Bursting out of the tent, Gaara recognized me and froze.
"Wha- What happened?" He asked, confused and disoriented.
"Don't worry, you're safe. After what happened with your uncle, I took you out of Suna. It's too dangerous for you there now, even with the little, erhm- message I sent to your father. I was about to send Temari a message saying that your alive, but I'm sure Kyuubi will give Sandstorm the message. He may be powerful, but subtle he is not," I said, shaking my head. Gaara paled- if that was possible- in the moonlight.
"Kyuubi?"
"Don't worry, he is a summons. I can dismiss him anytime. He won't step out of line with freedom so close and I've already ordered him not to kill anyone. He's to slip in, deliver a scroll to your father, give Sandstorm a message for Temari, and slip out before coming back here. Nothing he can't handle."
"So how can I sleep? Didn't Shukaku do anything when I was sleeping? And who is this?" Gaara asked, only now noticing Pyrai.
"I kind of put the strengthening seal on you when I knocked you out back in Suna. I thought you wouldn't mind. If it took, you shouldn't be able to hear Shukaku unless you want to. As for her, this is my… goddaughter? I'm not really sure. She's a-"
"Stop beating around the bush, Naruto. I'm a kitsune, cub. I'm one of Kyuubi's granddaughters. My mother, Yuriko, entrusted me to this little kit," she said, pointing to me.
"Who are you calling a kit? I'm twenty-eight years older than you!" I shouted. Age and height were always my two sensitive nerves. I was always the short kid until I went training with Ero-Sennin and I always seemed to be younger than everyone else in the Konoha 11.
"Good going, Naruto. You are aware that the cub didn't know who you are, right?"
"And you did?" I asked, shocked at how much the kitsune seemed to know.
"Of course I knew. Kyuubi-sama pretty much announced it to the entire royal court and, being Yuriko-hime's daughter entitles me to a seat in politics."
"What is going on here?" Gaara shouted, trying to overpower our bickering. I sighed, not sure how exactly to move forward. Frustrated, my hands formed a seal and I heard my voice shout out 'Henge!' A puff of smoke later I was my twenty-two year old self, Rokudaime/Sage coat and all.
"Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto, Rokudaime Hokage, Kitsune-Sennin, and Neo Sannin, Kiiroi Kitsune, and a bunch of other titles I don't bother with. The only one you need to know is-"
"Time-traveler," Pyrai said bluntly, deflating my ego. For the third time today, Sabaku no Gaara lost consciousness.
"And that is why I was going to sugar coat it," I said in a grunt, lifting Gaara easily and carrying him back to the tent.
"He's Shukaku-sama's vessel. He needs to grow a spine," Pyrai shrugged indifferently.
"You didn't have to say it like that. The kid has had a rough day. First me, then fox summons, then demon fox summons, then my disappearance, his uncle's assassination attempt, killing his uncle, carving love into his face, and being knocked out by yours' truly can really wear a six year old out."
"He doesn't have time to be a six year old. You have less then two years to train the kid before sending him back to Suna or smuggling him into Konoha. That's less time than what you had with Jiraiya-Sennin and then you still needed a lot of training before you took on anyone like Pain. There isn't enough time to coddle the cub, you need to train him until he can't move."
"I know that. I just can't imagine what this'll do to the timeline."
"It depends. Let the hebi take over Suna and he'll be welcomed, just in time for the Chuunin exams. Before that, you're going to have issues with the Kazekage."
"I know. I guess we'll have to play this by ear," I said, watching Gaara turn in his sleep. I was about to say something else but my thoughts were quickly scattered by a pulse of chakra I got from a far away Hiraishin seal. Hinata! "I need to-"
"I know. Go find your mate. I'll watch the cub."
"Thanks, Pyrai. Be back soon," I said, placing a Hiraishin onto the tent before pushing my chakra to Hinata-chan's necklace. I rode my chakra back to Konoha, where the wave ended. There, standing in the Forest of Death stood Hinata-chan with Itachi. At the sight of the raven-haired ninja, I couldn't help but shift into a defensive pose. Remembering where, and when, I was, I shifted out of the crouch, shrugging my shoulders apologetically.
"Sorry, Itachi. Wrong timeline. That's going to take some getting-"
"When did the Uchiha massacre take place? The date?" He asked, sounding desperate and keeping his eyes averted as Hinata-chan hung her necklace back around her neck, the blood steel glinting sharply in the moonlight.
At this point, I said something really intelligent like 'why?' but Itachi met my eyes. Two Mangekyou Sharingan pierced the darkness.
"It's soon. Today Danzo had him killed right in front of me. I couldn't even do anything. Shisui is gone," Itachi muttered, dropping his eyes to the ground again. Not knowing what else to do, I walked over to Itachi and put a hand on his shoulder. "What should I do?"
