Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
Version 2.0 (March 2015): The first half has been almost completely rewritten. Details to the second half have been added, and the entire thing has been cleaned up to remove perspective changes that felt jarring to me.
Child of the Fox
The first time she reached out to Naruto was when he was three.
Three years ago, she had been sealed inside Naruto through the most ridiculously complex sealing procedure she had ever seen, and that was saying rather a lot. Her late husband was probably the most intelligent human to walk the Northern Lands, known to its inhabitants as the Elemental Nations, and his seal filled her with pride, despite its function.
Her husband had designed the seal in case someone found out what she was and took advantage of it, completing it just in time for it to be complete two days before it had to be used. Through the intricate seal, she could see through the eyes of her son, hear through his ears, and feel through his skin. Thankfully, that was the limit of the seal's passive interaction with her son's body and mind, for she didn't think she would appreciate it much if she caught every stray thought that entered her son's mind, especially once he entered puberty.
It had honestly surprised her how humane Naruto was treated on the whole. She had heard stories about the treatment of Jinchūriki, especially in Mist, Rock, and Waterfall, though there had been rumours lately coming from Sand that they had a Jinchūriki and that they were going to train him to be a weapon. Which meant social isolation, possible assassination attempts, and likely much worse.
All Naruto faced was neglect, and a portion, small though it was, of it was only half-hearted. The matron had clearly wanted some form of revenge, but she had enough sense, or incentive courtesy of the Sandaime, to treat Naruto as she would any other troublemaker. It wasn't what she wanted, but faced with the alternatives she took what she could get.
Her current situation arose when the orphanage had a trip to the Konoha markets, to introduce the younger children to the concept of currency. There weren't enough employees to keep the rest of the children inside under supervision, so the matron took the entire orphanage populace with her to the market.
Through the bustle, and matronly prejudice towards Naruto, her son was left without supervision in a market without being taught the concepts of 'respect the property of others' and 'currency'. So, he did what any child would do in his situation, and many still did even after being taught those two core tenets of civilized society, and grabbed a loaf of very good-looking bread from the stand belonging to the baker that was generally considered the best in the Konoha market.
The baker himself looked at Naruto cradling the loaf of bread and nodded once before looking away, and she mentally added his name to the list of people she would give preferential treatment later. It was curious that simple acknowledgment of his existence could move her to such steps, but such was humane treatment for a Jinchūriki. Being treated with disdain was probably the best reaction they could hope for.
One of the supporting staff of the baker, who she vaguely recognized as the baker's mother, did not agree with her son's decision to ignore Naruto essentially stealing the bread, even though he had the baker's permission after the fact. A scene she felt would not be out-of-place in the Hidden Mist or Rock took place inside Konoha when Naruto's self-preservation instincts kicked in and he bolted to the nearby park.
The elderly mother chased after Naruto with a thick branch held in her hand, easily capable of doing his three-year old frame harm. This particular woman hadn't even suffered that much at her rampage twelve years ago, otherwise referred to as 'the reason she was sealed up'. This woman still had her son, her daughter-in-law, and two grandchildren, if the little brats running around the stand were any indication. Never the less, she had apparently decided to take revenge on Naruto, taking the opportunity presented to her that, in her perception, allowed her to beat up the closest thing to herself the woman would ever get; Naruto.
Imagine her shock when it turned out that Naruto proved capable of keeping up and well on track to outlasting the elderly woman who was easily sixty years his senior. She suspected that aspects of Naruto's genes that did not express in herself or her husband were responsible. From her side came the stamina, for the Uzumaki had always been a clan with extreme amounts of it. The best example was probably her own brother, Hirai. When he was fifteen he ran from Konoha to Uzushio without pause, a distance of roughly six hundred kilometers, though he was considered to be an extreme, well into the 97th percentile, even among the clan. This did not explain Naruto's speed, however. Three year old children should not be capable of outrunning a sixty-something civilian, no matter how out of practice the civilian in question was.
That part was probably her late husband's genetic influence. There had been rumours that his father, Naruto's paternal grandfather, was an illegitimate child of that clan with the Swift release bloodline, and it appeared that at least parts of it had activated in Naruto. She'd have to examine Naruto's genetics later.
The pair turned onto the slope of one of the steeper hills in this park, and Naruto was now actually gaining on the woman. Not that swiftly, true, but he was. The woman recognized what was happening and decided to take a good swing at Naruto while he was still in her reach.
Naturally, he disagreed with the woman's intent to bash his brains to pulp, and dove to avoid such a fate. Unfortunately, he had been running rather close to the edge of the path, and had miscalculated how far from the edge he was. As a result, he tumbled down the hill clutching his bread in his right arm, his left stretched out in front of him.
Tumbling down the slope of the hill, Naruto tried to stop himself by using his left arm and his legs as brakes, but he was simply going too fast for his young body to stop. His ankle twisted because of the sheer speed of his small frame, and a rock scraped his arm as he saw a tree get closer and closer...
She decided to take action. Her husband had planned for such an eventuality, knowing how Jinchūriki were usually treated, but they had planned on Naruto being told that he was a Jinchūriki. Since he wasn't, there was little she could do but flood the seal with her yōki, shout her advice and hope for the best. The subconscious mind was like a fortress, and Naruto's in particular was a veritable bastion.
"Curl up and roll!" she yelled after she had flooded it with as much yōki as she could.
She watched breathlessly – literally, the action had taken a lot out of her – as Naruto's eyes swiveled right and left to look for the source of her voice, and she looked on helplessly as he eventually came to the conclusion
Naruto did exactly that and tucked his limbs in tightly. This action had its own downsides, however, as the roll caused him to speed up, hurtling toward the tree at the base of the hill at an even faster pace than before, eventually slamming into the tree with his back, blacking out from the pain.
She decided that sleep sounded pretty damn awesome right about now.
– – – –
The second, and third, time she reached out to Naruto, he was eight and had been at the Konoha Shinobi Academy for two years.
She felt a foreign chakra invade Naruto's system, and she immediately tried to assess what was happening. No one in the years since her sealing had outright attacked her son, preferring to ignore his very existence, and she hoped that this streak would not be broken today.
She sighed as she recognized the chakra as Uchiha chakra, from the distinctive taint that was unique to Sharingan wielders. Hate was too soft a word to describe the Uchiha sentiment towards her son, and for good reason.
An Uchiha was at the source of her rampage, eight years ago. She was pretty certain that the Sharingan eyes that appeared in place of her own, the tell-tale hallmark of deep Sharingan hypnosis and one of the reasons it was rarely used, led to the village ostracizing the Uchiha as much as they were capable. Truth be told, she had been theorizing about the reason she had snapped out of the hypnosis within a month after being sealed up ever since it happened – deep Sharingan hypnosis was supposed to last until the caster lifted it and not even the death of the caster could stop it –, but without access to her late husband's notes on the seal that imprisoned her she couldn't make much headway.
Even worse, with Naruto as he was at that moment, she couldn't help him at all beyond shouting one-liner warnings at him, and she decided it would be prudent to wait and see until he really needed it. Thankfully, she did have access to his regenerative factor – again, the limitations of the seal –, which would allow her to ascertain that whatever happened, Naruto would survive.
Her ears, through his, picked up the faint sound of displacing air. She did some mental math on trajectory vectors and velocity, and desperately sent youki into the seal.
