Welcome to Book 2 of Six Years After! Thank you to everyone who liked the first enough to come see the second! I sincerely hope you enjoy! 

This start felt so slow but you know. Setting the scene. I've really,,, never done a sequel to a book before, honestly? I'm bad at finishing stories to begin with, so fingers crossed this doesn't seem too awful or something.

Third person pov

The breeze is gentle and cool, yet not so much that it causes a chill. It brushes featherlight against Naruto's face, ruffling through his hair like phantom fingers. He can't quite stop himself from grinning, his shoulders loose and his heart light. Today, he knows, is going to be one that he remembers for the rest of his life.

Overhead, leaves rustle in the faint wind. The sky is as blue as its been every other day that Naruto has come here, and it feels like a victory to look up at it and see the fluffy white clouds drifting by. They are a testament to all they've overcome and, peering at them, he thinks he understands how Shikamaru can spend hours of his day simply watching them float by.

The trunk of the tree has grown thick and strong over the years. It's just as tall as the ones that surround Konoha's giant walls, though its branches fan out far more. The canopy is vast and full, dotted with white flowers that bloom and reach out to the warming sun overhead. Naruto hadn't thought all this was achievable. 

Yet here he is. Grass beneath his feet, and flowers for as far as the eye can see. The hills roll and the flowers go with them, sheets of bursting color. Some are in hues so vivid he hadn't known they could exist, and he thinks he could cry if he stared long enough. 

Once upon a time, the flowers had seemed out of place. A patch in a damp sewer, so dark it seemed impossible that anything could grow and thrive there. It was strange to think how things had flipped so quickly. Now, it was Kurama's cage that did not belong, slate grey against an endless background of color and light. 

It's not that the plants hadn't tried to take it over too. Vines curled up the bars, and grass encroached on the edge of the metal, seeking to spread inside. The tree partially hung over it, shading Kurama from any harsh light. Even in the nature's attempts to reclaim it, it still didn't make it belong anymore than before.

Inside, Kurama lay, head on his paws and eyes partially shut. His nonchalance is betrayed by the grin already beginning to form on his face, razor sharp teeth peeking out at him. The fox was happy, and Naruto beamed back, eyes alight with excitement.

On his forehead, a shiny new Konoha forehead proctor shone in the light. They both knew exactly what that meant.

Exuberance filled Naruto to the brim. Adrenaline was like gasoline set aflame in his veins, eating through him and making everything burn. He welcomed the feeling, welcomed the intense thumping of his heart and the way it pounded loud in his ears. Finally, he'd done it. Finally, the day was here.

The thing about Naruto is that everything he does has to be at a fast pace, or else he's not going to want to do it at all. He's impatient, jumping from step to step without falter or thought, always eager for results. Naruto moves through life one foot in front of the other as fast as he can go. He's enthusiastic, driven, and he doesn't back down from anything once his mind is set to it.

This has been nearly six years in the making. He's been waiting for over half a decade to do this.

"Are you ready?" Naruto asks giddily, hardly able to contain himself. He feels ready to vibrate out of his own skin, his fingers itching. He's been jittery all day. It had been nearly impossible to get to sleep, his mind had been racing so hard.

Kurama's chakra is already swirling, tendrils of glittery orange snaking through the grass. Naruto doesn't flinch when they make contact with him, wrapping around him and lifting him up and into the air. It's strange to be put on Kurama's eye level like this as the fox raises to his full height, but it only makes the moment all the more exhilarating and real.

Kurama looks painfully fond as his chakra gently brings Naruto higher. He's always careful when handling Naruto, who is so fragile and fleeting compared to the vast strength and longevity he carries. Naruto is twelve years old now and sturdier than the stick of a boy that fiercely made this promise to Kurama to begin with, but it doesn't stop him from exercising caution. 

Naruto is still so young, and Kurama looks at him like anyone would look at their own child. They are best friends, but Kurama is a teacher too. A caretaker. A guardian. Naruto loves him with every part of his heart, and he knows with absolute certainty that Kurama loves him back.

That, Naruto earned. His parents gave him their love freely and he holds it like a torch of victory everywhere he goes. But Kurama's? Naruto proved he was worthy of it. He won Kurama's love, through fighting words and flower petals and a whole lot of effort. 

It's paying off now. Naruto wouldn't trade it for anything.

"I'm ready." Kurama's voice rumbles gently, almost reverently. And then, he grins, something like amusement sparking in his eyes. "Believe it, kit."

