My eyes cracked open as peaceful rays of iridescent sun basked me in warmth. Soothing sounds of trickling water was nearby as my legs relaxed halfway into crystal clear water. Cool, soft grass provided me the best cushion I had ever known. I breathed in a deep jaw cracking yawn, pleasantly surprised by how wonderful that rest felt. When my eyes finally saw where I was, I decided that this had to be a dream. None of it seemed real. Above me was a cloudless, azure sky that stretched across the world. In the distance, grey, blurry mountains obscured by fog took the horizon like giant teeth of a waning monster. My legs were currently resting in a ocean of knee deep water that looked like someone had taken diamonds and decided they wanted water. The grass I sat on seemed to be an island in the middle of an archipelago of similar grassy isles that floated placidly in the diamond sea. Looking further into the water I saw that the islands looked like they only consisted of soft grass. No dirt, no soil, no rock just plushy, living plant. However, that's where all the almost realism ended. On one of the grassy islands were concrete skyscrapers filled with cracked glass that rose up from the center of it. That could be explained with some messed up physics, but what couldn't was the fact that there were several more buildings budding off the rising skyscrapers like leeches clinging onto their hosts. On another, further away isle, was something that convinced me completely, if I was ever skeptical. A knife- My knife, now somehow much larger than even the mountains in the background, in all of its beautiful glory, impaled itself not into the island but into the world. A scar of pure void stretched from where the blade of my knife pierced up into the dazzlingly blue sky, carving an angry black crevasse into it like a work of some evil god. I didn't stare too long into the inky blackness that seemed to seep out of the cut. When I did, however, I had suddenly heard scratchy whispers echoing around in my eardrum, asking, crying, weeping, pleading, maddening. I didn't look a second time. "So my jailer finally decides to meet me." A booming voice rang out behind me, as if to loudly declare its inherent regality. I turned, body tensing at a hidden threat. For some reason, I had thought I was alone on my little island. Then I felt my heart skip a beat as I stared at the source. The first thing I saw was orange. Glimmering orange fur, each strand easily the size of a small child, shifted in some unfelt wind. It was a beast of unmatched size, dwarfing even whales I had seen in my past life. It lazily lay on four digitigrade limbs, long and almost humanoid in their shape, ending in sharp, needle-like nails that were definitely larger than I was tall. Its face was akin to a fox, pronounced snout filled with deadly dental details, as elongated ears rose up from its head. Oddly, they reminded me of rabbit ears. Two distinctly feline eyes, irises of blood, burned into mine. Nine damning tails slowly paced behind it. "Kyūbi." I growled. The monster inside me. The reason why I spend two years of my life being attacked by caretakers and common folk. The reason my parents are dead. "Yes, that is the brand that your wretched kind forced upon me whenever they chained me to undeserving brats." The monster boomed from within the cage that held it. I hadn't even noticed that when all I could see was the creature that was the cause of my troubles. The place that held it at bay looked just like a huge cell with metal bars that extended from the grassy floor to the unending sky. There was no lock visible to me, but there was a strip of paper with Japanese kanji stuck to one of the thicker bars that looked like some kind of double door. "Well," the beast boomed again, drawing out the word into an uncomfortable length. "Speak, abomination, let me hear what dribble you dare say." "Wait, what… what did you call me?" I asked, anger overridden by confusion. "Can you not hear me? Can you not see your own mind, the very representation of your soul?" Snarling tones echoed out into the world. It waved a clawed paw around in the direction of the large black scar. "That is wrong. Your very being is wrong! You think death marks those easily? You reek of the stench of death when you clearly breathe and live as a facsimile of a living being. What are you if not an abomination?" "Like I should listen to your shit!" I bellowed back, wanting nothing more to leave this place now. I couldn't remember how the original Naruto ended up meeting the Kyubi, or why the experience was so jarringly different, but just knowing that my parents were killed by this beast was something that drove me to insanity. The gigantic fox grinned, fangs somehow widening inside its snout. "Yes, you should listen. I am the reason why you are still alive, after all. I care not what deal you struck with the death god, but since you are less of a human than my other jailers, I shall give you some acknowledgment." "What are you saying? I am completely human." I shot back, while the yawning abyss behind me lingered in the back of my thoughts. "You?" The monstrosity laughed, a cruel, cold one that seemed to savor my apprehension. "Have you looked at yourself since you came here? If you think