yochan123 Yes i agree you with you pal, that Uchihas don't deserve what happened to them. And about Obito's death, it hasn't happened yet according to my timeline in this fic. Thank you for the review! i hope you enjoy the new update.

A/N: I present my first ever attempt at writing. It is not canon compliant and will be AU since I will be manipulating the timeline as i wish. English is not my first language. Constructive criticism is welcomed but don't be rude. I am writing for fun and hope you enjoy as well.

I don't own Naruto and never will.

"Emphsis"

characters thinking/a simple narration

AN IMPORTANT PART

"characters speaking"

Pay attention to the chapter names as they sometimes signify a deeper meaning...

If you have any confusion, feel free to ask.

Without further ado, let's continue. Enjoy.

CHAPTER 13: What is the deal?

Naruto flinched at the loud voice ringing in her head. She was so relieved that Kurama, her partner was back that she wanted to just go and punch him for leaving her alone and hug the life out of him in gratitude for coming back. But she cannot leave Orochimaru alone right now otherwise he may escape with her secret so she concentrated on creating a seal-less shadow clone. There were many loud puffs and she realized due to control being shot she created 20 clones instead of one. She huffed and ordered-

"Only one of you shall remain here, others can go" They nodded.

The clone Naruto came and held a kunai to Orochimaru's throat. The real one did not move but her eyes now flashed red with Kurama's chakra-

"Don't you dare leave this cave without my explicit permission otherwise…" she just raised her right hand to demonstrate that she can still use the truth seeker orb.

Now she materialized in her seal where she found Kurama staring at her and froze as if time had stopped for her, as if a single step will make this dream turn into ash.

"Naruto…" he said heatedly although his eyes held the love and exasperation for his partner.

"Ku…Kurama?" she whispered with so much hope in that single word that his heart clenched. It was also filled with some underlying confusion but he will clear it later.

It was necessary to do what he did, so he refuses to feel guilty for causing Naruto more pain. He was in denial because he could see the hope, the longing, the relief and barely there resentment that she had for him in her eyes.

And then she was running towards him so fast, as if realizing that without touching him, she will drown. Which was true, she was drowning in the sea of despair and anguish for so long that she forgot how to breathe properly. Looking at her state Kurama huffed as he let the matter of her identity revelation to Orochimaru of all people slide for now and spanned his tails to catch the flying Jinjuriki in his arms.

The little girl slammed into him and his breath was knocked out. Despite it all he hugged her just as tightly as she did and wrapped his tails around her. Naruto gasped feeling his warm and lively chakra and a tear finally slid down. Like a breath of fresh air, her lungs felt lighter and she inhaled Kurama's scent, a mixture of wind, fire and foxes with a hint of blood. The smell was so familiar that she choked on a sob and continued her incantation of his name-

"Kuramakuramakuramakuram-" she did not stop. He sent healing and soothing chakra in her body which only caused her to shake more with barely repressed sobs.

"I am here now Naruto. Shh…everything is going to be okay. You are fine, I am fine and we are together now. He spoke softly rubbing soothing circles on her back and did not stop for a few minutes. The chakra worked wonders and Naruto slowly collected herself. She took a step back and eyed his appearance. She willed her mind to turn her appearance to that of her older version and looked Kurama in the eye.

She let out a startled laugh because she realized no one can imagine The Kyubi no Kitsune consoling a child in this manner. The smile so wide and beautiful that it rivaled the sun and her eyes that held the tears of sheer relief upon seeing him spoke volumes of how much she had been waiting for Kurama.

"I love you very much Kurama-" his eyes widened at her words and the sincerity of her voice oh he knew she loved him but to have a confirmation with words was something else entirely. He was about to say something when-

"But-" Her smile turned sharp, holding up a fist and eyes closing in a reminiscent of Kakashi's eye-smile when Kurama felt his breath leaving his lungs once more because of the powerful punch she hurled at his gut.

"Never do that again" Never leave me alone again. They both understood the hidden meaning behind those words and he nodded wordlessly. The barely there resentment in her eyes vanished She just needed to punch him for the agony he had caused her and for the first time in his life he was grateful that she was so forgiving. Seeing him nod she huffed but couldn't contain her smile.

"Now mind telling me how you became like a cute little kitten, Mr. Chibi Kurama?" that was why she was a bit confused at first due to his changed appearance He was absolutely flabbergasted at the audacity of the woman to point out his appearance when she also looked much the same as him and they had more important things to discuss than that. For example: what about the most important secret she had just spilled to one of the most insane man in world?

