I. He was aware-not-aware in a state between the first flirting of consciousness and actual comprehension that came with being awake. It was like that moment before waking up, the muddled confusion of sleep-not-sleep, the gap between dreams and reality. But this wasn't because he was waking up after a good night's rest. No, Naruto was not yet a week old when he found himself in the confusing muddle of awareness.
It had been the water that woke him up, the dripdripdrip of falling drops against stone. His consciousness stretched out, unfurled, and tried to understand what was happening. It wasn't quite successful, especially since his brain wasn't even fully developed (it wasn't even anywhere close), but luckily or not, Naruto had the help of the Kyuubi.
Later on, when Naruto thought about it, the very first thing he could recall was the boiling chakra and the comforting warmth of red fur. But at the moment, it was only the fire-red chakra that mattered. It reached past the metal bars and threaded itself through him, intertwining with his untouched chakra coils. The blue-red mixture settled within his body, flowing and swirling in a state of constant motion. Naruto loved it; it tickled his brain.
That was the first of many influences the Kyuubi would have over Naruto, but it was the one that had the most interesting effects, especially later on in Naruto's life.
II. Naruto was one year old when he finally began to understand speech, and when he was finally able to reply in fist-waving and face-scrunching. The Kyuubi growled and huffed a lot, but it spoke to Naruto with the only kindness it knew. After all, Naruto was a mere kit, trapped within his own mind from the machinations of his own father, and wasn't that a riot.
So the Kyuubi spoke to him, told him stories about lands long-changed and the perpetual fickleness of human beings. It told him about the battles it had seen, and the battles it had caused itself. Naruto learned of blood and massacres, or betrayals and manipulations, and when he asked for more, the Kyuubi obliged. Naruto learned about the will of fire and the Elemental Lands from the entity who had existed before, during, and would exist long after everything he knew perished. And Naruto listened, he learned, and the Kyuubi's history would be burned into his mind.
It amused the Kyuubi, being downgraded from the terror-inducing nine-tailed fox demon into a story-teller entertaining a child that was but a babe, but it was also cathartic. The Kyuubi was able to describe the world through its eyes and hopefully impart some decent life-lessons, even though Naruto might never need them, because he might never escape his mind. But the Kyuubi continued, because kits needed to be entertained.
Besides, the distant possibility that Naruto would grow up to emulate him was fascinating. No human would expect anything resembling a demon in a human, despite any knowledge of the child being a container. There was a certain instinctual acceptance of other human beings, even if they were only human in shape.
(No one could even hope to imagine what Naruto was turning out to be.)
III. At three, Naruto was significantly more advanced than any other ninja child. Ever. The Kyuubi had taken it upon itself to teach Naruto as much as it possibly could, despite the minute possibility of him waking up. It was an enjoyable task. Without outside influences, Naruto was a malleable child, open to anything and everything the Kyuubi said and asked of him. He never complained (much), and learning from a millennia-old demon had its benefits.
What was bothersome was the rate at which the kit learned things. The Kyuubi couldn't stick to theories and demonstrations and lectures forever if he wanted the kit to be the best. Eventually, the child would unlock the veritably never-ending well of energy that all human toddlers seemed to have, and the Kyuubi would have to tire him out somehow. It decided on general stretches and strength improvement. Boring, easy, perfect.
It was funny, the Kyuubi decided, how the kit reacted to pain. Lessons and drills and tests had been given to him since he had been aware enough to learn, and now... Well, it was a sight to behold. Almost as if he had chakra tails of his own and an overwhelming presence to brush off the effects of hurt. Really, it was almost a blessing how the Shinigami and Minato had proceeded with the seal. The Kyuubi hadn't had so much fun in centuries.
However, the Kyuubi was constantly aware of how fragile the human-kit was. A simple clamping of jaws around him or a slight brush of a tail would break him. The Kyuubi was always very careful when handling its kit, in case it put an early end to its entertainment (the Kyuubi also made a note to change this fragility).
