Yo! Guess who is alive and somewhat kicking. Sorry but I got caught up on so many things! (sighs) Ok I'm really sorry and I hope I can make it up to you with this chapter...I hope. Thank you for all the reviews and I hope you enjoy this new chapter!

"Speech"

'Thought'

"Kyuubi"

(Standard Disclaimer)

Chapter 44: Secrets

"I...Itachi!" Naruto growled in confusion, what the hell was going on? Itachi grinned darkly and he shot forward in a black blur, becoming nothing more than a black streak as he slammed his foot into Naruto's chest. Naruto flew back from the force of the powerful kick but he suddenly felt a hand tightly grip his right ankle.

"Not quite..." Itachi said with a dark grin as from his sleeves flew a torrent of snakes that bit deeply into Naruto's leg. Naruto hissed with pain but with a quick twist of his upper body and a quick flash of his Kitsune lightning he was free. He landed on his left leg and gently brought his injured leg down until it healed seconds later.

Naruto glared at Itachi and growled out, "Orochimaru." Itachi's body let out a hissing laugh and formed a seal with it's hands, "almost." In a flash The Itachi body formed several seals in a blur and before he knew it Naruto was up to his neck in a solid twisting combination of wood and rock.

Naruto snarled and writhed within his prison but no matter what he couldn't move. Oh he was in some serious trouble now. "You know I have to thank you," Itachi's body said with a smug smile on it's face. Naruto glared back but that death bringing stare did nothing but spur on the body. With a grin Itachi's body said, "I'd have to thank your bitch too."

Naruto's struggles increased in ferocity and he growled out, "don't you DARE call her that!" Itachi's body smirked and said, "to any animal that is what she is. I still have to thank her, she was the one who gave me this body. If she didn't hit so many precious tenketsu then I never would have gotten the upper hand on this Uchiha."

Naruto struggled even more violently and growled, "Orochimaru...I'LL KILL YOU!" Orochimaru chuckled darkly and said, "I may be in complete control of this body but Itachi still has a say in the matter. He's like an annoying voice in my head...much like yours."

Naruto's eyes snapped open revealing his slit pupil's mere slivers in his cerulean pools. "Don't you DARE speak of my sensei like that!" Orochimaru frowned and said, "don't you dare this don't you dare that, can't you come up with anything original?" Naruto refused to respond as he kept thrashing in his binds.

Orochimaru grinned and said, "do me a favor and satiate my curiosity, did your 'sensei' ever tell you about the night he attacked?" Naruto growled and said, "not that I have to answer an asshole snake like you but no he didn't." Orochimaru laughed and said, "VERY interesting. Did he happen to tell you WHY he attacked? Hm?"

Naruto blinked in confusion, there was a reason? Kyuubi awoke from his mental exile and howled to the Kit to not listen, to turn away and ignore the snake. Naruto however was caught, he had never heard from his sensei or anyone that Kyuubi had a motive. He was hooked...hook line and sinker by the devious snake.

Orochimaru smirked, he knew he had the fox's full attention now. Orochimaru reached into the black cloak that covered Itachi's body and drew from it's inky darkness a large red ball. Orochimaru grinned as he saw Naruto cock his head to the side in confusion, even being a Kitsune the runt didn't know what a Hoshi no tama was.

Being a complete bastard Orochimaru decided to mock the poor Kitsune and say, "do you happen to know what this is?" Naruto slowly shook his head which made Orochimaru's grin spread like a sick disease across his face. "It is a Hoshi no tama...or to be specific the Hoshi no tama of Kyuubi no Kitsune," Orochimaru spoke with such venom on his tongue it poisoned the ground he stood on.

Naruto rose his eyebrows, he had never heard of it in all of the Kitsune history lessons Kyuubi had given him. "Kit...I'm sorry," Kyuubi spoke softly which made Naruto wonder. "What does that have to do with me?" Naruto asked in confusion. Orochimaru grinned and said, "if a person, oh say me, has a task that needs to be done that they cannot do themselves, say destroy Konoha, then they need help."

"They need only the best help imaginable too...the greatest of the Bijuu the monstrous Kyuubi no Kitsune," Orochimaru said as he paced around Naruto, tossing the ball up and down in his hand. "This little task was a mission in itself, gathering the human sacrifices, forming the seals that summoned him, but my favorite part was this little ball," Orochimaru said holding the ball up to Naruto's face.

