Naruto's eyes fluttered open. He was in familiar yet strange, empty place, however his normal companion wasn't there. He was alone, or so he thought. He was laying in water, in the yellow tinted space.
"Wait," Naruto placed a hand on his head remembering the past few days, "Am I dead?"
"You are not dead," a voice called, "Not yet anyways."
Naruto sat up quickly to face whoever the voice had just came from. It wasn't Kurama. Naruto's eyes widened at the man in front of him.
"Where is Kurama?" Naruto asked, "What have you done with him?"
"I have not done anything to him," the man replied, "Your enemy, Pein has, and I will get to that in a moment."
"Where am I?" Naruto asked, "And who are you?"
"This is the space between reality and the afterlife," the man continued as Naruto stood up.
"Afterlife?" Naruto asked, "But I am not dead?"
The man shook his head.
"Again, who are you?"
The man was sitting in a cross-legged position, but he was floating. He was a pale-skinned man, with deep wrinkles. He had spiky, shoulder-length, pale brown hair and horn-like protrusions extending from either side of his forehead. There was chin-length, braided lock hanging in front of his left ear. He also sported a goatee which was extremely long, almost down to his waist. Naruto noted that he had Byakugan like eyes. The man wore a white, full-length kimono with a pattern of six black magatama around a high collar, beneath which, he wore a necklace which was also made up of six black magatama.
Immediately, Naruto's eyes went straight for the red Rinnegan-like marking in the center of his forehead.
"The Rinnegan!"
"I am just a monk who came to see how Ninshu ends."
"Ninshu?" Naruto repeated.
"My name is Hagoromo Otsutsuki," the man said, "but you may know me as the Sage of the Six Paths, the founder of Ninshu."
"What? You are the Sage of the Six Paths? The guy who created Ninshu?" Naruto exclaimed.
"Yes," Hagoromo nodded, "But first, as the reincarnation of Asura, you must listen to what I tell you. It is your duty."
"Who is Asura?"
"I shall explain from the very beginning, about my sons and my mother," Hagoromo started to explain but was then cut off by the blonde.
"As much as I would like to sit around and listen to your story, we are in the middle of a war," Naruto said.
"Naruto."
"Huh?" Naruto stopped.
"At this moment, the war is at a standstill," Hagoromo explained, "You've already died."
"What?" Naruto exclaimed, "I'm dead? You just said I wasn't!"
"You have not crossed over to the afterlife, but to everyone else in the outside world, you are dead," the sage nodded, "Kurama was extracted from you, and you were killed as a result."
"Kurama," Naruto absent mindedly put his hand on his stomach.
"But, right now as I mentioned, you are lingering in space between reality and the afterlife. I am here to assist if you will let me," the sage continued.
Naruto nodded.
"You see, my mother came from a distant world to obtain the chakra fruit from the divine tree. She ingested the chakra fruit from the tree, gained immense power, and then ruled this land. People both worshiped and feared her. She then gave birth to me and my brother.
"But a power that is too strong creates conflict, and in the end, to atone for my mother's sins, my brother and I fought the ten tails, which was the incarnation of the divine tree. It had gone berserk, trying to reclaim its chakra. It was a violent and hard battle, but in the end, we were victorious. We sealed the ten tails inside me."
"Wait," Naruto stopped him, "The ten tails? The divine tree? There is another tailed beast besides the nine that we know about?"
"The nine tailed beasts that you know were created by dividing the chakra of the ten tails, which is from the divine tree, where all chakra came from originally."
"Oh," Naruto thought for a moment, still not fully understanding, "Okay."
But then Naruto smiled.
"Hm?"
"I was right! Kurama wasn't just a ball of hatred or chakra. Someone created him."
The sage nodded, then continued, "Later on, I fathered two sons, Asura and Indra. While they were both my sons, one had inherited my strong chakra while the other was rather weak. Indra was truly a genius, and he took pride in being different from others. He believed he could do anything on his own. In contrast, Asura was never successful; he could never do anything on his own.