"Dodge right!" she shouted. Naruto was so absorbed in whatever he was doing that he almost didn't react in time – recognizing the voice from years earlier –, and paid the price when a kunai found its way into his shoulder. It was better than the knife landing in his chest as the thrower had intended, but not by a whole lot. She heard a voice berating another for almost robbing them of their chance to pay it back for everything. Her eyes narrowed, though a small part of her was pleased it had taken so long for anyone to take action against her son, proving once again that Konoha was the most decent of the Hidden Villages. She was sure that something like this would have been a weekly, if not daily, sight in Kiri or Iwa.
The next moment, Naruto was hit on the back of his head and blackness filled his vision.
When sight returned to the Jinchūriki and his tenant, they found themselves in an abandoned apartment in the slums of Konoha, close to where his own apartment was after the Sandaime gave him permission to live on his own after the orphanage burned down when he was six.
"What's going on?" he shouted to the throng of villagers surrounding him, including a few with freaky red eyes. Naruto did not recognize it, but it did not escape the woman in his gut that the civilian's eyes were partly glazed over. Hypnosis... but not a very deep one, and likely Sharingan-induced, given the presence of the eight Uchiha here. Probably just to bring out emotions hidden and lower inhibitions. It would have been enough for most of the village, truth be told.
She could see that they had various weapons with them; daggers, pitchforks, kunai, torches... she didn't like the implications of the weapons with Naruto's bound body in an abandoned, out-of-the-way apartment in the village, and the likelihood of lowered inhibitions through hypnosis.
The best hypnosis, Sharingan or otherwise, was when the target secretly wanted to do what you bade them to do.
"We're getting payback, demon!" one of them shouted. Oh please, that was so cliché it made me want to hurl. She felt her son's brow furrow, likely thinking on what he was supposed to have done to be on the receiving end of such a statement.
"But I didn't do anything!" he yelled back. Naturally, the civilians didn't appreciate this statement, and the anger in their eyes grew.
"Don't fool us demon, you killed my parents and wife!" the same man had shouted.
"And my sister!" another added. Soon, everyone was shouting their grievances against him, most of which revolved around him killing some members dear to him.
The mob worked itself into a frenzy and soon moved to strike him over and over again with the blades, clubs, and other assorted weaponry. Some of them took great delight in tormenting the child by holding burning torches to his torso.
She worked overtime in his gut to heal the damage as it was being done, but the wounds came far too fast for even Naruto's regeneration, accelerated by her yōki, to keep up. She steeled herself for what she was about to do. Reaching out again with such little time since the last – barely half an hour – would severely drain her, and it would prevent her from reinforcing his regeneration unless she pushed herself to the brink of death.
Better her than him. She gathered her yōki, and once again flooded the seal.
"Flare your chakra as high as it can go!" she yelled. She felt him trying to comply, for he knew that flaring his chakra made the man he referred to as 'jiji' – known to the rest of Konoha as the Sandaime Hokage – appear ever since he had accidentally flared it during leaf-sticking practice and he came teleporting in with a squad of the black-clad masked ninja that he secretly called 'the zoo'.
She knew that it was a tall order, for he still required a bit of concentration to flare his chakra, and the mob wouldn't let up their stabbing and burning for five seconds so he could focus and flare. Right as she finished that thought, as if the gods were listening, the mob soon stepped back to admire their handiwork. The young child's body was littered with swiftly-healing cuts, bruises, and blackened areas all around, and they smiled at each other at a job well done.
She felt the chakra build up, Naruto having grasped the moment to focus his chakra, and go far past the point of flaring and into the domain of pulsing. The difference between the two as far as noticeability goes is minimal, but there is one key difference in their effect. Flares are fully internal while pulses are external projections of chakra. This particular pulse was dense enough that the civilians fainted on the spot – an achievement even for people with demons sealed inside them – while the few Uchiha present started screaming and clutching at their eyes. Despite her exhaustion, she sniggered. They shouldn't have activated their eyes around a chakra powerhouse like her son.
She felt the chakra of the Sandaime, and four unknown ones, arrive in the apartment. She smiled and laid herself on the floor of the cage that represented the seal.
Her eyelids drifted downwards, and before they had finished their journey, snores filled the metaphysical air.
– – – –
The pulse traveled outward and washed over half of Konoha, dispelling various genjutsu that kept people's vanity intact or hidden entrances obscured. Neither visiting nobles or ANBU were all that pleased with events, though the latter just saw it as yet another revealed flaw in their security; even if the pulse was rather large and powerful, ANBU-level genjutsu, especially those obscuring the entrance to their headquarters, were supposed to be sturdier than that. In his office in the tallest building in town, Sarutobi Hiruzen, the Sandaime Hokage of Konohagakure no Sato started and swiftly divined the origin and source of the pulse. With two handsigns – one for the ANBU, one for his chakra –, the office was empty the next moment.
– – – –
"Naruto-kun!" the aged leader of the village called out upon seeing the mess that was the apartment. He strode over to the young blonde lying in a bloody mess on the floor and vowed that the ones responsible would pay. 'Naruto-kun, I have well and truly failed you.'
"ANBU, why are they screaming?" he asked. Surely a chakra pulse couldn't do that or it would be used more often in the ninja life.
Cat, the only one of this squad proficient in medical jutsu, knelt next to a villager and ran a diagnostic. "The civilians have been knocked out by a dense wave of chakra, similar to what is employed for knocking out unruly patients, except on a larger scale," she replied, her voice muffled by the mask. "As for the Uchiha... the readings show they had their eyes active when the pulse hit them. It's not hard to imagine what happened." Without prompting, she continued, "there's no sign of Kyūbi-chakra anywhere, Hokage-sama."
The Hokage hummed. This was good news as he could pretend that the ANBU were the ones that disabled these villagers. Despite the presence of several Uchiha, it was a story that would be believed. At least, it would as soon as he mentioned the ANBU.
"What went on in this room is hereby classified. The official story will be that we felt the pulse and flickered into the apartment, after which we disabled everyone and invited them to the courtesy of T&I for performing unauthorized experiments," he said, emphasizing that this was not to leave the persons gathered in the room. He didn't necessarily need to give the ANBU the official story after classifying it, but he always held the belief that subordinates that knew a little of what was going on were less annoying subordinates, as well as less likely to go rogue as they felt included in the workings of the village. It could backfire spectacularly of course, as the Orochimaru situation had exhibited, but on the whole it worked splendidly. It never hurt to periodically reinforce that some things were to remain secret, however. "Anyone gathered here discussing with others what went on in this apartment that clashes with the official story will find themselves a... personal guest of Mitarashi Anko, with clearance to not hold back."
The gathered ANBU couldn't help but shiver. Mitarashi Anko was recovered only a year ago from the clutches of Orochimaru's lab in Sea Country, but the sadism the newest Assistant Head of the Torture and Investigations department displayed was already legendary, though her promotion so soon after she returned from the clutches of Orochimaru ruffled numerous feathers... but no one could deny she was bad at the job. No one wanted to become a guest of an Anko with carte blanche to do whatever she wanted. Death was preferable.
"Understood, Hokage-sama!" the four half-yelled, breaking the ANBU's vaunted professionalism and stoicism from the mere suggestion of spending quality one on one time with Anko.
