Chapter 2

It was days after the Kyubbi attack, Konoha was in a panic, they were all wondering where their beloved 4th Hokage was.

"SILENCE!" yelled the feudal lord, all the villagers and shinobi calmed down, "Good now then, I have some terrible news to share with you all" Everybody started whispering again, "SHUT UP!" everybody settled themselves again waiting for the feudal lord's news; " The 4th Hokage has passed, he died during the kyubbis attack" before everyone could start speculating how; he continued, "Therefor someone is needed for leadership so I hereby give you the Third Hokage (again)"the gaped at the thought that someone would replace Lord 4th but, It was good old pipe smoker. He wasn't that bad.

Hiruzen then went to the railing with no sign of excitement on his face, 'More paperwork' he thought he then gave his speech, "Citizens and Shinobi of Konoha, I know that during this time of grief there will be hardships, but we must unite and rebuild Konoha back to its former glory" with the end of 'The Hokages decree' the crowd applauded and then went back to their reconstruction efforts.

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5-Year Time Skip

Today was October 10th. For most today was the Kyubbi festival, celebrating the 'Death' of the monster who destroyed their home 5 years ago. For Naruto Uzumaki it was one of his least favorite days, even if it is his birthday; "LEAVE DEMON!" yelled the orphanage lady. Naruto then began to walk. He started thinking about why he was hated so much. As he started walking A thought came to him, 'I always get harassed on October 10th, which happens to be the day the Kyubbi attacked, and my birthday-" Naruto's jaw dropped. he started running towards the Hokage tower.

When he reached the tower, he got glares from the shinobi population. Naruto ran into the tower the Hokages secretary greeted him with a scowl, "What do you want de-Naruto?" she said. Almost speaking a forbidden language; "I need to see Hokage-Sama!" said Naruto practically begging the secretary. "He will be on the second door to your right" she said with a fake smile. Naruto unintentionally gave her a fake smile back. He then began to sprint, when Naruto reached the door, he knocked; "Enter!" yelled Hiruzen.

Naruto rushed into the room he started to sob, "Jiji, am I the Kyubbi!?" asked Naruto starting to sob more. "No Naruto of course not why would you think that?" Hiruzen asked trying to analyze the situation, "Because my birthday is the same day the Kyubbi attacked" Hiruzen started to panic if he told the boy what really happened then he would have questions he wouldn't be able to avoid. "Naruto what I am about to tell you is an S-Ranked secret with me and only a couple others knowing." Hiruzen said taking a deep breath after "Naruto you are the jinchuriki (Power of the human sacrifice) of the Nine Tailed fox" he finished.

Naruto stopped crying for a moment only to ask with a quiet voice, "Who were they?" Hiruzen knew exactly who and what 'they' were, but he decided to check Naruto's intellect, "What do you mean?" Naruto gave him the 'I know something you don't' look as he began to speak, "I think you know exactly what I mean," said Naruto. Hiruzen secretly ordered his Anbu away as he began to talk, " I will not tell you who your father is, but your mother's name was Kushina Uzumaki" Naruto started to ask another question but he was interrupted, "Yes she left something for you" Hiruzen gave him a closed eyed smile as he began walking to the vault behind his desk.

He then did a Sealing Justu for his lock. After a few Handseals he took out a scroll he then handed it to Naruto, "I want you to read this when you get back to the orphanage" As Hiruzen finished Naruto started to speak again, "I was kicked out of the orphanage Jiji" At that Hiruzen's emotions started to get the best of him. But fortunately, being a trained shinobi helped him hide it. "Well, I guess we will have to get you an apartment" Hiruzen then motioned Naruto to leave.

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Naruto was walking around the Hokage tower. He then found a bench; he sat and took the note out of his back pocket as he began to read.

Dear Naruto,

If you're reading this, it probably means that I am dead hopefully Minato is with you. If not, then I assume you are a chunin or a jonin. I didn't just leave like you might think, I actually asked Tsunade-Sensei to look after you if I died, but if your alone than that means she couldn't. Anyway, enough with the sadness and sorrow I left you scrolls about my clans Fuinjustu and scrolls on my own fire style Jutsu that I studied. I left one more thing, my summoning scroll. It's for the panther clan I want you to use it someday. With all that said please make yourself a good shinobi one that is responsible and depended on by the Hokage. Also, you better become the Hokage if you don't, you'll have hell to fight with me when you die!

Love your mother, Kushina

After reading the note Naruto started to tear up again. This trying to hold them in. 'Who is Minato?' Naruto thought "I guarantee the i will do everything for you and dad" Naruto proclaimed he then got up and went back into the Hokage's office. little known to Naruto, Hiruzen was waiting for him, "Nice to see you Naruto" "Hey Jiji" Naruto said a bit spooked "Is my apartment ready?" He asked Hiruzen nodded.

He then took Naruto's shoulder in a tight grip and shunshind (bodyflicker) him to the apartment. When they landed Naruto asked Hiruzen a question, "Can you teach me how to do that?" Hiruzen chuckled "Eventually Naruto" with that they walked into the apartment.

