Yo! How are all of you? I am doing fine, thank you for asking. Tomorrow's my birthday! I'll be 19 years old. Wow. Almost two decades!

Okay, for the purposes of this story, I decided that Jiraiya isn't dead. I like it better that way and I've already split with canon (ages ago). So, the pervy old man lives!

You all know I don't own Naruto, but I do own a story I'll be posting soon on FictionPress .com.

On to the chapter!

Chapter 4

Tsunade rubbed her hands over her face. She knew she looked like hell. Her hair had long since fallen out of its two ponytails. She'd gotten fed up with the blonde locks hanging in her face soon after and pulled it back into a braid. There were dark circles under her eyes and she hadn't slept in at least two days. If she kept this up any longer, her jutsu would start to fail. Then she really would be an old hag.

Old hag . . . Naruto . . . Tsunade pushed aside the fatigue at this and stood up to look for more books. There had to be something, anything, to explain why Naruto had fallen into this coma, why he'd had a seizure, and why his temperature had suddenly dropped.

Of course, Naruto wasn't her only worry now. She now had to take care of another patient, who also happened to be in a coma. At least she knew why he was in a coma.

Extreme blood loss. Water in his lungs. Damaged kidney, punctured lung, ruptured small intestine. Possible brain damage.

Why didn't you call me, Jiraiya?

As much as she wanted to do something to help Jiraiya, she knew that now, it was up to him. Tsunade had done everything she could to save him. If he wanted to live, he would find a way. For all her super strength, all her chakra control, all of her 'medical genius,' she was useless.

Naruto half expected teeth to graze his back as the Shinigami ate him. He didn't feel that, but he did hear Sen shouting, "By the way, the key phrase is 'There's no place like home!'"

The blond didn't have time to contemplate the phrase before he was being squeezed and compressed tightly. Something hard suddenly pressed into his face as he was going down and it took him a minute to realize it was Kyuubi's knee. With a muffled groan, he tried readjusting his head, but something—probably Kyuubi's foot—landed in his stomach and he lost his breath.

Before he could complain, or think about complaining, he and Kyuubi were freefalling. Naruto opened his eyes, which had been closed this whole time, and saw bare earth rushing up at him. Oh, crap!

There were two heavy thuds as Kyuubi and Naruto landed roughly. With a groan, Naruto rolled onto his back. "There's no place like home?" he muttered. "What the hell kind mph!"

"Shut up!" Kyuubi hissed in his ear, hand clamped securely over his mouth. "We are in the Shinigami's stomach, or did you simply forget that this whole place is a free-for-all battleground?"

Naruto froze and, now that Kyuubi had reminded him, he could indeed hear the sounds of battle across the wherever they were. "Now," Kyuubi growled in his ear. "Is Naruto going to be his usual loud, clumsy self?"

The blond glared at the patronizing tone but shook his head anyway. As soon as the fox removed his hand, Naruto wiped at his mouth frantically. Hand tastes gross. He took a glance around where they were. From what he could see in the extremely dim light, it was all ravines and canyons, sharp cliffs dropping into darkness. Naruto felt dizzy, like he was standing on a precipice and might fall at any moment.

"The Shinigami is the god of death," Kyuubi murmured to Naruto, seeing his loss equilibrium. "Death is darkness, stillness, consumption. Death is yin, if you want to look at it like that. Another reason you saw Kagami as female—yin is feminine. In the presence of yang, in your mortal world, it learned to be submissive."

Naruto shook his head. "Okay, where are you going with this? Can't we just find my dad and get out?"

Kyuubi grabbed Naruto's shoulder, his claws digging in ever so slightly. "No, there is something you must understand. The yin was submissive only when it was balanced with yang. Here, there is no balance. If it can, this place will try to consume you, to turn you like it. We must be quick, and . . ."

"And what?" Naruto asked, looking back to his constant companion. "What is it?"

"The length that Minato has been in here," Kyuubi started slowly. "He may have succumbed to this place."

Naruto frowned. "What does that mean?"

