Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of its characters.
This chapter has been revised, hope it reads better for you guys who are always getting on my case about spelling and grammatical errors... God pllllease let it end! Anyway I plan on going through the previous chapters and seeing if I can fix them for all the wonderful people who are leaving me comment after comment only about the typos. So enjoy -_-.
But for any new readers, yes I'm talking to you! please hold back any comments on my spelling and grammar, please I beg of you I really do. I know it's a pain reading something where the writing is like pot hole ridden road but please just try and bear with it, especially if you actually like the story.
Anyway have fun.
CH2: Childhood Arc Part 2
Naruto stared at the shadowy, it's glowing Sharingan piercing through the darkness cast by the tree.
The young boy had yet to utter a single word, he just stared, unmoving. Trapped like a deer in the headlights.
He was powerfully intimidated by the way the figure was looking at him from the cover of the shadows, with those glowing crimson eyes.
On the other hand, he sounded kind and welcoming to him. Much in the same way as the old man and Teuchi would greet him.
It was all such a contrasting mien. Looking frightening as hell while sounding as nice as the sunshine after heavy rain.
The shaded figure seemed to spot his nervousness and seemed to finally realize why. "Oh, oh! sorry Naruto! I must look absolutely terrifying just sitting here in the shade like this with my eyes turned on" said the figure sounding quite embarrassed with himself. "I swear sometimes I forget I've even got them switched on, hehe".
Now aware of himself, the figure deactivated his Sharingan, which revealed that the man had a pair of light brown eyes with light showings off golden yellow around the rims. The figure shifted, his legs crossing as he seemed to lean slightly more forward.
Seeing the unnerving red orbs now gone Naruto released a breath he didn't even know he was keeping inside. He seemed much less menacing now to the seven-year-old. "Thanks, those things were...er, scary. I've seen them before you know, but never like that" said Naruto, rubbing the back of his head every so often as he fought to not trip or stumble over his words.
Naruto cocked his head slightly at the man under the tree. "If I'm right that was the Sharingan wasn't it?" he asked, now slightly more relaxed, his hand falling back to his side.
Some white split open under the eyes of the figure, his teeth showing through the shade in what could only be called a sharp smile. "Why yes, it was, how sharp of you to notice" praised the unnamed man.
It made Naruto feel...slightly good to be praised like that, even if it was just for such a simple thing as recognizing something he'd seen before. "um thanks" he muttered, a hand rubbing his neck, a nervous smile appearing on his face. This was all so weird, his eyes pulled away from the figure and looked around at the woods for a second before looking back at the shadow.
The Uzumaki stared at him for a drawn-out minute, a question forming in his mind, the longer he stared the more the question forced its way down to the tip of his tongue.
Until it broke loose.
"w-who are you!?" asked the boy, now realizing he didn't even know who this person was. "Also where the hell am I too? though where ever I am it's pretty sweet" mused the young lad, amazed by the places epic appearance, like something out of a fantasy story.
The garden looked like a big plot of land covered in lush green grass. From what the boy could see in front of him and around him there were big trees growing in certain spots, enough so that it didn't obscure anything in the distance.
Off into the distance, Naruto could spot a pool of sorts, close by said pool looked to a be a small traditional dojo like building about a story tall, being held up off the ground thanks to some wooden beans fixed into its structure. There looked to be more stuff over there like some statues but they were too far away for any real detail to made out.
The figure seemed to laugh at the boy's question, knocking him out of his intake of his surroundings. "Well, is it not rude to ask me my name when you yourself haven't first introduced yourself, hmmm?" countered the man with wry amusement.
Naruto flinched a little, feeling like he was being rude by not having first introduced himself, but then realized that the mystery man already seemed to know his name. "Hey! you said my name before I even told you! so do I even need to tell you!? oh! and wait a sec! how do you even know my name in the first place huh!? Just who the hell are you!?" yelled Naruto frantically, pointing an accusing and shaky finger at the shadow man.
The figure sighed "calm down kid I haven't brought you here to get interrogated nor have I brought you here to harm you in any way" the man lifted his silhouetted hands up in a calm down gesture. "So relax and introduce yourself. Not just your name tell me a bit about yourself: stuff like your likes, dislikes, maybe some of your dreams or hopes, stuff like that's what I really want to hear" he explained in a laid-back manner, holding no ill intent at all as he spoke.
The shaded man then seemed to relax further back into the tree he was laying against. One shadowed hand lifted up and waved a little at the silent Naruto "hello! cat got your tongue or something".
Naruto was just frozen in surprise that someone was interested in getting to know him. Though that quickly disappeared when a vein throbbing appeared at being made fun of by the mystery man.
"NO! I was just thinking about what to say, that's all! Not everyone just knows what to say when given a question like that all of a sudden! so give me a minute will ya!" yelled out the whiskered boy. Naruto's rant only seemed to amuse the man being yelled at. The boy scowled at that "hey stop laughing it's not funny!" shouted Naruto, gritting his teeth at the man while puffing out visible steam from his nostrils.
The shaded man lifted up his hands in surrender "ok, ok, I'll stop if I can, it's just that reaction was priceless so I couldn't really help it alright" explained the man, not at all sounding sorry. He let out an exaggerated breath "okay I'm good now, so will you please?" he asked, nicely.
Naruto stared, arms folded, muttering to himself about stupid shadow men before deciding to stop and get to introducing himself. "Okay I will but you have to promise to tell me who you are after, okay?" he demanded: he got an agreeing nod.
Naruto unfolded his arms and walked a bit closer to the figure and sat down on the grass that was just before the start of the tree's sizeable shadow.
Naruto took a deep breath before starting. "Ok! My name is Naruto Uzumaki, dattebayo! And I like Ramen, the colour orange, the old man, Miss Sato, The Ichiraku's and my new friend: he has eyes or is gonna have eyes just like yours one day!" cheered out Naruto, pointing at the man in the shadow who hummed in understanding.
