The gravity of the situation could be felt in the tenseness of the air.

'The bloodlust in his eyes, this is no longer a child.'

Before Haku could even finish compiling his thoughts Naruto attacked. With only moments to spare Haku countered by throwing some of his senbon. It seemed like a reasonable course of action until the energy swirling around Naruto simply knocked the senbon out of the air. Realizing he needed to take the offensive, Haku began to use the full power of his jutsu and fired as many senbon as he possibly could. Even with multiple direct hits Naruto brushed them all aside, healed himself, and began his assault once more. Mirrors were starting to shatter as Naruto's new found power and speed was able to keep up with Haku's. As Haku began to retreat to one of the mirrors Naruto managed to grab ahold of him. Haku turned back in shock as he did not believe such a feat was even possible. He looked back in horror at Naruto's eyes once more. The intensity he could see in them was not what frightened him, it was the fact that his right eye had changed again, except this change no one in the world knew how to explain. It had become a dark red with the slit pupil as before but this time he could see a tomoe circling the pupil. Not only does this boy have that frightening evil power but he seems to have the same eye power as the other boy. At this moment despair hit Haku as he knew the fight was over he was caught and overwhelmed. He only looked on as Naruto prepared to strike and braced himself for what he knew could very well be a killing blow. As he was about to get hit he noticed one last detail that made everything make sense to him. Naruto's fist had become engulfed by a thin layer of ice. As the realization hit him so too did Naruto's blow. The blow stunned him. While not fatal it did make his mind go blank and sent him crashing right through one of his own mirrors.

Naruto did not really know what was going on he simply knew one of his only friends had just passed, and at the hands of some common criminal shinobi. When his power surged he had a vague idea of where it came from, but he had no time to think. He was in the middle of a battle. His friend had fallen. His only real friend had fallen. Emotions swelled and Naruto lost his sense of restraint. All he wanted at that moment in time was revenge, retribution for his friend. With every passing second, with every movement, with every attack Naruto lost himself more and more. Until finally he landed a direct hit on the enemy he had just apprehended. At that moment Naruto's mind went blank.

Caught on the fine line of sanity and total rage everything seemed to just halt. Naruto stood in front of what seemed to be a large gate. There was a shallow pool of water on the floor all around him and into whatever room the gate was guarding. There was a sealing tag on the gate where he would have expected to see a keyhole. After taking in the site around him he realised he was in a prison cell. What could such a large gate be keeping locked up. He looked beyond the gate and saw a sight he would not soon forget. Two large red eyes looking back at him. In them he could see nothing but pure hatred and animosity.

"So you're the one who's caused me all this trouble."

"Tough words coming from you brat. I'm in no better position than you. Trust me if I could I would TAKE OVER YOUR BODY RIGHT NOW AND DESTROY EVERYTHING IN SIGHT!"

"We wouldn't want that now would we"

Both Naruto and the nine-tails were surprised at the sudden appearance of a third voice in the cell. although they couldn't quite tell who it was that spoke in the dark cell.

"Its nice to see you Naruto."

"Who… who are you and how do you know my name?"

"IT'S YOU! LET ME OUT OF HERE SO I CAN TEAR YOU LIMB FROM LIMB"

As the nine-tails shouted he splashed all around in a fit of anger.

"If that's the case I think I'll just leave you in there then. Hahaha. Why don't we go somewhere quieter to talk, Naruto."

With a snap of his fingers Naruto and the stranger were out of the cell and in a different mindscape, one with more light and a brighter atmosphere. In the newfound light Naruto could clearly see the stranger. In an instant he knew who he was speaking to.

"You're him. The Fourth Hokage. But.. But… How does the Fourth Hokage know my name."

"I see you haven't been told very much have you"

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Tell me Naruto, who is the Hokage right now?"

"Ummm…. it's the old man. Why do you ask?"

"HaHaHa. You call him the old man do you. I guess he just wanted to protect you and letting this information out would have probably put you in danger."