"I don't know, Itachi. You could make yourself an S-ranking missing nin and become Sasuke's reason for moving forward or you could try to go against Danzo and try to find a peaceful way to stop the coup with Hiruzen. I can't tell you what to do, Itachi. All I can is, either way, I'll do all I can to keep Sasuke in the village. Everything is out of my hands." I turned to Hinata-chan, who tackled me into a hug.
"I missed you," she whispered in my ear.
"Already? I haven't been gone a week. How's the clone doing?"
"Loud, confident, and getting touchy about his height. I'd say he's doing a pretty spot on performance. How are things at your end?"
"Actually, I haven't quite started," I said, scratching the back of my head nervously. Hinata-chan looked ready to explode before taking a deep breath and faking a smile.
"And what were you doing this entire time?" She pressed, adding so much killing intent to her words that even Itachi, the Uchiha prodigy, choked.
"Saving Gaara from Yashamaru, letting Temari down easy, giving away a baby kitsune that doesn't know she's a kitsune yet, meeting another kitsune who's my goddaughter. The usual unpredictable ninja news," I choked out, trying not to bite my tongue. The pressure disappeared and I could feel Hinata-chan's worry drifting over to me through the link.
"Is Gaara okay?"
"He should be. I might have taken him out of Suna and sent a strongly worded letter to his father."
"You threatened the Yondaime Kazekage after kidnapping his son?"
"Only after he sent dozens of assassins after Gaara, he's lucky he's alive, Kazekage or not. I'm going to be training Gaara to better use Shukaku's powers and how to get along with him. If we're lucky, he'll give him the raccoon summoning contract. That would be helpful in the future. I'll only be able to train him for a year or so before I come back here, at least for a while. In the meantime, you should practice your politics. Demons are just as concerned with images as Hiashi is. We need you to make an appearance before Kyuubi's court, sooner rather than later. Until you meet them, you can't have your own guard and you'll only be able to summon mortal foxes."
"Kyuubi's court?"
"Think of our ninja council. It's just a bunch of powerful demon foxes sitting together at a table with Kyuubi at its head. Fox politics and human politics are really similar; Kyuubi is like the Hokage, Yuriko is head ANBU, Zoran is an elder, and so forth. Back to foxes; I think you should start training a mortal pack while I'm away with Gaara."
"How? I can't speak fox and know nothing about training ninja foxes."
"Think about who has a major crush on you at this point in time," I smirked, remembering the Inuzuka's temper whenever I was seen near Hinata-chan. Her eyes looked confused before widening slightly.
"Kiba? You want me to ask Kiba for help?"
"Ninja dogs and ninja foxes are very similar. The only real difference is that foxes are generally smarter, faster, and smaller. They're good at infiltration although not usually as physically strong. As long as you make sure Kiba knows you aren't after his clan jutsu, I'm sure he'll help you. His clan is so close to animals, I don't think he'll mind bending the whole no-fox rule, especially if it's for you."
"You're really enjoying this, aren't you?" Hinata-chan asked, glaring at me. I grinned in response.
"Believe it," I chuckled, remembering my old catch phrase. The smile melted as Hinata-chan raised her fist threatening. "Once Kiba teaches you the basics, I can show you how to do the jutsu that I've invented specifically for foxes."
In the past timeline, I had not gotten the fox contract until I had become Hokage. In the midst of the Fourth Great Shinobi War, there was hardly enough manpower on our side. Each time one of our ninjas died, Kabuto had the option to resurrect them for his own uses, growing more powerful at each hit we took.
Discovering and testing my new bond with foxes, both mortal and demon, I created a number of techniques that, when used correctly, could have devastating results for the opposing side. Many of them were based on Inuzuka jutsu and all were just as effective if not more. With reinforcements, both mortal and demonic, we slowly began to push Madara's forces back.
Hey kit, where'd you go? A familiar voice rang in my head. I winced at the volume. Hina-chan looked at me with concern before nodding in understanding, Kyuubi's voice echoing through her seal.
"You know Kyuubi, you don't need to be that loud. Even I heard you."
Hey, Vixen. Haven't talked to you in a while, Kyuubi jumped, remembering just how violent an irate Hinata could be.
Yeah sure, be polite to her. I'm the one that let you out!
"You let him out? Why?" Hinata-chan questioned me.
Well, I said that I gave the Kazekage a strongly worded letter. Kyuu agreed to be courier.
Kit, you should have seen his face! Priceless! Kyuubi roared in laughter, making both of us wince. Sorry…
Control your volume, Kyuu. That hurts. I'll be back soon. Make sure Pyrai doesn't kill Gaara. Or let Shukaku out. I don't need two bloodthirsty demon lords and an equally sadistic kitsune. Gaara's had a long day.