Naruto's face then took on a childish scrunched up look: despite that though there was a sad flash in his eyes. His voice dipped "I don't like it when people look at me funny, whisper about me, call me names and pick on me" he said, giving an annoyed huff at the end. "Oh! and I don't like the time it takes for Ramen to cook: that's the worse" finished Naruto, nodding his head when mentioning the last one, as if it really, truly, was the worse thing in his life.
The man hummed "and what of your dreams, your hopes for the future, you have some of those do you not, Naruto?" asked the man, simply.
Naruto's blue eyes widened, he rubbed the back of his head laughing sheepishly as he did "oops forgot that part, my bad" confessed Naruto, his mouth in a grin and his eyes closed tightly shut.
The man laughed a little at the boy's unneeded embarrassment "it's okay no need to get embarrassed now" he assured.
"Okay" said Naruto coming down from his brief bout of bashfulness instantly and picking up where he left off. "Okay so my dream is to become the best ninja ever and any hopes well I hope to make some really awesome friends, I don't need many just some true friends that's all, like today I made a friend and I think me and him are gonna be the best of friends: I can feel it! and I bet we'll be great ninjas too!".
"Ahhh I see. It's nice that you have such a friend Naruto and I'm sure you and Sasuke will go on and do great things" said the man in an almost knowing tone that Naruto failed to pick up on.
Naruto smiled big, folded his arms and started nodding enthusiastically. "Yep I bet we will, me and him are gonna...be..the ugg? how did you know I was talking about Sasuke?" asked Naruto feeling a bit more unnerved by the man. "Has he been watching me or something?" thought Naruto, scared by the idea that someone has been spying on him.
"Oops, sorry didn't mean to say that all of a sudden, it just sort of slipped out, well I guess I better clear a few thing up before you start thinking I'm some sort of crazy person who just goes around watching people" confessed the figure, nervously laughing a little at himself.
"I-if you wouldn't m-mind please" requested Naruto, with a growing worry about this man. He didn't like the thought of being spied on.
The figure breathed a sigh of relief at seeing the boy wasn't getting angry at him or full-blown terrified either. He nodded "okay, I guess first I'll get out of this shadow here so you can get a good look at me" said the man before he got up and started walking out of the trees shade.
Once out of the shade standing before Naruto was a youthful looking man, his skin was a little light and he was about nearly six foot tall. He possessed a head of long wavy white hair that brushed at just about his shoulders, falling over the sides of his face with a bang resting on the bridge of his nose.
He wore a white kimono shirt with slightly flared sleeves that cut just before his wrists and was tied closed by a red silk sash around his waist. He wore black baggy trousers which had some crimson tape wrapped around the shins and finally he was wearing some black shinobi boots.
The man looked down at the spiky blonde boy and flashed him a toothy smile. "Hi Naruto, my name is Hirofumi and I'm kind of a tenant of yours" introduced the man, his hands in his trouser pockets.
Naruto looked at the man confused on what he meant "a tenant? what's that?" he asked not getting the new word he just heard.
Hirofumi hummed at seeing that he didn't know the words definition "well a tenant is someone who lives somewhere that is owned by someone else".
Naruto nodded, getting what the man was explaining. "okay and how are you a tenant of mine?" he asked still not seeing how this tied in with him, he's seven he owns nothing like that.
Or so he was assuming.
Hirofumi was laughing in a way that was starting to make Naruto nervous. "Hehe well, you see I'm sort of living inside of you, hehe" revealed Hirofumi. Deciding to just go ahead and drop that huge bombshell right there, unable to think of a more gentler way of revealing it. It worked, for him at least, Hirofumi was now feeling a lot less nervous and tense now that he had that off his chest.
Naruto, on the other hand, was now shaking, twitching and awkwardly laughing at the man who was just looking at him with a calm unwavering smile. "I-I'm sorry could you repeat that? because, I think I miss heard you, it almost sounded like eheh, you said you were living inside of me" asked Naruto, who was now beginning to sweat bullets.
The white-haired man began to scratch his cheek, looking off to the side and continued to laugh: this time more carefreely. He nodded "yeah I did and I've made quite the place here don't you think?" said the man nonchalantly as Naruto's jaw dropped and his skin turned deathly pale.
Naruto remained unmoving for a few minutes, his young brain working insanely fast to try and work out how this was even possible. After a few minutes, his mind made it to the one and only logical conclusion. "GHOST!" he suddenly screamed at the very peak of his lungs, pointing at the man and startling him.
The white-haired man stared at the shaking finger being pointed up at him and then to its equally trembling owner and started rubbing his own chin: humming. "hum...I guess you're not wrong I have been dead for a long time, so I guess I'm what you would title as a ghost" he spoke in a tone of thought.
Naruto was now as pale as the moon. Before Hirofumi could say anything to console the boy, said boy was already running around back and forth now yelling about being haunted by a vengeful spirited.
"I'm not a vengeful spirit" Hirofumi muttered out with a deadpanned expression. His eyes following the boy back and forth: like watching a game of tennis.
Naruto didn't seem to listen though and just continued to run around like a headless chicken, ironically making it seem like he really was possessed by something. In the meantime, the ghost decided to just take a seat on the grass and watch the sight before him, uncaring. He decided to just wait it out and see if the boy will come back to his senses on his own.
10 Minutes Later...
"By the power of Ramen, I compel you! By the power of Ramen, I compel you!" was what Naruto was now chanting at the Ghost seated in front of him, who was looking on really unimpressed.
"Does he really think he can expel me from his body by such a ridiculous means? furthermore, does he really worship Ramen that much?" inwardly questioned the man.
Feeling he had now had enough of the boy trying to exorcise him, if it even had any right to be called that. Hirofumi put his left hand into a hand seal, his cheeks then bulged out, which confused the blonde directly in front of him. A fist-sized ball of water came shooting out of Hiro's mouth and straight into the shocked face of Naruto, knocking the young boy straight onto his back.
Naruto, flailing on the floor, started wiping the water furiously off of his face and out of his eyes, while also spitting out a small stream of water that got into his mouth. Once he could see clearly he glared at the man who was now smirking at him.
"Are you done now?" asked the ghost, his arms folded.
