Chapter 1

Naruto Uzumaki was many things. He was loud, hyper, friendly, and loyal. He was not, however, stupid, though he acted like it. So when Sakura brought him lunch and then he started to feel funny

afterwards, he knew she'd done something to him, and today was not a good day for that.

Today was his birthday. Now, most people can't wait for their birthday, presents, family, cake, and a party. Naruto dreaded his birthday. Many would wonder why, but you see, he knew. The nine tailed fox was

sealed inside of him and all the hateful villagers knew it. They also knew where his house was and right now he could barely move.

Alas, we find him running and stumbling through the streets of Konoha, clutching his chest where he could feel his heart beating erratically. Another sharp spike of pain went through his chest and he held

back a cry, trying not to attract the mob that was looking for him.

After a while, someone found him and he felt searing pain in his side, before he was flung into a tree at the edge of the nearby forest, where he'd been about to hide. He hit with a cry and his chest spiked

again as he fell towards the ground. He hit the ground and started coughing, not regular coughs, coughs filled with blood as his heart swelled in his chest, causing immense pain.

He heard a shout that he knew was the mob coming and then another pain in his side, sending him crashing into a tree with more than a few broken ribs, courtesy of a hateful jounin with increased strength.

The tree creaked as he hit and when he hit the ground below it, the creaking increased along with the sound of cracking.

The shouts clarified,

"STAY BACK! IT'S GOING DOWN! WE'LL FINALLY CRUSH THE DEMON LIKE IT CRUSHED SO MANY OF OUR FAMILIES!"

He heard a roar of approval and then the tree fell and agonizing pain claimed him.

OoOoOo

Niba let out a shout of triumph upon seeing the tree crack in two and fall towards the demon brat. The last thing he saw was the demon's head lift up and terror filled eyes before the tree obscured his view

and a loud scream of agony echoed through the forest accompanied with several loud cracking noises that he recognized as bones snapping.

Silence fell and he drew his tanto, going forward towards where the demon had been. He arrived to see just a speck of yellow that was quickly dyed red by the blood that poured across the floor from the

crushed demon.

He crept forward, expecting the demon to be faking and waiting for its time to strike, but when he got there, all that happened was the demon's head to move a small amount to face him. The demon brat

had blood pouring from his mouth and his face was contorted in pain as he spoke in a raspy whisper,

"I...I didn't...do...anything." Before his head tilted and he fell still with his long bangs covering his eyes.

He heard something, something beating, and he recognized a heartbeat, a weak one. He had enhanced senses, so he knew the exact moment that the heart stopped and fell still.

He went forward and nudged the corpse before crying out in triumph,

"THE DEMON IS DEAD!"

Unbeknownst to him, a pair of red eyes were watching from the forest filled with unshed tears of anger and pain. The villagers and ninja alike all screamed in approval and left to get drunk in celebration.

The red eyes came from the trees to reveal Sasuke Uchiha, filled with horror, pain, fear, rage, and despair. This was the one person that he was close too, not that he would ever admit that to anyone but the

blonde himself. Naruto was his friend, his only friend, and he'd just been killed.

Sure, Sasuke knew of the demon fox, but he also knew that Naruto was a kind, loving fool that wouldn't hurt a fly, not the demon fox. So he went forward and knelt down next to the blonde, brushing his

bangs to the side to reveal glazed blue eyes. No! Why?! Why hadn't he been able to do anything?! He'd had to watch as his friend was crushed because he was a weakling! Maybe he was right! No! Itachi was

never right. Naruto had told him that.

Sasuke gently dropped the bangs back and started slowly moving the tree off of his friend. After a few hours he finally managed to get it shifted enough to pull Naruto from underneath it. His bile rose as he

saw the state of the blonde's body. His bones all the way from his ribcage down were crushed. Blood poured from wounds along his body. Blood was still trickling from his mouth. He wasn't moving. He was so

still. He was cold. He was dead.

Sasuke gently picked the blonde up. Sure he was annoying, hyper, stupid sometimes, but he had been his only friend, the only one, and he'd been killed because Sasuke had been too weak to help him.

Now, Sasuke had awakened the Sharingan with the massacre of his clan, though he'd never realized it. He had made it progress further when they were in Wave. Now his friend had died in front of him. So it

made sense when blinding burning pain ripped through his eyes and he screamed in agony, clutching Naruto tightly in order to grip something, stop him from clawing his eyes out. Blood trickled from his eyes

and they opened to reveal a three pointed star with an inverted center, spinning madly as it glowed red.

He ignored his eyes in favor of gently picking his friend up in his arms and heading towards the village, but he stopped when he heard multiple footsteps and loud enthusiastic voices. No. They were coming

to mutilate Naruto's already mangled body. He couldn't let that happen, so he spun and raced back into the forest, running away.

