For the briefest of moments there was nothing but pain. More pain than I had ever felt in my life.

  As if it had all compounded. The thousands of injuries I had taken were simply slaps on the wrist compared to this.

  And then nothing.

  It was actually a relief when the pain stopped. A relief that it was all finally over. That everything was over. It wasn’t a bad life, but it was a struggle. And it had been long. Longer than I had thought it would be. I had lost count at the amount of times I expected to die. How many others I had watched die.

  Now it was over.

  Now I could find peace…

  Then, I opened my eyes.

  Now I was just confused.

  Everything was blurry and my body ached. Hospital? No… The ceiling was wrong. But it was…familiar? Painfully familiar.

  I raised my hand, rubbing at my eyes. Everything felt wrong. “What kind of jutsu was that?” I muttered, mentally cataloguing that my voice sounded wrong. It felt like I was floating. Body transfer, maybe? I had never experienced that before, but I had never heard of it hurting that much.

  It took a few minutes before I could even sit up and look around. Everything was still a bit blurry, but I was starting to get a very bad feeling. A feeling settling in the pit of my stomach. The room I was in was extremely familiar. The orange sheets covering me. The lumpy bed I was laying on. The peeling wallpaper. The little dresser next to my bed with an alarm clock. The desk in the corner.

  This was my room. My room when I was a child.

  “A genjutsu then?” I grumbled as I took in more details. The posters that I could barely remember. Did I really have so many ramen posters, or was this being exaggerated? There was the sliding door to my balcony straight in front of me, and when I turned my head I could see the red door that led to the rest of my apartment.

  Clasping my hands together and pulling my legs in, I sat in the lotus position and spiraled my chakra in reverse for a second. But nothing changed.

  “Really strong one then, if I can’t break it…” I reached up and rubbed the back of my neck. It felt…smooth.

  Slowly I brought my hand down, looking it over. It was soft. All of the calluses and wrinkles were gone.

  As I turned over to look left, I could see the village out my window. The sun was up and peaking through the clouds, shining across the city. It left an almost bitter taste in my mouth when I realized it was the village before it was destroyed by Pain. That would suggest that whoever placed this genjutsu knew what it looked like, or was somehow using my memories to visualize the environment.

  Or it wasn’t a genjutsu.

  Mind jutsu were always so annoying to deal with. They did so many different things, and I was never very good at them. They require way too much precision and while I got pretty good, I never got to the level above simple illusions.

  After some struggling, I managed to get up and walk into the living room. It was a mess, with empty cupramen containers piled haphazardly in one corner, doodles and things scattered everywhere. One piece of paper caught my attention; a piece of homework that was about practicing handwriting. And it wasn’t very good.

  I made my way over to the window, once again looking over the village before pulling the curtains closed. “Okay,” I said as I turned around. “Naruto emergency meeting.” I clapped my hands together as I spoke.

  Nothing happened.

  Pausing for a moment and looking around, a frown crept onto my face.

  “Seriously?” I sighed as I put my hands into a cross seal and molded my chakra. It was difficult, and halfway through I had to stop and restart. “Shadow Clone Jutsu.”

  There were three puffs of smoke, each revealing an identical copy of myself. Spikey blonde hair, frog pajamas, three whisker marks on each cheek, and bright blue eyes. We all gaped at each other. “Whoa, okay so we’re a kid again,” one clone said.

  “Why are there only three of us? We were going for seven?” another asked as he did a headcount.

  “Our chakra control and level is back to nil.”

  All of us sighed as we gathered around the table. “So, probably not a genjutsu,” I said.

  “Probably not,” they agreed.

  “It has to be a time jutsu, then. Or maybe some sort of dimensional transfer? Since we’re back to being a kid. But I’ve never heard of one of those that reverses time, only stops or slows it.”

  “And if it was a dimension jutsu it wouldn’t make sense for us to be a child.” There were a few clones that nodded their agreement.

  “How old are we anyways?” one asked while another moved to the calendar hanging on the fridge.

  “We’re six,” he said with annoyance, slapping the calendar as if it had personally offended him.

  “Great, so the village hates us again,” one said as he slammed his head onto the table.

  “But why six? What was so special about this date?” the one at the calendar muttered. “We’re already attending the Acadamy…”

  We all fell silent as we thought about that, some looking around, others having closed their eyes and folded their arms in thought.

  “Has to be some sort of significant event.”

  “Can’t be because we got kicked out of the orphanage, that happened last year.”

  “We saved Hinata from those bullies a few months ago…” someone muttered.

  “Chakra!” one suddenly exclaimed, snapping his fingers.

  Everyone looked at him, waiting for him to continue.

  “This is when we were finally able to use our chakra!”

  Everyone snapped their fingers, pointing at that clone. “That must be it!”

  “Okay,” I said with a nod. “We’ll work on things going forward like that. For some reason, we have regressed back to our childhood, to the point when we were first able to manipulate our chakra.”

  “And it seems like the only thing we have intact is our memories. Our control is trash again.”

  “I’m surprised we managed any clones at all.”

  “Right. So… What do we do?” I asked as I looked around.

  All of us fell into thought. This was honestly one of my favorite problem solving techniques. Every clone was me, with my memories, but there was enough deviation that our thought processes were different from the moment after creation. With this, I could work out problems from multiple angles, but still have it all as if I was coming to a solution.

  “Should we let the old man die?” one said suddenly.

  All of us looked at him in confusion.

  “The old man? Third Hokage. He died during that Chunin Exam fiasco.”

