Author's Note: My apologies, everyone! Life's been a real hectic storm since I last updated. Rest be assured, nothing is abandoned. I always wanted to try writing a time-travel, so I need input- please let me know your thoughts and what I could improve!

Chapter 1

Shouts, jeers, laughter, rough hands, and suddenly I can't breathe…

My vision was already blurred through tears when I realized the muffled sounds were my own screams of pain, erupting unbidden from my chest despite the heavy hand fighting to constrict my throat.

More hands, laden with ill intent, reached and pawed, uncaring for my suffering while my chest collapsed in on itself.

I was dying and Kurama was dying; I could hear his desperate roars, Madara extracting him piece by piece, and the agony was unbearable.

A shuddering gasp racked my body as I attempted to curl in on myself against the restraints, followed by a desperate wheeze, throat aching while black spots danced in my vision.

Kurama's roars turned into a final scream of agony before his final whispers reached my pain-deaf ears.

My body jerked violently of its own accord and I jolted awake with a sharp gasp, hands rushing to my throat.

I was suffocating.

My head swimming, I darted to my feet and rushed to the bathroom linked to the small meager room of my current apartment fighting for breath while I dry-heaved over the sink.

Shudders racked my body as I slowly returned to myself, carefully resealing the agitated ocean of chakra that roiled dangerously under my control.

It'll be okay, Kit,

The last whispers from the memory-turned-dream rang through my head like funeral bells despite my furious attempt at scrubbing the nightmare out of my eyes with shaking hands.

My last gift to you…

"Oh, Gods…"

I uttered shakily, staring down at my not-bloody hands, and past them to the dark-rimmed slitted ruby orbs of my reflection.

I stood there for a long moment, drinking in the hollow fox-like eyes that stared right back, hearing the sounds of a sleepy village bustling to prepare for the new day.

"This is real,"

I reminded myself softly, clutching the porcelain sink in a death grip.

"Konoha is alive. I am alive, and I will fix this."

I grinned shakily at the mirror.

My reflection didn't look like it believed me either.

Sighing softly, I pushed a sliver of chakra into a seal tattooed behind my right ear, hidden by a spiky mess of duck-blond hair; instantly, my reflection warped.

Blond hair turned black as a raven, whisker marks and tanned skin became smooth, unblemished pale, but the vertically-slitted scarlet eyes remained the same- it was like a reminder, saying that Kurama did this for a reason.

Not all was lost, I had a chance to begin anew- that I still had a part of the fox with me always.

Returning to my tatami mat- the only furnishing I had in the shitty apartments- I strapped my tanto to my hip and my sandals securely to my ankles, threw the Jounin vest over my shoulders without threading my arms through, and for a long moment I stared at the red-striped fox mask.

The porcelain had a crack from the corner of its left eye to the bottom corner of the left ear from the last fight before I had been run down and captured.

Focusing elsewhere, I brushed my fingers along its mouth, a faint fond smile surfacing past my usual tired melancholy.

Its smirk had been repainted into a jagged-toothed grin, courtesy of Konohamaru before he had died at one of Madara's raids.

It was supposed to be a prank, but I hadn't the heart to remove it after I found my friend dead amidst the rubble of the refugee camp we had been protecting.

Considering I had technically been the Nanadaime Hokage for what had been left of the hidden leaf village, it was a miracle this piece of history had survived as long as it did.

I was grateful; this mask would now keep my identity while I tried to fix the past.

Kurama's sacrifice would not be unfounded.

The mask was slipped on silently, and with a quick hand-sign my apartment became cold and empty with a swirl of leaves.

Kakashi frowned as he subtly glanced around himself for the -nth time this morning.

There was a very distinct sensation for being watched, but he couldn't pinpoint the source and- while although the mystery presence didn't feel hostile by any means- he was uneasy that he couldn't pinpoint it.

He had debated with himself to uncover his Sharingan eye, and then favored against it when he remembered he was an hour late to go collect his new Genin team.

Still with his face not-so-subtly planted in his Icha Icha, he made a simple hand-sign and poofed into existence just outside the academy window, perched in a tree.

It seemed as though the presence hadn't followed him, and for a moment he allowed his shoulders to relax a fraction, tucking his book away in order to half-watch his bored students.

That certainly was odd; not many people had the skill to remain that invisible while observing him, much less someone that wouldn't approach him.

It was unfortunately true that Gai had a knack for finding him even in his more ridiculous hiding places, but not even Konoha's Beautiful Green Beast could evade his awareness quite like that.

Kakashi continued to muse over the next hour until his blond student stood with a yell he couldn't quite hear from outside the window, running up front to no doubt try and prank him, if he had read and understood Naruto's file correctly.

Placing his hands up for a Shunshin, mid-process of the Jutsu, the presence returned with a vengeance that left Kakashi with unstable footing.

With a quiet but very shocked grunt he fell out of the tree just before he completed the Shunshin, landing him outside the classroom door looking ruffled like a deer in headlights, a few stray leaves stuck in his spiked hair.

He opened the door quickly with intent to protect the children, completely disregarding the falling chalk eraser, checking over his healthy un-spooked students-to-be.

By their reactions (or lack of, with the Uchiha's permanent scowl) they had seen nothing of what just transpired.

There was also no direct sign of the presence like there had been a few moments ago, but he remained on high alert, using all of his senses to check for unfamiliar traces.

There was nothing but the faintest scent of sunshine and rust.

"My first impression is that you're all idiots. Meet me on the roof,"

He delivered instruction before Naruto could finish laughing, abruptly turning and shutting the door.

As he made his way up to the roof with the cacophony of students following him, he picked the stray leaves out of his hair and tensely remembered the fraction of a second before he had Shunshined; he could swear he had seen the oddest-looking ANBU with a darkly grinning fox mask, behind which was a pair of glowing red eyes.