A/N Hello.

Note that the names will be used a little bit interchangeably for a few chapters (Miyu/Naru, and Yang/Kurama).

I don't really know if this story will progress fast or slow, some parts I might be quiet brief and others I might drag out.

~Chapter 2 – THE FIRST RIPPLE

"Just activate the seal."

When Naru's awareness returned to her, she really wished it hadn't. There was pain, a lot of pain, maybe more than she had ever felt in every inch of her body. So much that the rain hitting her body felt like thousands of piercing needles, and that the cold seeping into her body made her joints scream. But the fact she felt pain meant she was alive, even if it felt like Kurama had chewed up her poor body before spitting it back out. She was alive, her mind registered, and just that fact made her heart hurt more than the slowly numbing pain of her body. Was she alone again? The mere thought scared her more than she expected.

"Ku-" Her voice sounded horrible even to her muted ears as she tried and failed to gasp out the name.

"Is that a fox?" A distant voice called out, barely audible in the thrumming rain.

"Yeah, it keeps looking at us…" Another called. Or maybe it was the same voice? It was surprisingly hard for her to tell.

"Guys, hear me out-"

"We don't have time to stalk feral animals."

"But-"

"No buts," Their muffled conversation dulled to a murmur and if it weren't for the sharp barking of a fox, she was sure they would have just left.

"Maybe we should just see what it wants?"

"Not you too...Alright fine, stop looking at me like that and go follow the stupid animal."

"I am getting rather tired of being insulted-" Her body relaxed at the familiar voice.

"It's talking. I'm not going crazy am I? That fox is really talking."

"It could be a summon?"

"Will you cease your useless chatter and follow me," He snapped, angry as always, "I thought perhaps your group would be above letting an innocent child die."

"A child?" Naru heard the approaching footsteps as well as the sharp gasps and inhales. What had Kurama done now? She couldn't remember a thing after activating the seal.

"She's alive," A soft voice said as the rain seemed to stop. She could feel bony arms try and move her, and it hurt, but she didn't think it was possible to not hurt at this point. She felt a little warmer though, and slowly opened her eyes. It was still raining she noted, she just had a little cover with someone leaning over her. Red, his hair was bright red and familiar, and the single eye she could see was impossible not to recognize. Hypnotizing rings on pale purple, an eye of a ninja that had long passed away. "Her eyes…"

"…Naga-to?"

The first instance had been out of the ordinary, but the second was as normal as it could be. For someone like her, waking up in a hospital was part of her usual routine. She hated the smell of antiseptic and the boring colour scheme, but it still made her feel at ease.

"Say something already," It took a second to realize the order was not directed at her, "I heard you speak, so don't clam up now! What are you? A summon?" He was greeted with silence, and it was almost funny.

"Good morning kit." Kurama shifted and she identified him as the warm presence lying next to her.

"And it speaks!" A loud voice exclaimed in exasperation, "I take it this means your awake, girl?" Her eyelids fluttered and she focused her gaze first on the ceiling before slowly turning to the side.

"…Pein?" Her voice was still hoarse, but noticeable better. She was either healing slower than usual, or had taken more damage than she realized. This information was trivial though, as she turned to face another ghost of the past.

"Pain? Where does it hurt?" There was too much concern in his eyes, "Can you tell me your name?" She was almost indignant that he had forgotten her. This Nagato/Pein, whoever he was. Who had apparently survived though she was sure she had seen him die.

"Her name is Miyu," Kurama intoned in a voice that would not be disregarded, "We were caught in the war and now her village is gone."

"A whole village?" He uttered quietly as shock painted his face, "I'm sorry for your loss Miyu, but know that I will do whatever I can to help you from now on." Even if he was some sort of zombie, Naru still thought he was being incredibly nice. She nodded and closed her eyes, feigning sleep until he finally left.

"What have you done Kurama?" She asked in a soft whisper. It was raining outside, and the view from her window looked suspiciously like a certain grey village.

