A/N: Totally starting out. Hoping for some great reviews.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
Talking With The Tenant Part 1
There was only one way to describe what just happened: "Eye-Opening".
Uzumaki Naruto, Konoha's Ninja Academy "Dead-Last" Graduate and "Self-Proclaimed" Future Hokage of The Hidden Leaf, was never the type for deep insight. If anything, he was the ideal choice for impulsive knucklehead. He possesses poor chakra control, brawler-style taijutsu, no genjutsu, a very small array of ninjutsu, and lacks the general knowledge of most things that ninja are expected to know. He is the released form of everyone else's inner child that they prefer to hide to show their "maturity". As a result, he makes situations sort of... awkward.
However, despite these shortcomings, Naruto has quite the good points as both a person and a ninja.
As a person, he has unwavering determination and upstanding morals. He would never betray a friend or act out of any evil intentions. He may act a bit obnoxious, but it's only to gain attention which he so desperately craves from his peers. Deep down, he is quite the insecure person who just wants friends who'll acknowledge him...
Even if it means being hated, or laughed at as the class clown.
For instance, he continuously professes his love for a fellow classmate, Haruno Sakura, but is hilariously rejected. He doesn't even have any genuine feelings for her. At best, he thinks she's cute and wants to protect her. Like a fragile flower in a typhoon. He's probably mistaking that feeling for love. No surprise considering Naruto hasn't felt much love throughout his own life.
Given his traumatic past of being ignored or rejected, and his cruel fate, he still holds himself up high with pride and confidence. And because he has experienced a great deal of pain from a very young age, Naruto knows the true significance of kindness and always offers it to anyone.
Unconditionally.
Even to his own enemies...
As a ninja, he possesses Kage-level chakra reserves and great stamina. He has also mastered the high-level ninjutsu: Kage Bushin as well as its large-scale version: Tajuu Kage Bushin. Naruto is also an excellent asset in group battles due to his ability to boost team morale and unpredictably turn the tables against an enemy using his on-the-fly prankster-like style.
Yes. Overall, Naruto is quite the interesting individual. Especially for a twelve-year-old orphan. An enigma of sorts. Quite the entertainer as a host, perhaps that's another reason to like him.
However...
He's a human.
And humans are all the same in the end... They eventually become corrupted and cruel... Uzumaki Naruto is no different...
At least, that's how it should've been...
But this one mission had changed everything. After all, it can only be described as "Eye-Opening".
Residing deep within Naruto's subconscious and watching him from the day he was born is the Lord of The Bijuus (King of the Tailed Beasts): The Kyuubi no Kitsune (The Nine-Tailed Fox). A demon fox beast possessing powerful chakra and nearly infinite power. This being has hated humans throughout history for always sealing it away and trying to control its power. As a result, it takes joy in massacring the human race.
The attack on Konoha was no different... except for one minor detail: The Kyuubi never intended to attack the village at first. All it wanted was to break out of the seal it was imprisoned in. It's true that the Kyuubi may have wanted to attack the village, and it did, but it didn't instigate the attack. In fact, it was controlled into attacking the village until it had finally regained control over itself. That's when it attempted to raze the village to the ground for constantly sealing it away over the years.
And that's how it ended up being sealed away once more by Konoha's beloved Yondaime... into a baby... Uzumaki Naruto.
All the Kyuubi could do at that point was claw away at the giant gate standing before it hoping to break the seal, but even the Kyuubi knew when to give up. So, it could only watch its new host as he grew day by day. The Kyuubi had seen the horrors of those fated to become Jinchuriki (Human Sacrifices) countless times. Even so, the Kyuubi never felt a shred of sympathy for them. Because it knew what came next...
The abused hosts would begin to feel hate, which would unintentionally draw out the fox's power, and allow the Kyuubi to strengthen the link with its hosts and forcefully break out of the seal. Naruto was supposed to be no different.
Well, he was SUPPOSED to be...
Instead, the boy endured the painful beatings, glares, and rejections without any feelings of hatred. If anything, the boy was the embodiment of love and forgiveness.
And that's how the fox knew... It was completely fucked.
Because now, it couldn't break out.
Instead, its only option to ensure its own survival was to heal the boy whenever he was hurt. After all, if the Jinchuriki dies, the Bijuu dies too.
And so, the fox has continued to watch and heal Naruto throughout his life. It could read Naruto's mind, understand his psyche, and sense his deepest desires. Interestingly enough, the boy possessed no hatred or evil within him. This meant that the Kyuubi's chances of breaking out of the seal the old-fashion way were zero.
Overall, the brat was... tolerable in comparison to other humans. The Kyuubi actually found Naruto to be a refreshing change of pace and quite fascinating. Deep down, it wanted to interact with the boy as well. It would never admit that out loud, though.
But it couldn't. Naruto had to be the one to make contact with the fox through the seal first. That's how it always worked.
And so, for twelve long years, it waited patiently. Until THAT mission changed everything.
Naruto's first C-ranked mission: Protecting a bridge builder at The Land of Waves.
It turns out that the client, Tazuna, had lied about the rating of the mission, but Naruto's team leader, Hatake Kakashi, decided to follow through with it anyway.
