NARUTO

Nox Noctis Ingredior

The Nine's Tales

The Village of Amegakure…

A storm was brewing… and it all seemed to start from here. Gales of wind and lightning rang out from the heart of the country's capital: the Village Hidden in the Rain, its existence divided from the rest of society by vast rivers, storms, and politics. A remarkably advanced village, compared to that of the Crescent Moon Kingdom and Konohagakure, Amegakure was a city that lived and breathed in the dark. On top of that, it rained non-stop, making visibility over a wide range almost impossible. But the people of this small country managed to adapt to its conditions in the most ingenious ways.

The lights of a downtown, booming district blared in the fog, the rain and the night, with crowds marching through the rain in thick coats, parkers and ponchos. The ninja scattered themselves on patrol and guard, with a majority of them patrolling the tallest tower in the heart of the village. At the top, there was a statue resembling the God of Death, its tongue extended and acting as a balcony to a room high above.

But at the center of this construct, dwelled a large, untouched chamber. This room was circular in structure, large and dark, with large tinted windows looking out over the village, and stone pillars holding up the floors above it. The only lights came from candles, a majority of them lighting up a stone throne in the middle of the room. A desk with a variety of scrolls, a map of the surrounding countries, and figurines of the nine tailed beasts, sat next to this seat of authority.

Sitting on the throne was a figure wearing a black cloak with red cloud patterns outlined in white. The figure had long, red hair that ran down to shoulder length, and a long face with tanned skin, his head propped up on his hand as he stared with a bored expression at a glass of sake held in his free hand. He looked quite healthy in spite of his exhausted face, and for any ninja with incredibly high sensitivity to energy, could feel a constant aura of incredibly strong, terrifying chakra emitting off of him.

A passive, high ranked figure sat in this seat.

As he sat there, listening to the storm passing overhead, he suddenly heard a whoosh of rushing water in front of him and looked up. At the other end of the room, there was a large stone fountain, with statues of weeping angels of it that has ceased running. From its basin, two jets of water sprung out and landed with a splash on the cold floor, before rising up and solidifying. Seconds later, the figures of Yahiko and Konan walked out, both of them striding across the room towards their waiting teammate.

"You're a sloth! Do you know that?" Yahiko asked loudly but in his monotone voice as he marched up to the red haired man. "Just because you're the boss, doesn't mean that you can lounge about all day doing nothing while the rest of us do all the dirty work, not to mention act all high and mighty towards us."

"No matter the class, color or creed, a leader still needs to convey an air of authority," the man replied, swirling his glass of sake. "You were acting irresponsibly…"

"I would have had them," Yahiko replied, coming to a stop before the throne, Konan accompanying him. "If not the information on Orochimaru's whereabouts, but the Nine-Tails' jinchuriki and the Eight-Tails' jinchuriki… they were right there. Why did you stop me?"

"We have yet the resources or the time to be dealing with the tailed beasts'," the leader stated. "We need more members to fuse with the Gedo Mazo statue in order to perform the sealing technique, particularly for the more powerful tailed beasts. If I was to sync with the statue on my own, it would drain my life force completely…and the members we already have that can sync with the statue have been dispatched to deal with other, very important assignments. I cannot tear them away from their tasks…"

"But you can bother us?" Yahiko asked.

"I can count on you two the most…"

Konan looked between them, seeing that they were having an old-fashion stand-off between two best friends. Of course, it was funnier watching them when they were teenagers, and much funnier when they were young adults. Now that they were powerful shinobi in their thirties or so with stoic personalities, meant that it was hard to defer from an actual confrontation to a little spat.

The blue haired woman sighed and stepped forward.

"Nagato… you could stand to be more patient," she said. "We've already got enough work as it is, and you have already called us away from an assignment…twice…"

The red haired shinobi sighed and looked back down at the map on the desk right beside him. His Rinnegan blinked under the shadow of his hair as his thoughts strayed off and he began to relax a bit more.

"Our mission to bring peace to the world requires all of our attention, and will take up a lot of time and energy," Nagato replied, reaching out and running his fingers from Amegakure, and over the surrounding countries. "Using Amegakure as our base of operations, recruiting the most gifted and powerful shinobi from the surrounding nations, and by securing the tailed beasts, we will be able to gain a foothold in this world. We will bring peace with or without conflict, and by making people recognize our suffering and their blissful ignorance; the world will become more complete…"

Yahiko frowned, while Konan just listened intently to what her best friend was saying.

