He felt empty. He expected to feel at the very least relieved or happy, but looking down at the village from the stone head of his father. He felt empty. Perhaps it was because he was alone. It was to be expected, Sasuke was taken away, his teacher was called by the hokage, Sakura was helping out at the hospital, the other 'rookies' were either with family or mourning for them. Team ten was with Guy mourning for Neji. It seemed that even Kurama was busy, there was no response from the tailed beast no matter how many times he had called out. Perhaps it was busy discussing matter with the other tailed beasts.

''Tou-san, how are you now? Are you with kaa-san or are you still with the other Hokages? Did you tell her about the war yet?'' he spoke out quietly as he laid on his back. He hated being alone.

Tears started to roll down his head. Using his arm, he wiped it away as he stood up. He was going to get some ramen to eat. Ramen was always there whenever he felt alone. Taking a running jump off the stone head, he proceeded to head towards the Ichiraku ramen stall.

The streets were clear of traffic as Naruto walked towards Ichiraku's. Even on most days the streets would never be crowded leaving ample space for people to traverse, most ninjas prefer more direct methods of getting to where they needed to go and only civilians and the occasional ninja would use the streets. However with the recent ending of the war and the large god tree branches scattered around, it served to only deter people from leaving their homes.

''a large serving of miso ramen with roasted pork fillet please." Naruto cried out as he took a seat.

''coming right up.'' came the reply of the ramen chef that stood behind the counter.

He really like Ichiraku's. It was the first place that accepted him, where every other place had kicked him out, Ichiraku's opened it's door and allowed him. It was also the place where he had many wonderful memories. The times when sandaime-jiji decided to treat him to a bowl of ramen, when Iruka brought him here after his many pranks, where his team decided to have lunch at once every few weeks while trying to sneak a peek at Kakashi-sensei face under his mask. This place was akin to a second home for him.

'' what bring you here at such a time, Naruto-kun?'' the voice of the ramen chef's daughter seemed to break him out of his musings.

'' with every body being busy or unavailable now, I thought that it would be a good time to go for a bowl of ramen.'' Naruto answered a smile on his face. He did not want worry the Ichiraku family with his problems.

'' here's your order, Naruto and feel free to drop by whenever you wish, you're our best customer after all. I'll even give you this first bowl free of charge.''

even if the only connection he had with the ichiraku family was through ramen, they were people who were precious to him, he would never forget the first time he had sat on the chair as he waited for his first bowl of ramen.

'' Thank you old man. I'll have another bowl after this as well.'' he said with a large smile.

The mindscape was a dark, dank and overall bleak place where horror stories would take place in, and never in all of its existence would Kurama ever say that he would want to ever return willingly or otherwise. However after all that had happened, the mindscape was not as bad as Kurama deemed it to be, especially now without the cage. It was at the very least better than being in the Gedo mazo or As part of the ten tailed beast or in the stomach of the death god being forced to battle the fourth Hokage over and over and over again.

It was also good for Kurama as he was back in one whole piece again. After sixteen years of being cut off from his yin half, it felt comforting to be at full strength again not the Kurama needed the extra power mind you but it was nice to have it back. However if it had one complain about its current situation, it was the fact that it had to share its space with the chakra of the other tailed beasts. They already had their own respective place which they could reside so why did their chakra have to be left behind in its host.

Looking over at the chakra left behind, they seem to pulse or shimmer once in a while. However to the best of its knowledge, the chakra given to Naruto should not have taken up such a large space. So, when did they leave so much chakra behind and did the water level rise since the last time it had been here? It could feel the water up to above its ankles which was weird as normally it would not even be a thing that it would notice.

A loud and fairly high pitched scream could be heard through the winding corridors of Naruto's mindscape. The voice originated from the large room which once was used to hold back the Nine tailed beast. However the great beast was not there, leaving the room was strangely empty.

'' I expected a larger problem when I heard the scream to be honest.'' The voice of Son goku, the four tailed monkey, reverberated throughout the room as eight tailed beasts gathered in the once empty room.

'' yes indeed, the scream seemed to indicate a conflict of a higher magnitude.'' the smooth voice of Matatabi, the two tailed beast, was heard in agreement with the statement made by Son Goku.

'' How is this not a huge problem! I woke up only to find that I've been turned into a human female!'' the once deep, masculine and booming voice of Kurama, the nine tailed fox, was now much higher in pitch and more feminine. Upon hearing the voice of the once giant nine tailed fox, crazed laughter echoed in the room.

'' HAHAHAHHAHA. The nine tailed fox turned to a small human and a female no less.'' the crazed laughter increased in volume as Shukaku, the one tailed raccoon, gloated. The now female Kurama tried to retort to Shukaku's words however her words were barely audible over Shukaku's laughter.

Sensing the rising anger of Kurama, Kokuo, the five tailed dolphin headed horse, decided to play the mediator before anything gets out of control and lasting damage is dealt.

