AN: Hey everyone, so this is my first Naruto fanfic and I hope you all like it as much as I do. I've got most of the plot already planned out, but if you have suggestions you're more than welcome to PM me or leave a review about it! I enjoy constructive criticism and I don't really care if you flame or not, just know that it will probably just make you look dumb (insert Kakashi eye-smile). Also, if you don't like my writing style or if the plot is going too fast/slow, please say something so I can improve. (I hate reading fics with a good plot but an annoying writing style). So yeah, this fic will mostly be about what would happen if Naruto and Sasuke remembered their past lives as Indra and Asura. We'll get to Naruto and Sasuke's era during the first chapter (not the prologue), so don't worry if you're looking for that.

EDIT 7/26/15:

-conjoined original prologue and chapter 1

-added Indra vs. Asura fight scene

-fixed several typos

-rewrote lots of descriptions and some conversations

(re-read strongly recommended – new fight scene and conversation that are important to the plot and better reading experience overall)

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of the characters from it, if I did, Naruto would have a better fashion sense and Minato would somehow, someway, find a way to be alive a little longer.

"Talking"

'Thinking'

Flashback/Dream

"Bijuu Talking"

'Bijuu thinking'

Prologue

It was a wonderful fall day. The fallen leaves painted the forest floor in a beautiful mix of deep reds and rusty yellows. The climate was unusually warm for the time of year, not that any of its inhabitants were complaining.

To the eastern side of the forest was a circular clearing, currently being occupied by two young boys. The first of them was no more than eleven years of age. His light-colored kimono hung limp on his thin frame, just loose enough for a shoulder to pop out every now and then. Framing his high cheekbones were two locks of his unruly, spiky, brown hair wrapped in white cloth. If not for the baby fat clinging to them, his elegantly regal facial features would seem completely out of place.

The other boy lay next to him on a tall rock, a peaceful expression on his stern countenance. Around fourteen years old, his lean body shape was enveloped in a dark grey kimono. He sported long, navy-black hair that was also bound by wraps of white cloth on either side of his face. Under his closed eyelids were three black tomoe swimming in pools of deep crimson. Above them, his dark eyebrows were cut short as a sign of nobility and wealth. Markings of the same dark color as his hair accented the skin under his eyes, giving him a more exotic look.

A devious smirk made its way on the first's visage as he teetered on his tiptoes to reach his hands above the older boy. In the air he held two bowls, one of water and one of flour, both precariously close to spilling their contents onto said older boy. He had crept up silently and expertly – or so he liked to think – as to not wake his victim. He carefully started to tilt the wooden bowls, ready to poor out their contents and run.

"Indra-kun~! Asura-kun~!" A sing-song voice drawled from the edge of the clearing.

He yelped and fell back on his rear, his master plan foiled. Despite his efforts to keep the bowls balanced, gravity took its course and the unfortunate prankster found himself on the wrong end of his own mischief.

"Gah! Tou-san! I almost had 'm, I was this close!" Asura complained as he held up his index finger and thumb to prove his point.

Indra scoffed. "I knew you were there the whole time, Otouto. I was planning on dodging it when you made your move, regardless of what Tou-san did or did not do,"

"Of course you would have. I forgot I was in the presence of The Great Sensor Indra-sama," Asura quipped. "But I wasn't actually going to do anything," He added on innocently, just for safe measures.

The owner of the voice stepped out of the foliage and into the clearing, a fond smile pulling at the corners of his lips. He was a tall, pale-skinned man, power oozing out of his very presence. He had two horns poking out of his spiky, red shoulder-length hair, and a grandfatherly goatee on his chin. He wore a white, full-length kimono with a pattern of six black magatama around its high collar. His most defining feature was his purplish-gray, ripple-patterned eyes, at least according to most people. If one were to ask his youngest son, he would adamantly respond that it was his 'no-eye-browed-awesomeness'.

"I'm never going to get tired of your antics, Asura-kun."

Asura wasn't one to turn down praise when he got it, and took his father's remark as such. He started to pull apart a few strings of sticky hair in front of his smug face before turning back to his father.

"Tou-san, can we go back to the house? I would like to clean the paste off my clothes and out of my hair in the waterfall before dinner," The man made an affirmative grunt as he picked up his shakujo and signaled his sons to follow.

