An entrance! I think, finally having found a door that should lead me out of this shrine.
Actually, this shrine isn't too big, right? It's only one big room …
I slowly make my way over to the huge, open, gate.
Whoever made this, was surely rich! Everything seems to be made of gold!
I step through the gates and find myself on some stairs leading into an even darker … cave?!
Who builds a shrine in a cave? I wonder, slowly jumping down the stairs.
Actually, I wonder where this sudden bravery came from.
Normally, I could never walk into dark places like these.
Soon, the ground was not even anymore, instead, it seemed to be going upwards.
Minutes later, I could finally see an end and … light? There's actually light over there! Doesn't that mean that this is the exit?
I moved a bit quicker this time, motivated to finally leave this dark place to see what lies beyond this cave.
Actually, this couldn't be the afterlife, right? This at least does not seem like it …
Wow, this boulder is huge! Someone seems to have closed this off like they did with the grave of … uh … who? Wow, I can't remember. Strange.
I jumped up a few adjacent, smaller boulders and used the wall to finally get onto the big boulder.
Time had truly eaten away at this thing, or so I thought because once I reached the small gap in between the boulder and whatever it covered before, I could see that it was covered in lots of moss and other forest materials.
I slowly forced my small body through the hole and found myself looking at huge trees and a rather bright early morning sun.
Oh. Now this is … of course no one would find this cave … the stone practically fused with the forest around it. No one would even know that there was a cave here … and who could even roll this boulder away?
I closed my eyes, calming myself for what was to come. I was filled with curiosity at my new surroundings. It was already much better than my human existence in my past life.
I slowly slid down the huge rock and landed safely on the ground.
So, where to go now? I asked myself.
Let's just start walking into any direction. I have no idea how to get out of this forest … and, what do I do if I need to eat?! Shit … I've never even thought about needing to actually hunt my own food or something …
The thought of food kind of crushed my motivation … Wait. If this is the afterlife, then I won't need food, right? Or … do I also need food in the afterlife? Well, I'll see.
With renewed focus, I started just walking through the forest into any direction I wanted.
After a long 30 minutes, I finally reached something that looked like a path. Or something where people could at least travel and still know where they were going.
Left or right?
I looked at each side a few times before deciding to go right.
…
"When we get home I need to train hard. My Sharingan will help me get a lot stronger …" Sasuke thought, brooding to himself.
Sakura looked at Sasuke, her face slightly red.
"When we get back to Konoha, let's go report about our mission first, okay?" Kakashi asked his three students.
"Okay!" Naruto shouted.
"I'm still slightly sad that they died … it should have been different!" Naruto sighed inside of his mind.
He would have liked it if they could have saved Haku and Zabuza. They didn't really deserve to die, at least in his mind.
"Kit." A deep voice said in Naruto's mind.
"Eh? It's you again … trying to get me to give in to my hatred again?!" Naruto shouted, getting everyone's attention on him.
"What?" Sakura said, clearly bewildered.
"No, kit. Not this time. Not anymore. There's no reason for that anymore. Instead, from now on, we will work together. There's a more important thing than my freedom, my hatred, or whatever. Look to the front!" Kurama shouted at Naruto.
Naruto, slightly intimidated by the sudden shout: "Okay! Okay, okay … I'll look to the front …"
And just as he laid his eyes on the path in front of him … he saw a small black fox with nine-tails, happily walking on the path and looking around in curiosity.
"A fox!" Naruto observed, totally ignoring the fact the fox had nine tails.
"Wow, aren't you intelligent." Sasuke teased with a smirk, but as soon as he saw the fox's nine-tails he froze.
Kakashi could only sigh at the interaction those two were having on an everyday basis, but he too, as he looked at the fox, froze on the spot.
Naruto ran forward: "Little fox, let me pet you, okay?"
"Kit, stop! Don't you dare touch her with your dirty hands!" Kurama screamed in anger.
Instantly, Naruto stopped in his tracks and he froze.
