To Die And To Understand..

Naruto let out a sigh as he sat in his cell with his back leaned against the wall. His hands were still chained behind his back but now the chains were only being held together by a tiny but of metal. The kunai he used was now a mess. Both edges of the blade were dented, scraped and chipped from the relentless cutting.

Naruto had just finished informing kurama about the events that had transpired since he fell asleep. Speaking of the foxes little hibernation period..

'You never told me why you were asleep so long.' The blond thought as he stared lazily at his cell door. It had only been a few hours since his little talk with itachi so he still had a few more hours to wait until he came face to face with the akatsuki members.

"Ah, about that." Kurama replied with a sheepish chuckle." I was not prepared for the exhaustion i got hit with when i was reunited with my other half. So i was super tired." Naruto sweat dropped." Anyways, you said you were gonna try to make it back to konoha before the chunnin exams. How far away is it?" Kurama wondered.

Naruto hummed as he counted the weeks." Well we've been here for three, going on four, days now. So id say we got about a month an a half, give or take a few days." The blond finally answered with a small tilt to his head.

"I see.. so like.. should we make a plan?" Kurama asked his container." I mean, we are about to come face to face with a group of bijuu hunters." He pointed out." I figured you'd wanna have a plan?"

'Nah, theres no point in making a plan.' The blond replied.' I have basically no Intel on any of the members except for itachi, barely anything on kisame, then theres that heretic hidan and his boy toy kakuzu. I can deal with hidan and my clones can probably take care of kakuzu but id have a bit of trouble with itachi and kisame, let alone the other members.' The boy laid out the situation. Naruto knew that him allowing himself to get captured was a huge risk. Hell he figured he had about a 80% chance of getting the shit beat out of him and getting thrown back into this cell.

Kurama huffed." You act as if im not here with you brat." The fox stated with an eye roll." You literally have the strongest of the tailed beast stuck inside your worthless gut. Trust me kid when i say that we'll make it out.. even if we have to bring this building down around us to do it."

Naruto blinked owlishly. Bringing the building down around them? A grin broke out over his masked face. Now that was a fucking idea right there!

'We talking full on avatar?' Naruto asked with a grin.

"Tailed beast bombs if we gotta kid." Kurama replied with his own fanged smirk.

'These are the moments that make me fall for you all over again kurama.'

"And the moments ruined."

Naruto burst out laughing. Ah he totally missed fucking with kurama.

Suddenly a rough couch ripped its way out of narutos throat as he felt something seemingly wash over him. His eyes widened as he felt blood leak from the corners of his mouth.

"K-kurama? Whats ha-" he coughed more blood as a sharp pain began to build up in his chest. He could feel his heart began to speed up.

"Brat?" Kurama stood up in the boys mindscape as naruto began to cough up more and more blood. His blood red eyes widened in both shock and fear as his chakra began to pick up on the fact that narutos heart was currently shutting down.

If naruto didnt have contacts on, youd be able to see that his eyes were bloodshot.

"What- th-the-" narutos eyes began to bleed."- what the fu-fucks happening?!?" His shout only came out as a rough whisper. The blond eyes rolled into the back of his head and he passed out.

Kuramas eyes widened even more as the boys heart suddenly stopped."w-what the fu-" everything went black.

• konoha- hyuga compound•

Hinata tossed and turned in her bed. She lifted her head and looked at the alarm clock that sat on her nightstand and frowned. It was 1:25am and she couldnt sleep. Her chest felt tight, giving her a sense that something was wrong yet she knew that she was perfectly fine.

She let out a sigh and laid her head back onto her pillow before a scary thought entered her mind. What if something bad had happened to naruto? What if he was in trouble right now? The mere thought of her boyfriend getting seriously hurt or worse sent a dreadful chill down her spine.

It had been a few days since team seven got back to the village and she expected naruto to be with them but he wasnt. At first she was worried but kakashi, after meeting with the hokage, told her that he was sent on a separate mission and that she shouldnt be to worried.

Yet here she was feeling worried and she didnt know why. Maybe she just missed naruto? Yeah thats probably what it was.

She still closed her eyes and sent a quick prayer to narutos favorite god, asking him to watch over naruto and bring him home safe. Just to be safe of course.

