Authors notes::
Well, hello there my fellow readers. Sorry for being late. But some issues arose as my beta reader was not responding to my messages. Sorry for that bro for uploading the chapter without informing you.
Well into the chapter.
CHAPTER 5
An eleven years old Ayame was hurriedly returning to her home. She was running late.
Reason.
She became so much busy enjoying the Kyuubi festival that she forgot the time deadline she was given to return home.
She scurried her legs and made a sharp left turn down to an alley of two buildings because it was apparently a shortcut to her home. From there she would follow the main road until she reached her home.
She was making her way towards her home when she saw three figures approaching clad in Shinobi clothes all of them wearing Chunin vests. She didn't think too much of it, many Shinobi lived here. She gave them a smile and gave them a polite nod as they passed not noticing the malicious grins on their faces.
One of them who looked like the boss among them grabbed her arm and whipped her to the wall. She gasped in pain and was about to scream but a white cloth was roughly tied to her mouth. It happened so quickly. She felt the fabric cutting into the sides of her lips and looked at her attacker. She didn't know who these three men were. Why? She tried to kick him between the legs, her father told her that this could be a man's weak spot but the Chunin roughly showed her legs apart and pressed himself to her.
"Shut up." he hissed quietly.
She tried to scream but suddenly the Chunin chopped her neck making her go loose conscious.
He threw the girl on his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and addressed it to his companions. "Boy's we got our weekly meal, let's have some fun."
With that, all three shunshined towards an abandoned building. Entering one of the rooms that was located on the top floor they threw the girl down which caused the girl to come back to the living world.
Seeing her gaining conscious one of the minions called out in panic "Boss. She is waking up what should we do?"
"Relax boys when we had enough fun with her, we will just dispose of her off." said the so-called boss like it was a normal conversation.
Ayame was terrified. She had tears falling from her eyes upon hearing their conversation. She didn't know what to do. She felt so afraid, helpless. Hearing the man talk about killing her and doing nasty things with her, terrified her. She cried in her mind for someone, for anyone to come and help her.
Her prayers were granted when someone barged into the room and attacked one of the Chunin. She felt her hope crushed when the boy was caught. She keenly heard the Chunin's talking about killing the demon and council something. She didn't know what they were talking about nor did she cared about it.
She was only thinking about herself and the child that tried to help her. But something unexpected happened. The child's eyes flashed purple and within a second the two guys holding him were smoking toast. The child jumped and ripped the man's hands and head out.
She couldn't believe what had just transpired within these five seconds. Her mind went blank as she saw the amount of blood gushing out of the headless corpse. She went limp as her mind couldn't take it anymore.
When she woke up she was in a hospital with her father sitting on one of the chairs in her room. His face had dried stains on his cheek.
She groaned a bit, her head felt like it was about to explode as she just kept staring blankly at the white ceiling of the hospital room.
TEUCHI'S POV
Hearing a groaning sound Teuchi awoke from his sleep, as the previous memories assaulted him.
He was worried about his daughter as she hadn't returned home from the Kyuubi carnival, he was about to set a search for her when an Anbu came and informed him that he was to immediately visit the hospital. He felt a knot form in his stomach.
When he reached the hospital he was told that a squad of Anbu had found his daughter unconscious and the next thing he heard made his whole world come crumbling down on him.
His daughter was nearly raped, maybe it was some kind of miracle she was saved by an unknown boy.
She was safe from the outside but he was worried about her mental condition.
For that, the Yamanaka clan head who was present in the hospital, himself checked his daughter's mental condition. He had told him that his daughter had suffered massive mental trauma. And maybe his daughter will never recover from it. Teuchi asked why not just perform his clan specialty. Inoichi with a heavy heart had replied that he cannot just mind walking people who had never used their chakra, so he was sorry for that.
After that incident, Ayame becomes nothing but a husk of her former self. She didn't talk, didn't reacted to anything. It's just felt to him that someone stole her emotions away. He didn't have enough courage to even visit the boy who had saved his daughter. But he had a fear that what will he answer the boy. He saved her but could not save her completely.
He asked the Hokage the boy's identity, his fear was further increased. The boy was none other than the Kyuubi container or more likely the son of his favorite customer.