Nagato looked over at Yahiko, seeing him looking up at him with that disapproving glare. "I know you are the Kage of this village, and that you have brought peace, stability, and prosperity to this land, Yahiko. But it is our dream to bring peace to this world is it not? A peace we can all share…"

"But peace through war isn't what I had in mind, Nagato," Yahiko stated.

"I am not starting a war," Nagato replied immediately. "I am setting the building blocks to true peace…"

Yahiko huffed and turned away. He angrily pointed towards one of the windows, where the rain outside could clearly be seen.

"This country still cries, Nagato!" Yahiko growled, becoming incredibly irritated. "We must heal all our wounds and make peace with ourselves first, before we can start helping the rest of the world. You're clearly not seeing this!"

"My eyes are wide open, Yahiko," the red haired ninja replied, sighing. "I'm not that blind."

"Enough! Stop arguing," Konan shouted loudly, stepping in the middle of the fray, quite literally of course, placing herself between the two. "Nagato, I know you mean well, but please… consider the fact that you may be putting a lot of people in harms way, innocent people, to achieve your goal…" She glared at the ring-eyed boy, seeing him looking back at her in silent contemplation. "We've been through a lot our entire life… as orphans in a war torn country, death, destruction, pain… Hanzo… but don't let your past life consume you… both of you!" She glared back at Yahiko, seeing him staring back at her as well. "We are still here, which means we have time to work out a solution. But don't let your ideals cloud your judgments… I don't want you two fighting each other just to get your way…"

Silence fell among them, save for the pitter-patter of rain outside. After a considering what their closest of friends had to say to them, the feuding pair were snapped back into reality, and they let their confrontation slide. Yahiko looked away, arms folded, whereas Nagato went back to staring at his map.

"Three more years…" Nagato stated. "I will allow three more years… that is the time limit I had decided on long ago. Unless we can come up with another solution before then, I'm afraid I have my mind set…" He took a sip from his sake. Yahiko grunted and began walking away, Konan joining him.

"We're friends Nagato," Yahiko stated. "I passed down role as leader of Akatsuki to you for a reason… because I believe that you have the potential to change the world." He stopped just ten steps out, glancing behind him at his comrade. "We have to believe in the same thing first, before we can bring peace together…"

Without another word, he left with Konan following after, leaving Nagato to his thoughts.

Konohagakure…

Out of all the events to follow the success of the mission, the hardest part was, not bidding farewell to Team Samui and thanking them, not the long journey back to Konohagakure, and certainly not Mia's insisted questions along the way, or walking through the village during the afternoon rush hour… no… it was confronting the Third Hokage at the end with the mission report.

Team 7 once again found themselves under the questioning gaze of the Village's Noble Leader, while Mia sat in the corner with Isaribi, both of them playing a rather primitive game of rock-paper-scissors, 21 and paddy-cake to pass the time.

Two ANBU sat on either side of the room, Yamato and Yugao, keeping a close watch on the new pair in the corner, while the Third dealt with Team 7.

"Let's see…" Sarutobi sighed, looking from a grinning Naruto, to a smiling Sakura, a bored Anko, a cheerful Lee, and an equally happy Ino, and back to Naruto. "Where should I start…?"

"Would you prefer to read about it or hear about it first hand?" Anko asked, slipping her hands into her pockets. "Honestly, we've had a long day, so can we just hand it to you on paper? You're a busy man after all, Hokage-sama…"

Sarutobi sighed and tilted his head, distress clearly written on his expression. He huffed on his pipe.

"Recap," he began again. "Last night, Naruto Uzumaki, the only ninja to be known outside of this village for his trouble-making, decided to go on another private escapade to help out his teacher, and dragged not only one member of his team, but two others from separate teams, along with him on this mission. On top of that, you not only succeeded in completing your primary objectives, but you also bring back another Rinnegan bearer and a former experiment of Orochimaru's, after an encounter with two Akatsuki members…"

"Correct," Naruto replied.

There was a brief pause as the Hokage began drinking back in everything he has been told and has said.