Naruto throws his head back and laughs. 

~~~

The village doesn't feel the way Naruto rips the seal off all in one fail swoop, without flourish or special care. He pulls it off, crumbles the paper into a ball and chucks it over the shoulder, happy to see it gone. The rush of warmth that meets him is something he's grown accustomed to in spades, and he closes his eyes at the fiery glow of it.

Kurama's chakra is hot from the forge. It is a crackling campfire, fueled with dry kindling to spark high and heated. It is a racing of something biting through every one of his limbs, something that marches down his chakra pathways and meets his own at the core. It is something that resonates within him like the beat of a gong, high and heavy, echoing in him like a howl through an empty chasm. 

The fox is a natural disaster compressed down into tangible shape. A force of nature waiting to be unleashed. The gates fly open, and the entirety of Kurama hits him like a punch to the face. He could drown in it, there's so much. He might've if they'd tried to do this any sooner.

But Naruto has learned more than a few things over the years. He knows how to keep his head above the water, and he does so with ease. The chakra lowers him back to solid ground, and Kurama peers down at him in a way that would seem imperious to anyone else. Naruto can see that it's more searching than anything, his red eyes zeroed in on Naruto's form.

Naruto starfishes out on his back amongst the flowers and lets himself breathe. They've trained for this, but it's nothing like the real thing. It's just as Kurama described it. Everything all at once. A flash of torrential rain, followed by the steady pattering of much kinder sprinkle.

Kurama's chakra, given in increments over the years, had prepared him-- he can feel it, the way things shift within him to make more room. It had grown with him partially, bleeding its way into his system the more and more he used it as his pathways matured. He had adjusted. And now, he has it all sat right there next to his, no longer wrapped up deep and held apart. 

It's... completely badass, if Naruto is going to be blunt about it. Like a giant hug. But like, a powerful hug. A hug if a hug were a potential weapon. Friendship and a strong bond, but mutually weaponized or something. It's awesome-- Kurama is awesome.

The cage starts to crumble. Kurama turns to watch it go. It sinks into the earth, the flowers rapidly reaching to finally consume it as they'd sought to for so many years. The fox grins even wider, and Naruto can see the way his shoulders droop and his ears fall back. When he turns to look back at Naruto again, there is something disbelieving and a little awed in his gaze.

The sinking in realization of wow. Holy fuck. They just did that. Just like that, in seconds, they did that. And Naruto isn't even like, dead or anything. He's actually fine. Literally fine, and the only adverse effect is that he now feels like he wants to cry for the next four consecutive days from happiness alone.

The seal is gone. The cage is gone. Kurama has his field of flowers. Kurama has flowers, and a sun to bathe under, and a tree to doze beneath. Naruto gave him that. Naruto actually gave him that, and now he gets to have it.

Naruto wishes he could look his six year old self in the eyes and tell him they'd done it. The one who'd been so afraid of losing his friend forever, who'd had doubts this was achievable at all.

Naruto blinks rapidly to right himself from the faint vertigo that still dashes through his senses. Kurama's chakra settles in him and he adjusts, and the village does not feel a thing. His parents don't stir down the hall, and the ninken draped all around him don't so much as flinch. Naruto sleeps soundly and without a twitch.

When Naruto pops to his feet with a laugh and a grin, holding his fist out to Kurama excitedly, and Kurama obligingly brings his own far larger one to lightly bump against it? Now that-- that the village feels.

The shockwave that explodes out from around Naruto's body is enough to send the ninken flying to their feet. It's golden, pure energy that makes a deafening boom with its entrance, one so big and loud it shakes nearly the entire village with its force. The windows of their house all shatter. A room over, Minato and Kushina jolt out of bed.

It's a miasma of something lighting bright and fast. It surrounds Naruto for the briefest of seconds as his eyes fly open, but it's over as soon as it starts. Kurama pulls himself back as though shocked by a live wire, and the shimmering cloak of chakra that had surrounded Naruto-- all-encompassing and almost too much to handle-- vanished with the fox's retreat.

Naruto gasps for air as the oppressive feeling rips away. Pins and needles explode across his skin. Pain pierces through the side of his skull, the power simply too much. He can feel his chakra pathways buzzing fiercely. 

"Breathe!" Kurama's voice barks from inside his head, barely audible through the fog. He sounds panicked and fearful in equal measure. "Deep breathes! Dammit-- I should've known it was too soon to do this!"

It wasn't. Not technically. There was a reason the typical graduation age was twelve years old. Though Naruto's chakra reserves would grow, his actual pathways had reached the final stages of maturation through training and careful exercise. The risk of Kurama hurting him had lessened to practically nothing.

In another world, this was around the time Kurama would've awoken in the seal in the first place. His chakra might've leaked through the seams of it, far less kind and far more corrosive. There was no lasting damage that would come in Naruto being exposed to it now-- not with all they'd done over the past six years in preparation for this exact moment.

Like acclimating a goldfish to a pond, Naruto and Kurama had worked tirelessly in tandem to expose Naruto to more of the fox's chakra. His system was used to it, welcomed it, even. It recognized it as something positive and healing, and it opened its doors rather that locking them tight and rejecting the flow.

Naruto could feel the two energies twisting and mingling into one. Kurama's warmth, multiplied tenfold. His irritated, concerned muttering a welcomed addition in the recesses of his mind. Naruto was so happy he could practically float away.

Blinking rapidly, Naruto's vision came in to focus just in time for him to witness his parents crashing through his bedroom door. They were quite the sight, his dad's hair pressed down strangely on one side and his mom still with drool drying on her cheek. The pair were both just as wild-eyed as the disoriented ninken in the room.

His chest heaved. Naruto... had no idea what the hell that was. It had been Kurama's chakra, but somehow more at the same time. The aftershocks of it sent small jerks through his body, involuntary responses to the mere memory of whatever the fuck had just happened.

Outside, he could hear doors opening and people starting to shout into the street despite the late hour. Whatever it was, his parents hadn't been the only ones to feel it.

"...Naruto?" His dad asked quietly when all he did was sit there and blink. Slowly, he lowered the three pronged kunai he'd come in holding. "Are you... what was that?"

"Did you... you didn't take the seal off now, did you?" His mom asked, flabbergasted. Naruto made a face.

Technically speaking, Naruto had only implied that he planned to take it off with his parents present in the room. Along with the old perv, Kashi, and Ayumu. Like in his defense, he'd never 100% said for certain that he was going to wait. Believe it.

Realization dawned on his dad's face when all Naruto did was stare at them with a scrunched up nose. He couldn't be mad, though! Seriously! Naruto had been raring to do this since the ripe young age of six years old, and he'd actually held out until the agreed time. Through like four other kidnappings and that one thing in Suna, he'd held strong!

He had graduated. Legally, he was an adult. Legally, he could do whatever the fuck he wanted with his seal. Including crumbling it up into a ball and chucking it on the ground where it belonged. 

"I maybe took it off like a little." Or all the way. But details. "But I'm fine! And it was awesome! Believe it!" 

Outside, the village sirens began to go off-- something they only did when an attack was either here or on its way. His dad put his face in his hands and groaned.

