Opening - Uragiri no Yuuyake by Theatre Brook

"This time, you're MINE!"

A young Nine-Tailed Fox charged with his jaws open and teeth bared, grinning viciously at his slightly younger brother. The Eight-Tailed Bull, however, lazily turned toward Kurama and opened his own maw, silently spraying orbs of pale blue and dark red chakra through the air between them.

Kurama hissed, and shot a vivid orange beam from his throat in an attempt to destroy enough of the spheres to stop Gyuuki's attack. As usual, however, he failed, and Gyuuki combined the small spheres into a much larger black one.

The Tailed Beast Ball, Kurama noted enviously, was beautiful in a terrifying way. The outer layer of the contruct was black and slightly transparent, like liquid obsidian quivering and floating in the air. Beneath that layer, a bright orange and red core lit the black liquid from within. The second layer glowed like lava, warmly and dangerously.

"Bijuu Dama!"

Kurama yelped as Gyuuki shot his attack forward. This particular Tailed Beast Ball was twelve feet across, making it comparable in size to the young Tailed Beasts themselves. Kurama knew that one of this size would hurt tremendously, but the two brothers never aimed to kill each other.

"Not this time!" Kurama roared back, and formed his own sphere of destructive chakra. Earlier that morning, the fox had used it for the first time, and this was only his second successful attempt at using it. As such, his sphere of chakra was a mere six feet across, and was distorted violently by waves on the surface of the black chakra. "Bijuu Dama!"

The two attacks struck each other, and both were deflected upward where they exploded loudly but harmlessly. Countless flocks of birds took off and scattered at the uproar, and Kurama grinned proudly as he examined his surroundings.

The 'playground' of the young Tailed Beasts was an exceptionally large, open field surrounded by trees on all sides except one. Once, there had been thick green grass on the ground, but as the Bijuu played and fought over time, it was shredded and burned away. However, this wasn't simply a clearing randomly chosen in a forest. At the northern edge of the ravaged field stood a tall, sturdy house of worn grey stone.

Out of that house, an old man with a brass monk's staff in hand emerged. The staff rang like a bell as it struck the stone tiles beneath the man's feet, then fell silent as he reached the end of his porch and stepped onto the dirt. His hair had greyed over the years, but he wore it in the same spiky style with two longer spikes like horns protruding a few inches past the rest of his hair. His eyes were shining, vivid blue with a single black ring running through each one. He was smiling.

"Otou-san!" Kurama grinned, and waved with one of his tails.

"Don't forget where you are," Gyuuki interrupted him by headbutting his older brother. "You're still fighting me!" he called as Kurama tumbled backward.

The fox used all nine of his thick, bushy tails to dig into the earth and stop flying backward. He crawled to his feet, teeth again bared with glee, and fired another laser from his mouth. Gyuuki caught the attack on his left forearm, and sprinted forward on two legs. Kurama stopped firing the beam, and retreated backward while forming another Tailed Beast Ball.

Gyuuki paid no attention to the forming sphere of destruction, and kept charging. He did pause briefly, confused, when Kurama compressed and swallowed the ball, but continued his approach without hesitation. The bull used all eight of his tails of catch Kurama's limbs, and struck the fox with his right forearm. Kurama cried out and recoiled from the force of the blow, but his jaw healed before it was even finished breaking. Gyuuki knew the extent of his brother's healing abilities, and kept attacking. "You should just give up," he paused in his assault to say. "Stop picking these stupid fights."

Kurama snorted, and replied, "Why? Because you're bigger than me? Soon I'll hit my own growth spurt. I'll be as big and strong as you are now, and I'll be the strongest again! So give up, on me giving up!" Gyuuki cocked his head to the side slightly, confused by Kurama opening his jaws wide.

"Bijuu Dama!"

A crimson laser beam exploded from Kurama's mouth, striking Gyuuki in the face hard enough to shake his tentacle-tails loose. The younger, larger Bijuu flew backward just as Kurama had moments ago, shocked and in tremendous pain. Meanwhile, Kurama dropped forward and galloped toward his younger brother on all fours.

