Book of the Others
Chapter 3
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X-x-x-x-x-x-X
She had woken up in the hospital the night after. It was not the first time she had done so, but this time it was under very different circumstances.
She had known it was a bad idea, but Naruto, in a uncharacteristic display of complete recklessness had simply ignored her, putting not only himself, but also her, in danger. She was seething in anger for several days afterwards. Despite Naruto's numerous attempts at apologizing, she thought it best not to speak to him for a few days and let him think about what he had done.
So far it seemed to be working.
She knew she could not stay angry with him forever, though. She was not even that mad at him for putting her in danger, she was already damaged goods anyways. Naruto, on the other hand, would become someone great one day, even if he did not know it yet. It was imperative for him to stay alive. Whatever the future had in store for him, she knew that he would leave a permanent mark on the history of the elemental nations.
Having read several books on important historical persons, along with their self-biographies, she could say that lot of them started out their lives in ways that would seem very unassuming. Naruto, an orphan who just happens to have a very specific, and very special, ability would fit right in among them. She would not be remembered, of course, but what she fully intended to do was making sure that Naruto stayed alive long enough for him to do whatever he will one day do and see to it that he lives a complete and happy life.
She sighed, closing the book in front of her.
In a way, Naruto had restored some semblance of normalcy to her life. The irony of this was not lost on her. But before meeting him, she was only waiting to die. Perhaps she would have lived out her life alone, but would have most likely ended it prematurely in the not too distant future. Getting a job at the library was a huge step up in comparison to her previous life, but still, she could not shake off the things she had done in the past to stay alive.
It still plagued her, but the memories seemed to fade away when she was near Naruto.
He did not know much about her past, and she was intending to keep it that way. While she was usually the one to emphasize the importance of honesty between the two of them, her past had to be an exception to this rule. If he knew what she had done, what she had been, he would simply throw her aside. How could anyone really love someone like her? He would be disgusted, feel the same uncleanness radiating off her that she felt everyday, and that would not go away no matter how much she scrubbed.
Sometimes people would recognize her from before. It always started with the glances, or glares, but sometimes one of them would try to approach her. Whenever this happened, she made sure to get out of there fast, especially if she was accompanied by Naruto, but she feared that one day she would not be fast enough, and he would learn about everything and be lost to her.
Kei had never really had a friend before, and her feelings for Naruto extended far beyond friendship. He had, after all, in a way unknowingly saved her and given her life meaning. This was something she could never repay him for, no matter how much she tried to help him. Several times, she had been tempted to come clean about how she felt, but always stopped herself. He deserved someone better, someone who could one day stand beside him like an equal. Someone who could be completely honest with him.
She glanced up at the clock, and saw that it was only twenty minutes before closing time.
She had something to attend to before going home. Naruto's birthday was coming up in just a week, and Kei had put in an order for something special that she was supposed to pick up today. Knowing he did not expect to get anything, she hoped that it would be a welcome surprise.
She suddenly heard footsteps approaching her from behind. Turning around, she saw Ayako, a senior librarian, walking towards her in a determined manner.
"Kei," she said. "Please follow me."
Confused at Ayako's behavior, Kei remained silent and stood up, following her into the back room. Something about the situation did not sit right with Kei. It was almost as if she was about to get reprimanded for something, but as far as she could remember, she had never been late, or done anything else wrong for that matter, but followed every instruction she had ever gotten, whether it be from visitors or staff, to the letter.
Once they were alone, Ayako turned to face her. "We have to talk about the boy."
'The boy?' thought Kei. "You mean Naruto?"
"Yes, the boy."
Kei's initial impression was right, Ayako was definitely displeased about something, but what could Naruto have to do with it?
"What about him?" she asked, confused at where this conversation was heading.
"We don't want him here. A library is supposed to be a place people can go to relax, as much as loan books, but who can be relaxed with that thing running around. It simply won't be allowed any further." her words shocked Kei, but she remained silent, allowing Ayako to continue. "And for some reason, Kami only knows why, you seem to encourage his presence here, even going so far as to spend time with him outside of work. Do you not think people have noticed? And how do you think this reflects on our establishment?"