The aged Hokage nodded, satisfied that he had impressed upon them the need to keep this silent. "As far as these..." he trailed off, looking for the right word. "Creatures, are concerned; tell Anko and Ibiki that they have carte blanche to do what is necessary to find out how deep this goes, I doubt they did something like this on their own. If it's needed, they can order Inoichi out of retirement. I'll put it in writing when I get to my office, after I drop Naruto-kun off at the hospital."
They nodded to show their understanding and the five flickered out as one, each carrying one or two persons as cargo. The only one of those carried out that was not screaming was an unconscious eight year old.
As the Hokage flickered into his office from the hospital a few minutes after having dropped Naruto off, leaving the child in the care of the most trustworthy doctor he knew, he heaved a sigh of relief. Many wounds were merely superficial - or at least, they were now - and apparently the Kyūbi chakra was adept at healing even third-degree burns for the large blackened welts were shrinking slowly as he watched.
His mind went into overdrive. He had always been looking, even before his retirement, for a reason to order a village-wide Yamanaka mind-sweep, but nothing came up. This was an opportunity for a long-awaited pruning of his forces without attracting undue suspicion. He may consider Naruto his grandson in all but blood, but the fact remained he was the village's Jinchūriki.
With a grim look, he put the orders to paper. For the next four months - the longest he could make this without unduly disrupting business - Konoha was officially at war with itself.
– – – –
The day it all made sense, Uzumaki Naruto was twelve and had just failed the graduation exam for the third time.
Life for the blond Jinchūriki had improved following the ambush at his apartment. When he had been released from the hospital, jiji had introduced him to Kurenai-nee, whose request for guardianship – misplaced years before in the administrative nightmare that was reconstruction – had finally been found and approved. The civilians were still as cold to him as ever, but now he had someone who actually cared for him in his life. The serenity of his new life with Kurenai-nee, even though he technically still had his own apartment, he spent practically all his days in the one Kurenai-nee owned, lasted for all of a week before Anko-nee burst through the window with an exasperated Yūgao-nee and Hayate-nii in tow for a chat with Kurenai-nee, and found him inside while Kurenai-nee had been out for groceries.
They hit it off like two peas in a pod. The rest, as they say, is history.
This particular day, a brilliant Monday in May on which the greatest mystery surrounding the child's life would be revealed, started as many other Academy days did. That is, Uzumaki Naruto slept through his alarm clock and woke up ten minutes before he was supposed to leave for the Academy, instead of the planned thirty. Oftentimes, Kurenai-nee would be there to wake him up in time, but she was an active ninja and wasn't slated to return until late in the night. Anko-nee, Yūgao-nee, and Hayate-nii were often here, almost more often than in their own apartments, but they had lives and places of their own, in addition to being active ninja themselves. As such, today was a day that Naruto, like the first two years of the Academy, woke up to an otherwise empty apartment.
Unlike most other days, Naruto was tense. Today was the day of his third graduation attempt, and if he failed to pass today he would be kicked from the shinobi program. He had to pass, or he would never become Hokage!
He dressed rapidly and sprinted out of the apartment with a steaming bowl of ramen in his hands, thanking his past self for convincing Kurenai-nee to keep a few in stock for situations just like these. Five minutes later he ran into the classroom, greedily sucking in air, exactly one minute before the test was about to start, and saw the price he paid for his relative tardiness, as he usually was present ten minutes before the start of the day, by seeing his usual chair near Uchiha Sasuke – a stuck-up prick but he liked to think that there was some form of rivalry going on between them – taken by a girl with long blonde hair three shades paler than his own. Sasuke expressed his dissatisfaction with his tardiness by aiming a very intense glare at him.
He flinched slightly from the intensity of the glare and looked around the classroom for an empty seat. There were three left; one at the back row between Kiba and Shikamaru, one near the middle between two civilians he didn't know, and one at the window next to that girl with the weird pale eyes that always fainted whenever he approached her. He was fairly sure it wasn't something malice-induced, but it was unsettling regardless. He strode over to the window, since then he wouldn't be distracted by the not-so-subtle hostility emanating from the civilians, or the general air of laziness emanating from Shikamaru which was sure to affect his eventual score.
The girl's cheeks turned red as he sat in the chair next to her, thoroughly confusing Naruto once again. Was she all right? It would be bad for her if she had a fever the day of the exam, wouldn't it?
Before he could voice his concern a loud bang resounded through the room, the poor door thrown open by their teacher and his assistant, Iruka-sensei and Mizuki-sensei, both unusually tardy as well. The chatter in the class died down immediately without Iruka-sensei having to perform his trademark technique, often named the 'Big Head no Jutsu' by students and teachers alike.
"Good morning students," Iruka-sensei greeted, receiving a chorus of 'hello' and 'good morning Iruka-sensei' in return. He grabbed an armful of paper and moved through the class to place a copy of the exam on their desks. "Today is Examination Day, as you all know. The test is split into several parts; the written portion, taijutsu, an obstacle course, weapons, and jutsu. The Basic Three will be asked. Additional jutsu may earn extra credit if performed correctly. All areas grant a base maximum of one hundred points each, and a minimum of four hundred and twenty-five points is required for a pass with no single section below eighty points."
Naruto slumped, eyes downcast. He was sure he'd be able to pass the written portion this time, but the damned Bunshin held him up every time. If he knew two extra jutsu his failure to perform the Bunshin would bring his score down to four out of five, rather than two out of three. Eighty versus sixty-six. He'd managed to get the instructions for two jutsu available to Genin, the Suiton: Teppōdama and the Fūton: Daitoppa, but he suspected that the person who had given them to him was hoping he'd kill himself with them, as had nearly happened the first time he tried the Daitoppa. He had managed to keep it hidden from Kurenai-nee, or he was sure that he still wouldn't be able to sit down properly from the ass-kicking she and Anko would have given him. He had the Teppōdama down after two months – water came so much easier to him than wind for some reason – and a lot of effort, but if he flunked the Bunshin it'd hardly matter. He didn't think that flunking one of the base requirements and replacing it with a single extracurricular jutsu – even if perfectly performed – was going to make him pass. If only he'd managed to get the Daitoppa down. Briefly, he cursed the stickler for rules that was Umino Iruka-sensei.
Even if he aced everything else, he would likely fail again. 475 out of 500 points, well above the minimum 425 required to pass, but one category was only 75 instead of the minimum 80? Sorry, Iruka-sensei would say, you fail.
"You have two hours, you may begin," Iruka-sensei said, bringing him out of his depressing thoughts. Sighing softly to himself, he started writing.
The exam itself was only five sheets of paper, though both sides were printed. Very few people figured out the trick to getting a perfect score on this exam that covered Konoha history, mathematics, shinobi code and conduct, chakra and jutsu theory, and a host of other subjects they'd covered over the years. The trick was to answer in the same style as the question. If the question was polite and/or formal, full credit was only given for a polite and/or formal answer. Likewise with rude and/or informal questions.
It was just one more way of looking beneath the surface, a very popular phrase around the Shinobi Academy, and indeed among Konoha ninja as a whole, ever since Hatake Kakashi's mandatory year-long stint as a teacher three years ago; the ability to read a situation, preferably in little time. In this case that situation was politeness and formality, a skill that would be invaluable if they were hired as an escorts. Most clients in general responded better to a shinobi that matched their own mannerisms. There was flattery in imitation, and most clients responded well to such. A happy client meant more business, and business was the name of the shinobi game.