Asura stuck his tongue out in concentration and focused on separating his hairs from the gooey flour-water mixture as he strolled home leisurely. Next to him, Indra marched on with determination, as per usual, only stealing curious glances at his younger brother when he thought his father wasn't looking. The sage watched his children from behind amusedly, oh how he wished they would stay this innocent forever. But in the back of his mind, he knew they would be anything but.

The sun and the moon – which he had recently created, by the way – were what he liked to compare to his two sons. Asura would be the sun, always cheery and warm towards others, bringing light and energy to all who looked at him. The boy had always been the more open-minded of the two brothers, believing that love, cooperation, and understanding was the way to achieve world-peace. His brother, with the independence and mysteriousness of the moon, was of a different opinion. Indra believed that power was the key, and the world would only ever have true peace if ruled under an iron fist. Perhaps his view was skewed from his own experience with power – being the prodigy and talented one of the family was bound to bias him one way or another, even if he did inherit his father's strong genes. Asura was not so lucky, but devoted his time – when he wasn't busy pranking said prodigy – to becoming a genius of hard work.

When they finally arrived at their little make-shift home, Asura immediately bounded off to the waterfall while Hagoromo and Indra went inside to get their dinner prepared.

As he approached the waterfall he couldn't help but gawk at its sheer size – despite having seen it plenty of times already. Its peak was around three hundred feet above sea-level, and ended some fifty feet underground after it dipped into a ravine. It cloaked the entrance to a cave, where his less-human siblings resided. Inside it had a flat, circular base and beautiful crystals of all colors on the walls and ceiling.

Once he was broken out of his musings, he stepped under the waterfall and willed the clear blue water to coil and twist around and through his hair and clothes. All went well until he commanded the water to curl tighter around his torso to clean his shirt. It shouldn't have been such a surprise when he lost control of the water and it sprayed outwards into the cave – he never was any good at using his father's 'Ninshu'.

"Oi! Gaki! I think a lot of us are trying to sleep here!"

Asura reluctantly turned around and hopped down from the ledge he was bathing himself on and walked through the water to the other side of the waterfall. His hand subconsciously scratched the back of his neck as he looked up to face the disgruntled owner of the voice, who just happened the eldest of his younger siblings. "Heheehe~ …. Sorry, I was trying to clean myself off with the water manipulation Tou-san taught me but I guess I lost control..."

"Mmph. You mean tried to teach you. Tried," replied the low, baritone voice as its owner, an orangey-red colored fox with nine tails and rabbit ears, got up from his sleeping position in the dog-pile of other mix-matched animals. This resulted in more than a few sleepy groans from said animals, or Bijuu, as their father liked to call them.

Asura had always been especially fond of them, and they reciprocated his feelings. Asura was a very social person and although he loved his brother and father dearly, they never really provided the kind of company he needed. The Bijuu had quickly filled this gap in his life and become his go-to source when he needed somebody to complain to. They were always there to listen to, make fun of, and give advice to him when he asked. While Asura was technically older than them, the intelligence of each of the chakra-constructs was by their father's design automatically much wiser and greater than his own, so they treated him like the littlest brother.

"Hey, you shut it, Kurama! I almost did it that time you stupid fox! I was this close!" he yelled as he put up his index finger and thumb for reference, one of his quirks he picked up from dealing with being the self-proclaimed 'failure of the family'. Everyone in their unconventional family would deny it immediately whenever he put himself down, but he couldn't possibly shake his inferiority complex when he would constantly compare himself to his prodigious brother. His actions earned a few chuckles from the heap of chakra.

Another of the Bijuu, a blue, two tailed cat, snorted and curled up tighter around her tanuki brother for warmth. "Yeah, yeah, sure. Just don't involve us in the consequences of the failures of your so-called 'master plans' if you can help it, Asura-chan. I, for one, am going back to sleep,"

"'Asura-chan'? I'm older than you, Matatabi! See this? Does everybody see this? I get no respect for my master plans! None!" Asura waved his hands up in mock hurt and frustration as he turned around to go eat dinner with more human family. Matatabi always had more of a mother complex with the other tailed beasts and Asura - Shukaku most of all. Asura would never openly admit it, but he truly appreciated having somewhat of a mother figure in his life, even if it was a fuzzy blue fur-ball of chakra.

"Sometimes I wonder if that boy is insane, but then I remember he comes to balls of chakra for psychological comfort and I know he is," remarked Gyuuki, the ox-octopus, or as Asura famously – or rather infamously – dubbed him, 'The Amazing, But Completely Lame When it Comes to Master Plans, Oxtopus'.

