I do not own Naruto.

The first time Naruto gets this feeling, he wakes up in a cold sweat. Moonlight is streaming though his curtains, and with hurried steps he moves to pull them and the window shut. But not before gazing at the full moon, its haunting light reflecting off the boy's sparkling blue eyes. He never liked the moon very much; looking at it made him feel alone and lonely, and children his age didn't worry about those things as often as he did. But this time, he feels something…different. It's a pain almost; the moon seems to be drawing him near, enveloping him with whispers and ghostly promises. Almost like its talking, trying to tell him something. Naruto has never been more disturbed than at this moment, and has to remind himself to continue breathing. (but what if you didn't do that?) The moon says. (You could give up. You could stop, it's okay. Everything is okay.)

He pulls the curtains shut with more force than necessary, returns to his bed, curled almost into a ball and taking deep breaths. He makes a mental note to check the date on the milk in the morning.

The next time Naruto finds himself overcome with this feeling, he is still holding his new headband proudly. Even after he left Iruka-sensei, the grin hasn't left his face. He should be asleep by now of course, but his prize for besting Mizuki is just too important to him. And then he feels sick to his stomach.

This has happened before, he tells himself, and it should soon pass. But this time shakes him harder than it ever has. It was like a wave of nausea and terror hitting his insides, spreading through his bones and out his toes and fingertips. Naruto grit his teeth as the wave crashed through his body, leaving a dull ache behind. As soon as it leaves he can suddenly breathe again and coughs as air finds its way back into his lungs. Blood runs down his shaking palms where his fingertips once were, but the indents were deeper than his stubby nails should have been able to make.

Naruto waits for the fear to leave, waits for his bravado and courage to come back to him; it doesn't.

(maybe it never existed at all maybe you've been faking it lying to everyone you can't even get your headband without help maybe-)

It's so strange to Naruto to hear a voice that isn't actually speaking, doesn't actually exist, that he emerges from the fear. He's heard this voice before, listened to it berate and insult him, but now he knows it's the fox. For some reason, that doesn't give the words any less of an effect.

Things, in their own way, have somehow been getting better for Naruto. He has a team now, a pseudo family that through their own faults have managed to keep moving. He has Iruka-sensei, the rest of the Rookies, his pervert sensei Jiraiya, and now he has Granny Tsunade too. She had made dragging her back to the village much harder than it needed to be, he thinks, but if she can help Konoha everything will have been worth it.

She heals Kakashi-sensei, Lee, Sasuke, and Naruto is thankful beyond words (words he won't say aloud). And even though she healed him thoroughly after the fight with Orochimaru and Kabuto, the medic nin insists on checking him out in a real hospital with real medical equipment. Naruto hates the hospital. It seems very large and very small at the same time, and being confined to a room isn't something the blond enjoys. But it only takes a threat from Tsunade to get him to remain seated.

"Are you telling me you've only had 5 proper doctor's visits in your life?" She's been flipping through a small stack of medical papers while he sits uncomfortably on the hospital bed.

"I hate this place, I always ran when Gramps tried to get me to come. I'm glad he stopped trying to force me after a while." Naruto chirps back, swinging his legs and gazing towards the window.

"Well, I'm sure you won't mind catching up on bloodwork while we're here then." The sannin answers, almost too happy to be sticking sharp objects inside of him. She has Shizune do it, not that she's still terrified of blood, but giving herself a little more time to get used to it is fair.

Shizune only takes a couple vials, leaving with them as Naruto is ordered to hop onto the scale. He's a little short for his age, a little underweight, but everything else seems to check out fine. Shizune returns after a few minutes, a troubled look on her face and freshly printed papers in hand.

"Tsunade-sama, it seems mostly normal, but just in case…" She sounds a little nervous, but Tsunade looks over the papers, trusting her student's judgement. Shizune may not work in the field very often, but she's been taught everything the world had to offer on medical practices.

