I do not own the Naruto Universe or the Naruto Characters.

Prologue

Bowing his head deeply as the only sound became the uninterrupted rushing water around him, Itachi Uchiha knew he was going to miss his best friend and cousin deeply. Already having sealed the last gift from said person away to later be hidden as was Shisui's will, the Uchiha heir could feel his eyes burning.

'The Mangekyou Sharingan forms when one watches their best friend die,' he thought solemnly as the pain intensified. Picking his head up to turn around and head back to his home, Itachi faltered as his vision began to blur.

In a clearing surrounded by trees with a harsh river rushing through behind him, his vision blurred into a different setting. Ground turning a disgusting shade of brown and grey as it was cracked from the lack of life growing, before him stood several different people that almost resembled individuals he had seen around the village. The one that stuck out of the crowd the most was almost 6 feet tall, with a wide collared off-shade of white shirt that zipped up. Bangs messily covering his forehead as his face was framed, Itachi could just barely see spikes sticking out of the back of the man's head. His sharingan eyes followed his every movement as the Uchiha heir felt himself walk toward him silently as the man's words sounded faded reached his ears. Though he was surrounded by people with a confused spiky haired blonde girl wanting to step in between them, the whisker marks were familiar.

"Konoha will get its due.. avenge you.. make the clan perfect.." He could just barely catch, and unknowing on why, he felt the feeling of defeat in his chest. Of regret, of sadness, and an overall exhaustion. He felt as though he still couldn't ever give up, but there was an irritation where there was formerly a restful peace, the peace as if he couldn't do anything more and he had accepted it.

Unable to stop himself from raising two fingers as if he was going to poke the man's forehead like he does with his little brother, he suddenly jerked his hand to rest on the back of the man's head and gave a soft gentle head bump. The man's sharingan eyes faded, leaving the signature onyx orbs of his family, allowing Itachi to see his apparent new reflection. With his sharingan spinning, the whites in his eyes were now black and the face he could see looking back at him in mirrors at home was now much, much more older. Skin color altered by the dark eyes he was peering in to see his reflection, he could tell that his skin was now a light grey with dark cracks everywhere.

Feeling his mouth move without control, the Uchiha felt sick to his stomach with confusion.

"If I had been open with you from the start, and looked you straight in the eyes and told you the truth, then I wouldn't have to stand before you, from above, as a failure, telling you all this. So this time, I want to impart this truth to you. You don't even have to forgive me, and no matter what you do from here on out, know this.. I will always love you."

World blurring back to his original place, Itachi calmly gripped the side of his head and began over analyzing every detail he caught sight of while he crouched to the ground.

In an apartment in the middle of a neighborhood that constantly is receiving slow construction, a small girl with spiky blonde hair and three whisker marks on each cheek was sleeping. Rolling over frequently was normal for her with excessive drooling, but with the risk of falling onto the floor, her brow suddenly furrowed as she began to sweat.

In her dreams, she was dreaming of winning a free "all you can eat for a year!" ticket at her favorite food stand, Ichiraku Ramen. Excitedly sitting down to her starting miso bowl, when she lifted her head to say thank you, the owner of the stand and his daughter suddenly were a few years older. The daughter Ayame going so far as to even gently set a bowl to the person beside her and with a glance over, Naruto could swear it was also a slightly older version of her rival and classmate, Sasuke Uchiha.

Wanting to yell at him on why the hell was he there at her favorite place in the world, but the words could not come out. Instead with a small "Thank you," they ate silently together with an almost comfortable silence. Seeing him dirtied and covered in bruises and scratches made her smirk inside, until she saw that she also was.

When he was finished with his one and her with her four, he continued to sit quietly after placing the pay for their combined bowls. Feeling herself unsure what to say, and almost angry for some reason when he wasn't saying thank you, Naruto found herself crossing her arms as Ayame and Teuchi went into the back.

"Nobody should be alone on a day like this, ya know?" Swallowing nervously as she couldn't look at him, she could feel him staring at her from the corner of his eyes. "I know I don't know what it's like to lose a family, but I know right now that I wouldn't want to be alone, wouldn't want to remember what they're like alone, or see their.. homes alone. And I don't wanna cross the line here, but.. you're like a brother to me." Feeling herself beginning to trip over her words and rush, inside she wanted to barf at thinking he was like a brother, but the embarrassment of that confession was stronger. "You're like.. what an annoying older brother that I always wanted to be like, ya know? 'Cause a lot of people have brothers that they consider annoying more than nice, and -"

"Naruto." Snapping her head to him, he nodded respectively to her as he stood up from his stool. Placing a hand on her shoulder, he gave the slightest squeeze before leaving the stand, his final words leaving an easing feeling in her stomach. "You're like an annoying little sister."

Watching the world blur until she was standing on a rocky mountain, a man with long spiky hair and a crying blood tattoo was frowning at her. "Naruto, you need to learn how to control the Kyuubi. We'll start with seeing how many tails you can get up to before you lose control, however."

"And what if you get hurt, Ero-sannin?"