Naruto snarled and tried to bite at the ball but Orochimaru swiftly retracted the small item, no use breaking it before knowing what it was. "This little ball made Kyuubi do something he wouldn't do unless ordered to by a god..." Orochimaru said with a sick grin, "kill his student, then attack Konoha."

Naruto's eyes shot open, his teacher obeyed this snake and killed his first student...then went to destroy Konoha. "You see that student of his was to demanding, 'give me my master's free will back!' It was entertaining for the first few seconds but it got annoying so I had Kyuubi kill him. As long as I have this ball Kyuubi is mine to control too, fun little item isn't it?" Orochimaru asked mockingly as he slid the ball back into his cloak.

"Kit...I'm sorry," Kyuubi repeated but got nothing in response for a long time...he figured he deserved it. He killed his first student on Orochimaru's whim because of that ball. Then because of the same reason he attacked Konoha until he was sealed. Orochimaru holding that ball was tainting his mind again, making the dark side long forgotten rear its ugly head.

'It's ok...' he heard the soft ringing voice that surprised him from his shame. It was so soft...almost silent...but he heard it. His second student, his kit, had said it was ok. 'It wasn't your fault...it was that DAMN SNAKE!' Naruto said slowly gaining volume in that sentence until he howled the last word. Kyuubi grinned, his darker side fading as it was replaced by a ferocious laugh. "Let's kill him Kit..."

Naruto closed his eyes and in his mind formed the position of meditation, his muscles relaxing completely as he let his chakra flow freely about him. He let his mind and body move as one, his spirit vanish into the mix allowing him to become at one with himself. Naruto drew in a breath, his body solid within the jutsu trap, he exhaled, like vapor from a steaming bath he vanished in a slow rising mist.

Orochimaru's Sharingan cut through the mist but what he saw shocked him. The bindings that held the fox were empty. Orochimaru turned every which way, then grinned in his sick genius. He formed a few hand seals and then slammed his hand into the ground causing a massive shockwave to rock the area.

Orochimaru stood there, a smug look on his face as he awaited the shaken Kitsune to rise from the ground battered and bruised. He waited and waited yet nothing came. He stood there for five minutes and yet no Kitsune rose from the interrupted ground.

"Boo," whispered a voice next to his head seconds before he felt two hands on his shoulders. In the matter of two seconds his body was pumped full of electricity, more then enough to stop his heart several times over. Orochimaru puffed out of existence and turned into a log of wood.

Naruto snarled and quickly fended off a powerful kick with his eight tails. "This is the best of your tricks Kitsune? I feel insulted," Orochimaru spoke, the deadly yet silky smooth voice a sure sign of Itachi's mental barging. Naruto set his tails aflame and with the best of his ability he concentrated a stream of fire upon the creature on his tails.

Orochimaru leapt back just before he was turned into snake jerky. "I'm embarrassed for your family," Orochimaru hissed which made Naruto turn swifter then time could catch. "My family? What do you know about my family?" Naruto shouted his fire burning a hole in the ground.

Orochimaru smirked, he caught the fox again. Just taunt him with some bait and he stops in the middle of a fight. "Don't tell me that old fool Sarutobi held that from you too..." Orochimaru taunted as Naruto slowly lost his quickly gained calm. Naruto twitched, his body just wanting to launch at the snake and rip him to shreds...but if this snake held the secret to his parents...he couldn't kill him yet.

Kyuubi scowled, the Kit was trapped again by this devious snakes words. "KIT SNAP OUT OF IT!" screamed Kyuubi but nothing was his response. "Oh damn it..." Kyuubi grumbled.

"Held what?" Naruto asked urgently his patience swiftly being drained. Orochimaru smirked and held his hands behind his back forming seals as he calmly stood there. "Your Father...ah how I loathed him. Then again you must love, pardon me loath him much more then me," Orochimaru grinned as he preformed a swift jutsu away from Naruto's prying eyes.

Naruto snarled in frustration, who the hell could he hate more then than this self loving snake! Orochimaru grinned as a doppelganger of himself popped up from the ground behind Naruto and wrapped him in his Nan no Kaizo. "Tell me fox, who could you hate more than the person who made you who you are..."

Naruto snarled and called out, "no one made me this way!" Orochimaru grinned and said in short simple words, "who sealed that beast inside your stomach." Naruto froze, what the hell was the snake saying. The fourth Hokage was the one who sealed Kyuubi in Naruto. The Kyuubi attempted to break free but he said the seal was planned for this and...the fourth did this to him. The fourth made him a Kitsune...

