Naruto blinked and immidiately sighed. "Seriously, don't you have anything better to do?"
The giant fox locked behind the huge gates growled. "remind to rip your throat out the moment I get a chance."
"Yeah, that's going to happen." Naruto glanced around. The sewer looked exactly the same. Water dripped off of pipes wrapping around the walls. The cage was still locked, the paper seal still intact. He shrugged. "Seriously, though, what's up?"
"You have no clue what's going on, do you?" The fox shook his head. "How did I get stuck with such an idiot? I never thought I'd be jealous of Shukaku, but at least his container is intellegent."
"I'm going to ignore the insults and simply ask if you know what's going on. Because if you do, I'd really like to know. And besides, you're just jealous that Gaara lets Shukaku kill random people."
Naruto had spent all day re-exploring his village. Everything was how he remembered it when he was a kid. Not only was it the same, but the people were still there. He had almost burst into tears at the sight of the Sandaime walking down the street. He knew a lot of things were back to the way it used to be, he had seen his team that morning after all. It just hadn't sunk it until the sight of the old man standing there.
He was pretty sure he had shocked the old man too, when he ran up and threw his arms around him. Then, of course, coming to his senses, ran off before Sarutobi could even ask.
After a full day of heartache and joy, he had fallen asleep quickly, an impressive feat since his blanket had burned. Then, just his luck, he woke up to his favorite demon ever.
Not.
"Why the hell did Kami ever choose you?" The fox grumbled again. Naruto blinked at him.
"Uh, to contain you? Because my mother did it before me. And I'm pretty sure Dad picked me, not Kami, but whatever." Naruto shrugged. "You have no clue either, huh?"
"Yes, I do." Kyuubi said, sighing. "I, unlike you puny mortals, can hear the whispers of the Gods. And I have heard that they are interfereing with the path of humans."
"Interfereing?" Naruto scrunched his nose up. "Don't they always interfere? I mean, they are gods after all."
"No, you idiot." The fox snarled. "There are laws laid down at the beginning of time in an attempt to stop these things from happening. But because Madara has over stepped the bounds of what humans should be capable of, the gods are stepping in."
The boy froze, his head snapping up, eyes wide. "What do you mean? We died. Madara lost."
"Idiot." The fox's voice sounded old to Naruto. "The Kamikaze jutsu you performed destoryed you, yes. It also destroyed half the country you were standing in. But it did not destroy me. Nor did it destroy Madara. He survived. And he captured me and then hunted down the Hachibi. He won."
"Oh." It was all Naruto could say. He clenched his fists, trying to get the shake out of them. Panic was threatening to choke him. He lost.
He did the last thing he could think of, a kamikaze justsu, and in the end, he lost. There was no way to describe it, he still lost. He killed himself, Hinata, and if Kyuubi was telling the truth, anyone in an almost hundred mile radius, except the one person who needed to die. He failed.
He doomed the world to a fate worst than death.
"Brat," the soft rumble echoed through naruto's head, but he wasn't listening. He was too trapped in his own thoughts. Guilt grew in his chest, heavy, making him slide to his knees. The water always covering the floor of the cage splashed up on him. He thought about just burying his head under the gentle waves. He failed everyone.
A hand pressed against his neck, making him jerk. He looked up, wild-eyed and froze, staring. He gulped.
"Mom?" He whispered, staring at the woman. She smiled at him, settling down to wrap her arms around his neck.
"Oh, Naruto." She whispered. He buried his face in her hair, fighting not to cry. His arms tightened around her waist, almost breaking her ribs. She didn't make a sound, just pulled him closer. They stayed that way for a moment, just being comforted by one another.
"Yes, yes, this is very sweet. I'm about to vomit." Kyuubi drawled, effectively ruining the moment. Both Uzumakis shot him a glare, but did not let go of each other. "Perhaps, we could talk about what the Gods have in store for us? Personally, I'd like not to be punished for uselessness. I'm already living an eternity of hell, why tempt fate?"
"I have a new respect for the two of you. He's very annoying." A younger voice sounded out, making Naruto turn. He blinked at the sight of a young red-headed kid standing at the entrance of room containing Kyuubi. Next to him stood Hinata.
"What the heck," Kyuubi muttered. "Is this just a party now?"
"Shut up, Fox," Kushina snapped. She released Naruto and rose in one graceful move. Her hair swung down her back, now wet and heavy. Something made Kyuubi start laughing.
"Oh, this is hilarious. I'm not the only fox anymore. Hah!"
Kushina whirled on the demon, rage dancing in her eyes. The motion threw her hair into Naruto's face, knocking him to the ground. He heard movement and suddenly, Hinata was there, helping him up.
He stood up, listening to his mother threaten the nine tailed fox with smomthing that he was pretty sure was impossible without a goat and a kunai. The kid just stood the side, smiling and shaking his head.
"Wait!" Naruto yelled, causing Kushina to stop. He pointed to the child. "You ran into me this morning, didn't you!"
