Hey, there!

I've had the idea for this story for a while now, but with everything else, especially THAHW, I decided to put it on the backburner. However, after putting out the request for a beta, a reviewer, Ben Walker1, suggested that to get past the writer's block, I should just write whatever comes to mind, even if it's "total garbage with shit plot". Well, needless to say, I took that piece of advice into serious consideration and VOILA!

Now, as the main focus is still THAHW, I can't promise regular updates with this one. I'm getting back on my horse when it comes to my most popular fic, so I don't know how much time I can devote to this. I wrote this mainly to help with the block, but I think the end product is pretty great and unique anyway. Thus, I've decided to publish this and see what you think.

I own neither Naruto nor Pokemon.

His eyes opened to the sight of a dank sewer.

Damn it.

It was always the dank sewer he found himself in. He'd even have preferred an open meadow with flowers, fluttering butterflies and him prancing around with a wicker basket to this literal shithole. Hell, he'd tried to change it into exactly that, but apparently, according to some bogus rule no one ever bothered to write down, mindscapes couldn't be just altered on a whim like that.

Ironic, considering it was a representation of his subconscious.

With a resigned sigh, he glanced down at his form. His clothes, the Hidden Leaf's standard ANBU uniform, looked like they'd seen better days; rips, holes, and tears spread out all across. Granted, they'd seen worse days, and there were even articles that hadn't seen any more of them after a particularly rough mission.

Beneath the ruined get up, though, his body was unscathed. It was a phenomenon that always interested the blond whenever he found himself in the sewer, him being unmarked while the state of his clothes was translated from the real world like a mirror image.

Nonetheless, he didn't hold any delusions that his actual physical being was any better off, if not worse.

After all, he only ever entered his mindscape either when he actively tried to or when he was unconscious... and he had no recollection of the former.

He only had recollections of loud explosions, flying fists, and black cloaks with red clouds. Right, three of the Akatsuki had ambushed and engaged him while on a mission. If his memory served him well, it'd been a tough battle with the odds against him; Kakuzu and Hidan, for all their mutually shared animosity, made a very dangerous tag-team. Sasori's support from a distance hadn't made things any easier either.

One minute into the battle was all the time he needed to realize that the only way to avoid being pushed into a corner and overwhelmed was by taking out one of the two zombie-wannabes.

Easier said than done. Your enemies being damn-near immortal made putting them down a herculean endeavor, and long-term restrainment was but a waste of energy when the enemy had teammates to undo any efforts he made. It took all of his battle prowess, experience, and cunning to stay alive long enough to come up with a plan.

Thankfully, designating the optimum target had been easy. With Hidan being... well, him (capricious, noisy, really fucking annoying), an insult about his scythe being overcompensation for his non-existent junk was more than enough to set him off. Recklessly charging in like the dumb schmuck he was, the rogue soon found his head ground out of existence between two large Rasengans.

One monster down, two bigger, smarter monsters to go.

The fight had pretty much been a stalemate after that, a long-range battle of flashy ninjutsu and poisonous tools flying between him and the makeshift tag-team of Kakuzu and Sasori. The two had wisely kept their distance, but, being unused to working together, lacked the coherency and teamwork to bring him down. He'd even started to gain the upper hand.

And then the sewer.

His memory either couldn't fill the gap between that time and now for whatever reason or... he lost.

He hoped beyond hope to be wrong, but he was banking on the latter. An interloper, probably. Either they'd been there the entire time waiting for the right moment to strike or had just arrived. Regardless of what really happened, he deserved a good kick in the ass for failing to notice the new presence. He'd been taught better.

And that could only mean that he was being drained of the Nine-Tails at this very moment. The slight fluctuations he felt shake his mindscape every now and then was indication enough.

Was this really what twelve of his nineteen years in the ANBU lead up to? A single, damning screw-up that would cost him his life? Well, life had a really good way of screwing him over. Good thing he was a jaded man, for one could accept it for what it was.

Then again, not so jaded that he'd concede defeat without getting a last, hopeful shot in.

With a step that was both determined and fraught with resignation, he began walking to his usual destination. There only ever was one in here, and the other resident wasn't the most pleasant of fellows. It was no surprise he only ever went down to this place when needed.

Turning left into a dark hallway, he couldn't help but smirk slightly. If there was any solace in his current predicament, it was that this would be the last face-to-face he would ever have with the big guy. No matter how much time had passed, their, for lack of a better word, conversations always left both of them in a worse mood than when they started.

Perhaps, all things considering, things would be different this time.

... Nah.

Stepping into the dimly-lit chamber, he stared at the giant prison that held his unwilling partner. Big enough to house three giant Mt. Myobouku toads, with nothing but an Uzumaki swirl to serve as a locking mechanism, the cage had always bordered on cramped for the Nine-Tails.

That wasn't the case this time, though, as nearly half of each of his tails and the very tips of his ears were gone, connected together via blue siphoning streams of chakra that led to somewhere outside his subconscious.

So he was right. Woo-hoo for him.

"Quite the predicament we find ourselves in, wouldn't you say?" the fox-like beast said with a mocking lilt, as if taking pleasure in rubbing his failure in his nose. However, their shared fate erased any existence of a smirk from his muzzle. "Always knew you were gonna screw up one of these days and get us both killed."

Naruto sighed before taking a seat on the floor. In all honesty, he was grateful that the Nine-Tails didn't appear to be in the mood to howl at him for all this. "Please don't go jumping on my case. I am in no way ecstatic about our current position; no one feels worse about it than me."

The Nine-Tails scoffed derisively. "The great Naruto Uzumaki, youngest S-rank shinobi in Leaf history and one of the most powerful ninja in the world, felled by a lax in judgment on his part. It's more pitiful than ironic, really. Not the sort of tale worth spinning about to future generations." A wide smirk crossed his face. "Then again, realistically speaking, there is no greater cause to human death than their own stupidity."

"Can't say I disagree. If nothing else, that particular shoe never fails to fit." Allowing the slightest upturn of his lips, he uncharacteristically nodded in agreement; he concurred wholeheartedly.

Even with ninjas, the cautious and disciplined soldiers they were, the most common reason for death tended to be a single moment of carelessness, whether born from undue eagerness, arrogance, or even the dropping of one's guard in misguided relief at thinking that a battle was won without actually making sure the enemy really was dead.

Even him, S-ranked at 17 years old, fell prey to that inherent human flaw. Regardless of all his skill and experience and strategic wit, Naruto wasn't brought down by an elaborate tactic or something of the sort, but by personal negligence.

And here, in this private realm closed off from the outside world, with no one but him and the being that had borne witness to every instance of his life, he couldn't help but admit to himself that it felt as if all his training and preparation had been for nothing. Pointless. Or was it maybe just the circumstances of his defeat that evoked that train of thought? This certainly wasn't the way he wanted things to end.

But amidst all that...

"I don't want to die. Goddamnit, I really don't," the blond muttered, shame seeping into his voice.

No matter how much Naruto assured himself of the service his life and death would provide the Hidden Leaf and the likelihood of his demise in his line of work, when finally confronted with the grim inevitability of the prospect, he was in no way prepared to embrace it. He didn't feel ready; he felt like shit. Risking death was one thing, but dying with indisputable certainty was another.

