AN: greeting all, time for the 9th chapter of this story. I would also like to point out a few things. Naruto and Shio barely know any senjutsu atm. Shio can only maintain sage mode for 5 minutes and needs to remain still to do the sage sense. Not to mention as I will state further in this chapter that forcing an early sage mode will have consequences. Now to answer some questions in the reviews.

Gartenswergxxl: No one will be godlike untill the final few chapters in the story (around the time when Naruto and Sasuke went full god mode). I am trying to make a core team of Konoha genin as strong as the lower tier Akatsuki by the start of Shippuden.

Chivotenkai: I agree that their too young for it, however training in Sage mode at a younger age can help when their old enough for it. She can barely hold Sage mode on for 5 minutes, and she has been training in senjutsu for 2 years.

Kaiokenkaizer: Kyuubi can stay in the seal because he wishes to be there. He is currently biding his time hidden from Madara to enact his plans. It is similar to at the end of Canon where the kyuubi stays with Naruto. As for how Shio beat Naruto, well she didn't. They tied because they both passed out. In addition it was a hard fight for Naruto because he does not have much melee combat abilities yet. Right now he is a pure long ranged fighter against Shio who specializes in it.

Anyway those are all of the announcements for this chapter. I hope people will like the plot twist I have in this chapter kukuku (evil chuckles).

Chapter 9:

The Game of Life

(Naruto's Mindscape – area unknown)(Naruto's POV)

Naruto looked around the landscape before focusing back on the two tailed kitsune "Who are you, and where is this?"

The kitsune looked a bit amused before it spoke "I am the former nine tailed fox, the great Kyuubi no Kitsune and we are in your mindscape."

He felt his eyes widen "Why are you here when you should be sealed within my sister?"

The Kyuubi chuckled "Yes, I should be sealed within your sister if I had not inserted a tiny portion of my chakra into you before I was sealed. As you grew so did the yokai chakra inside of you, allowing it to hold my consciousness."

Naruto glared suspiciously at the Kyuubi "Why would you escape from Shio's seal just to seal yourself into me? Without a seal holding you back you could escape from my body easily."

The fox nodded "Yes, I could escape from your body at any time, however I have no wish to do so. I gave up most of my chakra to move to your body so I am much weaker than before. Your body gave me anonymity from my enemies as well as a safe haven to restore my former strength."

Naruto nodded, understanding the logic "And what happens when you recover your strength, will you attack Konoha again?"

The Kyuubi shook his head "No, I have no interest in Konoha or its people. I was forced to attack Konoha by Madara Uchiha."

He narrowed his eyes "Madara uchiha died years ago in the battle against the first hokage."

The Kyuubi's eyes glowed angrily "That is a lie. Madara Uchiha is alive and forced me to attack Konoha. He also used his Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan eyes to force your parents to abandon you."

Naruto's eyes widened and remembered what Anko once told him

(Flashback)

Anko looked at Menma seriously "No parents just spontaneously forgets and neglects their children. Even if they focused more on their sister they would never have forgotten you. It is not in human nature."

(End Flashback)

He had ignored her advice then, too caught up in his desire to revenge to give it much thought. But it did make sense. However he remembered from reading about the Shinto religion that Kitsunes were master manipulators. He looked at the Kyuubi "How do I know you're not just twisting the truth for your own benefit. I know that Kitsunes are masters of illusions and manipulation, how do I know that you weren't the one who cast the genjutsu on my parents."

He almost missed it but the Kyuubi's eyes flickered a bit with guilt before returning to his regular calm expression "That's it isn't it, you were the one who cast the genjutsu on my parents when you injected me with your yokai. Afterwards you would tell me it was Madara Uchiha to spark my rage towards him."

The Kyuubi sighed deeply "You are smarter than I gave you credit for ningen. Yes, I used an illusion to force your parents to ignore your existence."

In a flash Naruto had a chakra scalpel out and tried to cut the Kyuubi but nine balls of an ethereal flame stopped him. The Kyuubi had not even flinched "Do not temp me ningen, despite only having a fraction of my former power I am more than enough to deal with you easily."