"You have five minutes remaining," came Iruka's voice suddenly just as he was finishing the last question. He smiled grimly; if he aced everything but the Bunshin he may appeal to jiji to set him a replacement task for merit promotion. He'd intended to do so last year, but only got 85 points on the written exam, 66 on the jutsu, and full marks on everything else. To be eligible for a replacement task for merit promotion he needed to score more than 460 points and have the lowest score at least a sixty-five. He'd missed the cut-off by nine points.
"Your time is up. Turn your exams face-down and meet me outside in ten minutes. Failure to do so will be met with disqualification," Iruka said before walking out of the classroom. Immediately after he said that, soft chatter rose between the members of class. Unlike like last year, none of them had broken into tears and ran from the class, but that didn't necessarily mean that they were any more confident that they passed the exam, and thought this grace period was enough to prod their friends for one or two answers before moving out.
Far from subtle, but entirely expected. A shinobi was expected to grasp any and all opportunities for the best mission results. This was, of course, the reason for the time limit. Not long enough to make utter failures into passes, but narrow failures into narrow passes was entirely within the realm of possibility. Naruto doubted that they realized that was the intent, it took him until his second try to figure it out. No doubt Shikamaru already had the entire test pegged and pulled an eighty because any more was just too troublesome, as he would say.
He could've sworn that the written exam was easier last year, though. Not in the last place because there was a rather subtle genjutsu on the paper that he had to covertly dispel, and he wasn't very good at covertly dispelling. Fortunately there wasn't a rule against flaring chakra or he'd have been in trouble.
Naruto had little difficulty with the obstacle course or the taijutsu portion of the exam, though the glint in Iruka-sensei's eye as he once again aced the taijutsu portion was unsettling. As he walked back inside for the jutsu portion of the exam, he racked his brain. Iruka hadn't degenerated into hating him again, did he? He was fairly sure Iruka hadn't as the man had bought him ramen not even two days ago and he'd noticed nothing wrong then. He was sure he would notice if something was wrong, though he supposed Iruka-sensei was a chūnin for a reason.
He sat back in his earlier seat next to the girl with weird pale eyes – Hinata wasn't it? – as he silently though if he should give the Daitoppa a try regardless of his success at the jutsu. If he flunked the Bunshin as expected and aced the rest, including the Teppōdama and Daitoppa, he'd be able to scrape up enough compensation for excluding the Bunshin and pass regardless as long as he passed the rest, which he had done twice now – except for the written portion which he only passed for the first time last year – so he was confident that he could pass.
A soft voice in the back of his mind asked why he had not asked Kurenai-nee or Anko-nee for help, but he quashed it. Now was not the time to dwell on such things. "Uzumaki Naruto!"
– – – –
"Uzumaki Naruto!" Iruka called out after Yamanaka Ino had passed, startling the blond. Iruka suppressed a snigger as his favourite student's reaction.
Naruto wore a confident grin on his face as he walked to Iruka, but Iruka could read his student better than most and knew that it was merely a façade for nervousness. If it had been a truly confident grin for Naruto's standards, the tips of his lips would have curled upwards a minute amount more.
Iruka led Naruto into the room, glancing for a moment at the seals that lined the wall and floor. The rumour went that Uzumaki Kushina had personally grafted these seals, and he didn't find it that hard to believe when he considered their function. The seals had chakra patterns pre-programmed that would read the chakra used for jutsu performed within the circle on the floor, registering the vocal output to match the quantity of chakra stored against what was actually used. The seal on the wall then displayed a number, indicating how much excess chakra was consumed in the technique. For example, a score of 2 meant that the chakra used by the student matched the amount of chakra used if the foremost medic-nin, Densetsu no Tsunade, performed the same technique twice. There were some advanced techniques performed by either Tsunade-sama or genjutsu specialists, as well as basic clan techniques were added to the matrix to prevent political problems with shinobi clans.
For Academy students, scores of 1 to 3 were perfect marks, 4 to 7 were passes, and eight was the first failing mark.
Except for Naruto. He'd wondered why that was so, but for all his intelligence had drawn a blank on that question until today. He'd realized in the middle of Naruto's spar that Naruto's control was so atrocious because Naruto had absurd amounts of chakra. When he came to that realization, Iruka almost slapped himself. Why else would a score of 45 still be a passing mark for Naruto?
He almost slapped himself again for not realizing that this was the source of Naruto's problem with the Bunshin. The Bunshin was very chakra-sensitive, to the point that even ten percent extra chakra would destabilize the clone. So... what if they told Naruto to just create clones and go wild, instead of limiting the number to five? Would forty clones be the point at which all of them would be stable? A hundred? A thousand? Another solution would have been to introduce him to elemental Bunshin, but since he had just realized such, that didn't really help. He'd have to look into that, to be honest. He'd long prided himself on his intelligence, and to not realize such blatant evidence that lead to an obvious conclusion...
He felt pretty confident saying something foul was afoot.
He shook his head to get his thoughts back on track, he still had an exam to administer.
"Alright Naruto, I want you to perform the Kawarimi on jutsu, the Henge no jutsu, and the Bunshin no Jutsu. You are allowed to perform a single additional jutsu for extra credit," he said, watching Naruto's face fall at the extra sentence. It was obvious he had some extra jutsu planned, but regulations were regulations, even if these specific ones weren't in place last year. "Start with the Kawarimi."
He watched as Naruto flipped morosely, but swiftly by genin standards, through the handseals and commanded his chakra to allow him to switch positions with the chair. Three characters lit up behind him as he did so without any sort of smoke. Iruka and Mizuki were stunned to see that the twelve-year old with as much chakra as the Hokage more than fifty years his senior managed a score of 4, rather than last year's 11 or the 32 the year before that. The third character that had been lit by the array shed some light on the mystery, however hard it was to believe for the two teachers that he had stumbled on this version of the Kawarimi.
There were, in essence, two versions of the Kawarimi. The first would simply act as a high-speed double-ended slingshot, replacing a user with the chosen object, usually a log, through simple high-speed movement. The smaller the target object was, or rather how much it weighed compared to the user, determined the amount of chakra necessary for the jutsu and thus how much control was minimally required. For this reason they used a log weighing the exact average of the weight of the class, Akimichi excluded, and a separate log for any Akimichi. The chakra required to reinforce the body to not fall apart at those speeds was what truly limited people from spamming the Kawarimi, though the cost did decrease linearly with decreasing distance. For this reason, breeding animals for the express purpose of being Kawarimi-bait was a very popular and lucrative practice among shinobi and civilians alike.
The third character that lit up indicated that that Naruto had used the second version of the Kawarimi, usually only taught as an exercise for aspiring genjutsu specialists. Often named the True Kawarimi in texts, it was a space-time version that served as the basis of the famed Hiraishin no jutsu, not to be confused with the Raiton technique of the same vocalization. One meant Flying Thunder God, the other meant Lightning Rod. The latter was simply an annoying B-rank Raiton jutsu, the former was an army-killer that earned the Yondaime the title 'Konoha no Kiroii Senkō'. The True Kawarimi used an amount of chakra approximately triple that of the Standard Kawarimi to do the replacement itself, but required no chakra reinforcement to keep the body in one piece, nor was it halted in any way by walls. The only reason it wasn't taught beyond genjutsu and fūinjutsu specialists was the understanding of chakra required to not erase yourself from existence, similar to all time-space jutsu, and most people didn't really care about the intricacies of chakra as long as it did what they wanted it to do.
