A/N: Hey, guys. I was really surprised that I got such a good response from everyone on the first chapter. Anyways, it made me think, I got really scared before writing this chapter because I was afraid of ruining such a good thing, but I suppose you will like it once I get a little further. Also, currently, the vote for Naruto's girlfriend is as follows, Lucy 3, Ultear 2, and Mirajane 1.
Naruto: Aura Mage
Naruto's eyes fluttered open before he squinted as he gazed at the bright sun. Sitting up with a groan as his back popped and his shoulders ached from sleeping on the ground all night. Quite frankly, it surprised him considering he had slept on the ground for about 3 of his five years of life, before Jiji got him an apartment, but even then, he still spent many nights on the ground as he was left for dead by the villagers of Konoha.
As he yawned, he looked around for his mother and father, but not finding them, stared at the ground downcast as a familiar hollow feeling echoed from his chest where his heart was beating lightly.
"Great another one of those dreams. Why do I always fall for that? My parents are dead, the sooner I accept that, the better off I'll be." Naruto mumbled before tears began rolling out of his eyes before something soft ran across his cheeks, wiping away the tears.
Opening his eyes, his bright blues met crimson red ones set in the vulpine face of a fox about the size of a bicycle which was currently snickering at the sniffling blonde.
"Oh, come on, Ki- I mean Naruto. You think we and you becoming friends was a dream, well if you want to go back to our previous arrangement, then fine, I don't need a friend who cries as much as you." Kurama said before turning around and starting to leave before Naruto grabbed one of his tails and climbed on to his back.
"No, I sti-still want to be friends, Kura-sama. So, does that mean that those two really were my parents?" Naruto sniffled as Kurama tensed his legs before running across the open plain towards the tree line.
"No, Naruto, they are your parents. They just decided to let you sleep outside since you looked so content, they are currently in their house, which is where we are headed." Kurama answered, before jumping over a log in his way.
"Hey, Kurama." Naruto started before ducking as they passed under a low hanging branch.
"Yeah, Naruto." Kurama answered before swerving around a copse of trees.
"Last night, you mentioned Fiore. Then, Kaa-chan said that this is Fiore, so well, number one, how did we get here? Also, this is your home that you missed?" Naruto said, before gasping fearfully as the pair approached the edge of a giant lake.
"Well, on the first order, I have no idea since number one, we don't share senses at the time, and now we can't, and number two, you were unconscious, so I wouldn't have seen or heard anything. However, my Yin half should know since it was with Kushina for the process." Kurama answered before leaping into the air and vomiting into the lake as a small ball fell out of his mouth. Working quickly, he brought one of his tails to his mouth as a sphere formed on the end before he swallowed it as his tails began to spin around, carrying the pair over the lake to a small, two level house located on the opposite shore. "And on the second thing, yes, this is my home that I longed for; it truly is beautiful isn't it?" Kurama finished.
"Hey, Kurama." Naruto said again as the fox landed before bounding into the yard like the family dog.
"Yes, Naruto." Kurama answered once again as he let out a loud yip!
"Last night, weren't you trapped in that cage, and, you know, like the size of a mountain? And, oh, oh, oh, you said something about working with me, what did you mean?" Naruto asked innocently as Kushina exited the house and scooped up her son, squeezing him into her bosom.
"Well, those questions could be best answered by your parents while I go and find my foxier half." Kurama said as he slinked off into the house as Kushina carried Naruto, who was clutching her like she was a life raft, inside.
"Minato, Kurama brought Naruto back!" Kushina yelled as Naruto continued to cry into her top while she sat down in an easy-chair.
Naruto heard a loud thumping upstairs followed by a curse as the owner of said sound ran into the door frame. Finally, managing to make it down the stairs, Minato entered the room before falling into another chair with a sigh.
"So, this is my son huh?" Minato mumbled as Kushina shot a glare in his direction.
"Kaa- Kaa-chan, To- Tou-san, if I'm you- your son, then wh-why did you leave me f-for so long?" Naruto gasped out between sobs as Kushina increased the intensity of the glare being sent at her blonde husband.
"Because, Sochi-kun, someone decided to live up to the stereotype of their hair color." Kushina mumbled to her sobbing son as he slowly turned around to view his blonde father. Jumping out of his mother's grasp, he ran to the bathroom before pulling himself up on to the counter to gaze in the mirror before he began bawling once again and running back into the room and punching his father.