A moment later…

"Why can't you be normal, like everybody else?" Sarutobi almost cried, collapsing onto his desk. The two ANBU just stared oddly at him, while Anko nearly burst out laughing at the old man's antics. Sakura and Ino giggled and gave each other a high-five, while Naruto just shook his head.

"We're a ninja village, old man… as far as I'm concerned, nobody around here is normal," Naruto stated. He put further emphasis into the statement by gesturing over to Isaribi and Mia in the corner, who was continuing their game of rock-paper-scissors in their corner.

"I have to give you points there," Sarutobi replied, sighing. He waved a hand at them. "I'm going to have to settle for the paper work. You five look like you've had a long day, so I'll let it slide for now…"

Anko grinned and, without needing to be told twice, turned on the spot and began skipping towards the door. Lee followed suit, with Sakura and Ino hanging back to wait for Naruto. The blond gave the old man a half-assed salute before he left.

"I'll forward my report in novel form, old man," Naruto exclaimed. "You'll definitely get a kick out of it!"

Sarutobi waved him off, and watched as Naruto left with Sakura and Ino under his wings, with Mia and Isaribi quickly following after him. The two ANBU made sure the door shut behind them, before coming to stand before their Hokage. The white haired ninja reached into his desk's side drawer and pulled out a bottle of sake and a cup. Quickly pouring himself a glass, he took a shot, with his subordinates watching on with a bit of concern. Of course, you couldn't really tell behind their masks.

"Hokage-sama…is it wise to be drinking at this time of the day?" Yugao asked.

"You still have a lot of paper work to go through," Yamato pointed out.

"Cut an old man some slack!" Sarutobi looked up at the pair and furrowed his brow at them. "I was supposed to be retired years ago… but noooo. Can't I find a suitable candidate who won't die a year after I assigned him to the position? Besides…I think I'd rather pick up on my students' bad habits of having fun, then wither away in this chair for the rest of my life…"

Yamato and Yugao looked at each other, before glancing back at the Hokage, making a few gestures to convey their confusion.

"You're jumping back and forth a bit sir," Yugao pointed. "We don't really understand what you're getting at?"

"Then don't…" The old shinobi reached over to his filing cabinet and pulled it open. From it, he pulled out two files concerning Naruto's new company, and making a rather comical gesture suggesting he was pulling them off of a roller. Yamato and his companion watched in surprise as their leader unfurled the two forms in front of him.

"Good thing I printed out copies of the forms specifically related to Naruto for just such an occasion…"

Naruto's Home…

"NO-NO-NO-NO-NO-NO-NO-NO-NO-NO-NO-NO-NO!" Naruto repeatedly shouted over and over again as he ran down the dirt path up to his new home upon spotting the smoke rising out of one of the windows. He didn't think twice when he kicked down the door and ran round to the kitchen, which had smoke spewing out of the corners of the door.

The moment he entered huffing and sweating, Naruto was met with a rather incredulous sight. Granted he had walked in on some weird stuff in his life, this had to be ranked somewhere in the middle.

Ryoko was sitting with a bored expression on her face at the dining table in the center of the large eating area, with the open kitchen area clearly seen on the other side. Wearing jeans and a over-sized T-shirt, the swordswoman was playing Chinese checkers with Haru, Haku and, surprisingly enough, her sword Aries, all of whom were in the chairs opposite her. The two youngsters weren't as engrossed in the game as she was though, because they were staring towards the kitchen area, particularly towards the oven.

While Hinata stood by one of the windows in the dining area, happily tending to a small trough of flowers hanging on the sill, Zabuza was standing in the actual kitchen area, wearing a pink apron over his new Konoha Jonin gear, and was smoldering from the head down. His burnt front and fried hair was all due to his roast bursting into flames several seconds ago when he checked to see how it was doing. The legendary swordsman was literally roasted completely on the front side of his body, which made the sight quite hilarious since his back half was completely fine. If he had eyebrows in the first place, they would have been gone.

Begrudgingly, the man straightened up and wiped his hand over his face, smearing off the grease and ash that had attached itself to him, not really caring about the huge mess he had made over the entire kitchen from trying to cook for the past few hours. The fridge behind the swordsman was painted with ash from when the oven exploded when he opened it, leaving a nice clean imprint of Zabuza's outline in the back wall. There was also an assortment of pots, pans and utensils piled up in greasy, soupy messes all over the place, including the floor. The tell-tale signs of other meats that the Jonin had attempted to cook lay scattered, not to mention splattered, all over the place.

