Disclaimer: I do not own any of the anime/manga/movies/etc. that I write about; otherwise I would be a millionaire NOT writing on fanfiction publishing my own ideas.

Time Skip 4 years

Kurama awoke with a start. "Whe…where am I?" the fox kit stuttered out. The last thing he remembered was the old man saying his final parting words to him and his siblings before the Sage's death and of the nine of them about to embark on a journey to see the world and hopefully meet the person the Sage talked about. He was about to enter a large forested area when…what? Kurama couldn't recall what he did afterwards, but he knew for a fact that it didn't involve getting locked up in a large, sewer-like prison! "H…hey, let me out! If this is a prank it isn't funny! Grrr…Shukaku, if this is your idea you are sooo gonna get it when I get out of here!" Kurama cried out before cocking one ear to the side to listen for a response. After a few minutes and not hearing anything, Kurama started to get really worried. Sure the cage he was in looked like it was meant to hold something at least 5 times his size, but the bars were fairly close together and he noticed when he would get close to them it felt like some sort of force was pushing him back.

Now, while Kurama tries to put up a brave front most of the time, the truth is he's really timid. Not that he'd ever let anyone, least of all his siblings, know that. He was still catching grief from Shukaku about how he was caught crying after he got one of his nine tails stuck on a tree branch. Stupid tanuki, let's see how tough he is if he got his one tail caught and painfully pulled on for nearly an hour, and then having to groom the thing back to its normal state. At least Kurama knew he was stronger than the One Tailed raccoon, something that he always used to get under that idiot's skin. At least Shukaku left his crying at the old man's farewell alone, they all missed the man they came to see as a father of sorts, even though it had been only around a week since he passed on from this life. Kurama was brought out of his musings when he realized his chakra felt weaker than before. With a start, he realized that he was missing half of it! Now Kurama was really starting to get worried. He was locked up in a scary, unknown place with half of his chakra gone, and what's worse is that it looked like no one was around to hear his calls.

He suddenly noticed a slight pull on his chakra and noticed that it felt familiar. Kurama then yelped in surprise when it came to him why the pull felt familiar was because whenever he was part of the Juubi with his siblings they all noticed a similar pull while they were sealed inside the old man. That could only mean one thing; someone had sealed him inside another person! Kurama spent the better part of an hour trying to figure out who sealed him, why was he sealed, who or what was he sealed in, and could he contact the outside world, or at least his siblings. Reaching out with his mind Kurama could faintly detect the presence of the other Tailed Beasts but for some reason they felt different, almost like their chakra was older or something, but the signal was too weak to tell. His siblings must have been too far away to get a proper reading.

Kurama next tried to learn more about his new host. He tried forming a mental link, but the seal holding him back was too strong. The only way he could contact whoever sealed him would be if the person actually tried to contact him in some way. Kurama sat on his haunches and pondered what to do while further taking in his new surroundings. "Man this is such a drag," in the outside world most of the men of the Nara clan sneezed, "I have no idea what's going on, and to top it all off I'm stuck in this creepy place!" Feeling slightly frustrated, Kurama curled up into a furry little ball and tried to fall back to sleep with little success. When he finally managed to drift off to la-la land, his dreams were filled with nightmares of burning villages and people with strange red eyes.

Scene Break (Naruto)

Naruto was having a pretty crappy day. True most of his days were pretty crappy but today seemed especially to be going down the toilet. Naruto was a young, four year old boy with wild blond hair, clear sapphire-blue eyes, and curiously enough, three whisker marks on both of his cheeks. Naruto had noticed at a young age that he seemed to be ignored by most adults while outright hated by others. He had no idea why this was and no one seemed to want to answer his questions on the subject, not even the old man with the awesome hat who sometimes took him out for ramen, which quickly became his favorite food. The young blond had been introduced to hardships early in his life because it had been two weeks since he was evicted from the orphanage he had spent his entire young life at. The owner of the orphanage had 'apologized' to him and said that there was no longer any room for him to stay at and that he needed to leave a.s.a.p. Naruto had wandered down the streets of Konoha (aka the Hidden Leaf Village), for about a week with little food and having to sleep in alleys or in the shade of trees surrounding the village. The only things in his possession were the clothes on his back with a few changes along with his toothbrush that were strung in up in a bag he carried with him.