There's a few moments of awkward silence as Tsunade reads, before handing them back to Shizune. "Get me a Hyuuga as soon as one is available. In fact, send for Hiashi. An untrained eye won't help me here."

Naruto is taken aback by how quickly Tsunade turned from her stern, motherly attitude to a contemplative medical professional. "Granny, is everything okay? I'm not dying here, am I?"

"Hopefully not." Is the only answer he receives; she's reflipping through his charts and papers, scanning for something she may have missed the first time. Naruto know she's trying to be strong, but he can feel her uneasiness. "Have you ever had odd spikes of chakra? Not yours, but the fox's. Fear, terror, anxiety, that's the effect that Biju chakra has on a person. Though, maybe if you were younger you didn't understand when it happened…"

Naruto is quiet for a moment, unsure whether Tsunade is asking a rhetorical question or if she wants a response. "Uh, its happened a few times, yeah…" He trails off as she nods, pulling a pen and adding to her initial evaluations.

Shizune returns quickly with an older Hyuuga man, Naruto recognizes him as Hinata's father. His pale eyes flicker to Naruto momentarily, and then to Tsunade.

"You required my assistance, Hokage-sama?" His voice is calm and quiet, but Naruto swears he sounds a little snobbier than necessary.

"Yes, thank you Hiashi. Naruto, stand up, shirt off. And Hiashi, look at his chakra passages, I'm looking for anything out of the ordinary here."

Naruto felt his face burn as he placed his shirt on the table, but stands awkwardly as the older man activated his Byakugan and gazed down at his stomach. There was no change in the Hyuuga's expression, but his eyes traced the pathways through Naruto's body. And then he shuts it off, closing his eyes for a moment and turning back to the Hokage.

"There is subtle damage on the pathways surrounding the hands and feet area, and the damage is a bit harsher around the seal." Hiashi's voice is quitter than before. "You were right to call for me; this type of damage is unusual, and if one doesn't know what they're looking for, I doubt they would have noticed."

Naruto tries to ignore the sudden fear that hits him, gazing at the nervous adults in the room. Tsunade simply nods, scribbling more on her sheets. "Thank you, Hiashi. If you could come back to my office for a moment. And Naruto, you're free to go. You are, surprisingly not dead from years of poor eating and no doctors visits."

She tries to end the conversation on a high note, and Naruto doesn't quite believe her. But for appearances sake he smiles, grabbing his shirt back on and sprinting for the door.

"Maa, Naruto… please be more careful…" Kakashi-sensei always seemed to show up just in time, even when his students were going at each other's throats. This time, even literally. "And Sasuke… you haven't even officially left the hospital yet."

Sasuke simply breathed heavily, staring at the ground with his hand still in the water tank.

"Sensei…!" Sakura quickly rubbed the tears from her eyes, running towards her teammates and teacher. "Are you both okay?!"

It was still silent between them, until finally Sasuke angrily stood and stormed away from the roof. Calling after him did nothing, it seemed.

"HEY! KEEP IT DOWN UP HERE OR- oh. Of course it's your team!" The roof door slammed open, an angry Tsunade yelling from the doorway. "Naruto, come here right now!"

"Ugh, what now Granny?" Naruto groaned, but looked back at Kakashi with a slight look of shame.

"Go on Naruto, don't keep Hokage-sama waiting." He said it as gently as he could, before nodding at Sakura and heading in the direction of Sasuke. Naruto took off as well, Sakura watching sadly as her team went their separate ways.

"As soon as I heard the noise complaint I had a feeling it was you."

"Hey! Sasuke started it, he started going crazy!"

"And you attacked back because…?"

Naruto didn't have an answer for that. He knew he shouldn't have fought Sasuke back, even when Sasuke attacked him. His teammate was still hurt, both physically and mentally. Tsunade just sighed, descending the stairs with ease.

"If you could learn a little more restraint with your emotions, maybe getting along with your teammates would be easier."