The boy had already suffered enough from the villagers he did not want the child to suffer because of him.
Two years easily passed away but for Teuchi it felt like two centuries. Many of his friends sympathized with him. He accepted the sympathy with nothing but a strained smile. They didn't know what his daughter was going through.
But it seemed like miracles happened in reality when he heard the voice of his daughter and another voice of an unknown person. The voice sounded of a child.
"It's you/ It's you."
Both Ayame and Naruto exclaimed. Both were shocked by seeing each other.
Naruto always wondered what happened to the girl he saved two years ago and he had become so much busy in his training that he didn't even got time even to ask the Hokage about her. Ugh... he was such stupid. What kind of boy he was.
And here he was meeting the girl nearly after two years, he was happy that she was safe. He had lingering thought that she would also give him a cold shoulder when she realized his real position and identity in the village. But that thought had been squashed when she suddenly caught him in a bunny hug.
"Thank you. Thank you for saving me," she repeated with tears in her eyes.
"Ayame. You could release him now." Teuchi gently tapped his daughter's shoulders as he saw the boy's face turning red from the lack of air.
Ayame gave a confused towards her father who just pointed his finger towards the boy in her hand. She gave a sheepish grin to Naruto and released the boy.
Naruto took some deep breaths as his face returned to normal. Naruto was a little stunned at the affectionate hug of the girl. It was the first time he was ever treated with kindness. Kakashi sensei was still close but he did not show the action this openly.
He felt a tick mark throb on his head when he heard Kurama howling his ass off with laughter, for now, he just ignored the fox.
Ayame now had a good look at the boy, the boy looked and reminded her of Kushina oba-san even Minato sama. She looked at her father as she tried to confirm her prediction. Teuchi caught the questioning gaze in his daughter's eyes and he nodded in confirmation. She slapped her hands over her mouth as she realized who he might be. She may have only been five years old at that time. It was hard to forget that memorable couple.
Before she could say anything that could potentially put the boy in danger Teuchi suddenly asked "So, kid you look pretty worn out and hungry. So what do are your orders."
"I will take something normal to eat. But I don't usually eat outside. Maybe something your specialty," answered Naruto in unsurety.
Teuchi held back a smirk before suggesting "You should take Miso with pork ramen," Teuchi suggested as he knew how much amount of ramen Kushina used to gobble up.
After a few minutes of preparing Teuchi put a giant bowl in front of Naruto. Naruto raised an eyebrow at the bowl's unusual size. Teuchi just shrugged in response and urged him to eat it.
Naruto took a sniff of the ramen and took a pair of chopsticks. Naruto slurped the noodle, after a few his eyes shot open in amazement.
"It's magnificent," he exclaimed as he began slurping down the noodles at breakneck speed, his mouth was assaulted with delicious taste.
"It slips down my throat like silk," he said to Teuchi, amazed at the gold of food he had found.
Teuchi watched in fascination at his customer, it surely brought the good memories back. He was brought out of his thoughts when Naruto asked for a second serving and he was happy to provide it.
Ayame was amazed as she too remembered the number of bowls Kushina Obaa-san used to ate. She gave a small smile and looked at her father.
Teuchi was brought to tears when he saw the smile on her daughter's face. First time in two years she showed a smile. It looked like the boy again came as a savior for his daughter. It was true 'There is a delay in god's house, not darkness.'
"So kid what's your name," Teuchi asked, he already know the name. But he just wanted to hear from the kid mouth itself.
Finishing his second bowl Naruto responded "My name's Uzumaki Naruto, nice to meet ya." Naruto introduced himself with a smile.
"I'm Teuchi." the ramen chef told the boy, "And this is my daughter Ayame," he said gesturing towards his daughter.
"Hi," said Ayame. Naruto nodded his head acknowledging her.
There was a cue silence for few minutes only sound coming was of slurping noodles and cooking.
Finishing his third bowl Naruto asked, "How's she doing after 'that' thing?" Teuchi who was cleaning his utensils flinched a little as he remembered the memory of how his daughter was affected by the assault on her.
Seeing his little angel's blank face and her eyes looking as hollow as void. It pained the old man's heart. He always felt guilty and blamed himself as he was unable to protect his daughter. But now he had a hope in the form of Naruto. He saved his girl that time probably he could be a lifesaver now.