Naruto shook his head defiantly "no way! I'm not stopping until a kick you out, no way I'm being possessed by some stupid ghost!" he said, sounding utterly determined.
Hiro sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose in a tired manner "listen Naruto I'm not possessing you nor am I planning to either" he said, honesty clear in his voice as he spoke.
Naruto still looked pretty sceptical "do you mean it? you're not here to take over my body?" he asked, trying to sound tough and would've worked for the most part if Hirofumi was a child.
Hirofumi shook his head at the question, smirking as he did. "Yeah yeah I mean it kid, this isn't like some horror story: I'm not some big bad evil spirit who has come to possess you and make you do evil stuff or something".
Naruto began to calm down a little but still looked on not entirely trusting the spirit before him. "Okay then if you aren't here to possess me then what are you doing here? also where is here anyway?" asked the spiky blonde looking around at his surroundings again.
"Well, we're inside of you right now" the blonde snapped back to look at Hiro, disbelief clear on the boy's face. "This place is called your mindscape, it's sort of like a room in your soul, everyone like you has one, well a bigger one given circumstances" explained the man smoothly, choosing his words well.
Naruto was amazed at hearing this. "This place is inside me? it's so amazing I can't believe it". Naruto continued to look on, taking in as much as he could see: his blue eyes sparkling in wonder. "So all this is inside my soul or something" whispered the young Jinchuuriki to himself, still captivated by the world around him.
The white-haired man chuckled, humoured by the child's awe of the place "yep this is all inside your soul Naruto, the core of your chakra" he confirmed.
Naruto grinned at the man but then lost it and raised a questioning eyebrow. "Wait but how did you get in here then?" he asked, curiously, his head leaning slightly at the man.
Hirofumi's face lost any amusement and was replaced by a more severe and subdued one. "I was hoping we could've avoided that particular question for a bit longer" he sighed out, rubbing his head as he did.
Naruto looked at the man worried by his sudden shift in mood. Hiro's eyes sharpened on him "tell me Naruto do you know of the Kyuubi attack that happened seven and a half years ago?" asked Hirofumi who got a nod from the young child "how much do you know?".
Naruto began scratching his head lightly in thought, trying to recall what he learned from people he managed to overhear talking about it. "Well there was apparently this HUGE as hell fox with nine equally HUGE tails, it really banged up the village and hurt lots of people while doing so and...also, a lot of people died" explained Naruto, spreading his arms wide when he was describing it's size, but growing sad at the mention of people dying.
But Naruto brightened up suddenly "but that big bad fox was stopped by the 4th Hokage and was never seen again after that! must have been sent packing with its tails between its legs or something" cheered out Naruto, punching the air in front of him as if he was fighting something.
Hirofumi chuckled at the sight only making him feel sadder at what he was gonna be telling the boy, only making him hope more that Naruto would stay this positive afterwards.
Letting out another sigh Hirofumi steeled himself before speaking "well Naruto you are right the 4th did beat the fox but it was not sent simply packing" he said getting the blonde's attention who looked at him confused. "Naruto, come with me" ordered the white-haired man who got back up on his feet and started walking in the direction of the pool by the dojo.
Naruto stared questioningly for a second before chasing after the man "hey wait up!" he called out to Hiro to which the spirit stopped to let the blonde catch up. After the 7-year-old caught up they both continued on walking to the pond, once there Hirofumi asked Naruto to sit down next to him, now they were both sitting by the pond watching the still crystal water.
The pond was ten feet in diameter and was perfectly circular, with a pair of small streams of water flowing in from a river that was cutting through the land some distance away from the dojo. The pool's depth seemed bottomless.
Naruto stared at the pool focusing hard on seeing if there was a bottom. If there was Naruto couldn't see it. "Naruto" called out Hirofumi gaining the boys attention "let me educate you about the Kyuubi".
Naruto nodded dumbly "um okay" he said in an unsure tone but still wanted to hear what the man had to say to him about the fox.
Hirofumi nodded and reached out his hand and waved it over the water of the pond, after he did so an image began to ripple into existence on the water's surface. Once the image stilled it showed the Nine-Tails, not in a threatening or scary form, it was simply just laying down with its tails spread out and looking bored as all hell.
Naruto stared at the image, amazed by the colour of its fur "so orange" he whispered to himself.
Hirofumi chuckled when he heard that "good job I picked this one, don't want to show him what you look like when you're in a really bad mood, he likely wouldn't be so positive about you". "So the Kyuubi, also know as the Nine-Tails, or giant super fox or fox king or..."
"Super plushy!" cheered out Naruto.
Hirofumi stared blankly at the boy for a second "well that's a new one, good job, I like it" said the white-haired man deciding to just roll with it and give the boy a thumbs up. "Okay, so the Nine-Tails has been around for a long time, way before Konoha was even an idea" explained Hirofumi to Naruto who whistled at hearing this.
Naruto turned to look back at the image of the fox "wow he must be like super old then".
The ghost nodded with his hands resting on his knees "yes he is and he's seen a lot and also knows quite a lot to boot". Naruto turned and looked back at the man with a confused stare, "you see the Kyuubi is not simply an animal like most people assume him to be, he thinks and feels just like you and I or anybody else does" explained the man looking at the image sadly "don't you Kurama".
The young Uzumaki turned back to the image of the Kyuubi. "Really? he does? so then why did he attack Konoha, did we do something bad to him to make him angry?" asked Naruto.
The older man rubbed his chin at the question "yes and no" he said which got Naruto giving him a 'what?' kind of look. "On both accounts of the Kyuubi attacking Konoha he was never doing it of his own free will, you see he was being what you could call mind controlled by someone on each account".
Naruto stared at Hirofumi totally shocked at hearing this. "NOWAY! You're telling me there are people out there that can control something like him!" yelled Naruto, pointing to the image of the Kyuubi, finding it very hard to believe. Naruto got a nod from the man "you have got to be kidding me! look at him he's gigantic! Who or what has that much power!?" asked the blonde, frantically, not able to make sense of it.
