Disclaimer: Naruto, his friends and the universe he lives in don't belong to me but to Masashi Kishimoto. I write this story solely for my own pleasure, and I don't make any money with it.
A/Nat the end of the chapter
Chapter Twenty-One: A Deal with the Nine-Tail
Naruto followed the stranger to his room, still not sure whether he could trust him. He checked the kunais in his holster and prepared himself to fight at the smallest sign of danger.
"You should have been more careful before", the stranger said. "But as I told you, you can trust me."
He unlocked and opened the door to his room, and there, on the plain guests' room table, was a toad. Naruto had never seen it before: It was neither one of the the house-sized creatures Jiraya called during fights, nor one of the cute children of Gamabunta that turned up when Naruto failed to mold the chakra he needed to summon one of the big ones. It was middle-sized, and it gave the impression of being rather serious, which made Naruto suspect the worst.
"Greetings to you!" the toad said.
"Greetings!" Naruto answered. "How is Jiraya? He is not dead, is he? He cannot die!"
"He was alive and fine when I last saw him", the toad answered. "But he was preparing himself to go into a fight: the worst of his life maybe."
Naruto was silent: This was bad news indeed. He had been travelling with Jiraya for two and a half years, and he had learnt to trust that Jiraya was stronger than anyone and could not be beaten, except perhaps by Tsunade when she was angry. It was simply unimaginable that there might be someone who was too strong for Jiraya, and still the toad made it sound like this. The opponent must be really terrible... For the fist time since he had left his team Naruto regretted his decision, not for his own sake – he did not regret having given up the happiness of being with his comrades in order to find Sasuke - but for Jiraya's sake: if Jiraya died, and if he might have lived if Naruto had been there to help him, then Naruto would never be able to forgive himself.
"He sent me to you with a message because he knew that he might die in this fight and because he wanted to make sure that you get it. He would have preferred to give it to you in person when you were more mature and had the wisdom to handle the information, but now he could no longer wait."
"I am no child any more", Naruto said. "I am fifteen."
"That's the point. Though wisdom has never been one of Jiraya's strong points, so if he was wise enough to deal with it, you might be as well."
"Stop insulting me! Give me the message?" Naruto demanded.
The toad produced a ninja scroll from its belly. Naruto took it and unfolded it."
"It's the key to undo the Yondaime's seal", the toad explained.
"What do you mean? The key to release the kyuubi into the world?"
"Not into the world: Into your body. The seal separates your chakra from the kyuubi's: Undoing it will allow them to mix. You could then use the kyuubi's chakra at your will and finally be a true jinchuuriki."
"It cannot be done. The kyuubi's chakra cannot be controlled."
"It can. It has been done before."
"All former jinchuuriki went mad after some time, and I have been warned that this will happen to me as well, and even earlier than to the others, because I am so bad at controlling the kyuubi."
"That's because your chakra and the kyuubi's are not allowed to mix properly. If you try to keep them separated and to keep the kyuubi's chakra in control by force, it will seek to break out whenever you let your guard down, and if it's only for a little bit. But when your chakras mix, you will be able to remain in control."
"And why did nobody tell me that?"
"Few people know. Knowledge about the kyuubi is rare, and the ones who have some, are not ready to share it with people who are not able to deal with it. Some knowledge has been passed on from Hokage to Hokage, because the Hokage at least will have to know about this demonic ally of our village, and there is some other knowledge about it in the Uchiha clan, but this is even more secret, and I don't know anything about it."
"But even the first Hokage went mad after some time, in spite of all his knowledge."
"The Forth Hokage, who was your father, saw in you the talent to find a way to get around this: To make use of the kyuubi's power and stay sane until one day you die from old age."
"But I was just a day old then: How could he see the talent?"
"Your unusual amount of chakra was discernible even then."
"The chakra maybe. But for such a deed one needs also wisdom and knowledge and intelligence, and as you said they are not my strong points. And I won't get any help from people who are more intelligent than I am, because all they say is: Don't use this jutsu! Keep the kyuubi in check!"
He thought back in bitterness: So much advice, all well-meant and all wrong. So after all not desperately keeping the kyuubi in check, but letting it mix freely was the solution.
Then he saw the point in the toad's speech that had first escaped him:
"Did you just say that the Yondaime was my father?"
"He was. Did you think he would have taken a random orphan child and sealed the kyuubi into it?"
"Rather would he sacrifice his own son?"
"That's the Hokage's duty: Sacrifice his own life, or anything that is personally important to him, if it is necessary for the safety of the village."
Naruto did not listen. He had often indulged in daydreams in which he turned out to be the son of the Forth Hokage, and in these daydreams he had never been bitter. Often he dreamt that the Yondaime had never been really dead, and that he would come to Konoha and seek him out and welcome him as his beloved son, and he would say that he had never meant to cause him any harm, and that now everything would be fine. And then he would go into the street with Naruto at his side, and people would welcome their long-lost Hokage, whom everyone had believed dead, and they would apologize to Naruto for how they had treated him, and he would generously accept their apologies.