"We have gone into the past." There was no humour in his tone, not that the fox was one to joke or lie. And what a beautiful lie it would be. "It is no illusion, only the truth."

"But…" She looked down at the small, bandaged hands in her lap, only now realizing how different they were from what she remembered, "What happened to my body?"

"It has reverted in a sense," The chakra demon explained, "For the amount of time we have travelled, your body's physical age has decreased by half the amount. You said you were prepared to give up everything, and the only thing you had left was yourself and your future."

She spotted a small mirror beside her and brought it up to examine her face. Blond hair, blue eyes and whisker like marks, those were the same as far as she could tell under the bandages. But there was also something off with her appearance. Her nose happened to look a fraction less broad, and her eyes slightly more narrow. Small things about the settling of her bones and features that she wouldn't have noticed if she weren't searching for them.

"Two of the same thing cannot exist in the same time, so you have been altered. You may have the blood of Namikaze and that of Uzumaki, but you are no longer Naruto Namikaze-Uzumaki. He happened to leave his blood with you, so the process simply made it a majority," The fox sat up, scrutinizing her with a tilted head, "It was possible you would have gained the Uzumaki clan's dominant traits such as your mother's hair colour, but it simply wasn't favoured. Instead, you would not be entirely incorrect if you were to start calling yourself an Uchiha."

"This isn't even funny," She uttered, "Not one bit." She tossed the mirror aside, giving up on searching for her old reflection, a loud clatter ringing out as the glass itself cracked harshly. "My friends, my family-"

"Were already gone," The fox interrupted, "They had all already died."

"Their sacrifices-"

"Were in vain from the beginning of that war," He rumbled with a swish of his single tail, "You can change it all. Everything that brings you sadness, you can stop it before it even happens."

"That's…I can't…" Her future had never felt so daunting before. Not when her village hated her, not when her best friend stabbed her through the heart, not when the fourth war was brooding on the horizon. Now, she had to do it all over again? Watching those important to her, without a single memory of her, die all over again.

"You can, but if you will not, then I will allow you a final reprieve," He stalked closer to her, his striking red eyes level with her dim blue ones, "I can erase your memories if you wish. You can forget everything, and maybe you would be happier. I will stay by your side until the end if this is what you pick. And I will protect you when you lose your ability to do so yourself. Now chose… What will you do?"

"Kurama." there was tenderness in her voice, and carefully she reached up to weave a hand in his fur as his words sunk into her heart. How nice it would be to simply forget…but she couldn't quite do that. She couldn't, no matter how painful it would become, throw away the last thing she had of herself. "I will try…" The fox apprised her aloofly. His host was not one to lie, but her words lacked the heart and belief she used to lark on about. Oh well, perhaps it would come back to her in time…or maybe she was just broken?

"Ano," Her visitor knocked politely, waited a moment, and then entered, "I see your awake."

"Yes," She nodded politely, still struggling with that fact that the person before was alive, "Thank you for saving me." She smiled, aware it was more than a little empty, and was given a small quirk of lips in return.

"The war is harsh on everyone, especially here as this village is right in the middle of all the fighting," He walked over and sat on a nearby chair, "It was the least we could do." He was still pale, but not unnaturally so, his colouring somewhat vibrant in the dreary room. He wasn't happy, not with the current level of bloodshed, but he wasn't despairing over the deaths of his friend…yet.

"The least you could do would be to leave her there," The fox intoned monotonously, "So I must thank you for taking care of her."

"Ah, then I guess you're welcome." He shifted under their gazes, somewhat uncomfortable with the attention. "So I heard from Yahiko your name was Miyu, but he couldn't find a single thing out about your fox."

"He is as much 'my fox' as I am 'his human'," Naru, Miyu now she told herself, admitted, "He's like a ninken."

"And his name?" Indeed, what was his name? Were they still safe with 'Kurama'? Yes… no?