Hirofumi's eyes looked at Naruto and back at the image on the water and back again. "Sometimes Naruto it's not the one with the most power who conquers the strong, you see there are a few methods out there for controlling beings like the Kyuubi and there are people out there who possess those very methods. These techniques take complete control of the victim, as you can imagine it's very degrading and all round humiliating to be used like a puppet" explained the white-haired Sharingan user.
Naruto looked at the fox's image feeling actual sympathy for him, the thought of someone doing that to him made him feel sick. "So you're saying that someone made him attack the village and he had no way of stopping himself?" he asked, his voice carrying pity.
"No he couldn't, he was under someone's complete control and when he was finally released, it's my belief, that he was far too enraged to even know what he was attacking anymore" said Hirofumi explaining further solemnly.
Naruto looked up at the man "he was that angry huh? he sounds like a grouch, looks like one too" commented Naruto pointing at the image.
The man chuckled at that comment "haha kid you have no idea how right you are" he replied, rubbing the boy's spiky mop of hair. After being done rubbing the boys head, he picked up the discussion "so after being released from the man's control the 4th came along to deal with the Kyuubi the only way possible" he said, his voice now gaining a more severe edge to it.
Naruto looked at the man getting excited at the mention of the 4th battling the fox "oh you know how the fight went, how did the 4th beat the Kyuubi!?" asked Naruto leaning in closer to hear.
The Sharingan user smiled a little at the boy's excitement all the while hoping that he will take it all well in the end. "To tell you that I will have to tell you what chakra is first, have you heard of chakra before Naruto?" asked Hirofumi.
Naruto nodded "yeah I've heard of catra before..".
"Chakra" corrected Hirofumi.
"That's what I said, catra" responded young Naruto imminently, sounding very certain in his pronunciation and nodding to himself.
Meanwhile, Hirofumi just stared dead-panned before just cracking an amused smile "ok Naruto please tell me what you already know of catra?" asked the white-haired man.
Naruto looked at the man now like he was stupid "now your the one saying it wrong it's not catra its catra. I thought you were the one teaching me stuff" said Naruto frowning with his arms folded.
Now Hirofumi was heavily dumbstruck "did he just try to correct me...and still get it wrong?" shaking his head Hirofumi exited his thoughts and decided to just role with it. "Right, chakra, my bad I must have slipped up" he said correcting himself.
Naruto smiled up, innocently oblivious to his own faults in all of this "it's okay I make those kinds of mistakes sometimes, like I get stuck on big words" said the young blonde laughing innocently with a grin on his face.
The ghost just smirked humoured by the blonde's attitude "right, so tell me what do you know about chakra, Naruto?" asked the man again.
Naruto picked himself up a little at the question and began dawning a look of deep thought, rubbing his chin a little. "Well I know it's that stuff ninjas use to perform awesome Jutsu's and I think other stuff as well" said Naruto revealing all he knew about chakra in one sentence.
"Hmm okay I guess that's something, you at least know who it's mostly used by and what it's used for most of the time, but let me tell you about it in a bit more detail" said the ghost man who got an okay from the whiskered boy, sounding really interested in the subject of chakra.
The man once again waved his hand over the water and a diagram rippled into existence, displaying a human shape with a yin-yang circle on his abdomen area.
"This here shows the two key elements in which chakra is made up of. You see Naruto, chakra is made from mixing together two different energies called the physical and spiritual, the physical energies stem from our bodies whereas the spiritual comes from the soul and mind" explained Hirofumi who turned to the boy "did you get that so far?" he asked and got a nod.
The white-haired man waved his hand over the diagram and the split yin-yang circle began to spin and merge together until it became one and lit up in azure blue chakra, the chakra started to spread out in lines forming a network on the blank humanoid shape.
"What you see here is what's know as the chakra pathway system or chakra network for short, it's what moves chakra around one's body like a river or how veins carry blood, each one of these little lines you see are what's called a chakra coil, these coils are what the chakra flow through, they are also attached to little nodes called the Tenketsu points, there are roughly 361 major nodes and then countless others on a cellar level, all that together forms the chakra network" explained the man as best as he could for the boy to understand.
Naruto looked at the diagram for a bit longer soaking in all the man had just told him, before turning to look back up at the adult next to him. "Okay I think I get it, this catra network moves catra around the body and without it no would be able to use catra right?" asked Naruto getting a confirming nod and a pleased smile from the man next.
Hirofumi waved his hand over the water and the same image of the fox was now next to the chakra diagram. "I am glad you are able to understand the basics of how chakra works and what it is, this will make it easier to explain this next part". Hirofumi took a breath before starting "you see the reason the Kyuubi has been able to be around for so long because he is for a lack of a better word: immortal" he revealed, which after he did made Naruto gasp in surprise.
"What!? really he's immortal!?" asked Naruto.
Hiro nodded "yes he is, about as immortal as it gets, if he gets destroyed he will eventually return, you see the Kyuubi is made up entirely of raw chakra and you can't kill chakra" his words surprised Naruto further.
Naruto's mind was working to make sense of it when a question popped up and his expression grew serious. "Wait, if the fox cannot be killed then how was he stopped 7 years ago by the 4th?" asked Naruto who grew nervous when he saw the ghost's expression darken a slightly.
Hirofumi steeled himself for what was to come next "I guess this it the final leg". "Well you can't destroy chakra, but it can be sealed away, like a kunai into a scroll or like putting water into a bottle and fastening the lid tightly shut, that is what the 4th did with the Kyuubi" explained the man who could see Naruto was beginning to tense up.
Right now Naruto was growing anxious, something inside him was telling him that wherever Hiro was going with this he wasn't going to like it.
"Though when sealing away something like the Kyuubi a simple scroll or object just won't cut it, and even if there was some simple object that could hold the Kyuubi it wouldn't last long, the best place to seal a chakra beast is into something living, like a person..." Hirofumi then turned and looked Naruto dead in the eyes "better yet a newborn baby" finished Hirofumi.
After Hirofumi finished his sentence, Naruto's eyes grew wide, everything now beginning to fall into place for him. The stares, the whispers, the dirty looks, the parents telling their children to stay away from him, all the hurtful names, the looks of pity and guilt from the old Hokage, the Matron, the Ichirakus, it all began to make perfect sense.
