"Man... I feel like I barely got any sleep." Naruto rubbed his head as he woke up.

Minato felt a little bad for Naruto. He knew that it had to be because Kurama was talking to him, but he didn't want Naruto to know that. "Well, you'll be able to rest more tonight. For now we need to eat and get ready to travel more today."

"You're damn right about that!" Naruto faced Minato directly while bumping his fist against his hand.

Minato didn't comment on the anger he heard in Naruto's voice. He knew that he would just have to keep a close eye on him while they were traveling. "Come on, let's pack up and get going."

The five of them continued running throughout the day, only stopping for a quick lunch break. Minato noticed there were a couple of times when Naruto's eyes would flash red for a split second. Now I understand why Kurama was worried.

When the team stopped for the night Naruto offered to take the watch for the night. He could still sense someone watching them, and he could tell it was the same person from the village. He set up the same sealing jutsu around the campsite, but was intrigued when he noticed that they made no move to attack. They are only observing us.

Naruto noticed that the night was eerily quiet. He knew that they were getting close to the hideout. They would most likely be there by tomorrow. I can't wait any longer.

"Naruto, don't rush into anything without thinking." Kurama spoke up to keep Naruto company.

Naruto rolled his eyes. "You don't think I know that?"

"Well, you do like to rush into things." Kurama's voice took on a sassy tone. "And I have known you your whole life."

"Hey! I haven't done that for a while ya know!"

"You rushed into the battle at Kannabi Bridge."

Naruto was caught off guard by what Kurama said. He had to think about it before realizing that he was right. "Alright... that doesn't count. I was trying to keep them from dying, ya know."

"And you nearly got yourself killed."

"Alright you stupid fox! I'll be careful, okay!"

Kurama grumbled as he conceded the argument. Oh yeah Kit... I'm sure you will be... He was thinking this to himself as he drifted off to sleep. He wouldn't admit it out loud to Naruto, but he was worried. He had a bad feeling about what they were getting themselves into.

Naruto was annoyed the next morning when everyone woke up. He knew that his dad was keeping an eye on him, he knew that Kurama was being over-protective, he knew that they were being followed and it was starting to annoy him. He didn't say much as they all started off once again. He was more than ready to get things over with.

It was mid-afternoon when they arrived at the spot that they had determined was where Madara's hideout was. They decided it was best to survey the area in order to figure out where the entrance was.

After a while of looking around, they finally found a small section of the mountain where the rock was just a little bit different. "There seems to be a strong seal placed here." Minato spoke as he surveyed the rock. "This won't be easy to break through."

"How can we help, Minato-sensei?" Kakashi walked up to Minato.

"I'm afraid just waiting is going to be the best thing you can do right now. I'll work on figuring out how to release the seal."

Naruto was pacing back and forth as Minato studied the seal. He didn't want to wait any longer. I can't believe we're so close, yet all I'm doing is standing around!

"Hey, Naruto?"

Naruto turned to see Rin standing next to him. She had her arms folded across her chest and she was looking down with uncertainty in her eyes. "What's up, Rin?"

"Well, I was just wondering how strong an opponent we're up against." Rin couldn't make eye contact with Naruto. "I'm not that strong, so I don't know how much help I'll be."

"Don't worry, Rin." Naruto had a look of understanding on his face. "No matter what happens, I'll keep you all safe. Okay?"

Rin briefly smiled at Naruto. "Yeah, okay. Thanks." When she was done talking, she walked back over to Obito, who gave her a small comforting hug.

They are cute together. Naruto had a small smile on his face as he watched the two talk and laugh together, but his whole attitude changed once he heard Minato call out that the seal had been released. "Finally!" Naruto was at the entrance quicker than anyone else, his anger was starting to rise.

"Calm down, Naruto." Minato spoke sternly to Naruto as he noticed that he was starting to get a little too worked up. "We are all going to go in together. We don't know what we will face on the other side."

Naruto grumbled under his breath as they all got into position. "I'll break it." Naruto started gathering chakra into his right hand as everyone watched on in astonishment. "Rasengan!" He yelled as he let the rasengan collide with the rock wall.

The wall shattered under the pressure of the dense chakra. Everyone, including Minato, was looking at Naruto in awe. "You know how to do Minato-sensei's jutsu?" Kakashi was stunned that someone other than Minato could do the rasengan. "That is one of the hardest jutsu to master."

"Yeah, I can add a change in chakra nature to it as well. I'll show you sometime." Naruto was slowly walking into the dark cave that extended into darkness as he spoke.

"You can do that? I can't even do that." Minato was astonished.

"Don't be surprised old man, ninjutsu is what I specialize in." Naruto secretly rolled his eyes at Minato. "I can actually change the chakra nature in multiple ways."

Everyone was silent as they heard Naruto talk. They knew he was strong from the story he told them, but they didn't realize just how much. He didn't really talk a lot about himself, but more about the friends that he had made, and of course Madara who they were after now.

They had been walking down the dark passageway in the mountain for awhile when they suddenly came to another boulder with a seal on it.

"This seal is stronger than the other one was." Minato pointed out as they reached it.

"What are we going to do Minato-sensei?" Obito spoke up from the back of the group.

"I'm not sure."