"I-I'm not sure I know what this is about." Her mind was racing. What could Naruto have done to make her so upset? To the best of her knowledge, Kei had been around him every time he had come to visit the library.
Ayako scoffed. "Girl, you know exactly what this is about. Don't try to pull one over on m-." However, she stopped, taking a closer look at Kei's expression and appeared to reassess her previous statement. "Oh my, do you truly not know?"
"Know what? What are you talking about?" Key said, getting more confused and upset by the second. "What's this about Naruto?"
After a moment of silence, the older woman adopted a serious expression. "The boy isn't human."
It took a while for the statement to sink in, but when she had fully understood what the woman was trying to communicate, Kei let out a short laugh before stifling it."Isn't human? Please Ayako, that's simply ridiculous."
"It is not ridiculous, and everyone in the village knows it!" she leaned in conspiratorially. "He isn't only not human, but the very same demon that wreaked havoc in our village twelve years ago. Apparently, the fourth Hokage wasn't able to kill it, so he put it inside a small boy where it could do no harm. For some reason we're not allowed to kill it, god knows many have tried."
Kei clenched her fists, trying her best to control the rising anger. "So you're telling me that the Kyuubi is sealed in Naruto? Why then would anyone want to kill him?" she said, having to take care not to let her anger show in her voice.
"Don't be silly, there's no way the boy could have survived the ordeal. No, that thing is the beast, through and through." she locked eyes with Kei. "And you better stay away from it, if you know what's good for you."
Ayako was a learned woman, but Kei very much doubted that the sealing arts were a part of her expertise. Kei, on the other hand, had done extensive research on the subject after learning that Naruto's abilities were largely based on some kind of sealing, and immediately recognized the unlikelihood of something like that happening. Not only that, but she knew Naruto, and he was definitely not some ancient, bloodthirsty beast. No one could possibly think that if they simply bothered to get to know him.
She had read about them before though – jinchuuriki, the power of human sacrifice. There were ways by which they could be identified. For example, somewhere on their bodies there was supposed to be a large seal. And from throwing more glances in Naruto's direction than she probably should have while he was changing clothes, she could say the likelihood of him being one of them was very low. She could have missed it of course, and being a jinchuuriki could possibly explain his strange abilities.
She would have to research the matter further.
She returned from her thoughts and blurted out. "I don't think its any of you're business who I spend time with." immediately regretting her outburst.
"No, that's where you're wrong," poison seeped into her voice. "It is my business since it affects this library's business. And make no mistake, you may know your way around this place better than me, but no one's irreplaceable. Think about that before you spout out any more of that foolishness."
With that, the older woman abruptly turned around and walked away.
The conversation left her... unsettled. Did everyone in the village truly believe that Naruto, of all people, was the Kyuubi that laid waste to Konoha all those years ago? To her, the mere suggestion seemed ludicrous, but if she would have been a part of a larger group that constantly affirmed this belief among themselves without really knowing him, would she really have turned out to be any different? She mulled over this and decided that there were perhaps benefits to having been born and raised at the peripheral of society.
He mind again turned towards all those times when she had noticed hostile glares being shot it their direction. While they had seemed too numerous, she thought they were directed at her by people who recognized her and thought she was corrupting the village's youth. Perhaps she would have noticed something sooner if it was not for the fact that they rarely spent time in closely populated areas, and when they were in such places, she only had eyes for Naruto.
'But,' she thought, 'I should have noticed something was off sooner.'
She went out into the library proper and began rummaging through the shelves, looking for anything and everything relating to the Bijuu and Jinchuuriki, resulting in a pretty impressive stack of books. She was surprised at the wealth of information available regarding the subject, and that so many people, despite this, were ignorant about the nature of the jinchuuriki.