"Yang." She told him thinking that at least this statement was true. She wasn't the best liar, so sticking to the truth was safer. He nodded to himself, wondering if she, like them and many other residents of Ame, lacked a last name. Just another question added to the list.

"Miyu, have we met before?" He couldn't remember exactly but… "You seemed to call my name when you collapsed earlier."

"Did I?" Neither of them were completely certain at this point, "I mean, I don't know even your name right now…"

"Oh, I just assumed…" He cleared his throat, "Nagato, that's my name, you've already met Yahiko and I'll have to remember to point Konan out to you later."

"Nagato." She repeated as if testing it out. Did she feign even more ignorance? Lie and say she knew someone with the same name? "Thank you again for rescuing me," She was just going to ignore it until directly asked, "Please allow me to repay you somehow."

"That's fine," Nagato stated hastily as she bowed her head low, "We did it because we wanted to, not because we wanted something from you."

"Still, I promise to return the favour."

They had saved her so she would save them. That seemed like a fair trade, and maybe they could help her return to Konoha. Her body was still in a bad condition, especially if she was going to be confronting Hanzo the Salamander and his small army of Root ninja. She would yet again have to rely on Kurama.

Naru closed her eyes, tapping into the flow of chakra from her seal. The modification she had made that allowed Kurama to roam the overworld still held in place, and through it she was able to peer through the fox's eyes. Currently he was lurking in the thick undergrowth, silently hidden from view in the dense leaves.

She knew the story, and how it was supposed to end, so finding the steep cliff of the soon to be battlefield was imperative. Kurama was there now, and through him Naru was able to assess the enemy.

One hostage, one ninja of approximately Hokage levels of strength, and roughly a hundred well trained ninja. It was nothing the great Kyuubi no Kitsune couldn't handle. He felt the earth under his paws and grinned the best a fox could. With one soundless step he pushed his energy into the earth, and like always, it responded to him with bravado. The stable ridge that had lasted for thousands of years, and the mountain face that had been carved oh so delicately by nature, crumbled as if it were nothing more than loose rubble.

Everything in that moment fell to chaos. The girl he was supposed to save, knew an opportunity when she saw one, instantly putting as much distance as she could between herself and the falling troops. Wings of paper extended from her, frail but enough to glide her over to her two friends. With the three of them confirmed out of danger, the demon fox himself dived off the edge. His body trembled as it grew to a monstrous size, not nearly as big as he had once been, but still grand enough to trample on a few unlucky ninja that failed to clear his landing. He let out a bellowing roar that shook the earth and froze all that saw him in their tracks, and then inhaling a gust of air, he leaned over and set everything ablaze.

He thrived in the chaos like a true demon, his tails lashing out at anything and everything around him. And his target, one considered to be legendary, could only stare in shock. By the time Hanzo had gathered his wits and called forth his summons, his army was all but gone. It proved more difficult than expected, to train a human out of instinctive fear.

"You're enjoying this." The calm voice rang through his head like bells, clear and far above the screams and shouts. He didn't deem the comment worthy of an answer and he knew that the asker hadn't expected one. He loomed over his target, a low, jumpy hiss escaping his maw. He was so pitiful, the situation so amusing, that he couldn't help but laugh. These bodies were just the beginning as they prepared to pave their way forward.

Kurama returned first, smelling of ash, blood and poison. His fur wasn't its usual state of pristine, so he clambered onto the bed and allowed her to fuss over him. Not far behind him were the three Ame leaders, looking equal parts of worn and cautious. Other than that, they held their emotions well.

"Miyu, you…" Yahiko struggled with his words, scrunching his face awkwardly in his thoughts.

"Thank you, for your help." The sincerity was there in Konan's words, in her eyes as well, despite the tenseness in her body. In the first place if they had bad intentions Kurama would've let her know… would have never let them survive.

"You're welcome." She smiled, just a small tilt of her lips that felt mismatched with her current appearance.

