Before we begin...

A few important things you should know

First and foremost, this story began as just a concept I had wriggling around in my head that refused to bugger off until I put it to writing. Lo and behold, people seemed to like it, so I kept writing, aaand now I'm over 100 thousand words and several chapters past where I thought I'd be.

This story was supposed to be a divergent style story that closely followed canon, but eventually I came to the decision to just make it a full blown AU. As such, I'll still be following canon, albeit loosely. I won't shy away from taking a few artistic liberties here and there.

I've tried to keep a consistent schedule with this, but work has made things very difficult lately. I'm able to

I'll use these pre story AN's for answering questions (until more folks get to the facebook page) and updates, etc.

If you enjoy this story, please leave a review and tell me what you think, or send me a PM. Getting reader feedback helps me gauge my progress and determine what I'm doing right and doing wrong, it helps me improve. No pressure, and I won't judge you for choosing not to, just putting it out there that I really appreciate reader feedback and I'm open to constructive criticism. I'm writing this story for fun, but I also want my readers to enjoy it too.

This is the standard format for my story:

"normal speech"

'Normal thoughts'

"Kyuubi speech"

'Kyuubi thoughts'

I'll be using horizontal lines as scene transitions, and use parenthesis with location and time as needed.

If you want to get involved with the story, I made a facebook page under the same name. Feel free to swing by.

Edit: Revised the format of the chapter, minor spelling and grammar changes, configured the paragraph style to be easier to read. Made the author's notes less word vomity.

I'll be doing similar edits to the rest of the starting chapters.

(End Author's Note)

(Location: ? Time: ?)

From an emptiness, simultaneously endless in its expanse and yet feeling like a mere blink in time, the being became conscious of itself. Its eyes gradually forced themselves open, an impressively painful headache made every thought a laborious and uncomfortable process. With an air of uncertainty and confusion, it began to look around and take in its surroundings.

The most obvious detail made itself known to the being immediately, and likely would have even if it hadn't opened its eyes. The floor was covered in a liquid of some sort; the best guess is that this was probably water, though there was the off chance it may have been something less pleasant. The being decided to not make its headache worse chasing that paranoid thought any further, it would only serve to make an already bad situation oh so much worse.

The next immediate detail was that there was a red gate of some sort, directly in front of where the creature's face rested. The gate was closed, and seemed to be sealed, though had no obvious details to hint at whether it was locked or not, at least from this side. Peering through the gate, a long, dimly lit hallway could be seen. The hallway was possibly a never-ending series of corridors, but that was just an assumption based on what could be seen.

Glancing behind itself showed a gradual fade to a blackness, it seemed endless at first glance, but the outlines of a wall could just barely be seen in the inky darkness. Moving its gaze in any other direction saw more walls, sterile, blank walls. Judging by everything that could be seen, the creature seemed to be in some sort of cage.

Eventually, the thought of 'where….am I?', managed to enter its mind after a bit of effort. Its mind tried branching out and it was immediately met with more of the pain from its earlier headache, reminding the creature that, yes, its head was still very much in pain.

The next thought that stumbled into the creature's mind was, 'who am I?' It lifted its head and looked down into the water.

Crimson, slitted eyes looked back at itself, the thought that followed was a cautiously curious, '...what am I?'.

After some time had passed, it moved its head to try and look upon itself. Its eyes were met with red/orange fur that covered an animalistic, yet semi humanoid body. There was a cluster of nine flowing tails that had been laying as limp the rest of its body, though they were now starting to stir and become more animated as the rest of the body came under the being's conscious control.

After taking the details of itself into consideration, it made the assertion that it was something canid, a fox maybe? It could have passed for a wolf, though looking closer into the reflection established that it was indeed a fox of some kind. Its crimson eyes blinked as they observed, taking in the details of its visage.

It was definitely more fox like in its appearance; a long, slender snout (slender being relative), elongated canid ears, black canid lips and a black pattern of fur covering around its eyes and leading into its ears. It noted, however, that it wasn't specifically an animal, neither was it quite humanoid enough to sway anywhere in that direction either, it was an uncanny mix of both, at least as far as its body was concerned. Its head though, that was undeniably animal in its features.

'Ok, I'm some sort of fox…thing? A semi humanoid fox thing… with nine tails. I'm trapped in some sort of cage, there's water covering the floor, and there's an endless hallway just outside the cage.' the fox thought to itself as it proceeded to lift itself up off the ground and slowly move over to take a seat at the gate.

'…That brings up a lot more questions than it answers,' it sighed to itself, 'but at least I have a better idea of what I am and where I am, sort of.'

