It was a warm spring night in Konoha, birds nestled contently in the trees, citizens happily made their way home, and the ninja of the village went about their various assignments in the shadows. But one citizen, a young boy named Uzumaki Naruto, was not able to head home that night. No the poor boy, only six years, had been hit with a sake bottle thrown by an angry drunk. Normally the young boy would have had little problem avoiding such a sloppily thrown bottle but today he had been distracted. He had been thinking about the young girl who he had seen being bullied earlier that day.
It was due to this distraction that the bottle hit him square on the head, knocking him out of his thoughts and the tree he had been sitting in. He landed on his head and the world went black.
To his surprise when he woke up he wasn't outside by the tree but in a dark sewer. As he stood up he noticed in front of him there was a set of large cage doors with a tag reading 'Seal' in the center.
"So my jailer finely visits." A voice rang out from within the cage. "Younger than expected. Tell me brat why are you here?"
"Uh, where is here? And what do you mean jailer?" Naruto asked the voice. Suddenly two large, crimson eyes opened within the cage, they were bigger than Naruto himself with slight pupils.
"We are in your mind, brat, where I am caged." The voice spoke out.
"W-why are you caged in my mind? Can you get out? Did I do that to you?" Naruto asked, confused and frightened by both the voice and large eyes.
"No brat you did not put me here. I may tell you how to release me but first, how old are you?" The Voice spoke, its large eyes looking down on the young child in front of it.
"I am six, believe it! How old are you?" Naruto spoke, his fear forgotten.
"Ha, I am far too old to put a number to. But you, brat, are here many years too early. How did you find your way here and why?" The voice asked, a hint of suspicion creeping in at the end.
"Um, I don't know. I was sitting in a tree thinking about this girl with funny eyes when a bottle hit me on the head. I fell and woke up here, believe it." Naruto said, scrunching up his face as he recalled the earlier events.
'Well that verbal tick means he is definitely Kushina's son and if he's anything like her he can't lie to save his life. Those whiskers are even endearing.' The Voice, also Known as the Nine-Tailed Fox, thought to itself. "Tell me kit, do you know who I am?"
"Uh, not really, sorry Mr. Voice." Naruto said, looking sheepish.
"I am the Nine-Tailed Fox." The Fox said simply as it summoned light within the cage, illuminating its full form. It stood several stories tall, its nine tails billowed out swaying slightly as if there was a breeze, and its fur was a deep orange-red.
Naruto could only stare at the fox, he had heard stories about the destruction it had caused and how the Fourth Hokage had sacrificed himself to kill it. His young mind was racing to come up with a response; stuck between fear and awe. Finally he managed to form the words to speak, "Your orange! That's my favorite color, believe it!"
The fox nearly fell over at that, it had expected a lot of things but not that. "I am glad you approve but surely you have something else to say?" The Fox asked with a chuckle.
"Well, how did you get in my mind? I mean I thought the Fourth killed you?" Naruto asked. Flinching when the fox bristled at the mention of the Fourth.
"You can not kill a tailed beast, we are beings of sentient Chakra. No your leader sealed me within you to stop me and he had to call the Shinigami to achieve even that." The Fox said, reining in its anger to not scare the child.
"Does that mean I am a demon, like what some of the villagers say?" Naruto asked looking down at his feet sadly.
"No, it means you are keeping me from killing those villagers. I am sealed in you, you are not me. Understand?" The Fox asked, seeing the boy nod the Fox continued speaking. "Now that that is cleared up, tell me who are your parents kit?" 'I could be wrong but those whiskers and the tick are sure signs of who his mother is.'
"I don't know, the Old Man says he doesn't know either." Naruto said, the sadness in the young child's voice pulled on the Fox's nonexistent heart strings.
"Don't be sad, kit. I can tell you who your mother was, I am not certain who your human father was but you are at least somewhat my child as well." The Fox said, silently cursing himself, 'Why did I say that!? Why did my jailer have to be so young, I can't stand sad kids!'
"You know my mom! What was her name? What was she like? D-did she love me?" Naruto practically bounced as he asked his questions, a second later the last part of the Fox's sentence registered. "Wait your my dad?! Is that why I have whiskers?"
"Her name was Uzumaki Kushina, like you she was a jinchuuriki. That means she too had me sealed within her. She definitely loved you, she was so very happy to learn she was pregnant with you, its all she talked about for months. As for me being your dad, no. Not really, you were exposed to my Chakra before you were born so some of my traits were passed down to you. I am the reason you have whisker though." The Fox said with a sigh.
"Can you tell me more about her? Please dad!" Naruto asked, using the unstoppable Puppy-dog-eyes jutsu. The Fox tried to fight it but the eyes and being called dad was too much.
"Later kit, for now you need to wake up. You said you fell off a tree, its not a good idea to lay unconscious in public." The Fox said kindly.
"Wait, how will I get back here?" Naruto asked.
"Just sit somewhere quiet and think of being here." The Fox answered.
"Alright! I will see you soon, fox dad! Believe it." Naruto yelled happily as he faded out of his mindscape.
Waking up Naruto could see that it was darker than when he first entered his mind. Jumping to his feet he started to head for his house. Along the way he received a few glares from the villagers who were still awake but he paid them no mind, too happy to care.
He soon arrived at his run down apartment and unlocked the door. Locking the door back Naruto made his way to his room. He readied himself for bed and fell asleep with a bright smile on his face, today he had met his (sorta) dad!