  “We could change the future!” one of them said excitedly. “Keep Sasuke from leaving the village and… And so many other stuff!”

  “We could save the other Jinchuriki. And Jiraiya.”

  “Completely ruin Madara’s plans.”

  “And Orochimaru’s.”

  “And Otsutsuki’s.”

  Suddenly it went silent and all of our gazes fell to the table.

  Eventually it was broken by one of the clones. “Boruto… doesn’t exist anymore…”

  “Neither does Himawari… Or our grandkids… Or Kawaki…”

  “But they will,” one of them said as he slapped the table. “I mean, all we have to do is marry Hina-chan again, right? Save Kawaki?”

  “Maybe…” another said, though it was clear he had his doubts.

  Again it fell silent as we all digested the situation.

  “Hey, we have our arm back!” one suddenly shouted.

  We all looked at him, and then down at our right arm. “Whoa, it’s actually our arm. Not that prosthetic.”

  “Of course it’s our arm, idiot. We lost that when we were older.”

  The clone that brought it up chuckled and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. “Right…”

  “Okay, but my question still stands.” We all looked at that clone. “Do we let the old man die?”

  “He is the reason our childhood sucks, after all.”

  “He let the council practically murder us…”

  “He stole everything from us. All of our inheritance…”

  “The villagers ostracize and beat us on a regular basis.”

  “And we never got any of mom and dads stuff until after we became Hokage.”

  “And by then most of it was lost or destroyed.”

  Once again it fell silent as we all thought that over.

  “There’s…someone else that we need to talk to…”

  When everyone’s attention looked towards that clone, he simply placed his hand on his stomach. All of us mimicked the action.

  “I know Himawari got him after he resurrected but…”

  “It would be really nice to see him…”

  “Do you think he’ll remember us?”

  I shook my head. “No. He would have already been talking at us if he’d also kept his memories.” We all chuckled at that. “Okay. We’ll go talk with him and use that memory sharing technique.”

  There was a chorus of agreements before they all burst into smoke. The mental feedback was barely a tickle, but it was a reminder that I was going to have to work on my mental fortitude again. As I sorted through the slightly different memories and thought processes, I made my way back into my room and sat down on my bed in the lotus position again.

  Sinking into my mindscape was annoyingly difficult. I hadn’t done it for something like a hundred years. There was no point since it would have been empty.

  When I opened my eyes, I found myself in the familiar sewer. Red brick walls, blue and red pipes, and a few inches of water covering the floor.

  Standing up, I made my way down the hall towards the massive room. Against one wall was a massive gate with huge bars, making a truly spectacular door that stretched up into the darkness of the ceiling. The only apparent thing holding it closed was a piece of paper with the symbol for Seal on it.

  In the darkness behind the bars something shifted. One massive eye opened, red with a black slit, and its gaze immediately fell on me. “So my brat of a jailer has found his way in here…” the massive creature growled. There it was. The Nine-Tails. The Kyubi. The Demon Fox. So many names for such an ancient and powerful being.

  I couldn’t help but smile at the familiar tone. Mostly annoyance, but also curious. As I walked towards the bars, the massive eye tracked my every movement. Once I was close enough, I could see the shape of him. Larger than I remember, but that was probably because I was smaller. “Are you just going to lay there and sulk?” I asked teasingly, unable to help myself.

  He shifted, growling as he approached the bars and I could see him better. The deep red-orange fur, those rabbit like ears, and the nine tails lashing behind him in the dark. “Don’t think that I won’t kill you, brat.”

  “But you won’t,” I said, getting closer and closer to the bars. I was well within his reach now, but he hesitated. “It is…” Honestly it was hard not to cry. “It is so good to see you.”

  Now he really looked confused and actually stepped back. “Have you gone mad? Has that damnable village's treatment of you driven you insane?”

  I snorted and stepped between the bars, smiling at him. I could see him tensing, ready to pounce on me, and the only reason he hadn’t already was because he was extremely confused at my actions. It was one thing not to fear him, but an entirely different thing for me to so eagerly approach. While he always boasted about being hate and evil incarnate, I knew the truth. He was hurt, and lonely, and filled the gap with hate. “I know you won’t hurt me, because you’re too curious.”

  “Don’t you mock me, brat!” he shouted, and I felt it in every fiber of my being as he lashed forward, his massive paw-hand crashing into the bars above my head. The wind pressure nearly knocked me off my feet. “The only reason I have not yet killed you, is I would die as well. And then I would join that pathetic father of yours in the belly of the Shinigami!”

  Looking at him, I could see the hate. All of the rage and anger. Slowly, I raised my hand, forming a fist towards him. “You won’t hurt me, because we’re partners.”

  He scoffed, eyeing my offered fist. “As if I would ever partner with a lowly human.”

  “Kurama.” He actually flinched at the use of his name and his eyes narrowed at me. “All I am asking is for one moment of your trust.”

  “How do you know my name?” he growled, bearing his teeth.

  “Just trust me, and you’ll know,” I replied with a nod towards my outstretched fist.

  All he did for a few minutes was stare at me. My arm was actually starting to get tired. Hesitantly, Kurama raised his hand and balled it into a fist. I had honestly never seen the big fox so hesitant about something. Eventually, he moved it forward and the moment it made contact with mine I activated a technique that he had shown me long ago. The only difference is I wasn’t just showing him a part of my life, I was showing him everything. Every last minute. His eyes seemed to glaze over slightly and he got a faraway look as he was flooded with the one hundred and fifty two years of the life I had lived.

