"Talking"

'Thinking'

"Demon Talking"

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Chapter 21: Built and Broken

"Kyuubi I presume?"

The room was tense after that revelation. Naruto really, really had not wanted the Hokage to see Kurama like this. It was too late now, and even Jiraiya was gawking and sputtering incomprehensible words.

Kurama gave a grand smile, unfurled his tails, and raised his arms high. "Yes, it is I, the great Kyuubi no Kitsune. Destroyer of mountains and razer of villages. Mightiest of the bijuu." As the fox continued to spew out random titles, Naruto facepalmed at this overly dramatic introduction.

The Hokage's face turned grim. "I see." His eyes met with Naruto's. "I don't like you keeping things from me."

"Uh…" he intelligently said. In his mind, he wasn't panicked, more like cursing himself for not telling the full truth. He had told his commander-in-chief that he wanted to unlock the key to gain full control of the fox's power instead of saying that he was allowing the fox to roam free. He hadn't really ever explained his relationship fully to the Hokage. All the man knew was that Naruto could converse with Kurama.

In all truth, Naruto never wanted to gain 'full control' of Kurama's power. He didn't want to control Kurama. If Kurama wanted to assist him, he could share his power of his own free will. Whoever thought that humans could control bijuu was plain wrong.

'Kurama, say something for me.'

"Psh, you humans have no sense of privacy. Kit can keep things from you if he wants."

Okay, maybe he shouldn't have asked Kurama to say something. The looks on the other two shinobi's faces was blatantly giving away that they were wary of Kurama, and anything he said was being taken as a threat.

"Kurama, I'll take it from here. Your presence was uncalled for."

Kurama gave him a sharp look. "Alright, but they do anything to hurt you…"

"You know as well as I do that they're trustworthy…" Mentally he added, 'enough.'

The fox turned to stare at the Sannin who at this point had recovered enough. "I'm watching you. Don't try anything." And he dispelled.

Now that Kurama wasn't here to take up any attention, all eyes fell on Naruto. He shyly smiled, and his tone of speech reverted back to formal. "My apologies Hokage-sama, Jiraiya-sama. Kurama is a bit more possessive than I had originally presumed."

Jiraiya stepped forward before falling to his knees in front of Naruto. The blond resisted the urge to take a step back and dart away from the man. Seeming unfazed by Kurama's recent actions, the large man pulled Naruto into a gentle hug. Cerulean eyes widened. This was definitely not the reaction he thought his godfather would have when Naruto had revealed himself.

Naruto was supposed to be a soldier – a weapon, though he didn't like to think that way – for this village. Of course, he had the ability to feel emotions (it would be ridiculous if his emotions were taken away), but everyone of importance, even those in the ANBU bar the Hokage, Soutaichou, his former team, Wolf-oji-san, and Cat-nee, were afraid of him (that might have been due to the threats from Wolf-oji-san and Cat-nee, but who knew). Despite seeing one of Kurama's worst moments, Jiraiya still bypassed his doubts and hugged him, hugged him.

"Um… Jiraiya-sama?" This was very uncomfortable, and Naruto had become as stiff as a rock. He was usually administering the hugs (only to Wolf-oji-san and Cat-nee) not receiving them.

A whisper brushed against his ear: "I've wanted to meet you for so long." If Naruto's eyes were able to grow wider, then they just did. No one outside of ANBU had even known that he was alive, and yet Jiraiya said he wanted to meet him. The depth of those words wasn't just from the month he probably spent scouring the village too. Did he somehow hold on to hope even though he was lied to for years? Perhaps this was all a ruse that would end soon.

After what felt like forever, the arms that were wrapped around him shifted, and two hands gently pushed him back so that he was looking straight at the face of his godfather. Black eyes softened at the sight of blue, and a soft smile spread across the older man's face.

"Hey Naruto, I'm your godfather, Jiraiya."

He probably should have thought of a thoughtful reply, but the first words that escaped his mouth were "I know."

The smile almost turned to a frown, but somehow it managed to stay upturned. "I suppose you do."

What was he supposed to do? The first time officially meeting his godfather and he had no clue how to act. Should he be more excited? It wasn't like this man had cared for him his entire life. That honor went to Wolf-oji-san and Cat-nee. Well, if he disliked him, Jiraiya would have already left and wouldn't be kneeling less than half a meter away.

His eyes strayed away, flitting around the room and trying to find something else to latch onto. Glancing back at the face next to his, Naruto took a few steps backwards. "Well, I have to go prepare for fortifying an unstable seal in less than 24 hours, so I'm going to take my leave."

Guilt spread through him like wildfire as he watched disappointment cross his godfather's face. "That's right. You're an ANBU." He said that statement as if he still had a hard time believing it.