Meanwhile,

The cave that they were inhibiting was near an abandoned city at the outskirts of Konoha where Neko-baa lived. She provided weapons to the Uchiha. The city was home to many animals but majorly the population consisted of cats. Shisui was collecting some paw prints as training when he saw that many animals were converging near a cave. His mind became intrigued when he saw the open cave entrance. As he went near, he could feel a warm chakra even though he was not a sensor, guessing that the animals were attracted towards the chakra. He felt Naruto using the Sage's power to heal Orochimaru. He was disappointed when he felt the warm chakra vanish after a few seconds. As he got closer to the entrance he realized that the person emitting that chakra was not alone because he was able to hear someone's voice but the words that were spoken eluded him. They were whispering He debated for a few moments whether to go inside or not and settled on waiting outside while hiding in the bushes; after all it could be a trap because the war is going on so he has to be cautious. They don't call him a genius for nothing.

In the cave

The clone Naruto was watching Orochimaru like a hawk who was in turn observing the real Naruto. He was not afraid of her because if she wanted to kill him she would have done it the first time they met considering she has that unique power and those black balls. He respects power and found it fascinating how such a small body came to hold this immense power. Although he realized she must not be that small if she is the Hokage or was? Will be? And is a time traveller how can he forget that. Although it all sounds like total crap, all evidences point to her really being the daughter of Minato and Kushina and her knowledge about the Root, Danzo and the Hirashin, plus her being the nine tail's Jinjuriki. His mind is somehow still struggling to grasp the concept of her being from the future but he is nothing if not a genius so theories were forming in his mind rapidly.

"Naruto is it? Answer me this, what happened to your future that was so devastating that you had to travel to the past to make things right? Or was it simply by mistake or an experiment perhaps or a faulty seal? Hmm?

The clone Naruto considered lying, but what use was it when he already knew of her real identity, another truth won't hurt that much right?

"War happened" she said somberly with eyes looking completely devoid of any emotion.

"In the Shinobi world there can never be peace so I assumed that there will always be another war with some periods of peace in between where the villages will lick their wounds, bury their dead and then prepare for the next war, so it is not such an important event for you to-"

His eyes widened as another theory rapidly materialized in his mind;

"-Unless the leaf village was thoroughly destroyed." He whispered the last part as if he cannot believe that the strongest of the village can fall in a war. He whipped his around to look at the clone Naruto for confirmation or denial, he himself did not know but the answer she gave was not quite the one he was expecting.

"No the entire world was annihilated" she replied, a bitter edge to her voice. The words seemed to echo in that cave even though they were only whispered. It was as if she was too scared to say them out loud thinking that it may give birth to the hellish nightmare.

Orochimaru knew she was telling the truth. Hundreds and thousands of shinobi including S-ranks and A-ranks –

"Wait what about The Kages? What about us, The Sanin ? Where were we? What happened to us?" He asked urgently, thinking of the worst. Well the worst had already happened if she was standing here but he still wanted to know.

Her eyes gained a pained look as if remembering something she didn't want to, the grip on her Kunai tightened until her knuckles turned white.

"All the kages fought valiantly and gave their lives to protect the shinobi population." She answered vaguely because her wounds are still bleeding, because she did not give herself time to grieve, because the war was more important, because saving the world was more important, because she was immediately made Hokage after-

Naruto refuses to remember the details, so she shut her mind and answers his questions as if a soldier reporting to another soldier.

"And what about the Sanin?" He insists for her to provide more details.

"Jiraya was long dead before the war even started, Tsunade died while protecting a medical camp, and Orochimaru was the only Sanin left before he also died in an ambush where he took an entire enemy platoon with him." She reported stoically. Still heat gathered behind her eyes and bile threatened to rise

His breath hitched when he heard about Jiraya, his heart dropped when he heard about Tsunade and he finally started panicking when he heard about himself.

"WHAT?" he shouted because Orochimaru cannot believe she would lie to him like that.

He heard a clack somewhere at the back of his mind, the kunai falling to the ground and someone was there holding his shoulders and squeezed them painfully.

"BREATHE!" A childish voice but no less commanding urgently shouted.

His body instinctually followed the command and the panicked haze lifted from his mind. He inhaled and exhaled a few more times with the person commanding him before he came to. When he opened his eyes, when did he shut them? he saw dark blue eyes is that even their real color? looking at him closely with something akin to worry swimming in them and he jerked back.