  We sat there for a very long time, his eyes not refocusing for quite some time. It was a lot of time to digest, after all. While it was less than thirty minutes for me, Kurama was living through every single day. For a being like him, it was a short amount of time. And as it went on I could see his expression slowly soften, a sort of odd clarity coming over him.

  And then he blinked, his body relaxing and his focus coming back towards me. “Even after living so long, you hardly change, kit,” Kurama said with a sigh as he laid back down. “I would have really killed you, you know?”

  “I had faith in our bond,” I replied with a grin.

  He scoffed. “We have no bond. That was not me in your memories, but a version of me that you whittled down with your constant pestering until he gave up on trying to fight you.”

  I laughed before sitting down, folding my legs in front of me. “So, do you know why I’m a child again?”

  The massive fox studied me for a moment, before tilting his head slightly and scratching his chin. “It was not the jutsu that hit you, at least not entirely,” he began, and I waited patiently for him to gather the rest of his thoughts. Eventually he settled into a more comfortable position, crossing his paws in front of him and resting his chin on them. “I believe it was a sort of dimensional jutsu, similar to the ones you have knowledge of, but it was done wrong. Rather than move you to a new location it ripped you to shreds.”

  “That would explain the pain,” I said with a shudder.

  “Indeed.” Kurama nodded. “As for why your mind and soul seem to have come back… I have a theory, but it is not a pleasant one.”

  I frowned a bit, but nodded for him to continue.

  “I don’t think this world is the same as yours. Regressing through time is impossible. Dimensions that exist in another time, yes. But simply you being here changes the future, even if you did everything exactly the same.” Now he seemed to hesitate, his brow furrowing. “And the memories of your youth are different,” he said slowly. “Those in your world were cruel, neglectful, hateful, and beat you. But those beatings do not match the ones from this world.”

  Now I was frowning even more. I had honestly pushed away those memories, that sometimes the villagers would get physically violent. Even if it was only a shove, or the occasional punch or kick. Sometimes it was much worse.

  Kurama continued before I had a chance to reply, “And…you were dying.”

  I flinched, looking up into his eyes. “What?”

  “Up until this morning, you were dying. A poison that somehow repressed your immunity to my chakra, turning it lethal to you. I was attempting to suppress my chakra, but that damnable seal draws it from me whether I want it to or not.” He paused, all of his attention clearly on me. “I was just waiting to die.”

  I folded my arms over my chest, staring at Kurama. “So that Naruto is dead?”

  “I believe so,” Kurama said with a sigh. “And yet here you are. A different Naruto. One who has lived a long life. Or one who believes himself as such.”

  My head tilted to the side, and my finger began tapping at my bicep. “This sounds like some higher being meddled.” From the things I had faced, the things I had fought, I knew that there were beings above us. While some who gain power claim themselves to be gods, I have seen a true God. With a capital G.

  Kurama nodded. “From what I saw of your life, it is clear that Naruto is an important piece in keeping the world from collapsing or being consumed.”

  “The Great Toad Sage called me the Child of Prophecy.” I frowned, trying to think back on what the prophecy actually said, but I hadn’t been paying attention.

  The large fox scoffed. “Typical of those old toads to put the weight of the world on a child.”

  “Well, they weren’t wrong,” I said with a shrug.

  He was silent for a moment before he huffed. “Fair point.” He shifted a bit, getting closer. “So, what now? What plans does the Child of Prophecy have?”

  I laughed. “I’ve never been good at planning. But there are several things I need to do.” I started to count them off on my fingers. “Open the seal again. Combine you back with your other half. Training. Try and gather all of the Uzumaki documents and relics before they can be destroyed. My family home should still be standing, so I wanna go live there. And there’s a bunch of people I need to save.”

  “You actually want to break the seal?” Kurama asked, apparently not paying attention to the rest of what I had said.

  “Of course?” I responded, looking at him puzzled. “You’re my friend and partner, I’m not going to leave you in a cage.”

  The big dangerous Kyubi was struck silent at that. It was clear that he wanted to say something, but was actually struggling to form words.

  “I’m sure all the Uzumaki fuinjutsu techniques will help me. I could try and get those toads to give me the key, but I’m sure they would just make excuses about how I’m too young, or didn’t know what I was doing or you can’t be trusted or blah blah blah.” I waved my hand vaguely in the air.

  “You’re serious…” he muttered.

  “Of course. Fuinjutsu was never my focus of study, but I figure with my clans techniques, it'll be no problem.” I slapped my thighs as I stood up. “Problem is I don’t know where home is…” I muttered.

  Kurama was still quiet, looking down. “But… Why?”

  I looked over at him. “You saw it, didn’t you? All those memories. What we went through together.” I walked over to him, placing my hand down on one of his massive paws. “You’re one of my precious people, Kurama. It’s only natural that I would want to help you.” I grinned up at him. “And we made one hell of a good team.”

  He stared at me for a moment before letting out a huff that blew my hair back and turned his head away. “Impudent little kit,” he grumbled.

  All I could do was laugh, patting his paw before walking back towards the bars. “I think… I should have a chat with dad.”

  Walking out between the bars, I looked up at the piece of paper. I couldn’t help wondering if I should do this now, or wait. But just… after so long, I just wanted to see my dad again. Last time we weren’t able to have enough of a conversation… It was just annoying exposition. Not that I expected our conversation to be any better.

  I stared at it for a moment before looking through the bars. “Hey, Kurama. Mind giving me a lift up?”

  The Kyubi scoffed. “Quite bold of you to make requests of me.” But despite his words, he came forward and reached a paw between the bars.