The tailed beasts didn't exactly get along, and fought more often than not during waking hours, but the boy had a unique way of bringing them together.

Time skip - Seven Years Later

"Is there anything I can do for you, Tou-san? Water? Another pillow?" Asura asked his father, who now lay on a bed in the center their family cave, or more specifically, his deathbed.

He knew he couldn't live much longer naturally, and was strongly against prolonging his life with his use of Ninshu. He could, of course, do this extremely easily, but he would be forced into living forever. When his children tried to persuade him to use it, his response was always the same; that he "didn't want to lose his humanity". He was already considered a god amongst men, and had given the world a temporary state of peace and understanding through his teachings.

Asura had always understood and accepted his reasoning, he would do the same in his father's shoes. Indra and the tailed beasts had been a little bit more forceful, the latter complaining that he was leaving them to a life of forever and loneliness.

"No, no," he replied between coughs, "Thank you anyways though, Asura-kun," He shifted to a sitting position and gave both of his eldest children a serious look that they knew meant whatever he said next held great importance. "I need one of you to carry on my legacy and to be my successor of Ninshu, would either of you be willing to give up your life for this cause?" Both of his charges nodded eagerly and seriously after a few moments of thought. "Good. However, I will only choose one of you for this. Which one of you becomes my heir depends on your answers to my next question."

Asura looked uncertainly to his brother on his right, who was just looking at his father with his ever-stoic expression. He knew that Indra had always assumed he would get the position automatically, and if he was honest with himself, he had too. Asura had always been the more laid-back and emotional one, while his brother was constantly grooming himself for the day he carried his father's legacy. He turned back to his father, steeling his emotions and preparing himself for what came next.

"But Tou-san, I'm obviously the more capable of us two. It may seem arrogant, but Otouto doesn't have half of the natural talent or any special capabilities that I possess. What good would it be to choose someone like him with something that would only bring him down?" Indra had the decency to look a little guilty at his brother's hurt expression and his father's calculating stare. He knew his younger brother had problems with being unacknowledged, but this had to be done, and done correctly.

"I do see your point, Indra-kun, but I have thought long and hard on this already." He paused to take in his children's expressions and give them time to mull over his words. Indra looked confused, proud, apprehensive, confident, and stoic. Asura looked a little hurt, hopeful, trustful, and most of all, curious.

"What is the true key to peace?" This was an often disputed topic in the Ōtsutsuki household, and each knew what the others thought about it. Both men looked somewhat surprised at his choice of a question, why ask something with such an obvious answer? Hagoromo gave them a few seconds to gather themselves before gesturing to Indra to speak first.

"The key to peace is power. Only with power will people respect and fear you enough to obey the rules and cooperate under one common leader. It may be harsh, but having one common enemy is the most successful reason for people to band together, as it is engraved into our human mentality."

Asura waited for a few moments as he watched his father expectantly, waiting for his own cue. Hagoromo stared into space with his eyes glazed over and a pensive look on his face, then nodded to Asura. "The key to peace is love and understanding. We need to be empathetic and loving in order to understand where other people are coming from and work out our problems both efficiently peacefully." The sage once again looked off to nowhere for a while until turning back to Indra and Asura.

The brothers couldn't help but fidget under their father's calculating and powerful gaze.

Hagoromo sighed. "I have chosen. I hope you both respect my decision as my last wish and can accept it over time. Although both methods may strive to complete the same goal, the road along the way is what influenced my decision most. While one is more logical and requires much less work and time, the other will bring more happiness to this broken world. Asura-kun, I hereby request you be my successor. Use your empathy and compassion to share my Ninshu and bring peace to the world as you see fit."

Both brothers were convinced they heard that wrong, and even Indra's eyes widened comically at that.

"Indra, I need you to understand that while power is a necessity as well, understanding and acceptance is what makes a leader. I hope you will use such understanding to forgive me for taking this away from you, and that you will choose to help your brother along the way."

Indra's mind was in scattered shards. Why would his father choose his mess of a brother over him? What does Asura possibly have that he doesn't? It was his dream. His entire life was meant for this. Every thought he ever had, every move he ever made, was preparation for continuing his father's legacy and bringing peace to the world. He gave up his childhood, his personality, and his interests for this. He turned himself into the perfect soldier for this opportunity.

