Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. On with the story. Please review!
Where… where am I? It feels like… I'm floating… is this death? No… I can open my eyes… Whats this? I'm… really high up!
Naruto slowly regained his senses after passing out, and was looking around trying to figure out what happened while he was out.
[Boom]
He felt himself hurdling forward with reckless abandon toward a goal that his eyes were now focusing on.
"What's going on???" He thought. He tried to yell, but no sound came out. He felt detached like a ghost without a body. Carefully he looked down… and only could see what he thought was a giant nose. Vast billows of hot breath blasted from the nostrils in front of him, supercharged with red chakra. Kyuubi! Slowly realization dawned on him. "I'm… looking through Kyuubi's eyes??" he thought, as he neared the target the fox was after. His eyes came to focus on a humongous toad on the edge of his sight. "Gamabunta? What's he doing here?" Naruto thought. The giant summon braced itself for impact as Kyuubi closed the distance at an alarming speed. Out of sheer shock at what was going on, the only thing Naruto could do was watch what was playing out before his eyes.
Suddenly, time seemed to come to a dramatic slowdown. A blonde head came into view walking up the back of Gamabunta, who was struggling to resist the massive youma that was assaulting him. "Hurry it up Dan; I can't hold this for much longer!!", the frog grunted.
ROOAARRRRRR!!!! The Kyuubi howled in anger. To Naruto it felt like his mind was going to explode under the violent aura around him. Never had he felt such raw killing intent. He was surrounded, consumed by it, he felt as if his very breath was being held back into his lungs by the pressure of it. Kyuubi reared its head back and flailed its tails violently, causing a maelstrom of dust and tree material to form around him. The blonde figure who was now on the head of the toad was standing with his eyes closed, forming an extensive seal system. "He's really going to use that jutsu. I suppose it's the only way. Even I am at my limits with this foe, if this lasts much longer we will both be annihilated." Gamabunta thought.
"For the people of this village, my beloved Konoha, I wager my life!!" the blonde figured shouted to the Kyuubi. "Hahahahaha, what do you think you can do, little one? A puny mortal such as you has no chance against my power! You will die today, you who dares to stand in my path, and I will have my revenge on the fools in Konoha" Kyuubi cackled. "You are right, demon, I will die today. But you will not touch the Konoha village!" he said, and then thought "I guess this is it… I had better prepare for it." The Kyuubi's eyes widened as the blonde man held a newborn baby in front of him. What was it that this ridiculous mortal had planned for him? He was vastly too powerful for any seal that a simple man could posses. The baby cried in fear at the all the ruckus, far too young to be in this situation. The man suddenly let go of the child, but the baby remained floating in front of his chest, suspended by chakra. "He mocks me." Kyuubi thought, as bit down hard on the throat of Gamabunta. "This is it Dan! I don't have any left in me!" Gamabunta gurgled thru the death grip the fox held on this throat.
The man inhaled sharply and began forming seals as fast as he could, the chaotic blast of air threatening to knock him off his perch on the toads head.
Mi – I – Hitsuji – U- Inu – Ne – Tori – Uma – Mi
The man completed the seal and clapped his hands together, finishing the seal.
"FUUIN - SHIKI FUUJIN NO JUTSU" he shouted. "Please my son, forgive me for this curse, my only prayer is that you will be seen as a hero to this village!! Live well young one!" he thought as he opened his eyes. They burned with an intensity and purpose. He would defeat this foe; he must, for the sake of all that is precious to him.
He grabbed the now unconscious baby and lunged at the demon fox's head. Kyuubi's eyes widened as he saw a powerful clawed hand, with a curse seal entangling it, blast out of the mans chest, and through the belly of the baby, to grab into the depths of his mind. For a moment, he saw behind the man a horrible robed figure, solid white excluding the curse seal on its arm, and the knife it held in its teeth. The thing grinned with raw malice and began to drool expectantly onto the blade of its knife. "Yes, you can see it now, demon! Your demise, behold the kinjutsu with death itself." The man shouted. "Always remember this defeat, by a mere mortal; I, the Yondaime Hokage of the Leaf village, Uzumaki Dan!" As the man shouted his last words, the horrible hand began to pull the demon fox's soul directly out of its body. The soul completely filled the baby, overflowing its tiny container, and covering the man and his son with a horrible red light. Another hand burst out of the chest of the Hokage, and planted its knife into the surface of the baby's skin. It carved a horrible seal onto the child's body, terminating at the baby's belly button. A tremendous flash of light filled the whole area blinding Naruto, who had been observing the fight from the perspective of Kyuubi.
"That baby… was… me!!! I'm… the son of the fourth Hokage!?"
Drip…. Drip….
"Ugh…. My aching head… was that some kind of genjustu?" Naruto mumbled, rocking back and forth holding his throbbing skull. An evil voice started laughing hoarsely at the boy. "Hahaha, I see, you know now, your very own father was willing to curse you with me in order to save the precious Konoha!"
Naruto whirled around to see the blazing crimson eyes of the demon imprisoned behind the gate.
"No! That's not true, you stupid fox! I could hear his thoughts! He wanted me to be a hero! He wanted me to be recognized by the village!" Naruto howled in defense.