After staring at the gate for a short amount of time, the fox worked up the courage and cautiously lifted its oddly humanoid hand towards the gate. It momentarily stopped to take in the details of its hand, 'hmm, I was expecting paws…but I won't complain about having opposable thumbs.' It then gingerly pushed on the gate with one outstretched finger, then motioning to push with its palm. It sighed to itself when, naturally, the gate didn't budge even by the tiniest margin, though the fox quickly changed its attitude when it realized that at least the gate hadn't been laced with some sort of sinister trap.

Without hesitation, the Fox then slammed into the gate full force using its shoulder as the primary impact source. The Fox let out an audible cry of pain afterwards when, as the fox should have expected, the gate again refused to budge and was made of a very unforgiving material that absorbed very little of the impact and left the fox to slump down before the gate, clutching its now understandably sore shoulder.

'AARGH, that was STUPID, why did I do that? Why did I think that was a good idea?', the fox angrily berated itself, but soon stopped as it realized that it actually hadn't thought that through at all.

'OK then, mental note, think before doing something like that again, should have been obvious in hind sight, but…whatever, on to more pressing concerns.' The Fox was quick to recover, soon wandering about the cramped confines of its cage, looking for any semblance of an exit. There was an audible sigh once the obvious reality of the situation set in. This was a prison.

'Of COURSE there isn't going to be any way out of here besides the main gate. The gate that's locked, because this is a prison, right…', the fox huffed and plopped down onto the ground in frustration, the exceptionally painful headache decided to remind the fox that it was still there, causing the fox to groan and now clutch at its head.

'Alright, so… I'm in a cage, I'm a nine-tailed fox, I have a raging headache, and I have no conceivable means of simply leaving this dungeon at the moment.', the fox assessed its situation a little bit further, soon probing into its mind to see if it could find anything useful.

Before the headache chased away this mental exploration, the fox managed to discover that it had access to a decent selection of knowledge and information, but nothing that would be of much use in the current situation. It rubbed at its temples tenderly, trying anything it could to remedy the intense headache, with limited results.

The Fox categorized and organized the knowledge it managed to pull out, taking note that the headaches seemed to grow stronger whenever it tried to pull anything from its memories. A fresh intensity of the headache reiterated this to the fox when it tried rooting around in the foggy cloud of its mind again, and it gritted its teeth in response to the pain. 'Rrrgh, dammit, fine, FINE! I get it! Keep out of the memories…for now…', he conceded, folding his arms and laying his head upon them.

'At any rate, I still haven't quite figured out what exactly I am, or who I am, for that matter… come to think of it…' A quick glance between the Fox's legs to determine gender proved fruitless, as it had nothing to give itself any distinction either way. The fox furrowed its brow, but swiftly chastised itself after a line of thought and contemplation brought about another reprimand from its headache. 'Wait, why am I worried about that in the first place? Literally none of that line of thinking matters so long as I'm stuck here in this damned cage!'

Time passed by, the Red-Orange fox beast had proceeded to scour over each and every corner and wall of his prison, determined to find something, anything at all that could lead to his freedom from this cage, despite the fact that it'd already thoroughly checked every nook and cranny that the cage had to offer and found nothing time and time again. 'Dammit! There has got to be SOMETHING here, something I'm missing!', the fox stated as he pursued his fruitless endeavors with a renewed vigor.

A light bulb lit in the fox's mind, which it immediately whacked itself in the face with for how painfully obvious of an idea it was. The fox took in a breath, aimed its gaze out into the endless hallways, and then let out a bellowing shout. "HELLO? IS ANYONE OUT THERE? HELLOOOOOOO!", it yelled as loud as it could.

The voice the fox emitted was fairly masculine, though one would be hard pressed to think about that finer detail, given how deep and thunderous the sound of the voice was. 'OK, additional information…I'm a male, and I must be monstrous if my voice is that deep and capable of such a high volume. Just how big am I? For that matter, how strong am I? Ah well, questions for later…'

He was silent and listened for a possible reply if anyone had been nearby to hear that. Given how loud he had managed to make his voice, the fox asserted that, surely, anyone within several miles would have heard that, especially given the acoustics of his prison and the hallways connected to it. 'That is, assuming this place has an entrance…', he furrowed his brow and grew disheartened at the implications that popped into his mind. The fox shook his head and tried to dismiss the implications, this place HAD to have some sort of entrance, right? Otherwise, how else would he have gotten here?

That was another thing that remained unanswered, how did he get in here? A fresh dose of pain from his headache quickly waved away that question nearly as quickly as it had cropped up. The fox's already monstrous quantity of frustration was steadily growing with each passing minute now, having next to nothing in the way of answers or possible avenues of escaping this prison.

Eventually, the fox's frustration at the situation at hand reached a boiling point and he started to lash out. He thrashed about with his cluster of tails, each independently whipping and slamming at the floor, walls, gate, etc. At the same time, the fox dashed about in the confined space, bashing himself against the sides of his prison, rapidly jumping and clawing and slamming in vain at and into the three solid walls and gate.