The look was immediately replaced by the same cold and calculating stare that he had come to associate with her Sixth Hokage mask. He felt a pang of some emotion at that swift replacement. He was so surprised to feel as such that he stood up and started pacing when he realized she did not have him in a kill position anymore.

Orochimaru had abandoned all his emotions a long time ago or so he had thought. Clearly that was not the case if he had just suffered from a panic attack. They never truly realized that the seal on his tongue was also helping in suppressing his emotions (Damn Danzo) and with it gone he was not able to contain all his emotions when he was overwhelmed, hence resulting in a panic attack He was mumbling and thinking and strategizing and cataloguing everything he had just heard from her. His genius mind was working a mile per second. He cannot fathom the amount of power someone had that could annihilate the entire world, but he had to do something in case he wants to survive. After all his entire life's goal is to have an eternal life which cannot be fulfilled if the world is annihilated.

"Okay." He took a deep breath and turned towards the child? Woman? Princess?(she is the daughter of the freaking sage of six paths and the Hokage after all) He still having some difficulties in digesting the concept of reincarnation but that is for later consideration.

"You are going to provide me with every little detail of the future and I-" he held up his hand to stop her from opening her mouth no doubt to deny him the information, she snapped it shut with a click and he continued-

"And I will establish your identity here in the past, make you a legal citizen of Konoha, help you deflect any suspicions cast towards you as well as work with you on stopping the world from getting annihilated"

She took her time to consider and huffed.

"You wait here and let me think" saying that clone Naruto puffed away relaying all the information to the Original.

In her Mindscape,

The original Naruto was waiting for Kurama to give her a reason for his change in appearance when suddenly she startles at the influx of her clone's memories. At first she was angry because that means that Orochimaru had run away with her secret but as she sifted through the incoming memories, she discerned that her clone had revealed yet another big secret to Orochimaru. Oh shit! Kurama will be ready to sit on me and strangle me with his weight when I will tell him about this. She looks at Kurama with trepidation Or looking at his appearance now, I don't think he weighs too much.

Kurama raises an eyebrow when he senses his host's apprehension with his emotion sensing ability.

"What did you do now Brat!?" He asked gruffly still a bit iffy about her pointing out his appearance so blatantly.

"Well… Kurama, I may have a way that can make things easier for us, here in the past." She says with a smile that seemed a bit too innocent. Kurama can tell something's fishy.

"Why do I sense a 'but' here?" He asks while feeling a little dreadful himself. Because he knows Naruto may not be the same as before, but her unpredictability hasn't changed one bit.

"But in return I will have to give some information about our past? Future? The War actually." She says tugging her hair behind her ear and looking at him with a frown and some sort of expectation.

As soon as he connects the dots that it can only be Orochimaru who can ask for such information from her,

"HAVE YOU GONE INSANE NARUTO? HUH? HOW CAN YOU CHOOSE TO TRUST THE CRAZIEST OF THE GUYS OUT THERE WITH SUCH A BIG SECRET? TELL ME! COZ I SWEAR TO SAGE I WANT TO STRANGLE YOU RIGHT NOW" He roars with such intensity that Naruto's hair fly back with his breath.

"CALM DOWN KURAMA" Naruto also shouts because he had started leaking chakra and she was sure that outside her mindscape the surroundings would have been affected a little bit.

Kurama inhales a breath to control his anger, annoyance, exasperation and all sorts of nasty emotions that his Jinjuriki evoked in him.

Meanwhile, Outside

However the damage was done. Outside her mindscape for about three seconds (the time of Kurama's roar) she was bathed in golden light, her eyes had flashed red, her whisker marks became thicker, her canines grew larger and Orochimaru looked about as ready as a coiled snake to attack or defend that remains to be seen. The small plants visible from the cracks in the rocks grew, a patch of grass became greener and bigger, and there was an increase in the distant meows and chirping of the birds as if they were basking in the feel of her chakra.

Shisui also perked up when he sensed the warm chakra again. He couldn't tell if the chakra was the same as before because he was a child and not a sensor. He wanted to meet that person who was emitting such warmth with their chakra but he still had to remain cautious. He was having conflicting thoughts, but in the end however he rationalized that he would stay put and just observe. He was amazed when he saw a creeper plant growing in size and becoming a longer creeper near the cave entrance. However amazement soon turned into shock when he grasped the meaning behind such power.

"How is this possible?" he whispered to himself.

