For so long

Naruto hadn’t been in an empty mindscape for quite some time. The comforting malevolence of Kurama had been evacuated from Naruto’s psyche, and all that was left was a massive void, the glowing form of his father, and the massive empty cage Kurama used to be in.

Naruto blinked. One of those was not like the other. Clad in yellow a soft golden glow, a face that Naruto recognised from years of staring at the Hokage monument sat on a thin body, slightly shorter than his son. Minato Namikaze was not a large man, in fact he had needed to rely mostly on reputation to cow threats during his tenure as Hokage. Naruto, as aware as he ever was of the reputation of those around him, saw only the kind eyes and slight smile on Minato’s face. Naruto ran through the bars of the cage to his father, looking at him with wild eyes. “Dad?” He asked, barely able to believe it.

“Hey there, kiddo.” Minato stepped up to wrap Naruto in a large hug. “Figured that since the nine-tails is all broken out, I may as well use up the last of what I’ve got to talk to y-OOF!” A solid blow to Minato’s gut drove all the air from his lungs. He looked up at his son, aghast. “What was that for?” He wheezed out.

“You sealed Kurama in me! Sure we’re buds now, but I couldn’t make a single friend my own age for years! And then you died on me. I’m pissed, pops!”

Minato recovered his breath, looking up at his son. “I- look, dying’s pretty terrible, but in my defence there was a hole in my chest. Besides, I figured with Jiraiya as a godfather, you’d be set! If anyone knows how to deal with a tailed beast, it’s him.”

“Which would’ve been great if I’d met him before I came of age! It took eighteen years, and I had to be the one who found him.”

“Really?”

“YES!”

Minato frowned. “If I ever see him again I am gonna slap him round so hard. See how he likes sage mode.” He muttered. “Did you say you’re friends with the Fox?”

“Yep!”

“You’ll need to be careful with that. He’s an evil trickster to his core. I want to believe the best but, with the half you’re saddled with, I’m not sure he’s capable of kindness.”

Naruto waved his hand dismissively. “It’s fine. He’s really mellowed out since the time loop started.”

“The what now?”

“Oh, right, you don’t know about that. Uhhhhhh.” Naruto outlined, as well as he could, the gist of the time loop. Minato was frowning by the end.

“I see. I’ll leave Kurama to your judgement, then. Why did you try to seal him back into your body, though? From the sound of it, you’d end up back together once you died.”

Naruto cocked his head. “Because he’s my friend, and he didn’t want to be controlled. What else would I have done?”

Cracking a wide smile, Minato thumped Naruto on the back. “Thank god you take after your Mother. She was always the better person of the two of us.”

“Jiraiya gave me her sealing textbooks, you know. Thought it would be the best way to teach me the hiraishin. I kept saying the exact same things she’d written in the margins.” Naruto chuckled sadly.

“She was incredible. And hey, if the seal really does revert at the start of each loop, you might get to meet her one of these times. She used up all the chakra she had left getting those chains out of you, but she was in here with me until then.” He sighed. “How are you going with the hiraishin? I always loved using that technique.”

“Not that well.” Naruto eased himself onto the floor of his mindscape. “Been working on it all month, and I could only work out how to link up to one seal.”

Minato ruffled his son’s hair, beaming. “That’s my boy! It took me much longer to work out even that. Tell you what, why don’t I show you a thing or two about my seal, and you can catch me up on everything I missed.”

The duo began talking animatedly, jumping between haphazard explanations on how to access the rest of the network and disjointed tales from the life of Naruto. Minato laughed heartily when he heard that his old master had made a fortune writing erotica, and that Naruto had accidentally one-upped him in his own relationships. Hearing about the **** of Haku, he pulled Naruto in for a tight hug, remarking that the **** of a comrade, however briefly they had held that role, was never an easy thing to deal with. And hearing that Naruto had managed to sink a rasengan into Orochimaru’s gut set his face into one of grim satisfaction. Finally, the form of Minato faded into an indistinct silhouette, little more than a voice.

“One last thing, Naruto. There are a few people who might work out what’s happening to you, and try to break their way into the loop. Orochimaru is going to be the easiest of those to defeat. As for the others, one is a man named Danzo. He runs covert ops, and sees everyone bar himself as potential collateral damage. He’s dangerous, Naruto, but important for the long-term running of the village.” Minato's grin was audible. “They should be able to manage without him for a month, though. You’re doing great, son. I’m proud of you.”

“-ruto?” The tail end of a hopeful question met Naruto as he rose from his subconscious. Blinking awake, he saw three pairs of worried eyes staring back at him.

“Uh, hey guys.” Hinata threw herself into Naruto’s arms in relief, Sakura slid in to wrap her arms around him from the side, and Temari stood awkwardly, unused to showings of physical affection.

“I, uh, gotta say. Seeing a tailed beast burst outta someone brought up some bad memories.” Temari shuffled from foot to foot. “Though it kinda helped that it immediately turned Orochimaru into a paste. And didn’t do the same to the village.”

