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Hey everyone! Hope you all have been alright since I last uploaded. Really enjoyed talking to you all and hearing your thoughts on the story. Please do continue reviewing and messaging if you're so inclined! :) Also, just to address a comment left on the last chapter by a guest, I want to say that I hear where you're coming from. Sakura's fighting ability surpassing Naruto and Sasuke's is quite a stretch. After all, Sakura doesn't have Kurama or hacked eyes lol. But still, I want you all to realize and remember something very important. When an author is skilled enough, and believes there's a path to something, there usually is, and what seems impossible, isn't at all as impossible as it seems.

I am currently working on a story that I believe will show this greatly. I do not want to release the title completely, but the initials are NZ. Hopefully, when I release that story, you all will understand what I am saying a bit more. To be honest, I think it will show my point greatly, and I also think you all will really like it... :)

Now that being said, I also want you all to remember the quote I used at the beginning of the chapter where Jiraiya was chasing Naruto. "The first priority to the ninja is to win without fighting." Note that Naruto actually "won" that fight. Not by beating or overpowering Jiraiya, but by being crafty enough to use the environment and his skillset to effectively escape. So even if Sakura doesn't overpower Naruto or Sasuke (which I could successfully write if I wanted to), she simply has to be crafty enough and cunning enough to combine the environment (or some other factor) with whatever skill set she has at the time. That, I feel, is what Naruto was all about in the beginning, and that is what people loved. I'm pretty sure at one point Konohamaru took down a Pain path and we had no issue with it. Why? Because an S-rank threat can be taken down by a genin with a strong jutsu if they make a bad mistake. That is how the ninja world works. It's dangerous to all and lenient to none.

(Correction: Konohamaru only took down the Pain path temporarily. Thanks to the reviewer Rayga for pointing that out.)

TL;DR - A good author who is crafty enough in storytelling can write just about anything and have it make complete sense, including Sakura Haruno putting a pounding on Naruto Uzumaki or Sasuke Uchiha. Stan Lee illustrated this when speaking on the topic of which superhero would beat which in a fight. His answer was, "Whoever the writer wants to win." :) As an example of this, notice that in popular media, whoever's name is on the title of the movie usually ends up winning fights within it. Example: Spider-man beating Doctor Strange in Spider-man: No Way Home. This example is a little weak, I'll admit (I don't fully buy Spidey beating Dr. Strange the way it was portrayed), but it still supports my point. The writers wanted Spidey to win, so he won. My point here though, is that a better writer would've made Spidey win in a more believable/convincing way.

Hopefully, that appeases any fears of future story mishaps as it relates to power scaling lol. Now without further ado, enjoy the chapter!

P.S. Over the Years is likely going to be updated next so keep an eye out for that.

"I would give anything for even the faintest memory…"

- Arthur Pendragon

Past and Future in the Present

"Kid."

The raspy voice resonated in his mind like a subtle ache that wouldn't subside.

"Kid…"

As if someone waking from a far-off, fog-filled dream, Naruto's eyelids slowly fluttered open, the dark blue orbs slowly scanning the ceiling above as it hazed into view. With a low grunt, he used one arm to support himself, pushing a bit until he was sitting upright in the bed. Trying to blink away the slight haze and persistent headache, he cast his gaze to the side, then back up to the ceiling. This wasn't the hospital, or at least not the one he was in before. The walls were a light green here; they had been a mellow beige when last he was awake. Now that he thought about it, this didn't look like a hospital room at all. It was more like a bedroom than anything. A nightstand to his left, a dresser straight across the room, a mirror only a few steps away, a dim circular light directly above. Definitely a bedroom... But what the heck was he doing in a place like this? And how did he get here? And why was the world still so hazy?

Lifting his arms slightly, he noticed an odd lack of pain. Quizzically, he looked them both over. No injuries. No cast, no pain, no...anything.

"What's going on?" he said lightly, turning his palms upwards and examining them through the fog.

"Don't worry, kid; it's all in your head...or maybe mine's."

Blinking away his confusion, he closed his eyes, then came the sound of a singular drip. When his eyelids opened, the orange fox head was before him once more. "In my head or yours? What's that mean?"

"It means I've taken your consciousness into mine's. That's why you can't feel any pain right now."

The icy blue eyes narrowed and Naruto turned his arms over again, squinting as he examined them. Blinking a few times, he let them fall to his sides. "Don't get me wrong," he started slowly. "I'm happy to not feel pain and whatnot, but...why do this?"