• hokages office•

Hiruzen was sitting back in his chair, across from him were kakashi and jiraya, both of whom were standing in front of his desk with their arms crossed over their chests. Though kakashi was now sporting amaya who he had clipped to his back.

It still slightly irked jiraya how kakashi was allowed to wield amaya without the sentient sword sucking his chakra dry. Maybe it was because amaya just recognized his chakra more? Hmm, oh well.

"Any word yet?" Hiruzen asked as he began to stuff his pipe full of tobacco.

Jiraya shook his head with a sigh." So far nothing. We know hes still alive because his names still on the toad contract, but other than that nothing." The white haired sage answered.

Kakashi let out an irritated sigh." Im still kinda pissed that you allowed this hokage-sama."

"And you have a right to be." Hiruzen replied quickly as he lit his pipe and took a small drag from it." And i am upset with myself for allowing it. But the hokage part of me couldnt let this opportunity pass."

"As much as i dont like it kakashi, i have to agree with sensei." Jiraya added." This is our best chance to get any info we can on akatsuki." He explained." Even years ago when the group popped up, i couldnt get any spies into the group and the one that we do have on the inside cant share to much information without raising any red flags. So all intel i can get is, at best, a few months old and therefore, near useless." He added.

Kakashi just huffed." Anyways kakashi." Hiruzen looked at the man." How are your genin doing?" He asked." And hows little sakura-chan fairing under tsunades guidance?"

"Sasukes still the same brooding brat he was two weeks ago. Though it became slightly worse after he found out that itachi was so close." Kakashi told him." And sakuras doing good. From what she told me, tsunades currently making her read a bunch of medical books before moving onto theory and then the actual training. I know that shes getting over her first kill and is using all that studying to keep herself occupied." He summarized.

Hiruzen nodded as he chewed the stem of his pipe." I have high hopes for little sakura. She does have a lot of pressure on her, even if she doesnt realize it." He stated." She was the only civilian born student in the academy that actually passed her jonins test and become a full fledged genin. A lot of eyes will be on her when the chunnin exams begin." He added.

"Oh yeah, howd that appointment go?" Jiraya asked kakashi." The one with sasuke and inochi?" He clarified. 

Here kakashi let out a low groan as he shook his head." It was so bad. Sasuke wasnt willing to even think about working with inochi, let alone to let the man into his head. Sasuke actually walked out of the room."

"Thats.."

"Concerning." Hiruzen finished his students sentence. A frown graced the mans face." I would take sasuke off active duty but id have the council breathing down my neck if i did."

"And lets not forget about mikoto-sama either." Kakashi added with an amused glint in his only visible eye." Shed gut you. Nothing except for kushina-sama could calm her down once she really got worked up." The three shared a laugh at that.

"Anyways, ill let you both go for the night." Hiruzen waved the two men off." I have some paperwork to finish up then ill be heading home."

"Alright sensei, dont work youself to hard." Jiraya replied as he gave the two men a wave before he went up in smoke. Kakashi gave hiruzen a nod before he too vanished.

Hiruzen sighed before turning his chair around and staring out over his village." Be careful naruto.." he mumbled out as he stared at the full moon that loomed over his village.

• with naruto•

The blonds eyes snapped open and he let out a groan as he shakily got to his feet and looked around. Everything was black.

The floor, the ceiling, everything.

"Where the hell am i?" He asked out loud.

"Brat?" Naruto spun around as he heard kuramas voice, only for him to freeze and stare with wide eyes.

Sitting a few feet in front of him was kurama. The only problem was the fact that he was only about as tall as jiraya and looked way fluffier.

Naruto burst out laughing as he clutched his gut and pointed at the nine tails. Kurama blinked a bit before his brows furrowed in confusion when he looked down at himself.

"Why am i so small?" He growled out in a such a dark voice. It made naruto drop to the ground and laugh even harder." Oi! Stop laughing! This isnt funny!"

"You look so stupid!" Narutos eyes watered as he laughed." You look like a mutated bunny that someone picked up and decided to dye orange!"

Kuramas eyes narrowed as the boy continued to laugh at him. He growled, stomped over towards the downed blond before using his human like hands to grab him and throw him across the empty space.

Naruto hit the invisible ground and rolled a bit before he came to a stop and jumped to his feet." The hell was that for you damn stuffed animal?!?"

