Falling In Reverse

Chapter 7

"You alright?"

Naruto groaned, face still hidden behind his hands. After a moment, the only thing he managed to say was, "Gaara is a girl…"

Kakashi hummed, shoving his hands into pockets, and shot a glance at the young redhead woman who was listening to Minato explain the situation. "Yep, she's definitely a girl," he confirmed.

Naruto let out another groan. He could still feel his face heating up, but at least he stopped thinking about—

Nope. He was not thinking about it!

"Why didn't anyone tell me?"

"Minato-sensei was about to tell you, but you just ran off without listening."

True. In that case, Naruto could blame only himself. "Shit…" slipped past his lips as he rubbed his face up and down in a strong, rough motion.

Kakashi observed him for a few seconds, then crouched down. "You scared the people," he said, his voice soft and understanding. "You could have told us and we could have thought how to deal with it together."

Naruto dropped his arms to his sides and turned his head towards where he heard the voices. Some of the people quickly turned away the moment they saw him looking over, but others continued to stare. He could feel it—their distrustful, angry gazes—like physical blows on his person.

With a weary sigh, Naruto pushed himself off of the ground into a sitting position. "I once waited," he murmured, running one hand through his hair. "Another time I hesitated." A handseal he knew by heart summoned ten shadow clones into existence that disappeared into the surrounding forest without as much as a word. "I'm used to it—being hated," Naruto whispered, sounding so tired. Defeated. "I'm not here to be a hero. As long as they are alive, it's fine."

"I see."

Suddenly, a weird thought crossed his mind and Naruto froze. His head snapped towards Kakashi, almost panicked. "Sasuke is a guy, right?"

Kakashi blinked. His surprise was short-lived, however, because, on the next second, his eyes drooped back into his usual lazy stare. "Ah, well..."

A chill slid down Naruto's spine. There was no way… He could swear he had heard Itachi calling Sasuke a he. "Sasuke is a guy," he insisted. If his voice pitched higher, no one could fault him for that. "Right?!"

Kakashi's eyes closed, mimicking the smile hidden underneath his mask.

Naruto's heart sank. If he had to deal with a female Sasuke, he… he…

"Sasuke is a guy."

Naruto's tense frame relaxed, his stomach unknotted itself, and he almost sprawled back on the ground from relief. Then, he straightened up again, a glower fixed on his sensei's counterpart. "You're an asshole," he growled out in a slow, irritated manner.

If Kakashi felt guilty, he didn't show it. On the contrary, he appeared to be delighted. "Maa, you jumped to conclusions yourself," he drawled, unbothered by the fact that Naruto's glower darkened.

"Kakashi!"

Kakashi looked behind him at the call. "Alright, come," he said as he stood up and extended his hand to the blond. "Time to meet the others officially."

Naruto grimaced, shooting a glance at the waiting people. After lingering gaze on Obito, he grabbed the offered hand and let himself be pulled up to his feet. "What did da—uhh, Minato say to them about me?"

"The truth," Kakashi replied with a nonchalant one-shoulder shrug. "Everybody here knows what happened to sensei's family, have seen them dead. Truth is easier to explain."

Naruto almost laughed. He had never imagined experiencing a moment when dimension traveling became an easier thing to explain. "What happened to me in this world?" he asked.

Something odd flitted across Kakashi's face. Naruto couldn't quite read his expression. He didn't get a reply either. It made him frown.

What could have happened to Naruto in this world? His mom as well.

As the two of them approached, all attention moved on Naruto. So many eyes on his person made him uncomfortable. Watching, studying, judging—every gaze felt like a red hot iron on his skin.

"How do we know that he's not one of them?" a long-haired Uchiha hissed at Minato, pointing at one of the mangled Zetsu corpses.

"My partner," Naruto replied before anyone else could even open their mouths. "Zetsu can't make a copy of him."

Confusion swept through the crowd. "A partner?" someone asked.

Naruto sent his father's counterpart a brief annoyed glare, because really? He couldn't tell them that himself? His muscles almost ached at how tense his entire body was when he took a deep breath and announced, "I'm the Kyuubi's Jinchuuriki."

