Chapter Five

Childhood's End

Naruto had maintained his composure throughout the long walk back to Hokage Tower, ignoring the usual glares from the villagers and blocking out the pitiful attempts at conversation from his father or sister. A squall of emotions swirled within him; hurt, joy, relief, and rage battled for control over his mind. He celebrated the fact that he had become a shinobi. Yet, the manner in which he was tested awoke something in him that threatened to lash out at anyone foolish enough to challenge him directly. Such was the fury building that the constant whispers of the Nine-Tails ceased. Upon reaching out to the beast, he knew she found the whole thing amusing.

The shouting began seconds after the doors of the Hokage Office closed. Naruto swung at his father, a swift, brutal blow against the back of the head that caught the man off guard. He tried to follow through with a sharp kick but found that Itachi and Hana had grabbed him, allowing the Hokage a chance to retreat behind the desk. Tsunade watched from the sidelines, her face a carefully constructed mask that failed to hide her anger at the situation.

"Calm down," commanded Itachi through labored breaths as Naruto struggled to renew his assault. "At least…allow your father to speak before attacking him again."

"Fuck you." Naruto's tails whipped around in a mad frenzy that knocked the two ANBU to the side. He prepared to lunge forward over the desk but found himself blocked by Jiraiya. "Out of the way, pervert. This is between that traitor behind the desk and me."

The Toad-Sage sighed and shook his head. "Please let us tell you the full story. This is pretty important stuff, kid." He glanced at Tsunade. "A little backup would be much appreciated."

"I don't know, Jiraiya. Is this a test for me?" The Slug-Sannin remained against the wall with her arms crossed. "No wonder you did not tell me this seconds before the stupid 'battle' was supposed to begin. How long did Menma know about this? Or you, for that matter, Lord Hokage?"

Minato groaned and rubbed his forehead. He expected a good tongue lashing from Naruto, but this reaction was new for the normally docile vulpine man. "Menma was informed of this last night by Kushina and agreed to it. I assure you that he was never in any real danger. If things got out of hand, I would have stepped in."

"Do you honestly believe that I would have killed him?" Naruto tried to slip around Jiraiya but found that Hana and Itachi held his tails. "Get the hell off me so I can rip him into kibble!"

Hana gritted her teeth as the tail attempted to swing her across the room. "Naruto…you need to calm down. This isn't helping anything!"

"And let me guess…you learned about this last night? Why the hell would you agree to this?" Naruto's struggle ceased for a moment. He needed the answer to this before moving on to his father. "Let me guess, Father promised you another damn promotion? Hoping to get high enough so that the Uchiha will allow Itachi to fuck you without embarrassment."

Itachi yanked the tails hard, earning a yelp from Naruto. "I suggest you refine from speaking to your sister like that. We had no choice in the matter and disagreed with the Hokage's decisions."

"Let her speak for herself, murder-eyes." Naruto spat the derogatory term for the Uchiha Clan as if venom.

Hana took a deep breath, struggling to control her anger at the situation. "Lord Hokage gave the order to me this morning to participate in the exam. However, I suggested to him against agreeing to the test due to the emotional manipulation required." Her features softened. "You know I would never willingly do anything to hurt you."

He felt his rage at Hana withdraw, but the hurt remained. "You willingly followed his orders." The irony of the situation forced him to chuckle. "Think about it. The Trial of Indra is meant to test someone to see if their morals could remain true when tempted by someone far superior to themselves. I passed it, but would any of you have?"

"Your anger should be directed at me," Minato ordered Jiraiya to step aside. "They followed my orders despite personal reservations. At the end of the day, I allowed Kushina to administer her test believing in its practicality." Then, seeing that his son was not ready to attack again, he continued. "As the Jinchūriki of the Nine-Tailed Fox, you will be faced with the fox's temptation every battle. No doubt you heard it speak to you during the battle."

Naruto huffed but took a seat on the opposing side from Minato. "Yeah. She tried to encourage me to kill Menma." He remembered her promise of fulfilling his desire and having to ignore the sultry tone that sent a shiver up his spine.

"I do not know why Kushina specifically chose that test for you, Naruto. You will have to speak with her yourself. However, Jiraiya and I agreed that we needed to see how much influence the fox had over you before allowing you into active service." Minato gestured to the swaying tails behind Naruto. "The physical signs of the Nine-Tail's corruptions are obvious. Hiruzen's version of the seal is far less advanced than the one Kushina, and I designed. As your father, I never once doubted you. But, as your Hokage, I needed to verify that you are able to resist whatever the fox would offer you."