IV. Sometime in Naruto's infancy, the effects of the blended human-demon chakra started to show. The first thing that happened, which the Kyuubi would be eternally grateful for, was the cessation of the kit's incessant need to make noise. For some reason that the Kyuubi could never fathom, the chakra had seeped into the kit's mind until he was more demon than human. It hoped. Regardless, the human-kit stopped his wailing and the Kyuubi could finally sleep a whole night in peace again. The kit also stopped babbling baby-talk at him, which the Kyuubi found itself expecting to hear at the oddest times.
The Kyuubi never realized how great an effect chakra could have on personality. The kit was growing up to be quiet, incredibly self-contained, and almost solely expressed himself in grunts, growls, and the like. Then again, perhaps it was the result of being around an easily irritated fox demon who had no time for useless things, such as words (other than when telling a story or teaching, of course). Admittedly, it would be important for Naruto to learn how to talk and how to express himself in a 'normal' fashion, but he could learn that by himself later in life if he needed it. The anticipation of the events that would unfold if Naruto woke up delighted the Kyuubi, and it literally poured chakra into Naruto's body to hopefully heal whatever went wrong during the sealing.
After the personality gains, or defects, the demon chakra started on his physical features. It was incredibly slow at first, but the whiskered marks on his cheeks darkened and widened, his jaw-line slimmed even more, and his eyes sharpened and the pupil took on a vaguely slit shape. Those were the visible changes. Inside his body, his bones hardened and his muscle fibres were more than mere protein. Naruto, in a sense, was almost like a demon in human form. But the Kyuubi knew that was an impossibility, so it didn't bother trying to categorize the kit.
V. Steel was forged in fire and tempered in water; a blacksmith had infinite patience, watching for the perfect sheen of blue-grey and hammering out the flawless sword's edge. The flow of chakra through the body was like a river, relentless and smooth, an untameable force of nature, although there were ways to calm it, to taper the stream until it was as fine as a freshly made sword.
Unfortunately, because Naruto had the luck of caging the Kyuubi, the focus and discipline it took to master his chakra was much greater than any regular ninja. Every time he thought he had a grip on the volatile energy, the Kyuubi would tell him to try a new exercise, and he realized that his control really wasn't any good at all. It was frustrating, in a sense, but the Kyuubi had taught him patience. Naruto knew that skill only came with effort, and no matter the set-backs and failures and trials he had to experience, he was going to come out on top. The Kyuubi had instilled a fear of worthlessness in him and the ambition to be great; Naruto refused to fall to Madara's machinations and he refused to let himself fester without developing all of his abilities.
There was a certain charm to power, although the Kyuubi made sure to temper his ego with tales of arrogant ninja who had met their demise because of overconfidence. Naruto just loved the way chakra gave him control; the skill to walk on water, harden his skin, even augment his senses... It was fascinating, the way the human body adapted to chakra. Since Naruto had demon chakra, every amount of chakra held double the potency, but there were also drawbacks. His body wasn't perfectly adapted to the caustic chakra yet, so it seared through his body whenever he drew on it; soon, of course, the Kyuubi's advanced healing would adapt to this. The biggest problem was control, but Naruto would have that under control if it was the last thing he did.
VI. Inhale, and feel the tension leave the limbs, scraping along bones and passing into lungs. Exhale, and breathe out the suffocating weight, bask in the utter relaxation that filled the body. Even though Naruto was an excitable child, he loved the calmness of meditation. The languid almost-weakness quivering through his muscles when he fell into the state of mind.
Detachment from reality was a wondrous thing, even if Naruto didn't technically exist in reality. He was trapped within his mind, with the Kyuubi in the seal, yet there was always the need to get away. Naruto enjoyed social contact, yes, it was one of his greatest loves, but at the same time, there was a squirming in his chest that demanded space. Most humans needed others to truly thrive, but the partial demon personification in Naruto affected him. Or at least, that's what he thought; it could just be a personality quirk.