The old man stepped in front of the approaching fox, still smiling, and held the oldest Tailed Beast in place with his mastery of the Deva Path. Kurama's eyes widened, and he quickly began, "I swear we didn't mean anything by it! We were just playing around, Otou-san, there's no hard feelings!"

"I know." Hagoromo Ootsuki's smile broadened slightly. "Boys will be boys, as usual with you two. I understand, and that's not why I'm interrupting."

Kurama sighed in relief. "So... what's going on, Otou-san?"

"I wanted to talk to you alone, Kurama. Come now, this is important." The Sage of Six Paths released his son, and turned toward the house calmly.

"...R-Right." If Otou-san considers it important... I should really take this seriously... "Hm?" the Nine-Tails glanced up in surprise when his snout was struck by a raindrop, then another. In moments, the sky opened into a torrential downpour, drenching Kurama's fur. I wonder how long it'll take Shukaku to get inside. Stupid little brother, he doesn't know what he's missing. The fox shook his whole body violently, spraying rainwater everywhere, only to have his coat soaked all over again by more rain. This is nice.

"Kurama," Hagoromo began, and the fox was surprised to find himself passing through a specially made doorway into the Tailed Beasts' wing of the house. "Tell me, have you ever decided what you want in your life? Have you ever thought about it?"

Kurama immediately nodded. "I know exactly what I want! I want to live with you, and my brothers and sisters and Kaa-chan, forever! And I want to always be the biggest and strongest! That's all I ever want."

"...I see," the Sage's smile grew sad. "Kurama, there's something you need to know. I..." he set down his staff and chose an old wooden chair to seat himself comfortably. "I'm growing very old, now. I'm healthy for a man my age, but..."

"But what?" Kurama asked curiously. "You sound like there's something wrong..."

"Most creatures aren't immortal like you are, Kurama. Most of us, humans included, grow older and older until one day our lives are finished. For me, that day is surely on its way. I've lived a long and fulfilling life, but one day soon I'm going to die."

Kurama paled. "...D-Die!?"

"It's not so terrible," Hagoromo replied with another smile. "When I die, I'll leave this world and go to the Pure World, a wonderful place that's always peaceful. I'm not worried about dying, but about what the nine of you will do once I'm gone. I understand that you'll miss me, but I'm focused more on something else. After I'm gone, each of you will need to choose what you want to do with your lives."

"But..." Kurama turned away, frantically searching for words. "But without you, we'll all want to live different lives! That means we'll go to different places! What if we never see each other again?"

"You're free to do whatever you wish with your life, Kurama." The old man's Rinnegan briefly flashed over his eyes, and he coughed quietly. "I think I'm catching a cold," he noted, "but I digress. Do whatever you wish, and take solace in the fact that the nine of you can never truly be seperated. You are one with your brothers and sisters, and no matter how long it takes, you'll always be called together again. You all share a single fate, for better or worse. It may take decades, centuries... maybe even millennia, but the day will come."

"How will we know?"

"Hm?"

"When the time comes for us to see each other again, how will we know?"

"Ah... I believe a human will one day bring you together again, just as I, a human, pulled you apart."

"Does that mean we'll turn into the Ten-Tails again!?"

Hagoromo coughed again. "No, I've done everything I can to prevent that. Look up there, Kurama." The old man pointed to a thick glass window, in which the full moon could be seen shining though a hole in the rainclouds. "The moon is much, much farther away than it appears, and inside it there's a tenth piece of the Juubi, a dead piece with no soul like yours or mine."

He activated his Rinnegan and pointed to his left eye. "Only someone with these eyes will ever be able to bring that piece down here again, and I believe that my heir... surely he'll unlock the complete power of the Rinnegan... that person will be the one who unites the nine of you. You'll be more connected than you are now, but certainly not so much as to turn back into the Ten-Tails. The next Sage of Six Paths will surely know that bringing it back would end this world. I hope my heir will have more sense than that."

X

"I hate the rain even more now," Shukaku mumbled miserably.