'' Shukaku, it's not polite to laugh at the person when they are facing a problem especially for another fellow tailed beast.'' Kokuo spoke out before turning to face Kurama,

'' Kurama, did this not occur because you accepted the offer Hagoromo-jiji offered you? I am sure he would have left a way for you to return back to your original form.''

'' and how do you suppose I change back to a giant nine tailed beasts when I am now a human female with the height of 167cm. There is too large of a difference in matter.'' Kurama snapped back at Kokuo still evidently mad.

''when I decided to accept the offer, I expected something different. How does Hagoromo-oji expect me to experience love while stuck in here.'' Kurama ended with a sigh, she was getting tired of it all. Being forced into such a position, why did she even accept such an offer. She was ready to just stumble over and sleep the rest of the day away.

Sounds of footstep could clearly be heard from the door which connected the large room to the hallway. The sound startled kurama as it could only mean one thing.

''Oi, Naruto's coming over now. Don't mention anything about me turning to a girl.'' Kurama shouted out loud in panic. She could not afford for Naruto to see her. Knowing him, he would make a giant fuss over it and attempt to solve it and in the process tell everybody he knew about it. Her reputation as a tailed beasts would be non-existent if Naruto found out.

''yo, Shukaku, Matatabi, isobu, Son goku, Kokuo, saiken, chome, gyuki. Good to see you again. Have you seen Kurama around? I've been trying to contact Him for a while but he's not responding. His chakra is still here but I was worried if something had happened to him. He is after all someone I consider precious.'' Naruto asked the tailed beasts.

(note: In japanese, Kurama refers itself in a way used by most older men thus Naruto would most likely adress him as a male so don't freak out this also helps me write easier.)

''Yo, it good to see you well especially after the war. We have not seen Kurama as well, but if we do find out anything we would tell you.'' Gyuki answered. Hearing the reply, Naruto flashed his signature smile.

'' ok, I will be going then. If you need any help in the future, feel free to ask Kurama and me.'' he said out before his figure disappeared as he returned to his physical body.

''I was worried if something had happened to him. He is after all some someone I consider precious.'' the words that Naruto said repeated in Kurama's mind.

''He considers me precious.'' she thought to herself, as her cheeks reddened. She knew that Naruto would say that to anybody he was close to and it should not have gotten to her but hearing him say that made her heart beat faster than ever.

''Is this the feeling of love?'' the movement of Isobu broke her out of her thoughts as she tumbled over and fell on her rear.

''I'm sorry Kurama, I did not see you there.'' Apologized isobu

''Perhaps we should make haste in finding a way for Kurama to return to her original form. We can't cover for her every time Naruto comes and Naruto will figure out that something is wrong if she does not return to her original form soon.'' spoke out saiken.

'' there's no need for any of you to stay any longer. I can solve this by myself, you can return back to your bodies.'' Kurama said out. She needed more space and time to figure out her own feelings and dealing with the other tailed beasts was not going to help her.

Ever since he was a child, he hated returning to his empty apartment. It just seemed to remind him of how lonely his life was. Even now as he was lying down in the living room staring at the ceiling, there was no difference in how he felt about his apartment as compared to all those years ago.

He considered summoning either Gamakichi or Gamatatsu just to have some company but he decided against it. It would be unfair for the toads if he just summoned them for no other reason than the fact that he needed some company as he was lonely.

The sound of his apartment's doorbell ringing broke him out of his thoughts. Lifting himself off his couch, he moved over towards the door wondering who could be looking for him.

As he opened his door, he was shocked to see the people outside waiting for him. all of his male friends were outside, Kiba, Lee, Shikamaru, Choji, even shino was there.

''what are you guys here for?'' a confused expression was on naruto's face as he said that.

''What do you mean 'what are we here for'. It's for your birthday, so go change out of your tee shirt.'' Kiba said loudly as he slung one arm around Naruto's neck. Even after listening to Kiba, Naruto was still confuse. His birthday has passed after all. Shino seeing his looks of confusion spoke in his usual monotone way.

''What kiba meant to say was that we have arranged for a party in your name to celebrate your birthday now as we could not celebrate it on the day actual day. Please do get changed as there are people awaiting your arrival.''

''Sure, I will get changed soon.'' he was about to breakdown, His friends had not forgotten about him. flashing his hundred watt smile, he made his way to get change.

It was nice to have people around him. He hated being alone.

YAY. New chapter woo. I really appreciated all the like and follow and reviews. It means a lot to me! If interested in beta do let me know btw. I also had a hard time getting speech patterns correct as most of the tailed beats do not get much screen time and the japanese language has a lot of ways to say one thing for many different context, while the English language is just much more general and vague so pardon me for out of character moments.

Yojimbra: the first person view was kind of a one chapter thing as I wanted to separate the prologue from the other chapters. Plus I wanted to try writing in first person as well. And also thanks for the advice, I don't understand it too well but it think I get the gist of it.

Xerzo lotcn: ok? Ok. OK! ok. Okay.