Chapter 1 : Reunions and Revelations

Mind scape

The Kyuubi watched as his cage began to dissolve, his eyes lowering to the prone body in front of him as a gate opened up at the end of the hallway.

A lone figure sitting a meditative position levitated in the air staring down at the boy impassively. The old man has an all white clothes on with a black ringed staff and black tomoes on the cloth.

The Kyuubi snarled at the figure, "Come no closer, Shinigami." He growled, "This boy belongs to me!"

The Sage turned around and look up at the beast without fear, and smiled "Ah Kurama I'm afraid that I cannot do that." The Sage said , "His soul has only remained in this realm because I would like to talk about the lad, as you know bringing back the dead is beyond you."

Recognizing those eyes and his voice , the 9 tail fox names Kurama eyes widen in shock, "Old man .. wha.. what are you doing here?" The Sage smiled

Valley Of The End

Kakashi landed without a sound on the hard, stone shore. Picking up the scratched hitai-ate he held it in front of his hound. "Pakkun, what do you smell?" He asked urgently "It's Sasuke's for sure, but there's more. The rain's washed most of it away but there's definitely a lot of Naruto's blood here." He stated, "Unfortunately, I can't smell much of a trail anymore, the rain is too heavy."

Kakashi nodded in understanding. "I'll summon some more ninken and we'll spread out, we need to pick the trail back up as soon as-"

"Kakashi!" Pakkun interrupted, pointing downstream towards a distinctive orange figure with his paw.

"No..." Kakashi whispered as he dropped the hitai-ate, sprinting across the flowing water towards Naruto's bloody tattered jacket , necklace , and hitai-ate. Spanning the distance in just a few seconds he picked up his student belongings, hoping he was nearby.

Upon seeing the gaping hole in the jacket and the trail of blood leading towards the water, Kakashi knew he was dead. Scooping the drenched belongings in his arms Kakashi closed his single visible eye.

"I'm sorry, Naruto, I… I didn't mean to be so late." He sighed, reigning in his emotions in the way that only a hardened shinobi could. It was time for the situation end. "Pakkun" He said, turning to his furred friend on the shore.

"Pick up Sasuke's hitai-ate and bring it back to the village. We'll see if we can use his scent to train other tracking hounds." Pakkun nodded, picking up the hitai-ate in his mouth. Without another word, Kakashi began the long journey back to the village.

Spiritual Plane

Naruto open his eyes suddenly and shot up , heavily panting , he look around the black void and muttered out "where am I? am I dead?"

Naruto woke up in a plane of darkness, a small crackling sound can be heard from behind him. He turned around and saw a fire growing strongly, there was three fish on a stick above the pit cooking.

"Now this is a surprise" Naruto quickly turned around when he heard a unfamiliar voice and froze.

There standing was someone he never thought he'd never meet. He blinked and rubbed his eyes, yet the figure still remained and Naruto knew this was not an illusion or a mirage.

The figure had peach skin much like his own and sapphire blue eyes along with slightly longer blonde hair, yet it was almost like looking in a mirror.

He wore a white trench coat with orange flames and a thin blue turtle neck shirt with a green jounin vest zipped shut, the coat seemed to extend past his legs which he saw were faded from view.

It only took a few minutes but Naruto knew who this spirit was and his eyes widened in shock as the spirit smiled softly at the young boy. "...F-Forth Hokage"? Naruto whispered and the spirit smiled and nodded before speaking.

"Good to see you. My son".

Konoha

When had she let her guard down? She had sworn to herself she would never be vulnerable like that again, but like an abused lover she had made the excuses she knew she shouldn't have. 'It will be different this time,' she had told herself.

Tsunade bit the inside of her cheek, hard enough to draw blood. She savored the taste, let it bring her back to the now. Standing up there was a fire in her eyes. The village had hurt her all over again. So she was going to hurt it back.

"Kakashi," she started, suddenly back to her 'all business' persona. "make yourself presentable. We'll be sending scouts to look for Naruto and I'll need you to be at the forefront of the task if all else fail then we're burying him next to his parents."