Naruto could hear the fur scratching as Kurama shifted on the waters, then came a brief inhale and a sigh echoing in the darkness. "Because it's a new day, kid. It's a new day..."

One eye scrunched slightly. "I still don't get it."

Looking away into the black nothing, Kurama replied, "I did some thinking after our last talk, a lot of it actually, and I think it's about time the world gave you something more than pain."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that I never held up my end of the bargain. When we left Konoha, I promised to tell you the truth, at least in time. To give you answers to questions you had about your past. Who your father and mother were, how you became a jinchuriki, and maybe a lot of other things. I think it's about time I kept my word, which is why you're in my memories."

Naruto's head lurched back in the slightest and the squint returned to his eyes. "Your memories?"

The orange fox head nodded up and down slowly. "Everything I've seen, everything I've heard...well, everything. I'm sharing it with you." A moment later, he added, "Your parents," nodding past Naruto and towards the outside world.

A moment of silence passed before Naruto slowly glanced over his shoulder, turning around only slightly and letting the unfamiliar bedroom fade away. Where he found himself was slightly different from before, but the walls were still that same dullish green. He was standing now, in what seemed to be a living room, a couch and two chairs set around a fireplace with a dull, dancing flame.

"Minato!" came the echo of a woman's voice from some close distance away. The moment he turned towards the voice, he saw her – a woman with distinctly red hair and blue eyes strikingly similar to his. She had only just come from the kitchen and was looking around the living room as if for someone in particular, presumably the person she had just called. All he could do was swallow and stare, some part of him too stunned to speak and the other part too scared to move. The scene sitting before his eyes felt like something tentative, yet frighteningly close, and as he watched it, he could feel the air around him growing thick and heavy. Though the only thing separating them was a few feet of space, he felt as if some great distance still sat between. He could feel his breath catch in his throat when her eyes glanced his way.

"Relax," came the reassuring voice. "Memory, remember? She's not looking at you."

His breathing still ragged, he swallowed once more, watching as she scanned the rest of the room. Not seeming to find who she was looking for, she puckered her lips down and to the side. "Funny, I thought heard him come in. Well," she said, smiling a bit and looking down at her lightly rounded stomach. "Looks like it's just you and me."

She had only half turned around when a boisterous, "Surprise!" boomed from in front of her, a blond-haired man grinning like an idiot in the kitchen doorway.

The high-pitched shriek she gave would normally be something for Naruto to laugh at, but he could do naught but stare. The scene played out before him like an over-told drama and still appeared in something of a haze, yet he could do nothing but hang on every word.

"You idiot!" were the first words to fly from her lips, her eyes already having gone white in rage. "You'll scare the baby!"

His face looked like a collage of three Os, two from his eyes and one from his mouth. "Oops!" he exclaimed. "Sorry! I didn't mean to be scary, just wanted to surprise you, that's all."

"Well, don't do it again!" she commanded. "At least not while I'm pregnant."

Smiling softly, he replied, "Well, if he's half as strong as either of us, he'll be fine."

Her head turned up to the side as if to ponder it, then she spoke softly. "True, but still..." And then fixing him with what Naruto assumed was her most menacing stare and flinging a finger in his face, she commanded, "No more jump scares!"

"Cross my heart."

Naruto stood where he was, unmoving, like one frozen in time, a thousand questions bombarding him all at once. Finally, he settled on the only one he felt worth asking. "That's them..." he whispered. "My mom and dad?"

"Yes."

In all honesty, it was a question he already knew the answer to and Kurama's confirmation was next to nothing, but he needed to hear it – out loud and with his own ears. There they were... The two people he had always looked up to but never knew, who he'd crafted stories around to fill that nagging void – the ones he never once dreamed of actually seeing. Here they were. He had found them in this strange half haze...or rather Kurama had.

"Why is it all so hazy?" he asked.

"This all happened a long time ago, kid. I'm surprised I even remember this much."

For a moment he stood where he was, trying to somehow process it all, but then the room flickered and shifted all at once, dark green walls replaced with white walls and cabinets and closets.

"What's going on?!" he quickly asked.

"Relax. I'm tethered to your mom. She went to the kitchen, so we're there now."

Looking to his left, he saw the flowy red hair enter, and then the messy blond.

"So," she asked, now messing with a pot of something on the stove. "Why're you home so early?"

His dad hopped onto the counter, sitting next to an empty pot, his hands falling into his lap. "I might've gotten Kakashi to take care of my more mundane duties for the rest of the day."

At that, a light smile tugged at one corner of her lips. "You're horrible," she replied.