~~~~

Minato Namikaze is beginning to think he's simply not paid enough for this.

He stares contemplatively at the only lifeline he has in situations like this. In a hand painted frame, covered in glitter that still manages to get on all his most important documents to this very day, is a crayon drawing. His favorite crayon drawing, actually.

Done by Naruto's artistic hand, it's perfection in its purest form. A depiction of their entire family, full with Kakashi and the ninken. Even Ayumu is lingering in the background with his clipboard out, tactfully sketched. Naruto even got the shade of his eyes right. Minato had no idea they made crayons that pale.

It's beautiful. It's a bit dangerous to keep the original in his own office, where it could easily be taken or destroyed, but the fact that he has fourteen different copies hidden in various parts of the village brings him some small amount of comfort. Times like these, anything less than the first hard copy would be hard pressed to save him.

It's like-- like a lifeboat. A reminder of all the good things in his life. Minato is drowning in the political nonsense and stupidity that surrounds him in his day-to-day life, and what comes to his rescue? 

Right, exactly. Obviously Naruto's overall love, affection, and adorableness. How did he get a son so perfect?

So many questions, so few answers. Naruto is honestly an anomaly. The best child to ever exist. Kind, smart, hilarious, did he mention adorable before? He's adorable. Minato loves him. He wants to hug him forever.

He wonders what Naruto is doing right now. Painting all the Uchiha clan symbols pink again? Maybe eating ramen with his mother, the two of them a literal oasis amidst the desert in Minato's eyes? Maybe he's with the ninken, running around. 

God, what if he is and Minato is missing it? His son, playing with puppies? It never gets old. Literally never. Minato has video and photograph record of all the times Naruto has tumbled around in the backyard with Kakashi's summons and somehow it's never too much.

 In fact, Naruto could be hitting milestones right now. Milestones Minato isn't there to photograph. He knows his office walls are getting a little full of frames-- the ANBU have been complaining that it's harder to get into the ceiling with the sheer amount of them-- but Minato missed where that was his problem. Maybe he could start putting some out in the hall, too...

"Hokage-sama." Koharu snapped. "Are you even paying attention?"

