Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto
Summary: If given a chance to change, will you take it even if means enduring the pain of the past a hundred times over? Will you take it, if every minute you're there, the reminder of the future destruction to come faces you every day? Can you sleep, knowing you and you alone can ever know the future and no else? What will you do, Naruto?
Where am I..?
Floating.
Who am I..?
Silent.
What am I..?
Change!
NARUTO!
Wha..? Who..?
NARUTO YOU BETTER WAKE UP AND RESPOND OR I SWEAR AS MY NAME ISN'T KURAMA THE GREAT NINE-TAILED DEMON FOX I WILL MAKE YOUR WAKE UP VERY PAINFUL!
Ku..rama..? … Kurama...! KURAMA!
FINALLY KIT… YOU FINALLY SAID SOMETHING… I WAS REALLY THINKING AFTER SO LONG…
..?..! Kurama… How long… How long have you been calling me..?
"…"
Kurama..?
DOESN'T MATTER ANYMORE, NARUTO. WHAT MATTERS IS YOU'RE ACTUALLY RESPONDING NOW. AND JUST IN TIME, I WAS RUNNNG OF TIME AND I NEED TO TELL YOU THIS NARUTO.
You're sending me… back..!?
YES
Bu-but… Why!?
You're asking why and not how? That's a sUDDEN LEAP OF UNDERSTANDING ON YOUR PART
Kurama… You know better than I do, where I am now… This isn't hell… This isn't the afterlife at all… And you, the most powerful chakra being second only on to the TEN-TAILS is here with me. A lot can be stem from that and you know too many things have happen to let me stay the naïve boy I was…
(SIGH) YOU ARE RIGHT… FOR THE REASON, AND DON'T BE SURPRISE. BUT MY OLD MAN, THE SAGE OF SIX PATHS, ARGUED YOUR DIDN'T SUCH AN ENDING FOR HIS TOO LONG HE HAS OBSERVE THE RESULT OF ONE WRONG CHOICE TO ACCUMELATE TO SUCH CRISIS. AND FOR YOU, NARUTO, TO EXPERIENCE THE FULL HATE OF SUCH MISTAKES…
What do mean, his mistakes..? I don't understand, Kurama-
I KNOW, NARUTO… (SIGH) JUST SHUT UP AND LET ME FINISH.
…
MY OLD MAN SAW YOUR SOUL NARUTO AND THAT MEANS HE HAS SEEN YOUR PAST, TO YOUR PRESENT UNTIL TO YOUR FUTURS. AND LET ME TELL YOU HE WAS NOT HAPPY. AND HE BEING UNHAPPY IS A VERY BIG DEAL. ANYWAYS, THE OLD MAN SAW YOUR WHOLE LIFE SURRONDED IN HATERD AND EVIL AND WAS VERY SURPRISE TO DISCOVER YOUR SOUL REMAINED PURE AND UNTAINTED. AND DON'T GIVE ME THAT LOOK, HE SAID IT NOT ME, AND EVEN IF I DIDN'T SEE MY SELF I CAN WITHOUT A DOUBT AGREE 100% TO THAT STATEMENT. DON'T FORGET I WAS TRAPPED INSIDE YOU FOR ALMOST ALL YOUR LIFE, HALF OF THAT WAS TRYING TO CORRUPT YOU AND LOOK HOW THAT RESULTED IN.
But that doesn't…
I'M GETTING TO THAT! NOW WHERE WAS I? OH YEAH! SO THE OLD MAN DECIDED THEN AND THERE, IF THERE WAS ANYONE WHO CAN CHANGE THE OUTCOME TO SUCH AN ENDING TO YOUR WORLD, IT WAS YOU. YOU HAVE SEEN BOTH THE GOOD AND BAD OF YOUR WORLD BUT RETAINED AN INNOCENT ALMOST PURE VIEW OF A DECAYING LAND. YOU HAVE EXPERIENCE THE BURNING PAIN OF LONELINESS AND YET KEPT AN UNDOMINABLE FAITH FOR COMPANIONSHIP. YOU WHO CAN DECIDE WHAT IS BOTH NEEDED AND WHAT IS WANTED. BUT MOST OF ALL, NARUTO, YOU KNOW WHAT IT IS TO FORGIVE EVEN WHEN HATRED WAS ALL YOU GET BACK. IT TAKES A LOT JUST FOR THAT.