Naruto was amazed at the largeness of his apartment. when he went into the kitchen, he remembered something from earlier, "Hey Jiji who is Minato?" Hiruzen froze in his tracks. There was a chance Kushina said something about him in her note, so he had to play his cards carefully; "Do you mean the 4th Hokage?, If so, why do you ask?" Hiruzen said carefully as Naruto responded, "No, reason I was just curious." Hiruzen 'Hmm' at his response as he walked away. "Anyway, Naruto I will have to see you later I have other things to tend to" after his statement he walked out of the door.

Naruto thought to himself, as to what he should do. he couldn't go outside or else he would be jumped. And he couldn't read because he had no books- 'that's right' he remembered his mom's scroll for the summoning Jutsu. Naruto pulled out the note and look all over the paper. as he continued to look, he saw a seal. 'Yes, I found it' he thought. He then went through the same handseals as Hiruzen. In an instant 15 different scrolls appeared. 'Wow' he thought in amazement.

Naruto then looked for the summoning scroll. (The biggest one on the long right of the row of 15) Naruto saw it and opened it. When he opened it, he was teleported into a forest full of trees. "Ow!" he said as he fell on his butt. "Welcome to the realm of the Panther," said an unowned voice. "Who are you?" Naruto asked, "I am Shakira, the greeter for all new and present Panther summoners. Who might you be?" she asked smiling at the end "I am Naruto Uzumaki" he said proudly "Well then Naruto may I show you around Our hidden Realm?"

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As they walked Naruto asked a question, "Do you know of a Kushina Uzumaki?" Shakira gasped at the name and turned around with a saddened look on her face "Please speak her name with an honorific she means a lot to us" Naruto froze and bowed "Sorry I did not mean to disrespect her like that. it's just that she is my mother" Shakira smiled at hearing that.

"Well then this is the end of your tour, so please sign this contract to have me reverse summon you here when you become 8 years old" Naruto gave her a quizzical look. Silently asking her to elaborate. "I will explain in due time. Anyways please cut your thumb with this kunai and swipe it across the scroll" she said whipping out a scroll seemingly from thin air. Naruto did as he was told and swiped the kunai across his thumb, cutting himself and making his thumb bleed. With that he swiped it across the scroll.

"Good, now I guess this is goodbye" Naruto said almost like he was asking a question. "Yes, you are correct" she then snapped her fingers and Naruto appeared back at his apartment. "So fast" he said as he landed on his ass, he then began to walk over to his Fuinjutsu scrolls and picked up the one that read 'Fuinjutsu level One' he then opened the scroll and began to read.

As he read, one of the basics including getting a scroll and a kunai and sealing the kunai into the scroll. But unfortunately, Naruto had neither of those tools, so he had to buy some with the monthly allowance he earned from Hiruzen. Which was really never enough, but Naruto was too afraid of getting yelled at by Hiruzen. Past experiences caused him to be grateful for what he had.

'But maybe I could go into his tower tomorrow and asked for a tiny bit more' He thought with hope. Naruto began to become tired, almost drowsy of some kind. He got up and walked to his new bed and flopped himself on to it. Almost instantly going to sleep. As he slept the good sleep, he woke up but not in his apartment in a sewer of some sort. He was intrigued by the power radiating from this place. As he stood up and walked, Naruto realized that he was in water but didn't feel wet.

Naruto walked and saw a single door, with the kanji for '9' on it. He walked up to it and rotated the doorknob and was greeted by the Evil sensation of this raw power he had felt earlier. "Welcome Naruto," said a menacing voice. "Who are you! Where am I?" yelled Naruto. "I am the Nine Tailed Fox, and you are in your mindscape" Naruto was shocked. He knew of the fox inside of him, but he never thought he would ever meet him.

"Is there something I can um... do for you?" The fox chuckled at this, "No not really, but I have a bit of an assignment for you that only I can help you complete" Naruto started to think. There was a possibility that he was being manipulated, but he wanted to see what the fox had to say. "Do you have a name?" Naruto asked politely trying to get on his good side. "Yes, I do in fact" The foxes tails started to wag. Naruto took notice to this. "Why are your tails wagging?" The fox turned his head and blushed. Then sat on his tail. "Don't worry about that. My name is Kurama"

"Well Kurama what is the assignment?" Naruto asked eagerly "It's a long-term assessment that will help you unlock chakra" Naruto started to get excited but was shot down when he realized it was 'long term Assessment' "How long will it take?" he asked hoping for maybe a few months, "Based on your age, approximately 1.5 years" Naruto groaned at that. "And that's why Naruto you are too impatient. If I were to send you back in time to the 3rd great shinobi world war you could probably be defeated by a Stone academy student."

Naruto felt insulted but he understood. Being humble is what keeps you from going rouge. "Alright then, but I have a single question: could you help me with my fuinjutsu?" Kurama groaned. He hated that branch of the ninja arts, but he would do it for this kid. He killed his parents after all "Alright but get some sleep, we will do it tomorrow" after that he kicked Naruto out of his mindscape.

Alright well that's the end of this chapter. I'm so sorry for the 1-2 month 'break' I guess. I was sick for two weeks and then I was on vacation in the Bahamas for a week, then I decided to take a break from writing (I was acting like I did something that whole time) and now we are here. I hope i can get chapter three out by at least next month :) (lol I'm kidding I'll try my best to get it out next week) Anyway adios!