Ayame was in a different situation as flashbacks of the incident started to play in her mind. Her breathing became ragged as her eyes started to tear up, she began to hyperventilate. Ayame felt a palm against the back of her head that dragged her entire form into the warm embrace. "There there my little girl, everything's all right," Teuchi said softly patting her back and comforting his daughter.
"Tou san I can't forget that night it feels like the same thing is happening to me right now. I'm scared Tou san, I'm scared." she whimpered crying her eyes out, clutching her arms around her father, but his soothing words and comforting hands made her melt into the warmth and comfort of her father.
Teuchi stood there patiently holding his daughter, listening with a heavy heart to her sobbing. Even if she needed to let her grief out, it was still very painful for him to endure. All the grief and suffering of two years were let out that night. A father got his daughter back.
What both didn't notice was that Naruto silently left the restaurant to give the father-daughter duo their time.
Naruto reached his apartment closing the door behind him. He entered the bathroom. Switching the lights on he looked into the mirror in front of him, opening the tap he took a handful of water and splashed on his face. Wiping his face with a napkin he remembered the scene. The old ramen chef trying to comfort his daughter, that scene made his heart clench with an unknown emotion. He didn't know what made him leave the restaurant, he just wanted someone near him.
Kurama observed Naruto with nothing but sadness in his eyes. Naruto was unaware of the emotions he was experiencing but Kurama clearly knew what Naruto was thinking.
Naruto wanted a comfort of a family that he never had. He just wanted a love of a mother's comfort and protection of a father. Naruto was jealous of that girl.
Kurama felt a little guilty for Naruto. He was the reason that his parents were dead.
But his guilt was immediately squashed when he considered his another reason.
That damn couple wanted him as nothing but as a weapon to use. When he was being transferred from Mito's seal to Kushina, that brat did nothing but ensnare him with her dreaded chain ability, locking him to nothing but darkness.
Hn, all humans were the same.
But these recent years changed him a little, he saw a friend in the form of Naruto. The kid was different than the other humans who saw through the hatred and the power of the Bijuu.
He knew the reason for his friendship with this child and for once he was thankful for Naruto's negative treatment as there was no one to influence his host towards the dark personality of the humans. Naruto had a pure soul and Kurama had no reason to taint that purity. Maybe that was the reason he was now this close to a human on top of that 8 years child no less.
He gave a long sigh when he felt Naruto fall asleep.
AFTER FEW DAYS
Kurama was getting bored, why he was bored because ever since Naruto finished his training there was nothing entertaining for him. Surely he would just spend his time napping.
Naruto would just train with Kakashi brat or he would just spend his time in the library reading and training by himself.
Even though he did not show it but he was a very proud Bijuu to have a host like him. Even Kushina was not this strong at the same age, he was going to surpass his parents very soon but he still had a long road ahead of him.
Ever since that incident he keenly observed the slight changes to his host's chakra. His chakra felt chaotic yet controlled Naruto too felt it, when Naruto asked Kurama, he would reply... 'I don't know' in his usual bored tone which would cause Naruto to facepalm and Kurama to laugh.
Now he was bored as hell and Naruto was still sleeping very peacefully, before going sleep Naruto told him that he was going to sleep till late morning.
Poor Naruto did not notice the evil grin that Kurama was giving while he rubbed his paws together. Naruto got a sudden chill mid-sleep.
Kurama had a perfect plan. And he was waiting for a perfect opportunity to come.
When dawn came all hell broke loose.
'LA LAA LA LAAAAA LA LAA LA LAAAAA...' Kurama started singing in a gruff voice, and the effect was immediate. Naruto started groaning in annoyance at the ugly voice of his furry friend.
'KURAMAAAA... Stop screeching like a banshee.' Naruto mentally yelled.
Naruto's annoyed tone caused Kurama to laugh heartily, hearing his companion laughing Naruto fumed. First, the furball decides to ruin his sleep with his annoying singing and now he laughs at his condition.
Grumbling he decided to wake up, opening his eyes he sits up in his bed, rubbing the sleep that was already broken by the annoying furball. Yawning he stretched his arms above his head hearing the cracks on his bones.
Stepping outside, Naruto scowled.
