Minato and Naruto were standing in front of the Hokage as they explained the mission they wanted to go on. "Please sir. We ask that you give us permission to go on this mission." Minato was the one to step forward. "I know we don't have all of the information, but I'm positive it will help reduce conflict in the near future."

"Minato." The Hokage signaled for Minato to be silent. "I have no arguments against what you two are wanting to do. Though I am concerned about the danger of the mission itself." He was stroking his chin as he was deep in thought. "If you are going after Madara Uchiha, he won't be an opponent that is beaten so easily."

"We can do it, Gramps." Naruto had a determined look in his eye.

"I have no doubt in your strength Naruto, but I'd prefer if you two didn't go alone."

"I'm not going to let anyone else put themselves in danger! Not for something that is my responsibility to handle!"

Minato could see that Naruto was starting to get upset, so he decided it was best to settle on a compromise. "Lord Hokage. I too would like to not involve anyone else, but perhaps I could suggest that we bring along Kakashi, Obito and Rin. We are already a team, and work well together."

"Hm, yes. I suppose that will work."

Naruto had a shocked look on his face as he glanced between the Hokage and his dad. "Are you kidding me?! Did you miss the part where I said I didn't want anyone else involved?!"

"Naruto!"

Naruto flinched at the stern and commanding voice from his dad. "What?" He had to grit his teeth in order to avoid saying anything he might regret.

"Stop acting like a child." Minato knew he was being harsh, but he had no other choice. "You are a shinobi, as are we all. It doesn't matter who it is, we have all made the decision to protect this village with our lives. It isn't up to you to decide what we choose to do. We are a team, and we will work as a team. So stop your childish arguing."

"Calm down Naruto." Kurama suddenly spoke up inside Naruto's mind.

"Don't tell me to calm down, Kurama! You know full well what happened the last time I let others help me fight him!"

"He was at his full strength then. He is only a shell of what he used to be right now." Kurama was trying to knock some sense into Naruto, before he totally lost his temper.

"He still has power, and that power is what I'm worried about." Naruto didn't see how he could convince Kurama of his point of view.

"Minato is the strongest shinobi around besides the Third Hokage, and that brat Kakashi is a jonin and is strong already. You have the strength to go up against him."

Naruto didn't say anything else to Kurama, he was feeling so frustrated that no one was listening to him. He turned back to see Minato staring at him with a look of authority that showed he wasn't going to take any arguments. When he looked at the Hokage, he saw the same look. He knew that he had lost. "Whatever." Naruto walked to the door without looking back at the other two. "I'll be waiting at the front gate."

Naruto was sitting by the front gate when he sensed someone watching him. He was about to go and find out who it was when he heard Obito's voice in the distance. Oh great... perfect timing you guys... Naruto felt uneasy about being watched. He thought it could have been Danzo, but the chakra wasn't the same.

"What are you looking at?"

Naruto turned to see Kakashi staring at him. "Hey little brother. I wasn't staring at anything. Just observing, ya know." He didn't want to let them know about the person watching.

"Yeah well, you look weird." Kakashi pointed accusingly at Naruto. "Now instead of enjoying the scenery, can you tell us about our mission so we can get going?

"We'll tell you about it on the way." Naruto didn't trust his surroundings. He especially didn't like the feeling of being watched. "This is a top-secret mission, so we don't want anyone to overhear us." Naruto could still sense someone watching them. He wanted to get out of there as soon as possible, but just before they were about to head off, Naruto heard someone calling his name.

"Big brother Naruto!" Itachi was running as fast as he could towards the group.

Naruto was surprised to see Itachi there. "Hey Itachi! What's up?" Naruto walked over and met Itachi at the entrance to the village.

"Are you going on another mission, Naruto?"

"Yeah. You actually caught us just before we left, ya know." Naruto was getting frustrated feeling like everything around him was trying to stop them from going. "Did you need something Itachi?"

Itachi had a faint blush on his cheeks as he held out a box to Naruto. "I brought some lunch for you to have."

Naruto took the small lunch box with a surprised look on his face. He remembered when he took the bell test and got tied to the post, but Sasuke and Sakura shared their lunches with him. "Thank you." Naruto had a small but sincere smile on his face as he patted Itachi on the head. "This is great."

"Be safe, okay. You need to see how strong I've gotten when you get back."

"Don't worry!" Naruto smiled and gave a thumbs up to Itachi. "I promise we'll be back soon." Naruto sent one final wave to Itachi before walking back to his teammates. "Come on, let's get going."

The five of them didn't waste any more time before they darted off into the trees. They knew that they had a long journey ahead of them and they wanted to take advantage of the daylight while they had it.

The group had been running in silence for most of the day when Kakashi spoke up in an annoyed tone. "So are you finally going to tell us what our mission is?"

"Not yet." Naruto spoke up from the front of the group.

"You said that before we left, Naruto. When will you tell us?" Obito was the next to speak up. He wanted to know what this special top-secret mission was.

"I believe we should just tell them, Naruto. It wouldn't be difficult while traveling." Minato tried to talk Naruto into telling them.

"No." Naruto was starting to get frustrated. He couldn't get the feeling out of his head of being watched earlier. I know I recognized that chakra. I just don't remember who it was. "I'll tell you when we stop for the night and we have a secure spot. I'm not risking anyone spying on us."

Minato was worried as he watched Naruto silently. He's been acting weird all day. He noticed that Naruto was being more blunt than usual and he seemed to be a little paranoid. When he could see that the sun was starting to set, he called for the team to stop for the night.

