1st Pov

Two months later

Making my way through the backstreets and alleys of Konoha, avoiding the open road. Thanks to my black hair I wasn't as easy to pick out of a crowd as Naruto's blonde mop of hair but better safe than sorry.

I was heading to my usual spot where I trained in chakra control with kuro on the village outskirts. Thanks to Kuro's help my progress has made leaps and bounds, and today we were finally going to begin practicing the jutsu I've wanted to for a long time

Pausing my steps, I glanced out toward the open road down the alley way. There many shops were open and the people were bustling merrily left and right.

My anger began to spike up rapidly, just seeing those fake masks of happiness and joy, that could turn into hate and spite on the drop of a hat made me sick. It brought back memories, memories of that day 6 months ago...

Flashback-no-jutsu

Six months ago

Kushina was feeling rather well that day, well enough not to need her crutches outside. She brought both me and Naruto out for a pleasant walk on the town during the late evening

Later, on our way back home, all three of us were talking merrily, and managed to have a pleasant eat out. Yet, as we made down the main street, I couldn't help but notice more and more people glaring towards us. If Kushina noticed, she didn't make any obvious signs of it, even as the air seemed to grow tenser

I don't know who did it first, but I noticed a pebble roll right at my feet. Then my brother crying out

Turning my head toward Naruto as fast as I could, I saw him rubbing his forehead, a slightly larger pebble at his foot. Mom quickly stood in front of the two of us, her arms out protectively. When I looked past her I saw a couple of older kids and a lot of adults who had all formed a loose circle around us.

Kushina: "Please, we aren't causing any trouble, just let us through." My mother pleaded

Woman: "No trouble you say? You should have thought about before giving birth to that hell spawn!"

Man: "You should get out of our village! A disgraced wife and the children of a failure aren't welcome here!"

These people...they were absolutely hysterical. Kushina face changed from pleading to furious in a heartbeat.

Kushina: "How could you?! Minato gave his life for this village! He fought off our enemies that threatened your livelihood and deterred the Nine tailed fox, and you just" *cough cough*

Kushinas reprimand was interrupted by a violent fit of coughing causing her to slightly keel over

Menma/Naruto: "Mom!" We both called out in panic

Man 2: "Damn witch. Doesn't matter what you say my son is still dead!"

Kid 1: "Just get out of our village!"

Kid 2: "Freaks with hair like yours should just die!"

Woman 2: "You took my own husband away from me you monsters!"

Like a fuse lit, harsh words and rocks began to fly left and right towards us. Kushina, without any hesitation, threw her arms around me and Naruto to shield us while her own weakened body became battered and bruised

I kept yelling out for mom to stop, to not worry about me and take Naruto away. Buts she stubbornly continued to protect us both no matter what, she wouldn't let a single stone touch us

I did everything I could to squarm my way out and give those bastards a piece of my mind. But the moment I saw the people in the crowed I froze

Those weren't humans anymore, they were like vengeful spirits. They were the real monsters in human skin

Crowd: "DEMONS/DEVILS/GET OUT OF OUR VILLAGE/JUST DIE ALREADY!"

My rage was at its peak, if I could release Kurama from his seal right now and kill all these people I would. However before things could escalate any further two figures sunshin in front of Kushina and deflected the next wave of stones

Kakashi and Guy sensei, Kakashi gave a cold stare while Guy's was more solemn

?: "What is the meaning of this?!"

A old yet strong, regal voice reverberated through the street and everyone turned back to see the 3rd hokage Hiruzen standing there

Hiruzen: "How can you all say you represent our fair villages will if this is what you do to your fellow citizens. Disperse now! Before I start using martial law and have you all thrown in prison!" He shouted with what could be seen as barely concealed rage.

With the Hokage authority, no one wanted to question his power. The crowd quickly dispersed as he said. I noticed some anbu in the shadow peaking out now that the situation was calm

But before anything else I needed to help mom, she was reeling from all those rocks and seriously hurt, seemed like she was barely conscious now

Kakashi: "Dont worry Menma, Naruto, we'll get her to some medical nin right away. She'll be just fine.

