The Mind Walk

It didn't take Inoichi long to arrive at the hospital room. Before opening the door, he remembered the Hokage's words 'Please allow Hinata Hyuuga to remain in the room'. I suppose she's probably still in there. He then decided to knock gently three times on the door, before opening the door and walking in.

"Good afternoon, Yamanaka-san"was the greeting that he heard come from the usually shy girl who was sitting by the blond's side.

"Good afternoon to you as well, Hinata-san." Inoichi said with a smile. He could tell just from her greeting, that she was starting to gain confidence and come out of her shell. "I'm here to do my mind walk of Naruto, but I suppose you already knew that didn't you?" He then asked as she nodded, and begun to stand. "However, you're more than welcome to stay." This surprised the girl.

"You will allow me to stay while you preform a mind walk on Naruto-kun?"she asked, just to reconfirm what she had already heard. "Thank you very much, Yamanaka-san" She said as she bowed slightly, before sitting back down and taking Naruto's hand back in her own. I sincerely hope that this works, not just for her sake, but for the whole village's too. Was the last thought to cross Inoichi's mind, before he prepared himself to preform his mind walk.

Inoichi opened his eyes and took in his surroundings "This is Naruto's mindscape?" He questioned out loud, surprised at what he saw. To him it didn't look like any mindscape that he had ever been in before. Most mindscapes he had been in were a place that ninjas could come to be comfortable and find peace, however this mindscape looked like it reflected the years of abuse and suffering that Naruto had suffered.

Along the walls of the area were several different sized pipes. The walls looked broken down and beat up, on the ground was a thin layer of water. "A... sewer?" Inoichi said to himself, as he began to walk down the hall way, looking around for any trace of the blond. After a couple minutes of walking, he heard some ominous laughing. "So, they finally sent in a Yamanaka, did they?" boomed the loud voice. At hearing this, Inoichi froze for a quick moment. So, that must have been the Kyuubi. Inoichi then ran off, trying to find the Kyuubi. If he was unable to find Naruto then maybe, just maybe, the Kyuubi would be able to help him find who he was looking for.

"How nice of you to finally come and see me, Yamanaka-san" The nine tailed fox roared, as the blond mind walker approached the cage that imprisoned him. As much as I don't want to get help from the human, I need him to know the truth first. The fox thought to himself, before Inoichi stopped walking, standing about five feet from the cage. "Kyuubi, Where is Naruto?" Inoichi said trying to be as civil as he could, although he was finding it hard considering he was standing in front of one of the most destructive and powerful Bijuu. "Before we get to that human, How would you like to know the true reason why I attacked your village?" The Kyuubi suggested. Inoichi's eyes went wide, before saying "Even if you do tell me the reason, how do I know I can trust you?"

The Kyuubi chucked at this response "That's a valid question, I suppose I should start before the attack of the village. You may want to sit down for this." As the Kyuubi said this, a chair materialized beside Inoichi, who promptly sat down. "Now, I ask that you do not interrupt me as I begin to tell you this tale. When time for questions come, I will ask you for them, understood?" The fox asked, and Inoichi nodded his head. "Good, Now I suppose I don't need to give you my life story, so I'll start here. I knew Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki before that fateful day."

"Before the attack, I had already been jailed before. Kushina Uzumaki was my jailor. Minato had known of the fact that his wife, and mother to Naruto Uzumaki, was in fact a jinchurikki. I was not this big demon like most people had thought, but I suppose that's human nature. Fear the unknown, and extremely big things." After saying this, the fox gave a quick chuckle "I had met Minato in person a few times. He had developed a seal that allowed him to enter Kushina's mindscape, but only with her permission. If someone else got a hold of the seal and tried to use it, especially the Torture and Investigation department, it would not work.

He was such a bright young man. Always working hard, always having a smile on his face, always striving for the good of the village, and always trying to make his wife happy. Now, you are probably wondering if I was sealed inside of Kushina, how did I get out, and why would I attack the village, am I right?" The Kyuubi finished, as Inoichi gave a quick nod, taking in everything that he has heard. "Then I shall tell you. As was discovered by Minato, and also one other individual, The seal holding me imprisoned within Kushina was weakened, if only for a short time. This short time was while she was giving birth to my current host, Naruto.