"I... I think I agree with you now," Kurama answered, with tears melting together with the rainwater trickling down his snout.

A seven-foot-long box of pale brown wood was being lowered into a freshly dug grave by the two heirs of the Ootsuki Clan.

Matatabi's blue flames sizzled weakly as the raindrops struck them. "Otou-san."

"We'll make sure the world never forgets him," Gyuuki added sadly. "That's all we can really do."

"I..." Kurama paused, then nodded. "That's a good thing to do with our lives, little brother."

"...I wonder..." Saiken pointed subtly with one of his tails, to where the oldest human son of the Sage, Indra Ootsuki, was glaring coldly at the younger, Ashura Ootsuki. "...Why he's doing that..."

"Otou-san chose Ashura-niisan as his heir," Choumei noted. "Indra-niisan wanted to be the next head of the Ootsuki Clan, and since he has magic eyes like Otou-san does... did," she rephrased sadly. "He thinks he should have been chosen."

Kurama frowned. "This feeling..."

"What?" Shukaku leaned in toward Kurama. "What feeling?"

"It's hatred. I'm sensing Indra-niisan's hatred... I think he's going to try and take over the clan."

"That's...!" Kokuou growled uneasily. "No brother of mine would try anything like that... are you sure, Kurama-niisan?"

"No," he replied shortly. "I'm not sure, but... If he tries, I'm going to stop him. Otou-san wouldn't want his successor's heart to be full of hatred like what I'm feeling. He hates Ashura, really hates him. Doesn't he know how much it would hurt Otou-san, to know that one of his sons wanted to kill the other?" Kurama's ears slid back, and he closed his eyes for a moment. "It's unforgivable."

"Kurama... what are you going to do?" Matatabi stepped toward her older brother, but Kurama began walking toward Indra. By this point Hagoromo's cofffin had been lowered into the earth, and the two brothers were standing over it. Only Ashura was crying, while Indra stared coldly at the lid of the coffin. "K-Kurama!" she called again, but he was already gone.

"Indra-niisan..." Kurama addressed the human sadly, and the young man looked up at him with his spiralling doujutsu active. "I... I can sense the feelings in your heart, niisan. Whatever you're planning to do..." he stepped forward again, but froze when Indra's doujutsu began to spin.

"Don't talk to me like that, fox. A demon like you could never understand a human's feelings."

"That's not-"

"Not what?" Indra scowled furiously. "Not true? Not fair? Don't even bother. You think you know what I'm going to do, and why, but you don't! Let me tell you something even a demon is sure to understand! Power is the only true path to peace! A ruler must be strong, strong enough that the world is too scared to start any wars. That's the only way humans can have peace. I can be that strong, but you?" he turned to his younger brother. "If you have your way, the world will fall into war forever. You're too weak to keep the peace, Ashura."

"Indra-niisan..." Ashura and Kurama began, but the other boy turned and walked away. Kurama shuddered at the sensation of the boy's hatred growing even more intense. "Ashura-niisan, I think he's going to try to kill you."

"He'd never do that," Ashura smiled sadly. "He's not that cold, you'll see. And don't take it to heart, what he said about demons, Kurama-niisan. If I can understand your feelings now, I'm sure you can understand mine, which means he was wrong. Your heart can feel the same things a human's heart can. Besides, he really didn't mean it anyway. He's still our brother, ya know?"

"...Okay," Kurama agreed. But if you ever come back, Indra-niisan, I'll be watching. If you ever try anything, I swear I'll stop you.

X

It didn't take long.

That night, a shadow dressed in black, with spinning, spiralling eyes shining faintly purple, crept through the silent halls of the Ootsuki Clan household. In his right hand he wielded his father's katana, freshly sharpened and oiled. Otou-san... made the wrong choice, little brother. I can't let things stand like this! I have to take the choice out of his hands, and yours. I have to do what's right.

With his free left hand, Indra pulled open the door to his brother's bedroom, and screamed when he saw Kurama seated behind it, waiting for him. Immediately, this woke Ashura and the rest of the household, and Indra retreated away from Kurama into the shadows.

