Chapter Five - Late Night Talks

Naruto shot up with a wide gaze, looking around the room he was in with lightning-fast analysis before relaxing when he realized that it was his shared room with Sasuke and Kakashi. He doesn't know how long he had been asleep but it was bright out so it is either only an hour or it is an entire day. It was weird for him to be asleep with no ability to contact Kurama or to influence his dreams as he usually could.

The door opened and Kakashi walked in, his lone eye finding Naruto's there seemed to be a big weight released from his posture and he moved inside and sat down near the blonde Jinchuuriki. It was silent as neither looked at the other but thankfully it was Kakashi that broke the silence.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Naruto glanced to see Kakashi now looking at him with a soft and understanding gaze. He just shrugged, leaning his head back against the wall. "I'm over it now. There's nothing I can change anymore."

"That may be true but it is still good to talk about these things."

"What would you like me to say? I wish I could have been there faster, that I was stronger, that I knew some dark jutsu that can reverse the innocent deaths that I could not prevent?" Naruto scoffed and looked at his sensei without moving his head from the wall. "I'm not insane or gullible. I understand that this is our world, that no matter how strong I can be it would not matter as I cannot save everyone. I'm not the Rikudou Sennin. I'm not a godlike being."

Kakashi nodded his head and leaned his head back with closed eyes, feeling his duty as sensei to get his student to open up about the experience. "Explain the train of events to me. Whose promise did you fail?"

Naruto grimaced but knew that Kakashi won't let him go until he was satisfied so with a sigh he decided to answer the man. "My partner-" He stopped immediately as he realized that Kurotsuchi was with him when his sensei found them.

"The kunoichi is fine, she's resting in Sakura's room," Kakashi informed him.

Naruto sighed in relief with a grateful nod. "Thank you, Kakashi-sensei. As I was saying, my partner and I were going to scout out a food warehouse and possibly steal it all to give to the starving villagers, after interrogating any mercenaries we captured. However, we came across a small outlying farm and we found it burning with three dead bodies; an older couple, and the lone survivor, a husband and father."

Naruto gave a shaky sigh as he ran a hand through his hair, looking down at the floorboard. "His wife and daughter were taken by the thugs, and he died after he asked for me to save them and I accepted. When we arrived, I thought that we had enough time to save them."

Kakashi noticed the pause and looked at his student to see him squeezing his eyes shut and clenching his fists against his pants. "What did you see?"

"They butchered the little girl," Naruto growled and a few tears fell down his cheeks before he wiped his face angrily. "The woman was beaten so badly as they raped her that she couldn't recognize the world around her. She was broken, sensei, and no amount of medical jutsu would fix her! What do you do for her then?"

Naruto slammed his fist into the wall, creating a hole to reveal the outside from his strength. "I lost it Kakashi. I've been learning how to control Kyuubi's power, to manage my rage and hatred so I don't lose myself to the power. But seeing that little girl and her mother like that, I couldn't hold myself back. I butchered them like animals."

Kakashi nodded his head so far. His student is working through the emotions, and it meant living through his actions posthumously no matter how tragic it was. Minato was there for him when he was in Naruto's situation, and he will return the kindness in turn. "What did you do?"

"I didn't even let them die quickly," Naruto said without hesitation, his blue eyes now orange as he seemed to grin at the memories of what he did. It quickly turned to a scowl as he remembered why he did it. "No death was merciful, sensei, I made sure that each bastard lived through what I did. I cut off their dicks, I cut them open like lab rats, and pulled out their entrails. I made a guy eat another man's heart, sensei!"

"The last man I wanted to finish especially painfully," Naruto spoke slowly and deeply as if he was living the moment again. "I used my kunai to pin him to the floor by his palms before straddling him and then snapped every single finger. I made sure that everything he felt is real and so much more than anything he could have done to that woman. I enjoyed his screams and his pleas for me to have mercy on him. I enjoyed it as he cried and begged for any of the women he raped and assaulted to help him, and I especially enjoyed it as I beat his head in."

Naruto turned quiet as he leaned his head back against the wall and his orange eyes looked at the ceiling. "I didn't stop even when he was no longer begging for mercy. I sure as hell didn't stop when he was no longer breathing. I kept going. Every punch got easier. Every punch just made this noise as the mush that was his head couldn't even be recognized as human anymore. I heard Kurotsuchi-chan towards the end but it didn't register until she was crying and holding me."

Naruto breathed slowly and closed his eyes as a few more tears fell down his cheeks. "I pride myself on upholding my promises, sensei. If I am to be anything I want people to know me as someone who keeps to his word. Without that… I am nothing as a shinobi or a person."

