The next day Toph and Yukio woke up while Sakura, Katara and Sokka were looking for the ingredients needed for the antidote.

"What happened to that bitch?" Toph asked as she took a sip of water from the bottle Aang gave her.

"She's dead."

"How's Yukio?"

"He woke up not long ago too. You were both poisoned but Sakura took care of you and she's going to make an antidote, you just rest a bit longer."

"I can do that. I feel like shit anyway." Aang smiled at her choice of words but that was Toph. Although she received the best education as expected for the daughter of a wealthy family she decided to throw away her fancy life and join the Avatar on the road as his teacher. It was a good thing she was teaching him earthbending and not manners though otherwise who knows here he would have ended up, probably in jail. "Do you think we can get to the capital on time after all this?"

"I don't know. We can't move until Appa gets better and I don't want to go to the capital before you two get better and are able to fight."

"Damn. I hate it that Naruto has to wait for us a while longer."

"Me too…" he looked towards Sasuke who was gathering fire wood further away from the camp "but I think Sasuke is the most affected."

"Of course he is, they are on the same team." A laugh was heard coming from Yukio's sleeping bag.

"I'm surprised that those three can work together at all."

"Why?" Aang asked, both he and Toph turning their heads in his direction.

"Because they can't be friends. Sasuke has an 'I'm better than all of you' attitude, Sakura is worshipping him and looking down on Naruto and Naruto is keeping it all to himself."

"You're wrong, Sasuke is not like that. He may have been at some point but not anymore. He really wants to be Naruto's friend."

"Naruto is really smart in his own way, you know. I learned a lot about seals as I helped him. He is also a good person so I doubt that he doesn't want to be friends with his team mates but they don't seem to see that."

Naruto opened his eyes only to see darkness surrounding him. Where was he? What happened? He got up and looked around but could see nothing beyond his body.

"Hello! Anybody there?" He wasn't expecting an answer but he had nothing to lose by asking before trying to venture into the darkness.

"You're too loud, kit." A deep voice answered and Naruto moved his gaze in the direction of the voice but could not see anything.

"Who's there, show yourself!"

"I'm not hiding." The voice came from above him this time and was a bit louder.

"Who are you and where am I?"

"You're asking too many questions all at once, it's annoying."

"And you are answering none which is even more annoying."

"I am Kurama the Kyuubi." The Kyuubi? How can that be when the demon was sealed inside of him? Naruto made a few steps in the direction of the voice.

"But you are sealed inside of me."

"That I am."

"So am I dreaming or something?" Naruto asked a bit puzzled. Although he knew about the Kyuubi being sealed inside of him he had never communicated with him, nor was he aware that he could do so.

"You're not dreaming, kit. This is your mind, your subconscious." Naruto relaxed a little as the information sunk in. He wasn't dreaming so this was all real and he was talking to Kyuubi. He thought of the benefits of such an opportunity since the bijuus with their long life span held a tremendous amount of knowledge.

"Why don't you come closer where I can see you?" Kurama sighed.

"You sure are slow, aren't you? You are in control of this place not me." Kurama explained patiently. "I'm trapped in this cage by that damned seal so I can't move but if you wish to see me then make some light here." Naruto wasn't very sure how he could do that but decided to just wish the place brighter, it might work.

A large cage emerged from the darkness. It was so large that he could only see the huge bars of the door and the lock with a keyhole almost as big as himself. There was no key though, only a tag with a familiar seal made with red ink that was glued to the lock. Behind the bars stood a giant fox with its front paws folded in front of it as if it had been sleeping before Naruto interrupted its slumber. Most of its body was in the darkness though. Its head was raised and it was looking at Naruto from above with its red eyes and slit pupils.

"I didn't know I could talk to you."

"I didn't want to talk to you for obvious reasons." Since he was Kyuubi's jailer it was only natural that the fox held it against him even though none of this was his fault in the first place.

"So why are you doing it now?"

"Because this is no ordinary situation you're in. You were trapped in the black sun, do you know what that means?"

"No." Kurama sighed and lowered his head on top of his paws.

"Most people would have died in this dimension because of their lack of ability to adapt to this place."

"What kind of dimension is this one anyway?"

"It's a dimension that knows no time or matter. This is where everything begins and everything ends. There's just energy here nothing more nothing less, all and at the same time nothing and that is why bijuus can survive this place. We are energy after all although we can take a form we desire."

"So you are keeping me alive here because you don't want to die." Naruto put two and two together.

"That's correct."

"Is there a way out of here?"

"Not for you. If I hadn't been sealed inside of you I would have been able to get out but the way I am now there is nothing I can do." Naruto folded his arm on top of his chest and sat on the ground.

"Then I suppose we can chat until someone gets us out." A wide grin spread upon his face that made the fox growl displeased. "Come on, it can't be that bad. Besides there are so many things we can talk about."

"We are not friends, kit."

"We could be though."

"If the seal brakes I can get out and you die. Why would I want to be friends with you?" Naruto became serious again.

"So you know that the seal is getting loose…" The fox nodded. "I'm not letting you get out though."

"I know."

"But that doesn't make me your enemy."

"Actually it does."

"I don't want that though." Kurama raised his head just a little and looked at Naruto as if trying to figure out if the boy was lying or not but Naruto was as honest as always.

He had a hard life because of the fox sealed inside of him but he didn't blame Kurama or his dad, he didn't even blame the villagers for mistreating him. The one he blamed was the one who controlled the demon into attacking the village.