"Whatever…what did you need anyway, Granny? What are you being so nice for?" He followed her out of the hospital and down the street into the Hokage building; it was the middle of the day and people walked leisurely through the streets, gazing and bowing upon Tsunade in awe. Enough that they ignored Naruto for the time being.

"Just a follow up from yesterday." It was said almost ominously as they climbed the steps, into her office and closing the door behind them.

"Hey, what's this pervert doing here?!"

"Geez, never happy to see me?" Jiraiya sat on the windowsill, faking a wound on his chest. "Kids these days just have no respect."

"Oh shut up Jiraiya." Tsunade seemed to have no time for her fellow Sannin's antics. "Naruto, please sit down."

Naruto gazed at both adults warily, and becomes aware at how old they look right now. Their eyes are haunted, something that not even Tsunade's fancy jutsu has hidden. He has always been good at guessing emotions. "Hey…what's going on here? Am I trouble? Wait…is there a ghost?"

"Of all things to be scared of, its ghosts?" Jiraiya mutters, before shaking his head. "No kid, this is about the fox."

Naruto is immediately unsettled. "What about him...?"

"Naruto, do you know who the jinchuriki of the fox were before you?" Tsunade asks gently. The blond shakes his head, not that either sannin are surprised. "Well, interestingly enough, both before you were women picked from the Uzumaki clan."

Naruto is stunned into silence. "Wait, seriously?! I'm not the only Uzumaki?"

"Only Uzumaki? Kid, there was a whole clan of them at one point. Shame the island was wiped during the Third War, the Uzumaki were geniuses." Jiraiya added.

"Which is why they became such a target. Descendants of the clan are scattered through the ninja nations now, even I am one. My grandmother, Uzumaki Mito, was the first jinchuriki of the 9 Tails and the wife of the 1st Hokage." Tsunade watched Naruto's face turn even more shocked.

"Wow… So who was the second?" Tsunade looked to Jiraiya for this answer.

"Well, her name was Kushina Uzumaki. She was also your mother."

"WHAT?!" Naruto was out of his seat now. "You knew my mom?"

"She was a great ninja in her age. When she died that night, Konoha lost a great woman." Jiraiya added solemnly. "But kid, while we wanted to tell you this, it's not the only reason we're here."

Tsunade pushed a stack of files and papers in Naruto's direction, most of them weathered and dusty. "The Uzumaki clan had a large amount of kekkei genkai, but unlike the Uchiha or the Hyuuga, not every ninja was born with them. You could be born with one, three, or none at all."

"So, for instance, Tsunade over here was born with the stronger life energy common in the Uzumaki. You were born with it too, it keeps you alive during attacks that may otherwise kill you, and you can heal faster as well. Of course, you heal even quicker due to the fox." Jiraiya stood from the window and sat on the desk instead, turning to face Naruto. "Your mom was lucky; she was born with three of them. She could heal fast, and could also make chains out of chakra that could be used as weapons and restraints."

"So…what's the third then?" Naruto was absorbing everything he could about his mother like a sponge. Both the sannin were quiet, eyes cast away from Naruto. "Well…?"

"Naruto, the Uzumaki, very rarely, would be born with extremely durable chakra." Tsunade began. "It could withstand intense strain on their passages, and for the most part, didn't seem as special as the other kekkei genkai. However, the Uzumaki picked to be the jinchuriki had to have this chakra. The 9 tails, as the strongest of the beasts, has incredibly toxic chakra."

"And all of them do, but the fox was the strongest and the worst." Jiraiya added. "The younger the host is when bound to the beast, the more likely it is that they will survive and the chakra will mix safely. That's not the case with the fox though, so picking a host had to be careful."

"Oh… so I got the fast healing and the special chakra stuff?" Naruto asked, still wondering why they felt so upset.

"No, Naruto… you were born with only the fast healing. The Kyuubi still bonded with you, but your chakra passages…" Tsunade didn't finish the sentence.

"They're falling apart. As the fox's chakra mixes with your own, your passages become more and more damaged. And eventually…it will kill you." Jiraiya still couldn't bring himself to meet those familiar blue eyes.