"What?" he defended. "He needs the practice."

"Yeah...right now...at fourteen."

A sly grin crossed his lips as his shoulders lifted and fell. "Well, being the Hokage's gotta have some perks."

Immediately, their playful banter faded into the background and Naruto could feel his breath coming to a still. "My dad was the Hokage?..."

With a slow nod of the head, Kurama replied. "Yes."

"Why didn't anyone tell me?"

"It was confidential," Kurama said softly. "The entire village was ordered to keep it that way."

Turning slightly over his shoulder, he asked, "How do you know all of this?"

"I used to hear things." Silently, he added, "Still kinda do...or did."

"Used to hear?"

"I was full grown while you were a baby, kid, and I was listening."

Looking back to the hazy scene, he lost himself in the sounds of his mother's laughing and the sight of his father's amused chuckles, the reality of what he was seeing now starting to fully register in his mind.

"I'm sorry, kid," Kurama interrupted. "I know this isn't much, but it's all I could do."

Naruto said nothing, his lips half open as the drama continued playing out before his eyes. Despite the magnitude of what was in front of him, he could feel his mind spiraling into a frenzy, the nerves in his brain starting to feel like a rollercoaster of crazy and crazier thoughts, each of them speeding so dangerously down the tracks that they threatened to fly off into some lost section of his mind far away. With this revelation... With this... He swallowed and shook his head a bit before tearing his eyes away from the drama so close. Taking a deep breath and letting it go, he let it fully sink in. Kurama had memories with his parents in them... Right here, right now, living inside him, were so many of the answers he desperately craved. His parents... He looked back to the scene, something afraid and unreadable in his eyes. There they were. So close, yet so far away... His jaw clenched as they started to blur behind the tears.

"Kid," Kurama said silently. Naruto kept watching the scene, unmoving.

"Kid," Kurama repeated, and Naruto's gaze slightly turned away. "I'm sorry," he continued. "I know this is a shock to you, but I figured it was better than nothing."

Naruto stood where he was, eyes flitting across the waters, his senses almost seeming to have come back to him. Yet before they fully had, he looked over to Kurama and made a desire known. "I want you to take me back."

Kurama squinted a bit, then asked, "What do you mean? The hospital?"

"I want you to take me back to the night I was born."

Kurama's head lurched back a bit and a dangerous squint crept into his eye. "Are you saying-"

"Yeah," Naruto interjected. "I want you to take me back to the night they died."

At those words, something in Kurama seemed to stall, the blackened lips falling open to reveal short sections of exposed yellow teeth.

"I want to see everything," he continued. "You said he sealed you in me. I want to see it for myself."

The silence between them felt like it carried the weight of something unspoken, and then he answered with firmness. "No."

"Why?" Naruto nearly growled.

"Trust me, kid. Some things, you don't need to see."

"Even if it means finally getting some of the answers I'm looking for?"

"Look, kid, there were other things that happened that night, and some of them weren't so pretty."

"I don't care. I can handle it."

"Maybe, but I'm not gonna let you."

"It's my right!" he defended.

"It may well be, but it's my choice. I'm not gonna let you watch your parents kick the bucket just cause you want me to."

Tensing up with his fists balled at his sides, he answered, "It's not that. I just...I just...I wanted to see if I could understand."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that I wanted to see how everything went down," he said, eyes fixing the fox with a stubborn frown. "To try to understand. To see why my dad would do this to me."

Kurama sighed. "I understand that, kid. I really do. But I don't need to let you relive a trauma for you to do that."

"Well, what are you gonna do, Kurama? Just sit there and try to convince me he was a stand-up guy?"

"No, but I will tell you the truth, and the truth is that he sealed me in you because powerful enemies don't often leave you with many options." Dropping his head a bit, he finished, "I hope you never have to find out what that means."

Naruto's gaze fell and his sigh echoed in the darkness. "That's not enough, Kurama. That's not enough..."

Kurama looked away for a bit, eyes squinting at some kind of inner turmoil. Finally, he looked back to the small child before him. "Your father was basically a legend."

Naruto's head lifted. "What?... What do you mean?"

"His skill and cunning in battle were unmatched, so much so that he wasn't merely an S-rank ninja, but the only ninja I know of who ever received the double S-rank."

Naruto's eyes showed the faintest curiosity. "Double S-rank?"

"Yeah. He was so dangerous and killed so quickly that it was given to him out of fear. Orders were to kill him on sight. No one ever could though." Grinning a bit, he added, "His nickname was the Yellow Flash."