for a second your pitiful disguise is still here, then you certainly have not. Touching death ruins all, abomination. Your damnation is an odd one, but, if anything, is interesting to watch. It was the only reason that I healed all those injuries that kept piling up on your idiotic self." "That's…" I paused at the words. I hadn't looked at myself recently, but what would have changed? Was that why my specter self was so different? Shaking my head, I returned back to the callous creature, a memory flitting through my head. I had other things to set my mind on; like the fact that I wanted to take it off its high horse, and my bright, hot anger turned into ice, cold calculation. "No, you didn't heal me because of how interesting I am. I die, you die, am I right? You're just a little scaredy cat who fears death, as well." As its smirk faltered into a threatening growl, I grinned victoriously. Then I pushed my advantage. "I am right aren't I? You need me to survive, and I am going to milk you for all your worth." "And how do you suppose to do that, abomination? As powerful and great as I am, my Chakra cannot survive within half of a whole." The fox retorted, and I filed that away. Right now I didn't need to ask too many questions or else I would seem weak. This thing seemed to have a prideful complex. I had no idea what exactly the Chakra from this thing would do, but a boost would certainly be useful. "That is not your concern. Just give me your Chakra when I call for it." The floor vibrated with the growls that echoed out in response. "I had a slight amount of respect for you because of your inhumanity, but it appears your personality is as rotten as my past jailers." I just shrugged as noncommittal as I could make it. Anger still wreathed my belly when I spoke, though. "You should've expected this when you killed my parents." "So it is revenge." The fox seemed to smile, understanding dawning on its inhuman features. "I can understand that at the very least... Very well, abomination that reeks of death, I shall allow you to use my Chakra, but only on the condition that let me watch more of your pitiful struggling." "Isn't your survival enough of a condition?" "Then are you going to kill yourself right now should I deny you?" The monster asked back, and I could see the corners of its mouth turn up. I didn't answer because that would mean admitting that it was right. Instead, I turned around and sat on the grass, trying to think of an answer. The creature had been talking circles around me at the start, but when I had started to defend myself it began to get defensive itself. It liked to maintain a superior position even when it was clearly the one caged. When a thought finally came to me, I gave a the beast behind me a look of contempt before replying, "Then we shall stay in discourse." "Oh," It seemed that my acceptance, and subsequent addition of able conversation between us, had amused some bone in the malicious being's body. "And why would you stay in communication with me? Some sense of pity? Or is it that your parent's death doesn't weigh too much on your thoughts?" I shook my head in denial, already knowing the answer to my next question. "Your agreement?" The frightening fangs loomed closer to the bars of the cage. "Take my Chakra, abomination. I'll retract my condition so long as you leave me alone." I smiled as my appearing to be its equal in conversation had probably turned it off the idea of talking to me. It wouldn't find any amusement if I responded in a way to seem superior or an equal to it. Its pride wouldn't allow it. "Then I shall go." I responded finally, sending a worried glance over to the reflective surfaces of the water. I wanted to go and see what it had meant earlier about me no longer being human, but if I showed weakness I had no idea how this conversation might turn out. This was a monstrous beast that I needed to treat with all the seriousness of defusing a bomb. The thing was, that I had no idea on how to defuse a bomb. "You had already guessed my response… didn't you?" The orange terror asked as I wandered away from its cage. I didn't even spare it a glance as I had already caught a glimpse of my reflection. It was as damning as the words I had heard earlier. Instead, I answered it to get my mind off of what I had seen, "You looked tired." There was silence in the world of what was my mind. My thoughts were swirling around in my head as I finally had to comprehend the horror that was my own form. It was the same specter form that I wandered around in whenever I split my sight, but there were more… everything. I had another couple sets of eyes, the same ones I had seen on the brown eyed man who had kidnapped me were there along with ones that I couldn't quite recognize. I had a feeling that some samurai had looked at me with these very same eyes. There were nubs of some kind budding up around my shoulders and hips, and I felt like I could swivel them to some degree. They reminded me of a nightmare. Of a monster that tore the world asunder. "Hey," The other monster behind me finally spoke again, its voice holding onto a hint of something I couldn't quite put together. "Watch out for the man with a red eye." Then I woke from my mind, breaking my brooding over another slowly