Now he felt nothing of the relief these daydreams had always given to him, but just bitterness: Against his father, against the people of Konoha, even against the toad though it had done nothing to deserve it.
"Also your father did not intend to sacrifice you", the toad said. "He saw in you the power to control the kyuubi, not to be overcome by it."
"And what about all the suffering I went through when I was a child? When I was lonely and everyone despised me?"
"He did not mean that. He thought that Jiraya and Tsunade would be there to look after you."
Neither of them had been present during his early years. After losing their loved ones during the Great ninja war and the kyuubi's attack on Konoha both of them had dealt with their sorrow in their own way: Tsunade by drowning it in alcohol and gambling, Jiraya by being constantly on the move, by engaging in mindless and soulless sex and by writing sentimental erotic romances.
"And why did nobody tell me? Why did I have to grow up as an orphan, not only without parents, but without any family at all? Why was I treated as a stranger who is indulged because no one has the heart to turn him away, but whom nobody really likes? Why was it not made public that I was the son of the Yondaime himself so that I would have been treated as it becomes the son of the Hokage?"
"You should have been treated as it becomes the person who has to pay the price for the villages salvation. But people only saw the kyuubi inside you. Besides, only few knew that you were the Hokage's son. Just Jiraya, Tsunade and the Sandaime himself, who chose to keep it secret. Your parents have never been married."
"What about my mother?"
"She was a refugee from the Whirlpool country, which was devastated during the Great Ninja War and then annexed by the Fire Country. She had few friends besides your father, and having a child without being married did not exactly make her more popular. She died when you were some eighteen months old."
Naruto had always thought that his mother had died during the kyuubi's attack, just as his father. Now not even this was true. He might even have some relatives who were still alive.
"My mission is now completed", the toad said. "I had to bring you the scroll with the key and tell you what it's for. But though all I have to tell you from Jiraya is said I still want to tell you something of my own: Don't think too badly of your father! He did everything he could to make your life easier. He only sealed the light half of the kyuubi's chakra into you, so that you don't have to deal with the complete demon-fox."
"I have heard that already", Naruto said. "I just wonder why I have never noticed myself. This light half is strong and fierce enough and not in any way nice and friendly or easy to deal with, but all malicious and cunning."
He could not help but admire the Yondaime, who had been ready to face the complete kyuubi.
"I will leave now", the toad said, "and return to my people. I wish you luck: Make wise use of the key!"
And within one second it had vanished.
Going through the door to his room Naruto again found himself in the place in the front of the kyuubi's cage.
"Now you know", the demon-fox said. "The Yondaime who is responsible that we are stuck with each other was your father."
"Yeah. He thought that we might get along better. Without you getting out of control all the time, and without me having to beg for chakra when I need it."
"You mean that he wanted my chakra to be all yours, and the control over it all yours as well."
"Indeed."
"And after having been split into two parts I should dissolve altogether and be free only when you die."
"It seems so."
"And he also expected me to be happy with it and try to get along with you."
"He did not expect you to be happy. Yet it cannot be helped: You had to be confined after your attack to Konoha as it showed that you are evil and malicious. You will destroy everything that's in your way."
"Oh, will I? How do you know?"
People had told Naruto about the kyuubi's attack on Konoha. People had told him how he had attacked Sakura when the kyuubi was in control.
"I saw the wound in Jiraya's chest", he finally said.
"And you are sure that this was caused by me? Don't forget that I am the ligth half: Day, not night; warmth, not coldness; summer, not winter: Joy, hope and laughter instead of sorrow and despair. How could I be evil?"
"Why should I distrust Jiraya?"
"You don't have to. He tried to attack me and to subdue me, that's all. Would you not fight a person who tries to take your freedom?"
"He wanted to give me back my freedom", Naruto replied.
"So you see, we are stuck with each other; each of us can only be free at the price of the other's destruction."
"Maybe. And I will see that I am the one who survives."
"Until you die of old age, or in some fight. You are not immortal, contrary to me."
"I have never longed for immortality", Naruto answered. "And if I stay in control for all my life it is enough for me."
"Anyway I don't want to discuss the Yondaime's actions with you. I called you to propose you a deal: You don't use the key and I will help you find the Uchiha boy."
"Sasuke?"
"Neither of us wants to face Itachi at the moment, do we?"
"So how are you going to help?"
"I will lend you my sense of smell."
"And why should I trust you that he really is where you tell me?"
"You won't have to trust my word. I said that I would lend you my sense of smell, meaning that you will be able to smell him yourself."
"Deal!" Naruto answered. "You lend me your sense of smell, and I won't use the key."
There's no problem with such a deal, Naruto thought. I could not make use of the key anyway, as I have not yet worked out how to use it.
A/N: I wrote the story while the fight between Pein and Jiraya was still going on. Not answering the question about its end seemed to make most sense, and it still does, even though I know now the outcome.