Sakura brought her hand up to Naruto’s head, running her fingers through his hair. “Kurama was very helpful for the last bit of the loop, actually. He’s such a good boy.”

“That mate of yours is terrifying, Kit. I don’t know how you stay on top of her.” A vague feeling of being scratched on the head and dragged round by a very fox-like ear flitted across Naruto’s mind. The feeling was fleeting as he felt Kurama retreat further into his cage.

“We thought you’d wake up sooner.” Hinata murmured into Naruto’s chest. “I missed you.”

Naruto squeezed her softly. “Sorry, guys. I got caught up talking to my dad.”

Sakura’s hand froze. “Beg your pardon?”

“He left some of himself in the seal. Was meant to step in if I decided to let out Kurama, but decided to come out when ‘Roachy broke the seal. But let’s focus on the important thing. You beat Gaara, Hinata!”

Hinata blushed. “I caught him by surprise, and it wouldn’t have worked if the one-tail had been leaking out to control the sand.”

“You’re a ninja, uh,” Temari paused as she realised she’d never thought of a nickname for Hinata. “Angel. Yeah. You’re a ninja, Angel. Surprise is just another weapon on the belt. And even without the one-tail, Gaara’s really fucking scary. Ya did good.”

“Angel?”

Temari shrugged uncomfortably. “You’re the first person I like who’s beaten Gaara. And you were flying all over the place during your fight. You’re kinda like a guardian angel.”

Raising an eyebrow, Sakura smirked at Temari. “Put a lot of thought into that one. What’s the deep emotional meaning behind ‘Pinkie’?”

Temari stuck her tongue out. “Because I’m still not sure the carpets match the drapes.”

“Oh?” Sakura rose to her feet, stalking over to the sand nin and beginning to unbutton her dress. “Why don’t we check, then?”

Temari blushed deeply, pressing back against the wall. “I- uh- I’ve never, uh, done it with a, um, girl, uh, before.”

Sakura let her dress fall to the floor, hooking her fingers into her bra strap as she came to a stop in front of the flustered blonde. “Are you against the idea?”

“Well, no-” Temari was cut off by Sakura’s bra hitting the floor. She was hypnotised by the ripple that travelled across her freely hanging breasts as Sakura least against the wall. Looking through her lashes at Temari, Sakura reached out to caress her cheek.

“Then I suppose you’d better check the carpets.”

A shiver ran down Temari’s spine as she sank to her knees, pulling down Sakura’s panties to reveal her waiting pussy. The neatly kept patch of hair was, in fact, as brightly pink as Sakura’s flowing locks.

Firmly, Sakura laced her fingers through Temari’s hair, guiding the woman’s lips to her cunt. Temari’s tongue began to tentatively explore Sakura’s folds. She moaned in response, scratching Temari’s head slightly. Suddenly, the blonde girl found her face pulled forcefully into her lover’s pussy.

“You can be a little more enthusiastic, ‘Mari.” Temari began licking faster, trying to mimic anything her previous partners had done that had actually gotten her off in the past. It must have worked, because Sakura made a noise low in her throat, a sultry purr of satisfaction. “Good girl.” She said.

As Temari lapped feverishly at Sakura’s sweet juices, Hinata had already mounted Naruto, feverishly pounding her hips on his, throbbing cock pistoning in and out of her grasping cunt. Shivers ran up her spine as ecstacy ran through her veins.

Naruto, for his part, relished the vice grip that the heiress’s pussy had on him. He sunk his fingers into her ass, taking fierce control over her movements, forcing her movements into metronomic regularity. Before long he found himself bursting into her depths, filling her up with his seed.

Hinata nestled into his chest, sighing happily. Sakura and Temari, draped in the sultry mantle of lovers, tumbled into the bed next to them, kissing deeply. Naruto, one hand on Hinata’s ass, the other softly playing with her hair, fingers scratching gently at her scalp.

“Hey Kurama?”

“Hm?”

“Do you think I’ll be able to see my dad again?”

“Well, the pure lands are a well-documented phenomenon, techniques to contact and even retrieve souls have been around for as long as your village system. However, Minato’s attempt at sealing me pulled him somewhere else, into the stomach of a grim reaper. You could seal yourself similarly, but that being an injury of the soul it could carry between loops.”

“Nah, I mean like what happened at the end of last loop.”

“What?”

“When dad showed up after you went all ballistic on the perv. Can that still happen?”

“I need you to think through what happened right before I ‘went ballistic’ as you put it.”

“Oh, right. Well, long story short, mum and dad are stuck in your seal and I want to get them out.”

“Think I’m going to need a little more info there, Kit. But off the top of my head, even if you could get them out of the seal they’d reset with it at the end of the loop. You’d need to move them from the seal to your mind or chakra.”

“Oh. Alright.” Naruto stared up at the ceiling. “Thank you, Kurama.”

“What?”

“For helping everyone.”

“I didn’t do it for you, or them. I just had my own frustrations to take out.”

“I know you say that, Kurama. But still, thank you.”

The Fox was silent for a long moment. “You’re welcome, Kit.”