"Um… if you… I mean… would you like… um… to get lunch sometime after the finals?" Did he just ask his godfather out for lunch? Why? That didn't even make sense. He wasn't even supposed to be in the village now that he didn't need to pretend to be a genin. What was he thinking?

The blond forgot all his prior thoughts as he saw the Sannin's face light up and stare at him as if he couldn't believe what he had just heard. Maybe it was worth asking after all. Before giving the man a chance to respond, Naruto put his mask back on, and his hair bled back to black.

"I'll send my summons to get you. Please don't forget the barrier. Excuse me, Hokage-sama, Jiraiya-sama."

Naruto flashed away before having to stare at his godfather any longer and before having to deal with the raging emotions within him. He had a snake-lover to deal with.

A few hours and much struggling later, Naruto dumped the comatose body of Yakushi Kabuto into a stasis seal. He had found the man locked away in his apartment while testing some sort of medical jutsu on himself. It was quite obvious that Kabuto was not a normal genin, but medical jutsu? Seriously? Just how skilled really was the man?

It didn't take very long for him to knock the man out and weave an illusion that convinced his body to stay in a coma. Honestly, with Kitsumire around, it was a no trouble at all.

Kitsumire had done a great job spying on him, but now Naruto relieved her of that duty. And relieve her it did. She didn't waste any time complaining about how she wasn't going to do another favor for him again. The kitsune had actually bit his head and announced that if he ever asked her to watch someone again, she was going to make him do a background check on the person. So much for always wanting to help her senpai.

Then, she tackled him on the ground and proceeded to wrestle with him in an enemy base. He's all for playing with her, but did she have to do it there and then? He was already annoyed as it was, and her attitude wasn't helping much.

So, after he got Kitsumire off of him and dismissed her (much to Kitsumire's chagrin), he now could clean up the mess that was Kabuto. There wasn't much things of interest to him in the apartment, so he just blocked everything off with barriers and stasis seals, so some ANBU with more time on their hands could take a look later.

Finally, he had a chance to go back to headquarters and rest for the first time in a month.

He didn't see anyone for the rest of the night and for the entire day, but that was most likely because he hadn't announced his return to anyone in particular. Wolf-oji-san, Cat-nee, and the rest of the Internal Defense Division were ridiculously busy with preparing for the finals the next day, so he hadn't wanted to bother them.

Staring at the ceiling, he couldn't help but think about the events of last night. His godfather was an insane person. Naruto just didn't understand. How do humans even warm up to someone that fast?

Why had he wanted to get lunch with the man? Was he taking pity on the person that was supposedly supposed to care for him? Was he guilty for not revealing himself the first time? His heart pounded rapidly in his chest as he turned over onto his side.

He had told himself that he wasn't going to let anyone else into his life. He had Wolf-oji-san and Cat-nee. Then he had his team, but they had disbanded after Itachi had left them. He wasn't going to go through that again. He wasn't going to have someone betray him like that again. That's why he chose to close himself off.

Itachi had betrayed him and his trust. The day they met, Naruto said that he wanted to build trust in his team. He didn't want them to be at each other's throats the entire time. Yet, Itachi had gone off on his own. He hadn't told his own captain that he was tasked with the impossible. Why couldn't he have just told Naruto before Naruto had left on his mission?

And that mission… The Hokage just had to give him a month-long infiltration mission in the capital at the exact same time Itachi was planning on massacring his clan. What was the point of that? Keeping secrets from him. His jiji had lied to him. His jiji had gone behind his back. His jiji had lost his trust. Naruto wondered if he would ever be able to forgive the Hokage for doing that to him, doing that to his team.

Gosh, he missed his team. He was so happy to see Snake last month during the Second Exam. He hadn't seen her in a while before that. Naruto should plan a dango date or something with her. It's been too long.

Also, he should check in with Gecko. The last time that he checked, his older brother didn't have a nasty cough. Hopefully, it wasn't anything chronic. It had been a while since he, Cat-nee, and Gecko got together for some good kenjutsu training. He should plan a training day for the three of them too. He was sure that Cat-nee and Gecko would really like that. Although Cat-nee always got kind of weird, like in the clingy-to-Gecko kind of way, whenever Gecko was around. He didn't really understand it, but he knew that they were engaged, so that was probably normal for couples… maybe.

These were the only people he needed in his life, and he was happy with it. He didn't need to let any other people in. If he put trust in too many, they would all break it in the end. There was no use in accepting someone in his life when they weren't guaranteed to stay. That thought brought him back to his godfather. With his spy network, the man would leave all the time. It wasn't worth making a connection with him.

Yet… why was he so quick to accept his godfather?

Updated: 11/5/20