Oddly enough, he still had his gauze mask intact from all his 'cooking'.

"Okay… what's the score?" the swordsman asked Ryoko exasperatedly, while Naruto looked over the state of his kitchen from the doorway in horror.

"Roast; 12. Meat-Sack; 0," Ryoko replied, moving one of the nubs on her board forward. "King me…"

"I keep telling you Ryoko-sama, Chinese-Checkers doesn't work like that," Haku pointed out over the board.

"Shut-up and just play the game, Haku!" Ryoko shouted at him.

"Bishop to C3!" Ryoko's sword exclaimed, with its wielder making a random move for it across the board at its request.

Haku sighed and slapped his face. "The board is star shaped. How can you… (sigh)…"

"You know, you guys aren't helping me much," Zabuza said, glancing over at the table and placing his hands on his hips to show his annoyance. "I'm trying to cook a nice dinner for all of us and you're too busy playing games to even care!"

"Watching you fail is also a game," Ryoko stated. "We're in the final quarter, don't stop now. Besides… the last time you cooked for us, Raiga couldn't taste a thing for a month, I went blind for two weeks, and Kisame turned a permanent blue color. Why not…stop trying?"

"Uh-uh… I'm not even close to giving up!" Zabuza stated, waving a finger at her. "I'm way beyond giving up at this point." It was at this point he finally noticed Naruto standing at the doorway, with Sakura, Ino, Isaribi, Anko and Mia coming up behind him, the newbie's of the household awing at the sheer size of the mansion. The former Seven Ninja Swordsman blinked as he registered to the return of the household owner and waved. "Oh… hi Naruto!"

"Wh-Wh-Wh…" the blond attempted to reply.

"Back already?" Ryoko asked, while Hinata came around from tending to her flowers. "I thought you'd be home much later…"

"W-Welcome back…N-Naruto-kun…" the Hyuuga exclaimed brightly.

"Hi Hinata," Naruto replied with a smile, before doing a complete 180 in his mood and rounding back on Zabuza, absolutely distraught. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO MY KITCHEN?"

"I was just trying to make a nice home cooked meal for us," Zabuza replied, shrugging casually.

"WHAT BROUGHT THIS UP!"

"Well uhh…" The man twiddled his fingers together and looked down at the floor, as if he were ashamed of his actions. "I wanted to learn how to cook for myself for a long time… I'm a little bit tired of C-Grade rations and eating out…"

"Oh… so you decided to use my kitchen to practice, in spite of knowing absolutely nothing about the art of cooking or using the appliances… okay…" Naruto, in a quick fast forward of words, attempted to reason with himself, laboring his breathing a little as he spoke. But even that wasn't enough to keep his emotions in check. "WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU MIST NINJA? DON'T ANY OF YOU SWORDSMEN KNOW HOW TO COOK?"

"Actually…"

"And if you say it was Kisame who cooked for you and the others, Zabuza… I'm going to smack you…" Naruto warned, his face turning a little bit red with impatience.

Zabuza just kept his mouth shut…

Naruto sighed and went over to the dining table, pulled out one of the chairs, and collapsed into it. He let himself fall flat onto his face on the table in front of him, and just went to sleep. Sakura and Ino joined to comfort him, while Mia went off exploring the building rather aimlessly. Isaribi went and sat next to Ryoko, who eyed the purple haired girl curiously.

Isaribi, rather uncomfortable under the red haired woman's gaze, and the attention she was receiving from Zabuza, Haru and Haku, had her look between each of them briefly, before looking away.

"H-Hello…" she exclaimed.

"Yo!" Ryoko replied, nodding to her.

"Are you one of Naruto's friends?" Haku asked curiously.

"Y-Yes…yes I am…"

"Strange… never seen you around here before," Ryoko pointed with a raised eyebrow.

