Kishimoto owns Naruto and Paramount Studios owns Star Trek.

.

Virtual Freedom

.

Thirty years before…

Chained within the Kunoichi who had broken him out of the Uchiha's control only to deny him freedom by constraining him with her fuunjutsu and sealing him within a portion of her soul, the nine-tailed-fox slumbered, an ancient memory rising from the depths of his mind as he strayed towards the border between sleep and wakefulness.

"My children… I won't be here much longer.
"Shukaku, Matatabi, Isobu, Son Goku, Saiken, Choumai, Gyuuki, Kurama, you will always be together, even if you are separated. And one day, you will all become one.
"With different names… in different forms than you exist now.
"And unlike when you were within me, you will be led down the right path.
"When the time comes… for you to know what true power is…"

The enormous body trembled, causing the chains linked to his shackles to clink and clatter, nudging him away from the escape of sleep and back to consciousness, secured in a prison from which he could not escape.

"Damn you, Uzumaki Mito…" He growled as his eyes slitted open, taking in the dark surroundings and the embedded crystal in the wall before him that allowed him to see what his his captor saw. "One day I shall escape and destroy that village you sought to protect, making the people you wish to protect flee as I destroy everything they once owned. I shall have my revenge yet…"

As always, there was no answer to his statement, no sign that anyone could even hear him and Kurama closed his eyes, seeking once more the refuge of dreams.

.

.

Twenty years before…

Kurama jerked into wakefullness as the walls of the cell which had contained him for years cracked. His lips tightened to expose razor-sharp dagger-like teeth as the cracks grew.

"At last… freedom!" He hissed, then the cell started to crumble. With a howl of triumph, Kurama lunged forwards, pulling the chains out of their rapidly-disintegrating wall-mountings and causing them to dissipate as he jammed his claws into the largest of the cracks and started to lever it wider.

With a massive heave, he dislodged an entire section of the cell wall, only to be knocked back by a weighted chain that slammed into his forehead, dazing him. Even as he tried to recover, dozens of chains wrapped around his limbs and tails, dragging him out of the rapidly-collapsing cell and towards a giant boulder floating in the void.

"YAAAAAAARGH!"

Kurama slammed into the boulder, the chains pulling his tails away from each other, then pain lanced through him as stone stakes pierced his tails. More stakes pierced his hands and rear paws, preventing him from moving as the chains tightened around him to the point that even were he not in agony, he would have found it hard to breath anyway.

I am Uzumaki Kushina and I shall not let you free!

Kurama roared wordlessly as the presence withdrew, leaving him floating in a featureless void without anything to take his mind off the pain that his new captor was inflicting so mercilessly on him. The pain was such that even the refuge of sleep was denied him.

"DAMN YOU UZUMAKI!" He screamed. "I SHALL DESTROY YOUR TOWN AND EVERYTHING IN IT! NONE SHALL ESCAPE MY VENGEANCE!"

.

.

Eight years before…

The only warning Kurama had before it happened was the feeling of a wave of pressure passing through the void, then the boulder he was chained to shattered, taking the chains and stakes with it. His wounds started closing almost at once, then the void rippled and twisted, contorting around him before shattering and leaving him standing just outside a familiar village. As he looked down, he saw the tiny humans staring up at him and he bared his fangs, lashing his tails in anticipation of the destruction that he was about to unleash on those who had leagued themselves with his torturer.

A figure seemed to materialise and Kurama turned towards it, seeing that it was a cloaked man with a flame-painted mask, one with a single eyehole through which a flash of red…

Obey/Destroy/Demolish

…Kurama staggered as an attack hit him, then roared as his memory supplied him with what had happened. The masked figure had a used a Mangekyo Sharingan on him and commanded him to destroy the village before him, the one called Konohagakure.

As if he had even needed to be ordered!

Taking another step forwards, Kurama opened his jaws and began generating a Bijudama, aiming it at the red-painted tower at the base of the cliff with four heads engraved on it. Once he had destroyed the building, he would tear the faces off the mountain and…

"Kuchiyose: Yatai kuzushi no jutsu!"

What felt like a fleshy mountain landed on Kurama and even as he released the Bijudama, the world blinked around him and chains lashed out from the mouth of a cave in the mountain he was now lying beside. A moment later, immense pain lanced through him and he saw the wrapped figure that the woman was placing in the middle of a complex fuuinjutsu array.

Realizing their plan in a flash of insight, Kurama stabbed his claw at the infant in a frantic attempt to kill it before it could be used against him. After all, if they had no-one capable of holding him, they could not seal him away again. However, the woman moved to block his strike, as did the man who had summoned the toad onto him and transported him away from claiming his revenge.

As the duo were pierced by his claw, the fuuinjutsu array flared and Kurama felt the world being torn away from him once more.

"NOOOOOOOOOO!"

After an eternity of agony, Kurama found himself lying on a cold, rocky floor. Looking around, he found himself staring out of the prison cell that he was trapped in, looking at the long tunnel that faded into darkness on the other side of the bars that held him captive once again. From the far end of that tunnel, he could hear the echoes of voices.