The kid raised an eyebrow and nodded. "Yes, I did."
"Who the hell are you anyways?" Kushina asked sharply.
The kid sighed, lips pursing. He looked at her, head titlted and green eyes bright. "Really, Shina-chan? You don't know who the hell I am?"
She paused. Naruto blinked confused, while Hinata simply stood there, keeping quiet. Kushina spoke, "What's your name?"
"Okay, don't laugh." The kid pointed at Kushina. "seriously, Shina-chan, you can't laugh. But my name is Hikari."
At first, she was confused. Slowly, it dawned on her. She snorted, then started to snicker. "They named you Hikari?" She asked incredulous. "Seriously?"
Both Naruto and Hinata were confused now. Kyuubi was for a moment, then, seeing the annoyed look on Hikari's face, he finally understood. He started laughing as well.
Hikari just watched them both, sighing. "I'm glad that you two find it so funny. Shina, why do you have a tail?"
"Wait, what?" Naruto jerked, staring. "Mom, you have a tail!"
Kushina straightened, all amusement gone. She glanced back and sighed. "Yep, I have a tail." Said tail waved slightly, though it blended in with her hair, making it hard to see. "apparently, the same power that sent you back in time and turned him into a kid, decided that I needed to be a kitsune."
"Oh," Naruto shook his head, then turned to Hikari. "Why are they laughing at you?"
The boy sighed. "The Yellow Flash of Konoha gets reincarnated into a child named Hikari. It is amusing. Besides, your mother always laughs at me. I've learned to ignore it."
"Hey!" Kushina yelled. Naruto grinned, then realized what was said.
"Wait, Dad?" He asked, staring down. "Seriously?"
"Yes, Naruto, I am you father." He looked down. "Well, at least I was."
"So, now the only question I have is really, why are we all in my head?" Naruto turned to look at Hinata, raising an eyebrow. "Any ideas?"
"No," She murmured, realizing that both his parents were staring at her. She licked her lips, fighting the blush. "Perhaps it's to share information?"
"Forgive me, Hyuuga-san," Kushina asked, eyes narrowing. "But who are you?"
Hinata seemed to shrink in on herself, causing Naruto to stand in between the two women. "Hinata is my friend." He said firmly. He turned to look at her. "I don't know if you heard, but apparently, Madara still won." He swallowed back the guilt. "Kyuubi says that the gods are interefering because of it."
"Of a sort." Kyuubi interuppted. "The Gods can only do so much. They still need to use a human vessal, or in this case, vessals. Basically, tools to do their bidding. Which would be you four."
"I can see why Mini-Hikari-kun and myself were chosen to help Naruto, but why the Hyuuga?" Kushina said, ignoring Hikari's long-suffering sigh. "No offense." She added.
"None t-taken," Hinata stammered out. She turned to the Kyuubi. "Does this mean that we are chosen to destroy Madara?"
"I would guess yes." The demon fox answered.
"Yeah, but why stick us back so far?" Naruto asked. "I mean, the Chunnin Exams?"
"But, Naruto-kun," Hinata said, her eyes wide, mind racing. "This is where everything starts!"
"Huh?"
"Think about it. This is where Orochimaru-san seals Sasuke-san, menaing that we lose the last Uchiha. This is where Sandaime-sama dies, losing us a powerful leader. Not to mention, we have time now. We know what we've got coming. We can destroy Akatsuki before they can even try to collect the bijuu. We can stop Madara before he even starts!"
"Nice idea, but how do you plan on doing this?" Hikari asked. "You two are now only genins, I'm an academy student, and we don't even know what Kushina is."
"Summons," Kushina interjected. "For the fox contract. Which has been lost for the past two centuries." She smiled wryly. "I'm not going to be much help at all."
"Oh, stop whining," Kyuubi snapped. "I'll tell you where it is."
Naruto wasn't listeing to them. He was too busy thinking, trying to trace the same lines Hinata was thinking. Finally, he looked up, grinning. "She's right." He said quietly. "We could literally save everybody."
"Don't get ahead of yourself, idiot," Kyuubi snapped. "I will admit that you have an advantage, but that doesn't mean that everything will work perfectly. I will tell you this. We have time on our side."
"What does that mean?" Naruto snapped. He watched the demon open his mouth to answer, but something shifted. Everyone dissapeared suddenly. A drop of water hit a pool and the sound echoed through his head.
He jerked and stared up at his ceiling, suddenly wide awake. The sunshine poured through the window, alerting him to the fact that it was early morning.
"Well, crap." He sighed, rolling to sit up. He rubbed his forehead, trying to organize everything racing through his head. Guilt threatened to wash over him. He swallowed and rose, beginning to get dressed and gather his stuff. At least he could go train for a while before his team meeting.
He blinked at the fact that his headband was once again under his pillow, even though he had put in on the dresser last night. Naruto frowned, feeling like something was wrong, but he shrugged it off.
He was out the door, heading for the training ground, in a flash.