"That's okay, Ryoko… I just met her today," Naruto said from his position on the table, waving a hand and not even bothering to look up. He was pretty beat. "Secret mission… Rinnegan… long story…"

"Yeah… there was a lot of stuff…Akatsuki… weirdness…Killer Bee… things got messy and… yeah…" Anko also stated briefly in exhaustion, sitting herself down and ordering Zabuza to toss her a sake bottle from the very top cupboard. The tall swordsmen did so, and also threw her a glass, to which she immediately began drinking from. "Geez I'm pooped…"

"I'm sure we'll be hearing about this tale sometime in the foreseeable future," Ryoko said with a smile before going back to the Chinese checkers board. She made her next move, with Haru immediately jumping in with another to get her piece right into her star corner. The red head furrowed her brow and kicked herself in the foot for just handing that move to her opponent. "Hey! How the heck do you do that?"

"I can see it!" Haru declared happily, before clapping her hands together in victory. "YAY!"

While Ryoko racked her brain to beat her little opponent and Haku was making small talk with Isaribi, Naruto was being comforted by Sakura, Ino and Hinata. Zabuza cursed silently in the kitchen as he went on to fix up his workspace, and in the midst of the silent household, a loud 'whoop' could be heard from outside, followed by a loud splash. All heads turned, with Naruto's head also perking up.

"What was that?" Sakura asked.

Ino, Hinata and Zabuza frantically looked about, hopping they weren't hearing things, whereas Anko and Naruto were pretty sure of the answer to the problem themselves.

"Where's Mia?" Naruto asked.

"WOW! Now that's a three story fall! AWESOME HOTSPRINGS!" A female vice echoed into the room from outside, presumably from where the hot springs were.

"YOSH! WHAT YOUTH! LET ME JOIN YOU!"

"Oh yeah…" Ino said, looking down at a still shocked Naruto. "Lee's still with us…"

"Oh-no…" In the blink of an eye, Naruto was up and out of his seat and sprinting for the hot springs outside, knowing full well that his new guest to his home, Mia, had just invented a new sport of jumping from his roof into the shallow hot springs in the middle of the compound. Though he was sure the 'Sage of Six Paths' was invincible, he was more worried about the state of his hot baths.

Knowing Lee and Mia up to this point, any structure or property wasn't even close to safe when they were around.

It was not until late afternoon, when the sun was beginning to set, did Naruto manage to catch Mia and Lee and drag them back inside, both of them continuing to act childish in respect to their personalities. Once he had deposited them in the lounge room and told them to stay put, he went on to attend other important business.

Ino and Sakura sat together with Anko for some green tea, and talked about the mission that they had just taken part in, while Hinata, Ryoko and Haku listened in. Isaribi went to help out the clumsy oaf who was working in the kitchen, assuming that he was in fact the butler of Naruto's home. Of course, Zabuza scolded her for thinking he was a butler, and introduced himself a shinobi. But from his attire and the state he was in… he looked nothing like a ninja from Isaribi's point of view. Little Haru just stood by and watched quietly as Zabuza made an ass of himself in front of the new guest.

"I'm beginning to think that Naruto knows a hell of a lot more then what he is letting us on to. I'm not talking about some top secret files passed between him and Hokage-sama… but really personal matters… things that have happened in his life concerning other Hidden Villages in other countries and criminal organizations… you know," Ino said, looking between Sakura, Hinata and Anko. "I mean… Team 7… you guys are his team… the closest thing he has to a family. You should know everything that goes on within the group, what's going on with each member…"

"We all have lives outside of the team, Ino," Sakura pointed out. "We're not as black and white as your teammates…"

"Not to mention our team dynamics are far more complicated," Anko stated, taking a sip from her tea. "We're ninja… we all keep secrets, whether they are good or bad. But whatever it is ninja decide to clam up about, you can be sure severe consequences will follow if that information gets out. Well… so I've learned from experience…"

"My team isn't that easy to pick apart…"

"Asuma is training you guys well, for certain…" Anko continued. "You function well as a shinobi team, you all possess unique skills, you are strong individually, and you all strictly abide by the rules and laws that govern the shinobi world. However, unlike my team, yours is still too closed-minded…"

"What do you mean by that, sensei?" Ino asked.