Glory in death was but the military's oldest sales pitch. That much he'd learned by the time he hit the double digits, and should the Akatsuki get hold of his 'inmate', his death would only serve to empower a criminal organization to levels that could very well be deemed unstoppable.

"You actually sound repentant for feeling that way," the Nine-Tails huffed sardonically but with an unusual softness, the closest Naruto's ever heard to actual compassion from him. "You humans and your convoluted ideals; I will never understand you. Either way, don't tell me you came here expecting a sympathetic ear to your sniveling? Whatever reservations I may have about you, the notion of you coming to me just to piss and moan is pathetic. As bad as you giving up without a fight."

The shinobi cast an unimpressed glare his way. 'Less bitchy than usual' still made tolerating the Nine-Tails a spiritually-exhausting chore. He shouldn't have expected any different. "You damn-well know I'm not here for something as asinine as that. There are better ways to spend the last moments of your life than having a not-so-merry chat with you, none of which are a workable option anymore. I came here because of our deal."

"Oh, so you're going through with it."

"We are. You gave it your blessing in the case that Akatsuki ever got their hands on us, remember? After all, it's not like we're going to live to see the next day, whatever the fuck we do," Naruto replied, staring at the prison's lock. More precisely, at the seals drawn around it. "I'm surprised you haven't pulled the trigger yet. Don't tell me you're the one who's-"

"Scared? Don't patronize me, runt," the tailed beast growled, though kept his voice even. "This is a shit situation, now that we are down to but two choices: to either roll over and die or take these pissants down with us. I don't know about you, but I'd rather die on my own terms than let my will succumb to the lifeless fancies of the Ten-Tails. That's why I conceded to your little contingency plan."

Yes, his contingency plan should the worst occur. Denying the possibility of being captured had been a supremely arrogant disposition he'd gotten rid off several years back when the Akatsuki had almost succeeded.

In light of that and the revelation of what the Gedo Statue actually was thanks to the Nine-Tails finally spilling the beans, he and Master Jiraiya had designed a special seal to be placed above the original one. Its purpose was to cause an adverse reaction should an attempt at sucking out the tailed beast via the statue ever happen.

Due to the unexpected collaboration of the Nine-Tails, whom Naruto was surprised to find out did have a limit to his pride, he and the sannin had learned that the statue needed to acclimatize to the massive intake of chakra from the tailed beasts it absorbed. Because of that, not only was the process of sealing the beasts into it lengthy, but the strongest of them needed to be sealed last to avoid the statue being overloaded.

With that piece of information, figuring out the solution was a cakewalk. Using the established connection between him and the Ten-Tails' husk, the seal would widen the pathway and force the fox's chakra into it in one, intense burst. More than that, with the Nine-Tails's approval, it would also fine-tune his chakra to perform a very specific task.

In essence, to ensure that the original demon was never brought back, the Nine-Tails would effectively become the world's most powerful paper bomb.

Furthermore, after being absorbed, the volatile chakra would make contact with those of the other beasts, causing a chain reaction in which all their chakra would be programmed to execute the same task of blowing themselves to oblivion. Due to the fact they had all originally been one and the same, compatibility shouldn't be an issue.

In theory, as literally all their chakra would be used up in the resulting explosion, it should be impossible for the tailed beasts to reform. Naruto had asked the fox if he was okay with doing this to his brethren. He only replied they would've preferred to go out that way, just like him.

However, to avoid anything disastrous should the Eight Trigram Seal be tampered with outside the intended conditions, this new 'self-destruct' seal had to be activated manually in the jinchuriki's mindscape by either him or the Nine-Tails. Regardless of everything else, the result was both of them dying; a suicide attack.

Was it suicide if he was going to die anyway?

"A unanimous decision. Sure took us long enough," Naruto commented. "Still, it's good we're in accord for once. The Akatsuki can't have the Ten-Tails."

"Indeed. Although, neither of us is aware of our current location nor exactly how big the blast radius will be. For all we know, there could be anywhere between dozens to thousands of people in close proximity, not to mention the off chance of a rescue team from the Leaf, too." The Nine-Tails gave him a calculating glance, as if analyzing every fiber of his being. It wasn't really a look of concern so much as curiosity. "Are you still willing to go through with it?"

Naruto was silent for a few seconds before looking at the fox with a hardened graveness.

"The Akatsuki can't have the Ten-Tails," he repeated resolutely, ending the topic then and there.

Whatever damage the explosion did would be comparatively inconsequential to the revival of the Ten-Tails, especially if the Akatsuki couldn't control it (or was it the other way around?). He just had to hope, if they truly were near a populated area, that the outer husk of the statue, reinforced by seals to contain the tailed beasts, and the seal the Akatsuki probably placed around their current location would provide enough of a buffer to limit the range of the blast, with the two of them and the rogue ninja being the only casualties.

As for the rescue team, it was doubtful there even was one. The Hokage must've realized by now that he'd been caught, and being aware of the contingency, the likelihood of a rescue operation was nil. The ANBU operative had made it crystal clear he was sticking to this course.

The Nine-Tails returned his gaze for a short while before nodding in understanding.

He sighed, a sudden feeling of tiredness coursing through him. "Anyway, none of that explains why you haven't activated the seal formula yet. Figured you'd want to get this over with as soon as possible. S'not like we're getting any younger," the blond said, puzzled. He had an inkling to what the reason might be, but it sounded absurd.

Taking into account how readily he started conversing with his jailer after entering the chamber, it almost seemed as if he was waiting specifically for his arrival. Like he wanted to talk to him.

"I do. I want to put an end to that Madara-imposter, his Akatsuki, and your ass as well, brat. Nevertheless, seeing as this idea is of your making, I figured it would be remiss of me to proceed without you, at the least, bearing witness."

Naruto stared at the fox with a raised eyebrow, rather baffled by the confession. However, as soon as he read between the lines, a light chuckle escaped his lips. He could hardly believe it, even after all their years together.

The chakra monster narrowed his red eyes at the ninja. "And what, may I ask, do you find so funny?"

"Nothing, nothing," Naruto replied, a small grin on his face. "It's just that... you kinda made my heart skip a beat for a second there."

"What?!"

"I mean, taking the time to remind me about all the people that might die in the blast, and you being so considerate as to wait for me just because you thought I had the right?" His smile widened a tad while he shook his head. "As scary as it was heartwarming, honestly, but ya know, I'd always suspected that, inside, you were about as acerbic as candy floss. Validation sure is sweet."

For a few moments, the Nine-Tails looked like it was going to blow a casket, a snarl forming on his lips, but, to Naruto's surprise, he composed himself and merely settled for glaring daggers. "Do not mistake my resignation with our shared fate for actual concern for you, mongrel! Or an absurd attempt at reforming myself into some high-minded goody-goody. I am the personification of-"

"Don't. Please. I've heard this speech before. The perverted novelty of it has worn off." Naruto waved away the big guy's protests. Wouldn't be the first time the whole 'personification of evil' mantra had been thrown at his face. He didn't feel like dealing with it now, especially as he thought it more an excuse than anything.

In fact, for years now, he'd considered the Nine-Tails' conviction of being some manifestation of all that was bad in this world to be utter bullshit. Universal evil, let alone objective evil, only existed in religion and fairytales.

