I've been very busy, but I will still apologize for my unyouthful lateness. Sorry ;-;.

I've figured out how I'm going to go about the fillers, thanks to Merchant of Blue Death's amazing advice on structuring and writing chapters, and Guilt of Swords, for helping me make the quality better. I am indebted to you both. Now, without further ado, let us begin.

"Pitiful! Absolutely pitiful! If Hiruzen disrespected me the way you're doing that staff, I'd have killed him in his sleep a long time ago! Don't make so many unnecessary movements! You must be swift and you must be precise! You'll have your head rolling on the ground before you manage to swing the staff!"

"Swift and precise? With these weights on? Right." Naruto replied between grunts, only to be smacked on the back of his head.

"The Hokage possesses such strength that it makes me seem weightless! He has accomplished this through disciplined training, and I'll discipline you by any means I feel necessary. You won't survive if you are so slow to move." Enma knew how unreasonable he was being, but the child in front of him had monstrous potential. He learned slower than Hiruzen did, but he had a capacity that was unmatched and Enma believed that by pressuring him hard enough, his true strength would emerge. Naruto kept swinging the staff with great strength, if he hadn't been a jinchuriki, his body would have given out by now. Enma would test the very limits of Naruto's potential, he would teach him all he knew.

Finally, after a long while when Naruto's body did run out of energy, Enma lifted his limp body into his arms.

"He's not the prodigy you were, yet he is far better than you were at his age."

The Third Hokage walked into view from behind the tree under which Naruto was training.

"Don't you think you're pushing him too hard? It's good to see such progress, but he's only a child." asked Hiruzen, having observed Naruto's training for the past ten minutes.

"It would hardly have mattered. The boy would have continued to train regardless of whether or not I pushed him. He isn't gifted at all in the arts, it only seems that way. It's the amount of work he puts in, and his burning determination to be the best that made him this way."

Hiruzen nodded. "He knew I was here. He was sending out pulses while training."

Enma laughed. "I noticed as well. His eyes kept darting around trying to locate you. He knew someone was here, I'm not sure if he realized it was you."

Hiruzen smiled. "Tell him to buy some clothes, the ones he's wearing are ruined. I'll pay for them. I'll give him the staff I had made for him when his training is over. Do you think he'll like it?"

"He'll be overjoyed. It's a fine staff. I'll drop him off at his apartment and return to my home." Enma waved and began leaping towards Naruto's apartment. Hiruzen looked at the Hokage Monument, at The Fourth's face.

'Your son will outshine us all, Minato. I'm actually hoping I live long enough to see him make his mark, as I know he will.'

-Next Day-

Naruto felt sore all over. His muscles ached so bad that he headed towards Ichiraku's for breakfast instead of making it himself!

"Ah, Naruto! How are you doing? I trust you haven't forgotten us already?" laughed Teuchi.

"Forget you? Yeah. Your ramen? Nope."

"Hmph, cheeky brat. What'll it be? The usual extra large bowl?"

"Larger. I feel like eating something unhealthy."

Teuchi began to work, chuckling. "You look tired, be sure to rest once in a while, after all, we're only human."

"I don't' know what you mean by 'only human'. I feel like my body's made of jelly."

Their conversation went on for a while, Ayame joined in after a few minutes, and after having his ramen Naruto left for the hot springs.

"Naruto! Are you here to train as well?" came an all too familiar voice.

'Please, let it be a bad dream. Please.'

Sadly, Rock Lee and Might Guy were both very real and weird, and both were soon standing in front of him.

"How youthful! Let us join you, Naruto, and together we shall burn in the flames of youth!"

"Guys, I'm tired. I've trained too much-" but he was not to be allowed to finish-

"Too much? That cannot be possible! It is more likely that you have not trained enough, and your body is feeling the lack of youthfulness!" exclaimed Lee.

Naruto was going to refuse but he realized that, as usual, his soreness was almost gone.

"Well, if you insist. Taijutsu only, as usual."

"You must not feel restricted! Feel free to hit me with everything you have!"

"….Only Taijutsu then."

-Two Hours of Youth Later-

Naruto sighed as he dipped into the spring. His aching muscles felt relieved as his body went under the water.

Enma's training was paying off, he had far less difficulty keeping up with Lee this time. Usually he'd spend most of the time defending against Lee's furious onslaught, rarely finding openings to strike back. This time, his body responded much better and he didn't get his ass kicked as much.

Lee was amazing. Even though he couldn't use Ninjutsu or Genjutsu, he absolutely outclassed Naruto and the rest of the active Genin in Taijutsu. Usually he'd simply spend his time running and dodging Lee, trying to fight against the weirdo's much superior speed only to fail, but this time when he took Lee's blows he didn't feel as much pain as he used to. He realized that Enma's training had strngthened his body. Lee realized this as well and began hitting harder, apparently he'd been holding back.