Asura and Hagoromo could only watch with trepidation as their family member's face displayed his inner turmoil. It wasn't often that Indra lost his stoic face, but when he did, its reason was either deadly, or hilarious – usually at his younger brother's expense. He stormed through emotions rapidly, making no attempt to conceal anything. Confusion, shock, denial, pain, frustration, denial, betrayal, and finally anger. Merciless, unrelenting, unforgiving, anger.

He snapped.

The normal three-tomoe pattern in his eyes changed drastically, the black tomoe stretching into a swirling spiral shape.

"Amaterasu,"

Most would say this was a great moment in history, one to be celebrated and cherished, but others couldn't disagree more. It was the first time Ninshu was used for killing, and also the day Ninjutsu came into the world. In the cave hosting this epic event sat three men.

The youngest was Asura Ōtsutsuki. Born with no talent or special powers, he couldn't accomplish much on his own. Instead, he valued depending on and cooperating with the Bijuu and the people he met on his travels with his family. He was an easygoing, affable, compassionate, and empathetic spirit.

The second youngest was Indra Ōtsutsuki – a prodigy in every aspect of the word. Everyone expected great things from this man, and he was never one to disappoint. He understood his power was different and special, and was determined to use it to achieve his father's dream of peace. Indra was almost the polar opposite of his younger brother, but not always in a negative way. He was proud and independent, determined to walk his own path unaided. He had a pensive, determined, tactful, powerful, stoic, and slightly aloof personality.

The oldest and last - but certainly not least - was Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki, father to both Indra and Asura. This man was known all across the nations by the moniker "The Sage of the Six Paths". He was exceptionally wise, patient, composed, and brought a great change and understanding to the world. He used the chakra given to him by his mother to create Ninshu, and sought peace above all. The sage loved all of his children equally and it tore him apart inside to have to choose one over the other.

In three extremely different but at the same time extremely similar minds, there was complete and utter emotional chaos.

One man broken, one man in denial, and one already dying man literally burning alive. And people called them a good family? Once upon a time they may have been, but at that moment they were anything but.

Asura could only watch in shock and horror as the man he looked up to most sent black flames of hell upon his second most adored. Indra's maniacal grin upon his usually royally stoic features made the room feel ten degrees colder by itself. It wasn't happening. It was all just a bad dream. It couldn't be happening. At least, that's what they told themselves when the young men tried to make sense of the situation, regardless of the differences in their perspectives.

The younger brother opened and closed his mouth a few times, but nothing came out. What would he say? What could he say? 'Oh haha sorry Aniki, but Tou-san chose me... But I guess since you just killed him its proof he made the right choice anyways...?' Yeah, right. In the end, he could only manage to get out one intelligible word past his lips between sputtering.

"S-stop!" He bolted up from his kneeling position in front of his father and shook Indra's shoulders violently. Indra just batted the concerned limbs away like flies, using his superior Ninshu-enhanced strength. He rose to his feet slowly, but when he saw his Asura's flinch when he reached out to comfort his little brother, he was abruptly reminded of the fact that he was the reason his brother needed the comfort in the first place. So instead he just stood there, staring at the only other living being in the cave with an expression not unlike one of someone had just seen a ghost. This went on for all of two minutes, neither of them moving an inch. Under normal circumstances, Asura would make some witty comment about Indra's 'inability to act human' to fill the awkward silence. But alas, these were certainly not normal circumstances.

"Indra! M-make the flames go away! It's not too late to forgive and forget!" he all but pleaded, but it fell on deaf ears. Of course, what he said wasn't true in any way. The only other occupant of the cave had long since passed, leaving nothing more than a still-burning corpse, and the emotional scars were already etched permanently into their psyches like tattoos. Indra snapped out of his self-induced funk at hearing the desperation Asura's voice, and immediately turned on his heels. He had to get away... had to get away from everything.

"Wait! ...Come back soon so we can talk this out, will ya?" His efforts earned a pause in Indra's brisk escape, but nothing more. Watching his brother's form disappear into the waterfall, he would never see the lone tear mixed with blood gliding down from red-and-black eyes, nor the sad smile that graced normally unmoving lips. But at the same time, he would never forget the day his idol and most trusted sibling awoke and was chained to the later dubbed 'Curse of Hatred'.

When Indra exited from the cave and put on his emotional mask once again, the Bijuu, whom at the time had been waiting outside of the cave to congratulate whomever their father had chosen, looked to Indra with confusion and curiosity marring their features. Indra didn't bother respond to their unspoken question, instead choosing to quickly pack his things and flee into the darkness of the night.