The faintest trace of a smile started to stretch across Naruto's lips. "My dad was cool?..." he whispered, a trace of sadness and wonder lingering in his voice.

"Yeah. His name was Minato Namikaze. He was real cool..."

Naruto's gaze fell, though a slight smile remained on his lips.

"I'm sorry, kid," Kurama continued. "But I don't have much more than that to give you."

Looking up, Naruto softly asked, "Why did he do this to me? Couldn't he have chosen someone else?"

"You were the only kid around. He had no choice."

Naruto lowered his head, stubborn frown still in place, gaze hidden behind the blond bangs. "How did he die?"

At that question, Kurama blinked a few times, then inhaled a great, big breath, letting it go almost as soon as it had filled his lungs.

"Was it his enemies?"

Turning his eyes away, he answered, "Yeah...something like that. He, uh...he sacrificed himself," he finished, turning back to the boy. "It was the only way to protect the village. He died a hero."

Naruto's gaze fell to the waters for only a moment, then they rose again. "What about my mom?"

"Her name was Kushina Uzumaki. She died that night too, protecting you." Kurama looked away, his brows showing a sadness Naruto rarely saw. "A hero..."

Only thinking on Kurama's words for a moment, he let his gaze fall to the waters. Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki. Those were his parents... After so long wondering and guessing and filling in the blanks, finally, something real. Something solid. Something he could truly hold. Legends, fighters, and heroes. Those were his parents... As he pondered it, his growing smile started to fade, a conclusion that had followed him since his younger days once again finding its way back to the forefront of his mind.

"What's wrong?" Kurama asked.

Naruto's gaze fell a bit once more, a light smile still on his lips. "Nothing, it's just... Well, life's funny, isn't it?"

"Why's that?"

Naruto's gaze trailed off to the side. "My parents die as heroes and I somehow come out the villain..."

Kurama's gaze remained serious and low. "Your father wanted you to be well taken care of. It's the village that failed you."

Naruto's gaze did not rise, it simply rested in place, static on the waters.

Frowning a bit, Kurama said, "I know this is a lot to process. I'm sorry."

Seeming to snap out of it, he lifted his head a bit, a faint smile still in place. "It's fine, Kurama. It's fine..."

The silence seemed to choke them for a few long seconds, then Kurama spoke into the black. "Well, uh, get some sleep. I'm gonna try to heal you up while you do. Give you and the medic a helping hand."

"Yeah..."

Kurama had half turned away when the familiar voice broke into the silence.

"And, Kurama..."

The orange fox ear twitched, and he turned back halfway. "Yeah?"

"Thanks. At least now I know."

Kurama nodded once, then turned away; Naruto himself disappeared from the chamber, mellow beige falling on his eyes as he returned to the real world.

Sakura had not faced Kakashi in combat many times before, and even in the times she had, she always had the comfort of knowing Naruto and Sasuke were watching her back. This fact, and many others, were the reason why as she stood a few dozen feet across from said sensei in the middle of Training Ground 7, she could feel the knot in her stomach growing tighter, and the beating of her heart starting to grow wild. The beads of sweat traveling down the side of her face every now and then were also an indication of her most unfortunate state of mind, and that wasn't even to mention the very annoying fact that she could hear herself breathing pretty loudly, every breath consisting of a slow inhale followed by an exhale of the same.

Without warning, a mild breeze blew through, her pink strands swaying in the wind while Kakashi's gray strands did the same from across the field. The gust of wind startling her a bit, her eyes darted over to the leaves and dirt and blades of grass as they floated in the wind.

"On the battlefield, that's enough to kill you."

Her gaze snapped back to her sensei.

"Especially if a wind user makes a similar breeze pass through right before you fight."

Pausing only briefly at his reprimand, she set her jaw, then nodded, focusing her attention once more.

"You ready?" came the voice of Tsunade from the side of the field.

Looking to her only briefly, Sakura nodded a single nod, bringing her focus back to the gray-haired nin a distance away. Inhaling shakily, she dropped down into a more acrobatic stance, then raised her hands to guard herself. A larger than usual gust of wind decided to pass in that very moment, much worse than the one from before, the grass and trees thrown into a violent sway. As it did, she let the breath she'd pulled in go. Despite everything, Kakashi stood across from her with his usual blank stare in place, his hands lightly in his pockets; it unnerved her even more.

Finally lifting his gaze a bit, he asked, "You ready for this?"

A bit of a gulp passing through her throat, she said, "No..."