Naruto was about to say something, but decided not to when he noticed how tired everyone else was from running all day, so he quietly started working on a sound barrier instead as the others set up the camp. When everything was finished and they were all sitting around the fire eating their dinner, Naruto finally spoke up. "Alright, I'll tell you what the mission is now."

"Finally." Kakashi rolled his eyes as Naruto finally began to speak.

Once again Naruto told his story. He explained how Madara twisted all the events in the future so that he could control the whole world through genjutsu, the war, he explained his power and the power of the Sage of Six Paths, and he told the story of how he and Sasuke were given this power.

As he told the story of the war, he made sure to leave out the information that Obito was the one that actually started the war because Rin had died. By the time he was done telling the story it was well into the night, and everyone's faces showed how shocked they were.

"Wait, so you're saying you do have the power of the Legendary Sage of Six Paths?!" Obito was looking at Naruto like he was the star in some awesome movie. "That is so cool! Can you like, reshape lands like him? What about the creepy eyes they say he had?" Obito was listing off questions as quickly as he could talk.

Naruto was staring at Obito a little awkwardly. "Um, I guess I could reshape the land if I got into a bad enough fight and had to use a lot of my ninjutsu. As for the eyes, he did have the rinnegan, but I don't. I never really questioned it before ya know. I guess it's because I just don't have the ability to use dojutsu."

Kakashi, Rin and Obito continued to question Naruto until they all fell asleep. Naruto finally sighed in relief when the questions stopped. Man I thought they would never stop.

"Naruto, I'll take the watch for tonight. So you go ahead and rest."

"Thanks." Naruto didn't say anything else before laying down, falling asleep almost immediately.

Minato was watching Naruto with an amused look on his face. Looks like he's been able to work things out a little bit. It's kind of funny how fast he can fall asleep. For a while Minato continued to just watch the forest. It was quiet until he heard Naruto and turned to see him sitting up again. He was about to ask Naruto why he was still awake when he noticed that his eyes were blood red, with a slit for his pupil, the marks on his cheek had become more defined whiskers, and his teeth had sharpened into fangs. "Naruto?"

"Hey, Minato." Kurama's low voice rang out in the darkness.

Minato was shocked at the voice he heard coming out of Naruto's mouth. "What the hell?"

Kurama started laughing. "Ha! I suppose it does seem strange to you to hear me talking."

"Who are you?"

"I'm Kurama, the nine-tailed fox." Kurama started laughing again at the now startled face Minato was making. "I'm not going to eat you, Minato."

Minato was still shocked at what was happening. "What happened to Naruto?"

"Don't worry, he's just asleep. I just switched with him for a little while so I could speak with you."

"What did you want to speak to me about?" Minato couldn't believe that he was actually having a conversation with the nine-tails.

"Don't mistake me for the one who is inside Kushina. Naruto can be a stubborn brat, but he is family to us. I want to talk about him, and the only reason I am okay with this is because Naruto put a seal around the camp, so I can talk without being overheard."

Minato nodded to Kurama. "Alright, you've got my full attention."

"I'm sure you've noticed that Naruto has been a little uptight and impatient today?"

"Yeah, actually. I did notice that. He's usually pretty calm and easy going."

"No, he's not anymore." Kurama's deep voice turned sad as he spoke. "Naruto has been through a lot in his short life, and I'm sorry to say it was mainly my fault. He used to be an idiot, and he is still that way most of the time. He cares deeply about everyone around him and will do anything for his friends, even give his life for them."

"Yeah, I got that feeling after the last couple of missions we went on with him. He goes out of his way to protect everyone else. He even almost got killed at Kannabi Bridge."

"Yes, well, after the Fourth Great Ninja War when Naruto lost everyone, he became more withdrawn. He still has nightmares and he gets panic attacks. He blames himself for everyone's deaths. That scar on his chest, I could have healed that right away, but he wants it there as a reminder for letting his friend die."

"But that's insane. That wasn't his fault."

"I know that. But it's because he cares so much. Madara is the one who caused all those deaths. He let them help him and they all died. So can you imagine what he's feeling right now, having all of you tag along with him to go and see Madara?"

Minato was silent as he thought about what Kurama was saying. He thought back to how Naruto reacted when the Hokage told them to bring more people, and how Naruto has seemed so paranoid. "I did notice he has been a little quick tempered and has seemed overly paranoid."

"Naruto doesn't want any of you getting hurt. Madara may be almost dead, but he is still dangerous. The paranoid part is because at the Leaf Village before you guys left, he sensed someone watching him, but wasn't able to find out who it was."

"Wait, someone was watching him? Was it Danzo?"

"No, it wasn't that bastard Danzo. We'll talk about that later. What I wanted to mention was that I am worried about Naruto."

"Of course. I am too."

"Naruto is acting solely on his emotions right now. When he does this, he tends to get in trouble. I try to talk to him to keep him calm, but as soon as you get to Madara's hideout I am sure that Naruto will start to lose his temper."

"What will happen if he does?" Minato was glad that Kurama was telling him more about Naruto, even if it was a little strange. But he knew that he wouldn't get this information from Naruto himself.

"He acts without thinking things through. If he does this, I am worried Madara could hurt him."

"I see." Minato was deep in thought for a while as he thought about what he could do. "Well, I promise I'll keep an eye on him, and I'll help out with whatever I can.

"Thank you Minato." Kurama nodded to Minato. "Well, I'm tired. I'm going back to sleep."

Minato watched as Kurama laid back down and almost immediately fell back asleep. Well I guess it's true when Naruto always says he's lazy. Minato laughed to himself as he quietly continued to keep watch for the night thinking on what would happen when they finally would go face to face with Madara in a couple of days.