Naruto enjoyed freedom, and freedom came in very, very limited amounts when he was trapped within his head. One of his greatest desires was to be able to run. Run until his legs turned numb and he couldn't breathe, even with the Kyuubi's enhancements. He wanted to feel air turn to liquid fire in his lungs and feel his limbs weigh relatively ten times more than usual.
But he couldn't do that. So he substituted the lack of freedom with meditation. The absolute control over his breathing, the pull of his muscles, and the rise-fall of his ribcage. His mind drifted, falling into the abyss of aware-not-aware, much like the first week of his life. Meditation returned him to the semi-consciousness that gave him a semblance of being worriless. There was no more training or learning (though he did enjoy that) or the vague thought of waking up and facing other humans.
VII. Naruto and the Kyuubi never explicitly talked outside of history story-telling and lessons. Instead, they did whatever struck their fancy at the time in each other's company, most definitely in comfortable silence. It wasn't quite friendship, the way their teacher-student relationship worked. Some of the time, it barely bordered on tolerance of each other (Naruto blamed that on the close proximity, the Kyuubi said it was because Naruto annoyed it).
Yet, Naruto liked to think they were best friends. The Kyuubi wasn't his father, it was a gigantic demon fox with nine tails, and Naruto couldn't reconcile the apathetic yet still so alive fox with a father figure. It was a cooperation borne by necessity and it was up to them to make what they would. They weren't family and couldn't even be family because at the end of the day, Naruto was a mere human, and the Kyuubi was a demon.
Even with the knowledge that the Kyuubi would never feel the same way he did, or even experience emotion in the way humans did, Naruto loved the fox. It was the settled feeling in his heart, the absolute calm in its presence, and the way he simply gravitated towards it. In return, the Kyuubi cared for him and raised him as best it could, it taught him to be able to throw away all those things humans considered important, such as feelings, and it taught him how to survive.
Theirs was not a common friendship or a family, it just was. They were two individuals who had been in each other's presence so long and so continuously and they gave themselves to one another so unconditionally they were almost like two halves of the same whole.
VIII. When Naruto was five or thereabouts, the Kyuubi decided that he was ready to learn about his parents. Admittedly, the Kyuubi didn't care for the mental health of others (or even itself), because it was an irrelevant matter. If other entities could not learn and support themselves, than the Kyuubi had no use for them; they were insignificant. Weak. But Naruto was the closes thing to a kit it would ever have. And plus, Naruto was a human kit, the most mentally and emotionally delicate species the Kyuubi had ever known.
Gently— less growl filled— the Kyuubi explained Namikaze Minato: the legend of the Yellow Flash and the Yondaime Hokage. It mesmerized Naruto with stories of the hiraishin and the rasengan... and most importantly, the importance he held for Konoha. Naruto didn't have an unwavering loyalty or love for the village, nor did he love Minato, because the Kyuubi was the one who raised him, but from the way the Kyuubi talked, Naruto wondered, sometimes, what his life would have been like. He had a deep respect for Minato, the way he had chosen to sacrifice his own son because no other parent could have made that choice, the way he shouldered his duties and rose far, far above the challenge.
The Kyuubi was a lot more reluctant to talk about Kushina. Naruto gathered that she had contained the fox before him, that she was a fiery redhead who was unique enough to catch the Yellow Flash, but... Naruto assumed that the Kyuubi felt some lingering resentment towards her, as she once used to be its container. A jinchuuriki, a human sacrifice. That was when Naruto felt a smidgen of fear that the Kyuubi thought the same of him, that he was its cage and nothing more. But the Kyuubi quickly reassured him (by huffing its rancid breath in his face) that Kushina never had the chance spend such an extended period of time with it, nor did she ever qualify as its kit.
(It also added that Naruto was more than a little demonic and petty worries should be beneath him.)