"Naruto has a mind of his own, and is free to make his own decisions regarding a mission's details… though I admit he is not bound by as many limitations as we are. But this is what makes him as good as he is, both cold and blunt, but able to choose the path on which he walks," Anko stated, before gesturing over to the Hyuuga sitting across from her. "Hinata follows her heart as much as she follows orders. She has a strong spirit, almost mirroring Naruto's in a way, which is what makes them so compatible. But she chooses to look at situations from a distance, and best assesses them to reach the appropriate outcome… which puts her in a class above Naruto's in terms of combat strategy. He's a type of ninja who follows his gut, while Hinata follows her instincts." She then looked over at Sakura. "If I am not mistaken, pinky here chooses to look at the world in a more complicated way. Naruto breaks rules, Hinata sees the wall between maintaining them and breaking them, but Sakura… she… you…" She emphasizes her point by pointing at her quiet student, "goes around them. Without hurting anyone else in the process, she follows orders and chooses to do what is right by her. In a way… all three of my students follow their own code. Whether it is by choice or not… we are still moving forward, while looking back on a past that helps us make the next step…"

Ino raised an eyebrow, and then looked over at Sakura, who just smiled and shrugged back at her.

"Sensei watches us in our sleep. It's kind of creepy…" Sakura simply said, before going back to her drink, taking her mind off of the conversation for a moment.

"That's not what I was going to ask," Ino said, before looking back at Anko. "Look… I understand you all have problems… whether past or present. But that doesn't mean you can't share them. I was always told that by learning about your teammates' history, you can better understand them and work effectively on the field knowing your comrades' strengths and weaknesses." Anko shrugged at her comment, and looked down at her tea.

"That's how Asuma chooses to train you. He wants to turn you into an effective shinobi team, one that can match your father's team… the old Ino-Shika-Cho trio… maybe even surpass them one day," the Jonin pointed. "But I choose to train my students differently. I teach them to function as an effective troop, but encourage their independence, which allows them to be compatible with other shinobi in case of team reassignments. You've learned first hand how different a scrambled up team can be… even joint teams, given the occasion…"

"I suppose you're right their, sensei," Ino said, taking a sip from her drink. Anko chuckled and patted her on the back.

"You have a long way to go, kiddo…"

Meanwhile…

Naruto wasn't ready to join his teammates for tea just yet. Instead, the young ninja sought refuge in his sanctum; the room he had set up just for himself the moment he moved in here.

In the basement area, mostly separated from the rest of the main building, the blond shinobi accessed a secret room via the storage area. It was apparent nobody came down here that often because of all of the dust. The main purpose of his basement was to store material goods and supplies for long periods of time. However, the young owner had a different reason for being here.

Opening a steel door behind a wooden panel in the back, Naruto walked on through a pipelined hallway gushing steam, indicating that he was close to the water heating and pump system. When he entered, he made sure to lock the doors behind him before proceeding onward.

Switching on the lights at the generator, the room lit up, revealing a hidden dojo, complete with a meditation platform, wardrobe, and walls lined with rows upon rows of weapons. Kunai, shuriken, swords, ANBU armor, masks, gauntlets, wrist and knee guards, speared weapons, lances and all sorts of melee weapons lined the room, enough to satisfy an entire garrison of soldiers. It was his personal armory and weapon manufacturing room, as indicated by the other tools and equipment in the background, decorated by hundreds of maps, blue prints, scrolls and mission specs.

Depositing his coat and hat on a nearby table, as well as his bandoleer of specialized equipment, the boy then went on to change his garb.

He stripped out of his black pants, sandals and mesh, throwing them in a basket, before moving to the closet beside his museum of blades. Quickly plowing through a set of coats and jackets hanging inside the large oak wardrobe, he settled on a particular, custom made samurai robe.

It was a thin, long, trench coat that was designed to be reversible, white on the outside, and black on the inside, and could be changed for day or night wear. It had no symbols, just a matching gauze belt. Satisfied, he ripped it from the hangar and flung it over his shoulder, before picking up a new bandoleer of weapons from his wall.

Moving to the center of the room where the meditation circle was, Naruto deposited his stuff to the side and sat down in the middle. Forming a hand seal, he placed right hand directly over the seal on his stomach and his left hand over the center of his chest. Controlling his breathing to slow inhales and exhales, the blond then dove into the depths of his mind, just how he was trained a couple years back by one of his master's to control his Tailed Beast. It was in this state he expected to meet up with his other… 'Resident'.