"But it didn't turn out that way, did it" the fox sneered. "All this… because of the stupidity of humans. You know, little one, your father would be alive today if it weren't for the idiots of the leaf". Naruto looked at him skeptically. "Hahaha, you mean you really don't know?" Kyuubi huffed. "Your mother… my sister… She died because of the fear of your pathetic race. Humans, so full of fear, it sickens me. It is why they destroy themselves, create countless wars and destroy innocent lives." Naruto plopped down in confusion. His mother was a youma? How is that possible? "I see that this news is truly new to you" the fox said, its face visibly softening. "Is it really so hard to believe? Do you think those whisker marks on your cheeks are caused by me? Do you really think that you have such ridiculous stamina simply because of me? No boy, you are purely human, but the vestiges of your mother can be seen in you."
Naruto couldn't think at all. His mind was a blaze of mixed emotions and thoughts. "Why did you attack my village? What quarrel did you have with my father that you would attack him with intent to kill? I could feel your… hate…" He shuddered at the memory of the horrible aura he was bathed in during the vision.
"My sister fell in love with a meaningless human. I tried to tell her that it was stupid, that humans are weak and that they wouldn't allow her to live amongst them, even with her under the massive illusionary technique she used to give herself a measly human form. At first, it seemed like she proved me wrong. The people of Konoha village loved her like a member of their society. The human she cared for eventually returned her love, and they were married." Kyuubi's eyes narrowed. "But then you were conceived. I came to your birthing ceremony in human form to witness the final bond between the youma and humankind, perhaps the very thing that would make our races come together. But the stupidity of humans overcame. The people always feared having a half breed amongst them, despite my sister's attempts to allay their fears and let them know that the child would be purely human, that the demon strain would not carry over into human genetics. That was mostly true. But people do not allow things that they do not understand to live amongst them. As I left the village to head back to my den, I heard the word. The baby had whisker marks. The people flew into an uproar; they had a 'monster' among them. They raced to Hokage manor and, and despite your fathers best efforts, they broke into the room where your mother and her child slept. She awoke and flew into a rage, but she was weakened from giving birth. They killed her and were about to kill you when Dan took you from the manor himself and ran. I rushed back to the village, fearing the worst, but obviously, I was too late. My anger overcame me, and I returned to my native form, and sought to destroy those who had killed my beloved sister."
The fox let out a tremendous sigh "But your father came to me, asking me to help him, but I was too angry to listen to his pleas. I told him that he was partially to blame for my sisters death, that if he hadn't have been around, she would have never left her ancestral home to live amongst his filth. I attacked him. He did his best to simply disable me, but after all, I am a youma. There is no mortal that can stand against me. Or at least I thought so. Your father defeated me, and hoping to help protect you from the stupidity of the people of your village, he sealed me into you to provide you with an additional energy source for when you were in need. He knew of my feral rage, and its capabilities. Ah to feel the intensity of battle again. The time when you fought that boy… -Haku was his name- that was me doing the fighting. This accursed seal prevents me from invading into your higher brain functions, but the raw intensity of my emotions was more than enough to leak through, along with some of my chakra."
Naruto looked up at the fox that was now looking at him softly. "You were trying to protect me?" Naruto asked with wonderment in his eyes. "You are the last vestige of my sister's memory. I both love and hate you, as you are the thing that caused her death, yet the result of her love. I could not let you die."
Naruto couldn't believe his ears. The horrible demon fox, Kyuubi was capable of emotions like this? He would have never believed such a story, had it not come from the mouth of his tormentor himself. "No matter" the fox said, "Now you know the real story behind your lineage, and my fall. May the knowledge serve you well. It seems that my attempt to reach your mind succeeded." Naruto looked shocked. "You mean, you were actually TRYING to talk to me?" "Yes, when you sleep is the only time the seal is weak enough to allow subtle thoughts into your mind. I am glad that I was able to talk to you Uzumaki Naruto. You have earned my respect. From now on, just call my name and I will heed your call. Your fathers dying memory is sufficient for me to do this for you. After all, he was the only thing my sister ever loved, besides you. We will meet again, little one." With that, the fox closed his eyes and moved out of view from the seal gate. Naruto yelled after him to stay, but to no avail. His senses closed in around him, and when he came back to reality, he found himself lying in his bed, with Jiraiya sitting on the end at the footboard.
"So how was it?" the frog hermit said sheepishly, unsure of the result of the encounter.
"It was… weird…" Naruto said, looking down at his hands.
Jiraiya sweat dropped, "I mean, what happened, you knucklehead."
"Kyuubi told me that I'm the son… of his sister… and the Yondaime." Naruto said, looking up at Jiraiya with a confused look in his eyes. "How come no one ever told me this before?" He asked.
Jiraiya put his hand on the boys shoulder, "because Naruto, he didn't want his memory to be that of someone that sealed something awful inside you. It was the only choice. He forbade anyone from telling you of him, or of the demon fox."
Naruto leaped up with a smile on his face, "what? Ero-sennin! This means I'm just closer to becoming the Hokage!"
"Ah, well it's good to see that you are taking it well, Naruto. I will see you tomorrow for training", the old man said, as he got up and let himself out the door. "Sleep tight, knucklehead; you probably need your rest after all that. I hope that it gave you some piece of mind", he whispered as he closed the door behind him. He smiled warmly as he peeked back into the room of the youngster. He was already sound asleep, mumbling something to the effect of "Hmmhmm….. Hokage…..".