I still don't think that's a good enough reason, Kurama. Look at Haku, he was more pure than I was! He's whole life was full of torture and lived under a cruel man, don't you think he's a much better choice?
NOW THAT'S WHERE YOU'RE BOTH WRONG AND RIGHT. YES HE WAS PURE, YES HE WAS TORTURED BUT NARUTO, HAKU WAS NEVER ALONE. I KNOW THAT YOU KNOW, ZABUZA WAS NEVER A CRUEL MAN TO HAKU, STRICK YEAH, CRUEL NEVER, HE GAVE HIM FAMILY AND WITH THAT A HOME IN HIM. EVEN IF WAS A DARK AND TWISTED HOME, IT WAS STILL HAKU'S HOME. AND FOR THE REASONHE WASN'T CHOSEN, WELL THAT WAS BECAUSE FOR ALL THE PURENESS OF HIS SOUL, HAKU WAS UNABLE TO DO WHAT YOU COULD.
..?...!
THAT'S RIGHT, NARUTO. HAKU NEVER WAS EVER TO FORGIVE THE VILLAGERS AND HIS FATHER WHO TOOK THE LIFE OF HIS MOTHER AND WHO ALMOST TOOK HIS. YES HE WAS KIND AND INNOCENT TO YOUR EYES, BUT DEEP WITHIN HIS SOUL, HAKU HARBORED A SMALL YET DARK HATRED FOR HIS LIFE. HE HIMSELF MAY NOT HAVE BEEN AWARE OF IT AND THAT'S EVEN MORE DANGEROUS. TO SEE IT GROW AND SUDDENLY EXPLODE CAN LEAD TO VERY BAD THINGS. SO YOU SEE NARUTO, HAKU COULD NOT BE CHOSEN.
Bu-but there are still others! I-I am couldn't be the only one wh-who-
NARUTO (SIGH) STOP BELITTLING YOUR SELF, I CAN SPEND ALL MY TIME HERE GIVING YOU REASON TO WHY ALL THE NAME YOU'RE ABOUT TO GIVE WERE NOT CHOSEN BUT I DON'T HAVE ANYMORE TIME…
Wait... What do mean..? I thought…
I'M ONLY HERE, NARUTO BECAUSE OF THE POWER MY OLD MAN GAVE ME. THE TRUTH IS NARUTO (SIGH) YOU AREN'T REALLY BEING FORCE TO GO BACK. THIS WHY MY OLD MAN WANTED YOU, YOU ALWAYS HAD CHOICES TO RUN AWAY BUT NEVER ONCE TO YOU TAKE IT. NOT WHEN YOU WERE BEATEN UP, NOT WHEN YOUWERE DYING, NOT WHEN…
I get it, Kurama. So this going back..?
YEAH. YOU CAN CHOOSE TO FINALLY REST AND BE AT PEACE OR GO BACK AND ENDURE HELL ONE MORE TIME AND MAKE EVERYONE ELSE'S LIFE BETTER.
You're really not making it sound very enticing, Kurama. (smiles gently)
(SIGH) BELIEVE IT OR NOT, NARUTO, I DON'T WANT YOU GO BACK AND SUFFER ANYMORE, ESPECIALLY ALONE.
..! Alone? Wait, aren't you going with me!?