Shikaku Nara let out a cough that sounded suspiciously like a laugh. Minato hummed, eyes not drifting from the crayon drawing he'd practically burned into his brain by now, he admired it so often.

"Yes, absolutely. I am listening to every word." Minato answered absentmindedly. Maybe Naruto would draw him another picture today. He didn't do it nearly as often, being twelve and all, but his creativity was never one to wane. "Something about taxes?"

Shikaku Nara let out another suspicious sounding cough. Fugaku sent him a look at the same time that Inoichi Yamanaka reached over to try and whack his fellow-clan head. The jonin commander ducked the attempted blow with ease.

Somehow, the two elders sat in front of Minato's desk didn't seem amused by the antics. Lord Third just looked bone-achingly tired and like he wanted to be literally anywhere else. Minato had no idea why.

"No. Not taxes, Hokage-sama." Homura spat the word out like it was day old gum he'd forgotten he had tucked up against his teeth. "The Kyuubi. The Nine Tails. Last night, we all felt its chakra flare. So alarmingly so that the chunin team manning the south tower set the alarms off thinking it had gotten out! Even the civilians felt it!"

Right, that. Minato had forgotten about that. He and Kushina had tried to make a vague plan about how they were going to answer questions about, but said plan sort of equated to just pretending it never happened. Which... might work. Now that Danzo wasn't around anymore-- and thank god for that.

"Yeah, I didn't feel that." Minato immediately lied, still staring. Was that a flower by his foot in the drawing? Had he ever noticed that before? He'd never noticed that before! Oh, wow. He needed to tell Kushina immediately. "We would know if the Kyuubi was out. There'd be a lot of screaming, probably a lot of fire."

He sounded unconvincing even to himself, but he's tired. He's had so much paperwork for the chunin exams coming up in a few months that he's hardly had time to go home. And hardly having time to go home means he doesn't get to recharge by photosynthesizing the pure sunshine his son radiates.

He and Kushina have both discovered that, in becoming parents, their son is now their lifeblood. The source of all their energy. Sometimes they both just hug him and that's all they need to keep grinding for another twelve hours without sleep. He smiles at them and it's like a shot of caffeine and dopamine straight into their respective bloodstreams. 

Having a son is the best thing ever is what he's trying to say. Most kids Naruto's age get embarrassed by their parents, but Naruto? Different. Best kid ever. Better than all the other ones. He invites Minato and Kushina both to do things, some of questionable morality at times, and he makes them handmade art. 

Name any other twelve year old that does that, and does it cutely. He'll wait.

"Lord Namikaze, I'm afraid we all felt it." Hiashi Hyuga's eye twitched slightly. Which Minato would've noticed if he cared enough to pay attention, but surprise surprise...  "Reports have run rampant. There is a mob of shinobi in the lobby asking questions and demanding answers."

"Mass hallucinations aren't as uncommon as you'd think." Minato offered genially. Shikaku's face was turning a little red. Fugaku dragged a hand down his face with a sigh. Inoichi looked just... honestly tired. "Nothing's wrong. Obviously."

He gestured to the gigantic window behind him. The village was peacefully quiet and unharmed below. Were people out on the streets bustling about, doing their business, living their lives? Uh... some were. Others had gone into hiding for fear of a repeat of twelve years ago, but you know. They'd be over it in a day when they realized it wasn't going to happen.

Naruto's friendship with the Nine Tailed Fox had been near impossible to accept, but now that Minato had warmed up to it, he had to admit they were pretty adorable. Their dynamic was truly something to behold. Minato didn't get to witness it as often as he liked-- he only got reports of it from Naruto, really, and from the scant few times he'd gone along with Ayumu over the past few years-- but it had blossomed beautifully. Pun intended. 

It was wonderful. Naruto was wonderful. Minato still awed over the sheer feat he'd pulled off in befriending a tailed beast the way he had, but he did, and they all seemed better off for it. Naruto had truly come into his own, and Minato felt at peace knowing that Kurama had too in a lot of ways.

It had been hard to think about the fox as an intelligent, separate entity at first. But put into perspective... Minato had killed countless during the war in the name of loyalty. He'd slaughtered entire platoons in a flash. He was feared by many, revered across the lands, and listed in the bingo book in almost every single one of the other great nations for some bounty or another.

Kurama had fought first for freedom, then for rage. After suffering so much, who wouldn't? Naruto had brought him back from that. Minato had seen firsthand during the war what an alliance like that could bring-- had seen what the Eight Tails and its jinchuuriki had evolved into and become capable of.

He wanted that for Naruto. He wanted the world for Naruto. 