approaching issue. Inside, I was bemoaning why couldn't anything be simple. I desperately wanted a manual for all this shit, but I hadn't quite gotten that terrifying specter's number. Idly, wondering if I had to give a sacrifice to get that thing to tell me what exactly was going on or maybe a written list of my powers, the Kyūbi's warning also rang out in my thoughts, and I was getting a headache on the things I had to keep track of. I decided to deal with everything one step at a time. Still, when my eyes blinked to the outside world I had expected a great many things. What I hadn't expected was to find myself propped up against the solid rock wall of a cave with numerous swords littering the area around me. My body was bound by an ungodly amount of shoddily wrapped gauze and medical tape. I found Hinata crouching next to a wall across from me, holding tightly to one of the larger blades. Her stature was taunt like a string about to snap, and there were dark bags underneath her unsettling, glazed eyes. The veins around her eyes pulsed angrily as if they wanted desperately to rest but could not. There were definitely more swords closer to her, I noticed. She also seemed to twitch at every sound like an animal trying to find an attacker. "Hinata…" I mumbled through a particularly strip of gauze surrounding my face. I'm seriously hoping this body cast was her doing; I hated to be kidnapped again after escaping. The girl snapped her head towards me faster than I had been expecting. Tears were beginning to well up again in her eyes, but that only served to make her look more exhausted. "Uzu, Uzumaki-san… You're alright… I was, I was so sacred." "It's alright," I said as softly as possible. "We're alright now. Can you help me out of this, though? It's not really that comfortable." "No!" Hinata screeched at my request, her whole body was so tense. "There was so much blood… The, those samurai came back… They wouldn't leave you alone… I told them to stop, but they didn't... they wouldn't… I didn't mean to… It was an-" "It's okay," I spoke quickly. I had no idea what had happened when I passed out, but whatever it was it was definitely equally traumatizing to the young girl than the kidnapping from before. "Look at me, Hinata. It's okay. I'm fine, really. I heal fast, so you don't need to worry." The girl nodded slowly to my words, I felt my heart clench as I wondered what exactly happened for her to be so scared that she jumped at her own shadow. When she stood, her legs nearly gave out on her, and when she walked it wasn't without using one of the swords that were haphazardly jammed into the ground as support. It was actually rather impressive how she easily weaved between them when her legs finally gave a bit more strength. Though, I was absolutely terrified when she stabbed the sword in her hand into my bandages before cutting away. It was shoddy work as well, and the zero hesitation she showed in using a sharp object to literally cut me free was a tad unsettling. Still, her actions got the job done as I finally could move around without feeling constrained. However, my right arm was still slightly bleeding from the long gash that had been inflicted by that Jonin, and was still very much broken. It would definitely leave a scar despite my healing speed. I sighed, gathering some of the longer pieces of gauze to staunch the blood while wrapping up my arm. I would need to get medical attention soon, though. For now, sadly, I would have to be forced to use my left. Just to check, I quickly patted down my body, and only breathed a sigh of relief whenever I felt that there weren't any extra lumps growing on me. I was still a toddler, but it was much better than being whatever thing I was in my mind. Or whatever that fox called it. A representation of my soul? "Thanks, Hinata. How are y-" I paused mid sentence as the girl fell over, unconscious. I had no idea how long she had been awake, but the fact that she would trust me enough to fall asleep next to was slightly endearing. I had expected to need to coax her to sleep given the whole kidnapping thing. "Right, get some rest." I carefully took her in my arms as I moved about the cave of swords. There was recognition of some as I noticed that they were the katana's that the samurai had used, but I noticed that some were more bloodied than others. Pausing, I looked down at Hinata and found no sign of any wound. Right then, not her blood. I'll have to ignore asking out of curiosity till she calms down. When I found a suitable place to sit down, I mulled over my options. I needed to somehow get back to Konohagakure without knowing where I was. The both of us are exhausted beyond what a normal three your old should deal with, and I have a severe break in my arm. Hinata might be traumatized for life. That thought was a little harder to actually comprehend as the Hinata in my memories was completely different than the one in my arms. I didn't know if I could fix this. "Step by step, Naruto…" I mumbled, peering further into our cave. "First we need to find out where we are. Then, medical attention, if possible. Lastly…" My and the sleeping Hyuga's stomachs growled at that moment as if to comprehend the situation, and say that they wanted to contribute. "Food first it is then."