"That's..." Ashura climbed out of bed as quickly as he could, and made his way to Kurama's side. "That's Otou-san's sword! Niisan, what are you doing with...?"

"I'm sorry," Kurama mumbled, "but I told you he was planning this. I told you he'd try to-"

"Shut up!" Indra roared, and emerged from the darkness with enough speed to catch Kurama off-guard and cut his snout with the tip of the sword. The Nine-Tails quickly healed, and didn't bother to retreat or advance. "Don't just sit there judging me like that," Indra pointed the sword at the fox. "Who the hell are you to judge me, demon? You're just a piece of a greater monster that my father killed, Nine-Tails."

Kurama's eyes narrowed slightly with anger, which worried Ashura. "...You really do mean that." Indra grinned, and his unique doujutsu spun wildly as he took a kenjutsu stance. "Those feelings I can see in your heart... that hatred... it has no place here, Indra." Kurama stepped forward. "Leave, and never come back."

Ashura's eyes widened at the sight of his brother drawing in a deep breath, and he threw his hands forward. "Rashoumon!"

"Great Fire Annihilation!"

If anyone had been watching from outside the house, they would have described the result as an explosion. In reality, it was the wall of wood growing outward that caused the violent destruction of the house, and Indra's flames hadn't done any real damage to the stone. In the aftermath, pieces of walls and floors were scorched amd scattered in all directions, so it still looked like an explosion.

Indra's eyes darted quickly to his left, and he twisted the katana in his hands to catch a thin beam of fiery orange light which threatened to cut him in two. "You can't surprise me, Nine-Tails. My eyes show me every detail of every moment that passes. I see everything!"

"Ashura-niisan," Kurama began, cutting off the beam of energy from his mouth. "Get the others. I'll hold off Indra until you get back."

"I..." Ashura glanced one last time at his older brother, then sighed. "All right."

"Coward," Indra sneered as his brother ran away in search of the other Tailed Beasts.

"He's not a coward," Kurama replied, "He just has enough common sense to remember how fiercely we demons can fight. It's not safe for us to have any spectators." He opened his mouth and released a swarm of blue and red chakra spheres. "Our father defeated the Ten-Tails with that sword you're holding, and the Ten-Tails was a monster far worse than me." the innocently floating orbs began to coalesce into a much larger one in front of Kurama. "So when I defeat you here, I'll show you just how poorly you compare to the Sage of Six Paths! Bijuu Dama!"

Indra snarled, and gathered his own chakra. "Susanoo!" Bright yellow light engulfed him, just before the Tailed Beast Ball struck and exploded. When the smoke cleared, it revealed a cracked skeleton of transparent, glowing yellow chakra with Indra in the center of its ribcage. "This is the power of my eyes, the Mangekyougan. I acheived this power through love over many years. Through hatred, I perfected it in a single day. This is the power of my hatred."

A layer of flesh grew over the bones of Susanoo, and after that came a suit of samurai-style armor. In place of a helmet, it wore a hood with a skull-shaped mask over its face. The chakra construct had six fingers on each of its four hands, and wielded a katana in both of the hands on its right side. The upper left hand held a thick, recurved bow, and the lower left one grasped a quiver full of glowing yellow arrows.

Kurama gazed up at the face of Susanoo, and found himself oddly curious. Otou-san never had a power like this... but Indra was born when the Ten-Tails was still sealed inside him, so maybe its chakra mutated the Rinnegan into this... "I've never seen chakra used like this before," he commented.

"Of course you haven't. It's my kekkei genkai, and I'm the first person ever to wield it. This is the Mangekyougan's single Path." Susanoo stepped forward, and an arrow floated up from the quiver to the bowstring. The weapon drew itself back, and Indra aimed the taut bow at Kurama. "Why aren't you terrified of it?"

"It'll take more chakra than this to impress a Tailed Beast," Kurama replied coldly. "I can put this much power into a single Bijuu Dama!" The Nine-Tails opened his mouth to prove that point, and began shaping a Tailed Beast Ball.