Inside his mind, he was met with a black void, lit up by a pure white floor that went on for miles. The only other signs of construct that could be seen were hundreds of wooden totems (similar to Yamato's) scattered around for miles, with flames lit on top of each one like a candle, and huge gateways, acting as the basis for his enhanced eight-trigrams seal.

Walking across the white floor, with each step causing a single ripple to appear, the blond maneuvered though the totems, looking to check on the Nine Tails sealed inside of him. It was not until he did come across the prisoner in his stomach, the red eyes glowing through the darkness as he approached.

Another ripple from ahead of him met the one he caused with his last step, and the boy watched and waited as the demon walked out from the darkness. The first to appear out of the shadows ahead were the fox's feet, which gracefully padded forward, one after the other. It was soon followed by his head, then its ears, its neck, the body, and finally its tails.

Naruto was not at all surprised when he saw that the Fox was about the size of a horse, and not the behemoth it used to be. It didn't even surprise him that it wasn't even in a cage, but wandering free across the expanse of his mind.

The Kyuubi approached him, its tails whipping behind it casually. It stopped about a couple of meters in front of him before it started circling him. Naruto eyed it with curiosity.

"You're looking well, furball," Naruto exclaimed.

"Same to you, brat," the male fox replied, with any form of emotion absent from his face.

"I trust you know what's going on, on the outside, right," the blond asked, keeping the fox in plain view.

"As slow and as excruciatingly boring as the situations are developing, yes…" the Kyuubi replied, marching a full circle around his keeper before coming to a stop right in front of the blond, "You have encountered the Creator, and have made some powerful allies in the process. Though I despise your abilities so, I must admit, I may have been a little bit ungenerous with my words from years ago, saying that you wouldn't be able to handle the outside world. But looking at you now… I can see you are no longer a cry baby…"

"I love it when you insult me like this. It puts a spotlight on the irony that we have to keep each other alive, regardless of how much we hate each other," Naruto said, smirking at the fox briefly, before relieving the expressions on his face. "As fun as it is…now… I'm afraid I need your counsel…"

"First the Toad and Slug Sannins, then the Snake woman, your princess friend, and now me huh…" the fox almost chuckled, taking a seat on the cold floor in front of the boy, who also took a seat. "It isn't wise to accept guidance from a demon… but since a lot of your personality has rubbed off on me… I suppose I could share some wisdom with you."

Naruto sighed and looked at his hands, pressing his fingertips together nervously. "Up until my graduation, my life has been a living hell… but after making it to Genin… I've… suddenly been experiencing a life that I never thought I would have in years. I've made friends, I've made allies, and I've made huge discoveries generations of shinobi have been dreaming of discovering. That's all good but… now I have this egging feeling in the back of my mind that… things are about to get a whole lot worse…"

"Funny… you haven't been having any bad dreams or anything like that for you to come to such a conclusion…"

"However, there have been signs that something big is about to happen and… I'm scared… frightened of the fact that my friends' lives could be in jeopardy…"

"Time is a strange thing… we can't change the past, but we can reshape the future the way we want it, but still be unable to see it. Still, the fact remains that existence is biased…" the Kyuubi muttered. "I mean… look at me…stuck inside of some brat who hasn't got his life figured out…"

Naruto blinked, watching as the Nine Tails glared at him.

"You have no idea what you are going to do in the future… because you can't choose between your friends or your personal vendettas…" Kyuubi stated. "You are like the Uchiha… arrogant… greedy… blinded by desire and by hatred…"

"Don't put me on the same level as them…" Naruto hissed back. "I just have a score to settle with the Akatsuki… to stop them from killing my friends, destroying my village… and capturing you! I'll risk my life to ensure the safety of my friends… and until they're gone… I can rest in peace."

"Greed is the same in any form of want or need…" Kyuubi stated. "You desire your friends' safety, to protect them… that is greed. Heh… maybe you're not like the Uchiha after all… maybe you are better then them…"

"I got rid of all of my hatred years ago," Naruto said, a matter-of-factly. "I cast it aside so that I wasn't blinded by it, so that I could see clearly. It will help me accomplish my goals…"

"If you say so…" Kyuubi said, smirking. "But now, setting aside your own problems, you have things happening that may be troublesome in your future. You know of Itachi, Kisame, Orochimaru… and those two other Akatsuki members you met at Uzushiogakure. What do you think is happening?"

