A/N: I do not own Naruto.

Here's the end of the prologue—after that, we actually get to see the seven interacting with other people.

Thanks still go to Flame and Sikizu for their beta-reading and constant support, and thanks to all of you who favorite, reviewed, and followed this story; I hope this doesn't disappoint.

"Alright, one more second." The seven found themselves in another room. Unlike the white room that was there previously, this one had flickering red walls. In its center was a young teen, at least in appearance. He wore a long-sleeved black shirt with a red-orange spiral-much like the symbol of the Uzumaki Clan-on it, and skinny red pants. His hair was a crimson lion's mane, and his eyes were the same as the walls-cycling through every shade of red, never stopping. He did not look happy.

"Okay, you guys. Hi or whatever, I'm Akkiou, and I have a serious bone to pick with you. YES, I get that Juubi was terrible. Trust me, I know that better than you do. And yeah, Kurama and his siblings were destructive. So I can see why you would seal them away."

His eyes paused, on a deep shade of red that was nearly black. "But assuming they were only barely sentient and not explaining what you were doing and sealing them away without any provisions for their comfort? No WONDER they all became semi-homicidal! I just recently got Kurama-kun's Yin back, and it's taken me four YEARS to get him to anywhere near the level of decency he was at when he was a kit! I shudder to think of what happened to Shukaku-chan, she was always close enough to flying off the handle already. And a kettle? Really? Oh right, none of you are from if you go there, check the jinchuuriki's seal. Trust me. I don't think Suna knows how to seal beasts properly, given their track record."

He paused to breathe. "But still. Kurama. He's actually a decent guy if you take the time to listen to him, which of course none of you ever did. Sure, it will take moving heaven and earth to get him to admit that he can stand your presence, but that's just how he is!"

"Are you...talking about the Kyuubi?" Minato asked. Akkiou paused, covering his face with his hand.

"I knew this. I'm not going to murder all of you. I knew this. I'm not going to murder all of you. Deep breaths. Okay." He removed the hand as a collective chill ran down every person in the room's spine. Mito suddenly realized that the air was filled with a very suppressed, diluted killing intent, as if the walls and air themselves wanted to rip them to shreds.

"The biju, as you know them, have names. Nobody ever bothered to ask them. Ever. How would you like it if you went through life fighting battles you didn't care about for people who never asked you if you wanted to fight, and none of them even knew your name?"

He let that sit for a moment, and then continued. "Ichibi no Shukaku. Nibi no Matatabi. Sanbi no Isobu. Yonbi no Son Goku. Gobi no Kokuou. Rokubi no Saiken. Nanabi no Choumei. Hachibi no Gyuki. Kyuubi no Kurama. In case you were wondering. Don't forget it. And on that note, Shin told me to get one of you to look after Kurama's Yin. He thinks that you guys might want him on your side. Well, I for one was against the idea of ever giving any of the Rikudou's children to a human ever again, but I was outvoted. So, who wants to be a jinchuuriki?"

There was a moment of silence, and Kushina and Mito exchanged glances. If what Akkiou said was right, they had been the ones to massively screw up in regards to the treatment of the Kyuubi-Kurama. It was the simple logic that every shinobi who had ever been in command of a team knew: if you make a decision that was wrong, if at all possible you take the fall for it. Mito nodded to herself, and Kushina raised her eyebrows.

"I will." Mito said. Hashirama half-turned to look at her, but she smiled at him and he relaxed. "If what you say is true, then the treatment of Kurama is my own fault. As his first jinchuuriki, I should have set a good example for the following ones."

"I knew I liked you for a reason, other than the whole Uzumaki thing." Mito raised an eyebrow. What Uzumaki thing? "Alright, applause for the brave volunteer everybody! Don't actually applaud. I'll seal him, alright? Don't give me that look, I might look like a wet-behind-the-ears bratling but I'm old enough to be your great-great-great-grandfather." He smirked to himself, and his fangs showed. "Alright, where are you...Kurama..." He sighed, disappearing for a moment.

"I wonder why it's only Kurama's Yin?" Mito frowned. There was a slight cough from the Yondaime-Minato.

"That...might be my fault." He said. "I don't think I have time to explain the circumstances, but it was an emergency and the only way I could think of to fix it was to seal half of the Kyuubi- Kurama-and myself into the stomach of the Shinigami and sealing the other half into...well." Minato sighed. "I sealed the Yang half into my son. Don't say anything, it was an emergency, someone had taken control of Kurama, Kushina was dying, and I wasn't going to come out alive anyway.'

'Took control of a biju?" Tobirama's eyes narrowed.

"It wasn't me, Senju." Madara scowled.

"Name one other person with the power to do that, then."

"I don't know, your brother? For all I know, there could be a whole kekkei genkai dedicated to controlling demons."