But perhaps they did not really want to educate themselves, but preferred to have a scapegoat they could put all the blame on. A lot of people suffered losses that day, and perhaps it was easier for them to have something concrete to point their fingers at. Willful ignorance was a part of the human condition after all.
Soon after finishing compiling her stack of books, the hour reached closing time. She waited for a bit, letting everyone, staff included, vacate the building. Then she left without checking out the books she brought with her. She could not leave a paper trail behind, these books along with her relationship with Naruto would paint a very suspicious picture, so she hoped that no one would notice that they were gone until she could put them back.
When she got home, she stayed up all night, learning everything she could about the jinchuuriki.
X-x-x-x-x-x-X
Naruto pulled out the sheet of paper in which Thylgoroth was sealed. Over the last few days, when he was not busy worrying about Kei, he had done his best to find out what kind of Other he had sealed, and what its intentions and abilities were. As of yet, his attempts had proven to be largely unfruitful, as the creature was cryptic at best, if it even bothered to answer his questions at all that is. It frustrated him to no end, but he kept up trying to fish for information nonetheless.
It had even refused to tell him its name, or what kind of creature it was for that matter. However, as it altered the Amulet of Sealing upon entering it, a word appeared below the symbol – Thylgoroth. He did not yet know if it was the creature's name, or perhaps the name of its species. But that was what he had taken to calling it when attempting to make contact through the amulet, and the creature actually answered to it, if at all. That was a good sign he guessed.
He wished Kei was there to help him figure everything out, but ever since the night of the sealing when both of them had been rendered unconscious, she had refused to speak to him.
Words could not describe the amount of guilt he felt about what happened. He had promised her that everything was going to be okay, that nothing bad would come out of sealing Thylgoroth. Yet, the night ended with both of them lying helpless on the ground until a shinobi found them the next morning and took them to the hospital.
He could not for the life of him understand what he had been thinking. Why had he taken the risk when it was so absolutely idiotic? There was only one answer he could think of. Whatever had happened that night, his action must have been the result of an outside force controlling him. Partly at the very least. And that outside force was likely the very same that was sitting in front of him, sealed in a piece of paper.
If his suspicions were true, which he believed them to be, then it would indicate that Thylgoroth had strong psychic abilities. Well, that was pretty much confirmed with what it had done to Kei, putting her in some kind of trance, making her unable to move or do much of anything. And the feeling he had gotten when the 'exchange' took place also revealed great physical strength. When the creature had somehow channeled itself though him against his will, it had felt like he could pull out a tree from the ground, roots and all.
He would have to find a way to avoid that from happening again. The only reason he let Kei go with him in the first place was because he was under the misconception that the only way one of the Others could possibly hurt her was if he channeled their powers, but apparently they, or at least some of them, could channel his in order to gain a foothold in this world and influence the world around him.
He had studied the book of amulets closely for a solution to this problem, and believed that he had found a couple of amulets that could help him. The problem was, however, that he could not keep any of the amulets active for too long, lest he suffer terrible consequences. The amulets would therefore have to be used reactively, until he found a proactive solution. This banked on him noticing when he was being influenced, which was a source of a lot of insecurity.
He heard a knock on his door. His heart leapt, believing it was Kei finally deciding to speak to him again, but as he opened the door, a much older, and decidedly male figure revealed itself.
"Hello, Naruto," said the old Hokage. "It's been a while."
Naruto hoped the disappointment he felt did not show.
"Old man, I guess you're here about what happened, huh?" said Naruto, using his old name for the Hokage without thinking, while gesturing for him to come in.
Perhaps they had not been on the best of terms for the last few years, but he was still the man that had made sure Naruto was taken care of in his younger years, so he did not want to come off as unwelcoming or indifferent, even though that was perhaps closer to the truth than the facade he put up during these visits.
"Indeed I am," answered the old man as he walked up to one of the chairs in the living room and took a seat. "And from what I've heard, you weren't alone. Kei I believe was the girl's name, if I'm not mistaken."