"I think… the Akatsuki are experiencing troubles as well," Naruto stated. "They aren't hunting Jinchuriki just yet… because they say they are hunting Orochimaru. Of course, if they can get rid of him before they come after us, it should make things easier… but there is something else going on… something in the shadows. Since you've been watching events unfold through my eyes, you should know what I'm talking about…"

"Your fight with the missing ninja Kajika… so I've seen. He was possessed by a demon at the climax of your battle; a demon possessing abnormal Sharingan…"

"Do you know who those eyes belonged to? They clearly did not belong to Kajika, and they certainly aren't a part of the strain of Sharingan of the Uchiha clan." Naruto asked.

"I remember that in the days following the Sage of Six Paths' passing, that the eldest student of the Great Ninja possessed those very same eyes," the Kyuubi replied. "They were eyes that bled darkness, and were the first of its kind to see through time and space, which he used to shape the world the way he wanted, but not change it completely, because he did not possess all of his master's abilities. Eventually, on the day of the eldest student's death, he took the eyes with him to his grave, so that nobody would ever surpass him in power. Somehow… those eyes have returned, in some incarnation of the older brother…"

"Eyes that see through time?" Naruto raised an eyebrow. "That's… impossible…"

"The Eldest Brother proclaimed himself as a God over his people; because his abilities allowed him to see ahead of time and distort the world to avoid defeat, and even death. He lived for over two-hundred years as a result. Eventually, nearing his end, he passed on his teachings to others to spread his influence of war and preserve his primitive immortality; a decision that would eventually have his ninja techniques branch out, and evolve over time into the jutsu owned by every country across the Shinobi World." The Kyuubi said, grinning. "I was there when he broke down peace and scorched the soil with every step he took after that. The Self Proclaimed God led his people into war against his youngest brother, who… in spite of the danger, refused to fight back. The Younger Brother quickly fell in battle against his Older Brother, who struck his defenseless sibling down."

Naruto frowned as he listened to the Nine Tails' story, the Fox shaking its head as it remembered is days of war and bloodshed.

"The young brother stated that he would not fight, because he knew that the only way to stop hatred was for one person to say… enough. As a result of his decision not to pursue revenge or inflict pain on his brother, he died on the battlefield. The people who the elder brother rallied against his younger sibling left his side in disgust of what he had done, splitting up, and forming the countries we know today. People say the older brother went mad from killing his younger sibling, and died alone. Others say he redeemed himself by destroying the eyes he possessed. Ether way… the story ends there. Nobody can know for sure what really happened…"

"Except you… the all-knowing Kyuubi?" Naruto egged him to finish. "What do you know of the tale… personally?"

"The most legitimate theory is that the older brother saw the future for what it was, and wanting to preserve the world and not destroy what his youngest brother fought so hard to create, he destroyed his eyes to end the darkness and achieve true peace. But that wasn't enough to stop the hatred between nations, and the siblings' work remains incomplete…"

"What are you suggesting from this story? That the older brother has returned to complete what his younger brother started?"

"That's a possibility… but he is taking his sweet time accomplishing his goal…"

"Maybe I should ask Mia about this… perhaps I can get a clearer answer from her regarding her students…"

"Don't get your hopes up… The Sage of Six Paths may seem childish, but she is extremely intelligent. She is the sum of all ninja techniques of today, and the most powerful shinobi in all of history," the Fox replied, resting his head down and looking at Naruto through half-lidded eyes. "I'm still convinced she set my tails on fire using Amaterasu all those years ago…"

Naruto raised an eyebrow at him as he cursed the Sage and mumbled insults about her, before turning back to his keeper with a scowl.

"What?"

"You were actually pushed around by her? The Great Kyuubi was beat by a kid?"

"Shut up! You have idea what it was like putting up with her! She treated all nine of us like common house pets! She didn't even give us the respect of 'Summons'! Do you know what she first called me? Betsy!"

Naruto couldn't contain anything at this point and burst out laughing. The Kyuubi scolded him and looked away, flushing in embarrassment and sweat dropping.

"I hate you…" he muttered.

TO BE CONTINUED…