The seal on his stomach warmed as Kurama sent a pulse of his chakra through his system. It had the immediate effect of calming Naruto down.

There was no Naruto without Kurama—these people would better start getting used to this thought.

"Kyuubi's Jinchuu—Are you serious?" another Uchiha asked, then turned to Minato and demanded, "Is he serious?"

"Yes, he is," Minato replied in a no-nonsense voice. "We've met with the Kyuubi ourselves."

A wave of murmurs and sharp whispers rolled throughout the crowd, mostly civilians discussing something among themselves while shooting unsure glances at Naruto.

"Another Jinchuuriki?!" one of the ninjas yelled. "And the Kyuubi's on top of that?!"

"Problems with the Jinchuuriki, Yori?"

"Back off, Kankuro. That's not what I mean and you know it," Yori ground out through clenched teeth. "We know that Ichibi's fully suppressed. We trust Minato-sama's skills in keeping it that way, but this!" He jabbed his finger at Naruto, causing the latter to scowl. "We know nothing about the seal that keeps the Kyuubi locked up!"

Naruto's eyes narrowed, lips pulling slightly back into a sneer. "Kurama doesn't need to be locked up." There was an edge in his voice that he didn't quite mean to put there, but his hackles were up and there was no use in trying to smooth them out. "He's my friend. We work together."

"Maybe you could summon him out?" Kakashi suggested, looking at Naruto.

A menacing growl, full of barely contained violence and fury, resounded from within, "I'm not some circus animal for this trash to spectate."

The teen crossed his arms, taking a few seconds to think how to reword it. In the end, he decided only on, "He doesn't want to."

"How do we know that the Kyuubi is not in control?"

"That's ridiculous," Naruto muttered.

"Believe me, you'll know when the Kyuubi is in control," Obito chimed in from the sidelines.

Naruto glared at him, being rubbed the wrong way at how the man said it, but couldn't refute his statement either.

However, Obito's attempt to help had an entirely different effect on the others.

"The Kyuubi can take control?!"

"Maybe it's just waiting for an opportunity to attack us again!"

A civilian woman pointed at the blond Jinchuuriki. "He already attacked us!"

"I didn't attack you, 'ttebayo! I attacked Zetsu!" Naruto snapped before he jabbed a finger in the direction of the nearest dead Zetsu. "Those things! You know, the ones that actually pretend to be humans!"

"How should we know that you won't start attacking real people next time?!"

"I can sense who is the enemy and who isn't," it came out as a growl, a shade deeper than what would have been normal for a human being. "What the hell are you trying to say, 'ttebayo?!"

"You come here, looking like that, pretending to be—"

"That's enough!" Minato stepped in between Naruto and the crowd, arms up to keep them separated. "Stand down, everyone!"

Kakashi put a careful hand on the blond teen's shoulder, but the latter shook it off. "Naruto," he called gently and this time the boy didn't refuse his touch, letting himself be pulled a few steps back to cool off.

Seeing that his student took care of Naruto, Minato turned to his people. "We're all confused, agitated, tired, and grieving right now," he said. "But throwing baseless accusations around won't help here."

"We know nothing about him!" a kunoichi yelled. "Just because he looks like your dead son doesn't mean he is your—" The woman choked on the last word when Minato leveled a bone-chilling glare at her.

"As I understand," Gaara spoke, "without this person, we'd still be in danger with the enemy lurking among us. We should be grateful to him."

Despite Gaara's new gender, her voice carried that somewhat detached, yet still soothing overtone. Naruto was glad to hear something so familiar. He made sure not to look at her, though, not feeling ready to face this new version of his friend just yet. "He's right," he said and instantly spluttered, realizing his own mistake. "I-I mean she! She's right!"

"Perhaps that's your plan all along! Gain trust and then betray us," the ninja whose name Naruto didn't know piped in. "Kyuubi's attack on Konoha is the reason why we're all here, in the middle of—!"

"I said enough!" Minato commanded with finality. "That's an order!"