Of course he was curious about Kei. She was probably the only person he had ever known Naruto to spend time with other than himself, which was indeed the case. "Yes, I met her at the library a few weeks back, we became friends and have been spending a lot of time together ever since. I like her."
The aged Hokage smiled. "I'm glad to hear that." he paused. "I would love to talk about it some time. However, right now I'm afraid I have to inquire about what happened that night when you were found unconscious. You must understand that this is a very uncommon and worrying occurrence, so it must be investigated in order to avoid future incidents."
'Shit,' thought Naruto. 'Of course someone would question me about what happened.' Having prepared a story beforehand would have been the smart thing to do, but foolishly he never expected to need one. He would have to come up with something on the fly and hope that it would stick.
"Yes..." the hesitation was painfully obvious in his voice, and he stopped, frantically trying to come up with something believable to say. So far, he was only drawing blanks and got more nervous by the second.
"I can understand if it is hard to talk about it, if something happe-"
"No," Naruto interrupted. "It's not like that. No one hurt us. It's just... something happened"
"Very well, how about you start from the beginning and tell me what did happen." he was looking expectantly at Naruto.
What was there to say? What possible reason could he have for lying unconscious together with his friend on a shinobi training ground? He had to stall. Perhaps if he dragged out the conversation, he could think of something. "Has anyone spoken with Kei yet?"
"No, not yet. I thought it best to seek you out first. After all, the girl has nothing to do with the shinobi world."
This got Naruto's attention. "You're saying I do?"
Perhaps the old man had slipped up, but his expression remained neutral. However, the Hokage was likely one of the most experienced shinobi in the entirety of the Elemental Nations. Getting caught in a lie and remaining calm was hardly a feat worth mentioning. "No," he smiled. "Of course not. You made it clear you wanted nothing to do with it a long time ago, though I don't understand why. You would've made an excellent shinobi."
"Perhaps. But, there's something you've never told me." he pressed the issue.
"Which is?"
"Why do you care about me becoming a shinobi or not?" He had never bothered to question the old man about it when he was younger, but it was a question that had lingered in his mind ever since the Sandaime decided to finally drop the subject.
The old Sandaime thought about this for a moment before answering. "Throughout my time, I've seen all kinds of aspiring ninja. I know all the types by now – those who succeed and those who fail and die an all too early death." he let out a sad sigh. "That being said, I saw something in you. Something that promised greatness. I still remember when you were younger, and boldly proclaimed that you'd become the greatest Hokage that had ever been." Naruto felt a stab of pain at the old man's words. "And while those were indeed bold statements - unrealistic, some would say - I still believed in you, and what you could achieve."
Naruto looked down, unable to meet the older man's eyes, feeling the pain of disappointing the old man, even after all this time.
"Now, that's enough of that." said the Hokage. "I believe you were about to tell me what happened last week."
For his entire life, he had tried to hide his peculiar ability, thinking that no one would understand, and instead believe him to be crazy. Because of this, Naruto realized, he had never once considered simply telling the old man the truth. However, things were different now. He and Kei had found out what was happening to him and they were able to produce real evidence to support what he was seeing now. Perhaps the right course of action would be to explain to him not only what happened that night, but has been going on his entire life.
Though he was riddled with self-doubt, but decided to go with the truth anyways. "I-I have something to tell you."
"Yes?"
"I mean not just about what happened that night, but has been going all for quite some time. It's connected."
The old man furrowed his brow. "Whatever it is, Naruto. You can tell me about it. I am always here for you if you need a helping hand."
Was that guilt Naruto was picking up on? He had not picked up on it in the Hokage's voice, or even his face for that matter. But there had been a sudden understanding that guilt was what the old man was feeling. Why? And how could he possibly know that? He filed this away for later, and instead started telling him of the unseen forces that has always existed under the surface of his life.
When he had filled him in on the basics, the old Hokage simply sat there, seemingly in deep contemplation.