Naruto scowled at the reason for his abandonment in hatred "Then why would you do it, why would you force my parents to abandon me? For your own sick amusement? ANSWER ME!"

The Kyuubi was silent for a few seconds before sighing heavily. If nothing else the boy in front of him disserved the truth "Very well ningen, but know this. To understand my reasons for manipulating your life, we must go to the very beginning" The world around them shifted until Naruto saw two giants, one male and one female, fighting each other. The male had an aged face with long white hair and wore a simple monk's robes with prayer beads adorning it. The women was beautiful with dark black hair and wore a beautiful white kimonoe. Their fight was on the level of gods, reshaping the earth, destroying continents, and obliterating anything caught in the crossfire. The Kyuubi appeared next to him and explained "In the very first stages of our world, Izanagi fought his wife, Izanami. The argument was whether or not to share their powers with the humans of the world. Izanagi wished to share his power with the humans and spread peace while Izanami wished to rule over all humans with an iron fist and keep them weak and helpless. The battle shaped the world to how it is today. At the very end of the battle, Izanagi reined victorious over his former wife.

The scene depicted the man stab a sword through the woman's heart. As she fell to the ground she glared up at her husband and issued a prophecy "One day my husband, I will return to this world in one form or the other. You have only delayed my plans."

Izanagi looked at his wife sadly before speaking "You shall never walk amongst the land of the living my beloved, I banish you to Yami for the rest of eternity. You shall be the seal that protects this world from the realms beyond."

Izanagi lifted a monks staff and a black void engulfed Izanami. Kyuubi continued his explanation "However unkown to Izanagi at the time, is that Izanami had one last trump card. The seed of the a Shinju tree. The Shinju is a sentient tree that grows in the deepest regions of Yami. Anyone who eats the fruit of a Shinju will be terribly cursed, but gain tremendous power. Izanami injected a small piece of her power into the seed and buried it before she was sealed away."

The scene shifted again to show numerous wars and bloodshed until a great tree emerged from the blood of the fallen warriors and grew to a huge height, a fruit that looked like a peach at the very top. The Kyuubi looked upon the scene sadly before continuing "Eventually the Shinju tree grew from the blood of fallen warriors, producing its tainted fruit. It stayed there for many years before a princess, tired of the war and bloodshed ate the fruit and gained its power to end the wars in the world.

The scene showed a black haired girl climbing to the top of the Shinju before gorging herself on the fruit. After it was eaten she fell to the ground in pain. Her hair and eyes turned white. She grew a third eye and horns and the Rabbit Goddess Kaguya was born. "With the power of the Shinju she ruled the world fairly for a time. However, eventually the energies of Izanami began to twist Kaguya. Soon Kaguya became a tyrant and demon, enforcing her rule on the world with a heavy fist. With Izanami whispering in her ear she began to use the Shinju to drain the life force of her subjects, increasing her own power.

Izanagi, finally stepping in to stop Kaguya, bestowed upon her sons two gifts, to the older Brother he gave the Rinnegan. To the younger brother he gave the Byakugan and the power to manipulate his body.

When Kaguya learned of this she merged with the Shinju to create a terrible beast known as the Juubi.

The scene showed a monstrous beast with ten tails battling two men. The battle continued for many days untill the older brother Hagoromo sealed the Juubi's chakra inside himself while his brother sealed the Juubi's body and in the moon and casted it out to space. "After the battle both brothers were considered mortal gods. Hagoromo became known as the Sage of the Six Paths while his brother was hidden in obscurity. Eventually both brothers found wives and started families. These children eventually started the Uchiha, Senju, Hyuga, and Kaguya clans. Nearly a hundred years later on his deathbed, Hagoromo gathered 9 animal spirits he had befriended and gifted each of them a piece of the Juubi's chakra, creating the 9 Bijuu. I received the largest portion of the chakra. With his last breaths he told us to never let the Shinju be revived or it would drain all life on the planet, allowing Kaguya to escape from her prison.

However, he also made his younger son, Asura his heir. This caused the feud between the Senju and Uchiha to fester for centuries. Eventually after years of fighting, the heir of the Uchiha and Senju clans, Madara and Hirashima made a truce to create a ninja village.