"I'm the Kyuubi" he whispered out, tears streaming down his whiskered face, looking at the image of the fox in the water, frozen in place watching as his reflection and the fox's image overlapped one another.
Naruto was stopped in going any deeper into his dark thoughts by the feeling of a hand being placed on his shoulder. When he turned around he saw Hirofumi, the look in his eyes captivated him. There was no judgment in them, no hatred, no loathing or fear just pure acceptance.
The ghost shook his head "No, no you've got it wrong Naruto, that's not what I'm saying at all, you are not the Kyuubi you are Naruto Uzumaki. The Kyuubi's been sealed within you, you have not become him, you and he are two completely separate beings and you both will and forever be that way, always" ensured Hiro, in a tone that was a mix of stern and comforting.
Naruto looked back down at the image of the fox still not sure whether what the man was saying was true or not. "How can you be sure that I'm not, look at it, it's so strong and I'm just weak little me how can I be sure that I'm even me" argued Naruto his voice cracking with uncertainty. It just made no sense to him how someone as small and puny as him could possibly hold back something as strong and mighty as the Kyuubi.
Hirofumi sent a comforting smile to the boy when he turned back to look at him. "I'm certain because I've been here since the day he was sealed within you and I've been watching over him ever since, keeping him asleep, plus the seal placed on you by the 4th is extremely strong and you yourself Naruto are stronger than you think" he explained smoothly, no ounce of doubt present in his voice as he spoke.
Naruto began to feel a bit more reassured in his identity after the little talk from Hiro. "Really ya mean it?" he got a positive nod and a confident smile. Naruto began to smile as well, though it wasn't back in full "you said the 4th sealed the fox inside me, why me though? why not someone else?" asked the blonde, desperate to know why it had to be him, why it had to be unfair to him.
The spirit closed his eyes for a second to allow himself a minute to think. "I could say it was because you were his son, but I don't think you are ready to hear that just yet, he doesn't need that kinda pressure right now".
He opened his eyes "well Naruto you were the only child available at that time and the safest choice as well, your chakra coils were fresh and new so they would grow to handle the Kyuubi's powerful chakra much quicker, add on top of that when you were born you already possessed stronger chakra than most, good enough to suppress the nine-tails, all that kid made you a star choice to be the Kyuubi's host, Naruto you were the only one strong enough who could hold the Kyuubi, no one else, if anyone else was picked I hate to think what could've happened" explained Hiro, keeping his tone soft but serious.
Naruto's mood seemed to perk up after his explanation. "So I was the only one strong enough eh?, I was picked because I was the best not just at random?" asked Naruto to which Hirofumi nodded "so I've protected the village since the day I was born MAN! I'm awesome!" cheered Naruto, feeling better now knowing he was picked because he was the only one strong enough to hold the Kyuubi.
It made him feel special knowing he was made the nine-tails host because he was the only one who could be made it's host. "Man I rule, I've been holding back something as strong as the Kyuubi and when I was a baby too, oh! ramen I'm the king!" thought the young blonde beginning to grin a little. But Naruto's grin began to fade and was being replaced again by another sad expression.
Hirofumi grew concerned seeing this shift back into sadness after it seemed that Naruto was finally beginning to come out of it. "What's the matter Naruto?" he asked in a worried tone as he placed his hand on the little blonde's back.
Naruto continued to look down at the pond as he spoke. "Well it's just the people in the village...they know I keep the Kyuubi away but they all look at me like I'm a monster, why do they do that? they must know I'm not the Kyuubi, right?" asked the blue-eyed boy sounding very depressed and crushed.
Hirofumi released a tired sigh at the mention of the villagers, they did not understand and even if they did their feelings towards the Kyuubi blinded them from seeing the kind young boy that was really there. "They don't understand, Naruto" he said sadly but genuinely.
Naruto looked up at him with an irritated frown on his face, glaring daggers at the man. "That's exactly the same thing the old man always keeps telling me anytime I ask this! what don't they understand? what is so hard to understand? I get it and I'm not even a grown up, I thought grown-ups were supposed to be smart!?" yelled out Naruto his frustrations and confusion coming to the surface.
Hirofumi sighed understanding the boy's feelings. "From his point of view, adults are supposed to know everything and understand everything". "Well Naruto adults are not perfect, they don't know all there is about the world, and if they do understand one thing their feelings towards it can get in the way of their better judgement on it, as is with you, some may not understand that you and fox are two separate beings despite how close you are to him, or that their hatred and fear of the Kyuubi is blinding them from truly seeing you, Naruto" he explained in a voice of sympathy and honesty.
Naruto looked back down at the pond's water another wave of sadness replacing his anger. "That sounds...sad, that they still feel like that about the fox, he must have hurt a lot of people for them to still feel that way after so much time has passed" said the young Jinchuuriki feeling sorry for all those who are still hurting inside, more than he was for himself.
Hirofumi smiled down, amazed that Naruto could show such sympathy for the villagers after all they've put him through. "You really are something special Naruto" he thought, proud of the boy in front of him.
The ghost clapped his hands together snapping the boy out of his thoughts and gaining his attention. "Well don't worry about them, in time I'm sure they'll change their view of you and begin to see the young man that you'll become, but until then just have as much fun as you can! you only get one childhood, exploit the freedom for all it's worth, prank everyone in a 20-mile radius if you want! Hell pull this Sasuke boy along for the ride, it'll make for some amazing memories to share, that I'm sure!" cheered out Hirofumi, his words seemed to get to Naruto who shot up onto his feet like a spring.
Clenching his fists and putting on a huge toothy grin Naruto began to speak with excess vigour. "Yeah your right! I should have fun I can worry about all that people acknowledging me stuff later, for now I'm gonna have fun with my friends well...friend but I'm still gonna have fun either way, I don't care if the people see me as the fox because I'm Naruto Uzumaki and no one can tell me otherwise dattebayo!" roared out Naruto, pointing his thumb to himself while sending out a near blinding smile.