"So…" The conversation felt more than a little stagnant, but it was nice to see someone putting an effort in, "Can all foxes do that? The whole, giant, fire-breathing, man-eating-"

"Yahiko," Nagato cut off his friend's beginning ramblings. In the first place they all expected that this strange girl would be keeping most of her secrets to herself.

"Right," The de facto leader of the three cleared his throat, "Is there anything we can do to repay you? I don't know if you sent him or if he just showed up on a whim, but I think things might've ended badly for us if your fox hadn't shown up to the battlefield." The longer she looked at the three of them the lighter her heart seemed to feel. Could this one change have already done enough? Just by them being alive, by taking away the poster boy for Akatsuki, she could start to see a small glimmer of hope. Kurama smirked at her knowingly. Yang, she reminded herself, and she was now Miyu.

"Even is even," She said she would repay them and now she had, "But if you could, I need to get to Konohagakure."

"Konoha?" the red head furrowed his brow, "I've seen eyes like yours before, do you have business with the Uchiha?" She shrugged, slightly uncomfortable of the fact her eyes had been revealed the moment she arrived in this time.

"We're not allied with them, and in the middle of this war, it won't be easy," Konan explained slowly, "But I hear that they value bloodlines so they might hear us out."

"They've sent someone to pick you up," Nagato explained as he carefully peeled an apple for her, "We're not sure whether this is because they want to assess the danger, or because they truly value their bloodlines that much." She was still bed ridden, her body healing far slower than usual, though notably faster than a normal human.

"Thank you." She said, for both their help and the piece of fruit he was handing her. The red-head ninja was surprisingly motherly, both with his care and concern of her.

"Are you sure we haven't met before?" He asked again, as his brow furrowed.

"You should really save you pick up lines for girls more around your age," Miyu replied whilst chomping down on the apple slice. They were especially sweet in Ame, "I think on our first meeting I confused you with someone I used to know." Nagato happily ignored the first sentence, and simply smiled whilst watching the younger girl stuff her cheeks. Though she spoke coolly, she ate like a small animal.

"What was your village like? Before the war that is." Was it insensitive for him to ask?

"…It was normal," She replied quietly, staring down at her lap, "There were good people, there were bad people, people that hated me, people that liked me. It was my home." That was surprisingly a description that Nagato could understand well. He was an orphan, and had experienced living on the streets with nothing but the clothes on his back and his friends. And now? Now he was fighting his hardest to protect this country simply because it was their home.

"If the envoy arrives by the end of the week do you think you'll be able to travel?" Her body was still heavily bandaged, but by now they were all aware of her increased healing.

"A week is plenty of time," She tested the movement of her hand, still feeling the strain on her shoulder, "Though I doubt I'll have that long."

"Konoha values the Sharingan that much?" Nagato wondered. They seemed the complete opposite of Kirigakure in that sense.

"That's partly the reason," Miyu glanced at the window, noting the rain hadn't let up one bit, "It is a village secret after all, and something they would panic over if an enemy got a hold of it." It, it, it… Her eyes didn't really feel like her own when she talked like this.

"Well if things turn out badly, know that you're welcome here in Amegakure."

A/N Thanks for reading :)

This is a speedy clearance of Amegakure, and without much chance of really knowing him, I'm just going to believe that Yahiko had a similar personality to canon Naruto (a little less naive but still the type to believe in people)

Jutsu;

Name: Kuchiyose no Jutsu – Shuuseihan (Summoning Jutsu – Revised)
Classification: Ninjutsu, Space-Time Ninjutsu
Rank: S-rank
Class: Supplementary
Range: -
Summary: Created and used by Naru to summon the Kyuubi from inside the seal. Its effect is permanent and brings the Bijuu into the outside world. The jinchuriki is still largely linked to the beast and is able to restrain and limit its power, though the tailed beast may now wander around freely and independently. The ranking of the jutsu was given due to the amount of chakra needed and the fact that the user must be a jinchuriki (i.e. the selectiveness and thus rarity of it rather than actual difficulty).