Indra released his arrow, spearing through the Tailed Beast Ball and detonating it prematurely. For a brief moment Indra grinned, but then he thought about what he'd just done and recoiled in horror. He'd just shot one of his brothers in the face and then watched as that same brother was caught in a massive fiery explosion. And all the while, he was smiling.

Just as Indra began feeling the urge to throw up, Kurama emerged from the remaining smoke and fire from the explosion, completely unharmed. As he flew through the air toward Susanoo's chest, he roared in fury, and when his claws pierced and took hold in the layer of yellow armor, he glared through the chakra and called, "Bijuu Dama!"

Indra screamed at the crimson light that was growing brighter in Kurama's mouth, just before it struck. Miraculously, he found himself alive when he opened his eyes several seconds later, surrounded by scattered pieces of Susanoo's body and armor. "Indra... tell me..." Kurama drew the boy's attention as he approached, "Is this what Otou-san would want?"

"I..." Indra sat up weakly, and looked at the Nine-Tails with his Mangekyougan still active. "I don't... I don't care! I'm not doing this for the old man, I'm doing it because it's right! I refuse to let this world tear itself apart with war and hatred again. That's why Ashura has to die, for peace!"

"This doesn't look like peace to me."

"SHUT UP! What the hell do you know about peace!? You're a demon! You're a part of the Ten-Tails! It's your fault all of this is happening in the first place!" Indra crawled to his feet, panting, and glared at Kurama. "Genjutsu: Mangekyougan!"

Kurama flinched away and screamed at the horrors Indra was showing him. The older son of the Sage glanced around and spotted his father's sword. The blade was warped and bent uselessly, but he picked it up and pulled out a knife hidden inside the hilt. He quietly approached the fox, and tightened his grip on the dagger, murmuring, "If I strike you in the heart, and keep the knife there so you don't regenerate... that should be enough to kill you..."

"Indra, stop." Ashura appeared in front of his older brother, and grasped the blade of the dagger between them. Indra viciously tugged at the weapon's hilt, but instead of cutting Ashura's hand, the hilt slipped from his grasp. Ashura tossed the blade aside, revealing that he'd covered it in a layer of wood and that his hand was unharmed. "I sent Choumei to gather the other Tailed Beasts from around the village, and they're on their way here. Run, or they'll kill you."

"...Fine," Indra snarled, and turned to glare at Kurama while making a hand seal. "Genjutsu, Release." the fox sighed in relief as the images of his own personal hell vanished. "The next time I see you, little brother, I'll show you what he saw, and then I'll kill you."

"Just shut up and run," Ashura ordered firmly, and Indra vanished with a Body Flicker.

X

Centuries later, Kurama found himself staring up at a thunderstorm, bored and uncomfortable in the rain. "Isobu... I envy you. You've got a lake you can dive under, to get away from this damned rain..." he scratched idly at the earth under his paws, considering whether to try digging a burrow. The effort it would take to excavate such a massive cavern without it caving in... Damn it, they always cave in. Maybe I could capture some humans with the Earth Release, and force them to make me a cave or something...

Kurama roared in shock, and glared down at his forearms which were suddenly wrapped in massive, glowing green chains. His hind legs, neck, and tails then received a similar treatment. "What is this!? Ninjutsu!?" he growled in fury, and searched for his attackers. The team of ninjas had hidden themselves well in the forest below, but Kurama managed to spot one and noted that his eyes were glowing crimson.

"UCHIHA!" He bellowed, and formed a Tailed Beast Ball which he fired without compressing. The little human descendant of his old foe screamed, and Kurama felt a small measure of satisfaction as the screaming was drowned out by the sound of his attack exploding.

"Damn! It got Komaru!" Another human voice called. "Mito-sama, what do we do!?"

"I'll handle it," a woman's voice declared calmly, and she appeared on his snout, peering into his crimson eyes. "Nine-Tails, the situation is simple. The countless villages you've destroyed have pooled their resources to hire the Uzumaki Clan. We're going to seal you into my body, and I'll be your Jinchuuriki for the rest of my life."