The significant lack of visible damage only increased his frustration and egged him on in his outburst. The fox was soon screaming in rage at the situation, this damned cage, his powerlessness to free himself, his lack of memory and confusion regarding who he was and where he was, the headache that was only growing progressively worse the more he thrashed about and raged against the inanimate surroundings. He was furious, but without anyone or anything to direct his fury at, so he simply continued directing the anger at the inanimate cage that held him.

After an uncertain amount of time passed, the fox's rampage gradually died down. His anger and frustration had largely dissipated due to the onset of exhaustion; a sense of despair begun to take place of the anger. The pain that resulted from his body impacting into the walls and gate repeatedly had helped curb his rage by a significant margin. He slumped over and sprawled out onto the ground with an audible sigh, light splashes went to either side from the liquid that, the fox noted, still coated the surface of the floor in this pseudo dungeon.

Once he'd calmed down enough, he considered that little detail, 'That seems a little odd, now that I think about it… if this is a prison, shouldn't there be something to allow for the water to drain to prevent flooding?', the fox observed, taking mental note of that, adding another piece to this elaborate puzzle he found himself in.

"Come to think of it, how did the water get in here? There has to be some sort of entrance, or opening to the outside world," he said aloud to himself.

A few moments passed, and he proceeded to take another deep breath before bellowing once again, "HELLO? IS ANYONE OUT THERE? ANSWER ME! SOMEONE, ANYONE! RELEASE ME!"

Many hours later, the fox was in a leisurely, prone position on the floor. He idly swished the tips of his many tails through the water around him while he rested his cheek in his palm lazily. He exhaled through his nostrils before mumbling to himself, "So, for the most part, my situation hasn't changed since I first woke up in here. That being said, my headaches have died down to a much more tolerable level, so at least I've got that going for me, which is nice."

Out of boredom, he waved a free hand through the water and splashed some of the liquid at the red gate that still stood there, seemingly taunting the fox and his predicament. The fox gave the gate a glare and splashed more water at it, "take that!" He smirked triumphantly at the wet sheen that now coated part of three of the lower bars of the gate.

His triumph was short lived, however, as the red/orange fox remembered that this was still an inanimate object he was directing his anger at. His look of triumph quickly turned to a scowl and he laid his head onto the ground with an audible huff. Given that the fox literally had nothing else to do, he conceded to the gate and decided to let his eyes slowly shut. Before he realized it, sleep had taken him.

Several hours, possibly days later (it was nearly impossible for him to keep track of time by any stretch of the imagination at this point, despite his best efforts) the fox woke from his slumber. The "dreams" that he could recall added considerably more confusion to the situation. These "dreams" largely consisted of odd sequences where the fox found himself in the form of a human child, in what he could only assume was some sort of town or small city.

The inhabitants he encountered were…unpleasant, to say the least. Either they'd avoid him like he was afflicted with some sort of disease, or they would berate him with all manner of thinly veiled insults and were generally disrespectful, to put it mildly. The fox mulled over the strange "dreams", if he could classify them as dreams, given how oddly consistent and vivid they were.

He'd spent a good portion of time deep in thought about the unusual dreams, but he eventually came to the decision to momentarily set the thoughts aside for later, in the off chance that he'd have more information about where he was and how he'd come to be here…in addition to the other obvious questions that still remained unanswered. As of right now, there was no feasible way for him to try and figure any of this out. He sighed and resigned to the situation yet again.

The fox lay on the ground and dragged his claws over the poles that made up the gate, seeing if he could determine what material they were made from. It was possible that he could find a way to damage the gate, maybe try and wear down the gate little by little until he made an opening big enough to fit through. 'Not likely…given how much strength I put into that rampage…' He made the motion to sigh, though it turned to more of a growl as his frustration grew again. He took a deep breath and shouted once more, "IF ANYONE IS OUT THERE, I DEMAND YOU RELEASE ME! YOU'D BETTER LET ME OUT OF HERE, OR ELSE I'LL-"

He swiftly chastised himself, 'dammit, what am I thinking? Nobody is going to come if I threaten them!' he then groaned and tried again, this time with a slightly more…humble approach.

"I DON'T KNOW WHY I'VE BEEN LOCKED IN HERE, BUT I WOULD GREATLY APPRECIATE IT IF YOU WOULD RELEASE ME, IF ANYONE CAN HEAR ME!"

The fox waited for a response, and when none came he felt himself growing frustrated and angry again. Angry at this cage, angry at not being able to remember how he'd gotten here, angry at not knowing his own damn name! 'Damn all of this!' he thought, and then proceeded to descend into a fit of rage and thrashed about in his prison once more, screaming and shouting at the gate that still stood there, unscathed by any of his best efforts to break it down.