IX. If there was one thing the Kyuubi had to say it was apprehensive (afraid) of, it would say Shinigami. Death Gods. They were the highest order of power in the world; the cycle of life and death was legitimately unstoppable. They were the sole species that the Kyuubi could not overcome, the only reason that the Kyuubi could not call itself a god. Although, truthfully, the Kyuubi wasn't terribly worried about anything they could do. They could not kill the Kyuubi, nor erase its existence; the Kyuubi was as much a part of the natural world as they were. The Kyuubi had a certain respect for Death; Death was honest, Death was fair, and Death existed out of time. It was the only thing the Kyuubi recognized as above itself, the only higher power it would ever acknowledge.
To Naruto, the Kyuubi explained the eight point seal, the will of the Shinigami, and the sacrifice of Namikaze Minato. To itself, it could admit the niggling seed of worry, deep in the recesses of its mind, that Naruto would blame it for his father's death. But once again, Naruto proved to be unpredictable. Despite all the chaos and upset the Kyuubi had caused, Naruto still loved it. And despite the human propensity for despising the effect and not the cause, Naruto didn't hate the Shinigami either, nor Minato.
In fact, Naruto was so strange, the Kyuubi wondered if he could legitimately feel hate at all. All of the humans the Kyuubi had contact with were so petty and so easily riled. Naruto was like... Naruto was like the sun; a constant state. Logically, the Kyuubi knew that Naruto could feel like anyone else because, in the end, he was still a human and not a demon, but sometimes... sometimes, it wondered when it saw the blank, clinically curious expression on his face.
(And maybe, it felt a little bit of regret.)
X. Time had little importance for Naruto and the Kyuubi, caught as they were in a mind-scape, but once every while, the Kyuubi would become agitated and much more irritable. Naruto chalked this up to being in heat with no females around, but the Kyuubi disabused him of that notion when he voiced it. Thoroughly.
Naruto, however, became even more curious as to why the fox became so antsy; it was incredibly out of character for the apathetic, emotionless fox— which wasn't to say the fox didn't care, more that it had... different priorities. After the sixth time Naruto witnessed this phenomena, not that he was counting, he decided to ask.
The Kyuubi's answer was most definitely not what he expected. Weaving a tale of a ruthless, destructive man with red eyes, the Kyuubi explained how it have been dupedby this man. Naruto found himself just as enraged as the Kyuubi. To believe that a simple man could trick a demon, could trick a bijuu, could usurp the order— that was almost blasphemous. That Madara had done it was incredulous; Naruto was furious on behalf of his teacher-mentor-friend. The fact that such a man dared to even go about such an act was— was—
(This was the first time Naruto understood the phrase, "seeing red.")
It was doubly frustrating to know that, as of the moment, he could not do a single thing to avenger the fox. Naruto was trapped across the bars from the Kyuubi, and all he could do was seethe. But that didn't stop him from stoking the embers of his fury; when he got out— when, and not if— Madara would wish he never even contemplated such an act.
XI. The two companions were in the middle of one of their rare talks that didn't involve teaching of some sort, when Naruto felt a strange tug-clench at his naval. The thought that someone was disturbing the seal was the first thing that popped into his mind, but as he looked at the bars and slip of paper around him, he realized that couldn't be the case. Naruto was just about to answer the Kyuubi's questioning look, when suddenly the fox just wasn't there anymore.
Now, Naruto found himself staring up at a startling white ceiling and— he couldn't move— there was something in his arm in his vein feeding a liquid into his system— and his body burned— fire fire fire the fire was so hot hotter than the Kyuubi and he opened his mouth to scream and— he gasped back into blessed, painless awareness, back in front of the Kyuubi. For once, the Kyuubi was standing up instead of lying curled just behind the bars, its mouth was bared in a silent snarl and the red, red eyes were literally glowing. Naruto started babbling about white and liquid fire and pain and what the hell happened? Slowly, the anger from the Kyuubi drained away, and a contemplative look settled across its face.
