ARRIVAL
The first thing Naruto feels when he wakes up was pain. A lot of pain.
His chest feels like it was on fire and every bone in his body aches. The feeling in his right arm being completely gone. A dull ringing fille his ears as cerulean blue eyes began to flutter open.
The first thing Naruto saw was the sky. It was night and the stars shone brightly against the endless emptiness of space. Everything was relatively normal. There was just one teeny tiny little detail in the night sky that caught his eye. And so-
"WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO THE MOON, DETTEBAYO!"
-were the first words out of his mouth.
The moon was much bigger then he rememberers, at least 3 times the size then normal and yet that wasn't what stood out to him.
The moon was shattered.
Chunks of rock that previously belonged to the moon drifted away. While most of the moon seemed to be somewhat intact Naruto was pretty damn sure it wasn't supposed to look like that. Another oddity that he picks up was that the moon seemed to slowly get smaller. In fact, most of the sky seemed to be getting smaller and his view expanded. Almost like it was getting further away.
Strange.
And now that he thought about it further, his body did feel a bit weightless. He felt a constant pressure against his back, comparable to a low level wind jutsu. A moment passes without anything happening.
Naruto turns around. "FUCK!"
A dense pine tree forest laid right below him, getting ever closer as he continues to fall. His hands snap to the pouch around his hip to look for anything that could be of use. He swears again when he realizes it was completely empty. Not a foot of ninja wire, a single kunai, or shuriken. Naruto grits his teeth as he tries to think of a plan but nothing comes to mind.
His chakra reserves where the lowest they had ever been, even after his fight with Gaara he had some chakra to spare. He didn't even have enough chakra for a rasengan. Clones were completely out of the question in this case. Splitting his chakra now while suffering from chakra exhaustion would instantly knock him out. Summoning a toad big enough would result in the exact same way. The kawarimi no jutsu and the Shunshin no jutsu that Kakashi-sensei had taught him wouldn't work since it requires for the person to be still.
Naruto swears loudly once more as his mind races for some kind of plan. For anything to save him. He stares at the ground once more. A minute, by the rate he was falling he only has a minute to think of something before he became nothing more then a red smear on the ground. Yet despite desperately trying to think of a plan he only reaches one conclusion.
Naruto was an optimist at heart but he knows what was going to happen next. He has no chakra, no jutsu, no tools. A pit forms in his stomach as the odds of him surviving started to set in.
'I am actually going to die.'
The thought certainly wasn't unfamiliar to him or any real shinobi for that manner. Death was in the job description and he'd been close to it a handful of times before. Yet even with his fights with Gaara, Haku, and Kabuto he was fearless. He would always pull one last trick when the odds seemed impossible and live to see tomorrow. He feels tears from at the corner of his eyes and a lump grow in his throat.
Not this time.
He draws in a slow breath and closes his eyes. The wind rushing all around him as he falls. He idly wonders if they were going to write his name on that stone that sensei always visited. The villagers would probably celebrate the demon brats death but he found that he couldn't give a damn at the moment.
His cheeks feels the pit grow as he thought about his team. The closest thing to family he had ever gotten. He'd failed them. Couldn't keep his word to Sakura and let his best friend be taken. Orochimaru might have been killed Sasuke. And that thought alone hurt more then any chidori could ever. He wouldn't ever see any of th-
"Ow!"
Naruto's eyes snaps open and glare at what had smacked him in the face. It was a long beautiful blue gem, Tsunade's necklace.
A memory seems to flash before his eyes.
"Just get out of the way Naruto!"
A kunai headed towards him. Yet he refused to move, he held out his hand instead and blood splattered against his face. Despite the pain that filled his hand he couldn't help but smile. He latched onto Kabutos fist and held on with an iron grip.
"Until I become Hokage I don't care what happens I'm not gonna die!"
Kabuto tried to move but it was too late. He held out his right hand and started to channel all the chakra he had. A dull thrum started to fill the air as his shadow clone began to compress the chakra. A full blown grin made his way onto his features.
"RASENGAN!"
Naruto's eyes go wide as he holds the necklace in the palm of his hand. He stares at it for a moment as his mind raced.
Hokage.
He still has to become Hokage. There was still so much he wanted to do, so much he had to do. His mind can't help but wander to his pink haired teammate. He'd made a promise of a lifetime to her about bringing the bastard home and he never went back on his word. Besides, he can't just die here, not after everything he's been through. If he were to die it would be in a blaze of glory damn it!
He rapidly wipes away his tears as he feels his determination soar. Naruto looked at the ground once more and came to the realization that he only had a few seconds left instead of the full minute. He feels his anxiety grow yet refused to give up.
He knew only only one method that could save him now. Something extremely dangerous and might just kill him instead of the fall.