Naruto's mind went a thousand miles per hour, the Fourth planned for this so he made the seal rip Kyuubi's body from him and grant it to Naruto turning him into a Kitsune. Slowly but surely the pieces all fit into place. Why would the Fourth burden a family by sacrificing their child. To have a clean conscious he had only one option. "The fourth...he...he's...my father?" Naruto said in an unbelieving tone.

Orochimaru grinned and said, "congratulations you win the grand prize." Orochimaru grinned and with a nod of his head his clone clung even closer to Naruto. In a great flash the clone had exploded in a tremendous blast. Orochimaru grinned and deep within his subconscious he could hear matching laughter, it seemed Itachi was enjoying this as much as he was.

Orochimaru's Sharingan eyes caught just a faint flash of gold and in an instant he felt it. It was a light as a summer breeze across his skin but it was so much more. At his peak Sekkagan Naruto surpassed nearly all of time, becoming nothing but a glint of light to the powerful Sharingan, and with one deft movement he had rendered Orochimaru armless.

Orochimaru looked at his arms lying upon the ground with the cloaks sleeves covering them and to be frank, he was frightened. If Naruto knew he had inspired such a fear in the snake he might have laughed but this was not a time to take in jest. This snake killed his second father, he controlled his sensei to do terrible things, and he made his father die for a pointless cause...well maybe not pointless.

"Orochimaru," Naruto said with a cold steel tone. Orochimaru was frozen on the spot of turf of which he stood. He had the almighty body of an Uchiha, the eyes called the Sharingan, yet he had just lost all of his Jutsu in a split second. He had to run to live...

Naruto appeared in a blur blocking Orochimaru's path and said, "you are not leaving." Orochimaru lifted his leg to take a step but as he did a thin line appeared on his cloak and he fell to the ground, his legs cut to mere stumps of his thighs. Orochimaru fell onto his back ungracefully and was soon staring up in the air.

He was losing blood, his body was growing weaker and weaker, he was going to die. Orochimaru was suddenly face to face with a very grave looking Naruto, his golden edged cerulean eyes burning with rage as he held the snake up by his collar. "If I killed you for my own reasons I would lose a tail...it would be cold blood," Naruto said which almost made Orochimaru relax...until Naruto grew a dark grin.

"But what would that matter if I did it for the village...and I didn't live," Naruto's eyes closed with a sel in front of his face and in seconds the sky turned even darker. He was preforming the darkest of the summonings from the scroll of the Void, one of the few that needed a hand seal. Something that no Kitsune should do for it would mean unspeakable torture for the Kitsune involved. He was calling upon the Shinigami, the god of death.

"What is it you want..." roared the massive being, it's mere presence turning the grass brown and lifeless. Naruto held up the slowly dying Orochimaru to the god and said, "you have a feast of his soul...and then mine. There is one thing I request though, you take his twisted soul from his body piece by piece. Make him pay for everything he has done to Konoha, make him suffer for his crimes. Make him never harm another soul under my protection ever again."

The death god grinned, this young Kitsune was not only offering a VERY rare Kitsune soul but he was also giving him the pleasure of ripping this human's soul apart slowly. The Shinigami grinned and reached into Orochimaru's chest gripping his soul with his cold claws. Taking his dagger, he made a small cut and slowly ate Orochimaru's soul, savoring the screaming the snakelike being made.

When the death god finished his feast of the tainted soul he moved to Naruto and grinned. He reared back and plunged his claws deep into the young Kitsune's stomach. He gripped the first thing he came in contact with which made him grin all the more. With one swift jerk Naruto stared in awe as from his stomach came a blood red soul. The soul had only time to form a Kitsune face and with one maniacal grin the death god swallowed the soul whole.

Naruto felt a painful sting in his lower back and with one loud crack a ninth golden tail sprouted from his spine. The death god laughed at the wincing Kitsune and said, "very clever Kitsune, keeping an extra soul within your body for this occasion. I once saw a Kitsune of goldsacrifice it's life to protect something and it had gained its nine tails just before it died. Very clever nine tailed fox..." With those words the Shinigami vanished leaving the Kitsune of nine golden tails to fall to the ground...and cry.

The skies finally broke and they poured their icy tears upon the young Kitsune. So many things answered...and yet so many questions left unasked. Naruto sobbed heavily with closed eyes. His mind tuned out the world around him and he reached deep inside finding one small pulse. He, in his Kitsune form, jumped at the pulse and followed it deep into the world of the seal.