"Whatd you call me you hairless monkey?!?"

The two were clearly about to go at it but they froze when they heard someone clear their throat. Their heads turned to the side and they remained frozen.

Well naruto did, Kurama fell on his ass as he let out a strangled yelp before he stood up on all fours and growled." What is this? Youre.. youre supposed to be dead.. dad.." the foxes voice ended softly.

Floating in a meditation pose in front of the two was a man with short spiky light brown hair. His skin was kinda pale and his face was filled with aged wrinkles. Two horns stuck out of his forehead and his purplish ringed eyes glistened with amusement as he stared at the fox and the human boy. Naruto idly noticed the red eyeball that was in the center of his forehead, right between his horns.

He was dressed in a white robe that had three tomoe like marks on each side of his robes collar. His left hand was wrapped around the handle of an all black staff that had a circle on the head of it, while his other hand rested on his lap.

"Hello kurama-kun." The man replied with a soft sad smile. His voice was deep and rough.

"Anyone wanna fill me in on whats going on?" Naruto asked as he looked between kurama and the weird horned floating man.

The man gave naruto a smile." My names hagoromo otsutsuki but you might know me as the sage of the sixth paths." The now named hagoromo introduced himself to the young blond.

Naruto stared blankly at the man." I thought you were dead."

"Father." Kurama interrupted the twos conversation and took a few steps towards the man, his red eyes filled with both hesitation and hope." How are you here? And where is here exactly?" Kurama asked.

"Right now we are in a different dimension, or at least our souls are." Hagoromo replied.

"Excuse me?" Naruto asked with both his eyebrows raised." Are you telling me im dead?"

"In a way yes. But at the same time no." The sage answered." I put you in a death like state in order to bring both you and kurama-kun here, though i am a bit sad that i couldnt have seen my other children." Naruto assumed he was talking about the other tailed beasts.

Narutos brows furrowed a bit. This situation was giving him a headache." So uh.. whyd you bring us here?" Naruto asked the man, unknowingly voicing kuramas own thoughts.

Hagoromo sighed softly." I suppose its best to start at the beginning." He cleared his throat." I had two human sons before my death. Asura otsutsuki and indra otsutsuki. Indra was born with a weaker version of my rinnegan, youd know this as the sharingan. Asura on the other hand inherited my strong body and chakra. Indra was a prodigy, he learned things faster and easier than his younger brother, though given what his sharingan could do, it made sense.

Asura on the other hand would be considered a failure. He was a slower learner and he wasnt very good with the shinobi arts but once he learned something he took that something to a whole new level. In my eyes both my sons were equal in both strength and will.

Years later, after i had split my mothers chakra up and created my other children, the nine tailed beasts, and i was on my death bed, i needed a heir. And of course i had to pick one of my sons to carry on my legacy. Both wanted to be my heir yet only one could.. so i asked them both a simple question. I asked them what drove them? What made them want to become strong and how would they keep the peace i had spent my whole life trying to create.

Indra wanted power. He believed that if he had power then he could enforce the peace i created and use that power to destroy those who wished to harm it.

Asura told me that he wanted power to protect those he cared for and even those he didnt know. He believed that he could keep the peace so long as he could understand someone else's pain, someone else's struggling.

After hearing their answers i ended up choosing my youngest son, asura, as my heir before i died. But, before i fully moved on, i sealed an imprint of my chakra into each of them. And what my chakra imprints saw truly saddened me..

Indra was filled with such hatred and anger because i didnt choose him and he took his anger out on asura. Asura, despite indra hating him, loved his brother and wished to save him from his own hate. Though indra didnt wished to be saved.

So they fought and fought and fought. Day and night they battled.."

"I remember this.." kurama spoke up with a sad look in his eyes. Hagoromo nodded at the bijuu before he continued.

" but during the long battle, neither if them would give into the other as their wills were to strong. Eventually they ended up killing one another, but even death didnt stop them and their chakra began to reincarnate into new bodies and souls. They are to be forever locked in an endless cycle of battle." Hagoromo locked eyes with naruto." And you, young naruto uzumaki are asuras reincarnation."

Narutos eyes widened at that." What?" He asked in a shocked tone.