At her answer, she could see him smirk from underneath his mask. Yet the smirk was gone as quick as it had come, and with a sigh, he stepped forward, lifting up his headband and revealing the blood-red dojutsu. "I'm sorry in advance," he said solemnly. Before she could even respond, Tsunade shouted, "Begin!"

Another gulp in her throat, she tensed up her body, preparing for even the slightest of movements on his part. Yet he did not move, not in the slightest, and as the two of them stood there in the heat of the blazing sun, she felt in her stomach the pit of apprehension deepening.

The lack of movement rattling her only in the slightest, she blinked a few times and set her gaze forward. Yet the seconds rolled by, and as another bead of sweat made its way down her temple, she could feel her heart starting to race. What game was he playing? He was just standing there doing nothing. It made no sense. This was supposed to be a spar, wasn't it? Why wasn't he sparring? Or at least readying himself to do so?

Her lips pulling to the side a bit, she tensed her arms and brought them a bit closer to better guard her body. Eyes narrowing a bit, she studied him from afar, jade eyes silently tracing his eerily still outline. Nothing out of the ordinary. Nothing at all...

Her frown deepening, she let her mind wander back to the principles she'd learned back in the academy. Every enemy had a reason for what they were doing, even if it seemed they were doing absolutely nothing. Brows furrowing, she started running through the possibilities.

Maybe he was waiting for her to make the first move. Testing her in some strange way. Looking to see what she'd do. How she'd react to this strange turn of events. But then again, what if he was simply baiting her so she would make a bonehead mistake like rushing him? The consequences of a mistake that big would probably be very, very painful. Sighing a bit, she abandoned the possibility and veered towards another. Perhaps the stoic stillness was a diversion. A crafty way of covering up something he was doing behind the scenes. A cover for a deadly jutsu he was planning or a distraction meant to give him time to lay a trap on the field... Yet his chakra seemed completely normal, and there wasn't a hint of any kind of sneaky movement on the field. A heavy sigh left her nostrils as she realized the uselessness of playing her guessing game. One wrong guess and everything was over. Letting out a mildly annoyed sigh, she brought her guard up a little closer. Unironically, Kakashi doing the simplest of things – absolutely nothing – had thrown her for an absolute loop. She had no idea what to do, let alone what not to do. Finally, the silent question tumbled from her lips. "Why aren't you moving, sensei?"

"But I am," came a whisper from behind.

Her head had only turned halfway and the emerald eyes had only barely started to shift and widen when there came a sound like a strike of lightning, and on its heels a clap of violent thunder. In that same instant, a flash of blue lightning filled up her vision, there was a warp of something untraceable in a straight red line, then something like a thousand needles jamming into the side of her face. Immediately, the world surrounding shifted to black, her neck never having snapped one way with such force. The swiftness with which her head hit the ground left her with a face full of dirt and harsh grass streaks, and the collision itself she could already feel sending through her brain waves of pulsing pain.

From her devastated position on the ground, she could faintly hear Kakashi speak. "Heal her up. When you're done, we go again."

The hospital loomed large and imposing as Jiraiya stood at the entrance doors, gray eyes looking up at the slow-cracking walls and faded green paint. So Naruto was in there... Not too surprising. He was pretty banged up when they fought. Without treatment, he wouldn't last much longer out in the world. Still, he needed to approach with caution. Last time, he had somehow been sensed out before getting within fifty feet of him. That couldn't happen again. Setting his face forward, he stepped towards the glass double doors and pulled one open. Time to go to work.

FIRST OF ALL, BEFORE THE AUTHOR'S NOTE: FOLLOW/FAVORITE ME IF YOU WANT UPDATES FOR ALL STORIES AND NOT JUST SPECIFIC STORIES. I'm telling you that for your own good lol. You never know what type of story I may be planning to drop. You can follow and favorite the stories you like as well, but following and favoriting me as an author will get you better notified.

Author's Note:

Now, with that out of the way, another chapter down. :) Hopefully, it was a good one. I really felt it would be good to give Naruto some backstory and fill in some of those blanks from earlier chapters, so I went ahead and did that here. That being said, I am trying to move things along pretty quickly, and this story is starting to enter that take-off phase where drama and fights start snowballing. I enjoy writing fights more than anything, though the other types of writing have their merits as well. Kakashi and Sakura was pretty fun to work with so hopefully we'll get some more stuff like that in the future. As usual, be sure to review, follow, favorite, and all that good stuff! Thanks again. The support is amazing. I really appreciate it. I really do. See you all in the next one.