Naruto quieted, to let it think, and to analyze the situation himself. That was one of his earliest lessons; look, see, and observe. Process what your senses tell you, look at the information from every angle and extract all the different possibilities. Rid yourself of distracting thoughts, focus.
Then— "Kit, perhaps—"
"That was reality."
XII. If there was one subject the Kyuubi could not model for its young charge, that would be fuuinjutsu; the fox did not possess the proper dexterity to draw the seals. Instead, it showed Naruto how the bijuu could impress their intent, their chakra and project the energy behind that to achieve what ninja did with seals. But however much a demon Naruto had turned (or was slowly turning) into, he still had definite human limits.
Very, very basic things he could manage without drawing a seal, but the most he energy he could freely manipulate was enough to spark a campfire. Which disappointed him greatly. Naruto knew he couldn't be perfect at everything, especially since he was learning from a demon, but it was the first, honest, failure he had experienced. He didn't quite hit a slump, if there was one thing Naruto had over the Kyuubi, it was determination, but he realized that there were some fundamentally human aspects of himself that he couldn't change.
The use of seals was apparently a human drawback.
However, the lack of the Kyuubi's ability to draw seals didn't deter him for long, if anything, it just motivated him to perfect human seals. The new zeal for learning, of course, just pushed the Kyuubi to force him to learn more. It would project its memories of ancient and more recent seal masters practicing their art and tell Naruto to deconstruct, recreate, and redesign the seals they used. Truthfully, this was an extremely dangerous way to learn, as there were so many ways a seal could go wrong in untrained hands, but Naruto had faith in the Kyuubi's ability to shield both of them from any possible harm.
Although, sometimes, the thought crossed Naruto's mind that, how, exactly was the Kyuubi able to see all these seals if it was an enormous, killer intent emitting fox? He chalked it up to it being an ancient, omnipotent demon.
XIII. "Ne, Kyuubi, even if I train in here, does that affect what's happening outside at all?" Naruto wondered, curious. It wasn't that he was particularly worried about having to retrain himself from the beginning, he just wanted to know if he could keep the Kyuubi's natural advantages or not.
The Kyuubi merely huffed in his face and told him to figure it out himself. Typical.
Theoretically, nothing in a mind-scape could physically affect a person's body, but once again, there was demonic chakra to take into account. Naruto assumed the Kyuubi wouldn't let however many years worth of training go to waste, unless it just wanted to make him to everything over again.
"Repetition is good for the soul," Naruto remembered the Kyuubi snark at him once when he had been asking about the endless, endless amount of drills he'd had to do over and over and over until, even in his mind, he felt like he was dying.
In the worst case scenario— and there were definite scenarios now that he experienced a brief moment of lucidity from whatever condition he was in in the physical world— the Kyuubi's demonic aspects wouldn't have passed to his body, and Naruto would have to train himself from the ground up, except with almost an infinite amount of more effort to make up for the Kyuubi's lack, which would be an interesting trial. On the other hand, if—
"I can hear you thinking from here; you'll be fine. Now quiet."
Naruto loved the fox.
XIV. Naruto was aware that he wasn't quite human in any way, to be honest, but the most noticeable thing to others would be the distinct emotional strangeness he had. Or at least, he assumed that would be the most noticeable thing; the Kyuubi's experience with humans had shown him exactly how unpredictable they could be.
Growing up raised by a tailed-demon, Naruto placed a lot less emphasis on the future; alongside his training, which he did devoutly, Naruto (almost) only did what pleased him. Demons weren't the sort to compromise for other things, others things changed for them. Added on to that, Naruto was very absent-minded yet incredibly focused at the same time; even towards the Kyuubi, who was the only social contact he had, he would space out and ignore it for hours on end— which annoyed the fox enough to make a ruckus until Naruto realized what was happening— but he had a single-minded determination to enjoy, finish, or improve whatever he was doing in the moment. Furthermore, demons didn't believe in dancing around painful or awkward subjects— Naruto didn't really even understand what awkward was. That didn't mean they were above lying or manipulations or deceptions, but they wouldn't mince matters to spare someone's feelings.