In the end, Naruto was put in extreme danger and was under the impression that one of his comrades, Uchiha Sasuke, had been killed because of Naruto's own powerlessness. As a result, Naruto developed hatred for the first time within himself. And so, the connection to the fox through the seal was established.
The fox didn't mind giving Naruto its power. In fact, the fox willingly pumped Naruto full of it. But surprisingly, it wasn't to break out of the seal. The Kyuubi actually felt sorry for the boy. The first truly kind human it had ever laid eyes on experienced such a heavy loss alongside his already horrible past. And so, the great Kyuubi put aside its pride and offered Naruto its strength.
As a result, the opponent was subdued. But the Kyuubi realized that Naruto was ultimately no different than the other humans around him. If the boy could feel hatred, then he could succumb to corruption and go crazy with power. It really was a shame, too.
Or so the Kyuubi thought...
Until Naruto started resisting the Kyuubi's power and forcing his hatred back. Finally, Naruto successfully stopped himself from killing his opponent, the masked hunter-nin Haku. A little later, Naruto actually started to cry for Haku when he had been killed. He also delivered a heartwarming speech to another opponent, Momochi Zabuza, about ninjas being more than expendable tools. They were humans. And so, they also had hearts. There was more to being a ninja than just strength and bloodlines. Even the Kyuubi got a bit teary-eyed at Naruto's words.
In the end, the Kyuubi made a decision: It would initiate contact and ally itself with this human. With Uzumaki Naruto.
If it was with any other random human, the fox would've definitely flipped its shit in a rage. But if it was Naruto... maybe...
The Kyuubi decided that it would finally speak to Naruto as he traveled with his team back to Konoha after completing their mission. It could finally speak to the boy now because the boy had tapped into the fox's power through the seal.
'Here it goes... Wait a second! What do I even say?!' The Kyuubi thought nervously.
It was no surprise that the Kyuubi felt nervous. After all, it had never spoken with a human before. And what's even worse was... the thought of Naruto rejecting it. Then, all the faith in humanity that the fox had ever possibly restored thanks to Naruto would be lost.
But... this was a risk that the Kyuubi had to take. Finally, it made up its mind and willingly spoke out loud for the first time.
"Hello." It said calmly, while trying to hide any malice from its voice.
Naruto, who had been marching triumphantly on the bridge behind the rest of his team suddenly stopped.
He immediately turned around, but saw no one. He looked left, then right, then above him, and then he looked off of the rail of the bridge he was walking on. There was no one below him.
Finally, he spoke:
"I must have just imagined it, but I think someone just greeted me..." Naruto said out loud to himself.
"I assure you that this isn't your imagination. You may be a knucklehead, but you're not psychopathic. At least, I hope not..."
"OH M-"
"Shut up, Naruto. I'm trying to be nice here. If you want to say something then say it in your head! Don't ramble it out loud or else your team will hear you!"
Naruto froze for a good ten seconds. Then, he spoke though his mind.
'K-Kyuubi...'
"It's been a long time coming, my jailer."
Naruto started walking again. He quickened his stride out of nervousness and the need to catch up with his team who were far ahead of him.
'How are you doing this? And what do you want from me?'
"You used my power when you fought that masked ninja, remember? That red power surging through your body and setting your insides on fire. By the way, you're welcome. Without it, you would've died. Anyway, doing that has loosened the seal so now we can talk. About damn time if you ask me."
'And what do you want from me? To break the seal and set you free so that you can attack the village again!? You probably think that I'm an idiot, don't you?! Well, guess what! My parents died in that attack and my life has been hell without them. So I'll never help you, you rotten fox!'
"... You have every reason to hate me, Naruto."
'You don't kn- WAIT! W-What?'
"You're right. It may have not been my intention at first, but I did attack your village. Your parents did die because of me. Your life has been hell without them and because I'm sealed within you. That's why I wanted to talk to you."
Naruto was completely shocked as he stopped walking once again.
"I want to say that I'm sorry for ruining your life. But to be fair, humans have not been the kindest to me throughout history either. Surely, you can relate to that. After all, you're one of their own and they heartlessly rejected you. Hell, many of them continue to reject you even now. And you finally became a ninja, too..."
'H-How do yo-'
"I've been inside you for a long time... since the day you were born. Listen, I understand that you have a lot of questions right now. But why don't we wait until we're back at your apartment to answer them, alright?"
'Hey! You can't just start a conversation and just suddenly leave! Besides, where do you think you can go? You're stuck inside of me.'
"You bumbling fool! You stopped walking and now your teammates are staring at you and have been calling out your name for the past three minutes. Meanwhile, your expression resembles that of a person who has seen a ghost."
Naruto immediately stopped staring off into space and saw Kakashi, Sakura, and Sasuke staring at him with raised eyebrows and arms crossed.
"What're you doing over there, Naruto!? C'mon already!" Sakura shouted.
"Hn." Sasuke grunted.
"You can't possibly be tired already, Naruto. We haven't even reached the other side of the bridge yet." Kakashi said passively.
Naruto immediately started running towards them as the Kyuubi's words echoed through his head.
The legendary monster fox demon: The Kyuubi... It had spoken to Naruto. It was trying to be nice to him. It had accepted Naruto's logical resentment. Finally, it had apologized to him.
'Maybe I'm missing something here, but the Kyuubi doesn't seem so bad to me...' Naruto thought to himself.