"Perhaps checking the seal would bring some comfort, Lord Fourth. I know Jiraiya is supposed to be in town soon as well. Having you, your wife, and the addition of a sannin inspect it could help settle everyone's nerves." Shikaku offered diplomatically, an amused smile threatening to curve his lips. "You could even show it to them, so that they know it's in tact."

Minato, for all his training and poise, froze at the words. Shikaku froze too, brief alarm flashing in his eyes. Right. Shikamaru knew all about Kurama, but why would he assume Shikaku knew too?

Clearing his throat awkwardly, Minato silently mourned before prying his gaze away from Naruto's drawing. Everyone was looking noticeably more tense than before. Which was fair. It's not like he'd... informed anyone of Naruto's alliance with the Nine Tails.

It's just-- how did you bring that up in conversation? Did you call a meeting specifically for it? Bring it up in the middle of one that was already happening? There was no right answer there. Minato didn't want to deal with it.

Someone... was definitely going to notice, though. If Naruto started popping out gold chakra and tails to go with it, eyes red and pupils slit, there was going to be a lot of concern batting around. The brief thought that someone could attack his son on the basis of them thinking he was "losing control" flashed through his mind, and Minato blanched a little. 

Nope. No, he definitely needed to make sure people knew. Kumo knew that their jinchuuriki was friends with his tailed beast, right? They could make a PSA. Something along the lines of not attacking his child even if his eyes turn red, or he starts talking to himself. Because Naruto definitely would-- and he wasn't shy about it either.

It had been strange, to eat breakfast that morning with Naruto jabbering excitedly away into thin air. He was a little concerned about what a "tailed beast bomb" was supposed to be. Cue more flashbacks to the showdown he had with the Nine Tails six years ago, before he'd been quelled by Naruto's adorableness. 

"...So. Anyway." Minato awkwardly cleared his throat. "Who here knows anything about Kumo's jinchuuriki, Killer B, and his relationship with the Eight Tails?"

Hiruzen spit the tea he'd been taking a sip of right back out. Minato thought that answered the question pretty well.

~~~

There's a storm brewing in the distance. It's the kind that devastates, that all you can do is hunker down and pray through. It swirls over the ruins of Uzushio, where sealed spirits cry up at the roiling clouds, their outrage caught in the howl of the wind. In the oceans surrounding, whirlpools form in monstrous numbers and size, ready to swallow anything that falls into the vicious cycling of their waves.

There are still buildings of gold, still with enough shine to reflect the warm hues of the sun. They are painted red by the low light that glows against them now, a testament to the unfading rage, to the blood the land was painted with. Uzushio mourns its people like a conscious entity, and not a single living soul dares venture near its shores.

It is hurt, cracked and grievous. Perhaps it always will be. A mother that has lost its children, that saw them laid to waste on its very own soil. A vast and great injustice, faded in the back of minds. Once, those of Uzu were revered. Once, they were known.

A well done seal never fades, though, and some connections can never be severed. Uzushio is a great well of knowledge that craves to teach, to be dipped into. Given respect, it will return it tenfold. It offers gifts to those who deserve them. It offers refuge to any descendants who seek it.

It calls. Over any distance, to any soul that has the ears to listen. A seal done right has layers, each stronger than the last, a building foundation that will not shake. A seal done right can breathe life and soul into things, in ways most normal people could never hope to imagine.

There are words in the breeze. They talk of something to come. They are foretelling, a warning wrapped in the tumble of every gust. The clouds carry the message. The time is nearer now, and Uzu will wait as long as it needs to in order to be heard.

Sat eating ramen in celebration of Naruto's graduation, Kushina and Naruto both turn in tandem, heads tilted oddly. 

"What is it?" Minato asks, sat casually on a stool like he's not currently hiding from every clan head in the village and the elder council to boot. Naruto frowns, and Kushina hesitantly shrugs after only a moment more of thought.

"...Nothing, I don't think." She offers, though she doesn't sound like she means it. "I just... I guess I thought I heard someone call my name, ya know?"

"Believe it." Naruto agrees. "Weird. It sort of sounded like they were crying, too."

In his stomach, Kurama stirs from his nap. Weird, indeed.

~~~~

Read up to Chapter 5 on Patreon's early access! Also read the first chapter of Six Years Inbetween, a series that documents the six years between this book and the first!

-Also read the first two chapters of Solstice Days, a Team 7 time travel story
-Also read the first four chapters of Backwards March, a Kakashi and baby Naruto time travel story
-Also check out several Naruto drafts, including Naruto digging up Hashirama's corpse and him still being alive and Naruto seeing uhhh... weird... marks on people that... he can see souls idfk