He met Kakashi's eyes and he seemed to be begging for assurance from the older man. "I am a man of my word, and I couldn't do that for a dying man, sensei. I had failed my first promise and it was for someone who deserved it the most. He deserved to go through heaven knowing he trusted the right person. I couldn't fulfill that."

Kakashi was silent as he watched his student cry over something others would find an inconsequential mistake. For most shinobi, failing a promise, especially a promise to a dead or dying person, is merely a minor inconvenience but it wasn't something they lost themselves to. But for Naruto, his word meant everything because he had grown up with everyone doubting him and his potential until he one day let loose that he is the Yondaime's son.

"I can understand how you feel, Naruto," he started quietly but loud enough for him to hear. "I can't understand exactly what you went through or how you feel but I know your type of pain and regret. I've made many of those in my life. To my comrades and to those I was to protect. But you have to understand that this is only the first of many mistakes and it sure won't be the last."

"What you can do is learn from this, as everyone else does. You know this is how our world is, that we are at the front of seeing how truly cruel our world can be. What any of us can do is better prepare for the future."

Naruto nodded his head as he stared at the floor, lost in his own thoughts. Kakashi sighed but knew his student needed some time to think so he got up and headed to leave. He stopped at the door, however, and turned to the blonde. "Oh, also, I'm not going to tell you who you make friends with or who you fall in love with but I can only caution certain villages or individuals who would kill you due to your father's deeds in the Third Shinobi War."

Naruto glanced up at his teacher in confusion but the man was already closing the door. He didn't understand why his sensei was getting at him with his statement but he wanted to see Kurotsuchi and apologize for her seeing him like that. I hope she isn't afraid of me now.

Naruto knocked on the door before entering, finding Kurotsuchi laying on a cot that must have been Sakura's before they arrived with Kakashi. She was still asleep it seems so he slowly walked over and sat down beside her. He slowly stroked her short black hair and focused on her peaceful face now instead of her cries from yesterday.

"I'm sorry you had to see me like that, Kamizuru-chan," Naruto said to himself since she was still asleep.

"There's nothing to be sorry for," Kurotsuchi opened her eyes and looked up at Naruto with a sad smile.

She grabbed his hand that stopped stroking her head as he seemed too surprised to do anything, and she brought his hand to her lips and gave a kiss to his knuckles. "I understand that you were upset, and I'm not afraid of you for it. I'm sorry that you had to experience something as horrible as that, I would have been better prepared if I knew. I thought you already had experienced some things due to how you acted on our patrols, and I'm sorry for not being able to help you."

Naruto laid down and he rested his head in her embrace, wrapping his arms around her and holding her close as she stroked her fingers through his hair. They were quiet as they just held each other, but Naruto could feel a slight tension in her body as if she were prepared for anyone to attack her.

"You can trust my team, Kuro-chan. My sensei is tolerant of you resting here, but I'm sure he's keeping a watch since you are a kunoichi of an unallied nation."

Kurotsuchi scoffed lightly to herself, but she held Naruto closer as if she would be forced away at any moment. "As if I would leave you after that."

Naruto chuckled into her neck and gave her a kiss before looking into her eyes. "I appreciate it, Kuro-chan."

Kurotsuchi hummed with a small smile before she slowly began to frown and her eyes unfocused from his own. He tilted his head in confusion before sitting up in concern and was about to ask if she was okay when she spoke, "who are your parents…Naruto-kun?"

Naruto paused as he looked back at her and he hesitated to tell her, fearing what she will do when she learns what his heritage is. He's not an idiot, he knows that the current Tsuchikage is of the Kamizuru clan and that he had a particular dislike for his father's singular brutal act in the Third Shinobi War. He's also not justifying Minato's actions, as it was an atrocious massacre of life whether they are an enemy or not, but it was also a very smart move to save the life of those he fought with.

It also is that singular brutal act that made Iwagakure pull out of the war, allowing Konoha to focus on their lines against Kumogakure. A brutal act that would later save the lives of many allies.

Naruto sighed and slumped his shoulders, giving Kurotsuchi time to sit up on her knees. "Uzumaki is my mother's last name, my mother being Kushina Uzumaki, also known as the Red Blade of the Swirling Leaves. She is an S-rank kunoichi who was feared during the Third Shinobi War for her assassination skills with her katana that gave her the alias."