Apparently, for some people that understanding came instinctually. I wonder why he didn't do this last year, though, Iruka mused. He used just about the same amount of chakra now as he did then.
Iruka nodded, suitably impressed by the student that had wormed his way into his heart three years ago. "Very good Naruto. Do you realize what you've just done?"
Naruto looked confused as he performed the jutsu once more, placing him back at his earlier position. "No, sensei. I don't."
"You used an advanced version of the Kawarimi no Jutsu, transforming it from a simple high-speed technique into a full-blown Jikūkan Jutsu, usually only taught to those who aspire to become genjutsu and fūinjutsu specialists because of the understanding of chakra it requires." He levelled a deadpan stare at Naruto. "You just did so on instinct."
"That's good, right?" Naruto asked apprehensively.
"That's extra credit worth, though I'll have to speak to the Hokage just how much extra credit."
Relief flooded Naruto's face, and Iruka felt his own spirits lighten at the change in mood. A morose Naruto was just... wrong, somehow.
"Continuing on, please perform the Henge no Jutsu."
Naruto flipped through the second set of handseals with renewed vigour, almost reach Chuunin level handseal speed. With a puff of smoke to disguise the actual transformation, the chakra took on the shape that Naruto had in mind, the Sandaime Hokage Sarutobi Hiruzen in full Hokage regalia. The Hokage replica nodded sagely in an exact imitation of the person whose face Naruto now wore. "Good day, Iruka-kun," it said in a perfect imitation of the Hokage's voice, almost absently fiddling with his ever-present pipe.
"Good day, Hoka-," Iruka started to say before he caught himself. "Very, very well done, Naruto-kun. You can change back now," Iruka said, thoroughly impressed by the quality of Naruto's transformation. Iruka looked at the seals for the score and scratched his head when he saw that the seals had given him a score of zero. Zero. How in the world does someone not use chakra for what is obviously a chakra-fueled technique? He'd even gotten the minute details, like the way the right sleeve was folded just a bit higher than the left, correct.
When his student released the transformation to reveal his blonde locks to the world once more, he nodded in the fashion those that knew Iruka knew meant that the man had a mission.
"Please perform the Bunshin no Jutsu, and don't bother trying to restrain yourself to a set number of clones," Iruka said, drawing a curious glance from Mizuki.
"What are you doing, Iruka?" Mizuki asked softly.
"The seals indicate that he uses a lot of excess chakra with his techniques," Iruka replied just as softly. Naruto stopped to pay attention to what they were saying. I wasn't aware that Naruto had such good ears. Man, how much have I let myself slip while in the Academy? "The illusionary clones are sensitive to even very small amounts of extra chakra, so I figured that instead of creating five clones as standard with extremely excessive amounts of chakra each, why not use the same amount of chakra to create forty clones? Or four hundred?"
"While I don't disagree with the line of thinking, the guidelines do say that the number of clones can't exceed five, Iruka," Mizuki replied.
Iruka frowned and grabbed his own instructor's manual. "Truly?" he wondered aloud as he flipped the pages. And lo, there it was under the Jutsu – Bunshin header; Upon creating a number of Bunshin exceeding five the result is an immediate perfect fail for the student. He sighed.
"Looks like you're right, Mizuki," Iruka said. "Looks like you're out of luck, Naruto. No more than five Bunshin are allowed."
Naruto sighed the sigh that could only come from long suffering, and Iruka knew that his first eight years of life definitely qualified for that. The four after that weren't nearly so bad, but the civilians still despised him and the shinobi mostly kept their distance except for Anko, Kurenai, and two shinobi he didn't recognize.
"Right," he said despondently as he went through the three handseals required for the technique.
With a poof and an absolutely atrocious amount of smoke – enough that Iruka was glad that the room was ventilated –, Naruto created exactly five Bunshin. They were fell things, though. Their skin had a reddish hue to it, blood-red lines crisscrossing over the surface, orange hair, and brilliant purple eyes. In light of their visual dissimilarity to their creator, the fact that they were on their knees puking up their guts was a minor inconvenience. The bright kanji displaying '68' didn't even matter anymore.
Iruka thought that the clones kind of looked like the Kyūbi if it had been given a human form.
"You fail the Bunshin, Naruto," Iruka said with sincere sorrow in his voice. "I'm sorry."
The look his student gave him nearly broke Iruka's heart. He could only offer a sad look. "I'll buy you ramen tonight, okay?"
"Sure, Iruka-sensei," Naruto said without changing expressions. It truly is a sad day when an offer of ramen can't raise the spirits of Uzumaki Naruto, Iruka thought morosely.
"Please exit through the other door Naruto. As much as I would like to chat we've got more students to test."
Without looking back, Naruto shambled out the room and made his way to out of the Academy, the extra jutsu Naruto had non-verbally indicated knowing completely forgotten.
– – – –
It's not fair! The blond yelled to himself as he sat down an hour later on the carved head of the Yondaime, the top of which was probably his favourite place in the village whenever he needed to be alone.
Why did there have to be a stupid rule about the amount of Bunshin? Aren't more Bunshin distractions better than a few anyway?
Footsteps behind Naruto broke him out of his reverie. "Mizuki-sensei?" he asked when he had turned around.
Mizuki sat down next to him. "Hey Naruto," he greeted the child. They lapsed into silence. You don't do anything without a reason, Mizuki-sensei. What's up? Naruto wanted to say, but something about Mizuki-sensei unsettled him and he stayed his tongue.
"Say, did you know there's a possibility for a make-up exam?" the white-haired chūnin out of the blue after a few minutes of silent companionship.
"What?" Naruto asked incredulously, turning to face the man. A make-up exam? But you know as well as I that that requires nineties across the board with the exception of a single seventy. Internally, he snorted. It was harder to get a make-up exam than it was to get a replacement task for merit promotion.His eyes narrowed slightly. What the hell is going on, Mizuki-sensei?
"I know, I know," Mizuki said, waving a dismissive hand in the air, completely misinterpreting Naruto's question. "But don't be mad at Iruka-sensei for forgetting to mention it, okay?"
Before Naruto could indignantly say he wasn't, Mizuki continued, "So, here's what you gotta do..."
– – – –
Night had fallen over Konohagakure no Sato. The majority of the village had gone to bed to rest for the next day, a day of new challenges, meetings, customers, and the like. The other part of Konoha's populace were shinobi, the 'warriors of the dark'. The silent, the lethal, the unseen unless they want to be. But above all, shinobi are those that walk the twilight.
Unlike their reputation, most shinobi are actually asleep during the night. Only those involved in assassination and sabotage are often awake while others sleep, but even they enjoy a good night's rest from time to time.
Sometimes, though, even those shinobi that are usually asleep during the night are awake, restless. Like a blond child whose least derogatory nickname is 'flashlight-head'. This child had claimed a clearing for himself and was in the process of unfurling a very important-looking scroll, eager to learn one or two jutsu from it.