Years later Madara found a tablet left behind by Hagaromo that spoke of the Juubi and its power. Corrupted by this knowledge he began to plan to become the Jinchuuriki of the Juubi like his ancestor. This led him to fake his death in his battle between Hiroshima and himself. In the shadows he began to make plans to gather the 9 bijuu. I had been sealed in Mito Uzumaki during the battle and that gave him the idea of Jinchuuriki. Gathering the nine bijuu by himself would be suicide, but kidnapping their sealed containers would be child's play. He manipulated the budding villages at the time to seal the Bijuu inside of humans and use them as weapons of war. While the nations battled each other he started to form his own organization, the Akatsuki. Now he hopes to revive the Juubi to become its Jinchuriki, becoming a mortal god like Hagaromo so long ago. What he does not know, however, is that the Juubi contains Kaguya and a bit of Izanami's essence, which would recreate the Shinju and absorb him, and all life in the elemental nations, weaking the seal on Izanami enough so she can escape, dooming all life on the planet."

Naruto was wide eyed at this information, he had just learned the origin of the ninja world. He glared at the Kyuubi again "Who are you? A normal animal spirit would not know of all of this.

The Kyuubi chuckled and a spirit outline of a white fox with nine tails surrounded the Kyuubi "You are correct young mortal, I was not just a fox spirit but the god of foxes, Inari Okami. I befriended Hagoromo and he sealed the largest piece of the Juubi into me for safekeeping."

Naruto felt a bit confused "Are you saying a god was able to be subjugated by Madara to do as he wished?"

Inari winced "An unforeseen complication. The Juubi chakra contained within me allowed him to control me. I assume Hagoromo knew this but thought that the Sharingan could be used to stop us if we went on a rampage. Instead it was used to enslave the bijuu. It was for this reason I gave up my chakra to enter you. I am now free from the Juubi's chakra and restored to my previous position as the fox god, Inari Okami."

The god bowed its head in shame "However, I was very weak. Any opponent that killed you would have taken me with you. So I had to give you the one gift that would have protected you, Anonymity. As the son of Minato Namikaze, you would have been exposed to assassination attempts and much more enemies than a nameless orphan. This gave me enough time to gather enough strength to protect myself."

Naruto understood the reasons why Inari would do what he did, that does not mean that he had to like it. "So your telling me that you made my life hell just so I could be some pawn in the god's game of life?!"

Inari seemed to look at him in pity "Yes, from the moment you were born you were chosen to be one of the three prophecy children to save this world from the resurrection of Izanami."

The mindscape seemed to shift and revert back to the pond and a door appeared behind Naruto.

Inari stood in the middle of the lake and spoke "You may hate me Naruto, but I did what is necessary. If Izanami-no-Okami is revived, the world is doomed."

Naruto looked back at the fox before turning around and walked through the door.

(Konoha Hospital)(Minato's POV)

Minato sighed as he gazed at the unconscious figure of his estranged son. He had run a blood test on Menma and found out that he is Naruto Uzumaki. However what worried him is the other DNA found in his blood. The doctors reported it seems as if someone or something took a chunk out of Naruto's DNA and replaced it. The medic-nin who did the blood test theorized that the extra DNA is the reason for his changed appearance.

Shio had woken up several hours after the battle and received a severe tongue lashing and grounding for being so reckless. When she had described the battle they were amazed at their former son's skills. Minato assumed that Naruto was the new spider summoner that the toads had been hearing rumors about. When he had heard that Shio had used rudimentary senjutsu against Naruto he almost flipped. Senjutsu is an incredibly dangerous skill. If one is not old enough to contain the energies they could turn to stone. However he was surprised when he heard that Naruto merged with some summoned woman and entered a form of sage mode himself. He assumed it was similar to when Ma or Pa would merge with Jiraiya and gather sage chakra as he fought.

Still, Shio was feeling the stress of her sage mode by being sore in every single one of her muscles. The price of going into sage mode to early is that the body cannot handle the strain, causing ripped muscles and other injuries. She was lucky she did not go over the limit or she could have been crippled.