"Naruto?" Sakura asked, slightly worried about the boy behaving weirdly. Sakura had not even once looked at the fox yet. But as she did, she couldn't help but think that it was really cute, the nine tails only making it even cuter.
…
"Little fox, let me pet you, okay?" A loud voice in front of me said.
Eh???
I turned my sight towards the area from which I had heard the voice come from.
What I saw then, was one kid with an orange jumpsuit rushing at me, but soon stopping in his tracks again. He looked scared for some reason.
I looked behind me … but found nothing.
What is he so scared of? Me? No, haha, that shouldn't be …
I slowly walked towards the boy in the orange jumpsuit and the blonde hair.
Weird. He seems oddly familiar. No, perhaps not he himself … just what is this feeling?
I slowly studied him as I circled him for a few times.
This guy is weird … oh, right, he has friends behind him too!
I ignored the blonde guy for a bit and looked at the three figures behind him.
One is older than the others.
Pink hair? And that other guy has grey hair even though he doesn't seem that old yet … and also … how does he even manage to make his hair stay upright like that? Weird.
I slowly step towards them.
I can feel the wariness with which they look at me. They seemed scared of me.
I mean, okay. I'm a fox. But I'm cute, right? Right?! Or wait … am I not cute at all? I haven't really seen my face yet …
My ears drooped at the thought of having an ugly face … again …
But, is this the afterlife? I don't think so … actually … this seems more like a different world to me?
Also, I didn't think of it before … but, how come I can understand this language? Weird, but okay. Not that it truly matters.
I sit down on my hindlegs, my nine-tails moving behind me, waiting for the three people in front of me to do something.
…
"What the hell is with this fox? It seems incredibly intelligent. And those nine-tails … it is certainly not normal. But … the Kyuubi is sealed inside of Naruto, so why would there be another fox with nine-tails?" Kakashi noticed.
"It's cute, don't you think so too?." Sakura asked the two beside her.
She had wanted to go pet it and cuddle it. She didn't know where this sudden impulse came from, but … she refrained from doing that, as it would probably weird Sasuke out.
"How come its whole appearance is so dark. Just look at its fur … in the darkness you wouldn't be able to see it at all. And those eyes … they seem to suck you in!" Sasuke said.
"But … this makes it look extremely beautiful." Sasuke added.
"Right …" Kakashi said before looking at Naruto who was still frozen. "Naruto, you okay over there?" Kakashi had calmed down a bit by now, reasoning that it was not the Kyuubi that attacked Konoha back then.
Naruto turned around. However, it wasn't the usual Naruto they were seeing, no, his eyes had turned blood red and his pupils had changed into vertical slits.
His body was surrounded by a red, malicious, chakra.
Kakashi's body stiffened, not imagining the Kyuubi's chakra to appear on Naruto again after it had just appeared in the fight against Haku: "Get back!" He shouted to his two other students.
They jumped backwards, leaving the small black fox to look at them in wonder.
Naruto slowly walked towards the black fox before coming to a stop right behind it.
…
What's going on? I asked myself.
Something wrong with the blonde guy? I think, as I slowly turn around to face the blonde.
Eh, what's wrong with him? I think, while tilting my head in bewilderment.
His eyes had changed from his earlier blue to a blood red.
The boy looked at me for a while, before suddenly kneeling on the ground.
He spoke in a deep, intimidating voice: "Goddess-sama. I, Kurama, the ninth Bijuu, appear before you. I am glad that you have finally awoken from your sleep."
Wow, what's with this guy?
"Your father, the Sage of Six Paths, has asked me to do this upon seeing you, so please don't resist." The blonde kid said and reached out a hand to touch my head.
I leaned back a bit, trying to escape his touch, but, eventually, it still hit me.
His eerie red aura surrounded my head and I suddenly felt really weak and sleepy.
"This is a bit of chakra that your father left me. It is supposed to lead you to him. He will explain the rest, I suppose." The blonde kid said before he passed out and fell onto the ground.
Not much later, I also felt my eyes close and my mind drifted off into a peaceful sleep.
…
A/N: Thanks for reading and let me know what you think! 😊