  After I climbed up onto it, he slowly lifted me up to the piece of paper. Gently I placed my hand on it before looking around. Nothing seemed to happen. With a shrug, I reached up to the edge, putting my fingers behind the paper and began to pull.

  Suddenly a hand grabbed hold of my wrist. “Well, hey there dad,” I said, grinning at the tall blond man. “I was wondering how far I had to go to actually get you to come out.”

  He stared at me, clearly confused. “Huh?”

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  “Look, we only have a few minutes before your chakra runs out.” I shifted my hand so that I wasn’t trying to grab the Seal anymore, and instead had hold of his wrist. “It’s so good to see you.” I could feel something hot running down my cheeks, but I was mostly ignoring it.

  “So you found out, eh?” he responded with a chuckle.

  I nodded my head. “Yeah. No thanks to that stupid old man. Jeez, if I went into detail of all the crap I’ve had to suffer because of that stupid old fools' decisions we’d hit our time limit before I turned five.”

  The smile that he had slowly fell. “I know. He…really did a bad job, didn’t he.”

  “Oh, right.” I wiped away my tears with my sleeve. “You can see some of the stuff outside, just like Kurama.”

  “Kurama?” he asked.

  “Me,” growled the fox.

  “Ah, the Nine-Tails. Didn’t know you had a name,” my father said.

  “Everything has a name, you ignorant welp,” he growled.

  “Hey, hey. Don’t waste our time arguing.” I tugged on my dads sleeve in order to get his attention. “First, I wanted to ask where our house is, and how to get in.”

  He seemed to hesitate for a moment, glancing at the fox. “It’s in the mid-residence district, on Jisuan street. You’ll know it because of the big metal gate with the swirl. It’s a blood seal, so you just need to use some blood to register yourself. Then it’ll just take a bit of chakra to lock and unlock.”

  I grinned at him. “Great.”

  He reached out and ruffled my hair. “I’m not sure what happened… But I’m glad that everything seems to be working out.”

  “Yeah… And once I unlock the seal, I’ll get to see mom,” I said, still grinning.

  This time he laughed. “Jeez you really just know everything, don’t you? Whatever that chakra poison did to you, seems to have helped you a lot.”

  “It…” I could feel my smile starting to fall. “I’m not…”

  He crouched down so that he was at eye level, his hand still on my head. “I know. But you’re still my son.”

  There was no stopping the second flood of tears even if I wanted to. I rushed forward, wrapping my arms around him. “I’m sorry…”

  “It’s okay,” he said, and I could hear the smile in his tone as he returned my embrace. “I wish we had more time… So you could tell me all about that life you lived.”

  “I wish you could have been there,” I murmured, squeezing him tighter.

  “Me too, Naruto… Me too…” He started to rub the back of my head. “Better ask any other questions you have before we hit our time limit.”

  I nodded. “Do you have any secret stashes?”

  He laughed, hard and loud. “Wow, is that all I am now? A glorified treasure map?”

  All I did was grin at him.

  He sighed as he thought about it. “Did you ever get my notes on the Flying Raijin Technique?”

  Blinking up at him, I shook my head. “No.”

  He seemed to think for a moment, mulling over what to tell me. “The originals should probably still be in the archives. Near the back, there’s a bunch of agriculture documents from the Second Hokages era. On the second to bottom shelf, there’s a panel on the back wall. You should be able to unlock the seal with your blood, since you’re my son.”

  Again I blinked at him. “Why did you hide it?”

  “It was where I hid my original notes,” he said with a smile down at me, petting my head. “Everything else is a watered down copy. Never let others get their hands on the original of any technique you make.”

  “That’s why no one has been able to do it!” I exclaimed, pushing him back slightly.

  He laughed. “Really? No one?”

  “Well, my son managed to recreate it, but-”

  He stiffened. “You have a son?”

  “Yeah. And a daughter. And they have children. Or…er… well they will? I’m really not sure. Especially since this world is different…” I mumbled, trying to think about it myself. It was weird thinking about things like that.

  “I’m a grandfather…” he muttered, his eyes taking on a distant look. “I’m a great grandfather…”

  Kurama laughed, having remained silent this entire time to let us have our moment, but apparently my fathers reaction was too funny. “Oh, so the all mighty Fourth Hokage is stunned into silence by the knowledge of children?”

  “Shut it you!” he said, turning and pointing at the fox. “I’m too young to have grandchildren!”

  The great Kyubi scoffed. “What does it matter? You’re dead.”

  That seemed to take all the wind out of his sails. “Yeah, and whose fault was that?”

  “Not like I wanted to be there either!” Kurama shouted. “I wanted nothing to do with any of you, but that accursed Uchiha got me with those damnable eyes!”

  He opened his mouth to say something, but I put a hand on his chest. “It’s okay, dad. I forgave Kurama a long time ago. I would have done the same thing.”

  He looked at me. “You would have killed us to prevent your imprisonment?” he asked incredulously.

  “He tried to kill me, and you got in the way,” I said with a shrug. “I’ve had a lot of time to get over it.”

  A long and heavy sigh escaped him as he shook his head. He opened his mouth to say something else, but stopped and looked down at his hand. “Ah…times up.”

  I looked at his hand as well. “I guess so…” I said with a sigh.

  He smiled, ruffling my hair. “Stay safe, okay?”

  A smirk pulled at the corner of my mouth. “Not happening.”

  All he did was sigh, shaking his head as he slowly started to fade into nothing. “Oh, and when you confront the Third… tell him that I’m disappointed in him.”

  I nodded as he completely vanished.

