Finally back with a new chapter! I don't know why I haven't done this quicker and there isn't really any excuse but I hope this chapter makes it up to you guys!
Thank you to all my reviewers too! You guys really helped me a lot! :D
Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto….'nuff said
After a few minutes of talking to Kyuubi, Naruto gently picked up Hinata and carried her outside into the one of the massive gardens which was also a training area and had a small forest in it.
Naruto walked them over to one of his favourite spots in the garden and rests Hinata down under a large tree before sitting beside her.
Naruto looked around so that he could fully appreciate the beauty of this spot, opposite him and Hinata was a large lake with water that shined and shimmered in the sunlight. Naruto smiled and looked back at Hinata. The sunlight made her hair shine and made her porcelain skin glow spectacularly. She looked like an absolute angel.
Naruto was distracted from his thoughts by two clouds of smoke puffing into view and then clearing to reveal Gamaken and Nami.
"Hey Nami, Gamaken" Naruto smiled at them cheerfully.
"Heya Niisan!" replied Gamaken with a huge grin.
"Hey Niissan, you look comfortable" Nami grinned slyly at him
Naruto smirked back at her "And if I am?"
Nami just laughed while Gamaken looked confusedly between them.
"Anywayz, so did you tell her your past yet?" ask Gamaken still a tad bit confused.
Naruto looked down at Hinata softly before answering "Not yet, I guess you could say I'm a bit of a heavy sleeper"
Gamaken just nodded before moving to sit on the other side of him while Nami lay down in front of him. They watched the soothing shimmering of the lake for a few minutes, letting the calm serenity of the area wash over them.
Nami lay her head on her paws "So what are you gonna do after you actually tell her your history?" she asked lazily
Naruto rested his head on the bark of the large tree behind him and sighed "It depends on her reaction really. If she reacts badly, which I hope she doesn't, then I will just use a jutsu to erase her memories. Hopefully her reaction will be good, in which case I will ask her to stay here in the estate a while, you know, to train a bit and get to know each other. It would be nice to interact with a friend without my mask on for once."
"That would be so cool, Miss Hinata's really nice!" Gamaken chipped in cheerfully before frowning slightly "But how will she will be able to stay here without anybody noticing. Her clan will be sure to have a hissy fit if she she goes 'missing', in fact, how come she's here now and no one's noticed?"
"To anwer your first question, I'll just make a blood clone of her to replace her, and to your second question, right now I'm using a shadow clone henged to look like her."
"Hmm sounds like a good plan" said Nami getting up and stretching "but Hinata's waking up now so me and Gamaken should go now, besides we've got a meeting with the fox and toad elders"
Gamaken grimaced "What did we do this time Nami?"
"Dunno yet. I assume that they're gonna tell us when we get there"
They both sighed mournfully before bidding farewell to Naruto and dismissing themselves.
Naruto smiled at the spot where they once were. There was always something happening with those two, maybe Gamakichi would tell what was going on this time later.
Naruto looked back at Hinata and watched as her eyes began to flutter open. Slowly she sat up and looked around. It didn't take her long to spot Naruto sitting next to her as her face immediately went bright red and she started to lose consciousness.
Naruto quickly grabbed her before she fell.
"C'mon Hinata-chan, don't faint on me now. I still got to tell you about my history"
Hinata managed to stay conscious but her cheeks were still flushed.
The both of them let the beauty of the HUGE garden wash over them like Naruto had done with Nami and Gamaken before.
After a while Hinata turned to Naruto "N-Naruto-kun. W-Where are w-we?"
"Hmm? Oh, this one of gardens that are here. This one also has a small forest in it and a specially designed training area."
Hinata's eyes widened "You h-have m-more gardens like t-this?"
"Uh-huh"
"A-ano, N-Naruto-kun, is t-this place an e-estate?"
Naruto smiles "Yup!"
Naruto watches as Hinata struggles with her next question so decides to help her out.
"Wana know how this whole estate belongs to me?"
Hinata looks away and blushes but nods all the same.
"Well for that we'll have to start the story from the very beginning" Naruto then tells her while looking back at the lake.
/\/FLASHBACK NO JUTSU\/\
Splash, splash, splash!
A huge crowd of villagers and even some ninjas charged after a small 3 year old Naruto. All of them were carrying weapons of some sort
Naruto ducked through various alleyways as fast as he could which was quite quickly for a malnourished 3 year old such as himself, especially considering that stones, knives, kunai, glass bottles and various other objects were being thrown at him and that he was cut and bruised all over!