He perked up as he saw Naruto stirring and opening his eyes

(Naruto's POV)

Naruto opened his eyes to see the white room of the hospital. He looked around and saw his former father sitting there. He was surprised to feel none of the hatred he formerly felt for the man. He guessed all of his hatred was not directed at Madara, Inari, and the rest of the gods. Deep down he knew Minato was not at fault, who could resist the genjutsu of a god? Especially the god of foxes who specialize in illusions?

He struggled to sit up, he was still feeling the after effects of using sage mode without training. By fusing with Arachne she forces the process of transformation, which is very taxing on the body. He looked at Minato again and waited for the man to speak.

Minato seemed to gather his thoughts together before he spoke "I grew up an orphan. My parents died during the second shinobi war and I was put in an orphanage. It was not a bad childhood, but living without parents is a very lonely existence. When I married Kushina I swore I would give my children the best childhood that I missed out on. Then you were born and we were so happy. I had just become Hokage and thought life could not get better."

He seemed to grow weary and sighed heavily before he continued "Then the Kyuubi attack happened as your sister was born. Everything was such a mess, Kushina fighting for her life in the hospital, my daughter now a jinchuuriki for the strongest of the Bijuu and the Third Hokage dead."

He seemed to contemplate how to continue before he spoke again "Recently, Kushina and I felt as if a genjutsu was lifted. We cannot be sure who placed the illusion other that it must have been incredibly powerful for us to notice."

Unknown to Minato but his words confirmed what Inari had said in his mindscape. Naruto looked out the window as he considered Minato's words "Ever since I was five and I was locked out of the estate I swore revenge against your family." Minato winced at his former son's words but let him continue. "I trained every day to prove that I was better than my sister. I knew she was going to get training from at least four kage level ninja. So I practiced what she would not expect, medical ninjutsu, poisons, and other subjects. But now I've recently learned that my parents were under a genjutsu the entire time and that it was not entirely their fault." He paused unsure how to continue before speaking again "I do not have any more hatred towards your family Minato-san." Minato looked resigned as he figured that Naruto was not done, he was correct.

He continued "But I do not think that I can ever be a true part of your family. All those years of hating your existence cannot be erased so easily."

Minato sighed resignedly "I thought as much. However know that you have the full support of our family if you need it. You can also come back to the estate any time you wish if you want to interact with the family again. However I would expect a visit from Kushina soon, she was nearly broken about learning that we had abandoned you, even unintentionally."

He nodded, he had expected that.

Minato stood up and was about to leave the room before turning back "I am proud of the man you are today, Naruto." He left the room.

As the door closed Naruto closed his eyes a bit and thought of the situation, he felt so confused, should he hate Izanami for causing all of this? Madara for continueing her work? Or Inari for serving the greater good in separating him from his family.

He looked around the room and saw a small spider on the window and smiled a bit "Arachne?"

In a poof of smoke Arachne was in the room sitting on the chair that Minato vacated, a concerned look on her face. He explained the situation and what he had learned from Inari as she sat there and listened quietly. When he had finished she reached out and hugged him as she stroked his hair "It is alright to be confused Naruto. However all you can do is look to the future and decide your own destiny. Even if the gods had planned your life does not mean you have to follow your path to their wishes. You can be whatever you wish to. What the gods never understood is that humanity's greatest gift is to not be bound by the strings of fate. You can adapt, grow, and gain experience to meet this threat head on. I have faith in the summoner of the spider clan that you can break the web binding you to the god's plan and find your own path." She kissed him on the forehead and sat with him looking out the window, thinking of the situation and how to proceed.

AN2: Whew, that was a hard chapter to write. So the full truth is revealed. What I did not like about canon is that they never explained how the Shinju came to be. I hope people are satisfied how the story is progressing. I will not have Kushina and Minato be immature and acting as if they are high school students like I see in other fanfictions. However, Naruto will not make an ass of himself rejecting every little thing and constantly insulting his former family. Naruto is mature enough to understand that it was not their fault and Minato understands his son's hesitance to be a part of their family. Anyway see you in the next chapter!