He lost, but there was progress! He'd take everything Enma could give him, he'd go through the harshest training if it meant he could surpass all the others. His dream, what events he could still remember from it, showed him his… flaws, he liked to call them. Wasting time as a kid, not studying, hopelessly chasing a girl who made wrong assumptions about him, being viewed weak by most of the others, not being able to protect people precious to him. The Old Man's death stood out in his mind. He thought of ways he could protect him, but measuring up to a Sannin? He thought of telling him some events from his dream, maybe he could prevent things from going so badly this time around. But there was no telling how the information he shared would affect the outcome. He would need to plan it carefully and he would do the only other thing he could do: he would hope for the best.

His thoughts shifted to the issue he'd been thinking about for the past week. How would he approach the Fox? He'd been screwed over so many times by so many different humans, he wouldn't trust him so easily. Naruto had a plan, however. He would gamble. Either he won and he earned the fox's trust, or he failed miserably and put the Fox further on guard. Those were the two most likely scenarios in his mind. What he did know for certain was that he'd have to meet him soon. He'd need his help, and help him come to terms with his hatred. He couldn't comprehend how much it must have hurt the immortal beast's pride to be toyed with by humans, how degrading and painful it must have been. The Fox was a someone with whom, if things went Naruto's way, he could talk about his vision and take advice from. After all, the Fox had been there during all of the clashes between Indra's and Asura's incarnates. He had a plan to, over time, calm the beast down.

He decided to try and meet him tomorrow. He left the springs and went home.

-Following Day-

He'd just gone through another session of training with Enma. He was dead tired, but that was good, he needed to be able to slip into unconsciousness easily.

"*huff* Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

The clones appeared and he felt wobbly, the amount of chakra he used was enormous. The clones began wasting chakra, turning into people he knew and making stupid imitations of them.

"To Hn or not to Hn, that is the question." was the last thing Naruto heard before he passed out.

-Unknown (lol no you know where)—

Deep grumbling noises came from in front of him.

"So… you finally show yourself."

The Nine-Tailed Fox approached from the shadows , standing tall, fangs bared and with his eyes staring directly at Naruto.

"Huh."

"Feeling insignificant? You should be! A mere mortal -especially one as pathetic as yourself- is little more than a gnat to me! You should feel honored boy, you are in the presence of-"

"Kurama, right?"

"Yes, Kurama the-" the Fox fell silent. "How? How do you know my name?"

Naruto simply stared back at the beast.

"How? ANSWER ME!"

'This is it.' Naruto thought.

"I know a lot about you. I had a dr- er- a vision, it's a long story. I'll need you to listen carefully and understand what I'm saying. It's time to move past your hatred. It's what the Sage of Six Paths would have wanted."

The fox growled. Naruto could feel the hostility radiating off of him. "You dare act mighty- you, a weak mortal? You have no power, yet you try to command me? You dare talk about the Sage's wishes? What could a foolish boy know?"

Naruto sat down. "I know a lot more than just your name. I know about the Sage of Six Paths'- his name was Hagoromo Otsutsuki, right?- fight against Kaguya, how he and his brother Homura fought what Kaguya became, the Juubi. I know about how you were created, I know how badly humans have treated you over the years. What do you want to hear about first? I am the latest incarnation of Asura."

The Fox stayed silent for a few moments, then spoke. "The Sage is dead. Indra and Asura's petty fight has nothing to do with me, and I refuse to play any part in it."

"I'm not here only for your power, Kurama, but it isn't for personal gain or for some battle. I am not Asura, simply the one who bears his will. I'm here to tell you that the world, the peace the Sage fought for is in danger. I think you're familiar with the name Madara Uchiha?"

As expected, Kurama began growling fiercely. "What. Does. He have to do with this?"

"Finally listening? He's the one threatening the world. He wants to capture you and the rest of the Tailed Beasts, put you back into the Gedo Mazo and revive the Juubi. After that he'll become it's jinchuuriki and open his third eye and cast a Genjutsu on the moon. You see where this is going?"

The Fox had his teeth bared, and was trembling in barely restrained anger. "Madara Uchiha…. How do I know you're telling the truth? He's mortal, he can't have lived this long…"

"I didn't expect you to trust me. I merely want your word that you will allow me to show you something, a memory of mine. I want to show you now before the details get messed up, it's a pretty long memory."

Kurama growled again. "What trickery are you planning?"

"No trickery, I simply want your word that you'll see the memory before deciding to kill me."

"If you aren't planning anything, why is he here?"

"Who?"

"Your fool of a father."

He heard footsteps from behind him. Minato Namikaze, the Fourth Hokage of Konoha stepped into sight. "Hello, so- oof!"

Naruto had punched him. "Don't worry about this idiot. He's just some of my father's chakra, left here to repair the seal in case it was ever about to break."