Kyuubi sighed and rolled his eyes. "By their nature, humans are yang. They are always moving, always changing, seeking to improve themselves."

Naruto still wasn't getting it. "Huh?"

Kyuubi took a quick glance around, making sure that nothing would attack them soon. "If we find him, he may no longer be human. In that case, you must be prepared to leave him."

He gave Naruto half a second to absorb this, before he was tugging Naruto to his feet. "Come on, we need to move."

Naruto and Kyuubi began to stagger across the realm's rough terrain. Well, Naruto was staggering. He still had bouts of dizziness and several times, Kyuubi had to convince him that he wasn't going to fall down a cliff with his next step. Eventually, they found a niche in one of the many ravines, although Kyuubi had to carry Naruto down or the blond would have fallen to his death.

"Just lie down," Kyuubi advised once they were safe. "You'll adapt soon enough."

Naruto moaned and closed his eyes, but that only made the spinning worse. He reopened his eyes and focused on a funny shaped rock in the top of the cave. "Doesn't that mean that I'm . . ." He paused to fight down the urge to puke as the world rolled beneath him. ". . . succumbing or something."

Kyuubi sighed heavily. "No. Think of the saddest thing you've ever known."

The Chuunin made a face. "Why?"

"It affects you, right?" Kyuubi asked. "You feel sad, like you're about to cry."

". . . no," Naruto muttered.

Kyuubi rolled his eyes at the boy's stubbornness. "You're lying. You do want to cry, or break something. It's your emotional response. When you can answer 'no' and mean it, we've got a problem."

"What about you?" Naruto asked.

"Believe me," Kyuubi snorted. "There's no chance of me becoming emotionless right now."

Naruto frowned at Kyuubi. "What does that mean? And do you know why you attacked Konoha? And why did you call me 'Minato' when you saw me? And why do you look like Hideharu? And—"

"Do you want me to answer or would you just like to keep babbling?" Kyuubi interrupted, raising one eyebrow.

The blond screwed his eyes shut, remembered that made him sick and opened them again. "Okay, uh . . . I don't know, pick one to answer."

The demon fox sighed, scratching his chin. "Well, I guess it would be easiest to start at the beginning . . ."

Naruto groaned. "Oh, man, is this gonna take forever, since you're so old? And if it is, can we find food some way?"

"First, we don't need food. Only our souls are here. Your physical body is back in Konoha, probably. And second, I'm not talking about my whole life's story. You'd live a thousand lifetimes before I even came to your century." Kyuubi shifted and settled down in the perfect position to speak to Naruto and keep an eye on the entrance to their cave shelter. "We'll start with when I met your father."

Naruto's eyes widened. "You mean when you attacked Konoha?"

Kyuubi shook his head, sneering. "No, this started nearly twenty years before, but it did involve . . .

. . . stupid villagers! The small red fox hurtled through the trees and shrubs, trying to shake off the villagers. It was a whole crowd of them, chasing after him with pitchforks and torches. And he couldn't get rid of them. He'd run through streams, up and across trees, doubling back and going in circles, but the persistent idiots were remarkably and unfortunately skilled at tracking.

Who'd have thought they would be so angry? It was only a couple of chickens.

Okay, it was the whole coop, but I only ate two. The rest just panicked themselves to death.

Kyuubi's ears twitched as he heard the baying of hounds. So that's how they're doing it. They've pulled out the dogs. Fantastic. Inari, any chance you could lend me a hand?

Suddenly, he found that there was no more ground under his feet. His golden eyes blinked at the retreating bed of dirt and leaves, and he barely registered the hand grabbing his scruff. He tensed when he realized what that hand could mean. Well, either Inari actually gave me a hand and I'm being saved or she ignored me and some idiot villager just caught the great Kyuubi.

Another hand settled in around his midsection and turned him around. To Kyuubi's surprise, the hands belonged to neither the beautiful Inari nor an enraged now-chicken-less farmer, but a boy. The boy had bright blond hair, tanned skin and laughing blue eyes.

Kyuubi tilted his head and yipped, attempting to be cute. The boy laughed. "You're kinda cute," he admitted. "But you look like a troublemaker."