"Come back here demon!"
'Why? Why do the chase me?' Naruto thought desperately, turning down another alleyway only to be faced with a dead end!
'No, no! Not now, please not now!' Naruto quickly turned around to run back the way he came only to be met with a broken glass bottle smashing into his already bleeding face!
Naruto fell to ground, writhing in pain. He tried to open his eyes so that he might see an escape route but the only thing he could see with his blurry sight was the mob eagerly advancing towards him.
"Finally found you demon! Now you will pay for what you did to us!" and with that the whole mob began to beat, kick and hit him with anything they could.
After about an hour they left the broken, bleeding, cut and bruised in the corner of the alleyway saying that "death is too good an escape for a demon like you!"
Slowly Naruto managed to pick his small form up and half hobbled, half dragged his body all the way back to the small, dirty apartment he called home.
When he got there he immediately made for the thin ragged mattress he was forced to call a bed. He had no blankets to put over himself or a jacket to help keep the chill out; he didn't even have a ragged dish cloth!
Slowly Naruto drifted into unconsciousness.
/\/END FLASHBACK NO JUTSU\/\
Naruto trails off slightly. The pain from remembering shining clearly in his azure blue eyes.
Hinata, however, was on the verge of crying. How could someone do that to anyone, let alone a small child?
"N-Naruto-kun, w-why did they d-d-do t-that to y-you?" she asks trying to calm herself down.
Naruto looks at her before averting his eyes and biting his lip in obvious apprehension.
"N-Naruto-kun? W-what's w-wrong?"
Naruto keeps from looking back at her before nervously replying "You promise you won't hate me for it?"
In a strange act of boldness, perhaps compelled by seeing her crush and role model in such a state of nervousness and vulnerability, Hinata moved to kneel in front of the blond and gently turned his face towards her with her hand.
"I would never be able to hate you Naruto-kun. Please tell me what's wrong." She said in an act of confidence almost unseen in the girl.
Naruto took a deep breath before starting, "Well, you know how we were always taught that the Yondaime killed the Kyuubi when it attacked?"
Hinata's brows furrowed as she nodded slowly.
"Weeell, he didn't exactly kill it . . . per say. He couldn't, it just couldn't be done. No human, no matter how powerful and respected he or she is amongst their peers, would ever be able to kill a demon . . . so he did the next best thing." Naruto took another deep breath, "He had to seal it."
Hinata facial expression just switches in a look of confusion as her mind, often unappreciated by others, tried to put these clues together.
'Oh kami! How the hell can she be so cute in this kind of situation?'
"Such is the many wonders of the female mind AND body, kit' Kyuubi replied with a smirk from the depths of his containers mind.
'Don't even go there, Fluffy!' Naruto growled back.
"Just saying, kit." Kyuubi chuckled back.
While the two continued to argue over Kyuubi's pervertedness and whether or not this was the time to be arguing over such things, Hinata continued to put the pieces together in her head, oblivious to Naruto spacing out and facial expressions changing.
'The Yondaime sealed the Kyuubi? Well it does make sense. All the books describe the Kyuubi as the strongest of demons and one of the vastest containers of chakra ever known! The Yondaime would never be able to kill it! . . . But seal it? Now that is a possibility. . .'
Hinata wanted to make good her promise of changing her clan and researched everything on seals she could, for some sort of way to remove her clans wretched Bird Cage seal. She was nowhere near a master of the art but had more than sufficient knowledge and skills with it that she felt she was starting to get somewhere with it. So, now she drew upon this knowledge to help her work out this puzzle that had her role model in such a state.
'But, to seal something as powerful as the Kyuubi, you can't just seal it into a scroll or some other inanimate object, so he would have had to seal it into something . . . living! But you would have to seal it into something with capacity to hold that much chakra, so that rules out animals . . . humans?' Hinata's eyes widened as she got closer to her answer, 'But the Yondaime would have to seal it into a new born baby who's chakra coils hadn't started to develop yet or the sheer amount of chakra and power would have ripped the person from the inside out! The only baby born on that day and lived was . . . Naruto-kun?'
Hinata's eyes snapped up to connect with Naruto's, who had by this time had finished arguing with Kyuubi and had instead been watching her as she worked out her answer.
They stared at each other for a moment before the blond nodded sadly to Hinata's unasked question and Naruto squeezed his, now, sad, watery blue orbs shut, in preparation for some form of rejection from the girl in front of him.
Instead, Hinata launched herself at him and wrapped her arms around him and buried her face into the warm crook of his neck.