Kakashi came over and supported kushinas body, trying to give us a reassuring smile through his mask. I could tell though he was straining to hold back his own worry. Guy came over and helped Kakashi hold up kushina

Hiruzen: "To think fellow countrymen would do this to the wife and child of a hero, what has befallen us*sigh*..." Hiruzen sighed tiredly

Menma: "You think those things were countryman..." I said lowly

Hiruzen:?

Menma: "Those things weren't even people! THEY WERE MONSTERS, BEASTS IN HUMAN CLOTHING, THEY DONT DESERVE SYMPATHY OR RESPECT!"

Hiruzen only stared back in shock

I felt a hand touch my shoulder and turned my head to glare at whoever it was, but paused when I saw it was a teary-eyed Naruto. I realized I shouldn't be worrying about the old monkey but mom instead. I looked away and decided to meekly follow Kakashi and Guy instead of argue further

But from that day on I knew, I'd never be able to look at any human again without seeing that accursed sight

Hiruzen Pov

I continued to watch Kushina's children's backs while in deep thought. I'd always visited Kushina in secret when I could, and while I'd never met her children in person, I'd watched over them enough to know their basic personalities.

I knew Naruto was loud and rambunctious being full of life, and Menma was calm but caring always having a kind disposition.

Yet here he'd just seen such a gentle child glare at him as if he was his most hated enemy

No, perhaps it wasn't him he was glaring at specifically, but the 'human skin' he was wearing. There's a high probability this incident will remain scarred in that child for years to come

I signaled for one of the many anbu to come closure

Anbu: "Lord Third, your orders."

Hiruzen: "I don't want you to be to invasive, but when you watch over kushina and her children I want you to take special note of any negative outbursts and actions Menma may have. Understood."

Anbu: "Understood!" *swish*

The Anbu shunshin away to immediately carry out my orders. I took a deep drag of my pipe and let out a puff of smoke

Hiruzen: "I hope this doesnt bode any unrest for the future, forgive me Minato, I've done a poor job protecting them in your sted." I declared solemnly

1st Pov

I sat in one of the chairs next to moms bed, staring at the still sleeping form of kushina with a IV strap connected to her

Kushina's body was already weak, she had her moments where she was lively, or when she was REALLY angry, but the majority of the time she was forced to sleep because of meds or could barely make her way out of the house without her crutches

And those, swine, beasts, pieces of living SHIT! Would hurt her like that. She put her life on the line for this village, she's never done anything wrong and yet their just venting their anger on us just because they could

*thump*

I turned my head and saw Naruto's head resting on my shoulder, the rim of his eyes red from all the crying

Menma: *whisper*"I will...never forgive them..."

Present time

And I never have, nor will

My glare only got more heated as I looked at those fake smiles, my body began to feel hot

Kuro: "Easy kit, your beginning to leak out chakra."

I snapped out of my stare and took deep breaths, looking at my hands I saw a mix of deep red and violet energy seep out of my pores. It'd be too dangerous to let out Kuro's chakra with how destructive it was. Plus while I'm still in the village the 3rds anbu can spot it easily

I decided to move on and head to my secret training ground

Timeskip-no-jutsu

Sacred Uzumaki Training Ground

This was one of the Uzumaki secret areas I read from one of mom's texts. Even if the village wanted to, they had no right to the Uzumaki clan's secret texts. We were still forced to give many of our more common books and techniques from our libraries though

Once I reached the top of the hill, I set myself down cross leg and entered the lotus position to meditate

Inner World

The space had changed since last time, the jail cell and walls were gone and all thats left was a large endless void that was a mix of dark purple and blood red. Surprisingliy those large puzzle pieces still existed, now many of them formed the ground and floated up in the air, in a way it reminded me of Obito kamui

There in the center of it all was kuro, sitting against a particular mountain shaped set of pieces and was leaning his head into his palm

Kuro: "Finally got here huh kit?"

