The second drawing is what Naruto looks like, and the outfit she is going to be wearing in the first part of this story. Thank you.

---

As Naruto laid next to Kakashi she welcomed death. She ignored Kurama inside her as she closed her eyes waiting to be gone from this world. The feeling of death never came. Instead, she was greeted by burning pain. It felt as if she was empty, and if she had been thinking at the time, would have thought that was what it felt like to run completely out of chakra.

"What did you do?" She asked the demon who was the only one who could be doing this.

"I'm saving you. I'm bringing you back." After a silence, the demon continued. "No, don't thank me or anything. I'm just risking my entire self to save your sorry ass."

"I told you I wanted to die. I told you I was ready." Although, sadly enough, they both knew she wasn't. Kurama has been right, nobody really wanted to die.

Suddenly Naruto felt her back hit something hard. It felt like rock, maybe just frozen ground. The waves of pain that rolled over her were too much to bear. She couldn't keep her eyes open to see who had just asked her if she was okay.

---

Naruto flinched as she tried to rise to a sitting position in the cot she was currently confined to. She looked around to see she was in a hospital. As she glanced out the window she saw a sight she never thought she would see again. The Leaf Village was fully rebuilt, but something was odd about it.

Attempting, once again, to get up from the bed she was in, she sat up on the edge of the bed, pulling out the wires connected to her arms and chest. As she reached to run a hand through her hair, she froze. Her hand was much too small for her 17-year-old body. She quickly reached back to her hair to find it was a spiked mess atop her head. It was the same length it had been when she was nine, although she had usually had it up in pigtails then.

"What did you do Kurama?" The kunoichi practically screamed at her tenant.

"Isn't it obvious? I brought you back in time. You can grow up and have a life with your love now. And, I get to stay in this body." Naruto knew that the demon had never had many caring people housing him, she had probably been the kindest so far.

Deciding to roll with it, she laid back onto the bed, relaxing her body. "So, if you sent me back, how far did we go?"

There was silence for a moment as he thought.

"Kakashi is probably about nine right now. Same age as you look." He answered as if that wouldn't shake her to her very core.

"Mom, dad, they're alive?" She stuttered aloud.

"Now that you bring it up, yes, yes they are."

It was then that Naruto noticed how tired she was. She could barely keep her eyes open as she laid sideways on the bed. Before she knew it she was encompassed in her first dreamless sleep in months.

---

The Hokage paced in his office as he tried to decide what to do with this unknown girl. She wore the Leaf Village crest on her head, though she was only nine, but he did not know of her. If he had to guess, she would belong to the Namikaze clan, with her blonde hair and bright blue eyes, but Minato was too young to have a nine-year-old.

Not even Inoichi Yamanaka could get anything from her mind. It was almost as if something inside of her was blocking them from accessing the information. Something powerful.

There was a knock at the door and he called out for them to come in.

"She woke up a few minutes ago. The girl who suddenly appeared on the training grounds." The woman said before being dismissed by the Hokage.

He turned to his secretary, "I'll be back. I'm going to go pay the girl a visit." He told her.

His only response was a nod before he left for the hospital.

---

He stared at her as she sat in the bed, looking out the window. She looked so sad, yet so elated at the same time. It was strange and disorienting. Suddenly, as if noticing him for the first time, she turned so fast he barely saw her.

"Oji-San." She had the same look of extreme happiness and sadness in her eyes. It was so strong he almost got dizzy. Then he realized what she had just called him.

"I'm not quite that old yet." He joked as he walked closer to the girl. She seemed wary of everything around her but comfortable at the same time as if she had grown up here.

Her eyes widened as she realized what she had just said. He expected her to apologize for the informal title. Maybe tell some excuse about how he looked like someone she used to know. None of that came, though. She just stared at him in horror and wonder. She seemed to always be contradicting herself. Happy and sad, horror and wonder, wary and comfortable, all at the same time.

"What is your name, little girl. And why do you wear the leaf village crest on your head? I personally gave everyone at the academy their certificates of graduation and I think I'd remember someone like you." He questioned her in a kind voice with a sharp edge.

"I, well, I, um... Would you believe me if I told you I didn't know?" She asked, her voice filled with hope, but for all the wrong reasons. She wanted to show him the future, what happens, who she was, what she did. She wanted someone to talk to. She didn't want to have to keep it to herself. So she was almost elated when he just shook his head at her.

"Well, it's kind of difficult to explain. Could I just show you?" She sounded hesitant, because yes, she wanted to show him, but at the same time, she didn't want him to see all the pain and horror she went through. So she almost cried when he nodded.

She gently placed a hand on either side of his head and touched her forehead to his.

'Kurama, please?' She asked the demon gently.

The walls that blocked her mind were broken down as they watched the old memories resurface. Her birth, all the villagers shunning her, training with all she had, only to come in last again. They watched as she graduated from the academy, as she grew and fought. They watched her train with Jiraiya and fight in an almost endless bloody war. And it all came to a close as they watched her eyes closed for what she had assumed would be the last time.

She looked down as she released him, Kurama immediately sealing her mind once again. She didn't want to see the pity and horror in his eyes.

Unexpectedly, she was pulled into a tight hug.

"You were so strong. I am so proud of you, Naruto." And she smiled at that. Finally, someone heard about her and didn't look at her in pity, sorrow, or judgment. They looked at her in awe and amazement. She had waited so long for this, she never wanted to leave the arms of her surrogate grandfather.

Word Count: 1267