Hirofumi laughed heartily at the boy's spunk and had his eyes closed while doing so, in doing so he didn't see the mischievous grin form on Naruto's face as his eyes shifted to the side. "The whole pranking everyone within a 20 mile radius sounds like an interesting idea, having Sasuke's help in doing it would make it more fun but it'll take time and it might take some convincing to get him to join, we will need to be stronger and more skilled before we can fulfil such a goal effectively and with a higher chance of success within a shinobi village" thought Naruto like a young evil mastermind.
Naruto coming out of his plan hatching looked around and something just struck him. "Hey Hirofumi um if there really is a giant orange fox living inside of me where is it? I don't see him anywhere" asked the boy looking in every possible direction.
The man in question was now smirking proudly. "Well Naruto I decided to put him somewhere private and quiet so he could have sweet dreams with no disturbances. If you want I can take you to him?" he offered sounding pretty cheerful and proud of himself. Naruto nodded wanting to see the second tenant of his body plus wanting to see with his own eyes if a huge nine-tailed fox was actually dwelling within him.
Hirofumi stood up and gestured for Naruto to take his hand to which the boy did. "Okay Naruto I want you to know that you don't need to hold your breath" informed the man. Hirofumi's words confused the boy before suddenly being pulled into the pool by Hiro who suddenly jumped in not a second after speaking.
Once completely submerged in the water Naruto was freaking out and panicking but after a second or two of kicking and flailing about he realized something. He could breathe? and that no water was actually entering his mouth or lungs, it confused him on how this was even happening.
Hirofumi turned back to the young blonde and smiled in amusement. "Well I did say you didn't have to hold your breath now didn't I" teased the white-haired man. Speaking perfectly through the water as if it wasn't even there
Naruto glared daggers at the man for this. "Well you should've given me more of a heads up then oh 'you don't need to hold your breath' and then suddenly just go jumping in, also what kind of warming is that huh?" retorted Naruto sarcastically.
The blondes berating just seemed to amuse the man more. "Oh come now Naruto you're inside your own soul, you're not going to drown here that should have been obvious even for one as young as yourself" teased the man again with a cheeky grin. Naruto tried to think up a comeback but just puffed out and turned his head away from the man making Hirofumi laughed at the kid's cute little pout. 'Ahh to be a parent, I wish I had that again' he briefly thought sadly.
Naruto just let the man pull him down into the depths of the bottomless pond letting the cold water wash over him. As they got deeper and deeper the water seemed to start growing warmer and warmer, the Uzumaki started to see bubbles floating passed as they got deeper. Naruto noticed that the walls of the pond seemed to be illuminating, giving light as they descended deeper.
After a bit more time the pair reached the end of the dive and fell into what seemed like a huge poorly lit room, with three solid blank stone walls. On the far end of the room stood a huge red barred gate with a slip of paper on it with the kanji for seal written on it.
As Naruto listened he could begin to hear what sounded like snoring, every breathe bringing with it a strong gust of wind. The room was pretty warm, with a shallow surface of ankle deep water that the pair stood on which had heat bubbles bursting from its surface almost like it was being boiled on a stove.
Naruto was growing nervous he knew whatever was making that noise and gusts of wind had to be big, he honestly was a little scared that he was soon about to see the fox face to face. What if it tried to attack him? could this Hirofumi protect him from it? And that gate is it really strong enough to hold it back?
Hirofumi could practically feel how nervous Naruto was and put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry Naruto he's not awake and he hasn't been for the past 7 and a half years. I've been using my chakra to keep him asleep he will only wake up when I let him or when you want me to wake him" revealed Hirofumi. He could see and feel Naruto relax at knowing that the fox won't be awake.
With now knowing the fox won't be waking up Naruto took a deep breath and began walking toward to the cage with his guide following closely behind him. When Naruto was in viewing range of the fox his jaw nearly hit the ground at the sight of it. "I-it's anonymous! he's huge! Gigantic and so so orange!" exclaimed Naruto in such sheer amazement at the sight of the deeply slumbering Kyuubi that his eyes now gained sparkling stars..orange stars too.
The man beside him chuckled "you really like orange don't you kid?" he asked, finding the blondes amazed reactions to be greatly entertaining.
Naruto turned to him and looked at him like he was insane "of course I do, orange is the best colour in the world maybe even the whole universe, I don't get why most people don't like it. I mean look at him over ther,. he's orange so that must mean he thinks orange is cool as well right?" he asked argumentatively.
Hirofumi arched an eyebrow at the question and looked to be actually thinking about it before coming up with nothing and just shrugged his shoulders. "Maybe, do you want to find out?" he asked pointing to the sleeping fox.
Naruto visibly tensed up at the question, looking at the fox right now he knew he wasn't ready to talk with it, he needed time to adjust, to get used to the knowledge that he was carrying around the nine-tails before even thinking about talking to it. Then there was also the fact that he learned he was also carrying the ghost of a dead man too, he seriously needed time to wrap his head around it all. "Um no not yet, I'm just not ready yet" he said looking down at the floor as he said so, ashamed he couldn't work up the spine to do this.
The ghost looked down at the boy and nodded in understanding "it's okay Naruto you've had a lot dropped on you today, no one can blame you for wanting to take some time to fully process all this so don't be ashamed, but know this I'm always here for when you need to talk and since you now know I'm here we can communicate freely now".
Naruto was glad to hear that he could talk to Hirofumi any time he liked now, it comforted him to know he now had someone watching over him. "Wait he said he's been here since the Kyuubi was sealed inside me does that mean..." recalled Naruto.
The blonde started connecting the dots starting from the silver string, the feeling that came from it, then to Hiro's familiar voice. "Hey Hirofumi are you the one who would cause that warm feeling that would make me feel better anytime I was feeling sad?" asked Naruto looking straight at the man with his big blue orbs.
Naruto knew he had his answer when the man smiled down at him, Naruto couldn't control himself when he learned that it really was him who was always making him feel better. He rushed Hiro tackling him in a surprise hug that was so strong it knocked the full-grown man over and winded him in the process.