Along his trail was a hole, but he saw it too late and they were both sent into darkness. He felt stone sliding beneath him and then a sharp pain in his head and then nothing. Their prone bodies slid out of the

stone tunnel and hit the ground in a small underground room, a former hideout of the Fourth Hokage, though they didn't know that.

OoOoOo

Naruto opened his eyes to find himself in a grey world with water beneath his feet, like he was walking on it. He wandered, wondering where he was, until he came across what looked to be something under

the water.

He knelt down and his eyes widened when he saw the face of a man. His hair was long and white, cascading down his body to his waist with long bangs covering half of his face and a lock of hair wrapped in

white bandages that laid to the right of his face. He had two horns on his forehead. He was wearing white robes with black magatamas on them. A long sleeved, tight, black shirt was under the robes covering

down to the backs of his hands and up most of his neck. He also had long black pants that tucked into high black ninja sandals. His eyes were open, but unseeing, like he was frozen...or dead. Naruto's eyes

widened when he saw that they were the Byakugan. This...man only looked about twenty years old. Where was he?!

He reached down, wanting to touch the man under the water and to his surprise his hand went through the liquid and touched the man's face. This immediately got a reaction. The man's eyelids fluttered like

he was gaining consciousness. His body took in a heaving breath. And he immediately started sinking.

Naruto yelped and grabbed his arm, tugging him above the water to lay on the surface, where he coughed once and then looked around. He slowly sat up, rubbing his head and Naruto watched him in

curiosity,

"Who are you? Where am I?"

The man shook his head and looked at the young blonde, before gaining a thoughtful face and speaking in a deep, soothing tone,

"Come here and I'll tell you." Naruto walked closer and the man pulled him

down to sit next to him, before he touched his forehead. His eyes became unfocused for a few minutes and then he snapped back into reality with an angry face,

"What?!"

Naruto's eyes widened and he edged away fearfully,

"I-I'm sorry f-for whatever I did."

The man focused on him and reached a hand out,

"No, I won't hurt you. Calm yourself."

Naruto, who had shrunken much as he did with the villagers, looked at him with a fearful face,

"B-But you're mad. W-Whenever someone's mad, it's my fault."

The man's eyes flashed with anger and then his face fell into a sorrowful look,

"I'm not mad at you. They're all wrong. Please come closer."

Naruto looked at him a moment and then stood and walked back over to him, a bit fidgety. "W-What?"

"You asked a question, or rather, two. I'm going to answer them, but first I will explain why I was angry. You see, I looked into your soul, your memories, and I saw what the village people did to you. It

angered me that they would treat you in such a way. No one should be treated that way, as for your questions. My name is Hamura Otsutsuki, the elder brother of the man you know as Rikudo Sennin, the

Sage of Six Paths. We are in your soul. From what I understand, I have somehow been reincarnated into you."

"Well, what am I here for?"

"I am going to wager a guess and say that you're here to merge with me."

"Merge with you?"

"Mold together. You get my powers, abilities, and memories, but you keep yours as well."

Naruto fell into thought,

"First, Hamura-san, ever since I've gotten here, I've felt an itch in my eyes and on my forehead."

Hamura's eyebrows creased and he put a hand on Naruto's forehead. Naruto felt a brief flash of pain and then a soreness spread through him. The seal, for that's what it had been, had been keeping him

malnourished and stupid. Now that it was gone, he shot up in height from four-foot-eight to five-foot-four. His baby fat disappeared, leaving a lean face. His body formed into what it should have been with all

of his excessive training. Lean, corded muscles formed on him and he felt his abdomen strengthen, causing him to look down. His eyebrow rose when he saw a six pack. He had no idea he'd worked that

hard.

Hamura then touched the side of his face and the itch in his eyes increased. Hamura gasped in shock when he moved his hand away,

"You...You have the Sharingan and yet when we bond, you will also have

the Byakugan. You will be able to use either one. Add that to the fact that I carry the Kaguya bloodline, which is the wielding of one's own bones, and you'll be very powerful indeed. That and I haven't even

included my chakra levels."

Naruto's face lit up,

"Wow! That's amazing!"

Hamura chuckled,

"Indeed. Now, since I'm from the past, I am very powerful, but don't know any modern techniques of your new dojutsus. However, there is a Byakugan wielder that can help you if I've seen

your memories correctly."

Naruto tilted his head,

"Who?"

"Neji Hyuuga."

"Why would he help me?"

"You can remove a seal of his that he has problems with and you can remove him from his clan, which he does not like and has feuds with."

"A seal?"