The sky was still dark. He vowed to take revenge on him.
Sighing, he quickly finished his morning rituals doing stretches and basic warm-up, and dressed in his casual clothes, a black t-shirt with a red Uzumaki swirl on his back. He wore dark blue Anbu pants and black-colored ninja sandals.
Naruto had nothing to do this early so he decided to visit the Shinobi library study.
Stepping out of his apartment he started walking in the direction of the library. It was early so the street was still empty so the walk was pretty quick.
When Naruto arrived at the library, a middle-aged woman same age as Hiruzen was sitting at the library reception saw a similar mop of blonde hair entering the library, she smiled and waved at him.
Naruto also waved back, the receptionist was one of the people who were nice to him and she never stopped him from entering the library.
While he was heading towards the Shinobi section she was also thinking 'You would be proud of him ...Yondaime-sama'.
She knew who he was seeing a similar type of blonde regularly coming here years ago.
Naruto headed towards some more advanced section of the library. During these two years, he had made sure to daily visit the library for studying. Due to these, he had already had read out the entire academy section of the library.
As he reached the Shinobi section which was restricted for Chunin and Jounin level ninjas only, but no one visited the library this early so it was a win-win situation for him. He picked some scrolls on Taijutsu, some basic Jutsu scrolls for each element, some books on advanced elemental manipulation. Even if he had a good grasp and control over his elements but more knowledge was a good thing.
While he was salvaging through the stack of books he suddenly caught a glimpse of a green-colored book. Taking the book from the shelf he carefully observed it. The book was quite odd-looking with no title or even writer's name. 'This book was not here before.' he thought in confusion 'Maybe it is a new arrival' shrugging he took the book with him.
He reached the reception putting the scrolls and books on the table he addressed the librarian.
"Numi-san. I'm taking these scrolls and this book. I will return it by the end of the week." he said softly.
The librarian smiled at him and nodded.
Staring out the window, with his gaze sweeping over the village illuminated by the early morning sun, the Hokage of the past 40 years, save a short two-year gap, packed more of the sweet-smelling tobacco into his pipe. As was often the case, his thoughts shifted to his young ward, Naruto. That blond hair, those violet eyes…If it was only those things alone, perhaps the feeling of melancholy wouldn't be quite so profound. Indeed, more than either of those things, it was the startling intelligence behind his eyes that was so striking. So, so much like his father. Not since Itachi has the village seen a child so full of potential, but unlike Itachi, the village did not gaze upon the boy in pride. Instead, it looked upon him with fear, mistrust, and despite his best efforts, anger. All emotions that the boy was, without question, aware of. And the rumors of the fourth Mizukage who was also a demon container, going crazy and ordering the massacre of his own people didn't help the situation.
The village hidden in the leaves has never known a greater Shinobi or hero than Naruto's father, but children aren't shaped by their parents alone. Especially parents who they have never, and could never know. No, children are shaped by the environment around them, and the environment around Naruto has never been easy.
This village, so full of past prodigies….Orochimaru, Sakumo Hatake, Minato, and many more. Though each took a different path, there was one constant between them all – the village simply could not hold on to them. 'Now, it seems, Naruto is next in line, and like his predecessors, my deepest fear is that this village will fail to keep him within its embrace. All of these fools calling him a demon.' With eyes welling, the Hokage couldn't help but wonder if the day would come where Naruto would truly give them a reason to call him such.
With hands shoved in his pockets, Kakashi strolled towards the Hokage's office at a lazy pace, with a dull look plastered on his face. Of course, the silver-haired Jonin was anything but bored, but what was a ninja without his appearances? 'I do have a reputation to uphold, after all.' And on that thought, the recently retired Anbu couldn't help but cringe – he was almost two hours late to his meeting with the elder Kage. 'Shit.'
Pumping chakra into his legs, the Jonin pushed himself into the air, where he landed soundlessly on the now dry rooftop of one of the many stores in the shopping district. Gliding across the building tops, Kakashi found himself in the ever-familiar office of the Hokage in less than a minute.
"Hokage-sama, you wanted to speak with me," drawled the still seemingly nonchalant Shinobi.