The confused masses of chakra waited for what seemed like eternity until Asura came out, wearing the Sage's six-magatama neckless of his father on his collar. He held the famous shakujo and what fabric was left of the silky kimono in his shaking hands. His grief-stricken face only scared the already anxious Bijuu more.

"Are you alright, Asura-kun? ...What happened? Indra just collected his things and ran... Has Tou-san made the decision?" Questioned Kokuō, a horse-like creature with five tails and the head of a dolphin.

Asura couldn't hold it in any longer. He fell to his knees and sobbed and yelled and screamed for his father, for his brother, for his family until his throat and lungs burned. Understanding that they wouldn't be able to get any details of whatever happened, the Bijuu apprehensively and respectfully let him have some time to collect himself before questioning him again.

"We can't help you if you don't tell us what's wrong, Asura," Kurama reasoned.

Holding his hands together try to stop their trembling, Asura halfheartedly collected himself and his rampaging emotions. He needed to be there for his other siblings, and he knew they would be there for him.

"T-t-tou-s-san made the d-decision," he finally croaked out.

As he recounted the day's events, he had to reason with the Bijuu to stop them from going after and killing Indra. They were fiercely loyal to Hagoromo and Asura, but their relationship with Indra had always a mutual tolerance, nothing more.

Asura made them all vow not to chase after the newly turned murderer, but the beasts made an unspoken pact to kill him with no mercy when given the chance.

Asura stayed at his family's home for a few months before coming to a decision. His resolve was simple, and he was ready to devote his life to his new purpose. He would find Indra, he would beat the shit out of Indra, and then he would use the space left open to knock some sense back into Indra. And he would do it, he refused to die until he did.

Over the years, Asura came to realize just how unrealistic his dream truly was. The cycle of hatred was never ending. He would find Indra, they would fight, and Indra would run off again.

The world around them was changing quickly, and not at all for the better. He became bitter towards his relationship with his brother when he realized their fights were the catalyst to the world's changes. People who saw their epic battles were inspired to create their own techniques for fighting, and using Ninshu to understand each other was slowly realized to be nothing but a fool's dream. Of course, people still held the Sage of the Six Paths on a proverbial pedestal, but no longer for the right reasons. They worshipped him like a god, different groups and clans claiming he gave them Ninjutsu specifically for their world domination. This utterly sickened and disturbed Asura, but Indra was far too gone in the manipulation of both the Curse and Black Zetsu to care.

The Senju and Uchiha were later deemed the most powerful clans, being descendants of Asura and Indra respectively. After Asura and Indra were both old enough to have children and pass on their ideals to them, they were destined to meet once more.

Duck, block top right, kick, hand seals.

"Mercy? You'll give me mercy? Katon: Gōka Mekkyaku (Fire Release: Great Fire Annihilation)!"

Analyze, react, dodge, counter.

"Suiton: Suijinheki (Water Release: Water Formation Wall)! Brother, do I look like I'm lying to you? It's almost as if you don't want my forgiveness. Yes, you did kill father. Yes, you have tried to kill me at least 37 times now. And yes, I will give you my mercy."

Indra paused at that, giving his brother a look of uncertainty before taking off towards his brother in a harsh sprint across the newly barren landscape, the structure of his Complete Body Susanoo forming layer by layer. "I don't deserve your forgiveness or mercy. But if I'm going down, you're coming with me!"

Asura too began crossing the distance between them, calling upon his three-headed, six-armed battle avatar along the way. "You're supposed to be the smart one here! Would it be mercy still be mercy if it were deserved? Please, just join me. We can restore this world to the way it was when father lived, but we have to do it together."

The time seemed to stretch into eternity as they came closer and closer, each pouring their remaining chakra into their most destructive and powerful techniques, hoping for a clean win. The last thing Asura would remember was the sight of his brother mouthing a word he would never forget.

The collision erased all signs of life within miles, but despite popular belief no human lives had been ended. The chakras of the legendary siblings had long since been strong enough to take a sentient form, strengthening their resolves and virtues, and thus refusing to die.

Millennium passed, countless wars were fought and the world brought about Shinobi. The Sage of the Six Paths became nothing more than a myth, his sons long forgotten and left to lie in the pages of history. Sometime along the way, Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha were brought to life. The almost mythically powerful chakras practically jumped at the opportunity – they would be able to fight once more. But even then the cycle did not end. Time moved onwards after their deaths and the world kept moving. Then came the day that the two were reborn once more. Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha came into being, and again Indra and Asura joined the living.

