Chapter 3: Secret revealed
There comes a time in every ones lives where you have to just sit down and reflect on where your actions has taken you in life. Sarutobi Sasuke had just reached that point, and he was a little bit confused about what to think about everything.
When his student's favorite student surprised everyone by surpassing all three of the three Sannin, Sarutobi's own students, in power and popularity he couldn't hide his smirk while informing the council. When the blonde genius advanced through the grades of a shinobi in record time, he surprised them again. When he fought on Konoha's side in the great Shinobi War, and more or less won the war by himself using his two price techniques, the Rasengan and the Hiraishin, the city thought his greatness had reached its limit.
It didn't come as a surprise to anyone when Sarutobi announced Namikaze Minato as his successor, the Yondaime Hokage.
The Hokage is the strongest ninja in the village after all, and Minato was the only Konoha ninja ever to reach the rank of an SS-rank ninja in the Bingo Books, and the only person to ever get a "flee on sight" order on his head by the Iwa-shinobi, known in all the elemental nations for their bravery and great skills.
But now, when Sarutobi looked back on those years, he now knew that this was the catalyst where everything started to go down the drain, and also the beginning of the events guilty of shoving tons of stress on an old man.
Said old man knew that this was where his carefully planned lifespan started to crack, even though he knew that there was little he could do about that fact.
"I was supposed to retire back then, and live my life in peace as a council member. I was going to take great pleasure in teaching both my son and grandson the ways of the Sarutobi shinobi, but it all had to end… Minato…"
Even though Minato had been Jiraiya's student, the Sandaime Hokage had always been rather fond of the blonde lad. As an orphan, Minato had grown up in an orphanage. Back then being an orphan was the same as being human trash, at least in the eyes of the great clans of Konoha.
The Hyuuga clan had never accepted the boy, and their influence made the smaller clans afraid to befriend the boy, and thus he grew up friendless and lonely.
A life like that can do horrible things to a child's psyche, yet Minato somehow stayed sane. He was always full of cheer, and was never afraid to show his emotions. He never stopped trying to get the attention of the other villagers, and was like a mother hen every time he noticed someone with a depressed look on their faces.
Sarutobi smiled, a slightly sad smile yes, but still a smile.
''Minato, you had an amazing gift," he thought to himself, "the ability to make even the most depressed person smile. I don't know if it can be classified as a bloodline, or a trait of your personality, but it only made you a great ally in times of need."
Sarutobi's smile never left his face. "You would have been so proud Minato… your son is just like you! He has grown up in an environment even more hostile than you ever had to face on your own, yet he grew up to be just like you." He took a deep breath before he continued.
"Minato… You would have been so proud!"
Looking at the mountains of unfinished paperwork on the desk in front of him, he just looked at a picture that mysteriously appeared in his hand. "Minato… Why did you have to die? Why did you leave your son alone, and force me to continue a job I already had accepted as a thing of my past… Why didn't you let me do that sealing?"
At that thought, the Sandaime Hokage fell asleep, a lone tear slowly running down his cheek.
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Uzumaki Naruto was in a great mood!
In two days, he was about to graduate from the Ninja Academy. He was two day from taking the first step towards his goal… his dream. He was going to become the strongest ninja in the world, and protect everyone precious to him. He would become the greatest Hokage ever and protect this village, because he loved them all, even though they all seemed to hate him.
"If hating me makes these people feel safe, then I will survive this for their sake" he thought to himself.
He was twelve years old, but his young shoulders held a burden greater than even the Hokage himself could stand.
The old man was Naruto's most treasured person in the entire village, and the only adult to give Naruto comfort when he was depressed after the villagers had done something particularly awful.
"I'm going to tell the old man how much he means to me" he said to himself, finding more resolve than needed for such a simple task. For someone so inexperienced with affection, it was only natural to be confused about how he should do this.
Walking through the streets of the town, he greeted everyone who locked eyes with him with a bright smile and a quick 'good morning', only to ignore the hurtful replies and comments from the villagers.
"Sticks and stones Naruto… sticks and stones."
The mantra rang in his mind in full surround sound with the bass amped up all the way to "DEATH".