  For several minutes all I could do was stare at the place that he was. Eventually, I reached up and slapped my cheeks. “Okay! Time to get to work.”

  Kurama just scoffed at me as I left the mindscape, my eyes opening to reveal my room. The first problem I had was avoiding the old man. Or should I confront him now and judge his reaction?

  “He has been tracking you,” Kurama said with a bored sounding tone.

  I blinked. “What?” I thought back.

  “He has tracking seals sewn into your clothes,” was his response.

  Immediately I stood up and threw open my drawers, grabbing one of my orange jumpsuits and started to examine it. Eventually I found it. It was sewn into the collar, a subtle tracking seal. Judging from its simplicity, it required him to use a focus in order to actually see where I was and spy on me. It was absolutely ingenious, and I couldn’t remember ever seeing a fuinjutsu actually sewn into cloth using chakra thread.

  “Can you sense any Anbu nearby?” I mentally asked Kurama.

  “There’s one on the building across the street.” I had to fight the urge to look over. “They arrived while we were conversing.”

  “Ah, I guess I should be at the Academy right now, and so they’re wondering why I’m playing hooky.” I continued to examine the clothing, as if I was just checking it over and pretending like I hadn’t just found something.

  I rubbed my face, tossing the jumpsuit to the ground before crawling back into bed. How did I ever think that thing looked anything but horrible? My sense of fashion had definitely changed. Still liked orange though.

  “Tell me when they’re gone, please,” I thought to Kurama as I settled into bed. My body still felt a bit bad.

  “I am not your lookout,” he said with a huff.

  “Oh but you’re so much better at sensing than I am,” I thought as I smiled. “You always were.”

  “Flattery will not change my opinion, kit,” he paused, “But, fine. We need them gone to begin anyways.”

  It took nearly an hour before they left. The moment they were, I shot out of bed. Immediately I threw off my clothes, and made a handsign. But I hesitated. “Can you tell if he’s watching us right now?”

  “I can. And he is not.”

  With a nod, I continued. “Shadow Clone Jutsu.”

  Four clones immediately appeared. “Plan shopping and find home engaged,” they all chorused with a grin.

  They nodded, three clones and myself immediately transformed into generic looking people I had seen in the village, while the other one got dressed into the tracked clothing. I passed out what little money I had to two of the clones, and we all left the apartment.

  The villagers hated me, and most shops would kick me out immediately. The ones that didn’t would charge me triple or more above the regular price of anything they sold me. Two clones headed towards nearby shops, while the third headed towards where my dad said home was. He wouldn’t enter, he would just confirm its location. Not like he would have been able to anyways; clones don’t bleed.

  I made my way towards the Hokage Tower. I wanted to check the location and security of the archives. I knew where it was, but I had never really paid attention to its security, and it could be different than what I remembered. There were so many places that I wanted to go and check, but I needed to be stronger before risking them.

  Everything looked so familiar… It was also nice to not be looked at with fear or disgust, but no one smiled at me. I wasn’t the savior of the village anymore. And if everything went the way I wanted, I never would. I would stop it all from happening.

  Passing the archives, it was just as I remembered. There was a slight alcove in the tower, and two Chunin guarding it. I gave them a smile and a nod when they looked at me. Neither of them had any Kekkei Genkei, so they couldn’t see through my transformation.

  That was another thing… could I… Could I stop the Uchiha massacre?

  “Do not,” Kurama rumbled in my head. “That would change the Akatsuki. And Obito will also be there.”

  “Right…” I muttered, shaking my head. That would not only cause problems for future events, but the Uchiha were already planning a coup due to Obito and Danzo poisoning their minds. Danzo was another problem… With all the Sharingan he grafts onto him, I wouldn’t stand a chance. Nothing I could do there right now. I didn’t have power. And the only one I would be able to even attempt to convince is the old man, which would require me to reveal a lot. More than I was willing.

  With that, I returned to the apartment. I was the first one back, since it was just a walk. I asked Kurama if there was anyone watching, and when he confirmed it was clear, I went in, dispelling my transformation and the clone that was meditating on the bed. I decided to take a shower while I waited.

  One of the clones dispelled after dropping off the clothes and a few ninja tools, and wow that had been easy. No questions asked, no scornful or appreciative looks. That felt weird to just be ignored so thoroughly like that.

  The next clone to dispel was the one searching for the property. He found it easily enough, but it had clearly been neglected. And it was annoying I wouldn’t be able to fix that until I confronted the third.

  “Or you could create a fuinjutsu that made it look abandoned,” Kurama suggested.

  I stopped, staring at the wall for a moment. “Damn I really need to learn more about fuinjutsu…”

  All I heard was the fox laughing and could practically see him shaking his head. “So old, and yet still the foolish little kit that I know.”

  “Hey! I was busy with Hokage stuff.” I folded my arms, frowning at nothing. I shook my head as I stepped out and started to dry. The final clone showed up, placing the groceries in the kitchen before dispelling. As much as I like ramen, I found out later in life that I actually needed a good diet. Part of why I was so damn short was my diet. Not that I could really do anything about that considering people sold me expired food.

  “Learn to hunt. That way you can save money.”

  “Good idea.” I paused as my brow furrowed as I was getting dressed in my normal clothes. I needed to make the old man think nothing was wrong if he decided to check in. “You’re being extremely helpful. Thank you.”

  All I got was a huff in response.

  His attitude had probably shifted greatly from the memories. I hadn’t hidden anything from him. So he also knew that I had inherited Asura’s chakra, the son of Kurama’s creator.