After coughing and groaning a bit the man looked down to see the young blonde still hugging him and could be seen throbbing, with sobs being heard coming from the boy. Hirofumi gently smiled down at the boy and started rubbing his head with tenderness "Naruto don't cry" said the white head.
Naruto started to stop throbbing and started releasing his tight grip on the spirits white kimono top, he lifted himself up with one hand using the other to wipe away the tears that were coming from his now puffy blue orbs. "I'm sorry I was just really happy to learn that I've had someone looking out for me all this time, anytime I was feeling bad that warm feeling would come and help me feel okay again, anytime I was feeling lonely it would come and make me not feel lonely, anytime I'd get angry it would calm me down and now I know that was all you, you've been there for me from day one, thank you".
Naruto was silent for a moment as he stared at Hiro "I-I wonder if this is what it must feel like to have, family?" asked the boy in a voice full of happiness and hope.
Hirofumi smiled up at the boy who was leaning on his belly and laughed kindly. "Well I guess so, I have been here a long time so you could call me close family" he said sincerely with a sharp smile.
"Really!?" asked Naruto smiling with freshly tearing up eyes, to which he gets a firm nod from the white-haired ghost. Naruto began to fully tear back up and again surprised Hirofumi by unexpectedly jumping him and putting him into a chokehold around the neck, some may call it a hug if it was just not so ironclad, all the while the boy was crying tears of joy.
Unknown to Naruto he didn't realize that he was strangling the afterlife out of the man who was caught in his re-death grip and was now gasping for air; or whatever the dead breathe. "Nar-Naruto ple-please let g-go I m-might b-be a ghost bu-but I sti-still need to breathe s-something" chocked out a blue-faced Hirofumi.
Unfortunately for Hiro Naruto wasn't listening and just kept his grip on his neck strong. "Oh god, everything is going black, if I die here what comes next? do I go to super limbo, a limbo where ghosts cannot see ghosts, could I be a ghost that could haunt other ghosts?" he wondered to himself before he blacked out.
It was only after Hirofumi passed out that Naruto let his grip go rubbing his eyes free of tears, making him not notice the full-grown man he just chocked out. "I'm so happy to have someone to call family, so what should I call you Uncle? Dad? Brother?...well?" asked Naruto, becoming confused on why he wasn't getting any response. Naruto looked down at Hirofumi and when he did he saw the man lying down, mouth open, eyes blank and what seemed to be a mini ghost of him hovering out of his mouth.
Naruto stared at the sight dumbstruck "oh no I killed him...OH NO I KILLED HIM!" yelled out Naruto in a panic and shot up and started running around like a headless chicken not knowing what to do. As Naruto was running around he tried thinking up a way he could maybe revive the man he might have just killed or re-killed. "Wait that's it!" said Naruto now smiling, thinking he might have just come up with a sure-fire way of saving the man.
Naruto rushed over to the passed out or re-deadened man, he wasn't sure, and sat down next to him. Naruto tightly closed his eyes and started focusing really hard on what he was imagining up, suddenly Naruto felt a new warm weight in his hands. Opening his eyes he grinned at the glorious sight before him, it was a hot fresh steaming bowl of miso pork ramen. "This will surely wake him up, even the dead would come back for this" said the young blonde, sounding extremely sure of himself.
Naruto began waving the bowl of ramen in front of the possibly double dead man's face resisting the urge to down the bowl of ramen himself. After a few seconds Hirofumi began to stir, his eyelids twitching, his nostrils flaring and he began to tiredly groan. "Ahh wh-what just happened? what's that smell?" he asked not completely back to his senses just yet.
Naruto grinned and started rubbing the back of his head while the ramen mysteriously disappeared, only leaving an empty bowl and a slightly satisfied looking Naruto behind. "Well I sort of got a bit too excited and seemed to have hugged you a little too strongly" explained the whiskered boy, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.
Hirofumi gained a tick mark on his head and shot up to his feet one of his fists clenched. "Too strongly! Ya nearly killed me Naruto!" yell out the white-haired.
Naruto didn't seem fazed by the man's anger and just leaned his head to one side "but aren't you already dead? So shouldn't it be impossible for you to die, again?" he asked innocently.
Hirofumi angry expression quickly became replaced by one of realization. "Oh" he said out loud "yeah" he finished looking off to the side. He looked back over to Naruto frowning "well that may be the case but it still hurt like hell having the very afterlife choked out of you kid, so be careful if you ever do that again okay, and make sure not to use that kinda level of affection on something truly living" ordered Hiro, who got a nod from Naruto. Hiro started moving his head around trying to work out any kinks in his neck and getting a few cracks here and there. "So did I miss anything while I was out like that?" he asked.
Naruto perked up at that question "yeah I asked since you and me are like family what should I call you?" asked the boy happily, clearly wishing to know.
Hirofumi looked down at the kid with one hand pushing on his own neck, and an expression of clear thought on his face. "Hummm how about grandfather or granddad, given how I'm much too old to be a brother or a father figure" he stated.
Naruto smiled liking the thought of having a real grandfather. "Cool I've always wanted a grandfather! Dattebayo!" cheered out, the young Jinchuuriki fist-pumping the air as he did.
Hirofumi gave a sideways smile at the boy's excitement in him being his grandfather figure, he liked the sound of it himself too he felt like he was now beginning to fulfil a role that he lost out on so long ago. Hirofumi briefly activated his Sharingan in order to permanently capture the image of Naruto's happy expression and store it to memory, he didn't want something like that to just be lost to time. It disappointed him how the Sharingan was only ever seen or used as a weapon and that no one ever seemed to discover kinder uses for it.
"Hey!" said Naruto loudly, knocking Hiro out of his musing "um Grandfather" he said in a lower voice trying to get use to calling someone that "um are you a dead ninja?" asked Naruto who got a raised eyebrow from the man. Naruto saw it fitting to explain why he was asking that "it's just you have the Sharingan that Sasuke was telling me about, so are you?" finished Naruto.
Hirofumi eyes started looking around as if searching for an answer until he looked back at Naruto. "You could call me that, I definitely have the skill and strength to be classed as a Shinobi" he said vaguely not wanting to define his level, especially since the boy in front of him has yet to even start any form of training into becoming a ninja.
