1 1 End and Beginning

He had finally done it. Madara Uchiha was dead, his bloodied and mangled body lay limp in front of the one responsible. Naruto stared at the body with lifeless eyes. He felt no joy or relief as he thought he would when he avenged the death of his comreades. He felt nothing, Naruto Uzumaki was empty. Not one of his friends had survived the war. No one left he could lean on. A familiar pain filled his chest bringing him to his knees. Sasuke was right, being lonely because all you once loved were lost, hurt a hell of a lot more than being lonely because you never had anyone to begin with. Then again, maybe not. Maybe it was the pain of knowing he had failed to protect them that clawed at the inside of his flesh that agonized him so deeply. Still, he wished he could tell his best froend that he finally understood his pain, but his body also lay among the bloody debris of the final battle. The Uchiha's blood fanned from his chest almost serenely. If he looked long enough, he could almost trick himself into seeing small, shallow breaths raising his chest. He looked away.

'𝘏𝘦𝘺, 𝘉𝘳𝘢𝘵.' Growled Kurama softly, sensing the pain of his jinchuuriki. Naruto hmm'd absentmindedly in slight acknowledgment.

'𝘒𝘪𝘵, 𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘦!' the fox growled a little harsher. He got no response at all this time. Normally this would have pissed the demon off, but he couldn't bring himself to be angered at his poor partner that had lost everyone and everything.

'𝘒𝘪𝘵 𝘭𝘦𝘵 𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳.' Again he got no response, but the blond didn't try to stop him as Kurama eased into control of the blonde's body. The fox used the blood from one of the boy's many dripping wounds to draw an ancient seal in the dirt.

'𝘒𝘪𝘵, 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘬𝘳𝘢. 𝘐 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘥𝘳𝘰𝘱 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘨𝘦𝘵.' Naruto did as he said, not in the mind to question it. The fox poured everything there was into the seal knowing it could kill them but also that neither would care much if it did. In fact, he was certain that his jailer would welcome it. The thought made him frown in dismay. He may have teared ip a bit, but he would deny it till the end of time.

There was a flash of light that surrounded them. Kurama relinquished control just in time for them to black out.

***

Team Minato was racing through the trees heading back to Konoha after a particularly long and frustrating mission of trying to locate an enemy camp rumored to be somewhere in the Land of Fire.

"I can't wait to get home and eat some dumplings." complained Obito loudly. Minato smiled wryly. Kakashi sighed in irritation.

"What kind of shinobi are you? Quit complaining already." he said, annoyed. "Besides, the enemy may still be nearby, you're practically announcing our position. And with all your griping they'll probably know that we're exhausted and may try to take advantage of that."

"Kakashi has anyone ever told you that you're a little paranoid?" asked Obito.

"This is war. The question is why aren't you more paranoid?" Kakashi shot back.

Rin sighed, exasperated. "Would you two cut it out for once?" Obito opened his mouth to respond when their sensei, Minato abruptly stopped and motioned for his students to do the same. They all stood as still as statues and on high alert for enemy nin. But Minato was looking at something on the ground. He hopped out of the tree and approached the strange figure that they could see was laying seemingly unconscious. The three students followed their sensei's lead and they now stood ina circle around the mysterious person. The stranger was wearing clothes that were porbably once a bright orange but were now torn and stained with blood and showed the original color only in scarce patches. They had multiple injuries, but none seemed fatal. Their hair was so dirty it was hard to tell the actual color, and they had three strange marks on each cheek that looked a lot like whiskers.

"It's a boy." Kakashi pointed as his eyes narrowed on his face, as if hoping to be struck with recognition.

"No, really? I thought it was a gorgeous lady." Obito retorted sarcastically.

"Enough you guys." ordered Minato. He looked to Rin. "Is he alive?"

Said girl kneeled down and placed her hands on the boy's chest. They glowed green, a sign that she was using medical ninjutsu. "Barely. His chakra levels are very low."

The blonde haired man noticed something tucked under the boy's body. He gently pulled the object free. His eyes widened.

"He's a leaf ninja." commented a surprised Obito.

"We should get back to the village as soon as possible. Whoever did this may still be in the area."

"Rin is right, let's go." Minato scooped the boy carefully into his arms.

"Wait." objected Kakashi. "What if he is an enemy. He could have easily killed a leaf shinobi and stolen that." He pointed to the tattered head band that his sensei now clitched in his left fist.

Minato looked down at the man he now carried. "And what if he isn't?" he retorted before starting once again in the direction of the Hidden Leaf Village with his team in tow.