Fixing him with a steady gaze, Hiruzen Sarutobi gave himself a moment to collect his thoughts. "Kakashi, I won't insult your intelligence by pretending you didn't know this day would come. You have served this village proudly as an ANBU captain, but never has your home needed you more than it does on an oncoming day." Blowing out a pillow of smoke, the Hokage simply asked.
"Is he ready?"
Kakashi realized what Sandaime was implying but quickly understood. Giving his patented eye smile and replied "He is ready?"
Hokage nodded in approval but narrowed his eyes at the mischievous glint in Kakashi's eye "How are you going to tell him?" he asked intrigued.
"I had already taken care of that, just be ready for him to come at the end. It is only you who needs to give him an explanation." saying this Kakashi disappeared in a puff of smoke.
Hokage sighed and gave a small smile. The Sharingan user surely had changed but in a good sense.
Thinking about the change he himself had changed during these two years, he had tried to look for a way where he could rectify his mistakes.
The first was to make his position strong in the village. During the aftermath of the Kyuubi attack, the elders, civilian council, and some of the clan heads became corrupted and wrestled the majority of the power from him.
He still chuckled at the memory of how much pissed the civilian council looked when he had informed them about Naruto training. They did try to argue but they were scared shitless when Hiruzen introduced his strongest version of his killing intent that told them why he was considered the strongest Kage of his time.
But still, they held the power to oppose any of his decisions and they try to oppose it with the help of voting, but something unexpected happened that even surprised Sandaime. Danzo interfered and supported his decision. He thanked god for one time that Danzo agreed once with his decision.
But Hiruzen had second thoughts about Danzo. He knew his former rival very well and how much low-level Danzo could go to achieve his goals were insane. He needed to deal with Danzo and very fast.
But there was another concern for Sarutobi. The growing unrest of the Uchiha clan in the village. He needed to deal with them too. Maybe some negotiation with the clan head could solve their unrest.
Sadly some habits die hard. Hiruzen's optimism was going to cause some major problems that could shatter the foundations of the world.
And for all of his problems he had only one solution. And he had already started to make his move.
WITH KAKASHI
It's been two years since he had started training Naruto. A lot had changed in his life. Ever since he revealed to Naruto that he had known his parents, his life had been turned upside down.
Naruto had opened up to him a little and with that Kakashi had got a reason to live his life.
And this had many positive side effects no longer had his nightmares of killing his own teammate, no longer he had felt loneliness. It was like a new start to his life.
He was now more open-minded, but he kept his habit of laziness.
Naruto had found that Kakashi was a very calm easy-going person but was lazy like hell and liked to read Icha Icha books, a porn book. But thank god that he did not get his teachers laziness. Naruto was always eager to train, whatever challenge he was given he completed it without any complaint.
He understood one thing about the human mind that when people who were suffering from past trauma. Their minds create a mechanism to hide the pain. So for that many people adopted some kind of habit to ease their pain. And Kakashi was one of the people, he knew he had lost his teammates who were his closest friends and used many means to hide his pain, reading porn was one of them.
Many villagers saw the changes in Naruto and how strong he was becoming some of them even started to fear him thinking the fox was regaining his power back. Due to this many tried to corner the boy and in their words, they did that to keep the Kyuubi in line. But they saw no retaliation from the boy, no fear no madness. Naruto faced them with a calm exterior. This made some of the villagers with sane minds think and question their behavior. But they being so clouded by their hate for the fox so they started to ignore his presence.
Human beings just can't accept their mistakes. They just find the other way around to defend their behavior.
Resting deep within recesses of Naruto's mind, Kurama let out a low grumble. Humans were an apathetically predictable lot. Motivated by their urges, and enslaved by their doubts, they, as far as the fox could tell, destroyed every beautiful and natural thing unfortunate enough to come into contact with them. Indeed, it was because of that knowledge that the fox found his Jinchuriki to be such an enigma. After years of observation, he came to a realization: the kid had even more potent life energy than he did. That, of course, should not be possible, and for all he knew, it was not his doing.
Of course, in moments of rare calm, the beast sometimes ... sometimes allowed himself to contemplate the idea of there being 'some' humans worthy of, if nothing else, tolerance. The very first of them that the fox was aware of harnessing chakra was, indeed, even worthy of love. It was through that love, with a swirling mess of tails, that he recalled the last words of his father had ever uttered to him. Pained though he was to even acknowledge the thought, the greatest of all tail beasts couldn't help but wonder if perhaps it was... this child, with whom his father had referred to. That it was this child that his father lived on in or maybe even greater.