But it was a chance.
He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath and slowly lets it out. His hands clasp together as he forces his body to create chakra. Chakra was created with a mixture of spiritual and physical energy. Forcing the body to create physical energy when it didn't have any strained the body and put stress akin to that of the eighth gate technique. Forcing the body to create spiritual energy damaged chakra points as well as ran the risk for permanent mental damage. And messing up while forcing chakra could result in death.
..
…
Overall none of these were worth the risk when soldier pills could do the same thing but hundreds of time better. But he didn't have a soldier pill and he needed chakra now.
So with his eyes closed and hands clasped Naruto concentrated. Each chakra point in his body strains as it went into overdrive. He grunts as he forced his body to create energy it simply didn't have. Naruto's body, which was already been damaged from his fight with Sasuke, began to deteriorate further. The pain in his chest felt unbearable and his exhaustion grew. The temptation to just pass out had never been stronger but he knew what his fate would be if he did.
The air itself began to shimmer as wisps of blue energy circled around his body. It's potency palpable as it shone brightly against the midnight sky. Yet he doesn't stop, he strains his chakra points as he forces them to produce more energy.
Then something weird happens.
He puts such a strain on his chakra network and produced so much chakra that something new appears.
Blue chakra changes to a golden yellow and shone brighter then before. Wisps of golden energy began to circle around him and take shape. He feels something inside him shift. Like a part of him that had been missing had suddenly been found. The only thing that could have been comparable was activating his chakra for the first time. Energy that had laid dormant for so long seemed to spring to life. The now golden chakra pulses brightly for a second before it settles down and takes form.
Chains.
Ethereal golden chains sprouted into existence all around him. Well, more accurately from him. His back, hands, soles of his feet and even his stomach sprouted golden chains. The end of the chains the shape of a kunai and appear to be just as sharp. It feels as if he had gained control of a new limb as each chain formed. Naruto quickly counts six in total. They move in the air like snakes without any regard for the wind pushing against them.
It was almost beautiful.
Naruto looks at the ground once more and searches for the tallest tree. He tensed realizing if he doesn't get this right he would hit the ground before getting another chance. He waits for the moment he gets close enough.
700 meters away.
500 meters away.
300 meters away… 'Now!'
The chain from his left hand shoots forward at break neck speeds to the top of the tallest tree. It wraps itself around the top of the tall pine tree and Naruto pulled himself towards it before he swung. His body swinging around the tree and hitting every branch. Although it helps to slow down his momentum each hit still hurts like hell. The fact that he had just gotten out of the hardest fight of his life certainly doesn't help things.
As he approaches the bottom Naruto retracts all chains back into his body and lets himself go. He hit the ground at full force and instead of instantly dying like he thought a minute ago he gets knocked out.
Drip.
Naruto slowly regains consciousness and immediately wishes he hadn't. He slolwy gets up despite his body's protests. A sharp pain from his chest completely spots any movement for a full minute and he lets out a groan. He's never been this injured before. There wasn't anything he couldn't heal from of course but this? It was going to take a while.
Drip.
He looks around and finally notices the shallow murky water that covered the floor. A sigh escapes his lips, he knew where he was. Ripples in the water turned to waves as the fox expresses his ire.
"JAILOR!"
Naruto slowly looks up and rows upon rows of iron bars fill his vision. Each the diameter of his waist. Each bar part of the worlds largest and most important cage. The cage of the Legendary Nine-Tailed Fox. A pair of red eyes that elicits more fear than any Sharingan glare hatefully at him. Rows of teeth, much larger than he was, form into a deep snarl. A growl fills the air, completely feral in nature and Naruto feels a small shiver go up his spine.
He seemes angry.
"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO?!"
Really, really angry.
Naruto wasn't ashamed in the slightest to admit that he was more then a bit terrified at the moment. The demon that had killed the greatest Hokage to ever live (sources: the future Rokudaime Hokage and Kakashi-sensei) seems more then a little upset with him. But fear and whatever self preservation instincts Naruto Uzumaki claimed to have went straight out the window as anger starts to quickly replace it. That fox was accusing him of doing something wrong? A tick mark formed on his forehead and Naruto clenches his fist. So Naruto did what he did best, be loud as hell and annoy whoever he was talking to.
"I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING YOU BIG DUMB FLEA!"
The fox responses with a yell of his own.
"WE'RE IN A DIFFERENT DIMENSION YOU FUCKING MORON!"
"I DON'T KNOW WHAT THE WORD DIMENSION MEANS BUT I DO KNOW THAT YOU'RE A DUMB FUZZY BASTARD!"
Silence fills the sewer as the two glare at each other, a stare down of the ages. The fox seems to be the first to relent let out a deep sigh.