"Uzumaki..." Kurama shook his head as much as he could with his neck bound, attempting to throw Mito off. "I've never heard of such a name."

"But you've surely heard this name," she replied calmly, and locked eyes with him. "Rinnegan." Kurama froze, and she laid both hands on the fur between his eyes. "Human Path." As she scanned through his memories, she called to her team, "With this power I can accelerate the sealing process! Keep him from moving, and guide his chakra into my body! I'll do the rest!"

"How long!?" Another crimson-haired Uzumaki called.

"Two hours," she answered, and turned her attention back to Kurama. "Don't bother fighting it, Kurama. Just come with me, and we can talk alone." Kurama squeezed his eyes shut, and flinched as the sounds of rain and ninjas yelling orders fell away.

When he opened his eyes, he was chained to a boulder under a bright, sunlit sky. He roared as each of his tails were pierced by wooden stakes that held him even more tightly to the boulder. He glanced around in search of a foe to destroy, and saw Mito standing beside him, surveying her inner world. Most of it was a simple, flat plane of brown earth, but there were a few streams of shimmering blue water that wound through channels in the dirt.

"I understand your pain," she admitted, and he noticed that her left hand was still touching one of his tails, pulling on his memories. "I've seen much of your life story already, but you see, there are consequences for your actions." she waved her right hand, and showed him the image of a human on his knees, weeping in front of a burnt-down home. "This man's name is Kosuke Aburame. He's not a ninja, nor has he or his family ever commited any crime against you or your family. And yet, his wife burned to death in that house. You killed her."

Kurama snarled at the pain of the stakes in his tails. "All of you humans are alike. Just because he never had the power to hurt me, doesn't mean he wouldn't if he had the chance!"

Mito stroked his fur sadly. "But that's not why you razed his village. You did it because you were angry at many thousands of humans who've already died of old age. Because you can't hurt them, you just picked another human village randomly and burned it down. When that gave you no satisfaction, you picked another one and did it again. This is the twenty-seventh village you destroyed."

"Don't lecture me," Kurama growled. "You don't understand what your kind has done to mine."

"I understand as much as you do," she replied. "I'm living your life right now, exactly as you lived it. I'm fighting Matatabi, just as you did. I'm trying to explain that it wasn't me who killed that human boy she raised. It was the humans, they're trying to turn all of us against each other... But she isn't listening. She's attacking me, fighting me... I'm hitting her back, gathering my chakra into a black sphere."

"Stop it. Don't say any more!"

Several more stakes impaled Kurama's chest and arms. "Kosuke Aburame had a daughter who survived your attack on her village. She became a ninja and dreamed of vengeance for her mother. She's here now, draining your chakra with specially trained insects from the ninja branch of her clan. She's helping us seal you."

Kurama merely glared at Mito, who sighed. "I can see this will take a long time, but I have hope," she admitted. "One day, I'll be too old to contain your chakra any longer, and then I'll have to decide what should happen with you. If the choice was yours... what fate would you ask for, Kurama?"

X

I would never have asked for this fate.

Kurama roared mournfully at the ceiling of his cage, and slumped on the golden floor. Sealed inside a human for the third time... He glared down at the blond-haired infant that had begun crying when he roared. "Be quiet, you. I'm no happier about this than you are." the baby continued to cry, and the sound echoed throughout the damp sewer Kurama had been sealed inside.

He glared around at the pipes and dim red lights. "This is such a miserable inner world," he noted, and scratched at the floor of the cage. "Pathetic."

The infant Uzumaki screamed and sobbed.

"Kushina..." the boy's crying grew louder at his mother's name, "I don't even know this child's name." he sighed. "If it's a boy, then his name is Naruto, but if she's a girl, I suggested Mito, and Minato wanted to call her Akahana... if this child is a girl, which name did you pick?"

Kurama scraped his claws along the bars of the cage, making them ring loudly. This in turn provoked Naruto to weep louder. "I'm sure I'll hear someone say your name eventually, but for now I'll call you Naruto. Now, let me tell you something. Mere days ago..." he seated himself in front of the cage door, and spoke softly to the boy, "I convinced myself that your mother was the one who would bring peace to this world. I convinced myself that she was moments away from awakening the Rinnegan, but then... Madara came back."