At these early hours, the streets of Konoha were completely bare of the usual traffic of the money-crazed villagers out on their daily browse'n-shop routines. The shops was just starting to open up, and thus Naruto could safely walk through the streets without having to look over his shoulder every five minutes to see if he was being followed by villagers looking for some fun.
He was talking from personal experience of course… a rather unpleasant one at that. He never enjoyed his stays at the Konoha Hospital!
Still with his idiot grin plastered all over his face, he walked towards the Hokage tower to speak with the only person he thinks of as family. He stole a glance of the Hokage Mountain, or more specifically; The Yondaime Hokage, before he started on the stairs up to the Hokage office. For some reason, the sight of the deceased Hokage always served to calm him down.
Well then, up we go!
"One step, two steps, three steps, four steps… I hate these God damned steps!"
Even with all the love Naruto keeps in his heart for his surrogate grandfather, he's never comfortable visiting him during office hours. It could be because the secretary hates him with a passion, or maybe because he always has to wait for her to "call the Hokage", but she never really does. Naruto is left sitting there until the Hokage feels the slight chakra he's blasting off and comes out to get him himself.
This time however, things were different. The bitch-secretary wasn't there!
"Hello Uzumaki-san, what can I do for you today?"
What the hell? Jiisan has a new secretary? And it's a nice one to boot?
Naruto was stunned. This woman instantly moved up to his love and protect list, and he rewarded her with the brightest smile he could muster.
"Hi," he more or less yelled at the top of his youthful lungs, "I want to see the old man. Are you new here? What's your name? You're pretty! You don't hate me?" the questions seemed to be endless for the poor girl.
She had accepted the job with great pride when the Hokage himself had asked her in person, and she knew it was because he somehow knew that she didn't look down on the boy. Actually, she had seen him talk to her best friend, Ichiraku Ayame, on several occasions, and they seemed so cute together. Like siblings!
"My name is Suisen Hana, but you can call me Hana-chan like everyone else. Yes, I'm new, and thank you for the kind words. And no, I don't hate you!" Hana said to the smiling bundle of sunshine currently skipping in front of her.
Now, Hana was old enough to know what was residing inside this particular young boy, but she was also smart enough to understand that he wasn't the demon fox.
Why would anyone even think that? Wouldn't he have killed them all ages ago if he really was the demon?
No, Hana thought of the young boy as a hero. A hero who fights the strongest demon in existence every day and still manages to win.
At the moment, said hero was in ecstasy.
Yet another person had smiled at him, which makes about… five.
Naruto just walked over to the girl and gave her a quick hug, before he took a step back and flashed the girl his patented foxy grin. "I like you! When I have the old man's job, I'll protect you with my life."
Hana couldn't help but smile at that.
Now she was more certain than ever. Naruto was not the Kyuubi!
Naruto looked at the girl as she seemed to be lost in thought. "Oyh… Hana-chan? Can I see the old man now?" he asked, waving his hand in front of the dazed girl's eyes.
Hana snapped out of it, and turned back to Naruto.
She browsed through some papers on her desk before she smiled at him. "Of course Naruto-kun, just walk right in. I'm sure Hokage-sama will be happy to see you."
Naruto just smiled at her again, and turned to the Hokage's door. This was the moment he had dreaded all day. The moment when he would tell the Hokage just how much he meant to him, and how he thought of him as his only family.
Taking a deep breath, Naruto gathered his limitless courage and opened the door and stepped inside the office of his jiisan.
The Hokage himself was, as usual, drowning in paperwork and silently cursing the Yondaime for cursing him with this… this horrible fate, and sat there wishing for something to come up. Anything!
That's when his door slammed open, causing him to jump slightly from the bluntness of this person's actions. Well, it didn't take much for the fabled Professor to guess who his savior was.
A second later he found himself trapped in a furious hug from his adopted grandson, Uzumaki Naruto. The old man smiled and returned the hug, silently thanking whoever was watching over him for letting him have a break from work.
Letting his hand ruffle the young boy's hair, Sarutobi let a chuckle break the silence. "Do you think you can let go of me now Naruto-kun? It's getting hard to breathe."
Not wanting to be the one who strangled his most precious person to death, Naruto quickly let go. The boy let a small blush grace his whiskered cheeks and scratched the back of his head, letting out a slightly embarrassed laugh. "Sorry Jiji… I guess I'm more excited about graduating from that stupid academy than I thought."