Pulling out a scroll out of his pocket that flipped open, it was an elaborate seal. "I won't," he said before the surroundings blurred and flickered once more.

Kicking in the familiar door leading to the Hokage's office, Naruto could tell she was suddenly taller as she walked in with almost a swagger, just barely dodging the paperweight thrown at her head. "What's up, granny!? Guess who's back?"

Instead of seeing the Sandaime, Hurizen Sarutobi behind the desk, a light haired blonde with twin pigtails and large breasts was smiling with a twitching eyebrow. Feeling a sudden bliss of being in the woman's company after several years, and without hearing the name, somehow Naruto just knew her name was Tsunade Senju, the Fifth Hokage.

With the world shaking once more somehow as the world changed once more, Naruto suddenly was standing in a clearing with a familiar pink haired teenager who was pulling on gloves with a confident smirk. Standing across from them both, a Konoha jonin with slanted silver hair had his nose quite literally buried into an orange book.

"Begin!" He shouted as Naruto felt herself mash her hands together to create a sign and shout out a jutsu she swear she never heard before.

"Kage no bunshin!" Several versions of herself appeared and they all launched themselves at the jonin, and with a familiar scoff, Naruto found herself jumping high into the air as the shout of 'Shannaro' reached her ears while the ground trembled like an earthquake. Looking down from the sky as the training ground became undone as the pink haired teen lifted a boulder three times her size and launched it at the jonin, who was looking surprised and borderlined frightened at the strength.

Feeling the world come apart and come together during another switch, her feet suddenly touched the ground once more with a different man before her. Before her stood a pale orange haired male with lavender eyes that had several rings around his pupil wearing a black cloak with red clouds. Standing tall as he menacingly walked forward, with a single blink she was standing inside a dark cave with clenched fists drawing blood. Instead of the orange haired male, there was a man and woman. The woman with blue hair an paper flower in her hair was standing on guard before the man with red hair, his lower half and hands in the machine that was clearly keeping him alive. Almost a skeleton, Naruto suddenly knew his named as well.

Nagato Uzumaki.

Swirling into a different setting, Naruto was surrounded by the older versions of who she could swear were her young classmates with others. All wearing Konoha headbands and staring ominously into the bonfire before them, half empty alcohol bottles surrounded them. It was the lookalike of Kiba Inuzuka who raised his large bottle into the air, everyone following suit, and growled out the words that left Naruto panicking.

"To the Fourth Shinobi War. May we survive it to watch our children to suffer the fifth, like our parents did for us."

Body moving on its own, she took a swig of her own bottle - until it disappeared from her view to see a very familiar person standing there, smiling warmly at her. Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze kept his vibrant blonde hair and bright blue eyes, but the whites in his eyes were now black and lines crept all along his skin.

She could feel the words coming out of her mouth as her ears felt like they had popped. "Hiya, dad."

In seconds, her dreamscape had swirled into a mass of colours. Glimpses of faces would form until it all would turn into a tunnel of darkness in some sewer, with her standing in water that went to her knees with how short she was. Looking around to see pipes that glowed from blues to a deep dark red, there was only one direction to go in, where she could hear a rumbling.

Walking forward until she reached the end, it was to a massive cage with large bars. Only a small piece of paper saying "seal" appeared to keep the doors shut and as she cautiously walked forward, the sloshing of water could be heard deep into the darkness. Reaching the bars that she could easily slip through if she wanted, she froze at the glowing of what looked like giant teeth before her.

Throwing herself backwards and onto her behind into the water, large red eyes stared down at her amused while she began to scream.

Closing her eyes for what felt like forever as the feeling of water disappeared only to be replaced with her comfortable bed, she was being shaken awake by a man wearing a white animal mask. Black clothes completely covering his skin otherwise, a grey and armored vest revealed no lumps to show that they could've been a female or male.

Breathing heavily as she stared terrified at the Rat mask, the man released her and leaned back. "Are you alright, Uzumaki-san?"

Blinking away tears, she slowly settled back into her bed to blankly stare at her cracked ceiling before responding. "Y-Yeah, I just had a nightmare."

When he nodded and disappeared in a puff of smoke, she was too afraid to go back to sleep for awhile. Instead, she checked her alarm clock and Naruto Uzumaki decided to test something of her nightmare.

Clumsily putting her fingers into the Ram hand seal, she focused her chakra and whispered the technique out of fear.

"Kage no Bunshin."

Poof!

With a large amount of smoke filling the room, the blonde coughed before several others joined in.

Freezing as she slowly looked up, exact copies of herself were coughing into their fists as their other hands would dramatically push it all away. Standing up slowly, she reached out and expected her hand to simply pass through like the clone technique at school. Instead, she only felt the familiar feeling of her pajamas on someone else.

"Aye, what the hell are ya doin' boss?" Feeling her hand get smacked away as the clone snootily brushed off imaginary dust, Naruto face palmed.

Sighing dramatically, it took her a moment before she had shot over to her small dining table and pulled out the top secret scroll that was purposely hidden and began writing out ideas.