His first thought was to find the previously mentioned old man, who he had heard people call 'Lord Hokage.' Man he wished people treated him with that kind of respect. His second thought was that he had no idea where to find the old man, so he was completely lost at what to do. After a week had passed he had been found by two ANBU members, one with a dog mask and spikey silver hair while the other had a cat mask and long purple hair. They had taken him to see old man Hokage and boy was he mad at the orphanage owner when he found out what happened. The old man was able to get the child an apartment set up at the edge of town and had provided him with weekly payments to get by, as well as a few lessons on how to take care of himself. This had cheered the young boy up immensely, but he was still unhappy due to how the other people of the village just seemed to ignore his existence.

This led to Naruto's current predicament with his particularly bad day. He had trouble making friends at the orphanage because most people he met would be adopted soon afterwards while he would be constantly overlooked. He had decided a week since moving into his new residence that he would see if he could make any friends at the local park and hoped that the kids his age wouldn't treat him like most adults did with either indifference or hatred and fear. Unfortunately, after he had arrived to the park and tried to talk to some kids their parents would usher them away from him and tell them to not associate with him. Even the pretty pink haired girl he saved from those bullies was dragged away from him. Night had fallen and Naruto went back to his apartment feeling more depressed than before. As he curled up into bed after a meal of instant ramen, which was all he could afford since most stores seemed to charge him extra for most items while calling it an 'orphan tax,' he slightly cried at the direction his life was heading and his final thought before he drifted off to sleep was, 'I wish I had a friend.'

Scene Break (Mindscape)

Naruto woke to find himself standing in some kind of sewer with water that reached up to his ankles (though he curiously didn't feel wet at all). Wondering how he got there, he wandered down the corridors with pipes lining the walls. He suddenly found himself in a large room with an equally large cage located on the other side that seemed to be held close with a simple strip of paper with the word 'seal' written on it. In the shadows of the cage there seemed to be a large shadowy object that was completely still save for the rise and fall of its side to the sound of what Naruto recognized as breathing. Timidly, the young blond crept closer to the cage in hopes of seeing what the shadowy object was. Suddenly, the shadowy object started to move as its breathing pattern changed. Panicking, Naruto then ran as quietly as he could to the nearest corner of the room and hid in the shadows, hoping that whatever was in the cage wouldn't see him.

Kurama awoke with a slight start from his soon to be forgotten nightmares and yawned while stretching each of his nine tails. He looked around blearily for a moment before he remembered his previously awakening and his current predicament. The young fox then noticed a new smell that had entered the room since he woke up. Squinting his red eyes a little, he could make out a tiny shape huddled in the shadows in the far corner of the room. Timidly he called out, "H…hello? Is someone there?"

Naruto gave a slight jump at the voice that penetrated the darkness. It sounded kind of dark and scary while still holding a child-like quality to it. Because the voice seemed more scared than threatening, Naruto slowly edged his way over towards the cage and was able to get a good look at the being inside it. The unknowing Jinchuriki saw a fairly large canine-shaped figure that had orangish-red fur that was black surrounding the eyes, which were red and slitted. The being had nine swaying tails behind it as well as weirdly hand shaped front paws and large rabbit-like ears that were cutely flopped to their sides. The being was a few feet taller than the boy but looked less intimidating than Naruto first thought it looked in the shadows. The young boy tried to process what the being was in front of him and came to a quick conclusion; "Puppy!" the blond happily yelled out. (Rights to this joke go to Phatalforce.)