Leaving the library Naruto headed towards his apartment while walking he was greeted by the usual looks of hate and sneers but there was something new he was sensing from them.
When he looked around observing expressions of the villagers around him some of them averted their eyes avoiding eye contact, many of them scurried away leaving Naruto confused by their behavior. He shrugged and made his way towards his home.
Arriving he put the books and scrolls on the dining table, he was about to enter the bathroom to clean himself up. But stopped when he noticed the green book he had taken. Opening the book and salvaging through some pages he noticed it was some kind of old bingo book, out of curiosity he started to rummage through pages he stopped at one particular page when his gaze settled on a specific photo that he had seen regularly on the Hokage monument it was the photo of his idol Yondaime Hokage.
While reading the book he came In front of a mirror when he looked towards his reflection... then at the photo. When suddenly realization struck him like 1000 volts of lightning.
'Blue eyes..., spiky blonde hair..., Kyuubi attack... Kurama being sealed in him'
All pieces of the puzzle slowly started to come together, he was somehow related to Yondaime Hokage.
He did not know what possessed him, he suddenly bolted out of his apartment via rooftops towards the direction of Hokage tower.
While he was running the emotion on his face could have appeared as neutral and calm but inside a storm of emotions was raging inside him.
He didn't know what to feel; whether to be happy finding the identity of his possible father or to feel angry at the Hokage that he hid this information from him, or to feel furious at the treatment from the village.
It still hurt him that Yondaime Hokage... no his father decided to seal Kurama in him, not that he angry about it but he was still angry that it was him who was subjected to the bad treatment from the villagers.
Kurama remained silent during the whole ordeal of the raging emotions of his container. The whole mindscape was shaking. The water beneath the seal was rippling dangerously.
Normally he would have taken advantage of the situation of his host and would have tried to make his escape for his freedom, never to be sealed again and used as a weapon of sorts, but Naruto was different he did not want any of his power nor he considered him a mere weapon or manifestation of hatred. He just gave him a way to trust that humanity still had a chance.
He trusted Naruto just like he trusted the sage.
Naruto was not aware of the things happening inside him, his only thought was to confront the Hokage as quickly as possible.
For normal civilians, he was nothing but a blur even some Chunin could be hard-pressed to follow the speed Naruto was going.
In a matter of minutes he was standing outside the window of the Hokage office, taking few deep breaths he tapped the glass of the window and waited for the Hokage to open it.
Sarutobi Hiruzen was waiting for certain someone to show up. He looked at the wall clock which was hanging above the entrance of his office. He did not know when exactly will Naruto come to him, seeking answers the child deserved. He sighed and took out one orange book from one of the completed stacks of his paperwork.
He was about to open his book when a sudden tap on the window stopped him from exploring the divine literature. He held back a curse thinking god himself was forbidding him to have time for himself.
Sighing he put the book away and turned towards the window where he saw Naruto waiting outside. He opened the window and let the blond get in.
There was a cue silence for a moment. It was Naruto who broke the silence by asking the question he wanted to ask.
"So you knew?" it sounded more like a statement rather than a question.
Hiruzen did not respond, he just made a hand sign and the four Anbu stationed in his office left. After Sandaime performed the half-ram seal, a sealing formula appeared across the room before glowing blue and disappearing from sight. The room had been silenced to anyone outside of it.
"Naruto took the silence as his answer. Why did you hide it from me?" Naruto asked his voice a little wavering.
"Your father was a very powerful Shinobi Naruto. If his enemies knew that he had a son they would have come after you seeking revenge. And some certain condition arose that made me hide the truth from you."
"Conditions like the Kyuubi attack." Naruto bluntly said.
Hiruzen nodded in response but remained silent for few seconds thinking about telling Naruto his other secret but decided it was not the correct time to discuss. But there was still a lingering question in his mind.
"How did you find out?"
Naruto promptly answered back "I figured it out myself."
"How?" the curiosity was killing him.