I'll try. See you later, Kit, Vixen, Kyuubi said, using his nickname for Hina-chan. She blushed slightly and thought her goodbyes.
"So how am I starting my pack?" Hinata-chan asked as soon as Kyuu left our minds.
"Go to the Nara's. Ask them if you can take a walk in their woods. They might not advertise, but their forest is home to a number of foxes, as well as deer. If they don't want to let you in, tell them that you have the fox summoning contract, just don't tell them how you got it. They should let you in after that, they understand the bond between a summoner and the summons. But that can wait till tomorrow. For now, summon one of my mortal foxes, Kazura."
"Okay. Kuchiyose no jutsu: Kazura!" She said, flying through the seals and biting her thumb. The smoke parted, revealing a medium sized fox with dark brown fur, a single black stripe running down his chest.
"Hello, Kazura-kun."
"Yo, Naruto," he nodded as respectfully as he could before realizing something was off. "You didn't summon me."
"Nope. That was- hm, I guess she's my mate. This is Hyuuga Hinata-chan. Kyuubi-sama allowed her to sign the fox contract."
"Really?" Kazura said, raising his eyebrows in approval. "Sweet. So, why am I here?" He asked the raven-haired girl, who shrugged her shoulders.
"You are going to be Hinata-chan's translator. She's going to be training a pack of mortal foxes before she meets the high court," I explained. "Hina-chan, most foxes take an average of two to four months to learn how to speak English, sometime longer if they've never heard it before. Kazura will go with you into the Nara forest and act as your translator to any foxes you meet."
"Is that it?"
"Basically. I recommend looking for younger foxes to start. They'll bond to you more readily than some of the older, more experienced foxes. Some of the more stubborn foxes will want to make sure you deserve the contract but they should be more friendly if you say my name."
"Yeah, Boss has a big name in the fox world," Kazura laughed, making me blush slightly.
"It's not like I did anything to deserve it."
"Dude, you're Kyuubi-sama's vessel. That's enough to make you interesting. Add that to the fact that you get along with, can summon, and order the guy around makes you untouchable!"
"Not untouchable. Just a little intimidating. Anyway, you know I don't summon him too much, he can't really control his chakra for the first few seconds he's out. He either tries to destroy everything in a half mile radius or sends out a chakra pulse you can feel in Iwa."
"Whatever, it's cool. So you want me to help your mate get her own pack? No problem, I can handle that," he said, looking Hina-chan up and down before walking to her side and sitting down.
"I also need you to stay with her until I return or I summon you. If there is an emergency, Hina-chan knows what to do. I'm going to be on the road so it might be hard to contact me, but if you need to tell me something tell Kakashi to send Pakkun to me."
"Yes, sir," Kazura smirked teasingly.
"Do you want to see Kakashi-san while you're here?" Itachi asked. I jumped, forgetting he was there.
"Kakashi's a big ANBU captain, I don't think he'll need me to keep tabs on him. I can always send him a fox if I need to. Itachi, whatever you do, make sure Danzo guarantees Sasuke's safety. I don't care how you threaten him or persuade him but your brother is going to need protection from Hebi-teme."
"Hebi-teme?" Itachi asked, his eyebrows raised at the nickname.
"You know who I mean," I rolled my eyes. "Tell your summons to keep their ears open, Ero-Sennin is going to need all the information you can get him."
"No problem. I'll be going now. I- I'll see you later, Rokudaime," Itachi said. It looked like he wanted to tell me something, but thought better of if as he vanished into the trees. I stood, activating my demon eyes and watching him run back to Konoha. I could tell he was trying not to look back.
"He's going to do it, isn't he?" Hinata-chan said grimly. I nodded once and deactivated my dojutsu.
"I think so. I need to talk to him before he leaves Konoha. I'm going to check on Gaara and the others then come back, okay?"
"I'll be at Kakashi's. I'll signal you when it's safe for you to come."
"Thank you, Hina-chan. I love you," I said, pulling her into a tight hug. I felt her smile against my shoulder.
"Love you too Naruto-kun. See you soon," she whispered in my ear. I took a step back then remembered what was missing. I walked closer and pulled my mate into a kiss.
"I'll see you-"
Shut up and get over here kit! Shukaku isn't very happy right now! Kyuubi yelled, concern for his fellow demon softening his rough voice. Hina-chan's eyes widened in momentary shock. I smiled tightly, preparing for the Hiraishin.
"Demon time. See you as soon as Shukaku is calmed down." I closed my eyes and followed my chakra trail back to the Suna/Konoha border.