For all that he wanted to identify himself as something without an actual personal identity, but rather some physical culmination of abstract ideas, Naruto knew the fox took pride in his individuality; his intelligence, his conscience, his ability to reason. All of these things were precious to him as qualities that identified him as a 'person', if not a human. To have these things denied and taken away was a deep blow to that pride.

The 'personification of evil' was but a coping mechanism, the blond had realized. A way to ease the burden on his conscience by begrudgingly accepting the title that had been forced onto him by others. Naruto understood. He'd done the same a while back. It was also an evasion tactic, because most damaged people did not like revealing too much about themselves. Having the countenance and power of a monster made it that much more effective.

Source: yours truly.

Though seeming peeved by the interruption, the Nine-Tails eased up on the glare. "Whatever. Let's get this over with. The sooner we do this, the sooner we can part ways as begrudging allies with the only things having in common being mutual hatred and survival instincts."

Naruto nodded and began walking towards the cage, half-expecting the tailed beast to lash out at him with his claws through the bars. Finding no resistance from him, he placed his hand against the metal. In between his reservations regarding his early death, a part of him rejoiced at the idea of kissing all his life-related troubles goodbye.

No more looking over his shoulder for enemies and traitors. No more getting his hands dirty with blood. No more dealing with people with his substandard social skills. No more Nine-Tails and Akatsuki. And, thank God, no more of his literal dank sewer of a subconscious.

And yet, he couldn't help but feel inexplicably... dissatisfied... about something. Not his death, but something... else.

Turning his eyes up towards the Nine-Tails, the shinobi found him staring impatiently back with a raised eyebrow at his abrupt hesitance. It came to him then. He just had the very last conversation with a fellow sentient being, and it felt wrong to end it on the note they did, even with the strained whatever-it-was they had.

For once, he wanted to be fully upfront with this creature that had watched over him since the day he was born.

"I don't hate you, you know," he admitted, feeling a measure of enjoyment at seeing the Nine-Tails' bewildered expression. "Before, when I was a kid, was just me being an immature brat. I can't hate you; not anymore. Not after everything you've done for me, reluctant guardian or not. So, thanks for that, I guess."

That was the truth. However much a victim Naruto had been for his jinchuriki status, the Nine-Tails had been an even bigger one for being a tailed beast. Wanting nothing but to be left alone after finding humanity a disappointment to the Sage's teachings, he ended up a prisoner, in every sense of the word, to the power-hungry whims of two Uchiha, the self-righteous if well-meaning intentions of the First Hokage and his wife, and the stubbornness and fear of those unwilling to move away from the propaganda of their predecessors.

While Naruto's suspicion of the chakra monster's motives and his I-choose-life frame of mind prevented him from ever forming anything close to a genuine relationship with the tailed beast, this realization had given the Uzumaki a certain sense of clarity. That this individual right in front of him knew his pain better than anybody else.

The Nine-Tails just stared back expressionlessly, appearing to be in deep contemplation. Naruto knew he knew the blond wasn't lying due to his negative emotions sensing - an ability he himself had acquired - so there was no worry of new accusations flying his way.

Figuring he caught the fox a bit too off guard with his confessions, he closed his eyes and proceeded with activating the seal.

"Kurama."

"Beg your pardon?" was his bewildered response, eyes shooting up to meet the Nine-Tails' red gaze.

"My name, given to me by the Sage. It's Kurama."

A name? Just like Shukaku. If they had one, then it was easy to imagine that the other seven did as well. Not that human beings had ever cared to learn them, and the Nine Ta- Kurama obviously knew that. Adopting the demeaning and thoroughly unoriginal moniker given to him by humanity came with accepting the title of 'personification of evil'. Offering them his name, of course, would be counterproductive to that.

And yet, Naruto realized as a small grin bloomed on his face, knowing all that, Kurama just revealed it to him. He didn't miss the significance of it; he was sure Kurama didn't either. For the first time during their shared existence, they were truly acknowledging each other as sentient, feeling individuals. And, for those denied such a basic right, there was nothing more that meant to them than that.

A new sensation spread through his being, as if his whole body just lost half its weight, dissatisfaction giving way to relief.

Was this what people called closure?

"Glad to know. Well, sayonara, Kurama."

With a push of chakra, the seals around the cage's lock shone white. The tendrils of chakra connected to Kurama expanded exponentially, and the fox himself began to take on a red hue. He soon lost his original shape, turning into a giant, red glob of power before it was suddenly catapulted through the pathway like a ball on a coiled spring.

His world shook, and Naruto closed his eyes as the white spread all around, collapsing everything on its way.

His eyes opened and promptly closed again with a grimace.

He hurt all over, soreness permeating his form from head to toe. It wasn't the worst pain he'd ever felt, but it was up there. Thankfully, discipline and his nigh-unrivaled pain tolerance allowed him the effort to push it back, crack his eyelids open and focus on his surroundings.

Everything was shaking. Debris was falling left and right, and shouting from several figures around him could be heard. It was then he registered the sensation of falling, just a second before a new pain erupted across his back from hitting the floor. This time, Naruto did gasp. He must've been suspended in the air during the extraction, levitation failing him when he purposefully canceled the process... by giving the Akatsuki an unexpected hand.

Never let it be said he never did something nice for others.

A ground-shaking roar shook the cavern they were in. With a herculean effort, he sat up and witnessed the statue howling in pain, blood seeping from its mouth and eyes, and gleaming cracks forming on its skull. Huh, so Kurama hadn't been lying; the Gedo Statue really was alive.

"What have you done?!"

The infuriated- no, wholly outraged cry caught his attention, turning his head to stare at the Masked Man, the Madara-wannabe standing on one of the statue's fingers. Even with the distance between them, the rumbling, and the lack of lighting, the blonde could see his lone Sharingan glow with unadulterated rage.

He didn't reply but instead focused on pushing himself onto his knees. His arms felt as if he'd spent the last 24 hours scrubbing floors in the Hokage tower. He'd actually done that as punishment a few times when younger. He'd often wondered if the tower had an actual cleaning staff or if the need to dish out sanctions occurred with enough frequency that one wasn't even necessary.

Damn, his mind must really be in a blender if he was letting it wander like this. Captain Kakashi would be ashamed.

He saw Tobi then shift his attention to the statue, which, on account of its inflated skull and the light emanating from its wounds, looked to be reaching critical levels. Naruto quickly realized he was planning to use his teleportation jutsu to transport the head elsewhere. Not that it mattered, since it would explode anyway. The Ten-Tails' revival was but a pipe dream now, and the Akatsuki had been reduced to six members, counting their masked leader. The Leaf would be able to wipe them all out.

He lost, any way he sliced it.

However, Tobi lost his footing when the statue's hands finally moved, too. As the cloaked figure fell, the single-eyed gaze was back on him, the rage as present as before.

Naruto smirked in triumph.

"Gotcha, bitch."

A distortion in the air around him appeared at the same time the husk exploded in a bright flash of white.

Did dead people feel pain?

Naruto's answer would be yes, for he was just as sore as before, if not worse. He could hardly move a limb, and even the fact that he was pretty sure he was floating didn't make his attempts at motion any less painful.

Was he alive? Yeah, right. Even he wasn't tough enough to survive the force of all nine tailed beasts blowing up. He wasn't all that curious to make the difference to begin with. Even if he was still kicking somehow, he was a dead man anyway, what with having a tailed beast extracted from him.