Naruto paused and looked up at Kurotsuchi and he felt his eyes tear up in anxiety and fear of what is to happen next. "My father is…Minato Namikaze, the Yellow Flash and the Fourth Hokage. The man who is made famous for his use of a teleporting technique, a man who caused the turning point in the Third Shinobi War at Kannabi Bridge, and…the one man most hated by Iwagakure."

Naruto clenched his eyes shut and lowered his head, crushed at looking at the horrified look on Kurotsuchi's face, and forced his tears to not fall. "I also know that you are the granddaughter of the Tsuchikage, a man who called for the death of anyone related to my father, but I had hoped that we could connect without the influence of our family and villages. I understand if…if you do not agree."

Naruto did not move, he barely breathed, as he waited for the kunoichi to do something, anything, that would let him know where she stood. It was quiet, extremely so that he almost thought he was alone now, but that ended when he heard the slightest movement. A shuffle closer, and he could feel her moving closer to him, and his instincts were telling him to protect himself, to move away, but he just stayed there.

Arms encircled him, her head pressed into his shoulder, and her body shook as if she was crying. He opened his eyes and he could only see her black hair as she held him close.

"Thank you for telling me," she whispered quietly, and she clutched tighter around him. "My feelings do not change, I fell in love with who you are. I didn't take the time to share things about myself just to get you close to benefit my village or my family. I love you, Naruto, whether you are Uzumaki or Namikaze."

Naruto held her close, and now tears fell from the relief that he felt. "Thank you, Kuro-chan, I love you too. I know it'll be hard, but no matter what I will take care of you and protect you."

"And you never go back on your promise," Kurotsuchi chuckled as she remembered how much the blonde went on about his ninja way. "I'll hold you to that promise, Naru-kun."

As the two held each other, Kakashi's clone was leaning against the door while trying to read his book, a small smile on his face as he overheard everything inside. He let his hand limply lay against his chest, no longer trying to act like he was reading, and he exhaled a deep breath that he wasn't sure he was holding.

"Your boy sure is something, sensei. I can feel that he is going to make a lot of good changes in the near future."

With that, the clone silently exploded in a puff of smoke to allow the original the knowledge of what happened there.

This chapter is posted since I'm halfway don't with the eighth chapter and this one was relatively short all things considered. Just a bit of opening up about the events from before and more trust between Naruto and Kurotsuchi.

So I guess I will mention this because it was brought up. Naruto is strong, being his sixteen-year-old self with the extra time taken to train with the Kyuubi and with his clan knowledge. I didn't start at twelve and made him this strong, I wanted him to have five years to learn his clan fuinjutsu and all the time to prepare his home from the prologue chapter. He is OP, but his clan is the same population size as maybe Kumo, who is ranked third among the five villages, and it still took three shinobi villages to take them down, so it warrants that the Uzumaki - and their retainer clans - are beasts in terms of the shinobi world. Add being a Jinchuuriki of the strongest Biju, Naruto will be very powerful.

Majestic Yo-kai Fauntleroy: There are a few characters in the show I didn't trust from the first time we see them; Danzo, the elders, any of the Daimyo, and even Itachi for the most part, but yeah any village that is not Konoha are in some way weird in their own way with their own problems. That also has to do with Madara's actions while still loyal to Konoha, thinking that all other villages should be kept as weak as possible to make sure Konoha stays at the top. As for Gamamaru, he simply shared a prophecy that was correct but he didn't give the original prophecy - the same one he gave to Hagoromo way back then - and instead only told Jiraiya that he would train the Child of Prophecy and his actions will impact the future of the world. As such, many mistakes were made.

Shiroi Fenikkusu: Thank you :)

biginferno: Yes, no, no, and yes. Maybe to Pakura and Shizuka but don't forget that there are other anime included now. We shall see.

Spiritwolf35: I'm sorry to hear that but thank you for trying. As I explained in the AN section above the reviews, Naruto is meant to be powerful. It's not like he fought Zabuza in a straight-up fight, he overpowered him with clones and his clan fuinjutsu, which without he will not have likely won as the only reason Zabuza ended up subdued is the Chains of the Void marked fuinjutsu. Also, gender-bent characters for any story are usually because they are going to be a romantic interest of some kind for the main character of a fanfic, but it's okay if it's not your type of thing. As for the no incest, I stated that as a precaution for any characters that can appear in the story, typically for any SasukexfemItachi or others. Naruto has no siblings, but he does have second cousins like Karin and Nagato. Konan was a possibility as I wasn't sure how I will handle Nagato and or Yahiko, and that still remains up for me to work out.

Guest: As I said, too many already as it is so no to Temari and Ino, but Shion may just want an heir still haven't reached that point of the story just yet.