Naruto's jaw tightened as he shoved every thorn curling around his heart down inside his chest. He understood their feelings—or tried to—because he could sense how scared they all were. Being distrusted and suspected was nothing new.

He was fine.

He refused to not be.

"Knock it off, Hideo. Everyone else, too," Obito said, stepping forward to stand with his sensei as a sign of his support to the man. "Naruto lost everyone before he got stranded here. And we know what it means to lose someone, so show him some compassion by giving him the benefit of the doubt."

This world was laughing at him, Naruto was sure of it now. The only one who stood up for him was Obito Uchiha himself. The utter absurdity of this fact pushed a line too far, he couldn't contain it anymore.

Naruto swallowed around the hard lump in his throat and hissed, "You think I want to be here?" There was a tremor of anger, weariness, and defeat all mixed up and present. "When everyone I know, everyone I ever cared about, is dead somewhere… who knows where." Something hot pressed against the back of his eyes as he struggled to keep his shit together. "I'd rather be dead there with them, when alive here with you all!"

Naruto missed Minato's expression of shocked horror, because he pushed Kakashi away, spun around, and stormed off.

Obito glanced at his sensei and his brow furrowed. No words came to his mind that he could say to the man. All he could do was put a hand on his shoulder to offer his comfort.

Minato squeezed his eyes shut and brushed a hand across his face. When he looked at his people again, his features were set into a cold, stern expression. Only slightly trembling hands and dark eyes, their blue deep like the sky after a storm, betrayed the turmoil broiling inside him.

"Sensei—"

"I'm fine."

And that was that—a clear order to drop it. No one dared to say anything else.

An awkward silence fell upon the crowd. Some of them fidgeted, finally becoming aware of the great ire of their leader. Others stared in defiance, fully believing in their opinions.

It was a real blessing when Kakashi finally broke the silence. "Naruto's a good kid," he said. "But he has a lot to deal with and even more to get used to."

"But the way he attacked…" a civilian Uchiha muttered. "With no hesitation…"

"He'd been fighting these enemies longer than us. He said he hesitated before," Kakashi supplied. "I don't know what happened, but I can imagine what kind of consequences that could bring."

"They'd slaughter us from within," Gaara deadpanned.

"No," Minato disagreed. "They'd set us against each other and just watch how we slaughter ourselves."

Such direct statements seemed to hit a nerve. People shared a glance and started whispering between each other, the realization of the true danger these enemies posed settled into their minds.

Quiet footsteps brought everyone's attention to the blond Jinchuuriki.

"Ah, Naru—" Kakashi's voice hitched in his throat as already familiar crimson red eyes with slitted pupils met his gaze. "…Kyuubi?"

Naruto bared his teeth and a deep, alien voice rang out, "I have a name," that drew the attention of everyone nearby. "A name my father bestowed on me."

There was a slight, but noticeable shift in the way all ninjas carried themselves. They looked sharper, wearier. Though surprisingly, no one pulled out their weapons, even if a couple reached for them. While that massive voice sounded dangerous, it wasn't accompanied by any perceptible murderous intentions.

Minato stiffened under the Kyuubi's grievous gaze that had just enough sharpness to scrape across his nerves. As if the beast expected something out of him. It was a ghost of a sensation, yet almost overwhelming in its intensity.

"Isn't the name the first and the most important gift a parent gives to their child after breathing life into them?"

Words died into silence.

Kurama's expression shifted, the corner of his mouth twitching up into a vicious smirk as his eyes swept the people in front of him. "That one," hemotioned at Obito with his head, a touch of vicious glee in his deep rumble, "told you that you'll know when I take control." But then, his sneer was back with vengeance. "Do not start soiling your pants, I do not desire to look at any Uchiha for long. You disgust me."

"Why are you here then?" Minato asked.

"There is something I need to know." Kurama's focus flicked back on him. "As I understand, I of this world attacked Konoha as well, but it did not occur during Naruto's birthday."

"It happened eight years ago."

"What befell me afterward?"

"Kushina and the Sandaime Hokage managed to split you in two. Kushina dragged one half back inside her seal and the other half was sealed inside Naruto in an attempt to save his life."