Because growing a plant can only be considered wood style and that was Shodaime-sama's kekkei genkai and there has been no one with the same abilities ever since. However the chakra vanished again as if someone had locked it inside a tightly closed door. Shisui hidden behind the bushes, was still looking with wide and alert eyes at anyone and everyone who will exit that cave.

Orochimaru did not move from his position, kunai at the ready in case the chakra appears again. To attack or to defend, he himself does not know. The child is the nine-tail's Jinjuriki, a beast who is known as the incarnation of Hatred has such a warm chakra, he cannot believe his eyes at the display of such raw power, the chakra so potent that it covered her like a golden cloak. He sighs in fascination and a little envy and thinks if there are any more surprises left for him, all the while continuing to observe her.

Mindscape

"Could you please listen to my reasons first Kurama?-" He exhales a heavy breath, closes his eyes, pinches the bridge of his nose and nods for her to continue. Somewhere deep inside he knows that she will convince him to do as she wishes. That was why he did not want to listen to her reasons, but he also cannot deny her when she looks at him with such high expectations.

"So, first Orochimaru has still not gone black yet, you can check his chakra signature, it is not that dark. Second, if we save him from going down the wrong path, we can get rid of that thrice dammed reanimation jutsu. Third, if we successfully save him, we have a genius mind and a very strong shinobi on our side. Fourth, we will have Kabuto. Fifth, I got rid of the Danzo's seal on him while Orochimaru still has a seal on him, which we can use to our advantage. Sixth, he will provide a cover identity for us when I pretend to become his apprentice. And last the Seventh, if he was not our side, he would have been a huge pain in the ass to deal with." She reasoned calmly and Kurama snorted at her last reason which seemed the most important one out of all the others. Although he was already convinced, he still pretended to think.

"Oh come on! I can see that you are already convinced. Just give the go head Kurama." She whined like the little kid she is right now. However that tone was like music to his ears because somewhere during the war she had lost her childishness and her voice had become devoid of her usual optimism. Seeing her like this brought a smile to his face which he quickly hid by turning his face to the side and letting out a grumpy "Okay! But I also want to talk to him"

She nodded and smiled a smile that made her eyes return to their original color for just a second before they again became tainted by the heavy grief that is stuck to her like second skin. However Kurama counted that as a victory because he had not seen her eyes getting their original color for a long, long time.

Outside,

Naruto exited her mindscape and immediately her eyes found Orochimaru standing at the corner of the cave holding a kunai with one hand and intensely staring at her. She looked around and rolled her eyes in exasperation when she found the condition of the cave but paid it no mind.

"I agree to your deal Orochimaru, but I will not be informing you of the future events immediately." She held up her hand just as he did to her before and Orochimaru snapped his mouth shut and glared at her for using the same gesture as him but nodded for her to continue.

"I will be giving you the details of the significant future events some time before they actually happen so that we can have time to prepare. But I cannot disclose all the information as it may cause a rift in the timeline which can lead to many situations occurring differently than the original way that they were supposed to. In which case the knowledge of the future-"

"-will become useless." He nods and agrees with her reasoning and anyway he only needs the details pertaining to himself.

So he takes a step forward to shake on the deal when-

"Orochimaru" a very heavy and threating voice was heard. His instincts took over when such a heavy amount of killing intent was directed at him and he threw a kunai at the child, which the demon controlling the child caught with two fingers. Orochimaru did not stumble because right now Kurama does not have enough chakra to put much pressure on him and that is also the reason why Kurama is in his Chibi form. Damn brat! Making fun of the All Mighty Kyuubi.

"Now you listen to me, If you ever, ever even think of betraying my partner here, I will know. And I will then also let you know that I know in the most painful way possible. Understand?" He glared at Orochimaru with such hatred in his red eyes situated on Naruto's face that Orochimaru gulped involuntarily. Although he may not be afraid of the beast because Orochimaru was a monster himself but he certainly was nervous to be on the receiving end of the beast's hatred.

Naruto's eyes changed back to blue and he sighed. He couldn't help but notice that they were definitely lighter in color than the clone Naruto's. oh well it doesn't matter.

"So, is it a deal?" She came forward reaching out her a small hand for a shake with equally small smile which he found surprisingly reached her eyes. He nodded and smiled his creepy smile reaching out and shaking her hand-

"It's a deal" he affirmed.

And that was that.

TBC

A/N: This is the biggest chapter i have written till now. It consists of aproximately 4K words guys! Do tell me how if you enjoyed it.

Answer me in the comment sections.

Signing out

Yuki Race