  I made myself a rather hearty stew. Something that I could heat up and keep eating without much effort. While I wasn’t the best cook, I wasn’t bad. I could change that with some effort, though.

  “What is your plan, kit?” Kurama suddenly asked as I was eating.

  “Break into the archives. Get the Fourth’s scrolls on the Flying Raijin, and then go to my rightful home.” I explained. There were probably few that knew their way around the Hokage tower better than me.

  He didn’t answer for a long time, but eventually it seemed like he agreed, “It will be a good test of your current skills. Your mind hasn’t adjusted to your body, so I would suggest doing some kata to adjust.”

  “Good idea,” I said with a nod as I washed the dishes. Moving the table to the side, I cleared a good amount of space before doing just that. Several hours passed, and I only had to stop for a little bit when an Anbu showed up. I spent the time I was being watched working on my calligraphy, since that was the most important thing about fuinjutsu. Trying to force my hand to move the way my brain told it was almost painfully annoying.

  The moment they left, almost an hour later, I went back to performing kata and stretches. As I started to adjust I couldn’t help but marvel at how easy it was to move. Nothing twinged with pain. My bones didn’t creak, and joints didn’t pop with movement. When the sun finally went down, that weird achy feeling I had was mostly gone. I guess that was caused by my mind and body being out of sync.

  I created a clone after stripping and had it put on the tracked jumpsuit while I got into the new clothes. It wasn’t exactly my style, but it was what I needed. Dark gray turtleneck, fingerless gloves, dark gray cargo pants, and dark colored boots. The turtleneck was purposefully a bit too big, allowing me to pull up the neck cloth and cover the lower half of my face.

  Before putting on my gloves, I grabbed some crushed charcoal and rubbed it into my hair. It would be easy to wash out, and wouldn’t hold up forever, but it would do a good enough job for tonight. I rubbed some on my face as well to smudge up what was visible.

  The last thing I did before leaving was pump more chakra into the clone. It would be able to take a few hits, and last several days with the amount I gave it. That was a neat trick I had learned when I wanted to ditch out on doing paperwork or go somewhere outside of the village for a few days.

  With all that done, I looked around the room. This might be the last time I would be in here if everything went well. Nodding at my clone, I transformed into a cat. He opened the door to the balcony and I quickly made my way out, scampering across rooftops.

  Using Kurama, I was easily able to avoid any patrols as I made my way to the Hokage Tower. Negative emotion sense was seriously one of the greatest sensor abilities, and almost impossible to negate. Even a sliver of a negative emotion would cause you to get picked up. Any sort of hate, resentment, uncomfort, annoyance, frustration… So many different emotions would cause someone to practically shine to Kurama’s senses.

  Circling around the tower, I clambered up to the second floor. Transforming back to normal, I moved to the eighth window from the center. This was how I had gotten in back when Mizuki tricked me into stealing the Scroll of Seals. The lock on this window was broken, and if you pushed it to the left slightly you could get it open. You wouldn’t be able to find it with a quick check and they never fixed it as far as I was aware.

  Suppressing my chakra as best I could, I slipped in, closing the window behind me. Silently I made my way down the hall, quickly making my way down a staircase and to the archive door. Quickly asking Kurama if anyone was nearby, and confirming there wasn’t, I examined the lock. Thankfully there wasn’t a seal on the door, or else I would have had difficulty. The lock took a minute to open using a few senbon.

  Quickly moving in, I closed the door behind me before making my way down the stairs and channeling chakra to my eyes to increase my nightvision. It was completely silent, but I still moved slowly, cautiously looking for security seals. There were a few, but they were in sections I wasn’t interested in.

  The section my dad had talked about took a moment to find, but eventually I was there. Gently I began taking out scrolls, checking the back wall for any evidence of a seal. When I did find it, it was small and blended in well. Definitely not something someone would notice unless they were looking.

  I sliced my thumb on my canine and smeared blood across the seal. Nothing happened for a few seconds, and then there was a sudden thunk noise that made me jump. I pat my chest several times to calm my heart. “Dammit dad…why was that so loud?” I grumbled as I slid open a panel. Inside were a few scrolls, and a three pronged kunai with a thick handle covered in symbols.

  Quickly and carefully I grabbed all of it, slipping it into a pouch. I slid the panel closed, and used a bit of chakra to burn away the blood before I started to place the scrolls back on the shelf.

  “Incoming.” Kurama’s voice caused me to jump again and I leaned slightly to look out into the hallway. When the lights flicked on, I tensed and had to restrain myself from ducking back behind the shelf. Movement would draw attention, and if they were in line of sight they’d spot it.

  Thankfully it wasn’t Anbu. Unfortunately, judging by the vest, it was a Chunin and not a civilian. If they were a sensor type I was screwed. But their guard was mostly down. He let out a yawn, carrying a box down the rows. He wasn’t looking ahead, and was just trying to figure out the correct row. He hadn’t gone very far before he turned down one.

  Immediately I moved, running forward until I was at the row he was in. Slowly I peaked around the corner. This was a good opportunity… If I got out before him, he would lock the door and I wouldn’t have to waste time doing that myself. “Is there anyone else?” I asked Kurama.

  “No one else,” he responded.

  I watched him for a moment as he started to sort through a few scrolls. I eyed the shelf I was hiding behind, and gave it a nudge. A scroll fell off the shelf further down and he spun, kunai out. Apparently he was paying more attention than I thought… He was a Chunin after all. And he was damn fast.

  Shifting slightly, I leapt upwards, using the shelf to gain height so that I was now on top. He was walking towards where the scroll had fallen. I leapt over a light, using it as cover to increase my chances of not being spotted and staying in the shadows near the ceiling.