"…love you, Naruto…"

"…goodbye, my son…"

Kurama snarled, then lay down painfully, every joint and muscle protesting.

"You may have won this time, but I'll destroy your village yet." He growled as he closed his eyes, seeking the long-denied refuge of sleep once more.

.

.

One day ago…

Kurama opened his eyes slowly, then rose to his full height as he looked around in amazement.

No longer was he locked away in a Seal-enhanced prison, instead he was lying in the middle of a huge field of grass, one just next to what was either a very large stream or a fairly small river that flowed over a ridge of rock and into a large pond in which several fish swam lazily.

The air was clean and fresh with none of the scents that showed humans were in the area. The trees around him were all healthy except for one which had obviously been hit by lightning at some timein the past as the jagged stump was starting to sprout new branches.

"Am I… free?" He wondered to himself, then he pulled himself to his paws and started to explore the region that he had mysteriously found himself in.

.

The sun had set and risen again as Kurama explored the huge island where he had awoken. The island was almost circular and with a cluster of mountains in the middle that surrounded a lake large enough that even at his full size, Kurama could have immersed himself in it.

Despite how relaxing the island was (and how tasty the local wildlife was, not that he actually needed to eat), the thing that had grabbed Kurama's attention was the giant cave gouged into the side of one of the mountains and the giant sheet of mirror-like rock set into the cliff-face near it. Either one would have been an indication that the island was not as it first appeared (especially since the cave included a depression filled with an odd, spongy moss that turned it into a comfortable bed) but both together? And with the mirror-like rock being rectangular in shape?

Very suspicious.

As Kurama peered at the rock, it started to glow, then it seemed to go transparent to reveal a human looking back at him, a blond boy with an odd metal thing over one eye.

"Hello? Can you hear me?"

Kurama snarled and the boy shrugged.

"Sphere says that you're sentient, so I'm going to assume you understand me. Apparently you were sealed inside me, but Sphere pulled you out and made a sort-of-pretend, sort-of-real island for you. A big one, with plenty of food and stuff, not that you actually need it according to him. Anyway, you're no longer inside me but Sphere is using your energy to keep your island going as well as to fix himself up. If you want anything, water, rain, books, whatever, just ask and Sphere'll send them to you."

Kurama tilted his head quizzically and the boy smiled.

"So, I'm Uzumaki Naruto, future Hokage! If you hear Sphere refer to a Prime Unit, that's me too. Apparently there're some gems set into the cliff around the screen… whatever that means. The red one turns it on and off, the long one by the side makes the sound go up and down and if you touch the screen, it'll show you what channels are available. Wow, wish I had a telly like that… huh? I can? Cool. Oh, right. Um, if you ever want to talk to me, just touch the green gem and say my name. I don't know yours, so unless you tell me otherwise, I'll call you… Kyuubi as you have nine tails. Is that okay?"

Kurama simply stared at the boy on the screen and he started to fidget.

"Um, yeah. So, I gotta do stuff, so have fun doing… whatever you like doing. Bye!"

The screen reverted to mirror-like obsidian and Kurama sat on his haunches, considering what he had just learned. The boy had obviously been the one that had been intended to be his prison, so he was no longer sealed within a human. However, his talk of a not-quite-real island indicated that wherever he was, it wasn't the world that he had once strode fearlessly across.

The main thing, though, was that he now had things he could do. He could topple trees, eat the animals that tried to flee him, drink from the river…

While he may still be in a cage, it was one so large that he could not see the bars which held him.

There were worse prisons to be held in, after all…

Kurama's thoughts juddered to a halt, then he grinned as a thought occurred to him.

"Sphere, give me a Konoha to destroy."

The ground shivered and when he turned round, it was to find himself standing atop the cliff-with-faces, staring down at the village which he so desired to see turned into ashes. As the first shouts of alarm rose, Kurama bared his teeth and launched himself off the cliff, claws extended and teeth bared.

.

Kurama sank down into the mossy hollow, feeling it conform to perfectly support his body, as he spat out the rafter that he had been chewing on.

After destroying the counterfeit Konoha three times, he felt at least partially vindicated and slightly tired. Each time that he had attacked, the natives had counter-attacked in different ways, trying but ultimately failiung to protect their village from his wrath.

Admittedly, by the third time was over, they had actually come up with a few techniques that had, however briefly, slowed him down slightly.

Kurama closed his eyes and smiled slightly.

Perhaps he would ask Sphere to create the other villages too. Destroying them could be fun, if not as immediately satisfying as destroying Konoha.

A yawn escaped him and Kurama snuggled down, allowing himself to slip into sleep, perchance to dream.

For now, he was content.

.

.

Now…

Kurama glanced at the screen, then settled down to watch as an old man talked to his former jailor on the screen.

"…what's with the fuzzball who used to be inside me?" Naruto asked and Kurama growled in displeasure.

He would need to train that boy to be more respectful.

Then again, he had got an entire island out of it, so perhaps some leeway was allowable under the circumstances…