Finally finding the strength to open his eyes, the shinobi quickly came to the realization that, yep, he was, in fact, dead. The environment around him looked like something out of a psychedelic nightmare. Dimly lit, pieces of jagged, red-colored earth floated against an expanse of deep blue and black, looking both like a barrier and like it went on forever. The sight gave him chills.

Well, he always knew he was going to hell. He'd never been of a religious inclination, being down-to-earth and scientifically-minded like most other ninja, but he'd accepted his most probable destination in the case that there was such a thing as the afterlife. A killer of hundreds, both guilty and innocent; a deceiver, of both allies and enemies. It was a no-brainer.

Seemed it was a good idea he did. Lucky him.

A shadow passed over him, too fast to properly discern anything about it with his mind woozy like a drunkard's.

He wasn't alone in this place.

Again, he saw a glimpse of it passing to his right. This time, he was able to see that, whatever it was, it was huge and definitely not human. His instincts and reflexes, honed from countless hours of training and hundreds of battles, screamed at him to put his guard up, something that was physically impossible in his state. His mind was a bit too addled to react accordingly, too.

And besides, he was dead and in hell. What difference would it make?

His instincts gave off another red flag his brain was barely able to acknowledge.

It was underneath him and coming closer.

Naruto felt it turn a bit to the right when it was a few meters away from him. As the thing rose and cast a shadow over his right side, he turned his head to gaze at his new companion.

The... creature... was unlike anything he'd ever seen before. A golden crown and mask covered its face, intimidating red eyes standing out against black sclera. Grey skin, a black underbelly with red stripes, and three tentacle-like protrusions sticking out from three golden rings on its neck. The red spike at their ends made them look kinda like spider legs to Naruto.

All in all, its appearance was beyond imposing, killing intent given physical form.

It barely registered to Naruto's slowly weakening mind.

"Are you... the devil? Better lookin' than I thought." Dear God, even speech was a pain. It was sleeker and more graceful-looking than he'd expected the true personification of evil to look like, though. Nevermind that it was much less humanoid than normally depicted.

It tilted its head to the side, and the shinobi was pretty sure he saw confusion enter its eyes. Maybe not then. "You a... psychopomp or something? A reaper? Are there more like ya?" Polytheism was always a possibility.

The creature looked no less bewildered, though a contemplative gleam was also in its gaze. It leaned forward, giving Naruto a better view of its face. While it obviously wasn't as big as a tailed beast, the face alone was longer than a grown man's body. He lifted his right hand slowly and extended it forward, curious to feel the texture of the thing's mask and see just how hostile it was.

Interestingly, it didn't lash out or back away. It allowed the contact, staring back just as curiously. The crown was smooth, not a chip on its surface, and now that he had a closer look, the former jinchuriki could admit the strange entity was beautiful in its own, dark way. Almost regal.

He was caught by surprise when its eyes suddenly began glowing red and felt his mind being probed by an unseen force. It wasn't painful, but he shut his eyes tightly as if he was anyway, for, even in his current state, he quickly understood the creature's intentions.

No. Dying or not, he wouldn't allow it.

Unfortunately, with his mental defenses weaker than ever, it wasn't long before images that were both familiar and felt like they happened oh-so-long ago swept through his mind's eye at a speed almost too great to decipher properly.

The five-year-old Naruto was crying.

"What have I told you about hanging out with that boy?!" An angry mother scolded her son, sending him a scornful glance before turning around and leading the boy by the hand out the playground. The action was mirrored by the other parents, the sun's waning light behind them casting a shadow over their forms.

Everything but their eyes; their hateful, suspicious gazes were always trained on him, no matter how much he cried and begged them to stop. It hurt, couldn't they see that?

Why? Why did he have to suffer like this?

The sound of tears hitting the ground and the shuffles of footsteps getting further and further away was his only answer.

"Stop. Don't," he grunted with effort, but his desire for privacy was ignored and the stream of images continued.

"How much more of this will you allow?"

Groggily, his eyes opened. Why did his head hurt? And his back? And his shoulders? As his vision cleared, all he could see was white walls. Casting his gaze around, he saw more white. White curtains, white sheets, white robes.

White robes?

"What would you have me do, Danzo? The culprit still hasn't been found, and I certainly can't go sanctioning our citizens left and right until the guilty party is found."

He perked up (as much as he could, anyway) at the familiar sound. He knew that voice; it was old man Hokage. He was one of the very few nice to him, who helped him whenever he asked and had even bought him ramen once. It tasted okay, but it'd been the first gift he'd ever received, so he went back to Ichiraku's Ramen Stand to treasure his gift over and over again.

"I'm not talking about the citizens, Hiruzen. I'm talking about the boy himself. Even if you find the perpetrator and behead them before the village, the rest will keep doing anything they can within the bounds of the law to alienate him. Bad enough we have an untrained jinchuriki, but at this rate, we should be expecting disloyalty in the near future. This incident is but the prologue to our troubles if you don't do something and soon."

The other voice had an emotionless, grim quality to it that made him instinctively tense. Jinchuriki? What were they talking about? He thought about sitting up, but he was afraid that they'd stop if he revealed to them he was awake.

But eavesdropping was bad; the old man told him so. Especially on people you trusted, and he trusted the Hokage. Still, in the end, curiosity won over and he kept laying down to listen.

"That boy has a name, Danzo. Do try to remember that," the old man reprimanded firmly. "As for how to deal with this, the new year at the Academy starts in two weeks. Though he turns seven in five months, I can make an exception. Several of the new students are going to be clan children, and their parents' impartiality towards him is beyond question. I'll also post a stricter rotation of ANBU for his protection. Hopefully, he'll be able to make friends."

"Hopefully?!" the other man scoffed, incredulity coloring his voice. "You're staking the future of the Hidden Leaf Village on hope?! It is truly a sad day when Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Professor and God of Shinobi, makes the conscious decision to rely on hope to keep us safe."

"Danzo..." the Hokage almost growled.

"Furthermore, what if the attack had been staged by a spy. Our citizens put minimal effort into hiding their fear and hatred for him - which is to say, none at all. We have enemies, Hiruzen. It's not a long shot to assume they've figured out he holds the Nine-Tails and tried to kill him to rob of us of our most powerful weapon. And what if they decide to attack while he's at the Academy? The Nine-Tails jinchuriki and the clan heirs, all gathered together and ripe for the picking. I wonder, where does your Will of Fire come into this?"

... No

There was a silence for a few seconds. "Now you're just grasping for straws. That's absurd."

Even through the haze that lingered, Naruto could hear the slight lilt of uncertainty.

"Is it really? After everything the ninja world has thrown at us in our sixty years of life, does such a possibility truly ring so hollow in your mind?"

This time, the quiet persisted for a while. Fed up with waiting and with apprehension steadily curling in his gut, he raised himself into a seated position and saw the old man standing by the closed door, glaring at the person next to him.

The other man's appearance caused the blond to pause, considering he found himself staring at what could very well be a mummy in bathrobes. The idea was dismissed when he saw the exposed chin and left side of his face, revealing him to be as old as the Hokage himself. The wooden cane just added to that image.