Kakashi's eye shot wide when he heard that. To reveal to the village that Sasuke had killed the only heir of The Fourth Hokage. The village would tear itself apart. Less than 48 hours ago, Sasuke had been the village's golden child. A living icon of the next generation rising

From the ashes of the last to grow stronger than the old. The lone possessor of the genes to pass on what was arguably the world's most powerful kekkei genkai. Naruto on the other hand, had been treated as a leper since his birth.

To suddenly reveal that he was Minato's son and he had been killed by the treasonous 'last Uchiha?' They would be lucky if riots were all they had to deal with. He personally knew several veterans that had served with Minato who would gladly kill anyone that so much as insinuated Minato wasn't perfect, but finding out the village as a whole had been mistreating his only son? An only son that was now dead, and incapable of receiving any form of reparation?

"H-Hokage-sama!" He cried out before the woman could leave the room. "Are you sure that's wise?" He asked.

Tsunade didn't so much as glance back at him. She was far too tired to justify her actions, and as far as she was concerned he could burn with the rest of them. She had to return to her hospital duties for now, but then she had some arrangements to make.

Spiritual Plane

Naruto wasn't sure how long he stood there staring at his father, who was now a spirit. All he knew was that his father was here. Here. Even if he was a spirit now, nothing could replace this moment right now. "Is...is it really you dad"?

Naruto asked weakly. The deceased Yellow Flash looked at his son and nodded slowly. Naruto slowly approached the spirit and Minato leaned down and reached a hand out and stroked his son's cheek. It didn't phase through him nor did it feel cold like it should when he died. It felt warm and he could feel the weight on his face. "Dad".

Naruto croaked as tears spilled down his face before he suddenly launched himself at Minato and enveloped the spirit in a crushing hug.

Minato was certainly surprised to say the least, but that only lasted few seconds before he smiled softly and returned the hug with just as much force, wrapping his arms around his son's small frame.

The two stood there, Naruto silently sobbing into his shoulder and Minato whispering comforting words into his son's ear, before Naruto finally got a hold of himself and Minato finally set him down.

The younger blonde turned his head to face another spirit. She had slightly lighter skin than him and Minato and had long vivid red hair that went down past her back and was wearing a high collared white and green combat dress and much like his father the dress seemed to turn completely transparent where her feet should be, and she also had two blue wrist bands and had steel blue eyes.

Her arms her folded in front of her and she was looking at Naruto with a soft motherly smile. Minato smiled and placed his hands on Naruto's shoulders as he stared at the woman in front of him. "...mom is that you?"

Naruto asked getting a nod from the woman who was now silently crying. Naruto approached the spirit and she crouched down and Naruto was suddenly hugging her tightly, with the spirit hugging the young shaman just as tightly. "I'm here my son...I'm right here and I'll never leave your heart". She whispered in his ear making him hug her even tighter.

"I always knew you guys didn't abandon me"... Naruto muttered in her shoulder making the two smile. Minato approached the two and placed a hand on his shoulder. Naruto finally let go and looked at both of them and smiled brightly as the tears came down again.

"I've always wanted to meet you guys"... Naruto said making the parents smile softly as they both hugged Naruto. "We're here now Naruto."

As this reunion is going on a lone figure with long red hair and black samurai armor on a few meters away watched the scene unfold and said " So this my heir.."

Mind scape

"It seems the family reunion is going to end soon , while the young one say his goodbyes let's get down to business shall we?" The Sage stated stoically.

"Old man it's been a long time since we last spoke.. many things has changed" Kurama stated

"Yes indeed , my son I've made many mistakes in my life and it seems my ignorance past affected the future generations. I've sat and watched long enough , I've came to talk to you about the Child of Prophecy and if you're willing we can liberate my children and bring balance back to the world" stated the Sage impassively , shocking the Nine Tail Beast to the core.

The Beast looked up and contemplated everything and muttered "It seems a great change is soon to come"

Meanwhile

It rained heavily at the place known as the Valley of the End. It was if the heavens themselves were crying at what had transpired there, an epic dual between foes once brothers.

Lying on the ground near the water was Naruto Uzumaki. He was out cold and was motionless. However unknown to him, several hooded people watched the whole battle from afar. Only when they frantically looked for and found the young blond body did the four figures come out of the forest. Slowly they walked up to the Genin, and one of them, a woman judging by her figure, bent down and checked his pulse.