Naruto wasn't sure how he would get along with people later, but he didn't know whether or not that fact scared him or didn't matter. He was a perfectionist; if he had to play human to be able to eliminate Madara, then he would. If he couldn't fit in, that would be a problem. Based on the Kyuubi's memories, though, humans accepted near everything.
What worried him was that those people were all 100% human and they had human interactions since birth. All Naruto had was the Kyuubi (which he wouldn't trade for the world).
XV. Sarutobi sighed and took a long drag from his pipe, obscuring his features in the clove-scented smoke. It had been seven years since Minato died, since he had sealed the fear-inducing Kyuubi into his legacy. Seven years since Naruto had been condemned to the hospital bed, lying there pale and lifeless and as far from a healthy child as he could be. Though, in truth, that was a lie as well. All the doctors Sarutobi had called to care for Naruto and keep an eye on him would report that the boy's musculature and chakra coils were extremely well-developed. Sarutobi wondered if that was an after-effect of the Kyuubi, and if Naruto was still alive or if he had been consumed by the demon.
With all the evidence, Naruto was most definitely a medical anomaly; most coma-patients would wither away until life-support couldn't keep them alive, and they were disconnected to fade away in peace. Because of the Kyuubi, Sarutobi assumed as there was no evidence, not even a lick of chakra to tell them why, Naruto stayed alive, and even flourished in his unconscious state. It was strange and on many levels disturbing, but Sarutobi hoped. He wanted to see this child run around Konoha, enjoy life, and maybe one day, become Hokage just like his father.
It was an arduous task keeping him alive, as much as it pained Sarutobi to acknowledge that. The instant he had been reinstated as Hokage, he'd issued the law banning all discussion and mentions of the Kyuubi and its relation to Naruto, but that wasn't enough. Somehow, Danzou and the civilian council had gotten wind of the jinchuuriki and demanded the child to be released into his care or executed. Typical, of the conniving, old man, but this was one matter that Sarutobi would not, could not back down on. So he kept him in the hospital, claiming that the helpless child couldn't do anything to the village and he wouldn't be of any help to Danzou in a coma. Eventually, Danzou backed down with the threat of ANBU, but just in case, Sarutobi kept up a guard of his most loyal ANBU around the boy (and rightly so, as they had stopped angry civilians on many occasions).
Sarutobi remembered Jiraiya's warning, just before the toad sage had left to travel, spy, and take pleasure in the fairer sex, that if he let any harm come to Naruto, there would be consequences. At the time, Sarutobi had been near-incensed at the mere thought of letting someone hurt Minato's child, but he still saw the logic in Jiraiya's warning; the 'Professor,' as he was so dubbed, was always soft on civilians and ninja under his rule. Thankfully, Jiraiya's worries were misguided. Despite the fact that Naruto wouldn't wake up— other than for the brief two second-long moment of consciousness a month ago that had terrified the nurse who had been changed his IV drip at the time, which raised Sarutobi's hopes that one day, the child would regain consciousness permanently— his health was perfect.
Unlike, Sarutobi mused, Minato's sort-of legacy, Kakashi. The ANBU captain had been on a suicidal mission rate, before the Hokage pulled him off the active roster. Upon hearing that verdict, Kakashi had begged to be able to do something, at the very least could Sarutobi let him guard Naruto from harm? Sarutobi conceded, with the stipulation that Kakashi take care of himself; he wouldn't let Naruto be protected by a young man with failing health.
Slowly, but surely, Naruto's presence had faded from everyone's minds, begging Sarutobi, Danzou, and the ANBU, which left him in peace. Now, it was just a matter of time (hopefully), waiting until the boy woke up.
Waiting, of course, was not a particularly pleasant job.