"Old man," he spoke up, his voice hoarse. The two men turned to him in surprise, the Hokage's eyes wide. The other one appeared as impassive as his voice had sounded. Keeping eye contact with that single emotionless orb proved impossible, so he focused on the village leader, some of the tenseness alleviating from his aged form.

With a relieved air about him, the Third Hokage opened his mouth to talk but was beaten to the punch.

"Old man, huh? Why am I not surprised? Figures you'd let yourself get attached to him. You've gotten softer than ever, Saru."

"Quiet, Danzo," the Hokage hissed firmly. Gracing the blond with a reassuring smile, he walked closer to him. "Naruto, I'm glad to see you awake. How ar-"

"Old man, what did he mean when he said that someone "holds the Nine-Tails"? And what's a jinchuriki?" the boy cut in, morbidly curious to know the answer. How could he not be? Everybody knew about the demon that attacked the village six years ago, almost reducing it to rubble.

Just as everyone knew that the Fourth Hokage had killed it.

Considering what the two old men had just discussed, he felt justified in the fact that he was at a loss. And considering the fact they were discussing it in his room and was pretty sure that he'd also been a topic of the conversation since his birthday was in five months, his mind connecting the dots, he felt justified in the fact he was beginning to freak the fuck out.

It... couldn't be true... could it?

But it made sense. The hateful glares, the hurtful insults, the village-wide estrangement - everything.

He barely registered the shocked expression on the Hokage's face amidst his increasingly erratic breathing. It lasted for a few short moments before it shifted to crippling heartbreak and then resignation. Before Naruto could react, he stepped forward and placed a hand on his head.

He panicked, and he would've scrambled backward if he'd had the strength and had the grip been lighter. The pressure of the hand was more acute than normal in comparison to the few other times the old man had ruffled his hair, but soon enough, Naruto's turbulent emotions slowly started settling when he realized that it held no less affection.

In fact, judging by the pure sympathy and the distinct absence of judgmentality in his brown gaze, the gesture exuded even more of it.

With tears prickling at his eyes, he sniffed miserably and looked down at the white sheet fisted in his shaking hands. "So it's true? I... I-I am a-"

"-a shinobi of the Leaf, starting as soon as you recover fully," the Hokage finished for him as his expression changed into something that was foreign to the blond; firmness, reluctant acceptance, and power exuded from him in controlled waves as his gaze moved to the last occupant of the room.

"Very well, Danzo. I can see the point you're making. However," something dark tainted his tone, like a warning that promised the most severe of consequences should it go unheeded, "he will not be joining the Foundation, and that is final. Instead, he will be joining the regular ANBU forces, serving directly under me. He will be trained, protected, and prepared for the life of a ninja. I decree it so, and so it shall be done."

"Goddamnit, I told you to stop! Fuck!" The ninja banged his fist, the same one he previously used to caress, against the being's crown, a futile endeavor with his strength at less than five percent.

Undeterred by his efforts, it kept rifling through his memories.

There was a woman crying.

Leaning over the body of an adult man in a ninja uniform, her husband most likely, she wailed her grief for all the world to hear. But no one listened; no one, except for him and his accomplices. Grabbing a kunai from his pouch and streaming Wind chakra along its edges, ten-year-old Naruto casually threw the enhanced projectile through her skull. A clean cut, sliced right through tissue, bone, and organs like a hot knife through butter. She slumped down on the corpse beneath her, finally quieting down.

He wondered, if he believed hard enough, would the married couple meet in the afterlife and enjoy it happily ever after?

A silly notion, his good sense told him. Such faith was for the faint of heart, for those who couldn't accept one simple facet of existence:

Life was cruel.

"Damn, kid," his ANBU captain, Kakashi Hatake, grunted behind him, gesturing to their surroundings. Wrecked homes, scattered debris, and bloody corpses littered the area like puddles on a rainy day. A hellish sight; one the young blond was starting to get used to. "You're wicked good at this. It's scary how natural it comes to you."

Yes, he was very good at "this". Causing pain, breaking bones, ending lives... he was a monster by his very nature.

Just like the villagers had said. He had nothing against the people he'd just murdered. They had done him no wrong, but he'd killed them anyway in cold blood. There was no joy in it, but neither was there pain or sorrow. He just... did it. Like breathing. Of course, there wasn't. Monsters didn't suffer regrets or second thoughts at doing wicked deeds.

He was the monster of the Hidden Leaf Village; one they needed, as Danzo had once told him in passing.

It was all he was good for, so it was all he was going to be.

A tear threatened to escape, but he didn't let it. He was stronger than that. He just needed to try harder to expel the unwanted guest. But nothing was working. Why wasn't anything working?!

He stared at the pieces of meat roasting on the grill, and the various other dishes spread out on their table. It was a veritable banquet, the type one would make to welcome an honored guest or when staging a celebration.

Why was he here?

"What're you just gapin' around for?" Twelve-year-old Naruto gazed up at the unusually attentive Shikamaru Nara with a raised eyebrow, the one who'd asked him. "This little pow-wow is for you, ya know. Tiresome, but it's gonna be an even bigger drag if the man of the hour ain't enjoying himself."

"Me?" he inquired, looking around at the other faces present. Teams 7-10 and their senseis were all gathered, staring back at him expectantly. How was he supposed to answer that? "What for?"

"For saving our asses, duh!" Ino Yamanaka exclaimed with a bright if somewhat mocking grin. "If it weren't for you, Gaara would've flattened us all, remember? You saved the day."

"Yeah. It was 'cause of your idea that pops gets to live a while longer," Asuma Sarutobi said, gratitude written over his face. "The invasion hit us hard, but with the Hokage still kickin', we may yet survive. That's all thanks to you."

The whole situation had him rather dumbfounded, this sort of treatment. Like he was... friends with these people. He'd only known them for about five months, having been assigned to spend every different week performing training and missions with teams 7,8, and 10. On paper, it was to "brush up" his social skills and avoid the risk of his mental health declining.

He was sure that was part of the reason, but another, just as vital one, was the pale-skinned, black-haired boy with the propensity for ingenuine smiles sitting next to Sasuke Uchiha. The Foundation member, Sai, the third member of Team 7, undoubtedly assigned to watch over the last Uchiha and eliminate him if deemed a threat. The Hokage had suspected deeper motives from Danzo, like indoctrination, for which reason he created the deliberately unsubtle task of Naruto to act as his watchdog.

Nothing serious had happened thus far, but the blond was not fool enough to drop his guard.

Regardless of the circumstances, his relationships with his ANBU comrades had been more or less professional. Sure, there was a sense of camaraderie that went beyond that due to shared experiences and prolonged exposure to one another, and the other members had tried to teach him the art of mutual goodwill, but Naruto had adamantly rebuffed such attempts.

A monster didn't play nice with others, even his own comrades. He trained with them. He hunted down enemies with them. He killed with them. End of story.

After all, one monster was plenty.

"You're making me out to be greater than I actually am. I couldn't have done any of that alone," he countered, having the politesse not to inconsiderately dismiss their efforts and sentiments. "Besides, not everyone made it out alive three weeks ago." He looked, but couldn't find the forms of a pink-haired girl, a pale-eyed male teen, or the bushy hair of a boy with a feral attitude.