"The half in Kushina should have scattered upon her inevitable death." Kurama tilted his head, eyes narrowing. "The half inside Naruto got extracted?"

Minato's hands balled into tight fists. "Yes…"

The boy's features twisted into a grimace. Knowing that it was the Kyuubi showing such an expression confused people. Kurama stared only at Minato, not paying attention to the wave of whispers his uncharacteristic behavior caused. "Shukaku is here, but what about my other siblings?" he inquired.

"Siblings?"

"The other Bijuu!" the Kyuubi growled, low and furious. "Have you heard about other Jinchuuriki disappearing?"

Minato hesitated, because it had been a while since the last time they got any news about other nations. "As far as we know, they're fine."

"Naruto, you will have to send the clones to check if my siblings are safe." Kurama paused. "Correct. That is the only explanation."

For some time, no one spoke. Eventually, curiosity won over and it was Obito who dared to ask the question on everyone's mind, "What are you talking about?"

"Your world, Uchiha," Kurama all but snarled at him,"is heading towards the same end as ours did—complete extermination."

Obito's throat bobbed as he swallowed under the pressure of the Kyuubi's hatred, but he squared his shoulders and stood his ground.

Kurama scoffed.

A deep frown creased Minato's face. "How do you know that?"

"My presence here is the best proof."

"What do you mean?"

"The same entity cannot exist in the same world at the same time. Naruto and I would have fallen somewhere else if either he or I was still present," Kurama explained. "The half of this world's Kyuubi that got extracted from your Naruto and then erased from existence, I took his place."

"Wait..." Kakashi started, a bit skeptical. "How can you erase something like the Bijuu? You can't be killed, right?"

"What is nine was once one." Kurama didn't seem to care in the slightest that such a mysterious statement brought more questions than answers. Before anyone could ask, however, he added, "A story for another time."

Crimson eyes moved on the Uchiha clan members. It was as if he stared at each of them at the same time, pinning them in place with an invisible force, powerful and malignant, that pressed down on them like a physical burden.

"Before I go, I have something else to say." There was a weight to Kurama's voice that wasn't there before, filled with unrestrained power and laced with unquestionable authority. Not only that, there was an edge. A warning. "While Naruto considers you all his allies, you have nothing to fear from me."

For the first time, the Kyuubi's malicious chakra bloomed out, thick and suffocating, enveloping the area in mere seconds.

"But if you betray him—"

Civilians choked in that destructive bloom while ninjas barely managed to wrap their trembling hands around the handles of their weapons.

"—if you use him and then discard him—"

Blazing with unchained rage, crimson slitted eyes stared straight into the ones of Minato.

"—there will be no forgiveness."

Then, a blink and the Kyuubi was gone, taking his cloying and terrifying chakra with him.

Naruto shifted from one foot to another, feeling uneasy being in the spotlight. No matter how aggressive Kurama was acting, Naruto couldn't force himself to apologize in his stead. He didn't want to, finding comfort in his friend's protectiveness. "So," he muttered, "what now?"

Minato sighed, shaking his head, still a bit put off by how the young Jinchuuriki kept switching places with his Bijuu in the literal blink of an eye. He didn't allow himself to linger on the possible meaning of the Kyuubi's words. "We need to gather our people and regroup." Count our casualties, he didn't say, but others heard it anyway. "Obito." He turned towards his student. "Any news from your crows?"

Obito lifted one of his hands into a specific hand seal and closed his eyes. "Rin's team is almost here," he reported. "Itachi's team is still ways away and will need a bit more time to reach us."

"Is it even safe for us to wait here?" Temari questioned.

Minato, Obito, and Kakashi instinctively glanced at Naruto for confirmation.

"Yeah, it is," the latter replied. He and Kurama always were the ones on the lookout—being the only ones who could sense the enemy without mistake—so taking up a familiar task brought a sense of belonging, no matter how faint. "I'll keep an eye out."

Minato nodded and turned to address the people again, "We'll rest here until all the others arrive and we'll decide what to do. Please, be patient till then. Now, I need a report on what happened."