XVI. Naruto wondered, sometimes, what life would have been like if no mistakes occurred during the sealing; would he be a natural child, would he have grown into the ninja he was, would he have the Kyuubi as a companion? It was difficult, knowing that things could have gone so very differently, difficult knowing that he could never experience a normal human childhood, difficult knowing that he was now something quite unnatural. But for all his misgivings, Naruto didn't believe for one moment that he would ever give up the Kyuubi and being trapped in his mind.
There were some things that would forever remain strange about him (his constitution, for one) and things that could prevent him from making any significant bonds (such as his demonic chakra, which translated into an overwhelming aura and killing intent), but despite all that? Naruto was insanely grateful for the chance to learn from the fox, to be able to develop at such a rate and become something amazing. He might not become Hokage or be loved or even accepted, but in Naruto's mind, that was a fair trade-off for the benefits of being a jinchuuriki.
Other humans would probably bemoan that fact, but Naruto had known ever since his first conscious moment what he was. It wasn't something he had to learn about and accept later on, it was the only base fact of life that remained constant. He was what he was because of the Kyuubi, and the gratitude he felt towards the fox for defining him was indescribable. Naruto never worried about labels or friends or 'fitting in,' he simply was.
And no matter what happened, the Kyuubi would always be Naruto's locus.
XVII. The Kyuubi regaled Naruto with tales about the other bijuu, sometimes; it talked about the destructive, insane tendencies of Shukaku, and the bizarre oddities of Gyuuki (it also told him that it was called Kurama, sometimes, and Naruto was free to call it that if he wished). There was a sort of half-affection, half-animosity in its tone when it spoke of the other tailed beasts; the fox spoke of the Juubi, and how all the demons had been born from that so really, they were all the same being. It mentioned that while it personally believed that the number of tails depicted the relative strengths of the demons, its 'siblings' weren't so accepting of the idea.
Kurama reminisced about the Rikudou Sennin, what the man had sacrificed, and how, sometimes, during the long silences between the Kyuubi and Naruto, the fox would miss the man with an ache that was completely human.
The fox also mentioned in passing its deep-seated, ever-present hatred and disgust towards humans (of which Naruto wasn't one); it growled out the story of being caged and controlled and shut away for so many years, it almost forgot the feeling of the sun's warmth on its fur and the sheer enjoyment of freedom. Naruto swore to someday free the fox, somehow, even if that meant giving up his body and life (Kurama was vaguely pleased about this, but it also silently promised to never sacrifice Naruto's life for its own).
And finally, the Kyuubi explained exactly what it was to be the force of nature that it was; the reputation it had as an age-old natural disaster was quite correct. While the fox had a certain modicum of free will, there were times where it was forced by something (it wasn't quite sure what) to go somewhere and prevent the cultivation and multiplication of cruelty, heartlessness, and other such dark aspects of human-kind. It considered it as a job of sorts; a single-party disciplinary committee for humans.
XVIII. The next time Naruto woke up, he was a little more prepared for the pain and the foreign sensations. Even with the mental readiness, the waking took him by surprise (especially since he had no way to predict when it would happen). This time, instead of focusing on the burning in his veins and the searing ache in his lungs, he paid more attention to his surroundings.
White walls, machines, tubes running out of his body connected to those machines, stiff cot, and— oh, a person. Naruto crushed the insane urge to grin maniacally, he simply met the widening eyes of the old man. Opening his mouth, Naruto tried to say something, anything, but the burn that rippled through his throat and down his chest convinced him it was better to stay unmoving and silent.
Thankfully, the old man had gathered his wits by that time and flared his chakra, apparently a call for doctors, as after a few moments, a man clad in the typical white lab-coat of doctors everywhere burst into the room. Just like the old man, the doctor spent a couple seconds just staring at Naruto's open eyes, before resuming movement, fluttering around the machines and barking orders at nurses that had followed him in.
"Hello," the old man said softly, scrutinizing Naruto's face as if he were looking for some sign or signal, "Can you understand me?"
Before Naruto could try to speak again or even consider what to say and reveal, his world blacked out and his consciousness faded out of focus.