The mood took a sudden dive, gazes among the younger ones shifting downward. Naruto saw a few lips quivering. Aw, hell. It seemed the months spent with the genin hadn't done as much good for his social skills as he'd thought. He really didn't do well with crowds, especially if all the attention was on him.

"Yes! Not all of our friends are with us, but I have little doubt they wouldn't want our thoughts to linger on them with regret and sadness. As long as we have our youth, we must live our lives to the fullest!" Rock Lee shouted a bit shakily, tears dripping down his cheeks while raising a cup of sake in toast.

"Well said, Lee!" His sensei, Might Guy, responded with just as much fervor and tears, quickly exchanging his glass of water with his oblivious student's cup of alcohol before the teen could down its contents. "The prime of youth is to celebrate life whilst honoring the late comrades whose efforts made it possible! For as long as we breathe, they will not be forgotten!"

The rest of the attendees raised their own drinks in agreement, calls of "here, here" and "may they rest in peace" scattered throughout. The only ones failing to do so were Naruto himself, who found the whole idea foreign and peculiar - a ninja's job was to walk hand-in-hand with death, so he didn't see any reason to either commemorate it or mourn it - and Sasuke, who kept glaring at the wall opposite of him with a dark look. Though slightly worried, Naruto elected to ignore it.

For now.

About an hour later, the blond excused himself from the festivities, saying he needed to use the restroom. However, as soon as he got in, he opened one of the windows and body-flickered onto the roof of the restaurant. He needed to think, somewhere quieter than the hustle and bustle of the establishment.

That, and the extended socializing had worn him out. Their praise and overt friendliness hadn't helped matters.

Ten minutes later, he felt a new, familiar presence alert his senses. He kept staring at the outline of the Hidden Leaf against the dark night sky, not bothering to turn around or glance at Kakashi as he sat down on the roof next to him.

"Nice view, isn't it?"

Naruto was silent for a moment before answering, "Yeah, all things considered. No plumes of smoke, no broken buildings - just a whole lot more names on the Memorial Stone."

"Morbid, aren't we?" His captain chuckled. "Although, I can't help but feel that's not the reason you're up here. You never really cared about such things. What's on your mind?"

Finally turning to look at his superior, the blond saw him staring back with profound understanding emanating from his single, exposed eye. How could he explain his situation, when he himself didn't fully comprehend it? The people down in the restaurant, their admiration and honest gratitude and attempts to make buddy-buddy with him that, admittedly, tended to make things more awkward than they already were. Even so, he couldn't deny the sincerity in their actions. He didn't know what to make of any of it, let alone handle it.

He felt like a little brat, begging adults to make sense of something he felt he should have already understood. He'd always been the odd one out, and the latest arrangements cemented it. Too young to be considered equal with adults, and too powerful and burdened with life to connect with the kids. And yet, both went out of their way to make him feel included, regardless of the fact it ended up a fruitless endeavor more often than not.

But he trusted Kakashi; more than anyone else in his life. He was the closest thing he had to a friend, even if it was rather strange to see the man out of the ANBU get-up and dressing like every other jonin. It almost made him seem... domesticated, never mind the fact how absurd the notion was. He was no less deadly than before.

"I..." he started before sighing. Why was this so difficult? "Everything's just incredibly weird. They're all so nice and friendly, and I... don't know how to feel about it. What's worse is the fact that most of 'em think I'm some kind of hero." He scoffed at the last part. Seriously, those people needed to get their eyes and their cognitive functions checked over with a fine-toothed comb.

"Why is that weird? Most of them are alive because of you. It's only natural that they'd look up to you. You did good out there, kid; you shouldn't undermine your own efforts like that," Kakashi responded, tilting his head like a confused puppy.

"But I'm not a hero!" Naruto growled in frustration, finally unable to fully suppress his turmoil. The silver-haired jonin kept listening, unflinching at his subordinate's uncharacteristic loss of composure. "I'm a monster! A weapon of mass fucking destruction! I've caused so much death and pain, how can anyone think me a hero? I-I... it doesn't make any sense."

"Ah, and now I see the source of your little conundrum," Kakashi muttered. "Well, Naruto, in their eyes, you are a hero. What else could they think of you, considering your efforts?"

In their eyes? "What the hell does that mean? You're either a hero or you're not."

Kakashi sighed wistfully before sending the blond a subdued smile while scratching the side of his face with an index finger. "I often forget that, however mature you might be in the field, you're still but a kid in so many other ways." He dropped the hand, his gaze turning serious. "Naruto, real life ain't like those stories and tales people like to drone on about or that you read in a book. Good and evil isn't some cut and dry fixture of reality where there's a clear line in the sand to distinguish one from the other. In the end, it's all a matter of perspective. There's no clear answer. You can't be a good person to everyone, nor can you be an evil person to everyone. Your old man's as good of an example as any; he's the hero of the Leaf to us, and the certified boogeyman in the Hidden Stone."

That was... an unexpectedly comprehensive answer. While Naruto believed he mostly understood the overall idea, part of it was still murky like muddy water. "So who decides? If more than one interpretation's been offered, who has the final call in deciding which is right?"

A chuckle escaped the jonin's covered lips. "No man has the moral authority to decide something like that for all the people of the world, kid. Each person can decide only for themselves. Truth is relative like that. The opinion that matters most is your own, especially your opinion on yourself."

The jinchuriki suddenly felt a hand land on his shoulder, and he looked up to see his superior flash him a genuine smile. "But if it helps take the edge off, I think that you're a okay kid, cold-blooded killer and all. And besides, while monsters can cause a lot of damage, I don't think having destructive power alone ever made one 'evil'. It all hinges down to what you do with it. Say, for example, saving the lives of your comrades and fellow citizens."

"So, depending on point of view, a monster can be a hero, too?"

"I'm sure a lot of people would disagree, but you can choose for yourself. People shouldn't be chalked down to a single title anyway. There's more to a person than any sole quality."

Naruto stared back for a moment before looking back toward the village, contemplative.

He had a lot to think about.

"Those are private, you disrespectful-ugh! Get out. Get out!" he growled, to no avail.

He knew it was useless. It was more than obvious by now, but he had nothing else left to him. It was all he could do.

"Why do you do this?"

Sixteen-year-old Naruto didn't allow himself to be distracted as the voice echoed in his head. Twirling his yari with expert grace and speed, he deflected the half a dozen kunai thrown at him by the enemy shinobi. The fire in the background, creating a glistening effect when the metal projectiles traveled through the air, made it easy to track them via sight.

Closing the twenty-meter distance within the span of a second, he swung the Wind-enhanced bladed polearm before most of them could react, swiftly disemboweling two of them and cutting off an arm of a third. The last one jumped away at the last instant, throwing a couple shuriken his way.

Using the momentum from his previous maneuver, he spun the yari twice, knocking the projectiles away and slashing open the dismembered shinobi's throat before he could even scream in pain, causing him to fall with blood spraying like water from a broken pipe. Putting his left foot forward and cocking his right hand back, he promptly threw the Wind-coated spear at the last enemy.

Proving again her superior reflexes in comparison to her deceased comrades, she dodged by leaning to the side, the accompanying gust of wind blowing her hair back. The brunette stuffed her hands into her pouches, pulling them out a second later, a kunai between each finger as she looked down at him from the building's roof.