Several moments passed by before he began to speak. "And you're telling me all this can be proven?"
"Yes, that's were the night last week fits into it all. It was the first time we actually tried to use one of the amulets, and succeeded in sealing one of the Others." he looked at his left hand where the outlines of the Amulet of Rakshasa could still be seen, faintly. "It took a lot out of me, so I fainted after it was done, and that thing... it somehow did that to Kei."
"But you're saying they can only do this when you're around?"
"Yes. I'm the one with one foot planted on the other side due to the fact that I am somehow attuned to their world, or worlds. Without that 'bridge' the most I've ever seen them do is to move objects no larger than a pebble a few inches."
"That's some relief at least." The old man seemed to go with it, but Naruto could tell he had not won him over completely. But luckily, he was at least entertaining the possibility that what Naruto was telling him was real. "And have you ever tried to... channel this entity since?"
"I don't trust it," said Naruto bluntly. "From what we have learned from the books Kei found, I should have complete control over the thing's power now that it's sealed. But to be honest – I don't know what it can or can't do while it's in there."
The Hokage smiled. "That's very wise of you, Naruto. Caution is more often than not the right way to go about dealing with unknowns"
The room once again got quiet, as the old man returned to his thoughts. Mulling over something Naruto could not discern.
"I would like you to come by the tower tomorrow," he finally said. "Partly because I want to confirm what you've told me today, but also to provide a safer testing environment if I find all this to be true and not the working of some ninja proficient in genjutsu."
Genjutsu. The thought had never struck Naruto before. If he had learned of it earlier in his life, before everything with the shadowy man and Thylgoroth happened, and of course, before meeting Kei who could now back up his experiences, then perhaps he would have told the Hokage the truth earlier. But now, he was sure that this was not the result of any genjutsu. What he saw was real. There was no longer any lingering doubt about it in his mind.
He was also relieved that the old man had brought up genjutsu as an alternative instead of implying that Naruto was lying about everything or was insane.
Anyhow, after his talk with the Hokage, he felt better about the situation.
"And," the old man added. "Bring the girl with you."
Naruto told him he would do so, and they said their goodbyes shortly after.
X-x-x-x-x-x-X
"Hey, mom?" said Natsumi as they casually strolled down a dirt road that would lead them to the next hideout where they would stay for a couple of months before once again switching locations.
"What is it, honey?"
"What do you think he's like? Naruto, I mean."
"I don't know," That was a question Kushina herself would very much like to have answered. But even though she gave the Sandaime ample time to send back an answer to her coded message, no response arrived. "But I like imagine what he's like sometimes."
"So do I." Natsumi looked down at her feet. "Do you remember Minori, from the village near the boarder of Takigakure?"
Kushina had to think about this for a moment before remembering the young dark haired girl that always followed Natsumi around. "Yes."
"Well, she had this older brother. Kishoro was his name," she got a sad expression on her face. "They always seemed so close. Like they belonged together. I always wanted that with someone. When we return – I hope Naruto will become like that to me. Like we never separated in the first place."
"I hope so too." answered Kushina, both sad, but in a way comforted to hear that her daughter shared her longing.
"So, how do you imagine he will be like?"
Kushina smiled as she remembered his face. So small, yet so much like his father. They almost looked exactly alike, except for some minor details, and the whisker-like birthmarks both he and his sister had. "Do you remember when I told you about Jiraiya, your father's teacher?" Natsumi nodded. "Well, shortly before you and your brother were born, he published a book called The Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Ninja. Both your father and I adored it. I would have read it to you when you were younger if it wasn't so hard to get a hand on nowadays. The only copy I know of is still at our home in Konoha.
"That being said, the ninja this novel was about was named Naruto. He represented everything that we thought a ninja should be – he was strong, but more importantly he was kind, loyal and had a will of fire. The story followed him as he fought for, and eventually succeeded in bringing peace to the elemental nations. He was everything we hoped... no, knew our son would one day be, so when you two were born, that's the name we decided upon."
