Reborn!

2: Peaceful Times, for Sasuke and Sakura At Least

"Sasuke-chan is such a bad liar..." Itachi stated, mild amusement causing his lips to tilt up in a small fond smile.

This caused Sasuke to flush a bright shade of red, just like his favourite tomatoes, as he began to stutter out an excuse. He was well aware that he was bad at lying, but his aniki did not have to point it out so blatantly! It was true, he was worse at it than Naruto!

'Actually...Hokage-sama is a bad comparison... He might just be the most cunning and devious of us all. Naruto was so sneaky, hiding so much from his team...' Sasuke's mind began to wander distractedly as he stared blankly into space.

Itachi smiled at his younger brother, getting the boy's attention once more, before gesturing the small boy over. Sasuke walked over hesitantly, knowing that his brother was going to poke him in the forehead. Itachi did as Sasuke predicted, poking him in the forehead.

"Itte!" Sasuke yelped before rubbing at his forehead, not used to having such a low pain tolerance once more.

Sasuke curled up in his brother's bed next to Itachi, deciding to just sleep and check on his parents in the morning. He also decided to wait until another time to check on Sakura and Naruto. He did not want to seem suspiciously overprotective, after all. He really did not want to face Sakura's teasing any more than he needed to.

While the other two time-travellers were having their tearful reunions, Naruto was silently cursing his horrid luck. It was October 10th, as he quickly gathered, his birthday as well as the anniversary of the "death" of the Kyūbi no Kitsune.

Naruto had hidden under a crate and quickly done up a simple seal to prevent his pursuers that had dōjutsus from spotting him. He sighed in frustration, grumbling softly to the beasts sealed inside him about his misfortune.

Naruto quickly entered his mindscape, only to see 10 separate jail cells for each of the tailed beasts. He first greeted his long-time companion, Kurama, before saying a quick greeting to the other eight friendly beasts.

Naruto then approached the cell of the Jūbi, surprised when he failed to see the huge monstrous tree-like form of the Shinju that he had gotten so accustomed to. He stood there in bewilderment for a while, only jolted from his reverie when a deep, powerful voice rumbled in his head.

"What is it, child? Well, nonetheless, I'd like to thank you for releasing me from that heinous man's control. Well, I'm glad that I'm no longer stuck in a tree too, I suppose..."

This stirred Naruto from his state of shock. He eyed the beast before him, actually more than a little surprised by the form that the bijū had taken. Who would have expected?

The Jūbi was a wolf. The Jūbi was grey, lined with blue and green patterns that resembled intricate tattoos that seemed to shimmer and move like molten lava. It had a huge maw, with fur that seemed to be made out of flames, shifting constantly despite the lack of wind. Its eyes were intelligent, a shifting mass of colours that seemed to swirl around in the depths of the creature's eyes. They had the pattern of the Rinnesharingan. Although it did not match the colour of Sasuke's eyes, it had the same mesmerising pattern, with 12 tomoe along with the rings.

All in all, the Jūbi looked nothing like it did before.

Naruto hesitated for a while, still eyeing the creature distrustfully, before replying carefully, "Your welcome, I was just trying to save my friends. I'm sure that you could tell that it was not very successful..."

The Jūbi seemed to snort slightly in amusement.

"I'd say that you were rather successful, child. You and your friends are alive now, no? But that is not important... I never did catch your name, did I?" the ten-tailed wolf asked him after proving his point.