Naruto didn't stay to listen. He returned to the other side of the clearing to discuss things that mattered to him and Kurama.

"Are you sure that's the only explanation?"

"Yes."

Naruto began pacing back and forth, running fingers through his hair. "But being assimilated into the Juubi doesn't mean that you stop existing?" he tried. "You're just part of someone else."

"It is not how it works. Our consciousness, our essence, our souls cease to exist," Kurama rumbled back, patient in sharing his knowledge. "We all are but mere chisels carving our individual furrows across the fabric of reality. The moment I or my siblings go back to being only a part of the Juubi, we become part of its furrow and our own get abandoned. By falling into this world, you and I both were slotted into the paths our counterparts left behind and are continuing them in their stead."

Naruto groaned as he came to a stop, staring at the bright sky above. "What about my soul?" he asked. "Shouldn't it be the same as Naruto's from here?"

"That, I do not know," Kurama admitted. "But the soul of Naruto in this world should have been destroyed in some way. You would not be here otherwise."

"Some things here are different from what we know. Other things we're yet to encounter might be different too," Naruto pondered, the fox humming in agreement. "Maybe the extraction by the Gedo Mazo destroys the Jinchuuriki's soul here."

"Perhaps."

Naruto took a deep breath and, "Alright," came out rushing from his lungs. "How do we find your siblings?"

"Ask her."

The teen scowled. "Ask who?"

"Ask what?"

Naruto swiveled around, coming face to face with Gaara.

She was shorter than him and could have passed as a boy if she really wanted it, but the angle of her jaw and brow line made her obviously female. Her fiery red hair cascaded around the sides of her face and down her back a bit past her shoulder blades with deep, side-parted bangs, revealing an already familiar tattoo above her left eye.

Naruto wasn't ready just yet. Not prepared to face this version of Gaara. So familiar, but at the same time—not at all. But he had to. Running away now wouldn't do him any favors. Naruto gulped, then cleared his throat, and managed a quiet, "Hi."

Gaara tilted her head, those intense teal eyes boring into the blond's face. "Hello, Naruto Uzumaki."

This greeting was so Gaara-like, Naruto couldn't contain the small smile that broke out all on its own. And just like that, some of his worries dispersed, ebbing away into the back of his mind. Of course, it meant that he definitely had to put a foot in his mouth as he let his guard drop, "You sound just like Gaara I knew."

"Are you saying my sister sounds like a man?"

"What?" Naruto blinked at Temari, only now realizing that she was here too. And then what he had just said caught up with him. "No! I mean…" he floundered. "No, I, uh, it's just that their voices sound the same." He paused. "No, that's wrong! Not the same same, but… same? I have nothing against Gaara being a girl. I knew Gaara as a guy and you're a girl and not a guy and it's totally fine!" He was babbling nonsense at this point, yet couldn't stop. He also sounded a bit hysterical, but stubbornly ignored Kurama laughing at him for failing a simple human interaction.

While Temari eyed him up and down as if trying to discern if he was such a loser as he gave an impression, Gaara appeared more amused than anything else. "What was I like?" she asked. "Back in your world."

"Well, you—Gaara was…" Naruto didn't mean it. It was a genuine accident. "He, umm…" He didn't mean his gaze to wander down from the young woman's face to her chest. He really, really didn't mean to do that. "Well, he didn't have…"

"Hey, Blondie," Temari growled. "Eyes off of the target!"

Naruto's head snapped up and he just blurted out, "He didn't have eyebrows," as the dust of pink blossomed upon his cheeks.

A glare from Temari spoke volumes about what she thought about that little tidbit of information.

"Really?" Gaara raised an eyebrow. Yeah, one of the two she did, indeed, have. "That makes sense."

Her sister looked at her in utter disbelief. "How does that make any sense?"

"Why do you think it doesn't make sense?"

Naruto coughed. This was so awkward. "Anyway, I have a question," he said before those two could proceed with this ridiculous topic. He had no desire to discuss Gaara having or not having eyebrows. …Or any other body part for that matter. "Do you know where the rest of the Bijuu are located?"

