If there's something Naruto hated, it was being woken up suddenly in the middle of the night on an uncomfortable broken bed.
His whole body was throbbing with pain. That nightmare was incredibly real. And it's also strange and horrible, too. He could still remember quite clearly about his friends dying, his failure at beating Madara, Kurama talking to him and a huge explosion…
He groaned and burrowed his face deeper into the pillow. He didn't want to remind himself about that terrible dream anymore.
"Uhg my head, HURTS." Naruto thought, as he opened his eyes to see where he was. "WHAT THE?" Naruto screamed and jumped out of the broken bed he was lying on. "What the hell is wrong with my voice?"
His voice was now exactly what it was when he was three years old.
The conversation he had with Kurama then came flooding back to him, causing him to fall back, dumbstruck, before his lips curved upwards into a smile as tears rolled down his now toddler cheeks.
"I'm back! I can save them! I can really save all of them!" Naruto thought as he raised his palm into the air, right before closing it into a fist to show his determination.
"You mean WE'LL save them, brat."
"Kurama!" Three year old Naruto immediately entered his mindscape and ran to hug the nine-tailed fox.
"Not a step further brat. We may be comrades but we're still not at the hugging stage yet."
Naruto visibly deflated at the rejection and opted for a wide smile instead. 'Thank you Kurama, without you, we would've never gotten this chance."
Naruto sighed and then let out a chuckle. "Time to do it all again I guess."
"Yeah, I know. Well, if you could do it once, you could do it again, can't you? Or are you afraid?"
Naruto shook his head vigorously. "No, of course not. This time, I swear I will not fail!"
And with that, tiny Naruto turned and left the mindscape as Kurama snorted.
If Naruto remembered correctly, he was in the tender loving care of the matron of Konoha's Orphanage. Which didn't actually equate to much. The woman was terrified of what he was, terrified of what he could do. So she would more often leave him by himself then be with him more than she had to.
As far as Naruto was concerned, it all turned out quite well. After all, being sent to an orphanage that would kick him out in a few years was a far cry from being tortured and brainwashed in Root. He was honestly happy to go with the frightened and neglectful women instead of Danzo.
Fast forward about a week
And so three year old Naruto was left to his own devices. And so Naruto did what Naruto did best, train. But as he quickly realised, his body was that of a toddler, and could not do any form of exercise beyond a simple pushup. Another thing he realised was that his Chakra was now running rampant, his hard-earned chakra control much, much worse than he remembered.
Naruto held out his right hand, and tried to make a Rasengan. It's worth mentioning that, before the Fourth Shinobi World War, he had finally managed to complete the jutsu, and now he could do it with one hand, just like Jiraiya and his father.
The chakra spun around his palm, focused, and exploded on his face.
"Aaaaarrrrgh!" Naruto screamed when his body was thrown away like a ragdoll and slammed into a tree nearby. "Damn it, what's happening?"
'This is gonna be a problem. Hey, Naruto, try to make it with a Shadow Clone like you used to do before.' From inside his head, Kurama suggested worriedly. Naruto nodded, and made a Shadow Clone. He started to focus his chakra into his palm, while the clone spun it. It exploded even more violently, sending him and the clone crashing into the tree again.
'Oh dear.'
'Kurama! What's happening to me?' Naruto asked in panic.
'I'm sorry Naruto. Your chakra control was completely ruined.' The fox sighed, and Naruto's face twisted into a horror gape.
"It's probably because I'm not fighting the seal anymore, and so you're still developing Chakra system is being constantly stimulated by a trickle of my Chakra through the seal, like your father designed it to."
"What?! NOOOOOOO!" He wailed, "But that means all my skills are down the toilet! Years of training wasted!"
"Don't forget that you're only three years old Naruto, your body can barely do a single pushup. That's another major problem you'll have to work on."
The realisation caused anime tears started to pour out of Naruto's eyes like two small streams.
"Start training you idiot!' Kurama chided him. 'Don't you realize that you're wasting your time crying? Think of yourself now as a blank canvas, you could be much stronger than your previous self if you start training early, besides, isn't our entire purpose of coming back to get stronger and save everyone?"
"You're right Kurama." Naruto, whose tears were now completely dry, sat up and groaned. "But what do I do about my Chakra right now? I mean, I can whip my body back into shape easily but my Chakra is my main concern."
Tilting his head, Kurama began to mutter, "What was it the old man did?… Ah! Now I remember!"
"Naruto! Get onto the Hokage faces!" He ordered. Naruto, still confused, did as he asked, but he took quite a while seeing as his body was so small and weak.
Once at the top, Kurama told him to get onto his father's stone head. While it was a beautiful sunset, with a nice breeze in the air, Naruto couldn't fathom why Kurama had asked him to come up here.
"Sit in the lotus position." He ordered. Before Naruto could object or question his instruction, he continued. "This is a breathing technique I saw the old man Hagoromo do, so just be quiet and listen to me. Close your eyes."
Naruto surprisingly did as he was told.
"Breathe in and out, he used to say. Feel your core, imagine breathing pure Chakra. Breathe deeply, in and out." Kurama said as he closed his eyes, recalling Hagoromo's lessons. "Breathe. Breathe. Feel the air. Feel the wind on your face. Feel the ground beneath you. Feel your Chakra, feel its power, its energy, pumping through your veins. Coursing through you, travelling to every nerve in your body like a shock."
Kurama paused. "Connect it with the environment around you. Channel Its power with your every breath. Feel it swirling in your body like a maelstrom."
"Now do it."
As Naruto opened his eyes, he realised, with a start, that his every breath, his every inhale and exhale, he was breathing pure wind Chakra. His body felt lighter, stronger, more full of energy. He almost felt as if he could take on Pain.
"Do it, Naruto."
Swirling his Chakra once more, Naruto felt the wind Chakra connecting him to his environment, stabilising and augmenting the raw Chakra coursing through his body. And he succeeded in making a Rasengan. A small, golf-ball sized Rasengan, but a Rasengan nonetheless.
However, he immediately stopped his method of breathing and the Rasengan dispersed as his lungs began to hurt.
"That…hahaha….was awesome!" Naruto exclaimed breathlessly. "I was breathing wind! I felt as if I could run to Suna and back! That feeling was incredible!"
"Thats enough for now." Kurama advised. "That, you brat, was Chakra breathing, a technique invented by the old man himself. You were expelling your Chakra as wind Chakra to the environment, before inhaling the wind around you to amplify it. That's why your body felt so full of energy. And yes, it should feel like sage mode, while not the same, they have the same fundamental concept. I want you to be practising this technique everyday for at least ten minutes, and then slowly build it up. Trust me, it will help tremendously."
"Heh, you don't need to convince me! I just felt the technique for myself, and it was amazing!"
"Oh and by the way, I wouldn't recommend using the Rasengan for the next couple years." Before Naruto could object, Kurama explained himself. "Your Chakra network is still developing, and the Rasengan is too much of a strain on it. I don't want you using it until you are at least 10 years old. Understand?"
Naruto, while miffed, saw the logic in his argument and agreed. "Same goes for the Kagebunshin no jutsu, you cannot use your clones until you are at least 8 years old. With your level of control right now, you wouldn't be able to maintain more than one anyway."
Now Naruto was outraged. His signature jutsu! But once again, Kurama's argument made sense and he had no choice but to listen.
"You should really be focusing on your Chakra control and physical shape right now, so forget about your jutsu for the time being and restart your basic training."
Three year old Naruto deflated as he let out a long sigh. His second life was off to a great start.