  Landing on the other shelf caused a few more scrolls to fall. I froze as a kunai nailed one of the falling scrolls. I was out of sight, but I knew his focus was towards me. If I moved and caused something else to fall he might realize someone was there.

  I heard him sigh directly below me. “Dammit… This place is so spooky it’s got me jumpy.” I hadn’t even heard him move towards my location. “Please don’t be important,” he grumbled and I heard him unfurl a scroll, probably the one he hit.

  Despite my best efforts, I couldn’t get myself to relax. I needed to relax my muscles if I wanted to move. “Kurama. Tell me when he gets back to where his box is.” I got a grunt in response.

  Out of the corner of my eye I watched as he shoved the scroll back onto the shelf, inches behind where my foot was placed. “Let’s just pretend that never happened,” he said with a chuckle.

  After a moment, I got the good news. “He’s back at the box.”

  Slowly, and as quietly and carefully as I could, I climbed down the shelf. As soon as I was on the ground, I started dashing towards the stairs. It was annoying how slowly I had to move in order to keep my steps silent.

  He had left the door at the top of the stairs open, and I paused only to ask Kurama if the coast was clear. When he confirmed it was, I rushed to the window and the moment I was out I turned back into a cat and fled as fast as I could. Being a cat was actually nice, since I didn’t have to focus on being quiet. Cats moved naturally silent.

  But that was honestly so much fun. More fun than I had had in a long time. My body hadn’t moved this well without pain in such a long time. How long had it been since I’d done a mission myself?

  It wasn’t long before I was in front of rather large and ornate gates, having dropped my transformation in a nearby alley. Glancing to the side plate that read Namikaze Residence. There were vigils, and flowers placed under it. Little notes of thanks placed around. There was a small pang of disgust that settled in my stomach. They treated an abandoned building with more respect than an orphaned child.

  Approaching the gate, I reached up to pull my mask down when I heard a voice. “I wouldn’t if I were you.”

  Looking over I felt my entire body tense. There was an Anbu, crouched on the wall of the adjacent property. They were dressed in all black, wearing a weasel mask with a red triangle. But it was their hair and sword that tipped me off to who they were.

  “So, mind telling me who you are and what you’re doing out here, dressed like that?” he questioned. I could feel the slight probing of his chakra.

  “How did he get past your sensing?” I asked Kurama.

  “He just entered it. He used Body Flicker to appear there.” Kurama answered. “Must have spotted you from a distance outside my range.”

  I stared at him for a moment before I responded, “I’m practicing.” Which was true, and I would have to keep to the truth as Itachi would be able to tell if I lied.

  Immediately his entire demeanor seemed to shift. I didn’t even try to hide my voice, so it was quite apparent that I was a kid. “And why are you practicing outside the Fourth Hokage’s home?”

  “I’ve never seen it,” I said, which was also the truth. I hadn’t known it even existed until I was Hokage and looking through surviving records and saw it mentioned. At that point I purposefully showed naivety and looked away from him and focused back on the house. If I kept too much attention on him he would get suspicious.

  Out of the corner of my eye I could see him relax a bit more. “Well, you should keep your practicing to the Academy grounds with your Sensei. Otherwise you’re going to draw attention and get caught.”

  A short and bitter laugh escaped me as I looked over at Itachi. That caused him to be on edge again. Reaching up, I pulled down my mask. “As if they would train the demon brat properly,” I spat, noticing the way he seemed to almost flinch. “I’m not stupid. All the instructors hate my guts, like all the other villagers.” Iruka was the only exception, but even he started off hating me. It took years before he started seeing me as an actual child.

  “Naruto?” he asked, genuine surprise in his voice. “Shouldn’t you be at home?”

  “Yeah, I should,” I said with a nod towards the house.

  This time the flinch was noticeable. “You know? Since when?”

  “Since today,” I said, frowning. “Someone poisoned me, and somehow I survived. The seal almost broke, which triggered some sort of failsafe. Apparently Minato put a chakra memory of himself inside of me, and we had a nice chat.”

  As I talked, I could practically feel Itachi get more and more wound up. “Poisons shouldn’t work on you.” I couldn’t help but notice that he was keeping his distance, remaining cautious of me. I’m sure after hearing that, he couldn’t be sure that Kurama hadn’t taken over my body.

  “It was a poison that disabled my immunity to the Kyubi’s chakra. The Kyubi said it was quite an ingenious work around,” I said with a bit of a smile.

  “The hell I did.”

  “You can speak with it?” he asked slowly.

  I nodded. “He’s mostly just… lazy and sleeps most of the time. But he sure knows a lot. Like how it was an Uchiha that controlled him and made him attack the village. An Uchiha in an orange mask.”

  His fingers twitched. That probably meant that he had met Obito, who would be calling himself Tobi. “An Uchiha in an orange mask?”

  Again I nodded. “My father confirmed it, too.” I sighed slightly as I looked back at the house. His fingers twitched. “Itachi. I know a lot more than you think, or anyone should.”

  I didn’t even see him move, as I had his sword pressed against my neck. “How did you know who I was?” he said softly, there was no hostility in his voice.

  “The Kyubi can feel your Sharingan and is making a fuss about it,” I said, trying to remain still.

  “I am not,” Kurama growled.

  “I want to ask you a favor,” I continued, keeping my eyes on the house. “I know you have plans… I have my own, so I know what it’s like… Things that need to be done for the good of this village. That’s why I’m hiding everything. But…”

  “You want to ask me to not trust him?” he said, almost amused.