"What… Protect me… Danger… What do you mean… AND YOU STILL HAVEN'T TOLD ME HOW YOU KNOW MY NAME!"

"Well it's actually quite simple. I know your name because I'm the one who gave it to you."

The shock in Naruto's eyes told Minato all he needed to know.

"You really didn't know did you?"

Naruto's mind was racing. How was he even supposed to take in this information. He was a whole mess of emotions and he didn't know which were good or bad or neither. He was glad he found out who his father was, glad he knew where he came from, but at the same time sad that now he knew his father was dead for sure 'But then how is he here?' Then a single thought crept its way into his head. Why had his own father sealed the nine-tails inside of him. Tears formed at his eyes as he thought about that one thought more and more.

"Why did you do it… Why did you seal the nine-tails inside of me? It's caused me nothing but pain and suffering. I don't have any friends, all the adults are afraid of me and hate me for it, EVERYONE has just hated me, and I've just been all alone."

With every word he spoke more tears fell from his eyes, all the emotions clearly too much for any boy his age to bear.

The next thing Naruto knew he felt something he had never felt before in his life. He felt another person embrace him out of pure love and compassion.

"I see you've gone through a lot. I'm so sorry for that, but please you need to understand that there was no time to think when it happened I just did."

With those words Naruto thought back to what Sasuke had just done for him and what circumstances had even made that a possibility. He understood that some things just can't be helped.

"I've been able to see some of your memories, I wouldn't be so sure about the whole everyone hating you. There is one person I can think of that likes you a lot, almost admires you even."

He must be talking about Iruka and the old man. I guess they really are some of my only friends.

"I wish I had more time. I would tell you what happened and why it happened, but I don't. I'm the one who wrote the sealing formula and put the nine-tails inside of you, yes, but I had a reason for doing so. I believe that one day the village would be danger, and that the power of the nine-tails could be used to save it. I believe that you, Naruto, could learn to control that power and use it to do just that."

"What you believe I could…. but how?"

"Part of the answer is in the sealing formula. It allows you to tap into a small portion of the nine-tails's chakra and some of his unique powers. But right now you might be a little too young to able to control it all, so you will learn to control more and more of it as you grow older. I've seen the tailed-beast holders of the Village Hidden in the Clouds control their tailed-beasts perfectly, so theres…"

"WAIT! There are others like me? People with monsters sealed inside of them too."

"Oh yes. There are actually nine of you. One for every tailed-beast. Not all of them can control theirs but I have seen it done, so I know that you can do it to."

"But how do you know I can. I mean… I'm not very smart, my ninja skills aren't that great, and…"

"Naruto I know you can do it. I know because you're my son and I believe in you completely"

As he spoke he placed his hand on Naruto's head. With that statement Naruto felt a wave of reassurance pass over him.

"I seem to be running out of time. I'm going to open up the first part of the seal I told you about. Please be careful when relying on the nine-tails power, for he is extremely dangerous. For now just use his power in emergencies. Naruto all the information I have told you seems to be secretive so please consult with Lord Third before you tell anyone else of what you learned today. Naruto just before I go I just want to tell you that I love you. "

As he spoke his body began to disappear into the mindscape.

"Thank you so much… dad…"

That was all Naruto could think to say as he saw his father disappearing. Then a thought hit him. Just before he appeared in his own mindscape he remembered something weird that happened.

"AHH! One last thing before you go… The chains… the chakra chains… are they one of the power of the nine-tails?"

"HaHaHa… Oh Kushina…"

'You'll get to meet him soon enough my dear'

"No actually… they're… from… your… mo… ther…"

And with those final words he disappeared.

Naruto was left alone now to ponder on his thoughts. He was trying to figure out exactly what he had just experienced. The one thing that truly dominated his thoughts above all else were two words. Two of the final words his father had spoken to him. 'Kushina.' 'Mother.'