Opening the scroll, the child decides to check the various jutsu recorded on the normally high-security scroll. "Huh, neatly organized into multiple sections," he said. "Neat.
"First section: forbidden due to chakra cost. Kage Bunshin no jutsu, B-rank, create solid chakra-copies from the user. Warning: psychic feedback from dispersal may cause neural overload upon sustained use of the technique."
The child tilted his head in confusion. "What the hell is psychic feedback?" he asked himself, as if his subconscious knew the answer, perhaps that helpful voice from a few years back knew? After a minute he shook his head to get his thoughts back on track and take a look at the other ten jutsu listed as being forbidden due to chakra cost. Three jumped out from the rest.
Genjutsu: Kokuangyo no jutsu, S-rank, enshroud the target in darkness, robbing them of their sight and sense of direction.
Katon: Gōka Mekkyaku, S-rank, breathe a wall of fire at the opponent. Made famous by Uchiha Madara for taking out three hundred opposing Kumo shinobi at once.
Suiton: Chō Uzu Tatsumaki, S-rank, user creates a massive spiralling vortex of water at the target location. Became infamous during the Uzushio Massacre for allowing six individuals to take out nearly the entire Kiri fleet.
Whistling appreciatively at the destructive power mentioned by the latter two techniques more detailed description, Naruto mentally marked the three for further reading before deciding to look through the entire scroll before returning.
"Section two: forbidden by clan. Beruserukā no jutsu, increases strength, speed, agility, and reaction speed by seven fold in return for three years of the users life and approximately half of the user's chakra. Yeesh. Banned by Senju Hashirama at the urging of the Inuzuka Clan Head after its use killed the previous Clan Head.
"If that's how all of them go, I don't even want to learn them. Let's see...
"Yeah, imitation of the Hyūga Byakugan for ten minutes. Fifty percent chance for permanent blindness, one hundred percent chance of permanently burning out ocular nerves if the user has either an active or inactive dōjutsu themselves. Imitation of the Sharingan for much the same penalties. Replacement of eyes will not fix sight."
Naruto shivered. He would not like losing his eyesight, and couldn't imagine what it'd be like for someone like the Hyūga to be rendered blind. Returning his attention to the scroll to avoid thinking of such horrible things, he soon reached the last section.
It stood out to him because it only contained one jutsu. "Section seven: forbidden for disrupting the natural order. Edo Tensei, sacrifice a life to bring a deceased ninja back in his or her prime under the user's control." He shivered again, and nearly threw up at the mere thought of the jutsu. Who the hell would be insane enough to do something like that? For that matter, who would be insane – and skilled enough, he supposed after a few moments – to create a technique like that? Was there a seal to counter the effects of the seal recorded with the Edo Tensei? He hoped there was, and if there wasn't he would learn fūinjutsu and design it himself!
But first, he had to graduate. Fūinjutsu studies were very restricted due to the danger of seals going wrong. You couldn't even start until you were a genin, and only with the approval of your jōnin-sensei.
"So... Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, Gōka Mekkyaku, aand..." he paused to consider the merits of each technique. "...the Chō Uzu Tatsumaki." Eventually choosing the last technique because it was written with the same kanji as part of his family name.
He wrote down the instructions to both the Suiton and Katon jutsu he found earlier, figuring that he'd be doing good if he finished learning just the Kage Bunshin tonight, before he went back to the Kage Bunshin. It looked simple enough; the chakra moulding was almost the same for the Shadow Clone as it was for the standard clone, the main difference were the additional two handseals – ending in something that looked like it used to be an Ox sign – and the amount of chakra necessary.
Naruto decided not to worry about the psychic feedback for now. Reading the description thrice, and then thrice again just to make sure he wouldn't mess up, he decided to sit down and practice.
Ten minutes later, he was looking at a clearing full of clones. Giving a mental command for them to dispel, he performed the jutsu again with the intent to create as few clones as he could. He still created forty clones.
"I need to work on my control," he mused four attempts later, when he had created thirty, sixty, twenty, and eighty-seven clones. A rustling in the trees caught his attention and he quickly dispelled his Kage Bunshin, put his two copied jutsu away, and swiftly rolled up the Forbidden Scroll.
To Naruto's great consternation, Iruka-sensei landed in front of him, and he did not look very pleased. "NARUTO!" Iruka-sensei yelled at the same time that Naruto swore loudly.
– – – –
"Haha, pay up, everyone!" the aged man said to the six currently in his office before extending a hand and cackling. All of them were paying rapt attention to Hokage's crystal ball; a monitoring device devised by Senju Tobirama for the purpose of spying on the Konoha Hot Springs, adapted for other purposes by his successor.
Such as watching a blond twelve-year old flush out a traitor.
With a grumble the four ANBU guards of the Hokage, Morino Ibiki, and Mitarashi Anko placed money in their leader's hand.
– – – –
"Damnit sensei!" Naruto yelled, much to Iruka's shock. Naruto never spoke that way to him! "Couldn't you have waited for ten freaking minutes so Mizuki could arrive here first and allow me to win my bet with jiji?!"
Iruka looked baffled. "What bet, Naruto?"
"The one where you arrive here after Mizuki!"
"Wait, what?" Iruka asked, still supremely off-kilter by his favourite gaki's odd behaviour. Before Naruto could explain, a glint of metal appeared in the corner of his eye. Iruka ran full speed ahead at his student. "NARUTO GET DOWN!" he yelled as he shoved Naruto out of the way, using his body to shield the younger from the Fūma shuriken hurtling towards them.
"I'm surprised that you found this place, Umino," a voice in the trees said. "This may complicate things," the same voice said as the body that belonged to it appeared on a tree branch. Mizuki jumped down from the tree.
"I see," Iruka said, gritting his teeth in pain. "So that's how it is."
"Hand over the scroll, Naruto," Mizuki said, ignoring the other chūnin in the clearing and extending a hand towards to the not-yet-genin.
"Like he-" "Naruto don't give him the scroll," Iruka interrupted him.
Mizuki tsk'd. "Naruto, Iruka is afraid of you having that scroll. Truly, he is. Let me enlighten you. You see, there's a rule concerning you, put into place by the Sandaime. More of a law, really."
Naruto tilted his head. This was genuine news to him. "What rule?"
"We're not allowed-" "STOP IT, MIZUKI!" "- to say that you are the demon fox that attacked the village twelve years ago!"
Naruto froze from shock. That was the reason everyone hates me? That I'm the Kyūbi?
Mizuki, meanwhile, took the second Fūma shuriken from his back and gripped it tightly, preparing to throw it straight through the blond child frozen in depressing thoughts. Before he could complete the motion that would launch the oversized shuriken at the child, a firm hand gripped Mizuki's wrist.
Iruka and Mizuki turned to look at the new arrival, and stared right into a white porcelain mask, adorned by markings to resemble a wolf. A second, third, and fourth figure entered the clearing in short order, their only difference in attire being the markings on their masks.
"Chūnin Tōji Mizuki, you are hereby arrested for breaking Sandaime-sama's law regarding the status of the Kyūbi. Tora and Hitsuji, escort Chūnin Umino to the hospital. Neko, escort Uzumaki-san to the Hokage Office."
"Understood, Ōkami-taichou," the other three replied in unison. A few moments later the clearing was filled with swirling leaves. When the leaves had subsided, the clearing was devoid of humans.