Naruto's claws dug into the chair's armrests, puncturing the leather easily. As the words sunk in, he felt a new wave of seething anger build within him. "And what of the temptations you and my sister offered me? What about the promises of a nukenin or being accepted into the Inuzuka? The fox whispered to me about being a hero or granting my desires. She never used my own dreams against me like you all did!" Once more, the rage withered into deep sorrow. "You're evil."

Minato flinched at the accusation. "You do not mean that."

"What makes you any better than the fox? You both tried to trick me into killing Menma. Honestly, you might be worse than the damned demon living in me. She has something to gain from tricking me: freedom. What did you have to gain?" Crimson eyes narrowed as a new thought entered the wounded mind. "What would have happened if I failed? Would I have been sent back to the academy with a slap on the wrist?"

Jiraiya, seeing the hesitation in Minato, answered for his student. "The Nine-Tails would have extracted and placed in a different host. We cannot allow someone to roam freely under the demon's influence."

"And kill the brat?" Tsunade raised a golden eyebrow. "Extraction of a Tailed-Beast is lethal for the host unless from the Uzumaki. It almost killed Kushina. Naruto would have no hopes of surviving such a thing."

"And all Jinchūriki know that they are little more than human sacrifices," the Toad-Sage's voice grew hollow as if not trusting the words leaving his mouth. "Naruto would have been killed, and the beast placed within Menma. The ANBU has a room on standby for the transferring show Naruto or any future hosts show signs of instability."

Naruto searched his father's face to confirm what he had just been saying. The Hokage refused to look at him. His heart, once broken earlier in the day, shattered at the raw truth of his existence. The rage evaporated into a cold melancholy. No matter what happened and what he did, he would be viewed as an asset first and a person second.

"What else is there to discuss, Lord Hokage?"

"You have been granted the rank of Genin and passed your test to becoming an apprentice under a Jonin," Minato removed a headband from the desk, running his thumb over the symbol, before placing it on the desk in front of his son. "Kushina has requested that you meet her tomorrow at eight in the morning at the gates for a formal introduction and your first mission."

"Very well. I shall be there on time." Naruto tried to summon the rage that gave him strength but found it too great of an effort. "Kushina made a comment about me being her husband. I assume this was a joke of some sort?"

Tsunade's eyes narrowed at the revelation. "Don't tell me…."

"Indeed." Minato removed a scroll from his desk. "Kushina's decision to divorce me caused a breach in the treaty between the Land of Fire and the Land of Whirlpools. While her homeland does not exist, her status as a citizen of Konoha was contingent on her marrying a natural-born citizen. I asked her to name a possible candidate, and she wrote your name down as a cruel jest to me."

It was clear that Minato was heartbroken over this turn of events. Naruto held back a bitter laugh at the thought of him lying with the woman Minato cared for so deeply. Perhaps this was karma in play. Maybe, he mused, he just got lucky.

"The details of the marriage are in the scroll. Read it at your convenience. Kushina is…well-versed in the details already."

"Excellent, Lord Hokage." Naruto took the scroll and headband, stuffing both in his pocket. "I shall take my leave now. There is much I need to think about." He paused at the doors to the office and gave his father a sideways glance. "Thank you for the gift, Lord Hokage. I will make sure to enjoy Kushina often and provide her what her previous husband could not." The gasps of the room occupants sounded like the heavenly choir welcoming him to paradise.

Two chapters in a single day? What madness is this? The secret is that I tend to keep half a chapter ahead of what is posted in the event my original fiction takes most of my time. Your opinions of the stories have been fun to read, so I thought I would post the immediate aftermath of the last chapter tonight for all of you. Trust me when I say that Naruto is beyond angry over what happened. His relationship with his family and friends will be extremely strained if not broken. What of his dreams about being Hokage? That will be explored going forward but Naruto has had his first glimpse into the horrible word that is the Shinobi system. Between childhood soldiers (what are genin really?) and a system that encourages people to dehumanize themselves, Naruto will be out to dismantle everything. There is far more to Kushina than has been revealed. She is currently in a 4D chess game with Minato and the Land of Fire.

As for pairings...shout out to all of the reviews requesting Tsunade along with the wonderful ideas presented to me by 'Marsuvees Black the Dark Lord'. Kushina was almost guaranteed to be part of the pairing, but I have decided to replace female Kurama with Tsunade for thematic reasons.