"I'm sure." Tobirama narrowed his eyes. "But how many of them would want to attack Konoha?"

"I'm sure that all the ones who came into contact with your marvelous tact and diplomacy would love to reduce that hellhole to a literal hole in the ground-"

"I can't leave you people alone for a minute, can I?" Akkiou had rejoined the group and was glaring. "Uchiha, Senju, shut up and play nice. You only have a few more minutes before you get an eight-year break from seeing each other. Act your age." He sighed, and Mito noticed that there was a large, reddish figure behind him. When she tried to look directly at it, though, it blurred and became indistinct. Oh, the Yin chakra. No wonder it's hard to see.

"Alright, let's get this over with. Where did I put that seal?" the red-haired boy fumbled around in his pockets for a moment, before pulling out a piece of paper. "Nope, wrong one." A few more seconds and he found it.

Mito looked at Akkiou again. You could almost mistake him for a genin sometimes, she thought, but then you would see his eyes. No human had eyes like that. And certainly no genin would have possession of a seal like the one he was adding a few details onto.

"There we go. Alright, Kurama, get over here." The red figure moved forward, and Akkiou placed the seal on it's head with surprising care. There was a flash of light, and the figure disappeared. The seal's lines were now glowing blood-red.

"Okay, where do you want the seal? Forehead's too obvious...stomach or back?" Akkiou asked, holding the smoking paper. "Choose quick, okay?"

"Stomach.' Mito decided. She wanted that thing where she could see, and hopefully study, it.

"Thought so." Akkiou slapped the seal on her stomach, where it sank through her clothes. Mito braced herself quickly, as the sensation of her whole chakra system warping itself to incorporate a new massive source. However, there are some things that bracing doesn't do much to help out, and she ended up doubled over, clutching her abdomen.

After a quick moment, she felt an arm wrapping around her, and a hand rubbing circles on her back. She relaxed, knowing who it had to be even without her sixth sense. "It's not as bad as last time..." She attempted a smile.

"That really isn't saying much.' Hashirama said. "Do you need-"

"Your healing jutsu doesn't work when it comes to basic changes in the chakra network." Mito said. "We tried last time, remember?"

"...second time lucky?"Hashirama joked weakly. Mito smiled.

"It's almost gone-there we go." She said, straightening back up. "That was...significantly quicker than last time. It could be the fact that it was only half of Kurama's chakra, or that seal..." Hashirama's arm remained wrapped around her in a half-hug, which she returned.

"Alright, there was one more thing. Who was the Hyuuga headed to Kumo?" Akkiou asked.

"That would be me." Hikako stepped forward. Akkiou blinked.

"Oh...white eyes, right. Ugh, why do there have to be so many different eyes? Sharingan, Byakugan, Rinnegan, they all look the same to me. And they're all annoying." Akkiou scowled. Mito hid a smile at the indignant outrage that both Hikako and Madara exuded.

"Anyway, there's a jinchuuriki there who either has the ear of the Raikage or will in a few years. I need to mark you so that he will pay attention to you, and Tenkou's already been over this, right? Well, anyway, any descendant of mine or hers will be able to see this, but it will be very faint unless they're a jinchuuriki or are specifically looking at chakra...and even then, there are so many weird seals on people in the Elemental Nations that all they'll probably do is pay a bit more attention to you. The biju will know what it means." Akkiou said.

He bit his thumb to draw blood, and swiped it in a spiral on Hikako's forehead. There was a pause, and then the spiral glowed so brightly that Mito had to shield her eyes and turn away. When she looked back, it had subsided to a dim light. "This also-let's see, you seem decent, so I think that I'm also going to put a bit of my chakra in your secondary chakra network-the one powering your Byakugan. It should give it a bit more power, if I've done my calculations right." He stepped back. "Okay, off you go!"

The area around them dissolved into blackness.

It was raining in Konohagakure no Sato. Water hammered on the roofs of the houses and turned the dirt roads into mud, to the irritation of anyone stuck outside. Unfortunately, Team 15 was on that list. The three soaking genin were plodding along the road to Konoha, their slightly less despondent sensei taking up the rear.

Just when Konoha came into view, one of the genin stopped. The puppy next to her was snuffling at the ground. Frowning, the girl inhaled as well.

"What do you smell, Hana?" Uchiha Kita asked her genin. Hana bit her lip.

"Um...there's someone out there." She pointed a ways off the road. "The scent's not moving and hasn't for a while, and it's not a ninja. A...kid? A little kid, a girl." Kita nodded. "Alright. Hana, you come with me-Yugao, Hayate, you can go home now. Mission's over, good job to all those involved. Meet me at the training ground tomorrow."

