A warm summer breeze blew across the Hokage monument, caressing the cheeks of the three stone faces. One was charismatic and cheerful, one dutiful and stern and the last dignified and kind.

It frolicked there for a time before moving towards their base and entering the village proper.

Weaving through the buildings, it provided much needed relief from the sweltering heat of the Land of Fire’s summer.

People raised their heads and closed their eyes in greeting, letting it touch their faces, drying the perspiration therein.

Bouncing from wall to wall, it lost its momentum until as just a tiny gust, it entered a private garden, causing the blooming flowers in it to sway gently, covering the area with their fragrance.

Disturbed by the wind a few butterflies floated up from the flowers only to return in a flash of colour tempted by the fragrance of the beautiful blooms.

A beautiful crimson haired woman hummed gently as she pared the errant bushes with a pair of shears.

Noticing a butterfly flutter from one flower to another, her lips split in a smile that put the summer sun to shame.

Poking it gently with her finger she muttered, “Little playboy.”

Surprisingly, instead of fluttering away at the touch, the butterfly opened and closed its wings, leaning into the touch.

It was a gift from Kurama, the Nine-tails.

She could project her intentions towards simple minded creatures like animals and some specially pure humans.

The butterfly could feel her good intentions and hence it felt no fear at her touch.

Of course, she could also sense malice.

A far more important power than the former in the twisted world she lived in.

She sighed, tucking an errant strand of hair behind her ear, she looked towards the Land of Lightning.

Her beloved fought there and she was stuck here, miles away living a lie of peace bought with his blood, sweat and tears.

She slapped her stomach with her palm.

“You damn fox. If not for you, I could be fighting side by side with him. Protecting him.”

Kurama was silent. As he always was.

She suddenly felt guilty. She shouldn’t be the one complaining… after all, the one sealed within a mental jail wasn’t her.

*Pinch**Pinch*

‘I-impossible.’

*Pinch*

It was true! Her stomach had become soft, the taut washboard abs covered by a thin layer of flabby excrescence.

The horror. How was she to greet him when he came back?

She touched something, a pair of somethings a bit higher up.

Nooo. It wasn’t fair.

Why didn’t that change?

Mikoto was always complaining of whatever she ate going there. It made her want to strangle the buxom Uchiha.

Why couldn’t that happen to her for a change.

She threw her shears into a basket and stood up with clenched fists and a fire of resolution in her eyes.

From today onwards, she would diet and exercise.

No more laziness. Her martial skills were deteriorating fast due to idleness and that needed to be remedied.

She would only eat five bowls of ramen per meal.

B-but, the training needed more energy, right?

Okay. Six… no seven bowls.

And two for Kurama… a perfect nine.

He-he. See Kura-chan I’m so thoughtful… you’re so lucky to have a host like me.

*Plop*

A sudden wet squelching sound brought her out of her self-praise.

Turning behind her, she was greeted by the sight of a bloody head.

It had blonde hair and blue eyes.

That didn’t attract her attention.

Her eyes were fixed on a black cord hanging from its mouth. On it was attached a ring of hair. Red hair. Her hair.

She covered her mouth and screamed.

She screamed as the world in her vision turned red.

She screamed as the world in her vision shrunk.

Her screams mingled with those of Konoha’s populace as the Nine-tails was fully unleashed in their midst.

She was still screaming when a man with red and gold hair with shark-like eyes appeared in her mindscape and touched her forehead.

“Sleep!”

She slept, bound within a nightmare where thousands of disembodied heads of her lover spoke to her from all sides.

“You failed us.”

“We died because of you.”

“While you enjoyed peace, we suffered in war.”

“Now we are dead, will you just forget us?”

“Will you become happy with someone else?”

“It’s not fair.”

“Join us.”

“Join us.”

“Join us.”

She screamed again running from them in the endless darkness until she finally saw a light.

It was the gate. The door to the Nine-tails’ prison.

The seal was almost broken and the beast lathered within, it’s red eyes with slit pupils reflecting its desire for vengeance on those that had confined it so long.

Without a second thought she ran into the cell.

For what chased her was the possibility of her lover’s death.

Something much… much more fearful than a mere chakra beast.

Just as she entered, the final bastion of the seal cracked and with a howl, the beast was finally free.

It turned its eyes to the human that had housed it in the recent ears and opened its jaws to take a bite.

She stared at its approaching jaws and only felt apathy.

Tears slid down her face.

In a world without him what was the use of surviving?

Maybe she should join him like he said.

Suddenly, Kurama stopped as he felt a danger nearby and turned around with a growl.

She too followed his line of sight.

The floating heads which were following her had coalesced into the figure of the man from before.

The only difference was that his garments had changed from a white overcoat to saffron monk’s robes.

A burning lotus flower composed of saffron flames that radiated an aura of judgement cradled his form while his face was obscured by a golden light that seemed to speak of immeasurable virtue.

Behind his head, a nebulous, multicolour corona took shape.

There was once a riverboat,

That sailed the mortal streams.

The sound seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere, echoing through the blankness of the mindscape.

Immediately, planks of dark spiritual metal appeared baseless around the nine-tailed beast, forming into a small ship that caged it in despite its spirited struggles.

There was once a riverboat,

That traversed the brook of dreams.

A shimmering stream of water formed of memories flowed in a meandering course from one end of the mindscape to the other, picking up the ship and carrying it downstream. A wayward breeze formed of thoughts filled its sails, pushing it faster down the course.

It travelled once, then detoured twice,

It floundered, then cycled thrice.

From life to night, from death to day,

It stopped to rest, then sailed away.

Nine times upstream, nine times down,

Nine turns it took to reach Heaven’s crown.

The boat followed the words of the verse, moving in accordance with their lilting rhythm. It reached higher and higher as it traversed the river’s course.

In the very end, it joined the Sky,

Through flames that caused its heart to die.

The river of memories ended in a sea of crimson fire. As the boat passed through the layer of flame, it melted. The impurities sloughing away as flecks of black until all that was left was a transparent marble that glittered with a seven-coloured brilliance.

Suddenly, the pill cracked and with an enraged howl, the nine-tails burst out of it.

It inhaled deeply and spat out a huge mass of energy that spread outwards, pushing both her and the man out of the mindscape.

Suddenly, the scene changed to a blank white one.

A pair of arms surrounded her.

An extremely familiar pair of arms.

She couldn’t stop her tears.

So, this was the afterlife?

If she was there with him, she couldn’t care less if it was hell.

“Oi, love birds… knock it off. Help me subdue the nine-tails if you don’t want it to wreck your village.”

Startled, she turned around and saw the man there. His robes were quite tattered but otherwise, he seemed fine.

He was muttering, “As expected of the nine-tails, completely out of the other beast’s league.”

Minato walked out from beside her and said, “Do you promise that you’ll let us have new bodies and leave us alone after this?”

The man cocked his head to one side, “Do you have a choice other than to believe me?”

Minato clenched his teeth and ground out.

“Fine. We’ll help.”