Kurama was busy taking in the human before him and noticed the child was different from the old man. Since this was (to his memory) only the second human he had ever met he wondered if other humans came this small. Sure the old man was smaller than him but not by much while this human in front of him barely reached halfway up his front leg. The fox kit then took note of the strange human's blond hair, bright blue eyes, and curious whisker marks, and he wondered if other humans had similar markings. Despite his inner inquires, Kurama was still incredibly nervous because, even though he knew he was the strongest of the Biju and quite possibly the strongest being on the planet, the fox kit had no idea what the other human was capable of, for all he knew the child before him was the one who sealed the Nine-Tailed Fox inside of himself. It was then that the young fox heard the equally young boy's comment and bristled in indignation. "Hey, I'm a fox, not some puppy!" the Biju child growled at the young human, his nervousness and confusion momentarily forgotten.

"Holy cow, you can talk?!" came Naruto's 'smart' reply.

"Of course I can," Kurama said while puffing his chest out in an attempt to look more impressive to the child. His posturing was completely shattered by the next sentence that was filled with uncertainty, which returned with vengeance, "Um, w…who are you anyway?"

"Oh yeah, my name's Naruto Uzumaki, what's yours?"

"My name's Kurama. So, uh, do you know where we are?" Kurama asked. Even though he had a good idea he still wanted conformation. He still didn't fully trust the blond and was trying to determine if the boy was responsible for his current imprisonment or not.

"Beats me. Last thing I remember was falling asleep in my apartment. Do you have any idea where we are?" Naruto asked while scrunching up his face in a 'thinking' pose which made his face take on a foxlike appearance.

"Well…I'm not sure, but I think this may be your mindscape," the former adult Biju stated warily, since he knew the boy was telling the truth thanks to his ability to sense negative emotions so he could tell the boy was just as confused as he was.

"My mind? Then how in the world did you get here, and why does my mind look like a sewer?" Naruto asked surprised while wondering how a being easily three times his side could fit in his mind. He briefly considered it to be a ramen-induced nightmare but quickly dismissed the idea. There's no way God's gift to mankind would ever produce something as bad as a nightmare!

"I wish I knew. Last thing I remember was that I was about to go looking for human settlements with my siblings like the old man wanted, the next thing I knew I woke up here. And as for why your mind is like a sewer, well maybe you've got your mind in the gutter," the last one was said with a nervous chuckle by the large fox. The childish Biju was starting to feel more comfortable around the young human because he could see the blatant confusion on the boy's face and felt no ill intent from his emotions so he knew that if he was sealed into the blond, it wasn't done with the child's consent. Kurama was also starting to realize the boy in front of him couldn't be much older than he was, noting the childish innocence the boy radiated as well as the 'young' feel the blonde's chakra had.

"HEY! My minds not in the gutter you fur ball! And what did you mean by old man and siblings? You mean there are more giant foxes roaming around?" Naruto asked, wondering why he'd never heard of something like that before. You'd think giant foxes wandering around would be something that he'd at least hear about, even with his limited knowledge. Course the more he thought of it the more awesome that sounded! (Hey come on, what four year old boy wouldn't love to see giant talking animals?)

After slightly bristling at the 'fur ball' comment, he got enough of that crap from Shukaku, Kurama said, "Well not quite, you see I have eight other brothers and sisters, and the old man was the one who 'created' us in a way. You humans called him the Sage of the Six Paths I believe, but he's gone now." He said with a downcast expression at the last part, his ears and tails drooping cutely.

Naruto, feeling a sense of kinship with the large fox kit, decided to help cheer him up. Deciding to use old man Hokage's method of cheering him up Naruto said, "Hey there it's okay, tell me what's wrong." Normally the boy wasn't as receiving of strangers as this due to how other people seem to view him, but he could see the uncertainty and hurt in the fox's crimson eyes and realized they were similar to the look in his own eyes whenever he felt scared and alone.