Hana and Kita picked over the ground, until Kita found the child that her genin had smelled. It was a small girl, no more than four, covered in mud. She had startlingly red hair, and appeared to be unconscious.

"I'll take her to the hospital." Kita decided. "You go home and get dry-I don't need anyone getting sick this close to the chuunin exams."

It was rare that it snowed in Kumogakure, and the two chuunin on patrol duty had mixed feelings about it.

"Patrol in the snow...this burns..." Atsui grumbled, shivering. Samui shot him a look.

"Grow up, this stuff is cool." Samui snorted. "If it annoys you that much, I can do the patrol on my own."

"...what's that?" Atsui asked, sidetracked from the argument by a small figure. He hurried over to see a little girl, around five, curled into a small ball on the ground. "Oh...geez, she doesn't look too hot...Samui, there's a kid here!"

Samui frowned. "I can see that. Come on, let's get her to the hospital. Look at her-she looks sick or something."

In Konoha again, this time in a small, sunny clearing in the forest. Umino Iruka sighed. being a genin was not all fun and games, obviously. Days off like this were few and far-between, so he'd used the time to get a long walk in.

However, it was soon to be unceremoniously interrupted. Iruka blinked as the clearing he was walking in was shown to have another inhabitant. A small boy was slumped under a tree, covered in dirt and alarmingly thin. His only real noticeable feature was his spiky yellow hair.

Iruka frowned. The kid had nothing on him that suggested his origins, but he'd clearly been alone for a long while. In any case, he'd better get to the hospital as soon as possible. He bent down, picking the boy up, and began carrying him towards Konoha.

Thankfully, there was no sandstorm in Sunagakure. Baki sighed as he followed the Kazekage's six-year-old daughter as the girl ran through the streets of Suna, intent on causing trouble of some sort.

"Hey!" Temari's voice said from ahead of him. "Hey kid, are you okay?" She was looking at a small girl, who was curled into a ball in a small alley. "Kid?"

Baki frowned. It was generally unwise to be outside without more protective covering than just a tattered shirt and shorts, especially in a place where sandstorms did strike frequently. Not only that , the girl had a very bad sunburn starting on the side of her face that was exposed.

"I'll take her to the hospital. Temari, you stay here, alright?"

"Sure!" Temari said, the grin on her face saying in no uncertain terms that she would do no such thing. Baki sighed. Well, at least she hadn't started shinobi training quite yet. She'd be even worse when she actually learned stealth.

There was nobody in Kiri to notice the white-haired boy slumped in a cave for many hours. The mist outside was thick, and the small hollow was easy to overlook. Given the state of Kirigakure, this was probably for the best.

Yuki Haku, though, was quite good at seeing things that other people had overlooked. You had to be observant, if you were a six-year-old orphan with a kekkei genkai in Kiri. When he saw the cave, a tired smile passed across his face. Finally, somewhere to rest...

Slipping into the cave, he jumped when he saw the other boy. He bit his lip, wondering if he should leave, but the other kid wasn't that much older than he was. If he didn't show off the Hyoton, he should be alright. Nodding to himself, he settled against the opposite wall and closed his eyes, falling asleep quickly.

It was, of course, drizzling gloomily in Amegakure no Sato. The streets were mostly quiet and lifeless, the villagers safe inside their houses. One resident, however, walked the streets, her amber eyes watching everything. Amegakure's angel was ever-vigilant. Never again would the small village be taken by surprise.

As the woman turned onto a small side-street, she saw a little figure huddled against a wall. Frowning, she stepped closer. It was a little boy, around five or six years of age. His short brown hair was dripping water, and he shivered in his sleep. Konan frowned, moving to pick him up. No child should be left alone in that condition.

The medics at the newly-rebuilt hospital of Amegakure were surprised when the blue-haired woman entered the building, carrying a small figure.

"He was found in the streets." She informed them. "Do what you can for him-I will check on his condition later."

"Hai, Angel-sama!"

Winter had hit Konohagakure, and while the mostly temperate village was sheltered from the winds, the cold was still bitter. All in all, Uchiha Itachi thought, it was definitely not a night for a boy as small as this one to be outside alone. The ten-year-old Uchiha bent to look at the child curled against the wall. He had to be about Sasuke's age-in the darkness, he even looked somewhat like Sasuke.

Frowning, Itachi picked up the child. He was expected home quickly, but that could wait for the short amount of time it would take to get this child to the hospital. When he was holding the boy, Itachi noticed that he was not sleeping soundly-his face was twisted and upset, and he was muttering something under his breath.

Itachi sighed. It was a terrible thing, he thought, that such a young child be too troubled to even sleep soundly. He ignored the fact that he had not gotten an untroubled night's sleep for many years-that was different, he was different.

-END PROLOGUE-

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