Just as Minato answered Obito, they all felt the release of chakra and suddenly the rock was shifting to reveal a doorway. I do not like this at all. Minato was thinking this to himself, and could tell that the others were thinking the same things as they all got into fighting stances, and Naruto began to glow as he entered his nine-tails state. "Let's go."

When they walked through the door they entered a large cavernous area. They could see there was some sort of chair in the center. They could barely spot the figure that was sitting there, who seemed to be waiting for them.

"It's been a long time... Naruto." The voice was deep and sinister, and it sent chills down the spines of everyone in the group.

"Madara." Naruto nearly growled out the name as he looked at the old man that was staring at him.

"Now now, don't be rude. I did let you in here didn't I?" Madara's voice echoed through the cavern as he spoke.

"You bastard! I don't care about anything you do!"

"Naruto, enough!" Minato stepped in before Naruto could do anything.

"Don't tell me what to do." Naruto turned towards Minato with anger in his eyes. "You give this guy any time, and he'll kill you."

"Naruto, I thought we were friends. We've been through so much together."

Naruto's anger rose as he heard Madara speak. "I'm going to kill you!"

"Oh, I think we need to have a talk first, don't you? You've left out so much information to your team here." Madara waved his hand and suddenly Naruto and his team were all trapped within a barrier. "Obito."

Obito shivered as he heard Madara speak his name. "What?" His voice was quiet as he replied, but it seemed Madara could hear it clearly.

"Obito, why are you still hanging around these people? All they do is belittle you and put you down."

Obito was astounded that Madara would speak of his friends that way. "They're my friends, that's why."

"But Naruto hasn't even told you the truth of what happened in the future. How can you say he's a friend."

"Shut up!" Naruto was banging on the barrier as he tried to break it. "You don't get to say anything! It's your fault!"

Ignoring Naruto, Madara continued to speak to Obito as if they were the only two there. "You were supposed to be crushed under those rocks Obito, and I saved you from that fate. And despite his promise, Kakashi murdered Rin. And you were the one that started the war that Naruto spoke of. You killed so many of his friends and comrades. He hates you, Obito."

Obito was staring blankly in front of him, not wanting to believe what he was hearing. "That's not true. It can't be."

"It's not!" Naruto was yelling at Obito. "Obito! Kakashi didn't murder Rin! Madara made her into a Jinchuuriki and once she would have returned to the village she would've been forced to destroy it. She jumped in front of Kakashi's chidori and killed herself to save the village! And you turned to our side in the war. I don't hate you. I want to save you!" Naruto was panicking. He didn't want anyone to get hurt because of Madara, and he especially didn't want Madara getting his hands on Obito.

"I..." Obito took a deep breath to get his bearings. "I believe you, Naruto."

Naruto sighed at the trust that Obito was putting in him. "Thank you Obito."

"You annoying brat." Madara growled towards Naruto. "You are always getting in the way." Madara made another sign and suddenly Naruto was wrapped in vines and wood.

"You already have this power?" Naruto instantly recognized the first Hokage's jutsu.

"Yes, well, having knowledge of the future comes in handy."

Naruto could finally see the tubes that were attached to Madara's back. He followed them and saw that they were coming from a large statue. As he looked, he also noticed a couple of shadowy figures standing behind Madara, but couldn't see who they were. Naruto finally broke the vines and wood that were trapping him before working on breaking the barrier, but as he was pounding it, it suddenly just disappeared.

"Go ahead, they can leave." Madara had a weird tone to his voice that Naruto didn't like, but he wasn't going to argue if that meant the others could escape.

"Get them out of here, Minato." Naruto could feel that something bad was about to happen.

"What?! No way!" Minato, Rin, Kakashi and Obito all yelled out at the same time.

"We are not leaving you here alone. We came to work together, remember." Minato had a commanding tone as he spoke to Naruto.

"I don't care! Get those three out of here now!" Naruto's chakra flared up as his impatience grew. "Even the way he is, Madara is too strong."

Minato gathered the three together and used his flying raijin jutsu to transport them all outside the cave and to a safe distance. "Alright, I'm going back to help Naruto. You three stay here!"

They all just nodded their heads, too drained from dealing with the raw power they felt from Madara, and watched as Minato instantly disappeared back into the dark cavern.

When Minato made it back to the cavern, he saw Naruto was fighting these weird white creatures. They went down easily and didn't seem to have much fighting strength, but there were a lot of them. "Naruto, are you okay?"

"I'm fine! What are you doing here?!"

"I'm here to help you of course. Now what are these things?" Minato spoke as he began to take down the weird creatures.

"It's kinda really hard to explain, ya know!"

The two of them continued to fight off the creatures until there weren't any left. They were both tired by the end and breathing heavily.

Madara spoke up once again when they were done fighting. "Now that you two are all tired out..." He motioned for one of the figures to step forward, he was half white, and half black.

"Zetsu?" Naruto suddenly recognized the chakra he kept feeling. "Dammit, that stupid black blob again?"

"Did you honestly forget about him?" Kurama suddenly spoke to Naruto.

"Well yeah, actually, I did!" Naruto felt a little embarrassed that he forgot something so important.

"Naruto. You ruined our plans before. This time we'll make sure you help us instead." His voice was dark and mysterious.

Just as Zetsu finished speaking, Naruto noticed the other figure moving towards them. Both he and Minato got ready to fight, but Naruto froze when he saw who it was. "This isn't possible." Naruto felt like his heart had just been ripped out of his chest.