"I can't wait to meet him."
"Don't worry," said Kushina, smiling. "when the chunin exams come around, you will."
They walked in comfortable silence for a while before Natsumi once again spoke up. "But..." she said hesitantly. "What if he isn't like anything like what we hope he will be? What if he's like the boy we met in Nami no Kuni?"
This triggered the latent anxiety Kushina always carried with her. Truth be told, she had no idea how Naruto had turned out in her absence, or what his life had been like. "I'm sure whatever type of person he is, you will eventually come to love him, and he you."
They arrived to their destination shortly after.
The small cottage was firmly nested in among the trees. A perfect place to train.
Neither of them were fond of being idle, so they threw themselves into their training as soon as they had settled down.
Chains shot out of Natsumi's back. These were not like Kushina's chakra chains that shone in a golden color and had sealing properties. These glowed an ominous red, and unlike the subtle brilliance of her mother's chains, these were made to tear the enemy apart. And instead of sealing those who were chained by them, they corroded the enemy's skin, sinking bone-deep in mere seconds.
Kushina dodged to the side, letting the red chains burrow themselves into the dirt. She answered this attack by hailing her daughter with shuriken and kunai, but all of them were batted aside by the chains in a casual manner.
Again, the red chains shot towards her. Though this time they were merely distractions. Natsumi had very recently unlocked her third chain, which she activated just moments before, thinking Kushina had not noticed. Unfortunately for Natsumi, that was not the case.
The third chain erupted from the ground just below the older woman, but as it struck home, she disappeared in a cloud of smoke.
Natsumi's victorious grin turned into a surprised expression. She began to frantically look around, trying to locate her mother before it was too late.
Taking a page out of her daughter's playbook, Kushina's hand erupted from the ground just beneath Natsumi, grabbing a hold of her ankle. Natsumi quickly called back her chains, commanding them to pierce the ground beneath her feet in an attempt to free herself from her mother's iron grip.
As they burrowed themselves into the ground, the hand once again disappeared in a small cloud of smoke, causing the girl to make an annoyed sound.
"Fine, if you want to play it that way." said Natsumi as she arranged her hands in a cross-like pattern.
The forest around them exploded in a cloud of smoke, and as the smoke began to set, a hundred copies of the young girl revealed themselves.
Immediately the shadow clones began to search the area for any sign of Kushina. Unlike her mother, Natsumi had not inherited the sensor abilities that were so common in the Uzumaki clan, so she had to rely on her other senses to locate the enemy in battle. Something that she was sadly not very good at.
While Natsumi was indeed strong for her age, there were gaping holes in her skillset that Kushina fully intended to amend before the chunin exams came around. Natsumi's methods needed to be refined. As of now, she was a blunt instrument, mostly good for smashing things to bits and pieces. Reconnaissance, tracking, infiltration and other subtle skills vital for any shinobi were sorely lacking.
One of the clones caught a glimpse of a flash of red in among the trees and immediately dispelled itself in order to alert Natsumi of her find. Soon after, the clones coalesced at that location while Natsumi herself kept back in case it was a trap.
Unsurprisingly, it was. The blast destroyed most of her shadow clones, and the few ones remaining were swiftly cut down.
Kushina had unsealed the Crimson Cutter itself. An old, and very powerful relic from Uzu no Kuni. One of the very few ones remaining.
Natsumi knew what was expected of her, and unsealed a blade of her own. While long and elegant, in comparison to the Crimson Cutter, Natsumi's own blade was more like a toy than any real weapon. High quality, yes, but that mattered little when faced with a sword that could cut through the most high quality of steel like it was butter.
Now, however, Kushina refrained from channeling any chakra through the Crimson Cutter, so blocking the blade would not completely destroy Natsumi's.
Sparks flew around them as steel clashed against steel. Trying to match Kushina in kenjutsu, even though she dumbed down her form when sparring against her daughter, was an exercise in futility. Natsumi had to employ other tricks only to keep up with her.