"Ichibi is sealed inside me." When the blond didn't even blink at that, Gaara continued, "Nibi and Hachibi are in Kumo, Sanbi and Rokubi in Kiri, Yonbi and Gobi in Iwa, and Nanabi in Taki."

"So, it's all the same, huh," Naruto muttered, already making the handseal to summon shadow clones. Once seven of them appeared, he pointed at each of them as he gave the name of the Bijuu whose Jinchuuriki they needed to find. Then, all seven jumped into the trees and disappeared out of sight in an instant.

The blond turned back to the two sisters and got somewhat startled at the way they were staring at him.

"You know the names of all Bijuu," Gaara said, almost like an idle observation.

"Ah, well," Naruto rubbed the back of his neck, "I got lucky that I could befriend them before they—" His arm went limp at his side. He couldn't finish. Couldn't voice one of his failures out loud, especially now that he knew what it meant for them to be assimilated back into the Juubi.

Like always, Kurama's chakra enveloped his being from within in soothing warmth. Naruto sent a grateful pulse back.

"I heard about Suna," he said then. "I'm sorry about your village."

None of the sisters commented on such an obvious and abrupt change of topic, a weird shadow passing across Temari's face upon mention of their village. Too fast and brief for Naruto to identify.

"And I'm sorry about your world," Gaara responded.

No one else said that to him till now. It sounded sincere and at the same time so final, Naruto's throat closed around the giant lump of his world and everyone in it was gone. There was no way back, no one waited for him there anymore either. This was it—his new life in which he would have to somehow fit in.

When back wasn't an option anymore, there was only forward left.

At least some things never changed. Despite the new gender, Gaara was still Gaara, almost exactly like Naruto remembered. He could feel something tight and nasty inside his chest loosen up, sprouting a tentative little feeling—a budding hope that not everything was bleak and horrible and that maybe, just maybe he could find his place here.

Minato observed Naruto as he talked with the two sisters. Confusion, embarrassment, a tiny display of happiness—his son always was an expressive kid. He wore his heart on his sleeve, no matter how much he tried to hide it. Didn't seem to change much as he grew up into this young man, standing on the other side of the clearing. So close, yet so far away.

I'd rather be dead there with them, when alive here with you all!

Minato's heart ached as though someone reached inside him and twisted it.

He tore his eyes away from Naruto when a commotion broke behind him. He turned around to see what was happening, but it was only Rin's team and a small part of their community finally joining up and everyone welcoming them in. He breathed a sigh of relief seeing Kazuki racing up to hug his father. At least, Obito and Rin's son remained safe during this unexpected assault.

Mikoto glanced at Minato's way, murmured something to her clansmates, and headed towards him to discuss the important matters no doubt. The blond saw the exact moment she caught the sight of Naruto. Her eyes widened before their black turned to red, Sharingan spinning. Just for a moment, just to check, to be sure.

"Rin told us, but hearing it and seeing it are completely different things," Mikoto uttered with a tinge of wonder in her voice. "I couldn't take a good look at the one who helped my group as the clone dispelled as soon as he killed that thing, but this is incredible."

Minato looked back at Naruto just as a grin broke across the latter's whiskered face. Small, but so heartbreakingly genuine. Whatever the three of them were talking about, the boy seemed at complete ease.

I'd rather be dead there with them, when alive here with you all!

Those words kept coming back. Haunting him, mocking him for failures not only of his own, but also those of that other Minato.

"His smile is exactly like I remember."

Minato could only agree, "Yeah, it is."

"If it's this strange for us, I can't even imagine how Naruto must feel. Poor boy," Mikoto murmured. "I hope he can find peace staying with us." She paused. "You did welcome him to stay with us, right?"

In an instant, 'I didn't,' almost pushed its way out of Minato's mouth. Sure, there was that one time he asked Naruto if he was coming with them, but other than that he attacked him, shouted at him, allowed his people to spout accusations at him, spilled his blood. But he couldn't voice it, couldn't give form to yet another failure. So, instead, an empty excuse, "It's not that simple," came out.