  “You already don’t trust him,” I said with a chuckle. “No, I want you to not tell the Hokage about what you’ve seen me doing. And… remember one thing.”

  “Is this a good decision? This could have some severe consequences,” Kurama warned.

  “It’s the only thing I can think of that would immediately help,” I thought. “Everything else would require too much time and planning, or reveal too much and end up in a really bad situation. I wouldn’t be hesitating if Danzo didn’t have so much control.” Itachi remained silent, waiting for me to finish. I took a deep breath before saying words that to anyone else wouldn’t make sense, but he would understand. “Sasuke is not you.”

  The grip on his sword tightened.

  “Itachi. You are a genius. One that hasn’t been seen in the village since the Second Hokage’s era. Sasuke, a genius in his own way, has so much potential, and is going to be one of the greatest Ninja Konoha has ever seen,” I said softly, as if others would hear what I was saying.

  “You’re very calm,” he muttered, his tone matching mine.

  “Because I know the kind of Ninja you are, Itachi. I know you love your brother, more than anything else.” His sword grip actually loosened and he pulled it away from my neck slightly. “But you need to learn more about him and his personality. He looks up to you, and you’re his guiding light. If you push him wrong, he won’t hesitate to betray the village for power.”

  The sword suddenly pressed against my throat, and I could actually feel blood trickling down my neck. Then he was suddenly several feet away, sheathing his blade. “I will take your words into consideration.” And then he was gone.

  “That was extremely wreckless,” Kurama growled. “There would have been nothing either of us could have done if he chose to kill or apprehend us.”

  I let out a slow breath as I moved towards the gate. Wiping the blood from my neck, I smeared it on the spiral. “It was a gamble,” I agreed, watching as the spiral lit up for a moment before the gate lock clicked.

  “And what if he tells the Hokage?”

  I shrugged as I pushed the gate closed behind me, using a bit of chakra to reengage the lock. “Doesn’t matter now. It would be extremely difficult for him to find the real me, and he would have to work pretty damn hard to get into this place.”

  The door had a similar seal on it, though this one was so much more complex. But with a bit of blood, it unlocked just like the gate. Inside was dark, and I had to stop myself as I reached for the lightswitch. I couldn’t do that until I could make sure it remained visibly vacant.

  With a sigh, I channeled Chakra to my eyes to better my vision.

  “No one outside can detect your chakra, so no need to hold back in here,” Kurama observed.

  “Can it hide yours?” I asked as I brushed some of the dust from a nearby counter.

  “Yes. Your mother would also train using my chakra, and so the house had to be guarded against it to prevent panic from its volatile nature.”

  On the counter there were a few dusty kunai, as well as a scroll and a few pictures. I picked one of the pictures up, wiping the dust from it. It was a picture of my mother and father, laughing at something. My eyes stung and watered. From the dust, clearly.

  When I finally got a hold of myself, I summoned seven shadow clones and we all started to clean. The kitchen was one of the worst places, as all the food in there had gone rotten. But there was one place even worse. Not because it was gross, but because of what it was.

  The clone that opened that door immediately dispelled from emotional backlash, and my entire world tilted. It was a nursery. I managed to get to the room, looking at it through blurry eyes. There was a crib on one side of the room. Toys everywhere. A few stuffed animals purposefully positioned on the bars of the crib, as if they had climbed up. Above was a banner reading ‘Welcome Home Naruto’.

  I crawled in, scooping the stuffed animals into my arms and sobbed like a child. The only time I had ever cried harder was when Hinata died.

  At some point I must have fallen asleep, because I woke up with sunlight streaming through the window. I was covered in dust and grime now, and I hadn’t changed. My eyes hurt from crying so much and I had a headache. Decades of repressed emotions that had just forced their way to the surface.

  I summoned a new clone and immediately dispelled it so that all the clones would get a memory refresh. My more solid clone was at the Academy, and honestly looked a bit rough. It was clear that he wasn’t doing so well, but no one had asked if he was okay. Which was typical. He had been quiet and very unlike how I used to be, but no one cared. No one ever cared.

  Hinata cared. The tone of her soft voice asking if I was okay honestly made me feel so much better. Just that slight bit of care. The clone made some excuse about not being able to sleep, and not feeling well.

  The other clones had made themselves useful, five of them had continued cleaning, while the other two had left. One went to the apartment to get the clothes I’d bought and food, since clones didn’t need to eat. The other one took what remaining money I had and went to buy more food for the house. They both transformed into random people, and were doing a good job at hiding themselves.

  Though the clone that went shopping had some difficulty getting back into the place because of people outside. Thankfully, he had found out that because the defensive formation recognized me, he could just hop the wall in the alley and come in through the back door.

  The ones that had remained had taken time to calm down, one of which dispelled the moment it had calmed down to share that with the others. One other did that as well, so they were all calm now and I felt mostly okay. The remaining clones had gotten back to cleaning, though they left the nursery alone.

  Of course, that meant that it was still filthy, and by extension I was now filthy.

  With a sigh, I placed the plushies back down in the crib and made my way to the restroom. From my clones, I also found that there were three doors that they couldn’t open.

  While I showered, one of the clones started heating up the stew I had made yesterday, so by the time I came down there was a hot meal waiting. I just nodded at them and they dispelled. Now the only clone was the one in school. From the memories I got from the dispel, he was vaguely paying attention.

  “Are you alright, kit?” Kurama said softly, or at least as soft as he could.

  “Yeah. That just…” There was a tightness in my chest as I thought about the banner. “Yeah. I’ll be okay.”