The smile fled from his face as the sounds of angry shouts and barking dogs came to him. His face continued to fall until he wore a frown, golden brows drawn together. His eyes switched to the fox in his hands. "Are they after you?"

Kyuubi nodded and glanced back nervously. He didn't realize how odd it was to see a small woodland animal answering questions until he faced the boy and saw his wide, wide eyes. "You understand me?" he whispered.

The sounds of the pursuers got louder as they broke through a line of trees somewhere. Kyuubi tensed, knowing that they were on the other side of the river, barely fifty feet away. Right now, his fate was in the boy's hands. Oh, what the hell? He could just throw me to the dogs no matter what I do. With that, Kyuubi nodded again.

The boy's eyes bugged out, amazed by this. "Oh, I gotta show you to Grandpa!"

With that, the boy tucked his newfound fox under his arm and started to run. "We can't let them hurt you," he whispered in Kyuubi's ear. "Don't worry, they won't kill you."

No, Kyuubi mused. They won't. They can certainly hurt me, but it would take much more than what those simpletons could conjure to kill me.

To his surprise, as the boy ran, Kyuubi wasn't jostled too much. The blond's gait was smooth and practiced, and he ran much faster than the average eight year old, which is how old the boy looked. The fox's suspicions were confirmed as the boy ran straight up a tree trunk, then across its branches and onto another.

Aw, how adorable. I've been rescued by a ninja wannabe. Kyuubi sighed again as the boy made a fantastic leap from one tree to the next, completely bypassing the branches. After a while, he came up to a large cottage in a clearing. It was quite lovely. Picturesque, really. There was a stream running a little ways off that Kyuubi strongly suspected was the same river he'd splashed through several times during the chase. There were all sorts of flowers and shrubs around the front, and Kyuubi could see a vegetable garden in the back. He sneered at the prettiness of it all.

The boy ran up to the door, now acting much more like the boy he actually was. "Grandpa! Grandpa!"

He banged open the door and hurried inside, locking the door securely and placing Kyuubi on the floor. "Alright, be good now. If you tear anything up, I'll be in big trouble!"

With that, the boy sprinted off into the interior of the house, bellowing again for his grandfather.

I could just escape . . . Kyuubi thought, eyeing the open window. He locks the door, but forgets to close the window.

Instead of jumping out the window, and into sure danger, Kyuubi prowled around the living room to the cottage he'd been taken to. There was a brick fireplace, painted bright red, no doubt by the blond boy. A few chairs and one low couch were scattered around, but mostly there was plenty of open space, again probably for the boy to play or run around. Framed pictures were hung all around the room, on every wall. There were a ton of photographs of the blond boy, ranging from embarrassing baby bathtub shots to 'look-at-my-new-jutsu' shots. Kyuubi padded over to a section that had two extra people in every photo, but before he could get a good look, the blond boy came banging back into the house.

"He's in here, Grandpa! In here!" The boy appeared in the door, tugging desperately on something that simply refused to move as fast as he wanted it to.

"Well, well, well, what have we here?" An old man, featured in several of the hung pictures, stepped into the room and knelt down in front of the small fox. He turned to the boy. "You said he answered questions, Minato?"

Blondie has a name. Minato, as he was called, nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah, yeah, ask him a question. He'll answer by nodding his head!"

The old man scratched his chin, considering the red fox sitting complacently in his front room. "You see, Minato, average foxes cannot answer questions."

"I know!" Minato whined. "I'm not lying, Grandpa!"

Grandpa raised a hand. "I believe you, Minato. Only demon foxes or summonings have the capability to understand us. Since he is running free, and cannot speak our language, I must surmise that he is a demon fox, in disguise. Furthermore, only those foxes with above five tails can change their form at will."

"So, what does all of that meeeeean?" Minato stamped his feet impatiently.

"Little Fox, would you please tap your paw on the ground once for every tail you have?" Grandpa asked.

I think I rather like this man. Kyuubi decided. He raised his paw and began to tap it slowly and methodically. Minato counted along.

"One . . . two . . . three . . . four."