Naruto looked up at spirit in excitement and awe. "so you are a ninja, cool! how strong are you? Are you stronger than the old man? Or, or, or," asked Naruto, setting up to bombard the poor ghost with too many questions.
"Woh woh woh kid calm down!" he called out, waving his arms in front of him in a cut it out manner, before placing a hand on top the boys spiky haired head who was trying to squirm out. "Theirs no need to interrogate me on my strength okay, it's not like I'm coming back from the dead anytime soon to start having an epic battle with your Hokage" he said in a sarcastic joking tone to calm the hyper kid down.
Naruto started sulking at this, wishing he could see that happen, thinking it would really be awesome since the old man told him he was still the strongest ninja in the village despite his current age. Naruto could see his grandfatherwould have to be strong if he was somehow keeping the Kyuubi asleep by himself. Naruto quickly got out of his sulking though "oh well, could you teach me how to be a ninja?" asked the blonde bluntly, excited by the thought of being able to do ninja stuff.
"But aren't you starting the academy soon?" he asked, smirking while he did.
"Well yeah but I want to get an early start, if I want to be the best ninja ever then I need to start as soon as possible" said Naruto, looking as serious as possible to show he was not joking.
Hirofumi thought about it for a second, not seeing any reason not to "I'll just have to be careful what I teach him" he thought to himself. "Very well I guess I'll teach you, we can talk about a schedule later, for now don't you have a friend to go meet?" he said knowingly to the boy who looked at him confused.
Naruto looked at the man confused on what he was talking about, he couldn't have been in here that long could he? Naruto saw Hiro lifting up his hand positioning the tip of his thumb and middle finger together, and smirked down at the boy before he snapped them together and everything went black for the blonde.
Naruto started freaking out and started fighting with some soft material that was on top of him until he suddenly fell off of something soft and then landed on a solid surface. Naruto started groaning as he got back up "ahhh what the hell!?" he yelled, rubbing his head and finally opening his eyes to see that it was his quilt that was on top of him and he was now back in his room, or more specifically the floor of his room. "Was that all real?" he asked himself, looking out his window and seeing it was now currently early light out.
"Yep sure was" answered the voice of Hiro from inside Naruto's mindscape which surprised the boy.
Naruto quickly came down from his brief surprise of hearing his Grandfather's voice in his head. "Oh so it wasn't a dream, that's a relief it would have sucked if you weren't real" replied Naruto honestly.
Hiro chuckled at the boy "well I'm fully real, dead and a ghost but nevertheless I'm here for you Naruto, now enough talk I think you have an Uchiha to go meet" said the ghost, reminding the boy about his promise to go meet Sasuke at 8.
Naruto head snapped to the clock in his room and it showed 7:45 "oh crap! I have 15 minutes!" he yelled before he started rushing around. Picking up his discarded clothes from the other day not caring if they were dirty or not, he then rushed out of his room to the bathroom to brush his teeth and wash his face before bolting down the stairs, shouting a goodbye to the Matron before rocketing out the front door.
On his way back to the lake where he and Sasuke met Naruto had something he wanted to asked Hiro. "Hey Granddad I was wondering, can I tell Sasuke about you?" he asked, wondering if he was aloud to let others know about him.
"Yes you can" he said making Naruto smile "but not yet" he added making Naruto arch a questioning eyebrow "you can tell him once you trust him, tell me Naruto do you completely trust Sasuke? and do you think he completely trusts you?" asked the ghost sounding serious when he asked this.
Naruto frowned at that question seriously thinking it over, him and Sasuke may just have become friends but they don't know that much about each other yet. But still that can change in time "maybe not now but we'll come to trust each other I know we will dattebayo!" cheered out Naruto grinning as he said it, holding absolutely no doubt in his voice.
Hirofumi smiled in Naruto's mindscape as he heard the boy "I'm sure you both will, Naruto, trust has to be earned it just can't be given, and that's why it should be valued, because those willing to earn it can become those we can truly rely on most" said Hiro wisely.
Naruto remained silent deciding to just take the ghost words in and nodded in response to them before picking up his pace to the lake. It didn't take long for Naruto to arrive at the lake and saw Sasuke sitting there on the dock waiting "hey Sasuke!" called out Naruto waving down at the boy who waved back.
Naruto started running down to meet Sasuke and his black-haired friend got up from the dock and decided to meet the blonde halfway. "For a second I thought you weren't going to show up" commended the young Uchiha.
The blonde laughed awkwardly at the comment "sorry I woke up late, so what do you want to do today? play some games, ohh how about we play hide and seek?" asked the Uzumaki now bursting with energy and excitement on playing some more games with someone his own age for once. Board games were only so much fun for so long "sorry Miss Sato".
Sasuke seemed to think about it for a sec "sure sounds like fun" said Sasuke sounding a little excited himself. He never really got to play many games himself when his family was alive it was really only when his brother or mother had some free time. "Dad wasn't into games...unless it was dodgeball, only instead of balls he used kunai and shuriken".
Naruto grinned and nodded "okay let's go I know a great place where we canplay" he told Sasuke who nodded. Naruto started leading the way to the place where the two could go play their game ofhide and seek.
Hirofumi was sitting back on a tree in the garden looking over at the pool, seeing Naruto and Sasuke starting to play their game of hide and seek on its crystal clear surface. He smiled faintly as he watched the two have fun, his Sharingan glowing into life.
He released a happy sigh "it's nice seeing these two getting along, I'm sure it won't be long till they come to trust each other deeply..." he began, speaking to himself before his gaze focused in on Sasuke, "and when that happens we'll meet as well, Sasuke" he finished in a cooler tone, that held a small noticeable undertone of anticipation.
The wavy-haired man started leaning back further onto the tree, getting himself more comfortable and letting his thoughts drift. He lifted his head up, his scarlet eyes receding back into their normal brown and gold mixture.
"I wonder what the future will have in store for these two, well whatever it is I'm sure it'll be something" he thought to himself before deciding to get some shut-eye.
End of Chapter