"It's called the Caged Bird Seal and you can remove it. It will be explained when you bond with me, but he'll definitely help you if you can remove that from him."

"Okay then. I will."

"As for your Sharingan, well I think your Uchiha friend can help you in the Uchiha style. He's quite skilled and I have knowledge on the Sharingan that will help as well. The Kaguya bloodline, I already know

how to use that and by extension, so will you."

Naruto smiled brightly,

"Really?! That's so cool!"

Hamura chuckled,

"Indeed. Are you ready?"

Naruto jumped up,

"Yeah!"

Hamura smiled and stood as well, before he grabbed Naruto's head and looked in his eyes, pressing chakra through himself. Naruto's eyes widened as Hamura dissolved right in front of him, turning to light

and entering him. Memories flooded through his brain and he felt his eyes burning once again, before he passed in oblivion.

OoOoOo

Minato was dead. He knew he was. He'd given himself up to fight the kyuubi and seal it. Then why did he have feeling then? He could feel his body, slightly twitch his hands. What was going on?

"It's me."

Minato couldn't move yet, but his mind filled with confusion. Who was this? Where was he? What was going on?

He heard a chuckle,

"You died. My name is Hagoromo, the Sage of Six Paths. You're here because I went to Shinigami and got your soul back. This is the world between the impure world and the pure world.

I brought you back because of your son."

His son?! Was Naruto okay?! What had happened to him?!

"Calm yourself, Minato. He died and he woke up my brother who was sleeping in his soul. They then bonded, but my brother's memories passed to me. Your son's life has not been favorable. The village

shunned him, beat him,...and eventually killed him. He is coming back to life but he needs a father. Don't you think?"

Minato felt guilt and horror crawl up in his throat. His poor son. Yes, he did deserve a father, but would he want him?

"He will. You're his hero, even after he discovered the fox in him, and he's always wanted a father."

He could see his son? He could hold him in his arms?

"You can. Now goodbye and good luck, Minato."

Blackness overtook him.

OoOoOo

Naruto opened his eyes with a groan. His head hurt. His body hurt. He could feel Hamura's memories molding with his own, but rather than take him over as he thought, they integrated into him, giving him

all of Hamura's knowledge and any personality quirks he had, but also leaving him Naruto, despite how odd that sounded, Hamura being older. He sat up to be met with blackness and he unconsciously

activated his Sharingan to see in the dark.

He stood and his eyes caught on a mirror and widened. His looks really had changed. His hair was down to his waist and silver with long bangs draping in his eyes. His eyes were currently red with three

tomoe spinning in them, lighting up the dim room.

Speaking of dim room, he set his new looks aside and looked around and the first thing he caught was an unconscious Sasuke by his feet. He quickly bent down and picked the Uchiha up, looking for

somewhere more comfortable to lay him. He saw a couch and he laid him down on that, before he kept looking around.

He heard light breathing and he switched from Sharingan to Byakugan, only to gasp in shock. There were two other chakra signatures in the room. One was Sasuke, but the other he didn't know. All he knew

was that whoever it was had barely any chakra flowing through their coils.

After making sure that Sasuke was okay, he walked over to the person and his foot kicked something. He picked whatever it was up and he was drawn to opening it up before he even looked at the other

person. His eyes went back to the Sharingan and he saw that it was a scroll. He quickly read through it and his breath caught in his throat.

Dear Naruto,

If you're reading this, then I'm dead and you finally found my body. I made it so that if I ever died, my body was drawn here and put in stasis so you could at least know who you're father was and what he

really looked like. As you've probably guessed, this is your father. I'll tell you right from the start. I'm Minato Namikaze, the Fourth Hokage, and I'm your father.

I know that I'm a horrible father, sealing the kyuubi in you, but it was my only choice, to seal it away. I did it because I knew that you would be strong, you would be able to control it. I did it because you

were my son and I couldn't ask another parent to give up their child if I could not. Please forgive me, though I don't deserve it, and know that I will always love you no matter what.

Love, Minato Namikaze

The scroll dropped from his hands to clatter to the floor and he looked in front of him at the chakra he could sense. No way. If his father's body was here...was his father alive? He reached a shaky hand

forward and looked closer to see that it was indeed the Fourth Hokage in front of him, lying on a futon with his hands crossed on his stomach, a stasis seal keeping him in a comatose state.

As soon as he touched his father's cheek, Minato jerked and gasped, taking a deep breath to fill his empty lungs. Naruto gasped and touched Minato's face again,

"D-Dad, can you hear me?"