Naruto sobbed again, but this time he was quieter. Kurama took that as a good sign. "You're her son... or daughter, as the case may be... so you might unlock your own Rinnegan one day. If that day comes, I'll at least give you the benefit of the doubt, but I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you. You don't particularly strike me as a heroic Child of Prophecy born to reunite the Tailed Beasts and bring peace to the world... That might be because you're currently a squishy little bundle of noise and patchy yellow fur, but I digress."

"So, my point is," he continued, "I'm going to sleep. Wake me when you have something impressive to show me, something to prove me wrong." Naruto sniffled. "Wake me up and show me the Rinnegan, then we'll talk."

Kurama rested his head on his paws, and closed his eyes.

Moments later, he felt a violent tug on one of his tails, and a stream of crimson chakra was torn from it. "What is-!?" He snarled, and looked around. The infant was gone, and the wisps of red chakra being pulled from his body were floating up and fading away. "...What is this? Am I being extracted already?" he sniffed, and peered through Naruto's eyes. "No... that's..."

Naruto was looking down at the ground, and there was a black-haired human girl laying in his field of vision. She had been stabbed in many places with senbon, and blood stained the beige hoodie she wore. "How long have I been sleeping?" he wondered aloud. "How old is Naruto... or Mito, or Akahana... how old is the human now?"

What would you do to save her? To erase this moment as though it had never happened to her?

Kurama jumped. "That voice... there's so much power in that voice, but I don't recognize it-"

Anything. I'd fight, kill, and die. I'd do anything for her.

"A boy," Kurama breathed, recognizing the masculine tone of the voice. "So your name is Naruto, hm?"

Then you are worthy. Save her.

Kurama shuddered as the flow of his chakra was severed, shoved aside violently by a much larger reserve of power, no, potential power. Kurama briefly wondered what sort of power could possibly suppress his, so easily and in a single instant, and then it hit him. "The Rinnegan!?"

"I'm sorry-" Kurama glanced up through Naruto's eyes, amused to see an enemy shinobi standing in front of his newly empowered Jinchuuriki, apparently hiding inside some structure of ice or crystal. This poor child was about to be torn apart, Kurama was sure.

"Deva Path: Shinra Tensei."

The Nine-Tails grinned in anticipation, but Naruto turned his attention away from the stunned enemy in an instant. "No, you stupid human, what are you doing!? Kill him, don't turn away! Stupid-"

"Outer Path: Rinne Tensei." Kurama's eyes widened, and he watched the black-haired girl gasp and open her pale, pupilless eyes. This kid has potential, he realized, and began to grin. Hm... those eyes... she's a Hyuuga. He risked killing himself with Rinne Tensei for her... he must care for her a great deal. Interesting.

"N-Naruto-kun?"

Ah... so they did name you Naruto, after all, the Nine-Tails closed his eyes thoughtfully.

"Hinata! Are you all right?"

"Y-Your eyes..."

"They hurt," the boy declared softly, but Kurama had turned away from the scene. Naruto Namikaze... or do they call you Uzumaki? I think Naruto Uzumaki has a nicer ring to it, but regardless... I'm going to read your memories. I want to know a bit about you, before the time comes for us to meet.

X

"Kurama. Yo, Kurama! Wake up, fuzzball!" Naruto shook the fox's shoulder, and Kurama gasped as he woke. "We let you sleep in, but we gotta get moving, ya know?"

The Nine-Tails blinked tiredly, and glanced up at the sky. The sun was shining in an open plane of blue, and it looked to be at high noon above them. Kurama got up, and growled as he stretched and cracked several joints. "...Right... I've kept you all waiting. Let's go, then." he shook some dust from his fur, and flexed his tail comfortably.

"Kinda surreal, sleeping in the real world for the first time in a century. Did ya have weird dreams?" Shukaku asked without looking away from the book in his hand. "I did."

Kurama shook his head. "Not dreams, memories."