"LET ME OUT, LET. ME. OUT! RELEASE ME, NOW! YOU CAN'T KEEP ME IMPRISONED IN HERE LIKE THIS! LET. ME. OUT!" The halls echoed with his screams of anger and despair, as well as the various sounds of his body impacting off the walls and the gate.

As was the case with the last time, he eventually tired out, though this time he'd raged at his prison for much longer. He had no idea how long he'd been like that, screaming and raging at the gate and the featureless walls, though judging by how exhausted he was and how sore his body was…he decided it was fair to assume that it had been significantly longer than the last time.

"Please...please, let me out..."

Days passed in similar fashion, the fox would wake up after a session of more of those strange dreams, he would search his prison for any sort of change that he could try and take advantage of (to no avail), then he would shout and scream to try and see if anyone was near enough to hear him. The fox cycled between boredom and frustration, then anger and despair.

The former led him to calling out in the off chance someone would hear him, the latter leading to him screaming and lashing out at the gate and walls, which lead to him suffering self-inflicted injuries. Afterward he would succumb to exhaustion and sleep, though he rarely ever fought sleep due to the fact that there was never anything else really to do aside from his normal schedule of screaming and vainly thrashing against his cage.

The dreams never helped any either, the strange town and its inhabitants. He would encounter people he didn't know and yet seemed to recognize, though he couldn't put a name to them. He could recall speaking, though not with his own voice and not of his own conscious thought. It was like he was watching someone else live out their life, though who this person was, the fox had no idea, not even a clue.

Things continued like this, days melted into weeks, though after some time, the Fox gave up with trying to keep track of time altogether and simply went along with his improvised schedule.

The fox lay there panting, nursing his self-inflicted wounds and grumbling all manner of obscenities to himself after his latest frustration/desperation induced rage fest. He'd been preoccupied with his injuries and his anger, so much so that he hadn't heard the footsteps that were slowly approaching the gate from the hallway.

He stopped abruptly once he became aware of the footsteps. Thoughts flooded his mind, all manner of ideas and hopes and desperate pleas raced through his head as he slowly turned to look upon whoever this was that had finally come forth.

The fox wasn't sure who or what he was expecting, but it wasn't the blonde haired, blue eyed young boy that currently stood before the cage at that moment. The two locked eyes and the boy's expression by now had rapidly changed from one of uncertain curiosity, to one of terror.

Author's Notes

SO, this is my first fanfiction on this site, the first time I've made a legitimate fan fiction based on a series I liked. I've written some short stories before as a hobby, but this is the first time for a true fanfiction.

I started this because of a concept that I had running rampant in my head, a concept that just wouldn't leave me alone unless I put it down on paper. I searched and didn't really find anything similar enough to this idea I had, so eventually I decided, "why not?" and I started writing.

This story is the result of that, and judging by how many followers this story has acquired, I'm convinced that I should see things through.

I have a core concept and an assortment of plot elements that I'm driving the story forward with, as of this point in development. there is a "beginning and end" figured out in my head for the core of this story, but I'm leaving things open and flexible for other elements in the story to influence the core in meaningful ways, In addition to reader input. I'm also leaving open the possibility for spinoffs in the future, as well as potential divergent points and crafting separate stories for these alternate scenarios and how they would affect the story were they to happen.

I'm going to make it a point to seek viewer suggestions for certain scenario's in the story, depending on whether I follow more closely to canon or take more artistic liberties. A major example of what I mean is, for example: whether to keep Naruto in Team 7 and keep things more along the line of canon, or maybe fit him into a different team like I've seen some other fan fiction writers do to great effect.

I'm not super confident in coming up with interesting plot points on my own outside canon story sets, but I'm going to do my best. I'd also be happy to brainstorm with more experienced writers if they want to take a stab at coming up with something interesting. I may be writing this story, but I want to make sure my readers enjoy this too.

Ahem, anyway.

As far as the Kyuubi is concerned, the major point of all of this is that he's been afflicted with retrograde amnesia. He has zero recollection of any events prior to being sealed in Naruto. My concept revolves around this idea and how it will alter his personality and his interactions with Naruto and the rest of the ninja world. He has an assortment of knowledge and information at his disposal, but how much is yet to be determined. He's going to be the most substantially different character in this fic compared to his canon counterpart. However, it should be said...he may have retrograde amnesia, but I'm not just going to treat him like a blank canvas. He's still going to be cynical, shrewd and have a dark sense of humor like he does in canon.

For Naruto himself, I'm starting this story off with him prior to enlisting at the Ninja academy. He's going to be about 6 years old as of this beginning chapter. There's going to be significant changes to him as a character over time, but I'm going to do my best to keep these changes as believable as possible and remain true to his core character.

I'm going to try and keep characters true to what their canon qualities are, for the most part. I'll give them realistic progression according to the events in this story, but I don't plan on making any drastic changes unless events in the story call for it.

Thanks for reading, and I'll see you next chapter.