Minato groaned and then his eyelids fluttered and opened to reveal blue eyes. As soon as he was awake, the room lit up like it sensed his presence and reacted. His eyes were unfocused a minute and Naruto

looked over him, memorizing this moment, the moment his father was returned to him, with the Sharingan. After a minute, he deactivated his eyes and sat down on the futon next to the blonde Hokage,

waiting for him to come to his senses.

Eventually, Minato's hand moved and then it went to his head and he groaned again. He slowly sat up and Naruto watched him,

"Are you awake...dad?"

Minato's head immediately snapped to him and his blue eyes widened,

"N-Naruto? Is that you?"

Naruto smiled,

"I think so."

Minato lunged forwards and wrapped his arms around his son,

"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry that the villagers did that! I feel horrible!"

Naruto's eyes widened at the embrace and then he smiled and wrapped his arms around his father, finally letting his tears fall as he buried his face into his father's warm chest,

"Don't. Don't be sorry. I know

why you did it. I understand. I'm just glad to finally have a father."

Minato felt him shaking and he held the silver-haired boy close, rubbing his back and muttering in a soothing tone, trying to comfort his hurt son. After a bit, Naruto fell still and sniffled, before just resting

against the blonde's chest.

Minato gently ran his fingers through Naruto's hair,

"I'm here now. I won't leave you again. I'm glad to finally be able to hold my son. I'm so proud of you for what you've become, even through it all."

Naruto closed his eyes with a small sigh and relaxed into his father's warm embrace. Eventually, he slipped asleep and his breathing evened out. Minato smiled and gently laid his son down on the futon...or

rather, tried to. Naruto clung to his shirt and his brow furrowed, so he sighed and then smiled softly and laid down next to the smaller form.

Naruto snuggled into his chest and then fell still again and Minato just closed his eyes, revelling in his son's grip. He had his son back.

OoOoOo

Sasuke woke with a groan and clutched at his head. Ow. What had happened? Naruto! The tunnel! He shot up and realized that he was on a couch and he looked around, trying to find Naruto. The villagers

better not have taken him and mutilated him.

His eyes caught on a pair of broad shoulders lying on a futon across the room. The shoulders were clothed in a white and red cloak with the kanji for 'Fourth' on the back. The person had blonde hair and they

were breathing lightly. Where was he? Who was that? Fourth? The only Fourth he could think of was the Fourth Hokage.

He slowly stood and walked over cautiously, reaching a hand out. He stopped though, when he saw that there was someone in his arms, someone with whisker marks. Sure, his hair was different and he had

changed, but he would always recognize Naruto, and the whisker marks were a dead give-away. His breath caught when he saw that Naruto was breathing.

He was breathing! He was alive! How?! How was this possible?! He looked at the man that was holding him closer and his eyes widened in shock. That was the man on the Hokage Monument, the Fourth

Hokage, but...The Yondaime was dead!

His foot hit something and he looked down to see an unsealed scroll, so he picked it up and read it through. When he was done, he gasped and dropped the scroll just as Naruto had done. This..This

explained a lot. What it didn't explain was how the Fourth was here now.

He reached forward once more and gently shook Naruto's shoulder, or he was going to when he was hit with a flood of memories, not his, someone else's. He staggered backwards, holding back a cry as

something surfaced in his head. Indra, Ashura, what? Those names. They rung a bell.

He fell unconscious.

OoOoOo

Indra and Ashura set down their poker cards and looked up as the white sphere surrounding them broke. Ashura smiled,

"It seems the soul we were placed in has finally awakened his memories."

Indra stiffened,

"Do you sense...Ojii-san? I sense Uncle Hamura."

Ashura frowned,

"I do too. What the heck?"

A person floated down from the ceiling with a smile,

"You do indeed sense me, you two. It's me, Hamura. I woke the boy's memories up when I found my own reincarnation." Their eyes widened and Hamura

looked at them sternly,

"Now before they're awakened completely, have you two gotten over your disputes?"

Indra grimaced and then blushed and rubbed his head sheepishly,

"Yeah, about that. It was Zetsu, a creation of grandmother's. He got into my head. We're over it now."

Hamura smiled,

"Oh good. Now, I don't care how old you are, get over here and give me a hug."

Ashura was wrapped around him immediately, being a lovable teddy bear person, but Indra's eye twitched,

"Do I have to?"

Ashura looked at him,

"Yeah! Come on, Indy! It's Uncle Mura!"

Indra sighed and awkwardly hugged his uncle. Hamura smiled,

"See, not too hard. Since you're different than me, you guys will just be in his head to train him while I actually combined with my new

reincarnation. He'll have your powers, but you need to teach him how to use them."

The brother's nodded and Hamura waved,

"I'm waking up in the real world, so I must go. Goodbye, you two. I'll come visit again."

They waved and he disappeared in a flash of light.