"Well?" One of the other's asked, a male by his voice. The woman looked up, revealing her blue eyes.

"He's alive, though barely even if we patch him up he needs a strong will to live to pull through. But it should be easy to move Naruto-kun. What about the Uchiha?" She asked.

"Leave him be" The man said. "It doesn't matter if Konoha get's him or Orochimau, we will have our revenge against Konoha and the rest of the five Great Countries soon enough."

And with that he picked up Naruto, making sure not to harm him anymore then he already is and all four of them headed off.

The news of Naruto's disappearance became top priority amongst the Council of Konoha. Those who despised the Kyuubi Container merely put in that he was dead, which earned them a cold look from Tsunade.

The idea that the boy might have fled was out of the question, Naruto was to damn loyal to the village to turn traitor. Tsunade wanted to send out a search party to find him but the Elders rebuffed her plans.

If the other villages knew that they were missing their jinchuriiki then they would waste no time in taking it to their advantage. So, against Tsunade's wishes and a few others, Naruto was declared KIA/missing-nin.

To say the people of Konoha were upset would be an understatement. On that night there wasn't a single bar or restaurant that wasn't celebrating the death of the demon boy.

A few had even tried to ransack his home, only to be brutally beaten down personally by Tsunade and the remains of the Rookie 12. The Hokage decided that the apartment would be banned to the public, as a way of honoring Naruto.

There were some people who mourn over the loss of the Uzumaki boy. Old man Teuchi and his daughter Ayame were very upset of the loss of their favorite customer.

So upset that they even closed their restaurant for about a week. Iruka would be at his apartment, staring at a photo of himself and Naruto on the day after the boy became a Genin. 'You would've been a great Hokage.' Iruka would think to himself every now and then.

Kakashi stood at the memorial stone of the fallen for hours, reading the names of his teammates and Sensei. 'Forgive me Rin, Obito, Sensei, Kushina-san. I couldn't keep my promise.' He thought.

Kankuro and Temari would sit on a bench, watching their little brother stare up at the sky. Those two had much to thank Naruto for, for saving their little brother from himself, and now they could never repay him.

Gaara thought about the words Naruto said to him in the aftermath of their battle. 'Naruto, thank you.' He thought to himself. 'To honor you, I shall become Kazekage and prove to the village I am not a monster, just like you said.'

The Rookie 12 took Naruto's apparent demise very hard, especially the rescue squad. Shikamaru would pace around in his family's backyard, trying to constantly go over his strategy, trying to figure out where he went wrong.

This earned the concern of his mother Yoshino. Choji barely ate anything for a week, even after being released from the hospital. Neji didn't say a word after he got back to the compound, to upset about what happened, even if the mission was a success.

Kiba just stayed home during his healing, silently looking out the window. Rock Lee didn't even do any training for a day, the grief too much for him to bear.

Though they didn't know Naruto very well, Ino, Tenten and Shino also mourned for the loss of the blonde hair boy, Ino even bought a large assortment of flowers for the tombstone that was made for him. Sakura was sad and angry. I lost another one.' Sakura thought sadly. 'Why does God have to be so cruel?'

But the one who took the loss hard out of all of them was none other then Hinata Hyuga. For the rest of the month she either was in her room, at the training grounds or at Naruto's grave, cleaning it or placing flowers on it.

She barely ate anything and servants would have to bring her food to her room. Her only regret was that she never told Naruto her feelings for him. She wondered what would've happened if she told him sooner, instead of keeping her feelings to herself.

Not being so shy around him either. Even if he rejected her at least she wouldn't feel such pain. Sooner or later she snapped out of her depression, the only reason was because Naruto wouldn't want her to feel down. 'I'll become stronger.' She thought to herself with newfound confidence. 'For Naruto-kun'

Elsewhere on a boat heading towards a large land area to the West, the hooded figures could be seen on it again. The leader, the man who carried Naruto away from the valley was staring at the land that was his home. "We're finally home nephew." He said to the resting form of Naruto.

"Welcome to the Whirlpool Country."