Natsumi channeled chakra to her feet in order to stay in place as she blocked her mother's overhead blow. It was barely enough to keep her on her feet. As the older redhead prepared another devastating blow, instead of blocking it again, Natsumi dodged, staying as close as the ground as possible as she gathered chakra into her left fist.
Feeling the air above her get displaced by the swing of her mother's blade, she reached out, trying to jab the older woman in her ribs. It was an awkward position to attack from, but her efforts produced some results nonetheless.
Seeing what her daughter was up to, Kushina promptly jumped back to avoid the chakra-enhanced fist containing enough chakra to completely demolish her torso. And even though she was successful in avoiding the fist, she was not fast enough to to get away from the following wave of chakra that knocked her back into the trees.
A couple of years ago, Kushina had taught Natsumi the method used by Tsunade to pump chakra into her limbs to greatly enhance their destructive power. It did not take long before she had tweaked it slightly to come up with the Chakra Wave technique. It did not do particularly much damage to the foe, but was great for throwing them off balance and disrupting their attacks.
Natsumi was usually not in the business of creating her own jutsus, but she never failed to surprise Kushina with the creative ways in which she used and slightly altered them to use them in the most unexpected ways possible.
She regained her footing in time to avoid Natsumi's blade.
"Ok," said Kushina, putting a stop to the sparring. "That's good for now."
"Aww, I almost had you!" Natsumi whined.
This brought a smile to the older woman's face. "Almost had me, you say?" Kushina looked pointedly at the tree trunk next to which her daughter was standing.
Turning around, Natsumi could see what she was looking at.
'Damnit,' thought Natsumi as she stared at the explosive seal mere inches from her face. 'She must have put it there when she was hiding from me, then baiting me into this position.'
Though her mother insisted otherwise, Natsumi did not think she could ever match her skills, no matter how much, or for how long, she trained. Throughout their travels, they had run into countless ninjas, but not a single one of them could hold a candle to her mother. She was undoubtedly one of the strongest ninjas in the world, on par, if not stronger than most Kages.
Like they always did after particularly taxing sparring sessions, they settled down on the grass, each with a cold drink, and talked.
They picked up the subject they had discussed before – Naruto.
X-x-x-x-x-x-X
The Hokage mulled over the day's events, searching through the far reaches of his mind for an explanation, something that could shine some light on Naruto's situation.
Before he had left Naruto's apartment, he had asked the boy to look out his window and tell him what he saw. As he did this, the old Hokage put his hand on Naruto's shoulder, sending a wave of chakra through him that would cleanse any and all genjutsu from his system. Despite this, as Naruto looked out into the street below them, he started describing all sorts of strange, and often frightening, creatures.
As much as he would like to believe otherwise, there was only one plausible explanation to this – the boy had become delusional. He had lived a hard and lonely life, so it was possible, if not likely, that he had retreated into a fantasy world, a world that he could no longer distinguish from reality.
However, this left one question: where did the girl fit into this?
He claimed to be able to produce proof of his abilities, and that the girl, Kei, would back him up on this. This was something he needed to investigate. If the girl fed and exacerbated his delusions in some misplaced hatred, then she would have to be dealt with accordingly.
But then again, what if it was more to it? What if there was actually some reality to Naruto's experiences? He knew the likelihood of that was marginal at best, but he had seen too many strange things throughout his years to completely dismiss the possibility. But even if that was the case, would he really be able to help the boy?
He decided that further speculation regarding the subject would lead him nowhere, but that he should instead focus on preparing for tomorrow. He would have to speak to Inoichi to ask him to evaluate Naruto's mental state in preparation for when he would stop by with the girl, and other mental health professionals that would perhaps come in useful in helping him deal with Naruto.
The last thing he wanted was to see Naruto get locked up at some facility, especially with the chunin exams, and Kushina's return, being so close. Not even he could guess at how Kushina would react to her reunion with her long lost son taking place in a place like that.
END