Naruto did nothing just handed him the bingo book and recounted the events from the library and by the end of the explanation, Hiruzen was looking at him with a small smile. Naruto was truly was an intelligent child. But he was pissed that Kakashi would be so lazy that he just left the bingo book in the library. He was snapped out of his thoughts when he heard Naruto addressing him.
"Hokage sama may I take your leave. Kakashi sensei might be waiting for me." Naruto asked politely.
Hokage just chuckled and nodded in approval. Once he dismissed Naruto he was back again to his paperwork.
Hiruzen sighed when he sensed a similar chakra signature waiting outside the window of his office.
"You can come in Kakashi, he is gone," said Hiruzen addressing the person outside the window.
"So he finally found the truth, he took it well than expected," answered Kakashi in his lazy tone.
"You can also mention that you helped him, without him knowing about it. And managed to give me a headache smaller than the paperwork," said Hiruzen very much irritatingly.
"Mah, mah Hokage-sama I knew he was smart for his age he just needed a little push," answered Kakashi lazily.
"Like placing the bingo book in the library," Hiruzen said while pinching his nose. "But why now when I was somewhat free from the paperwork"
"You have to face him someday about the truth and this is a much better time to face him now rather when you are busy with your paperwork. And besides my student is waiting for me," said Kakashi giving him his patented eye-smile.
He shunshined out of the Hokage office leaving a fuming and cursing Hokage behind.
TRAINING GROUND SEVEN
Kakashi was the first one to arrive at the training ground via shunshin. He was lazily standing next to a tree of the training ground, giggling perversely while reading his orange book.
Hearing some audible footsteps approaching knowing who might be Kakashi kept the book in his pouch. He looked in front of him and saw his student standing in front of him. If looked carefully Naruto looked so much like sensei. His hair was a little longer whose length came up to his eyes. He was proud and amazed at the Naruto was progressing.
"Kakashi sensei how much you knew about my father." Naruto addressed Kakashi with a slight waver in his voice.
Kakashi sighed and motioned Naruto to come towards him. Naruto said nothing and stood in front of the silver-haired Jounin.
"as I said two years ago. your mother and father were like pseudo parents to me. After my father died it was them who looked after me. Even when your mother was pregnant with you Minato sensei assigned me as a bodyguard to protect both of you." Kakashi reminisced fondly.
"What was my mother like. How did she look?" he asked barely keeping his voice from breaking.
Hearing the desperation in his voice Kakashi's heart clenched in pain.
But smiling Kakashi looked at the morning sky and thought it was better to tell him her story now rather than later "Her name was Kushina Uzumaki. She was fearless, blunt, brash and one of the most deadly and troublesome women as well. She used to scare the shit out of people, especially your father. Even though she was Shinigami in the human form she was also a very kind woman, always smiling and joking. It is her name that you carry Naruto." he said nostalgically, but held back a shudder remembering when she caught him reading Jiraiya's book when he visited in her pregnancy days. He unconsciously rubbed his head where there was a long existed lump when she hit him with a frying pan.
'Woman is always scary when they got their mood swings. And Uzumaki was the worst, they were people always with a short fuse.' he mentally shuddered.
"She was the daughter of Nidaime Uzukage, Uzumaki Ashina from Uzushiogakure. The land hidden in Whirlpools. The Uzumaki were distant relatives of the Senju clan, the clan of our late Hokage's. They were feared for their Fuinjutsu skills; they were the undisputed masters of the art. It was your mother who taught your father Fuinjutsu. They had immensely large chakra reserves, which gave them a longer life than any other ninja. Some of them had special chakra, which they could physically manifest in the form of chains. Your mother was one of them." he recalled, with Naruto soaking it like a little child hearing stories from his parents.
Naruto was amazed he was related to not one but two Kage's.
"I sense a 'but' in it," said Naruto with narrowed eyes.
Kakashi's smile left his face as it was still painful for him that his student was forced to mature this much. Sighing he answered, "They were wiped out during the Second Shinobi war when three of the five major villages aligned themselves and attacked the village fearing their mastery of Fuinjutsu. Your mother was the only survivor of the royal and pure-blooded Uzumaki family with some other survivors who got scattered in different parts of the elemental nation lost to the world."