"Was there anything I'd remember?" The sand demon asked.

"Otou-san, and our human brothers," Kurama replied, and watched the tanuki wince. "That sort of memory."

Naruto laid a hand on Kurama's shoulder. "If you ever wanna talk about it..." he trailed off.

"Some other time," the fox replied, and turned to Jiraiya. "Where's our first stop?"

"A civilian village called Tanzaku. Tsunade always liked the sake there, and there was this one casino she kept going back to." the sage gave a quick shrug. "It seems like a good place to start."

Naruto nodded. "Okay, let's see. There's six humans here and two Bijuu, so let's stick together as four-man squads with three humans and one Bijuu each. Hina-chan, Haku and Kurama, you're with me. Pervy Sage, Gaara and Tenten, you guys go with Shukaku. We'll mostly stick together as a single group anyway, but in case we have to split up, we know how to do it, ya know?"

Jiraiya blinked. "Good idea, but it reminds me... Naruto, come with me. We need to talk alone for a second."

"Hm?" Naruto shrugged, and followed Jiraiya away from the group. "What's wrong, Pervy Sage?"

"You're ANBU and a Jinchuuriki, so you really can't afford to not know something like this... Itachi Uchiha is a mole in the Akatsuki. He reports directly to me."

Naruto's eyes widened, not with shock but with recollection. "R-Right! Hiashi told me and Hina-chan about that... I can't believe I forgot!"

"Hiashi let that slip to you?"

Naruto brought a finger to his own lips. "Sh, you can't tell anyone, and I can't tell you what context it was in. All I can say is Hiashi knew what he was doing by telling us."

"I see..." Jiraiya shrugged. "Hiashi will trust me, so when we get back to Konoha I'll ask him about this. Whatever you're planning with the Hyuuga Clan, a renowned shinobi of my caliber might be able to help." he paused then, and cast a worried glance at Naruto. "It doesn't involve betraying the village in any way, does it?"

Naruto quickly shook his head. "Nothing like that. I wish I could explain just how wrong you were there."

"I'm not gonna ask you to betray Hiashi's trust. I only brought Itachi up to remind you not to strike a killing blow on him. He and Kisame are probably tracking us, and we'll have to fight them again soon, without backup from the village. When the time comes, try not to kill Itachi."

"Understood," Naruto replied. "Do you really think any of us would be capable of taking him down?"

"I think you, Hinata and the Nine-T... Kurama... would be able to fatally wound him, yes. That's not even counting Haku, because I haven't seen what he can do firsthand. All I know is that sensei said he was ANBU-level."

"But..." Naruto frowned. "I thought ANBU had varying power levels between Chuunin and Jounin..."

"That's right," Jiraiya nodded, "but when someone says ANBU-level, they mean somewhere between Jounin and Kage-level, closer to Jounin than Kage. It's the same way S-rank refers to someone closer to Kage than Jounin, although we only use that term for missing-nin. An 'S-rank' shinobi working in a village would still be called ANBU-level, and they'd most likely be a current or former ANBU. Kakashi Hatake is a great example."

"Hey, why'd he leave the ANBU, anyway?" Naruto asked, puzzled.

"I don't know. Maybe he thought he couldn't handle it, maybe he wanted to go back to normal missions, maybe the Yamanaka who examined his mind decided he needed a break from the dark side of shinobi life." Jiraiya sighed. "It's a personal thing that most former ANBU don't talk about."

"Wait... why would a Yamanaka examine his mind when he was already ANBU?"

"No one told you? Naruto, everyone who wears one of those masks has to constantly retake that test, once every two years. That's called an ANBU 'term.' A shinobi can be ANBU for two years, then retake the test, pass, and be ANBU for two more years. Or, they can go back to the regular forces of ninja, whether they take the test and fail or opt out of it. There are some ninja who use this to move back and forth between Jounin and ANBU rank every few years."

"So... in two years, I'll have to take that test again?"

"Or you might opt out of it." the Toad Sage turned and started walking away. "There could always be some reason for you to make that choice. Now, let's get back on the road, and find our Fifth Hokage."

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