NO NARUTO, I'M NOT. LISTEN NARUTO. WHEN YOU… DIED. THAT'S WHEN THINGS WENT SOUTH FAST. MY OLD MAN SAW THAT SO INTERVENED. GATHER BOTH ALL HIS POWER BACK AS WELL AS THE TEN-TAILS HE BROUGHT YOU HERE RATHER THAN LETTING YOU GO LIKE ALL THE OTHERS, AND ME I WAS SUPPOSE TO BE GONE AFTER COMBING THE TEN-TAILS TO USE IT'S STRENGTH BUT HE WANTED SOMEONE TO EXPLAIN TO YOU, SOMEONE CLOSE AND UNDERSTANDS YOU. SO HE TOOK A PIECE OF MY SOUL OUT FROM THE TEN-TAILS AND HERE I AM, BUT NOT FOR LONG…
So that means you're…
YEAH, WHATEVER CHOICE YOU TAKE, MY SOUL WILL BE RETURNED TO THE TEN-TAILS AND YOU WILL GO TO AFTER LIFE NOT HELL. I DON'T KNOW WHERE YOU GOT THAT BRAT, BUT HELL AIN'T EVER GOING TO TOUCH YOU. SO… WHAT WILL YOU CHOOSE, NARUTO..?
… I don't want to go alone… I've been alone for so long through so much and the only reason I got throught most of them was because I had someone beside me but now to do this…
NARUTO… JUST SAY IT AND I CAN… I CAN LET YOU REST.
(shakes head slowly) No Kurama. (smile) I'm just saying it's going to be hard and I don't think I'll be the happy-go-lucky kid I was before without you. (looks Kurama in the eye) But I'll still go. You, my parents, my friends and everyone else is counting on me! Like your old man said, I never choose the easy choice. Don't worry, I'll be a little sad for awhile, but who's to say I can't make friends in the past, right?
NARUTO…
It's going to hurt seeing everyone again. But I'll endure it, for them and for you.
ALRIGHT. THIS IS YOUR CHOICE, I'LL HONOR IT BUT I DON'T HAVE TO LIKE IT. GET READY, NARUTO.
Right. See you later, Kurama.
SEE YOU LATER, NARUTO. (PERFORMS RITUAL AND SLOWLY FADES) OH BEFORE I FORGET, NARUTO!
(fading) Kurama?!
(SMILES WICKEDLY) YOU NEVER ASKED WHY THE OLD MAN NEEDED THE TEN-TAILS POWER WHEN HE HAD HIS OWN JUST TO SEND YOU BACK!
I thought it was for this! … KURAMA?!
NOPE! IT WAS FOR YOU!
WHAT!?
YUP! YOU, UZUMAKI NAMIKAZE NARUTO NOW HAVE ALL THE POWERS OF THE TEN-TAILS AND JUST A LITTLE BIT OF THE SAGE HIMSELF.
A LITTLE BIT!?
MAKE A DIFFERENCE, NARUTO! I KNOW YOU CAN! BELIEVE IT!
… Kurama… (cries) HAI!
In a secluded forest, far away from any hidden village, surrounded by trees and bushes, laid on top the soft grass was a teenage boy with an almost feminine slim figure, wearing nothing but a simple silver kimono with a small phoenix design near the bottom helm of the fabric. Long spiky golden hair framed his head with a few silky long strands fall reaching his back almost forming a halo around the boy's body. Finally, three whisker marks mar the delicate boy's face, three on each cheek.
Slowly, two sky-colored eyes open and after blinking a few time become dangerously alert before suddenly become gentle, sitting up, hair falling gently to his back, the boy gazes around before standing up.
"So the past, huh." Feeling the breeze of the wind, the boy stares up to sky before growing a soft smile on his face.
"I'm here, Kurama. Everyone. Please just wait a little bit and because this time, no one's going to suffer like before, I promise, and I never break my promise. Isn't that my ninja way?" said the boy out loud.
"Look out past world, or should I say present world now?" shaking his head a little, "Will work on that later. But look out, Uzumaki Namikaze Naruto is having come back!" the boy shouted.