Hagoromo nodded his head." It is as i said. You carry asuras chakra." He gave the boy a soft smile." You remind me of asura as well. Your wills are the strongest and i can tell that despite the lives you have taken, you wish for peace. I know that you believe the only way to peace is to understand one another. Just like my son."

Naruto nervously scratched the back of his head. He felt a bit embarrassed about being called out like that but couldnt dispute the sages words. His ringed eyes gained a sad look.

He never truly understood why the shinobi villages had to have such bad blood between them. He did indeed wish for peace, just like his sensei jiraya and apparently just like asura did. He wanted to understand peoples hearts. He wanted to reach out and help people, the people that couldnt help themselves. He wanted to protect the innocent and the lives of his precious people.

He wanted people to want peace just as much as he did, but he also knew that you could never force peace. It wouldn't be considered peace if you took that someones choice away. 

The blond rubbed the side of he head and looked up at the floating sage." So im asuras reincarnation huh?" He mumbled." Whos indras?" He wondered.

"Youd know him as sasuke uchiha." Naruto frowned at that.

"I..see.." was the blonds slightly concerned reply. But he had another question." Wait, you make it sound like asura and indra had reincarnated before?"

"Yes. Their last reincarnations were hashirama senju and madara uchiha." Hagoromo answered with a nod." But this time things are different." He added.

"How so?" Naruto asked with furrowed brows.

"Im afraid that someone has been able to free my mothers husk from my moon prison." Both kurama and naruto froze at that, their eyes wide in both shock and fear." The only person who could do such a thing would need a rinnegan, and i know that you have not yet unlocked your rinnegans full capabilities. So it has to be someone else.. i believe they are apart of the group you are currently being help captive by." Hagoromo explained the rather dire situation.

"Thats not good." Naruto stated in a shocked tone.

"Agreed." Kurama added.

Hagoromo nodded his head." If these people managed to collect kurama and his brethren.. i fear that they'll seal them back into my mothers husk before bringing her back to life, and that would be bad for the entire world.."

Naruto sighed heavily." So thats their plan.." he stated softly. He looked at kurama and frowned." This recon mission just turned into something far more serious kurama. We have to get back to konoha asap." He stated in a serious tone.

Kurama nodded in agreement before they both looked back to hagoromo who got out of his crossed legged position and began to walk towards naruto.

"My mother is far stronger than even i naruto-kun." The sage came to a stop right in front of the blond, kurama sat beside the boy." The only reason i stopped her last time was thanks to the help of my brother and my rinnegan. Sadly I cannot help you in the physical world, but here in the spirit world i can give you a few gifts thatll help you in the living world."

The sage reached down and grabbed the boy right wrist before lifted the boys hand. He then pushed the palm of his right hand up against the blonds before he closed his eyes.

"Yours and kuramas chakra have mixed. Your chakras are bright, like the sun. Your hope will breath life into anything and anyone you come into contact with. So my first gift to you is the ability to access six paths sage mode and the ability to understand all universal things."

Naruto felt a burning sensation on his right palm. Hagoromo let go of his hand and he looked at his palm to see a bright yellow circle mark in the center of his palm. He felt a surge of power flow through him before it seemed to settle and fade away. As the power he felt faded away he saw the mark on his hand dim until it was nothing more than a black mark. He looked back up at hagoromo with a slightly surprised look in his eyes.

Hagoromo smiled at the boy before lifting his right hand and putting his index finger against the blonds forehead." My next gift to you naruto-kun, is the true knowledge about all your eyes abilities." He then glanced at kurama and smiled." But with kuramas powerful chakra continuously mixing with yours.. i wouldnt be surprised if your rinnegan eventually mutated into something more.."

Naruto felt his head throb as an influx of information invaded his brain. He winced as the info began to sort itself out before it seemingly settle into his memories.

"Woe.." naruto spoke in an awed tone as he 'remembered' everything about his eyes.

Apparently his eyes had seven abilities or 'paths' as they were apparently called. The first path was the deva path. This path granted him his ability to control gravity.

The next path was the asura path. The asura path apparently gave him the power to augment his body with mechanized armor and weaponry, which didnt sound to appealing to the blond.

Then there was the human path. It gave him the ability to read a persons mind or rip their souls from their bodies via placing his hand on their heads.