I stared for a few seconds before saying

Menma: "You know in this lighting and that position you look like a cheap B rated villain who's desperatly trying to appear menacing."

*BONK!*

Menma: How does a fist that large hurt so much less and yet so much more than I thought it would...

Kuro: "So are you finally going to try something productive kit, or do you plan to splash in the water some more?" He grinned cheekily at me.

*eye twitch* Alright he got me with that one

When I wanted to practice training chakra control and got a bit too excited I tried to perform the walk on water technique incessantly

Unfortunately I had no way of knowing I would have the opposite problem Naruto had

Narutos seal had blocked his chakra flow when tighten by Orochimaru, only when it was loosened again by Jiraiya could he control his chakra. I on the other hand had my seal completely open and when I attempted to step on the water...

It exploded

HOW THE HELL WAS I SUPPOSED TO KNOW THE OUTPUT OF CHAKRA WOULD DISCHARGE BECAUSE OF HOW MUCH THERE WAS!

It took me another week to finally control the amount of Kuro's chakra that passed through the gate

Menma: *ahem*"No I don't want to do that, actually I wanted to start on jutsu. And the one I wanted to do is one both me and you need to work together to create, correct?"

Kuros playful gaze immediately sharpened into something serious and he gave me a thoughtful look

Kuro: "I'm pretty sure I know which one your talking about. The one that my and your genjutsu world self performed right?"

Menma: "Your right, the nine beast masks svaha, from what I remember, it required separating your chakra into nine parts and given it form and sentience. At least thats the rough Idea I have of it, do you think its possible."

Kuro: "That's close from what I could discern. But I'm positive there's more to it, separating my chakra in nine equal parts while still keeping my center. So really its ten parts, but thats not all, there's got to be more because each of those beasts acted autonomously even with unspecified orders."

Menma: "What does them being autonomously have to do with anything?"

Kuro: "Alright kit here's a lesson in chakra and tail beast chakra. Normal charkra can be separated but can't become animated unless it has a special seal to process it, hell its way more complicated than that depending on how animated you want the chakra to be, plus human chakra tends to need a vessal.

Kuro: "However tailed beast chakra is different, it is so chaotic and powerful because its absolutely filled to the brim with life energy. Its why even if you separate it, it can take on a life of its own, beast chakra is literally living chakra. Yet that jutsu only appeared to do part of that, the creature's it made weren't sentient enough on their own but were like living puppets. No, perhaps more like avatars with bare minimum intelligence would be more accurate."

After listening to Kuro's lecture I realized what he was getting at. If he separated his chakra like normal, it would only take on a life of its own. That wasn't what he nor I wanted, if the Chakra gained its own will there was no guarantee it'd want to fuse together again. Like he said they were more like living avatars that enforced the users will

I needed those avatars to do certain tasks, but how do I do so. Thinking about it more deeply I remembered a certain detail

Menma: "Wait Kuro, remember how the nine beasts were actually nine foxes, and how each wore those masks?!"

Kuro placed his hand (A/n i wouldn't call what he has a paw) on his chin and went into deep thought

Kuro: "Yes I remember, those masks might have served as the receiver for the users mind and Chakra so that while the foxes were technically living beings in body, they were really only semi conscious in mind. But in that case you'd need to create the masks first, then i can fill them with my chakra." He surmised

Menma: "Damn, I'm glad we figured it out. But I have not clue how to make masks like that at all." I declared frustratingly

Kuro scoffed

Kuro: "Kit, have you forgotten? Your part of those Uzumaki's, the masters of life energy and fuinjutsu. Otherwise known and Chakra ink and seal masters. Not only would the secret texts Kushina have help, but I could probably direct you easily." He declared

I raised a brow at that

Menma: "You can teach?" I asked skeptically

*BONK*

Menma: How...