Naruto frowned hearing how people feared the thing that was not in their control, 'Is this the reason people feared Bijuu because they can't control them. Seeing their enormous power as nothing but only to be used as a weapon.'
Is this is why Kurama despised humanity. Because they only thought of hIm as the source of unimaginable power.
He needed to talk to the furball.
Something clicked in the masked-faced Shinobi and called out "Naruto wait for a moment" said Kakashi, as he shunshined towards god, knows where.
Naruto looked at the place Kakashi stood. He released a sigh and waited for sensei to come from where he went.
Sensing no one around Kurama said 'Naruto. You seemed pretty easy going on that old coot.'
Hearing Kurama's voice Naruto instantly appeared in his mindscape his face full of anger.
"Don't you dare talk about it Kurama? You knew who my parents were yet you did not even try to hint about them to me." Naruto yelled in rage.
Kurama being who did not like entertaining someone replied "Shut up brat. I hated your parents from the core of my heart. They were just like the other pussy humans. Succumbing to greed and thirst for power." yelled back Kurama with equal anger in his voice.
"So why did you even befriended me, if you hated humans so much why talk to me on a civil ground," Naruto yelled his anger rising. But stopped further saying anything when he realized what he had said in his bout of anger.
He was about to apologize to Kurama but was stopped by the fox himself.
"Why befriended you...you ask! First time in thousand years you gave me the reason to believe in the term humanity. You gave me the chance to believe that humans are not the race that I think it is. And don't need to apologize Naruto I clearly understand your situation as at one time I was same as you." Kurama knew that Naruto did not meant to hurt him with his words. He too would have been pissed when Naruto had hide things from him but his nearly millennia of experience gave him a clear mind to think in intense situations.
"Sorry, Kurama. I am really sorry." Naruto apologized accepting his mistake.
"As I said Naruto no need to apologize. I understand your situation. And besides, I am proud to have you as a container and most importantly as a friend." Kurama replied giving Naruto a toothy grin.
Naruto too smiled in return and raised his fist towards the fox getting his fist in return.
"Bros for life./ Bros for life.' They both said at the same time.
Their bro moment was stopped when Kakashi teleported with a bunch of things with him.
Naruto immediately left his mindscape and came to the real world where he saw Kakashi sensei holding some things but what caught his eye was some kind of portrait in his hand.
"Here you go," said Kakashi giving the portrait in his hands to the blonde.
Naruto took the portrait from Kakashi's hands into his. It was of his father decked out in his full Hokage uniform, along with a beautiful redhead wearing a high collared, sleeveless blouse under a long, loose-fitting dress with a wrist band on her left wrist and standard Shinobi sandals. A medium-sized bulge on her stomach.
The redhead was waving a peace sign, with a huge grin on her face. Her face was very familiar looking to his own. Her exquisite violet eyes were shaped just like his eyes.
Seeing the redhead only one word resonated in his mind.
'Kaa-san...'
This word stirred so many emotions in his heart.
Tears finally fell from his eyes from holding them back for so long. He cried for a long time finally his emotions having an outlet. He stiffened a little when he was picked up from the ground and brought in a warm embrace of Kakashi who himself could not see Naruto crying.
"Sensei... I had a mother. I... I had a family." Naruto stuttered tears flowing through his eyes.
Kakashi tightened the hug with the blonde. Living your life believing you didn't even have a family made him sad.
From a Shinobi's point of view, it was a good thing Naruto didn't the identity of his parents as it was for his own safety. But the human part in him yelled it was a very heinous crime for keeping Naruto unaware of his parent's identity.
But things seemed settled down for now as he felt Naruto fell asleep in his arms. With a sigh, he left towards Naruto's home.
Arriving at the blonde's apartment and setting the child on his bed. He gently tried to take the portrait from Naruto who still was clutching the portrait of his family like it was the last thing on earth. Not able to take the portrait from the sleeping child Kakashi stopped trying to take the portrait and let the child sleep with it.
Kakashi smiled under his mask he took the bedsheet and tucked it up to the blonde's chin.
With that done he swiftly left the apartment.
This day was going to change everything as some unexpected events were going to take place the same day.
Authors notes::
Well, I am finishing this chapter right here. Stay tuned for the next chapter.
So until next time.
JA NE.