The eyes of the Uchiha, even without Sharingan activated, always gave that unsettling feeling as if they could see more, see deeper.

Sometimes Minato found himself detesting those eyes.

But then understanding softened Mikoto's features and she patted the man's shoulder with a gentle, "We'll talk about it later, Minato." A moment later, she was on her way to the other side of the clearing.

This time, Minato followed her.

Naruto had his back turned to them now. He spun around to look at who was approaching him just as Mikoto reached for his arm to get his attention. The boy jerked away from her hand, skittering backward like a frightened deer, eyes wide and alarmed, fingers twitching in a reflex action of holding a kunai. It lasted only a mere second. His face went carefully, intentionally blank, more empty than anyone had ever seen on him. "Who are you, 'ttebayo?" he demanded, in perfect control of his emotions.

Such a violent reaction to a simple touch was quite unsettling, but not foreign to those present.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to startle you." Mikoto smiled; a fond, motherly sort of thing which seemed to work if a confused pinch between the young blond's eyebrows instead of an unnerving emotionless mask was anything to go by. "I'm Mikoto Uchiha, the Clan Head of the Uchiha clan," she introduced herself. "Your mother and I were good friends."

Naruto was starting to relax, even if only by a small margin, but the last sentence made him tense up again. Blue eyes flicked to Minato for a brief moment, but a flash of hurt that followed was tucked out of sight in an instant. "I'm not the Naruto you knew." He couldn't quite hide the defensiveness in his tone as if someone accused him of a crime he didn't commit.

"I'm fully aware of that. Rin told me everything." Mikoto moved forward at a measured pace to avoid spooking the boy and giving him enough time to pull away if needed. "Doesn't mean you're not Naruto."

Despite watching her in open suspicion, Naruto didn't shy away this time. He sucked in a ragged breath at the contact, but still allowed her to wrap her arms around him, though stayed stiff as a board. He didn't return the hug either.

"Doesn't mean you're not welcome here."

Acceptance worked miracles on the lonely soul. The kind touch was healing. The tough front Naruto built to protect himself by stacking one wall after another crumbled like a house of cards until there was only a lost teenage boy left, stripped down to his beating heart.

As Minato watched Naruto melt into that embrace, yet still too hesitant to hug back, the Kyuubi's words came back to haunt him again. If you use him and then discard him, there will be no forgiveness. Just how out of place and unwanted his son must have felt to think that they would treat him like that. That Minato would treat him like that.

Dammit.

He needed to tell him that he would never do it. Right now. Yet, Minato's body refused to move, his mouth didn't open. What if—

—what if Naruto didn't want or need him? Wouldn't accept him? Would reject him as his father? Minato doubted he could piece himself back up if that was true. He barely did it the last time he lost his boy.

Suddenly, Naruto's eyes snapped open. He pushed Mikoto away—not unkindly, but in an obvious rush—his full attention locked on something in the forest. A second later, an utter horror flittered across his face. "Any medics here?!" he screamed, already in a motion to throw the Hiraishin kunai that appeared in his hand. "I need medics!"

The moment the kunai hit the ground a few feet away, Minato felt a spike in the Hiraishin formula as it activated. Two shadow clones of Naruto appeared in a flash. Both were sweaty, dirty, covered in blood, and carried a heavily bleeding person each: one held onto the young boy, no older than ten, and another had an adult man slung over his shoulder.

Familiar faces, they could recognize them—the ones who Zetsu impersonated.

"What happ—" The rest of the question died at the back of Rin's throat. She surged forward, brushing past Minato and the rest, taking an immediate command over the situation, "Kei and Saki, the man! Yumi, help me!"

Naruto's shout drew attention not only from the medics, but from everyone present. The remaining people who were resting further away now slowly drew closer, curiously trying to see what the disturbance was about.

Mikoto shooed them away with a quiet order to not let the children get too close.

Shadow clones dispelled after putting the injured people down, leaving space for medics. Rin was shouting orders in the background of medical chakra humming. Those not involved gathered at the side, watching their friends fighting for two lives.