"You gave me your stupid hair, now I'm going to be an idiot like you! (Sob.) Why couldn't I get Kaa-chan's hair, it looks cooler than yours!" Naruto wailed before he leapt back into his mother's arms as he snuggled into her warmth. Kushina stuck her tongue out at the older blonde as he crouched in the corner with a dark aura around him.
"Oh, Minato, not the Depression Aura again; the last you used that you sent an entire village into a suicidal spree, and you remember the time before that, you caused that boy to murder his family." Kushina said as she picked Naruto up and carried him off to her room, leaving her now emo husband to brood.
"Okay, first order of business is to get you into something more… clean. I suppose you will need a bath first though so, hurry up, 'kay." Kushina said as she set her little blonde down as he sniffled before walking off to the bathroom once again to clean himself off.
After finishing cleaning himself he walked back into his parents' room where his mother sat in the corner reading a book on swordplay. Her eyes widened as she viewed her son, and it had nothing to do with the fact that Naruto was still too young to understand modesty. Numerous scars covered his young body, from letters scrawled into his skin, to symbols for demon and pain, to dead tissue around his legs from a fire. The majority of his ribs were visible against his skin as it was drawn up, and with each step a barely audible click was heard from the joint shifting in its socket.
"Honey, why do you look like that?" Kushina shouted bringing Minato running as he once again collided with the door frame in his haste.
"What do you mean, Kaa-chan, I just took a bath, is it not normal to do it without clothing?" Naruto answered, tilting his head as his neck elicited a resounding crack.
"No, honey that is normal, I was referring to this." Kushina said as she poked his exposed rib causing the young blonde to wince.
"Oh, well, the villagers always overcharged me for food so I had to eat the expired things so as to prevent me from starving to death; the rotten food always made me vomit everything up so I never really got much food to stay in my belly." Naruto answered honestly before running his fingers over the soft material of the clothes Kushina set out for him.
"Okay, I take it back, Chaos Mode was a much deserved punishment for the village hurting our son like they did." Minato said as he walked off to prepare lunch. "Hey, ramen okay for lunch?" Minato asked, as Kushina's eyes lit up as she planned to convert another to the wondrous ways of ramen.
"Of course, just add extra vegetables to Naruto's bowl." Kushina answered while Naruto looked on with a confused look in his eyes.
As Minato walked away, Naruto asked the question on his mind, "Kaa-chan, what's ramen?" prompting the mother to squeeze her child and mumble, "You poor, deprived thing, to have never experienced the perfection of ramen is like to live without any parents." Before both suddenly became depressed before Kushina began helping Naruto put his clothes on.
"Okay, Sochi-kun, this is a color wheel." Kushina said, pointing to a small extended sphere that seemed to glow with iridescence. "Just put your finger on it and think of the color you want and it will change your clothes to that color, understand?" Kushina continued her explanation as Naruto nodded and placed his finger on the wheel before his clothes turned a shade of purple.
"There now my clothes match your eyes, Kaa-chan." Naruto exclaimed happily causing Kushina to blush at her son. He had been here less than one day and already she felt like she didn't deserve a son like him. "He should be upset at me for everything but all he does is try to be like me." Kushina thought as she smiled at her son and pointed at the next part.
"And this wheel up here will adjust your hair color since you don't seem too happy with it." Kushina said and Naruto happily touched it before thinking of red and running off towards the mirror, where he once again began screaming and crying.
"Kaa-chan, I thought of red, but my hair turned orange, now I look like even more of an idiot and, and, and I look like a STRAWBERRY!" Naruto wailed as a voice came from the bed.
"And what is wrong with orange?" A fox slightly smaller than Kurama asked as Naruto covered his mouth and turned to face and answer the newcomer.
"Noth-Nothing is wrong with it, Kurama, I just want my hair to be red so I'll look cool." Naruto said before the fox huffed.
"Whatever, no matter what you do, you still look like a gaki to me." The fox said before another one landed next to it causing Naruto to gasp.
"Oh, shut up Kanari, you're just pissed off because I want to get back together, no need to take it out on the poor kid. To be quite frank, I don't particularly like orange either, I wish I had blonde fur like Mom, but no, I get stuck with this Kami awful color that just screams, 'HIDEOUS'!" Kurama said, causing Naruto to giggle as Kushina adjusted the wheel to red.
"There you go dear, why don't you go make sure it looks okay." Kushina suggested before Naruto ran off to check out his new hair. "Now then, what's this talk about getting back together? Surely you want to rejoin to regain all your power, Kanari?" Kushina asked while Naruto's giggles floated through the house.