In response, the blond simply extended the index and ring fingers on his right hand while still keeping the arm by his side. A confused frown graced his opponent's visage before her eyes widened and she turned around, by which point it was too late.

A white blur zigzagged through the night air at incredible speeds before charging directly at her, skewering her sternum. His yari didn't stop and carried her with it as the weapon flew toward Naruto. Just as it began passing to his right at eye-level, his hand shot up and caught it with casual grace, unbothered by neither the combined weight or the momentum.

Inertia did its job, however, when it caused the body to forcefully dislodge itself from the bladed end, flying through the air and denting the wall of a building on impact. Her bloodied upper body fell forward first, followed by the legs, joining the rest of the bodies staining the ground red.

'What do you mean?' he asked the Nine-Tails.

"Don't get smart with me, mongrel. Why do you fight? For a village that treated you like yesterday's trash? Is that the reason you keep throwing yourself back into this hell? I thought you had more self-respect than that."

'What's with the sudden interest? It's not exactly like you to be curious about why I do what I do.'

"..."

Naruto somersaulted over an enemy shinobi's futile attempt at a stealthy assault. His yari cut through the back of the man's neck as he twisted mid-air, the body hitting the ground a millisecond prior to him landing. 'I'm in the middle of something here, Nine-Tails. I don't have the luxury of waiting all day.'

"I don't understand you," the fox finally admitted, catching the jinchuriki off guard for a moment. "Little about you makes sense. Your motives - they're like a kaleidoscope image that doesn't stop changing. As soon as I'm convinced that I've got a good read on you, you do or say something that throws me for a loop. Protecting the village as a whole; protecting individual people; personal benefits. And despite the fact you've acquired passable - at best - control over fractions of my power, you've seldom exercised it."

'Whether it's due to lack of variety or the tailed beast's machinations, the worst fatal flaw of any jinchuriki is becoming over-reliant on their tailed beast's power. I'm not falling for it. The others learned that lesson the hard way, I suppose. I imagine getting captured by the Akatsuki put the whole 'you reap what you sow' thing into perspective for them. Besides, I've got my pride to consider.'

"Pride!? Since when did a machine-minded attack dog like you start caring about something like that?"

'It's a recent development, I admit. Machine or not, I worked my ass off to get where I am now. And you're in no position to point fingers. I never thought you'd actually humble yourself like this, associating with an 'insignificant gnat' like me on a personal level. Cabin fever too much for that high horse of yours?'

An infuriated growl echoed in his mind. "Consider it a privilege, then, that I'm taking an interest in your petty affairs, brat." The Nine-Tails' response practically overflowed with sarcasm and self-entitlement. "Now, answer the damn question! You've kept me waiting long enough."

Naruto sighed, looking around and sensing no hostile presences nearby. He contemplated keeping quiet, if only to rile up the old fox, but thought better of it. Last thing he wanted was the big guy working himself into a heated frenzy and talking his head off with his narcissistic yowling.

Keeping things close to the chest was a moot point; despite his words, the Nine-Tails had a front-row seat to every single facet of his experiences. He'd probably arrived to more correct conclusions than he realized.

A part of him was curious, however. The chakra monster was no conversationalist; no willing one, at least. That much the two had in common. It wasn't a long shot to presume, then, that he had a good reason to initiate one now.

'My motives aren't really as complicated as you think. Fundamentally, it all boils down to the same thing: plain, simple egoism. I protect the village because there are individuals I care about that call it home, and I care about them because they give me peace of mind; a reason that makes "coming back to this hell" a bit more tolerable. Humans are social animals, after all. We can't properly function, let alone find joy in our lives on our lonesome.'

Even as reserved as he'd grown in the last decade, with barely a dredge of something that could be called a social life, that was a truth Naruto had known for even longer. That was simply the way the human mind was programmed. It needed outside acknowledgment in one form or another to keep the ego from dropping to zero, for a person with no ego was a person who had no will to live.

He didn't really view the Village Hidden in the Leaves as a home in the conventional sense. It was a stable fixture in his life, a place where he could come back to and drop his guard just a bit. In the back of his head, though, he couldn't ever truly forget the years of ostracization he suffered. Those memories would always make that small difference, put that bit of guarded distance preventing him from connecting with the idea of it being anything more than just an assortment of buildings and people in any fulfilling way.

He was a selfish man. He only understood the Will of Fire from an intellectual perspective, but not from an emotional one, for the most part. The knowledge of that had caused old man Sarutobi a good deal of grief and disappointment.

There were few people he would be emotionally invested in risking his life for, instead of the mechanical and reflexive fashion he normally acted with: His captain, Kakashi, who'd always had faith in him; Tenten, the wiser-than-average girl with whom he shared a mutual interest in weaponry; Shikamaru, who challenged his tactical acumen with games of shogi, taking things real slow like an old man all the while, and others.

Not to say there wasn't a measure of fondness and possessiveness toward the village. Any place that could provide a break to his hectic lifestyle was garnered to evoke some modicum of positive emotions. It was just... tempered by experience.

"That's all?" scoffed the Nine-Tails, unimpressed at his answer. "And here I figured you'd say something considerably deeper than the mere confession of you sharing that intrinsic weakness with the rest of your pitiful species. After everything you've endured, it's disappointing to find out you couldn't muster the will to forge something new for yourself."

'That almost sounded like admiration.'

'The fact you're not one-hundred percent pathetic still makes you mostly pathetic.'

'Fair point.' The blond smirked in amusement. 'Even though it may be inspiring to hear someone tell you "when there's a will, there's a way", real life doesn't always agree. There are some things you can't bend to your will no matter how hard you try, and obstinately persisting to do such, just to prove a point, makes you more a pig-headed brat than some folk hero; it's nothing more than impotent martyrdom. Sometimes, you either adapt or suffer fruitlessly.'

"So, that's your reasoning. You came to terms with your nature as a human and adapted accordingly. Heh, so much for your whole "I'm a monster" spiel."

Just as Naruto was about to answer, he turned around on the spot and readied his yari for an attack. After a few seconds, what came out of one of the decrepit buildings was not an enemy ninja as expected but a boy of around nine or ten, in his estimates. Child or not, he didn't dare to carelessly drop his guard. Apparent innocence was one of the best covers, after all.

The boy looked at him for a short while, scared and shivering, before he turned to look at one of the corpses and his eyes widened in horror.

"Mommy!"

Running towards the body of the woman his spear had carried on its flight, the boy shakily kneeled down and started shaking it. With chants of "mommy" and "get up" and the like, tears dripped down his cheeks. The sounds of his hysterical crying echoed over the burning flames, as if letting them know of his unfathomable sorrow.

Deciding to activate the negative emotion sensing ability he acquired from the Nine-Tails, he lowered the yari at realizing the display wasn't for show, though still kept himself ready to defend if need be. The grief the boy radiated was as real as the land, sea, and sky.

Naruto and his team had been dispatched to eliminate a band of rogue ninja who'd allied themselves with a group of low-level thieves and thugs. The scouts that were sent preemptively had informed them that they'd taken up shelter in the ruins near one of the Fire Country's busiest roads, using it as their latest location to steal from traders.

It seemed that one of them was... had been a parent.

Well, shit.