"What…? No way, is this a joke?" He sounded so heartbroken, so in shock, that neither sannin could answer him. "B-but, I wanted to become stronger! I wanted to protect my family…I…I wanted to become Hokage!" Tears and snot were running down his face as he lifted an orange sleeve in an attempt to dry them. Tears streamed down Tsunade's face as well. Soon he would be just like Dan and Nawaki. She didn't sign up for this.

"From the preexisting damage, she's estimating that, at most, you'll have between six and seven years. Three at the least, and 10 at the absolute most." Jiraiya had to keep talking before the boy bolted, he deserved to know everything. "You won't truly feel the damage in your body until about the last year or so, your body's own warning that you won't have much time left. But until then, you'll be able to function like anyone else."

"Naruto, we understand if you don't want to be a ninja after this. You could live your last years out however you like; we would make sure of that. Konoha owes you for what you've given up for them." Tsunade spoke through the tears.

"And if I want to stay a ninja…?" Naruto asked, still muffled by his sleeve.

"Then nothing will change. You'll be given everything we know about the Uzumaki clan and the Kyuubi from passages that Mito wrote, as well as whatever artifacts I can find around here. They're all yours."

It was quiet for a long time. Naruto didn't say anything, still letting the tears roll. And when they finally stopped, he let out a ragged breath. "Okay. Thank you. For telling me all of…" He waved his hands around. "This."

"You would have been taught the history by one of us eventually. And your health, of course we wouldn't keep that from you." Tsunade soothed.

"But you will need to try and keep it a secret." Jiraiya tried not to sound too forceful. "If the other nations, the Akatsuki, or any other madman gets wind of your current state, its gonna paint a huge target on your back. And Konoha's too; whether you asked for it or not, the status of a country's jinchuriki is an important political piece among a country's leaders." He stopped, catching himself before he scared the kid further. "Damn, all that diplomatic bullshit that the old man taught me is sticking more than I thought it did."

"Can I tell my team at least?" Naruto said almost pleadingly; he didn't want to keep secrets between them anymore, not with his time shortened significantly.

"I'll allow it. Go ahead and head home, Naruto. Take a look through the files if you'd like, and tomorrow you'll be training with Jiraiya." Naruto accepted the Hokage's orders, scooped the files in his hands, and headed home with a tear stained face.

Naruto never got as much reading done as he planned. When the summons came to his door, that Sasuke had abandoned Konoha, abandoned his home, his mood reached an all-time low. And now they stood in the Valley of Death, two opposing and conflicting ideals engaged in a fight that possibly no one would walk away from. They were so different, but so alike. When Naruto saw himself in the Kyuubi cloak, the poisonous mess that had ripped through his body and, he saw a monster. And then Sasuke became a monster too, with poison as equally bad racing through his veins.

He had to bring Sasuke home. If Sasuke joined Orochimaru, he would be throwing his life away. And Naruto had to admit that his reasons were somewhat selfish. He didn't want to spend the remainder of his life trying to get Sasuke back; he wanted to enjoy it alongside him, with Sakura and Kakashi-sensei and the rest of their Konoha family. He didn't want this hazy, monstrous picture of his rain soaked best friend to be the last one he had.

"You're coming home, Sasuke!" Naruto's voice sounded muffled through the chakra as he watched the Uchiha from the other side of the valley. In his hand, he readied the Chidori. Following suit, a Rasengan swirled in Naruto's right hand, tendrils of red streaming into the swirl.

They both charged.

Time seemed to slow, and in the final moments before impact, Naruto didn't falter. He didn't want to hurt Sasuke, didn't want to do any serious damage, but his friend wouldn't be leaving this valley with a snake. So he aimed for the left shoulder, releasing it as he felt the Chidori impact with his chest. He heard Sasuke scream, heard him fall to the ground. The curse mark began to retract, and then the world went black.

Thank you so much for reading! Will be back soon with chapter two.