Snapping out of his slight stupor, Kurama cursed himself for his momentary show of weakness. Deciding that the boy was trustworthy enough, the fox decided to explain his predicament and hope for the best. The two started to talk and get to know each other better, hesitantly at first but with greater confidence as time went on. The strange duo talked about their pasts, how Kurama had felt with the old man's passing, his siblings and his relationship each of them. They then talked about how Naruto was treated by the village and how he hoped to gain recognition from those around him. Kurama felt a growing sense of respect and sympathy for the young blond due to his never give up attitude he showed while describing his life. The kit also felt a pang of worry that the villager's behavior towards the boy might be due to his being sealed inside the child. Why, he didn't know because he hadn't done anything in recent memory that would cause people to hate him, though he did remember the Sage warning the Biju that humans may fear them because they wouldn't understand them. That didn't explain why Naruto didn't seem to fear him though. A thought suddenly occurred to him, "Hey, Naruto? You said we're in a village, where is this village exactly?"

"Oh, this is the Hidden Leaf Village in the Land of Fire! It's the greatest ninja village ever!" explained Naruto, happy to remember his brief lessons the Hokage gave him after moving him into his apartment.

Kurama, however, was at a loss, 'Ninjas? Hidden villages? What's going on? I know the people the old man had started to teach were calling themselves ninja but there haven't been any villages formed yet! People were still discovering what chakra was the last time I checked, so how could there be any villages devoted to the old man's teachings?'A strange but worrying thought occurred to Kurama. His current sealing, ninja's with hidden villages, people not knowing about the Sage or the Biju? It was like he moved forward in time but that wasn't possible, right? So the large fur ball asked the whiskered child what the current date was and after the kid answered, he started to panic. "Over 2,000 years?! I've been thrown over 2,000 years into the future!? How did this happen?! What do I do now?!"

Naruto watched in concern as he watched his hopefully new friend go into a rather large panic attack. The boy tried calming the fox down by trying to get his attention, and then giving him some words of comfort. After the kit had finally calmed down the two began discussing their next course of action while trying to figure out why Kurama was sealed in Naruto and why it seemed like the large fox had been transported two millennia into the future. After not coming up with any good excuses, the pair talked more on their likes and dislikes and just generally bonded well into the night.

AN: First of all, I want to thank each and every one of you who has favorited and reviewed this story. I had no idea it would be so popular! Thanks to the popularity this story has, I feel obligated to update this one along with 'Chimera Luffy'. However, since this one will differ from canon more than the One Piece story and for the fact that I'm not overly skilled at writing dialogue; would someone be interested in writing this story with me? I'm not necessarily asking for a Beta but just someone who I can brainstorm with and go over ideas with. Now for some things I hope to clear up: Naruto is 4 years old when he meets Kurama because I feel that it would be young enough that he wouldn't have heard the full story of the Kyubi attack and thus wouldn't already develop a biased opinion on Kurama, allowing them to become friends. Some may think I made Naruto too mature in some areas but that's because I feel that Naruto had to grow up fast as a child due to the constant loneliness he suffered through as a child. He's still going to be a little on the dense side in this story and events are going to be largely canon after his graduation with a few tweaks here and there. Kurama is going to act largely as a friend/advisor/brother figure to Naruto, due to being different species he can't really teach much to Naruto except be his voice of reason. That always bothered me in some Naruto-Kyubi fanfictions that have Kurama as Naruto's teacher, there is really no way he could teach our favorite blond much outside of history, how to use his chakra, and act as his voice of reason but due to losing his memories in this fic the history lessons are out. Some other events of the story are: Naruto will become friends with Hinata next chapter but they won't get involved romantically until much later, they're only kids you know. There will be NO BASHING in this fic, except for certain enemies. I usually find bashing kinda funny for the most part but I'll explain that and most other things next chapter, I've rambled on enough. One last thing: do you think I should have Naruto ask the Third about Kurama yes or no? I'll take all advice under consideration and I hope to make this a fic everyone can enjoy. Till next time, please read and review!