Naruto had started the academy at the same time his friends did. Sadly they hadn't been able to keep in touch as much as they would like, since the other boys had to train with their families and rarely had time off to hang out with Naruto.
So when he wasn't at school, Naruto was either training by himself or visiting the Hokage.
Naruto looked at the man he was here to visit, his only family. The old man was getting old, almost too old for this tiresome work, but you could tell that he was still the most powerful shinobi in the entire village. Naruto had learned at an early age to read a person's body language so he could react faster when confronted by shady villagers, and Naruto could tell by the way Sarutobi moved that he was more nimble and aware than most shinobi could ever hope to be.
But strange enough, he couldn't read the old man's face this time. Sarutobi had an expression on his face that looked very thoughtful, or perhaps even… afraid? Was the old man afraid of something? Was he afraid of him?
"Are you ok old man?" he inquired from the older shinobi with concern apparent in his voice. Sarutobi didn't react, and Naruto felt like he looked right through him, as if he wasn't really there. This feeling was one he had hoped never to feel again… the feeling of being invisible and ignored.
Meanwhile, Sarutobi had lost himself in thought when he saw the way Naruto had reacted when he let go of the hug. 'He behaves so much alike his parents it's almost scary," he thought, not noticing a hand waving in front of his eyes.
The Hokage didn't notice his hand waving right in front of his face or his constant yelling, and Naruto was starting to worry about the old man. That is, he worried up to the point when Sarutobi returned his senses and cleared his throat, scaring his surrogate grandson half to death in the process.
"Naruto, there is something I have to tell you!"
Now, even if most of the village thinks so, Naruto was anything but stupid and he knows when he is supposed to sit down and shut the hell up. This was without a doubt one of those times!
Sarutobi waited for Naruto to settle down in a chair before he gulped. Was he really going to tell the boy this? He could only hope Naruto wouldn't hate him after he was done.
"Naruto, I think it's time for me to tell you something. I have been the one in charge of looking after you since your birth, and I know I have mostly failed in my duty given to me by your parents. You have grown so much since the day Kakashi saved you in the hospital, and I know your parents would be so proud of you."
The Hokage had moved his chair to the other side of the table, so he could look into Naruto's eyes without the desk coming in between.
"I'm an old man Naruto. I'm a father, and a grandfather in addition to being the Hokage. It's a lot of responsibility, but I'm glad I decided to keep you in Konoha. You have become more and more like family to me, and I see you as my oldest grandson, and I know Konohamaru thinks of you as his older brother as well. You have a family here with us Naruto. You may not be family by blood, but you're as much of a Sarutobi as I am if you ask me."
Naruto was tearing up at hearing this. He had family now! He was supposed to tell Sarutobi how he felt, but he never thought the old man felt the same way. He continued to listen to the old man speak.
"The one thing you have to know if you want to be part of a family is that we all trust each other and love each other unconditionally. No matter what you do, we will always be there for you Naruto."
The blonde jinchuriki was experiencing a troublesome aspect of the human physique, namely an unholy pressure behind his eyes, willing tears to run freely down his cheeks. With a loud cry of 'jiisan', Naruto flung himself at the old man and caught him in a furious hug yet again.
People of Konoha held great respect for the old Hokage, and they had never seen the man shed tears. He did not cry when his successor died, when his student turned rogue, or when his son was born. He didn't even allow himself to cry in public when his beloved wife passed away, mourning her death in solitude. But this feeling of love and gratitude was too much even for Sarutobi Sasuke, and he could feel warm tears fall from his eyes as he held his grandson.
The two of them stayed like that for a while, until Naruto broke free of the embrace and placed his bum back in his seat. Naruto was radiating an aura of love and content, and his eyes seem to give a faint blue glow giving him an eerie look, but not at all unpleasant.
Naruto took a couple of seconds to gather his mind and to blink the tears from his eyes. Clearing his throat, he looked up at the man who had just given him the best present he could ever wish for, a family.
"I can't tell you how much this means to me Jiji," he said with a genuine smile on his face. "I have grown up in a way most children wouldn't be able to live through. The pain of being alone, hated by everyone, loved by no one… I have you to thank for pulling me through this. I live in a shinobi village where the majority of the villagers detest me… everyone but you."