Kuro: "Dont underestimate me kozo! Don't forget I've lived more lifetimes than I care to count, and while I may have never gone through the trouble of learning how exactly you humans perform your jutsu I was taught the basics by the old man. Then there's the fact your clans been the ones sealing me for generations, I've got the lessons and teachings that each of my hosts had learned in their lifetimes as well. I'm probably the most knowledgeable person of your family's secret arts than any Uzumaki before." He explained somewhat tiredly yet smugly.

I see, now that I think about it Naruto never asked Kurama about if he could teach him anything. Knowing that knuckle head the thought probably just never even crossed his mind, and maybe kurama felt the Naruto of that point didn't need his knowledge

Kuro: "For now kit, go back into town and get your hands on enough blank masks and then ill start teaching you the process step by step."

I scowled a bit knowing that meant I'd have to be among 'them' but I pushed that thought down quickly. With my recent training, even if I'm nowhere close to a real ninja I'm still agile enough to sneak through the crowds and steal some masks

With the pleasant idea of knowing I'd be taking something from one of those monsters and ruining their day, I left my inner world to get started

Timeskip-no-jutsu - Two week

It was definitely a taxing process. From controlling the amount of chakra I need to channel into the ink, pen, and paper respectively. From making picture perfect strokes and how the sealing arts worked step by step. It took me one long week, but I'd finally managed to craft ten of the fox masks I needed. One for myself, an nine for each tails worth of chakra

The design on the front of the mask and the intricate Kanji seal on the inside made the masks act as receivers connected to both me and Kuro's consciousness while my own mask i could use to directly take over and command the body's on any one of the foxes I wished. However, I couldn't do all that for all of them at the same time, for all of them I can only give basic commands and let their own semi intelligent state do the rest.

But with one last stroke to my mask I was ready to begin

Menma: "Ready Kuro?"

Kuro: "Yes Kit, remember while I separate my tails into each mask you need slowly channel bits of your own chakra in the masks so that they may be bonded to you."

Menma: "Got it."

To be honest I was never a fan of the original Menma's fox mask but from what Kuro's taught me I found the design of it was actually necessary to channel the chakra accurately

Performing the hand sign, I began the incantation

Menma: "Now take form, Nine Sacred Fox Masks, Svaha!"

(A/n I renamed it, deal with it \~.~/)

Large amounts of chakra began to slither from my body and toward the masks lined across the ground. The chakra formed a circle around each mask, meaning I now needed to give the masks an identity

Menma: "Now you will each be known in order as, Seiryƫ (Azure Dragon), Byakko(White Tiger), Suzaku(Vermilion Bird), Genbu(Black Tortoise), Kinja(Golden Snake), Tennyo(Celestial Maiden), Shinigami(Death God), Hokuto Sennin(Northern Sage), Nanto Sennin(Southern Sage)!"

With each name sounded out, the Kanji name appeared in each mask circle. Once the last was named, a flash of light and the jutsu was finished. And before my eyes lied the result of my hard work

Even though I couldn't see their faces, I almost squilled when I saw the cute little things

Kuro: "Really kit?"

Menma: "Your a giant ball of living destruction with a bad attitude, these things are adorable little fuzz balls, besides I love foxes."

I could feel Kuro was both insulted and embarrassed about that

Menma: "Alright little guys, let's do one last thing before setting out. Transform!"

With a puff of smoke they shifted into their battle forms

Not only that, but they could even take on a human form if I took over one of them. I let them transform back and the little cuties ran up to my legs begging for attention

As I rubbed their fur, I couldn't help but think of how many plans I could start now with this one step completed

The next faze can begin

Authors note: phew~ longest chapter yet (3.2k) but it was worth it because I can now begin branching out and even begin a bit of action now and then.

With this chapter I wanted to show how bad the villages hate for the Uzumaki family can get, so as to show that menma and Naruto won't have a completely positive childhood. That even with kushina alive Naruto and hardship won't be disconnected at all.

Aside from that, one of Menmas signature and most useful jutsu is now created, and will be how most of Menmas time before the academy begins will pass besides his own training.

Things will step up a notch from now on, Bye Bye