She could feel tears ready to spill out from her eyes but desperately held them back to keep some sort of strength for the now vulnerable boy.
Naruto's eyes snapped open in shock when Hinata threw herself at him and, after a split second of not being able to move because of said shock, he slowly hugged Hinata around her waist as he felt the girl's body tremble with unreleased emotion.
After a minute, Hinata raised her head to look at Naruto.
"How could anyone do that to you? You saved us and they go and try to kill you? That's not fair!" she exclaimed hotly.
Naruto gave her a small smile and gently wiped away a few tears that had escaped her enraged lavender orbs with the pad of his thumb.
"The thing is Hinata-chan, Kyuubi's not really bad like everyone thinks, perverted yes, but evil? Not really. . ."
/\/FLASHBACK NO JUTSU\/\
3 year old Naruto opened his eyes expecting to see the ratty, battered, graffitied on and leaking ceiling of his apartment but instead looks around to find himself a dark, dank hallway, somewhat reminiscent of the Konoha sewers he often used to escape the villagers and get around the village itself.
"Huh? Where am I?" his words echoed around him, bouncing off the leaking walls, "and why am I standing in water up to my knees?"
Naruto frowned as he tried to work out where he was and just what the hell was going on when suddenly a deep growl reverberated throughout the hallway.
Naruto looked around wildly, "W-who's t-there?"
"Follow my voice, child" the same growl rumbled, "Let me see my jailor."
Almost as if he was in a trance, Naruto's small legs started to move and soon he was running through various dark hallways, water splashing around him with every step.
Finally he stopped outside the huge entrance of what seemed to be another hallway.
Taking a deep breath, he slowly stepped through the entrance, walking forward until he was right in front of a massive set of gates with a paper seal on it.
Naruto stood; staring at the gates when the huge grinning face of the Kyuubi no Kitstune came forth.
"So you're the little brat who contains me. Pathetic child." growled the demon, pressing up as close as possible to the gates that held him.
Naruto stared at the demon before him, before walking up to the gates, grasping the large bars in his small hands, and bringing his as close to the Kyuubi's snout as possible so that they were literally nose-to-nose. The intimidating grin slipped off of the Kyuubi's face and was replaced with a confused yet intrigued look.
". . . Foxy" Naruto eventually murmured, bringing up a small handto gently, almost timidly; stroke the tiny portion of the Kyuubi's snout that was presented to him.
Kyuubi sweat dropped at the childs behaviour before smiling gently, which was a tad bit strange considering he was an all-powerful-greatly-feared-big-ass-demon and all.
"Hmmm. So child, do you know who or what I happen to be?"
". . . Kyuubi. You look like Kyuubi" the three year murmured absently, quite preoccupied with the feel of the demons fur between his tiny fingers.
Kyuubi's eyes widened at Naruto's soft answer. He was genuinely surprised that the boy knew who he was. Wasn't there a law in place to prevent this boy knowing about him?
"Kit, how do you know this?"
"They burn a big statue of you on my birthday. I can see it from my window . . . It looks nothing like you though. It's all big and boxy, not like you." Naruto laid his chin on the demons nose, brows furrowing as he contemplated ". . . Doesn't have fur either"
Kyuubi looked at the child amusedly.
"Do you know where we are, Kit?"
Naruto's sapphire blue eyes rose to meet with the Kyuubi's blood red ones.
He blinked.
Looked around.
". . . No clue"
Kyuubi sighed "We're in your mindscape, Kit"
Naruto cocked his head to the side and stared at Kyuubi unblinkingly.
Kyuubi sighed again, "We're in your head"
"Oooh, I get it now. But . . ." Naruto turned to observe his dark, dank and not-very-nice surroundings "why is my mind a sewer?"
"The state of your mindscape reflects your life/mental state/happiness and, even considering the events of your life so far, I find it quite exceptional that your mindscape is in this condition, but then again, considering you had 61 assassination attempts on the first ever week of your life, I guess it shouldn't be that surprising"
Naruto scrunched up his face in concentration for a moment before asking, "Can I change it?"
Kyuubi blinked, "Well, yes but what exactly would you change it to?"
"I dunno, but you're a demon right?"
". . . Yes."
"So you've been around for aaaaggees, right?"
". . . Technically."
"So you must have seen a, umm, really nice forest or field or something, right?"
Kyuubi was genuinely surprised at Naruto's reasoning. Sure, it was all true but not many people would think that a demon would appreciate the beauty of its surroundings at times.