When he woke up, he was stark raving mad about the missed opportunity, but immensely relieved that waking up was not a one-time event. He hoped he would be able to stay awake soon.
XIX. After realizing that Naruto regaining consciousness was an actual possibility and not just a half-baked dream, the Kyuubi realized that it had been quite lacking in one aspect of the kit's education. While Naruto was aware that lying was a necessity in shinobi life (or any life), Kurama had never actively encouraged Naruto to foster the ability to deceive. It was because the fox appreciated the truth, and humans were prone to fibs and white lies, and Naruto could never hide anything from a being sealed within him that the Kyuubi never found it required.
Now, though, it had to teach Naruto to curb his blunt and naively truthful tells.
And, even though Kurama was a demon who had no morals to speak of or even any positive (or even neutral) emotions towards humans, it always held an abhorrence towards blatant manipulations. The truth was a powerful thing, and the human tendency to play around with it until they broke others was terrifying, and much worse than anything the Kyuubi could do.
So, while the Kyuubi explained the necessity of deception and careful omissions, he impressed the need to never, never, never toy with someone's mind to the point where they didn't know up from down or who they were anymore. It was only fair, it said, to let them know exactly who conquered them. The oppression and breaking of who someone was was a tool used by weak fools, who couldn't face challenges head on. It was not a matter of pride, that gave the Kyuubi this mindset, it was the hard truth that unknowns and confusion were terrifying and if the Kyuubi couldn't accept anyone doing it to itself, then it wouldn't force the fate onto anyone else (and if Naruto did it... well).
XX. The Kyuubi said ten years had passed, since it had been sealed away this time. Naruto wondered how it kept such an accurate track of time if they were both trapped in his mind, but that worry wasn't the most important thing on his mind at the moment, since he had woken up again.
This time was inherently different, he thought. There was a sense of being settled right down to his bones, and somehow, he knew he wouldn't be spending all his time in the dank sewer-cage with Kurama anymore. A bout of loneliness brushed against his mind, but he refused to let the feeling take hold; Naruto could finally start on his self-appointed task of killing Madara, the man who opposed everything Naruto stood for. Naruto wouldn't be feeling sorry for the loss of the constant presence of the Kyuubi, especially since he would have the fox with him until his last breath.
Naruto glared at the white ceiling, hating the fact that he still couldn't move, even though he could feel the power roiling in his muscles and the bone-deep tension and he just wanted to move. Soon enough, a nurse walked in, and upon seeing him awake, screamed for a doctor. In the resulting hubbub, Naruto slowed his breathing and let his chakra firmly root his consciousness to his body.
So soon he could almost taste it, Naruto could fulfill his ambition and the taint that was Uchiha Madara would be erased from the world. He would bide his time and patiently follow the humans until he reached his goal; there could be no failure.
(Although, when Naruto's eyes met the old man's, he was sure the path to vengeance would be fraught with interferences and set-backs. But he was prepared for that, he was prepared for anything.)
...
A/N: Just an idea I had, not sure if I'm going to continue it or just leave it to your imagination, heh; in essence, just read it as a one-shot. I've always loved the fics structured like this, so I thought I'd give it a try, but I don't think my drabbles are very consistent, oops.
Now, I stopped watching/reading Naruto ages ago, so I (barely) remember up to the Chuunin exams where Orochimaru invaded and whatnot, so if there's some glaring error, well... chalk it up to artistic liberties and AU-ness (you're free to drop me a message about it, though). I also think this could have been written better, because some things don't make much sense at all, but that's what suspension of disbelief is for, yay (though some of the stuff on the Kyuubi was lifted off Naruto wikia, which, while I was reading the info, made me realized that some stuff I said was extremely off. AU ftw, right?). Oh, and there are inconsistencies in the Japanese/English names (eg. Toad Sage vs. Rikudou Sennin), you can blame that completely on me being too lazy to fix it up.
This is unedited, so if you spot any errors, please let me know. Thanks for reading!