Naruto felt for the boy. He really did, however little sympathy he was able to raise. And yet, as the crying increased in volume, he also perceived a distinct lack of guilt at his actions.

'... And who says that human beings can't be monsters?'

"Of course. How foolish of me. I must have been misled by your kind's proclivity to self-righteously prattle on about their upstanding moral and natural superiority, even as they cut down and bring suffering unto their own and others. Believe me, it won't happen again." Naruto could easily imagine the sneer he must've been wearing on his muzzle, his tone awash with biting sarcasm.

A particularly loud wail from the boy distracted him from his thoughts momentarily.

"I wonder, though, do you use that same reasoning as an excuse for bringing such unimaginable grief to this boy, as well as the pain you brought to all others who suffered at your hand? Humans are inherently belligerent in one form or another, but I won't deny there had been pacifists and those who tried to preach their peaceful ways, naive or hypocritical as they might've been."

'What are you getting at?'

"You may not have any apparent affection for war, but your combat skills are the only source of pride you can recognize. It's the only thing about you that generates acknowledgment from others. Would you be able to find it in yourself to be like those peace-seekers, to try and bring an end to all conflict and strife, make sure a scene like this never has to happen again, but, in the process, lose that which you feel provides validation in society? Or would you rather go on as you have so far, letting the world burn so long as some form of personal satisfaction could be found from such conformity?"

Naruto was afraid that, if he squeezed any tighter, the shaft of his spear would break from his white-knuckled grip. His masseter muscles tightened with his clenching jaw, a rare emotion of anger welling up inside him. 'You-'

The crying suddenly decreased in intensity, and Naruto witnessed the boy raise his head and glare at him with incalculable rage and anguish. Picking up a kunai from the ground, the boy took a shaky but practiced stance, evidence of training written all over it.

Naruto remained in his seemingly relaxed pose, gazing at the child impassively.

"Y-You bastard," he growled, the glare shifting into a snarling visage worthy of a wild animal.

"I'LL KILL YOU!"

Shouting at the top of his lungs, the boy charged at the blond, kunai at the ready. In the jinchuriki's eyes, the boy moved as if in slow motion. He could see his features twist with perfect clarity, the face scrunched in hatred reminding of angry waves lapping at the shore and spraying foam into the air, not unlike the dirt kicked up by the child's mad dash.

All those negative emotions, that nightmarish expression, caused by and pointed at him.

Feeling a sudden surge of anger and frustration, he raised and swung his yari toward the boy's neck with blinding speeds. At the last second, however, Naruto twisted his wrist so that the flat of the blade struck the side of his neck and head. With a dazed look, the boy crumpled to the ground, unconscious. For a moment, all Naruto could do was gaze at the comatose form of the child, and notice how the absence of his hateful gaze did nothing to remove the uncomfortable knot from his chest.

"Shut up," he said out loud through gritted teeth, picking up the boy and throwing him over his shoulder. 'Just shut the fuck up, you dumb fox.'

The flow of memories picked up in pace; he saw himself don the jonin uniform more often, and his ANBU get-up gradually less; Master Jiraiya, his absentee godfather, was there, teaching him the ways of the spymaster after finally deciding to give the older man a chance; in the Forest of Death, sounds of metal against metal could be heard as the blonde and his kimono-wearing best friend performed a dance of death, his yari clashing against her twin katanas over five times a second.

The pace slowed down at the latest memories of his life, right after Kurama revealed his name to his jailer. The emotions still fresh, Naruto could feel the sense of closure when he and the main source of his life's misfortunes reached a major understanding, so unlike the rare, thoroughly begrudging agreements they made previously. He practically felt his own lips twitch upward into a content smile, directed at the being his village and, admittedly, he himself had reviled as a monster in their ignorance.

He could not deny what he felt at that moment, caused by that "monster's" own acceptance of him.

Joy.

"Enough!" His vocal cords scraped painfully against one another with his forced exclamation. Thankfully, the creature finally reared back. He mustered the best glare he could in his weakened state. "Did anyone ever tell you what an inconsiderate asshole you are?"

He didn't know if he imagined it or if he was just going crazy, but he could swear he saw mirth in its eyes while the thing's body reverberated with a few repeated growling noises that almost sounded like... chuckles.

Dear God, what kind of hell had he been dragged into?

The thought was affirmed when the being calmed down, proceeded to get closer, and its eyes shone red again. Despite knowing how useless the effort would be, the blond tried to put up at least an iota of resistance, which, as predicted, didn't do squat against its mental assault. He was surprised, then, that he perceived an influx of thoughts and emotions he was pretty sure were the creature's, instead of another unwilling walk down memory lane.

Understanding. Amusement. Curiosity. Sympathy.

... Approval.

"What the fuck?" he uttered in confusion, his brow furrowed. Rather than getting any kind of response from the creature, the red light covering its gaze suddenly shifted to white, and a similarly-colored glow appeared around him, too. Naruto's eyes widened when he felt like his insides began mending themselves, stitching painlessly back together, and everything just... settled.

He was still severely exhausted and out of energy, but his chakra was stabilized and his body didn't feel like it was downgrading to lifelessness like a few seconds ago. He didn't feel like he was dying anymore.

Which meant...

"I'm alive?" he half-asked, half-stated. Any sense of relief, though, was drowned out by confusion with the newfound understanding of his circumstances. If not in hell, where was he? If this thing wasn't the devil or a reaper or anything else related to death, then what was it? How was he still alive?!

Promptly diving downwards, the creature disappeared from sight for a few moments, but he soon sensed it right underneath him before something solid was placed against his back. When he turned his head to the side, he saw gold mixed with grey and black, quickly realizing that he was lying against the otherworldly being's crown, in the space between its eyes. His feet dangled from the bottom edge while the back of his head was situated in the gap between the horn on the top and the spike that went to the side right above its left oculus.

A sensation of movement overtook the blond and the world around him became a blur of colors. Air resistance blew his hair back, and he had slight trouble keeping his eyes open, only his training and experience as a ninja allowing him to do so. Wherever the thing was taking him, it obviously had no sense of passenger safety.

Suddenly, a distortion appeared in the empty space before them, reminding Naruto somewhat of Tobi's brand of teleportation ninjutsu. With the speed they were going at, he found himself pushed into the strange phenomenon a mere second later, and he felt the pressure leave his back as a new range of colors entered his vision.

Though the blue remained, red and black were exchanged for green, and a white light grew closer and closer, not unlike the light at the end of a tunnel.

White again? Naruto couldn't help the sarcastic thought, even with everything that has happened or was happening at the moment.

The white encompassed everything around him for the third time that day and vanished just as quickly, an abrupt, literal coldness attacking his senses. For a second, he could feel himself freefalling as weight became a thing again, his body and mind re-introducing themselves to the sensation of gravity. His back hit something soft but cold, and through his blurry vision, the edges of his sight turning dark, he saw a light-gray, cloudy sky with many small bits of white hurled in every direction.

He heard a few muffled voices to his right, but the shinobi was too tired and weak to be bothered to discern anything.

His eyelids dropped and the sweet relief of unconsciousness greeted him.

There! What do you think?

Before any of you start complaining about how Itachi was the youngest S-rank Leaf ninja ever, remember he only attained that rank after going rogue. Technically and officially speaking, he wasn't a Leaf shinobi anymore - even if he actually was in secret.