– – – –
A similar swirl of leaves heralded the arrival of Neko and her young passenger in the Hokage's office. Upon seeing Naruto's practically catatonic state, the Hokage turned to Neko and asked, "Neko, what happened?" Briefly, he cursed the fact that the crystal ball did not transmit sound.
"Tōji-chūnin stated his belief that Uzumaki-san was the Kyūbi, rather than the Kyūbi's jailor. In addition to this, Tōji-chūnin drove a Fūma shuriken into Umino-chūnin's back, though the shuriken in question was aimed at Uzumaki-san. It is a well-known fact throughout the village that Umino-chūnin and Uzumaki-san have a friendly relationship that both cherish. I hypothesize that this led to an already compromised mental state prior to Tōji-chūnin spouting his belief regarding the Kyūbi and resulted in Uzumaki-san's current state."
He nodded. "Ibiki, Anko," he said with enough chill in his voice to freeze the entire village. The two named shinobi stood up straight, though Anko looked positively gleeful. "Carte Blanche. When he's given up all his information, I want his head on a platter."
"Thank you, Hokage-sama!" Anko cheered. She gave Naruto a quick hug, making sure that his face was pressed between her sizable breasts – because any straight male would cheer up from that, right? And it wasn't as if she was going to do that to just anyone, the blond gaki was special – before releasing him and vanishing in a swirl of leaves.
"Of course, Hokage-sama," Ibiki agreed. There was no obvious cheer in his voice, but it was plain to anyone that had worked with him for even a month that Mizuki's actions hadn't endeared him to the scarred Head of T&I. He, too, vanished in a swirl of leaves without waiting for his superior to dismiss him.
He made a swift hand-sign and the ANBU in the room left as well. He stood up and made his way to his grandson in all but blood. Kneeling before the child, he pulled the diminutive young man in a hug. No one should have had to be introduced to such a burden in such a way. Damn Mizuki to Hell, he thought angrily.
"Naruto," he called, trying to get the child's attention. Seeing that it didn't work, he tried again but louder.
It took four such tries before he finally got a response. "Hey, jiji," Naruto said in tone he couldn't readily identify. It was something of a cross between a man hearing his execution verdict and a man walking towards his own death.
It utterly broke his heart. "I am so sorry, my boy," was the only thing he could offer as an apology. "I had hoped you'd have something of a normal childhood, but it appears that even after the events of your eighth birthday that was not to be."
Naruto just cried silently. "However, Mizuki was not telling the entire truth."
Naruto stilled rather suddenly and turned to look at him. "What do you mean, jiji?" he asked.
"Mizuki may have believed, as do most of the villagers still despite my best efforts, that you are the Kyūbi, the truth is that you are but its jailor."
"Wha-?" Naruto uttered intelligently. "What do you mean, jailor?"
"Have you ever wondered why you have a seal on your stomach, Naruto?"
Naruto nodded. Of course he had, who wouldn't? "That seal holds the Kyūbi within you."
The pair fell silent. Naruto's sobs had subsided, but he could feel that the child's mental crisis was not over yet, and likely wouldn't be for a while.
"Why me?" Naruto finally asked after a few minutes.
"The Kyūbi is a force of nature, Naruto. Forces of nature cannot be killed, or would you like to try and kill the wind?" Feeling his grandson fervently shake his head against his chest, he chuckled slightly. "The best one can do against forces of nature is to seal them away.
"However, the Kyūbi was much to powerful for most seals. Only the most powerful of seals on the most resilient of hosts would do. Fortunately, you were born mere moments before the Kyūbi started its rampage. That is to say, only an Uzumaki child could possibly hope to contain the Kyūbi. You."
"So I'm an actual Uzumaki? I mean, I wasn't just given the name in memory of a friend?" Naruto asked, sounding halfway hopeful. He decided to extend a bone and give the child knowledge of his mother. He had made certain that the marriage certificate between Uzumaki Kushina and Uzumaki-Namikaze Minato – the Uzumaki were technically royalty while the Namikaze were not, even if the Uzumaki lacked a fiefdom these days – was well-hidden, and it wasn't as if Uzumaki Kushina had that many enemies. Minato, on the other hand...
"Indeed. Your mother was Uzumaki Kushina. In current common parlance, she would be called 'badass', I believe the word is. My late nephew once described her as 'taking none of nobody's shit'. She was beautiful, strong, and quite the character. Adept with the blade, she was the kind of fighter that preferred punching her enemies in the face, or slicing them to bits. Additionally, while she did not use traditional jutsu much, she was fond of using chains made from nothing but her chakra, which she could use to hold people in place, or even perform elaborate sealing rituals with. Appropriately, they were named the Chakura no Fūsa."
Naruto's eyes glinted in obvious awe. "How did she die?" he asked, and his own face fell as he thought of a good way to answer this. He could tell a lie now, and face the consequences if – when – they made contact, or he could tell the truth now and save future heartache.
"As far as I know, she didn't," he answered, having decided that the truth would be best, no matter how badly it hurt. "She disappeared to places unknown after the Kyuubi attack and she hasn't kept in touch."
Naruto's face fell. "I see," he said morosely. His heart went out to the boy, to learn that he had family alive but that they, his own mother, had not contacted him since his birth?
That had to hurt. It was just that the alternative was worse or he wouldn't have done it. "To get back on track, after Minato, the Yondaime, convinced Kushina to give you up for the sealing Minato summoned Shinigami-sama to seal the Kyūbi away within you. Before I could retake my place as the Sandaime, someone had leaked that you were the Jinchūriki – that's the word for hosts of demons – of the Kyūbi to the adults in the village. The best I could do was put a law in place preventing anyone from talking about it, but that has been less successful than I hoped."
"At least you tried, jiji," Naruto said after a while digesting his grandfather's words, wrapping his arms tighter around the older man. Truly, Naruto, your forgiveness knows no bound. I can only hope our world will not completely change that.
"I do have a present for you, Naruto-kun," he said after a few moments of silence.
"You do, jiji?"
"Indeed. You did successfully complete the agreed-upon mission to flush out the traitor, remember?" Without waiting for confirmation and steadfastly ignoring the brightening expression adorning Naruto's face, he reached into his pocket and withdrew a Konoha-standard hitae-ate. He released the child and straightened, placing the official Hokage Hat on his head. He cleared his throat.
"Uzumaki Naruto," he began in his best official voice. "For your role in the successful identification and capture of the traitor Tōji Mizuki, you are hereby merit-promoted to the rank of Genin. You will report at noon two days from now to the Shinobi Academy for your ninja identification photograph. Your team assignment will be a fortnight from the day of the Graduation Exam."
He handed the cloth to Naruto, who reverently tied it to his head, proudly displaying the stylized leaf on his forehead. When Naruto had finished tying the knot, he hugged his grandfather so hard that he was sure his bones creaked.
It would be an hour before Naruto let go of the Hokage, and another hour after that before the child made his way to the apartment of Yūhi Kurenai.
– – – –
Naruto was not one to give into exhaustion. His Uzumaki blood meant that he had nearly limitless stamina, and it translated to emotional robustness.
