"Where are you from?" Itachi wondered aloud. The boy turned towards him, warily alert. The Uchiha heir sighed. "Come here," he ordered.

The younger male refused to budge, and Sasuke poked his head out from the kitchen. "Leave him alone," came the expected growl.

"Where do you reckon he's from?" Itachi asked. "Europe? He's got strange skin, too..." Slowly he approached the boy, careful to leave both of his hands in plain view. A low growl resonated again, but besides flattening himself against the wall, the younger male did not move. Gently, Itachi reached for the immobile arm, not grabbing, but prodding the skin with expert fingers. "Baby soft," he whispered, sounding slightly amazed. "No marks, except for what he just got, and-"

Sasuke heard his brother swear under his breath, and swiftly grabbed the hot ramen cup before returning to the living room. "What happened?"

"He bit me," the elder Uchiha stated in an indignant tone, clutching the side of his hand with mournful eyes. "Do you have any idea of how much that hurts?" he asked the silently glaring male. The kid merely bared his teeth.

"You're still sure he's not a puppy?" Sasuke teased, handing the hot cup to his brother. Sniffing, Itachi removed the lid, and gave his meal a somber look.

"I'm starting to doubt my own words," he growled. "Fine. But I get to name him." A truly demonic smile -demonic, because it look so twistedly innocent- appeared on the elder Uchiha's face, and the boy must have sensed impending doom, because he released another low growl. Looking brilliantly unruffled, Itachi looked back at his dinner. And the smile kept growing. "What about Naruto?" he asked, lifting one of the small fishcakes from the cup. "Fits him, don't you think?"

"I don't get where you see the connection," Sasuke growled back. He shut up as the boy suddenly edged forward, eyes curious for the first time.

"You want some?" Itachi extended his arm, offering the small bit of food to the younger male. "Pity to eat your namesake, but if you're hungry..." he smirked as Naruto -because the name would stay, he'd decided- eyed him suspiciously before biting off the pair of chopsticks, effectively removing the prayed food from Itachi's hold. "Go get a mirror," the eldest Uchiha then ordered his brother.

Sasuke frowned. "Why?"

"I want to see something. Whether or not he can understand what his reflection is."

"Is that supposed to give us an idea of his level of intelligence?"

The older man chuckled. "Something like that."

Sighing, Sasuke went to oblige, but not before noting another small tensing in the boy's figure. Inwardly, he smirked.

The mirror was placed against the wall, under Itachi's orders. Convincing Naruto to move towards the object was another story; eventually they managed by tempting him with ramen. The reaction, however, was not what either of them had expected.

There he was. Not the same as he'd last seen him, but humans changed rapidly over the years, and he wasn't that surprised to see that Yondaime had gotten younger again. It was perfectly conceivable that his stolen power would be enough to achieve the feat. Without even stopping to think, Kyuubi leaped.

And slammed straight into an invisible surface, which apparently had also halted the cursed human. He rubbed his snout angrily, even more so when he saw Yondaime was imitating him. And glaring back nearly as harshly as he was. This was unusual.

Kyuubi blinked. To his utmost surprise, the blond man in front of him lost any sense of aggressiveness, and blinked as well. For some reason, he could only see Yondaime through the wooden square the savior had brought; was it some kind of portal? Approaching more slowly this time, his lifted a forepaw carefully, and pressed it against the surface. Cool, he noted. Lifeless as well; and he couldn't sense any mystical power within the object. Worse, in front of him, Yondaime copied his every movement, and seemed to have reached the same conclusions. And-

Suddenly alert, he looked down, then back at the other man. No. The fake fur on his body was the same as the hated human's. And their forepaws... they were the same. The exact same. Suddenly, Kyuubi came to complete understanding of his curse. Minato Namikaze hadn't stolen his powers; he'd sealed them within his own body. Paying with his soul, the great ninja had transported them both to a foreign world, so that the demonic fox would never avenge itself on the people of Konoha. He could feel traces of the man, however. A message, more like. He could feel it. All he needed to understand it was concentrate.

Sitting back like he'd witnessed the other humans do, he closed his eyes, and focused his mind. Reaching deep within himself, he found him.

Minato Namikaze's soul was trapped, attached and sealed away in a giant golden cage, looking quite unruffled by his present state. And now that they could speak mind to mind, it was fairly easy to communicate.

"You've finally realized," the ninja stated with a small smile. "How do you like your new body?"

"I'll curse all of your descendants as soon as I get my powers back," the humanized fox seethed. "What have you done with them?"

"They're in me." The deep blue gaze was unfaltering. "I control those, for now. I'm leaving you a body."

"A human body," Kyuubi snarled. "A useless body."

The blond shook his head. "A young body," he corrected. "One that will allow you to live to the fullest of your ability. If you decide to learn, you won't have any problem doing so." The face was serious. "I'm offering you to live a human life," Minato said evenly. "I believe it's better than what I have to deal with, don't you?"

Kyuubi roared. It sounded nothing like he wanted it to, but his human throat was obviously not meant for the task.

Yondaime chuckled. "I'll be watching you from the inside," he told the fox. "Now go back and live a little." And cut off.

Sky blue eyes flew open again, and Itachi hurried forward as the boy released an anguished roar of fury, and began attacking his own face. He and Sasuke had to struggle for nearly half an hour before exhaustion took over the blond and sent him to sleep. Once they had put him in the guestroom bed, they returned to the living room.

"Mirrors," Itachi finally concluded. "Not a good idea."

Sasuke shook his head angrily. "You could have used morphine on him," he growled. "It would have spared us the trouble."

"And would have brought us his immediate distrust." The older man's eyes were serious. "He's not an idiot, Sasuke, and I don't think he'll forget it if we force him to sleep." He observed his brother. "What are you going to do with him?"

The youngest Uchiha shrugged. "Keep him until he's ready to fare on his own," he answered darkly. "He trusts me."

"He can learn to trust other people," Itachi replied. "You don't have time for charity work."

"If I send him off he'll never trust anyone else," Sasuke snapped. "You said it yourself; he's bound to remember anything we do to him."

There was a pause, then Itachi sighed. "I'll try to visit as often as I can," he finally sighed. "Feel free to call whenever you want."

Uh... Long time no see? I went back through my archives and realized I'd never posted this story due to the fact that it wasn't finished. I do have a couple of chapters ahead of me, but I'll try to wait a bit before posting or you'll be in for a looong wait once I finish with those. Don't kill me, anyways, I'm back.

For those people wondering, I do keep reading every single review I get, so don't hesitate to tell me what you think :p