Antithesis
Disclaimer: Naruto is not mine.
Naruto's earliest memories are of death. A translucent hand reaching through his own stomach, through Minato's chest, and the tear, as demonic chakra screams through his body and mind. He can still recall the sharp contraction of the Yondaime's pupils as his heart stutters to a halt, and hear the sickening crunch of bones when the young kage falls, dead before he hits the ground.
He is careful to never reiterate these vague memories. It's only partially because he is not entirely certain whose they are.
Naruto is unsettled when he meets his genin team, at the way his new teacher looks at him, as if he has seen a ghost, and the rush of familiarity that curls into his chest. He makes sure to smile wider and brighter, until his eyes crinkle, and Kakashi looks away.
He doesn't miss the way Kakashi-sensei's hand lingers on his shoulder just a fraction of a second too long, nor how he jerks away like he's been burned when Naruto glances up at him, all wide blue eyes and tinted goggles.
Naruto wakes, fleeting images of countless massacres of Iwa shinobi littering the battlefields at his feet, seared behind his eyelids. His breath turns cold while his cheeks are dry, and he thinks he can taste gold and iron on his tongue.
Gold for the Hiraishin, iron for the filthy blood that has seeped into the pores of his skin and contaminated his veins.
He doesn't realize he has been holding his breath until foreign chakra smolders in his lungs. Naruto stands under the hot water longer that morning, scrubbing his hands from the blood that the Yondaime has spilled.
Kakashi is surprised when Naruto doesn't hesitate during his first kill, nor the ones that come afterwards. He shouldn't be. Naruto has never feared death; it is the same taste, the same colour, the same smell as the chakra that provides equilibrium when the Yondaime's threatens to overwhelm him.
It is the perfect counterbalance. Naruto is as much the Kyuubi's child as he is Minato's.
Author's Note: I've seen a couple takes on this idea in several different styles, and decided to try my own.