He decided that since he had the opportunity to talk to Kurama he could use it to make the fox his friend. They had to live together anyway so what good would hatred do to any of them.

"It's funny that even though you say I am your enemy you always let me use your chakra in battle." Naruto leaned against the bars to be more comfortable for what seemed an indefinitely long conversation.

"I'm not doing it for you."

"I know, but it helps me too. Why do you have to be so mean? What would you have to lose if you cooperate with me?" The fox didn't pay him any attention but the blonde didn't know how to give up anyway. "Don't you feel lonely here with no one to talk to?"

"I was doing just fine until you got trapped in here."

"I don't believe you."

"You should. Talking to you makes me tired and I need to concentrate on keeping you alive right now" Kurama lied.

"How are you feeling?" Sakura gave Toph a cup of herbal tea that she had just made. It's been two days since she gave them the antidote to the poison and they have been getting visibly better but she wasn't sure that they were strong enough to continue the journey just yet.

"Fine." Toph's eyes moved from Sakura to the other side of the camp where Sasuke was doing taijutsu training alone while Aang and Sokka trained in sword fighting further away. "How is Sasuke doing?" her voice betrayed genuine concern for the older boy who has been restless since they camped although he never complained.

Sakura's gaze followed Toph's and landed on the one she loved, a sad expression plastered on her face. It was still a mystery to her how the blind girl did that without feeling chakra signatures. "He will be fine."

Toph took a sip of her tea. She was not really sure that what Sakura said was true but didn't want to start an argument with the older girl. "Sakura…thank you." It wasn't like her to say that even when she did feel grateful but she felt she should do it this time. The truth was that she had been afraid that she might die in that battle and she was overwhelmed with regret that she will never be able to see her parents again and make things right between them. She didn't hate them she just wanted them to understand her. Once the war was over she planned to go home and try to talk to them again.

"It's nothing. I was just doing my job."

Setting his swords on the ground Aang sat beside Toph whipping the sweat from his face. He has been training in using weapons for some time but he was still not very comfortable with them. Maybe bending was the fighting style that suited him best after all.

"I'm so tired." He whined and Sakura gave him a cup of tea too.

"Aang…"Toph began a little hesitant but gathering courage she continued "If Appa is better we should leave."

"Appa is fine but Sakura should decide this."

The pink hared girl sighed. "You're not strong enough to fight yet if needed but I think we can figure out what to do in case something happens when it happens." Toph smiled grateful that she approved.

Early in the morning they will be on their way to the capital again.

Deciding to give Kyuubi some alone time Naruto began to meditate. He expanded his consciousness to get a better idea about the place he was in. It didn't take him long to realize that it felt different. The frequency of the energy there was higher than the one he was used to, the one his body had, which would explain why Kurama said he wouldn't have survived.

Absorbing just a small amount of energy he entered sage mode which would raise the vibration of his own body. His senses expanded and he felt something he never felt before.

"What is this place? It feels so vast…" he thought.

"Of course it does, it's infinite."

"Kurama? I thought you didn't want to talk to me."

"I don't but you're loud again." Naruto pouted but did not complain.

"I don't feel the energy here like I usually do."

"What do you mean?"

"When I gather energy I feel the energy having the shape of the plants, animals, earth and stars but here it doesn't have any shape."

"Of course it doesn't. This is energy doesn't have shape and yet all concepts of plants, animals and everything else you know are here."

"Concepts?"

"Come on kit you should know what a concept is."

"Of course I do" Naruto pretended to be angry but he couldn't. This new way of perceiving the world got him excited and he wanted to explore more. "Just tell me what you mean already. How can the concept be here if the actual thing is not?"

"Kit, the concept of a plant doesn't exist because the plant exists; in fact it's the other way around. The plant exists because the concept of it exists." Naruto stopped to think about what Kurama just said. It was a completely new perspective to him. He carefully gathered a bit more energy, testing the limits of his body.

"If all concepts are here then this place is like a library." Once his body adapted to the new energy he began to see things in his mind, things that have been bothering him for a while like the seal that was slowly braking. He had been studying seals for a long time now but he never found enough information to fully understand the four element seal. He assumed that most of the knowledge the Uzumakis had about seals was lost with the death of his parents and it would be impossible to recover it but now there was hope. The information he desperately needed was coming to him and he was able to understand it easily. "This place is amazing…"

"Hm." Naruto opened his eyes, still in sage mode and looked at the fox in the cage.

"I will not let the seal break so you better think about cooperating with me." He grinned at the fox. Kurama knew that wasn't a lie. He got to know Naruto very well in all the years they spent together and he could safely assume that he knew the kit the best. He was a good kid with a strong personality who suffered more than anyone in the village can imagine because he was a jinchuuriki but he never complained and never blamed Kurama for it. When Naruto offered his friendship he was surprised but thinking about the boy's personality he realized that he shouldn't have been. Kurama didn't hate Naruto either, what he hated was the situation he was in.

The first time he was sealed was when Mito Uzumaki did it then he was passed on to Kushina. He almost gave up hope of ever getting out of his jail after such a long time but when Kusina's seal was broken and he escaped he had a strong will to fight in order to prevent being sealed a third time. He had no luck though because Minato sealed him again at the cost of his life. If there was anyone he should hate that person would be Minato not the kit.

A/N In the next chapter Naruto will be back in action, both he and Sasuke stronger than ever. Also the next chapter will be the last.

If you want this story to go on though I will need some help with ideas.