"Well, it's not exactly to cut-and-dry Kushina, we can't actually join together into one being again. If we want all our powers in one entity, then we would have to…" Kurama trailed off and at the questioning look by Kushina, Kanari finished.
"Mate. We would have to mate. And then, our child would have both powers so in a sense we could cease to exist, or we might lose all our powers to that kid. But then again, it used to be custom in the old days for our kind to do this every time that a new heir appeared so we would age with them. If you plan for that gaki to be our new summoner then this wouldn't be to out of the ordinary, it's just that, well, …" Kanari said before also trailing off and Kurama picked up the conversation.
"We're both scared, this prospect of ceasing to exist isn't pleasant even for me, but I have spent five years with the kid, and I know he would be a great summoner, better even than you Kushina. But, Kanari didn't spend all that time with him and she is more doubtful. Besides, you still have to teach the kid how to use magic which could take who knows how long." Kurama said before a sniffle was heard behind Kushina, and all three turned to see Naruto, covering his eyes as he tried to hold the tears in.
"I-I'm (sniffle) so-sorry Kan-Kanari. You're afraid be-because of m-me. Please do-don't be afraid, I'll be fine without your help, just stay like you are and don't b-be (sniffle) afraid anymore!" Naruto wailed and gasped out before barreling into Kanari and squeezing her as if he could hug all the fears away.
"Why would you care for me, Gaki? You don't even know me, so why?" Kanari said as Naruto's tears streaked our resplendent orange fur.
"Because that's Naruto, he knows the pain and fears of death and not having the power to do anything about it so he doesn't want you to go through it as well." Kurama said as he used his tails to lift Naruto off the bed and place him back in Kushina's arm as she carried him off for some ramen with his family.
"So, what did you think of the kid?" Kurama asked his other half.
"He, He just hugged me like I was his best friend, no one has done that since Mom, even you don't hold me like that. If we do this, do you honestly believe that he will keep the power from going to his head, that he would respect us." Kanari asked to Kurama.
"I can't speak for certain about that, but what I can be certain of is that, that boy will protect his precious people to his death and even beyond that possibly." Kurama said and Kanari nodded.
"Fine then, let's do this. Just get it over with you quick shot." Kanari mumbled before they pair reverted to their base language of growls and yips.
(With Naruto)
Naruto looked curiously at the bowl of ramen set in front of him, like it would disappear if he dared to believe that it was real for even a second.
"Is it poisoned?" Naruto asked causing Kushina to choke on her noodles, and Minato to look downcast once again.
"My cooking isn't that bad, is it?" Minato mumbled as the depression aura returned around him.
"No, I mean, I don't know, I haven't eaten it yet, Tou-san. It's just that, people usually never just give me food, and when they do, it was always poisoned." Naruto returned while busily devouring the bowl of ramen in a peace offering. "But, this is very delicious, the best food ever, Tou-san, of course, my palette isn't exactly the finest quality." Naruto continued once his bowl was empty.
"Naruto, honey, do you know what palette means?" Kushina asked as Minato recovered from the depression and began eating once again as if it never happened.
"No, but I heard a man say it once about me, he said, 'Your palette isn't fine enough to appreciate this wine, so I'll let you appreciate how the flames smell as they burn.' He lit me on fire." Naruto muttered while staring at his legs where they had burned.
"Okay, it's decided." Kushina said, getting questioning looks from both males.
"We are going to teach you Naruto, and then once you have reached a respectable level of knowledge, we will train you." Kushina said, and Minato lit up for once at the prospect of training his son.
"Yay! I promise now, I'll give it my all so that when we're done, you can be proud of me and I'll protect all my people so they will never be alone again." Naruto shouted as he ran of to find something before returning with a bundle in his hands and dropping it on the floor with a dull thump.
"But first, I have to learn how to read." Naruto said as he sat back down and began trying to read with his mom as they read 'A Child's Introduction to the Alphabet'.
A/N: Another one done. I apologize once again if this doesn't live up to your hopes, but I write to the best of my abilities so if you don't like it just flame me, at least it adds to the review number. Anyways, keep voting for Naruto pairing in this story. Someone gave me a god reason for Ultear and I do agree she does provide a rich background story. On the other hand, Lucy is leading in the polls. Anyways, we'll get there eventually so I shall persevere and you shall all watch and laugh at my ineptitude. Have a good day.