Minato tried his best to make sure for my sake, her sake, and the sake of the village that the seal wouldn't deteriorate to the point where I would be released. Unfortunately one other individual had other intentions in mind. This other man and me have met in the past. The man was no other than Madara Uchiha, the man who unleashed me against the first Hokage." Inoichi's eyes went wide, knowing what that could mean, but there was no way that the man could be alive still. The Kyuubi could tell that the blond wanted to ask. "I do not know the details of how he managed to survive that long, but the truth remains. Just after Naruto was born Madara held the kit hostage, forcing Minato to leave his wife's side, to get Naruto back. Using this diversion, he managed to get to Kushina and unseal the demon from her using his Sharingan, and force me to attack the village. If I could have had my own way, I would never of attacked Konohagakure." The Kyuubi finished, before looking down at the mind walker.

"I have one question for you, Kyuubi," Inoichi said, as he then continued "What's the reason that you would not have attacked the village?" The Kyuubi gave a hardy laugh at the question. Once the Kyuubi stopped laughing, he looked Inoichi directly in the face and told him. "Because I had respect for the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze. I had respect for Kushina Uzumaki. And I saw Naruto as a kit of my own litter. I was still a part of Kushina while he was being born remember, so the childbirth was something I was still there for. I experienced it, just as Kushina did that day. I'm now the only parental figure that Naruto has, and the village hates me and him for it regardless of where the fault lies for my attack."

Inoichi did the one thing that he could, which was nod before saying "I believe you, Kyuubi. It seems you've had just as hard of a life as Naruto has himself. Now, could you tell me where I can find Naruto? There's a girl sitting at the side of his hospital bed desperately waiting for him to wake up."

"Oho! So in his sleep he found himself a potential mate. Tell me Yamanaka-san, who is this female?" "She is the eldest daughter of Hiashi Hyuuga, Hinata. She was always known as the shy meek one, up until Naruto came to the hospital." Inoichi informed the Kyuubi, before continuing "So, shall we wake the knucklehead up?" The Kyuubi merely nodded, and informed Inoichi where he could find Naruto.

It's been almost an hour now, I hope he's okay. Hinata thought, noticing that Inoichi hasn't returned from his mind walk yet. Just after she thought this, Inoichi returned to his body, a variety of emotions quickly crossing his face. One emotion that the girl noticed easily was one that she was surprised to see: Guilt. "Welcome back , Yamanaka-san." She greeted, as though she had not noticed the emotions. "I hope everything went well?"

"As well as they could given the circumstances, I suppose." The older blond replied solemnly. "These kind of mind walks are always straining on me. I guess this one may have been more straining, but that's just cause Naruto isn't normally this silent, or still." He added, before standing "I've done all I can do, the rest is up to his will from here. Please excuse me, I need to report to the Hokage now." Inoichi said as he started to walk out the door.

"Thank you for your help, Yamanaka-san. I appreciate it, and I'm sure that Naruto-kun appreciates it too." The heiress said with a smile, watching him walk out the door. Hinata turned her head and body, and faced Naruto, grabbing his left hand inside hers once more. "Please Naruto-kun, Find the will to keep living. I need to see your bright smile, your bright personality. The village needs you. You may have not been able to bring Sasuke home this time, but I promise you we will train extra hard and bring him home. As you say, that's a promise of a lifetime. And I don't plan on going back on this one."

Exactly twenty-three minutes after her speech to Naruto's lifeless body, Hinata noticed some movement from his body. First was a little twitch in his right hand, then a movement almost like he was tapping his right foot in annoyance, or even impatience. Then she saw the best movement she could have asked for, Naruto's right eye began to open slightly. "Naruto-kun?"

~-Author's Note-~

So, Naruto's coming out of his coma. Any guesses on what may happen in the next chapter? On another note, I realize that Kyuubi is supposedly this big ugly demon that only cares about destruction. But I think that even if Kyuubi was a big ugly demon, being sealed within hosts repeatedly would cause you to be a little less demonic. Especially when you were sealed into the mother of the current host during his birth.

I decided to put up two chapters at once. I've got three written, but I want to give you all a chance to guess what's up next. Once I get a few reviews, I'll post up the next chapter.

Any thoughts and/or suggestions on what could happen, or even possibly take a guess at what could be coming up? Leave a review. Who knows, maybe I'll incorporate a suggestion or two into the story.

As always any reviews, comments, tips, ideas, or flames are always welcome.