The next was the animal path. It allowed naruto to summon any animal he wished without making a blood sacrifice. It also allowed him to summon people so long as those people had one of his chakra rods in their bodies.

Then there was preta path which allowed him to absorb the chakra out of most ninjutsu techniques.

After that there was the naraka path which allowed him to summon a being known as the king of hell. He could place and injured person inside the kings mouth and said king will heal that person of all injuries except death, it couldnt bring people back to life. It also worked as a giant lie detector. If he wanted information from a person he could put said person in its mouth and if they lie then their soul gets sent to hell. A tad bit brutal if naruto was being honest.

And last but not least was the seventh path, also called the outer path. The outer path truly amazed naruto. It allowed him to revive the dead, though he could only revive people that had just recently died, so reviving his parents were out of the question.

The boy blinked a few times as he refocused in on his surroundings." How do you feel?" Hagoromo asked the blond.

"Stronger yet.. smarter at the same time.. i dont quite get it." Naruto answered as he looked down at his hands.

"That your ability to understand all universal things. Things that you normally wouldnt understand become clearer to you. But of course its not like the sharingan so you cant just copy things. It gives you the ability to understand things, after that you still have to train in whatever it is youre trying to learn." The sage explained the boys abilities.

Naruto nodded his head in understanding." Makes sense." He said." But i have to ask, if the akatsuki manage to revive kaguya.." the three of them gained a grim look on their faces at that very thought.".. how do i stop her?" He asked.

"You wont be able to do it alone." Hagoromo explained." When young sasuke is ready i will give him the moon mark. Both your marks are key to sealing kaguya away once more if she fully breaks free from her prison." Naruto nodded slowly but didnt ask questions. He assumed that if hagoromo wanted him to know the exact jutsu or seal then he wouldve told him.

"Okay, what happens now?" Naruto asked curiously.

Hagoromo smiled at him." Now i send you and kurama back to the living world. You two have much work to do." He stated before he looked at kurama and reached out to pet the foxes head." Kurama, i am so very proud of you my son."

Tears welled up in the foxes eyes." Father.."

"Youve lived a hard life kurama-kun and i know how you hate the humans of this time. But i am very proud of you for giving naruto-kun a chance. He is a good person and i know he'll look out for not only you but the others as well." Kurama bowed his head and stared at the floor as tears slipped down from his slitted eyes." Go now naruto-kun, kurama-kun. Go and protect all that you hold dear.."

Naruto and kurama heard the sound of bells chiming before everything went black.

• narutos cell•

Narutos eyes snapped open and he gasped for air, his eyes quickly took in his surroundings and he found himself back inside of his cell.

'Kurama?'

"Im here kid.." kurama replied, his deep voice was unusually soft and mellow.

'Did that.. did that really happen?'

"Yes."

Naruto let out a heavy sigh as he slumped back against the wall. He didnt get much time to collect his thoughts as he heard the sound of people walking towards his cell.

He looked up at the door and watched as both kisame and itachi appeared in front of his cell door, both were looking at him. Itachi with his emotionless look and kisame with that stupid grin on his face.

"Oho, did someone beat you up brat? Your mask is covered in blood." Kisame stated with a grin.

"Are you ready naruto-kun?" Itachi asked as he totally ignored his partner, even if he himself was curious about why the boys mask was covered in blood.

"Yeah im ready itachi-kun." Naruto replied with an eye smile as he shakily got to his feet, the chain that held his hands tied behind his back seemed to let off a metallic jingle.

Itachi unlocked the cell door and walked into the small room. He walked over to naruto and unhooked the boys tied hands from the chain that was attached to the wall. His black eyes morphed into that of his blazing red sharingan as he looked down at the chains that tied the boys hands behind his back. His sharingan easily picked up on the thin cut that almost went completely through the chains, but he deactivated his sharingan and acted as if he hadnt seen anything.

"Come naruto-kun." Itachi gently pushed the boy towards the cell door and naruto began to walk forward.

'You ready kurama?'

"Yes." Kurama replied with narrowed eyes." Let us show these fools who theyre messing with."

Neither itachi nor kisame could see the smirk that appeared on narutos masked face as the two S-ranked missing nins began to escort him down a dark hallway.