Kyuubi smiled, "Yes Kit, I believe I have seen the perfect place for here."
"Yay! How do we change it then Kyuu-niisan?"
'Kyuu-niisan?', Kyuubi lowed his great body so that he was laying on his front, his great heat resting on his just as great paws, within easy reach of the boy in front of him.
"Put your hand on my forehead, close your eyes and concentrate on your happiest thought."
Naruto did as he was told but asked what Kyuubi meant by happiest thought.
"Think of your favourite toy or person or something."
"Can I use Gama-chan? Jiji said my parents bought him for me before I was born."
"Perfect, Kit"
They both closed their eyes for a few moments before a wave of chakra washed over them, making Naruto snap open his eyes and look around wildly.
". . . Wow."
His mindscape was completely different now. Instead of a sewer was a huge green field, edged by tall trees, with small paths going through them that lead to other parts of his mind, presumably to take the place of the dark hallways of before, on one side and a gently flowing stream, with clear blue water and plenty of brightly coloured fish in it, on the other. In fact, the field had wildlife in it. There were birds singing in the trees and flitting about in the clear blue sky, the sun causing their shadows to be cast onto the grass below where small mammals and insects of all kinds resided, most of them gently dozing in the sunshine.
Naruto grinned and ran about, trying to look at everything at the same time. It all seemed to amaze the small boy. Eventually he fell back onto the ground, breathing heavily but with that grin still on his face.
"This is sooooo cool, Kyuu-niisan!" he said, sitting up and looking at the Kyuubi, who was laying on his side and looking at Naruto with an amused smirk because of the boy's antics.
He had shrunk down to the size of a Shire horse and also had a brown leather collar on his neck with the same symbols of the previous seal now on the front of the collar.
"Hey Kit, come over here"
Naruto looked at Kyuubi quizzically but stood up and jogged over to the great fox demon. Once he was there, the Kyuubi curled one of his nine tails around Naruto and gently made him sit down and rest against his furry side. Naruto leaned in more to his side and gently grasped some of the Kyuubi's red fur in his hand.
"For such a young boy, I can tell that you will grow to be great, but considering who your parents were, I guess it's not really surprising."
Naruto looked up at the fox demon, tears already forming in eyes that were too mature for his age, "you know who my parents were?"
"Mmhmm. We used to be great friends until . . . that night." Kyuubi looked away mournfully from the young blond.
There was a silence for a few moments, only disturbed by the slight breeze and the chirping of the birds.
"Why did you attack Konoha Niisan?"
"I'm afraid it was out of my control. I was on my way to Suna to observe another boy like you, who had been born a few months prior, when I was ambushed by a man that smelled of snakes, I believe he was called Orochimaru. He used some of genjutsu on me to make me fly into an uncontrollable rage and attack Konoha."
Naruto scowled, "Well, that's really unfair 'cos now everyone keeps saying that you did it just for the sake of doing it!"
Kyuubi nodded in agreement.
"Niisan, did it hurt when the Yondaime sealed you into me?"
Kyuubi's eyes widened, "How did you know that he sealed me into you?"
Naruto shrugged against the demon's fur.
"It makes sense when you think about it. I was the only one who was born and survived that day; everybody hates me and calls me names like 'demon' and 'monster'. Oh, and whenever I try to focus my chakra, a seal appears on my tummy which looks like a simple containment seal but then with a whole load of extra stuff on it too . . . come to think of it, I'm sure a few of those extras could've been avoided if they tweaked with two of the main parts of the seal a bit more . . ." Naruto trailed off thoughtfully, brows furrowed while the Kyuubi stared at him in shock, eyes wide, jaw hanging and all. Quite an undignified pose for an all powerful demon you might say.
'Oh my Kami . . . another genius . . .' Kyuubi managed to wrench his mind away from the shock and chose to forgo asking about Naruto's knowledge of seals and instead questioned him on his knowledge of chakra.
"Naruto, how have you learnt how to focus your chakra, when you're only a three year old?"
Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, "Weeell, I don't know how to do it yet exactly. I've watched kids at the academy do it and then I try it myself but it never goes too well."
"Hmmm, I see. Well, we can remedy that problem when the time comes."
The two of lay the comfortable warmth that the Sun, in Naruto's mindscape produced, for a while before Naruto spoke again.
"Niisan, can you tell me who my parents were?"
"Hmm, how about we train you up a bit and then, if I think you've done well enough, I'll tell you on your birthday."
Naruto pouted and crossed his arms, "But that's AGES away!"