"Asura always worked hard, helped others, and depended on allies, but those allies always answered his calls; this created harmony. Through the way Asura lived, I decided to entrust Ninshu to him, but Indra wouldn't accept it. Thus began a long feud between them that would span generations. When they died, their chakra was reincarnated into the next generation, and it continued this path until now it has reached your generation."
Naruto looked at him, "My generation? If I am the reincarnation of Asura, then who is Indra? Who am I supposed to be feuding with? Pein?"
"No," the sage shook his head, "Sasuke."
"Sasuke?" Naruto replied, slightly taken aback, "I know we haven't always gotten along, but a feud?"
"Yes, if the feud between you has not settled, it will move on to the next generation."
"Okay, look, I know Sasuke hates me," Naruto scratched the back of his head, "So, I just avoided him and tried not to piss him off."
"At some point, you and Sasuke will need to settle the feud, but for now, I need you to focus on Pein."
"What about Pein?" Naruto asked.
"I intended for chakra to connect individuals, but unification through power is a rampage. My mother was a being that was feared. The same could be said about Pein; if he continues to gain power, he will eventually upset the balance of the world. I want you to stop Pein."
"Me?" Naruto asked.
"Yes."
"I can't go up against Pein on my own," Naruto argued, "I mean, the Kages couldn't even be on par with him, so how am I supposed to fight him? How am I supposed to stop him?"
"Your circumstances, your will. There is something different and special about you compared to all the other vessels. So, I am placing a bet on you and your potential."
"What's so special about me?"
"You were able to befriend Kurama?"
Naruto smiled and placed a hand on his stomach, "Yeah."
"You have something in you that invites others to trust you," the sage explained, "Kurama, the most stubborn of the tailed beasts, came to trust you. He placed his trust in you. The others will too, I am certain."
"Others?" Naruto repeats.
The Sage nodded, then yelled, "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"
Naruto's eyes widened in shock as the smoke cleared from the summoning, and all the tailed beasts appeared in a circle around him; then, his eyes landed on the fox.
"Kurama!" Naruto smiled at him.
"Hn," the fox nodded.
Naruto looked around at each one, then turned to the sage, "But how are they here? I thought Pein had sealed all but Gyuuki and…."
Naruto suddenly turned towards and looked at the Ichibi, "I'm sorry, what is your name?"
Kurama and the Sage chuckled.
"Eh, you want to know my name?" the Ichibi asked.
"Yes," Naruto smiled.
"Shukaku," the Ichibi replied.
"Thanks!" Naruto continued smiling at him, then turned back to the Sage.
"So, what is Pein trying to do?" Naruto asked, "How are they here? I thought Pein had sealed all but Gyuuki and Shukaku."
"These are just their spirits," The sage explained, "Pein has taken their chakra, but I can summon their spirits."
"Oh," Naruto nodded.
"I never wanted them to become weapons or to be used for war."
Naruto nodded, "They are living beings, their own person. I promised Kurama that I would ensure he would be set free when the war was over. I intend to keep that promise."
"Good. Pein seems to be trying to collect all the tailed beasts to recreate the ten tails. He has the husk, the Gedo Mazo, and has been sealing them in it," the sage explained, "I need you and Sasuke to stop him."
"Me and Sasuke?"
"Yes, I made the mistake of only trusting Asura before, but now I need both the reincarnates of my sons to ensure the world has balance."
Naruto nodded.
"So, I will ask you, will you stop Pein?
Naruto nodded, "I will stop Pein."
In the mind cape of the other reincarnate, the Sage was having a similar discussion with Sasuke.
"I will entrust my power to both my sons," the sage said, "You and Naruto."
Sasuke nodded.
"So, I will ask you, will you stop Pein?"
Sasuke nodded, "I will stop Pein."
The scene in Naruto's mind and Sasuke's were identical.
"Now then," the sage held his left hand to Sasuke and his right hand up to Naruto.
When Naruto pulled his hand away from the sage's, a white circle represented the sun. Sasuke had a black crescent shape representing the moon on his.
"Go forth and protect the balance of the world, and stop Pein," The Sage instructed both.