Today, however, he was truly and utterly spent. The graduation exam, and the rising and falling hope that he'd be able to pass, followed by the crushing feeling of failing. Then Mizuki-teme and his false 'graduation exam'. His going to the Hokage with his suspicions, essentially being told that he was correct and being ordered to play along. He got a few jutsu out of the entire ordeal so it wasn't all that bad, but the crown jewel that overshadowed all – even him officially becoming a genin – was him learning about the Kyūbi no Kitsune, the Nine-Tailed Fox, stuck in his gut. Even learning he had a mother and that she had abandoned him was only a moderate blow, mostly cancelled by the fact that he was now officially a genin of Konoha.
For the first time in his life, and he sincerely hoped the last, Uzumaki Naruto was mentally and physically exhausted. Even so, it took two hours for his body to shut down and send him into Morpheus' embrace.
– – – –
A sewer. Naruto had had bad dreams before, but dreaming about a sewer?
That was new. It was a very strange sewer, too. The water just slid off his skin and clothes and there was absolutely zero stink in the air. He looked around and noted that the sewer was illuminated such that there were no shadows, and there were two strange pipes running across the ceiling.
Without thinking, he put one foot in front of another and started to walk. He did not know where he was walking towards, nor was he exactly in control of his body at the moment.
Minutes passed, as did twists and turns in the sewer network. Finally, after what felt like hours, he spotted a red glow in the distance. Horror movie protagonists' deaths flashed in front of his mind as his legs moved on their own according toward the red glow. He wanted nothing more than to stop and observe the red glow before entering it so that he would avoid the fate of aforementioned protagonists.
But it was not to be. His legs led him straight into and through the red glow – without harm – and through the bars. Belatedly, he realized that he had entered his seal, the seal holding back the Kyūbi no Kitsune! The red glow cleared as soon as he passed between the bars, but he did not see the gigantic fox of legend.
Instead, his breath hitched when he saw the most beautiful woman he had seen in his short life so far. Given that this list included the likes of Yūhi Kurenai, Mitarashi Anko, and Uzuki Yūgao that was quite the achievement.
Waist-length red hair crowned a mostly round face, one bang falling slightly off to the side in front of her face while another was forced aside using a hairclip. Vibrant amethyst eyes beheld the world, or in this case a twelve-year old blond, while the younger's eyes drank in a body that would leave many men drooling and an even greater number of women jealous. Healthy pink skin, generous breasts, wide hips, a narrow waist, and long legs culminated in what appeared to Naruto as divinity made flesh.
The fact that two red-furred ears stuck up out of her hair or that there were nine red tails lazily swishing about behind her didn't register in his mind, for there was one very big distraction; the beautiful woman in his seal was utterly naked.
Propelled backward by the force of his massive nosebleed, Naruto passed out inside his seal.
– – – –
The woman stared at the unconscious blond, amused with the situation. "Ara, perhaps forgoing clothing wasn't the brightest of ideas."
She promptly shifted her appearance to include her preferred mode of dress; pants, shirt, bandages around her upper right thigh for a – currently absent – kunai pouch, and wooden geta similar in model to Jiraiya of the Sannin. Being a kitsune had it's advantages; she never, ever needed to wash her clothes, or even own clothes in the first place. She still did regardless, keeping up a transformation just wasted chakra while on a mission. "Ara, such a little pervert," she said mildly before smiling wickedly. "Such a good kit."
She walked over to the unconscious child and cradled him in her hands and carefully wrapped her tails around him. She frowned. He was far too light and small for his age.
Even considering the late growth spurt of the Uzumaki, Naruto was nearly a full 30cm shorter and 9kg below Uzumaki average for a twelve-year and some months old kit, clocking in at – to her best estimate – 130cm and 30kg, give or take. Kurenai-chan had done a lot of good when it came to his nutrition, but he was both an Uzumaki and her son, and they had dietary requirements that weren't immediately obvious, and even less known outside the clan.
She hummed a soft tune from her childhood in Uzushio as she waited for him to awake.
After close to half an hour she felt him stirring, slightly nuzzling into the tail cradling his head. His breathing sped up, as did his heartbeat, but he did not otherwise show signs of being awake. Tilting her head in confusion, it took longer than she cared to admit while for the light bulb to illuminate her thought processes.
"Ara," she said. "I'm dressed now, Naruto-kun."
– – – –
Naruto opened one eye cautiously at her words. He hadn't seen any clothing, though granted he didn't see much beyond the vision of divinity given form, before he passed out and decided to be cautious. Lacking much in the way of social education and what was considered to be acceptable behaviour, he had once wanted to speak to Kurenai while staying the night on her couch, before she had finished the room in which he would be sleeping. He walked in on her half-naked while changing into pyjamas and promptly received a beating and lecture-rant on perversion.
He wasn't willing to take much of a chance after such an experience. Sure enough, he could see fabric covering the unknown woman's form. Deciding to trust her words, he opened both eyes fully and drank in her face. Only then did he notice the ears and the fact he was strangely comfortable in her presence. He especially liked being held the way he was now, it was always what he imagined it'd be like to be held by a mother.
He reached out tentatively, instinctively, to her ears. She lowered her head to grant him easier access and softly moaned when he scratched her in that spot just behind her ears. Startled, he pulled his hand back and stared at it, disbelieving of the actions the appendage just took. He had just stroked the head of the Kyūbi.
"Who are you?" Naruto asked in a soft voice.
She grinned. "As you may have deduced, I am the Kyūbi no Kitsune."
Naruto nodded while gently stroking a tail. "I figured that," he said dryly. She's that mysterious voice!
"Glad to see your powers of observation are undiminished," she said with a near-feral grin. "What you may not know, however, is my name."
"Your name? You mean something other than Kyūbi?" he asked curiously.
She nodded. "Indeed. You know me as naught but the Kyūbi no Kitsune, but I am..."
She paused to let the dramatic tension build up.
"... Uzumaki Kushina, your mother."
Naruto's eyes rolled into the back of his head and his world became dark once more.
– – – –
Translations, if they're not canon they're courtesy of jisho dot org:
Genjutsu: Illusion arts
- Kokuangyo: Infinite Darkness
Kawarimi no Jutsu: Body Replacement Technique
Henge no Jutsu: Transformation Technique
Bunshin no Jutsu: Clone Technique
Kage Bunshin no Jutsu: Shadow Clone Technique
Suiton: Water Release
- Teppōdama: Gunshot
- Chō Uzu Tatsumaki: Super Whirlpool Tornado (original jutsu)
Katon: Fire Release
- Gōka Mekkyaku: Great Fire Destroyer
Fūton: Wind Release
- Daitoppa: Great Breakthrough
Beruserukā no Jutsu: Berserker Technique, inspired by The Maelstrom of Konoha Book 1 by Cantor, which seems to be a dead fic though I'm hoping it's not.
Fūma Shuriken: Demon Wind Shuriken. Sometimes translated as Windmill Shuriken.
Tora: Tiger
Hitsuji: Ram
Ōkami: Wolf
Neko: Cat
Taichō: Captain, Commanding Officer.
Ara: Ah, Oh. Filler sound much like 'euhm'. Jisho describes it as being pretty exclusively used by females.
– – – –
A/N:
Thanks to Chrisdz and his fic 'A foxes tale' for putting the idea in my head. The first scene borrows heavily from the opening to MrDust's excellent fic 'Soul of the Seal: The Ninja Adventures' which sadly seems to be dead.