". . . It's two months away, Kit"
"Hmph! Fine."
/\/END FLASHBACK NO JUTSU\/\
Hinata stared at Naruto, enthralled by his story.
It wasn't the Kyuubi's fault it attacked Konoha? The Kyuubi's been training Naruto? Naruto met the Kyuubi when he was only three? Naruto calls Kyuubi 'Niisan'!The Kyuubi seems genuinely NICE!
Naruto noticed the look of shock once again on Hinata's unmarred face and drooped slightly.
"Don't you. . . Do you believe me Hinata-chan?"
"I-I do! I d-don't think y-y-you would l-lie about s-s-something l-like that." She replied, her stutter back in full force, accompanied by a slight blush, from the emotion in the eyes staring at her hopefully.
Naruto's face quickly breaks into a grin as he hugs her for a second, oblivious to the girl's ever increasing blush.
'Pleasedon'tfaintpleasedon'tfaint! Please Kami, don't let me faint now!'
"Um, a-ano, Naruto-kun?" Naruto looked at Hinata questioningly and released her from his grip, "Did K-K-Kyuubi-s-san tell you w-who your p-parents were?"
Hinata mentally tried to calm her erratic heart and stuttering.
Naruto grinned and nodded, "Yep but I'm not allowed to tell unless I'm totally sure that the person is trustworthy. I-is that okay with you, Hinata-chan?"
By the end of that short sentence Naruto's expression charged from joyful and mischievous, to worried as he saw Hinata's face fall slightly but Hinata just gave him a small smile.
"I-it's okay, Naruto-kun. I u-understand."
"I can tell you that this was their clan estate and is now mine." Aaaand he was grinning again.
Hinata looks around again and smiles appreciatively at the beauty of their surroundings.
'She is so beautiful….' Naruto stared at her for a while before catching himself just before Hinata turned back to face him.
"I have a propersition for you though."
Hinata looked at him curiously.
"I would like you to stay here with me for a while. I know that your home life isn't exactly perfect", Hinata looked down sadly at this, "and I think that you can change that. Look at this like a, uhh, a kind of a holiday…except with training. Although I'm a lot better than my mask-self, I still have problems with chakra control and the finer details. I know you can help me and I can help you get stronger too."
Hinata was looking with wide eyes at Naruto, who then smirked at her, his features becoming ever so slightly more feral, making her eyes go even wider still and blush to grace her cheeks.
"I also know that you're actually a lot stronger than you let on. You've learnt how to follow rules, from your clan, now I think it's time you learn how to break them, with me."
Hinata went bright red and put up a valiant effort not to faint in front of her crush who somehow made himself look a lot just now.
"I-I-I..b-but…w-what about m-my c-c-clan. T-t-they w-will be l-looking for m-me by n-now." She managed to get out, her stutter now back in full force.
Naruto shifted to his knees, leaned forward and cupped his hand around his mouth before whispering into her ear, thus making her body create a whole new shade of red;
"First rule to break: who says you can't be in two places at once for a long time?"
Naruto chuckled before leaning back again and answering her questioning and very embarrassed gaze.
"Blood clones. They can last for about 2-3 months if they really need to and whats more is that because of how their internal design is so much similar to ours because they're blood clones, even Neji and your dad's Byakugan wont't tell be able to tell the difference." Naruto winked at end, a familiar mischievous glint appearing in is electric blue eyes like a spark.
'I have never seen any other persons eyes change so many shades in one day…' Hinata thought absently before nodding her consent towards Naruto's still unanswered propersition.
"Naruto-kun? W-what about y-your ap-p-pearance?"
"Well, I had to get an appearance that would match my mask, to further ensure my safety. It's basically a kitsune genjutsu that works like a henge but is far stronger and doesn't require that much chakra control", Naruto finished with an embarrassed grin, his hand rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly.
Hinata giggled at his anctics.
"I t-take it that y-you're stronger t-then?" she asked smiling.
Naruto smirked before suddenly disappearing in a slight gust of wind and reappearing behind Hinata and wrapping his arms around her waist before spinning her around.
He stopped after a while, the both of them still smiling and giggling, and set her back down gently before whispering in her ear.
"Yeah, you could say that."
And the blush is back with a vengeance.
Naruto laughed and took her hand while gently pulling her back to the direction of the estate.
"Come on. I want to get you settled in!"
Finally finished! And almost 4500 words too! My longest chapter yet methinks ;)
Thanks for reading and don't forget to review and include your ideas!
Ja ne~
Sentarstage