He was practically jumping out of his skin with excitement.

"Five . . . six . . . seven . . . eight."

Grandpa's eyes widened until Kyuubi thought they would pop out of his head. Wishing he could smirk, the fox raised his paw and brought it down one more time.

"Nine!"

Minato waited with baited breath for another to fall, but it didn't. Kyuubi kept his eyes on Grandpa, watching the old man's wheels turn.

"He has nine tails, Grandpa?" Minato bubbled excitedly. "What does that mean?"

Grandpa scratched his chin. "It could mean quite a lot, provided he is telling the truth," he said.

"Why would he lie, Grandpa?" the boy demanded, getting on hands and knees and staring Kyuubi in the eye.

Grandpa shrugged and stood up. "Why not?"

Oh, I do like him. Kyuubi decided.

The old man walked out of the room and Minato continued to stare at the little fox he'd found. "If we let you stay," he whispered. "Are you gonna hurt my Grandpa?"

Interesting that he would ask about his grandfather and not himself. Kyuubi shook his head.

Minato considered this, eyes serious and lips pursed. "Okay, but if you ever do, I don't care how many tails you have, I'll hurt you!"

Inwardly, Kyuubi raised an eyebrow at this. Someone would dare to threaten the great Kyuubi no Yoko? If this boy had an inkling of what power he was staring in the eye . . .

The fox searched the blond's eyes again and grinned in approval. He would still fight me. He has that awful human stubbornness, but more than that, he has quite the block-headed need to protect those he loves, no matter how powerful the being threatening them.

"GRANDPA!" Minato bellowed. Kyuubi's fox ears rang and he struggled to make out what the boy yelled next. "Can we keep him?"

"No," Grandpa called. "But we can let him stay as long as he likes."

The old man walked back in with a plate of meat. Kyuubi started to drool. "I presume you are a he?"

Kyuubi nodded and licked his lips, eyeing that plate of delicious-looking meat. Grandpa chuckled. "I guessed you liked chicken." He set the plate down with a twinkle in his eyes that said he knew exactly what the fox had been running from.

With that thought, he pounced on the chicken.

"You like chicken?" Naruto asked.

Kyuubi nodded, still caught up in the memory. "Yeah, especially fresh chickens. But then you have to pick the feathers out of your teeth."

Naruto made a face. "Eeeew."

Kyuubi nodded. "Yeah. That's pretty gross, especially when you're trying to impress a vixen over dinner." He surveyed Naruto. "You feeling well enough to do a couple of tracking spells, kit?"

Naruto stood up slowly, checking if he felt dizzy. When he didn't sway or get nauseous, he flashed a thumbs up to Kyuubi. "I'm all better!" he shouted happily.

In an instant, Kyuubi was on him, a hand again clamped tight over his mouth. "Didn't I tell you to be quiet?"

Oh, yeah, we're in danger. Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly and muttered a 'sorry' as soon as Kyuubi removed his hand.

"Don't apologize," Kyuubi snarled. "Get moving, quietly,and keep alert for any attacks. You've probably just attracted far too much attention than we can afford."

Kyuubi and Naruto flew out of the cave, eyes scanning for any potential attacks. As he was running, Naruto felt the ground shift beneath him. "Kyuubi," he muttered. "I think the sickness is coming—"

A half second later, he realized that he wasn't feeling sick, something was actually moving the ground beneath his feet. "I feel it, too, kit," Kyuubi growled. "Jump!"

Naruto jumped into the air, as high as he could, and looked down just in time to see something with tentacles burst out of the ground, searching outward for him frantically. Finding nothing, the thing looked up.

"Oh, great," Naruto muttered as it focused its many eyes on him. "Slimy just found lunch."

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So, what do you think? I've said it before, but I am no expert on Japanese mythology or religion. I think everything about yin and yang is right for the most part, but could somebody let me know if I've got something horribly wrong or backwards.

What did you think of the flashback? I could take them out if you all hate them, but they'll add richness to Kyuubi's story when he explains why he attacked Konoha.

Other than that, I can't think of anything.