'Finally, he's using my chakra!' Thought Kurama as his jailor fought a boy – or was it a girl? – on a bridge in Nami no Kuni (The Land of Waves).

Kurama had long since accepted his jailor's poor excuse of a mindscape, but that didn't mean he liked living behind bars and in a sewer. So when he got the opportunity to bring back an old friend who had the ability to change that, he took it without a second thought. Of course, this was only a side effect of his real reason for bringing back the sleeping man in front of him, his real justification wasn't nearly as selfish.

Outside of the seal was a young Naruto Uzumaki, seething with rage. He had just seen his opponent kill his best friend – and to top it off he felt it was his fault. He was just inches away from tearing said murderer's throat out with his newly formed claws when his body gave out from under him and hit the bridge with a 'thump'. After a few moments of confusion, he felt it. Or more specifically, didn't feel it.

He was completely disoriented. Up, down, light, dark, hot, and cold were just words with no meaning to him now. What was it like to feel something? He couldn't even remember. After a few agonizingly long moments of confusion, it started.

The only thing he could feel or even think about was the painful contraction and expansion in his stomach, demanding his full attention and ending every thought process before it could finish. It stretched his very soul apart and tore him into an infinite number of pieces.

Right when he thought it was over with, an even worse feeling came over him. Naruto never was claustrophobic, but having a thing pushed into where there's only room one soul was enough to make anyone's thoughts suicidal. The internal torment went on for what felt like years until he welcomed unconsciousness with open arms.

Memories and emotions of past lives flashed through his one mind, all fighting for dominance over the others. In the end, the more prominent chakra signature won the mental tug-of-war, and Asura's mind was quickly bombarded with foreign memories of a different very different life as Naruto Uzumaki, the village pariah. Even the mind of a man like Asura couldn't handle the sudden attack on his psych. In retaliation, his mind shut down his consciousness all together, leaving his subconscious to do the work for him.

"MmphmIndrastupidmhmmstupidwatermmgrmphthisclosehmmm–" Mumbled a very much asleep, and also very content to be so, Asura. Or was he Naruto? Asuruto?

"Hey Kakashi-sensei, what's Naruto-baka mumbling about now? Can you hear it too, Sasuke-kun?"

"Hn. I don't really care what the dobe mumbles about,"

"Naruto, were almost at the village gates. You're going to have to wake up to pass through the gate inspection," Kakashi shook his student, who was at the moment being carried firefighter style across his sensei's shoulder.

"Wha–AH! Ugh my head..." Asura rolled over to try find a better sleeping position, but was unpleasantly surprised when he rolled right off of into free fall. "Gah! Owww..." If his own personality crisis wasn't enough to confuse him, looking up and seeing three very familiar yet complete strangers stop and stare at him certainly did the trick. "Who the hell are you? Did you do this to me?"

Kakashi narrowed his eyes for a short moment, but it left his visage as quickly as it had appeared. His sensei's son had been mumbling strange things ever since he collapsed from chakra exhaustion on the bridge, and now he didn't know who his own team was? 'Not suspicious at all...' An eye smile and a deep chuckle only served to infuriate the mysterious boy more.

Realizing 'he was being a douche' wouldn't be a sufficient reason to tell his wife when she asked why he killed this random man, he resorted to his newfound memories with the hope that might have some sort of clue to what he was supposed to do in this impossible situation.

As he flicked through decades of memories in mere seconds, the corners of his lips curled into a wistful frown. Saying he was disappointed was like saying the Bijuu had a little more chakra than average. Nobody even knew what Ninshu was anymore – did they know about him and Indra? Why were his and Indra's descendants were still fighting, thousands of years later? And then the Bijuu... How could people treat his siblings like weapons of war? Shoving them into seals on people and calling the containers human sacrifices... and his new body was one of these 'jinchūriki' too! He'd have to go talk to Kurama about all of this as soon as possible – he was always good at making plans up on the spot. He mentally smirked. 'Not that his skills can hold a candle to my master plans, though...'

He did know one thing for sure though. His father obviously entrusted his legacy to him for a reason, so we would do his damned best to make him proud. The world was not going to continue down the spiral of corruption – not if the second son of the Sage of the Six Paths had anything to say about it.

The rest of team 7 watched the emotions cross his face bemusedly, since when had Naruto smirked? Or frowned, for that matter?

AN: r&r porfavor.