Naruto took a deep breath, trying his hardest not to break down and cry again. It was so confusing! Why would everyone hate him so much?
The old man had a sad frown on his face, once again wondering how strong a will this young boy possessed. A mental strength to overcome such hardships must be well fitted for a genius ninja, and he would make sure Naruto would at one point receive the recognition he so rightfully deserves.
He looked at the boy sitting before him. He was so small… so frail.At that point, Uzumaki Naruto looked more like a child than he had done in years!
Naruto took that moment to break the silence again, his emotions under control.
"I don't even know why!" he choked out, emotional wall crumbling again.
"I don't know why everyone in this village hates me. All I know is that they do, and that I suffer for it. You know the boys I played with before the academy started? They are the only ones in this entire village who have ever tried to make my life any easier, and I owe them so much for it. But when we started the academy, we slowly drifted apart as their families trained them to be ninja. If I asked anyone if they could help me, all I would get is a dirty look. Why? What have I ever done to them?"
Naruto was yelling at this point, with tears dripping from his chin. Sarutobi didn't know what to say, so he did what any grandfather would do to help his grandson in a moment like this… he hugged him.
The two sat like that for what seemed like ages.
A young man crying… was letting all of his pain out for the first time in years. The older man tried his best to ease the pain, and sharing the enormous burden the young man had carried for all his life.
Sarutobi knew what he had to do, and there was no other way around it. He could not chicken out on this one, even if it could mean that he would lose his grandson forever.
The Hokage schooled his face and removed the young boy from his embrace.
"Naruto, there is one more thing I have to tell you. Something that may cause you to hate me, but I can't stand seeing you live in ignorance and the pain of not knowing why. Not anymore!"
At that point, Naruto was starting to catch the seriousness in the old man's words, and kept his mouth shut again.
"On the day you were born, Konoha was under attack. The great demon Kyuubi no Kitsune had chosen our city as its dinner plate, and attacked us. We couldn't do anything to hurt the demon, and many good shinobi lost their lives that day. The best of them all was your father Namikaze Minato, the Yondaime Hokage."
Naruto looked shell-shocked. The Yondaime was his father? Why the hell would this blasted city hate the only son of their most beloved hero since the first Hokage?
"At this point, your mother had just given birth to you. She had been experiencing great difficulties with the delivery, and her life was in danger. The nurses and doctors were doing everything they could to save her, and your father couldn't stay there to help her through this. I remember the look of pain in his eyes as he realized what he had to do. He realized he would never be there to see you take your first step, or see you graduate from the academy. He would have to use a jutsu of his creation to stop the demon, but the cost would be his own life. He would have to seal the demon away!"
The Hokage took a deep breath and looked at his surrogate grandson to check if he was still with him. He was!
"Now, many people would say the Kyuubi was a being of great evil. It was described as ruthless, deadly and completely emotionless. This however, was a complete lie! The Kyuubi is a being of great power. A power so great it would be more accurate to describe the fox as a natural disaster, but it is still only a fox. It lies in a fox' nature to prank and trick humans, and the people first saw Kyuubi as an annoyance. My great-great grandfather, Sarutobi Sousuke, fought the Kyuubi at one point. He lost of course, but the Kyuubi did not kill him. It actually talked to him, and told him it respected his power before it rewarded him with the Ape Summoning contract."
Naruto was wondering where Sandaime was going with this, but he couldn't help feeling slight dread from where he thought it was going.
"This gift combined with the Kyuubi's words made my ancestor realize that the Kyuubi was not an evil being, but rather a being without restraints. If provoked, it could be a deadly foe, but it could also be your greatest ally if befriended. Somehow, the Kyuubi had decided to attack Konoha, and my clan could not fathom the reason behind its actions, but we knew it had to be stopped. This is where your father came in. Namikaze Minato was a Seal Master unlike any the world had ever seen, and he had come up with a seal which would trap the Kyuubi in exchange of the users own life. The only problem was the sheer strength of the Kyuubi, and the loss of the ancient Tool of Power that was the only container strong enough to hold the Kyuubi's essence. The only thing he could do was to seal the enormous amounts of chakra into a human, but the only problem was that he would need a human without developed chakra pathways… he would need a newborn baby."
Naruto's eyes widened at that. He knew where Sarutobi was going with this now, and he sure as hell didn't like it!