Naruto recoils slightly and furrows his eyes brows, it seems almost sad in nature?
"What it means is that we're not in the Konoha or any hidden village anymore. We're in a completely different world from the one you know. I can't sense a single chakra signature. I don't know what bullshit happened for us to end up here. My best guess is that all that clusterfuck of chakra in the valley of the end set off one of the marker that your damn Yondaime Hokage placed on you as a baby and something went wrong. We're stuck here and we can't go back."
Silence descends upon the sewer as Naruto slowly procees the words. He felt a certain numbness wash over him as he starts to think.
A different world.
The phrase seems to reverberate in his mind. A different world?
One with no Konoha? Where all his friends were? The same Konoha that he'd grown up all his life in. The Konoha that he'd sworn to anyone who'd ever met him that he'd be Hokage of one day? The one where his dream was? That Konoha?
That wasn't true, that could not be true.
It just couldn't. He balled up his fists and glares heatedly at the fox, a desperation slipping into his voice as he yells.
"You're lying! You have to be lying!"
A scoff escapes the Fox's mouth and it's face contorts into an ugly sneer.
"If you want to keep lying to yourself go for it. I couldn't care less. We have more important things to discuss."
Naruto slowly calms his breathing and his body stops shaking. He tries to forget the horrible lie the Kyuubi had told him. 'It was just a lie, nothing more.'
His breathing returns to normal. He repeats the thought in his head to calm himself further and try to ignore it.
'It was just a lie, nothing more. The fox just wanted to mess with me and that's all.'
He slowly turns to the fox. He gives a nod when he felt ready for what the fox had to say next. Surely it would be something of the upmost importance.
"I want you to touch the top of your head."
Or not.
Naruto Uzumaki proceeds to give such a deadpan stare he was sure Shikamaru would be proud.
"JUST TOUCH THE TOP OF YOUR HEAD DAMN IT!"
Naruto raises his hands up in surrender and moves them towards the top of his head.
"Jeez and some people call me lou-"
Naruto halts mid sentence and freezes. Instead of spiky golden hair at the top of his head he feels something else entirely.
Fluffy ears.
Honest to god fucking ears on the top of his head. Naruto quickly looks down at the water to see his reflection. They were pointy and the same color as his hair as well as slightly longer then his middle finger.
Naruto would forever deny that anything other then a manly scream of concern came out of his mouth.
People didn't have animal ears! He'd never even heard of something like th-
A pause.
Naruto recalled Jiraya making him read one of his 'future masterpieces'. A pit of dread formes in his stomach and mild concern transformed into full blown panic.
"I'M NOT GONNA BECOME LIKE ONE OF THOSE WEIRD GIRLS IN PERVY SAGES BOOKS AM I?!"
He didn't want to become some sex crazed maniac damn it! The Nine-Tails gapes at him while Naruto flails his arms around in a panic.
The fox seems to snap out of his sputter before letting loose a deep growl.
"NO YOU MORON, THAT'S ONLY IN YOUR PERVERTED MASTERS NOVELS. IT JUST MEANS THAT YOU'LL HAVE GOOD HEARING, YOU DEGENERATE"
Naruto looks at the fox for a moment before deciding to trust him just this once for his own sanity. The girls in those books were really fricken weird. He looks at the fox once more and noticed something else.
A grin.
"Are you… blushing?"
The cage shakes violently and ripples turn to waves as water flew everywhere.
"SAY THAT AGAIN AND I WILL DESTROY YOU!"
Naruto's grin seems to only widen further. A deep growl was his only response and Natuto decides not to push it. A few seconds of silence followed before the tailed beast stopped glaring at the blond and spoke again.
"There is one more thing we need to talk about before you go back to do whatever your kind does in it's free time."
Naruto mentally prepares himself for whatever was coming next before asking.
"What is it?"
"I'm going to train you."
Apparently not enough. "Huh?"
Was the blonds intelligent respond before he spoke again. "Why?"
The Nine-Tails thinks for moment as to how to explain it to nothing more than slightly smarter ape.
"Your an idiot as well as a horrible ninja-
An indignant cry was promptly ignored by the fox as he continued to explain.
"-and because your an idiot you're very easy to kill. Now normally I wouldn't care if some stupid human died but if you die I die as well. Of course I come back but dying is still unpleasant. Since I can't sense any chakra here I am the only one who can teach you anything worthwhile."
Naruto takes a second to register what he had just been told before his mind raced. He was gonna be learning Jutsu from a 1000 year old demon who had fought almost every Hokage. This was going to be AWESOME!
"Also being in here is extremely boring and I think your suffering is incredibly entertaining."
Nevermind.