"I sent clones to scout the perimeter, I didn't—" Naruto began, but ended up cutting himself off. When he spoke again, his tone was much more somber, "Zetsu I know never kept people alive, but this... They must have been still alive when I attacked, I… I didn't know." There was so much guilt packed in that admission, he felt like drowning.

"You couldn't have known," Gaara uttered.

"Zetsu stabbed them and didn't even check if they died, he buried them to hide his tracks. He buried them alive!"

Mikoto squeezed the boy's elbow. "The others?" she asked softly.

"I found two dead and my other clones are still searching, but…"

Rin straightened up from the boy, looked in their direction, and shook her head.

Someone started to cry.

Naruto simply closed his eyes.

"There was nothing more you could have done." It felt like a hollow platitude even as Minato said it to him, as worn on his tongue as dulled by years of repetition inside his head.

"If not you, this is how we would have all ended up," Obito's honest reminder rang out then.

A barely audible snort escaped Naruto. He looked at the Uchiha with his lips twisted into a wry smile. "So weird to hear it from you."

Obito flinched. "Naruto, I—"

A shout interrupted whatever he planned to say, "Shou will live!"

Subdued cheers rolled throughout the crowd. A kunoichi at the front of it collapsed in a heap of happy sobbing. Must have been a family member.

"Ah, more people are coming," Naruto noted idly, staring in that particular direction. "What now? You can't go back to whenever your camp was."

Minato sighed, looking around at nothing in particular. "We'll have to go back for supplies at least. We need food, water, clothes, weapons." The list could go on forever, but the most urgent issue was, "Find a new safe place to stay."

"Safe place to stay…" Naruto mumbled under his breath. "Kurama, you think that place exists here?" A pause. "The one where I learned Hiraishin." He moved to pick up his kunai as he listened to his Bijuu. "You're right. It's worth a try." With his new goal in mind, he turned to Minato and asked, "Is where a small mountain range south-west from here?"

"It's more to the south, but yeah," the man replied. "About five days of travel for a non-ninja."

"We discovered a natural sealing formation there back in my world. With certain fortifications and barriers, we managed to hide there for a couple of months. That says a lot, considering that we were hiding from the Juubi."

"What's the Juubi?" Kakashi chimed in.

"A story for another time." If Naruto used the Kyuubi's exact words consciously, he didn't show it. "Now it's important to find out if that place exists here. I can quickly go and—"

Minato cut him off, "You're not going alone."

"I'm never alone," the teen shot back with a sort of indignant irritation.

"Maa, we always travel in a three-man team, Naruto. You also need a guide," Kakashi pointed out. "I'll come with you."

"Fine. So that makes three of us."

"One more," Minato insisted. "In case you'd decide to rush forward into the fight." 'And leave your teammate behind alone' was greatly implied.

Naruto huffed, but didn't object anymore.

Minato was already scanning the ninjas around for a good candidate. It had to be someone with whom Naruto was at least somewhat amicable. He spotted one in the newly arrived group. "Shisui!"

One-eyed Uchiha looked up, then jogged to them. "Minato-sama."

"Can you still travel?"

"Yes, I'm fine." Shisui glanced at the other two participants in this conversation. "Where are we going?"

"To scout a potentially safe place for us to move in."

Shisui nodded, his mouth a solemn line.

With his team chosen, Naruto made ten more clones which immediately scattered into the forest surrounding the clearing to act as a lookout while he was gone.

"How many shadow clones can you make?" Kakashi asked curiously as the three of them turned to move out.

"I don't even know. Hundreds," Naruto replied with an unconcerned shrug. "Thousands?"

Shisui's surprised, "Thousands?!" was the last thing people had heard before the scouting team was out of their earshot.

A/N

Kurama still the best bud, Naruto started to piece himself up, the Angsty Idiot title confirmed for Minato, and Mikoto just being awesome. I hope you enjoyed it!

Finally moving away from the big crowd, at least for a short bit. If some characters got lost somewhere in the middle, I'm sorry. Crowded scenes are hard!

I have a discord channel now: discord. gg/a7tQPPa