"Ow. I'm sorry Naruto-" he broke off when he saw tears in Naruto's eyes.

"Weird." he said. "Isn't this my mind? How come my tears feel so real?"

Minato hugged his son. "I'm sorry son. I didn't have a choice. There was nobody else we could give this burden to, and it haunts me to this day, what I had to do. What I did do. I'm so sorry."

Naruto sniffed. "I understand dad, it's just that-" he choked. "I just wished you and mom were still-" Naruto broke into sobs.

Minato hugged him tighter. "We're both proud. No matter what, we couldn't have asked for a better son."

"We really couldn't have." said a female voice.

In front of Naruto appeared his mother. Kushina Uzumaki raised her arms, calling her son to her.

Breaking into wails, Naruto ran into his mother's arms. For a long while, everyone was silent, only the sounds of Naruto's sobs and Kushina's whispers could be heard. Finally Naruto calmed down, and stood up.

"So, what's the plan?" Kushina said, wiping his tears away.

Clearing his voice, hoarse from the crying, Naruto told his parents of all the events leading up the present time.

"This is very interesting, I've heard of visions, but this was your entire life? Interesting and strange, too."

"Maybe it was a Space-Time jutsu, with something like the Yamanaka's mind jutsu thingy involved?" Kushina offered.

Naruto laughed at his mother's choice of words.

"What's so funny, 'ttebane?" she said, her glare silencing him.

"Scary." he muttered.

"Don't I know." his father seconded.

"Ugh, you know what I was talking about. Couldn't it be something like that?"

"It could, but sending a consciousness across time? There would be no return."

A thought struck Naruto. "This was," he began. "a vision of my entire life. What if I sent it back during my dying moments?"

Kushina and Minato exchanged looks. "That's a very disturbing thought. A person being that dissatisfied with life, how miserable were you?" Kushina said.

"Hey! I didn't do anything yet!"

Minato chuckled. "No use thinking about this now. Your plan seems great to me, Naruto. But remember, your actions could always have unforeseen consequences, we're talking big consequences."

"I know dad. That's why I'm here for Kurama's help."

"Finally remember me, did you?" Kurama said in a haughty tone. Truthfully, he was taken aback when the child in front of him broke down at the sight of his parents. He hadn't anticipated this, and the scene had convinced him that the boy in front of him was, if nothing else, honest and straightforward with people he wanted to get to know. He couldn't be absolutely sure with just this, but maybe it wouldn't be a mistake to trust him…? Humans were mostly selfish and small-minded fools, but his father had trusted them. He had said a person would appear to show him what true strength was. It sounded like this boy was the one.

"Uh, sorry you had to see all that. So, you just heard all the things that happened, but if you still need to see the memory-"

"I have no wish," he growled, with his best superior voice. "to see the memories of a whelp. I'll trust you, boy. I don't feel dishonesty from you. I can sense when someone has bad intentions towards me, and now that I've somewhat calmed down, I can see that you have no such intentions either. But it will be difficult for me, I have been disgraced and hurt be humans uncountable times. If you ever try something like that, I won't be held responsible for my actions."

"Woah, mister fur-face has feewings?" Kushina mocked.

Kurama roared. "Silence, this is important! I will not be ridiculed!"

"Kushina! Apologize to the fur- um- Kurama." Minato said, causing Kushina to burst into laughter.

"Come on, you two. Kurama decided to trust us and you're just irritating him. Okay, I'm taking the seal off."

He could instantly sense a shift in all three of his mind's occupants attitudes. The 'air' became tense, and Naruto rolled his eyes as he walked to the cage and pulled the seal off.

"You two don't have to worry. He won't go back on his word, just like I don't on mine. You have my word, I will try my best and treat you with fairness. I hope you'll come to completely trust me someday."

Kurama huffed. The cage was down, the two chakra images couldn't hold him back even if they tried. He turned around and curled into a lying position.

"I'm going to sleep. Don't bother me."

Minato and Kushina relaxed a bit. "Well son, it seems you're in good hands."

"Well- good paws." Kushina added, and a growl made itself heard. "I think I'm almost out. I can't maintain this form for any longer. Mito Uzumaki did say the only way to tame the furball was using love. Looks like she was right." She crouched down and hugged Naruto, as did Minato.

"Much wiser than you, at least." Kurama said.

"What was that? Oh forget it, what a pain."

Minato ruffled Naruto's hair.

"We'll always be supporting you Naruto." he said. "Never forget, we'll always be proud of you."

"I won't." Naruto whispered. He felt sad, but there was a feeling in his chest. A hollowness he hadn't realized was ever there had been filled. "I love you."

They smiled as they faded. "We love you too. Forever."

R&R. I'll be editing past chapters pretty soon, quality has to improve asap.