He frantically sped through the area but found nothing...he only felt the cold air and nothing more. Naruto sighed and entered the cell Kyuubi had been imprisoned in, his eyes watering with unshed tears. He wandered through the cell, his eyes falling upon all parts of the dark and empty place. There was nothing truly there except...Naruto could swear he saw something glint on the far side of the room.

Naruto raced to the gleam, his heart pumping faster and faster as he got closer. His hopes soared, maybe his sensei had found away around the death gods pact! Naruto came upon the object that gleamed and his mind filled with confusion. Sitting before him was a small ball, golden in color with a few small red streaks here and there.

Naruto approached the ball and with a cautious paw he tapped the ball sparking it to life. The golden color gleamed and the red shone, bringing an image of his sensei projected in hazy red chakra. The Kyuubi look alike smiled softly and said, "if you'rewatching this I'm dead. I suppose you can call this a will of sorts. Kit, you have grown faster than any Kitsune I know. By this point I'd hope you are at where I was a long time ago."

Kyuubi smiled with athoughtful look on his face and said, "I must look so soft now. To think a thousand years ago I was rampaging across the world and killing everything in sight. Now...well I'm dead. Getting to the point Kit, this golden ball is your Hoshi-no-tama. This is the ball where you store some of your spirit and power during your transformations...I decided it was best if it was in the seal away from every enemy you had. Isought to keep this knowledge from you until you turned old enough...if what I think will happen actually happened...then you're ready."

Kyuubi disappeared in a blur and in an instant there sat him in his Kitsune form, five tails waving behind him. "I know coming from a Chaos Kitsune this doesn't mean much but...protect your precious ones with your life Kit. Act like the human who sealed me in you...if I didn't know better I could swear he was your father. Grow and be happy Kit...gods I sound like a sap huh?" Kyuubi shook his head and grinned with a sorrowful look in his eye.

"I've watched you grow for so long...a couple hundred years to be exact. You...well..." Kyuubi said obviously embarrassed at this uncharacteristic show of emotion. "I never had a mate...I never had a Kit with my blood...in my eyes I consider you my son...Uzumaki Naruto. Live and make me proud..." Kyuubi said with great difficulty but it was there. Within the demon's words was a great amount of care for the young Kitsune.

Naruto watched in awe as the Kyuubi of the chakra mist vanished into the golden ball on the floor. Naruto blinked then smiled softly, he would follow his Kitsune fathers wishes. He closed his eyes and in seconds he was in reality.

He picked himself up from his place on the ground, feeling as powerful as any nine tailed Kitsune could. He grabbed the head of Orochimaru, making sure that the decapitated head didn't decompose even more. Wrapping the head in the tattered remains of Itachi's Akatsuki cloak he turned and headed toward Konoha.

He ran into many ninja on the way, some he knew some he didn't. Those who he knew were amazed, they had never felt such a power from the resting Uzumaki. Those who had never met him were blown away by the feeling of such raw energy just below the surface. Naruto smiled as he walked, many asking about what he had encountered, who he had fought, what he had done.

The only thing he said to anyone as he carried that bloody head was, "I want a full night of sleep...and a day alone with my Hinata-chan."

End chapter

Well how was that? Eh...I'm feeling shakey about this...I'm sorry. Well time for some overdue Q and A.

Q: Tails?

A: Ok to explain the tails and power balance...this is how I see the tails. The first few give huge boosts of chakra and power. From six to eight are still power boosts but nothing compared to the final tail. My theory that I have incorperated into this story is that the final tail is what holds the most power. It is what puts the real power behind the Kitsune. If you see this as inconsistant then I'm sorry this is how I think of it.

Q: SoaD

A: ...how odd...I listen to that while I write. Very awesome band.

Q: What is a Chipatama?

A: ...look it up cause I said that so as not to look like a jerk.

Q: Kills the snake in cold blood?

A: The Shinigami technicaly did it so he is free of scorn and as a plus, he nearly spent his life to save Konoha from Orochimaru's wrath.

Q: Short fight?

A: I hate Orochimaru...he is to pompous...he deserves to die talking like an ass...sorry.

Well that's it. Sorry but no preview again...and sorry if my explanations are weak right now. I'm not in the best frame of mind. Well hope you enjoyed this chapter and I'll see you all later!