"He sealed it within me, didn't he?" Naruto said, looking like a dog whose master had just struck him. His own father had doomed him to a life of scorn and hatred, and there was nothing he could do about it.
Sarutobi somehow knew what Naruto was thinking as he got an angry look in his eyes.
"Your father didn't have a choice Naruto. He was the greatest Hokage in Konoha's history, and he was the only shinobi strong enough to stop the fox. He chose you because he loved you, and wanted a part of himself to be with you always. The seal containing the Fox is your father's soul. He loved you enough to give his own life to let you live, and I don't want you to believe anything else."
Naruto let a hand glide carefully over his stomach, feeling the heat of the now glowing seal. His father may have given him a fate worse than death to someone, but it was his way of the ninja. His own son would be the one to hold back the fox from another attack every day for the rest of his life, and this son was Uzumaki Naruto… No, it was Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto now.
He smiled a sad smile at the Hokage, forgetting the pain he had felt only seconds ago, only to have it replaced by pride. His father was the God damned Yondaime Hokage, and he was not going to dishonor his father's memory by sulking and brooding. He would live his life to the fullest, both for himself and his father.
"He really did love me, didn't he?" he said, looking his grandfather straight in the eyes.
The old man just smiled and nodded his head, secretly relieved that his grandson had taken this so well.
"Did you know that you did something no newborn infant have ever done before?" the Hokage chuckled to himself. "When Minato first held you in his arms, he wanted nothing more than to die with you and your mother. However, you opened your eyes and looked straight at him, and then you smiled! You should see the face Minato showed us at that point. There was nothing but resolve and pride in his stride as he walked out of the hospital with you in his arms, starting to prepare for the sealing."
Naruto could only smile at that. So his father had seen his first smile? That was a good feeling!
Naruto and Sarutobi just continued sitting there. Sarutobi shared some of his memories from the days he spent training Minato and his own student Jiraiya of the Sannin, and Naruto asked questions about his father.
Sarutobi knew that this boy would be the one to surpass his father in strength, and he could be the only one who could ever have stood against Kyuubi's might. The only thing he needed was training, and Sarutobi would see to it that he would get the best training he could possibly get.
"Naruto, even if the villagers think of you as the human embodiment of the Kyuubi, do you still want to protect them?" he asked the blonde.
Naruto looked like he was concentrating way too hard for such a simple question before he turned around. Sarutobi looked at his back with a sinking heart. 'So he can't forgive them for his childhood after all?" he thought sadly.
"I guess I will just have to prove to them that I'm not the demon by becoming the greatest Hokage ever." Naruto all but yelled out as the older man's head whipped up to look at the boy. Naruto's eyes were identical to the ones his father had shown the day he sealed the demon. Eyes with nothing but pride and resolve!
"That's good to hear Naruto, because you will be forced to train harder than anyone else if you want to reach that dream. You won't become Hokage by slacking off, so I guess I have to teach you a couple of things that would help you out then. With your enormous amounts of chakra, I guess your control is sub-par, am I right?" the Hokage asked, getting a firm nod in reward.
So the Hokage told Naruto about his chakra, and that his chakra pathways were larger than most humans so they could withstand the huge bursts of chakra the Kyuubi would be able to give him. But the more chakra you start out with, thus harder will gaining control of it be. With Naruto's huge chakra pools, he couldn't do simple techniques like the Bunshin no Jutsu, so he would have to learn something to remove that problem.
"Naruto, have you heard of the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu?" Sarutobi said with a smile.
ANYay… An update! Now, doesn't that feel good? It sure does! I'm sorry for the long wait for this chapter, even if it wasn't as long as the wait for the second chapter. Now rejoice, as the wait for the next chapter will be even smaller since I'm almost done with it already. This chapter is also about 1500 words longer than my chapters usually get, so I guess that's something?
The next chapter will start off with Naruto at graduation day, so I'll just straight past the training he did with his gramps. I wonder if he will kick Mizuki in the pokéballs Actually, I know he will. Big surprise there, no? Either way… I'll have the next chapter out by Saturday, which just happens to be my birthday!! I'm turning 20 years old this Saturday, so remember to congratulate me ok! (not a question, but an order). So stay tuned for chapter four: "I'm not just a genin"
