It was strange. One by one the figures lowered their hoods to reveal boys that resembled Naruto, but they all had distinguished features. The extent of the shattered mind surprised Yamanaka-san. It was shattered literally into different personalities, all with their own appearances and all as individual as siblings. You could still see resemblance, but they were definitely separate entities. They were even able to communicate with each other, something that shouldn't be possible with a split personality. Yamanaka-san was amazed. He almost didn't know how to proceed now. Something stood out more to him than the rest. Orange hair and red eyes were mixed in with the different versions of Naruto. Something dawned on Yamanaka-san.
"Naruto, do you know about the Kyuubi?" He asked, looking down at the boy beside him. Five voices answered him simultaneously. "That is why our name is no longer truly Naruto." Yamanaka took a step back. It seemed that despite looking so separate, they were still connected at the core. That would explain how the separate personalities were able to communicate with each other. Yamanaka-san was intrigued by how this came to be. He would need more sessions with Naruto to find that out, because the jutsu was already wearing him down and he only had moments left inside Naruto's mind.
Yamanaka-san looked around carefully, trying to find the underlying connection and reason for the fusion between Naruto's mind and the Kyuubi's. He looked into the deep cracks between the platforms and his eyes widened. Red en blue chakra swirled underneath, completely mixed but still seperate. Sparks of purple lit up now and then, jumping up from the slow moving massive whirlpool underneath the platform. It was beautiful. Mesmerising. The depths seemed endless and the soft swirls were hypnotizing. He felt like he could stare at this forever.
"Mr. Inu-chan!" Naruto yelled cheerfully. He looked up a bit dazed only to realise he was dangerously close to the edge. If Naruto hadn't called out, he might have stepped off without realising it. He had no idea what would happen to him if he fell into the chakra, but as he looked around and caught a terrifyingly sadistic smile on one of Naruto's faces, he was convinced it wouldn't have been pleasant to say the least.
Yamanaka-san turned to the Naruto next to him. "I think I need to go. I've been here too long as it is. I'm almost out of chakra." Naruto gave him a big smile and nodded. He grabbed Yamanaka-san's hand and before Yamanaka-san was able to react, Naruto pushed some red and blue chakra into him. It swirled on the back of his hand, just underneath his skin, before settling as a purple mark, a fox head surrounded by nine tails. The tails formed a swirl around the fox head.
Yamanaka-san looked up from his hand just in time to see Naruto step up to him and push him backwards. Somehow, the boy was able to make him fall backwards with such a simple move, displaying complete control over his own mind, which was exceedingly impressive for a 6 year old. He fell right through the mind's barriers and was back in his body before he fully realised what Naruto had just done. Naruto had pushed him out of his mind with childish ease. Yamanaka-san wasn't even able to fight it at all, meaning that the only reason he was able to be in Naruto's mind to begin with, was because Naruto was letting him. An important and noteworthy detail.
Yamanaka-san looked at the boy in front of him wide eyed. He was slightly panting from the effort of being in someone's mind, but it felt only like a physical exhaustion rather than a chakra exhaustion. He looked down at his hand to find the purple fox mark slowly fading and as it faded, Yamanaka-san felt like his chakra was replenished. He looked up again to see Naruto smiling brightly at him and the Hokage standing behind him. The Hokage had already draped a fluffy bathrobe around Naruto's shoulders. "Are you alright? There was a flash of light just now." The Hokage said, looking slightly worried. "Y-yes, I'm... feeling great, actually." Yamanaka-san answered.
"Okay, well, if you're sure..." The Hokage sounds doubtful, but when Yamanaka-san nodded the Hokage gave a nod back in acceptance. "I will await your report at the end of the afternoon. I'll need to find a place for Naruto for the night." The Hokage said. He hadn't even finished his sentence before Naruto jumped into his arms, hugging him tightly.
Naruto tilted his head backwards, so he was looking at Yamanaka-san upside down. An evil grin spread over his face and his red eye twinkled. "I tagged a dog. You're mine now..." He hissed. A shiver ran down Yamanaka-san's spine at the look Naruto was giving him. It reminded him of the one that grinned sadistically when he had almost fallen into the swirling pool of chakra. "I saw your mind, doggie, I know who you really are..." Naruto continued teasingly. He sounded almost demonical as he spoke. Both the Hokage and Yamanaka-san were left speechless. The way Naruto switched in personality was unnerving. There was no way they could let Naruto go like this. They would need to figure something out in the next few years if they wanted Naruto to be a part of society again.
"Ya-ma-na-ka-san~..." Naruto said in a sing song voice, his red eye a little less bright, but still more bright then the blue one. Naruto sat up and turned around in the Hokage's arms so he would be facing Yamanaka-san straight on. "Sit." One simple word left Naruto's mouth accompanied by Naruto pointing at the floor. Yamanaka-san blinked once in response and then blacked out for a second. Before he really realised what had happened, he found himself sitting on the floor, a maniacally giggling Naruto hanging over him in the Hokage's arms and a shocked look on the Hokage's face. "What..?" Yamanaka-san said, feeling a little dazed, before standing up quickly.
Both of them tried to get an answer out of Naruto, but he was laughing so hard they didn't get anywhere. Finally, they gave up and decided it would be best to get Naruto situated somewhere safe before discussing the issue further. They also planned another meeting to further evaluate Naruto's mind, but for now, as long as Naruto showed that he was aware and in control of his actions and didn't do anything truly wrong, they decided to leave it.
Given the situation, they wanted to let Naruto stay somewhere where there would be a lot of control, but without it being obvious that he was under surveillance. Cat and Dog had joined them as soon as they left the interrogation room and tried to think of a place as well.
He couldn't be placed among civilians and the Hokage was adamant against the cells, though that would have probably been the most safe solution until they knew more. Eventually, it was Dog that came with a good proposal. They would give Naruto a room in the ANBU training facility. Cat and Dog would live with him. That way, people that knew about the situation were in charge of Naruto, he wouldn't be in direct contact with civilians, there would be enough ANBU to keep an eye on him and Naruto seemed to be happy to stay with Dog. At least, the happy, cheerful personality seemed to be happy with it and since the personalities were communicating, the Hokage figured that the rest of Naruto also agreed.
Kami, it was weird to think like that. To see one boy, know that actually you're looking at five people, but then at the core he was still one person. Then remembering that the one core person was actually a six year old and an ancient chakra demon fox. The Hokage was getting a headache just thinking about it.
Letting Naruto live with Cat and Dog seemed to have been the right decision. For a couple of years, Naruto lived with Dog and Cat. Every few months, he attended a new session with Yamanaka-san, who was equally shaken by the sessions as he was interested in Naruto's mind. More often than not, Naruto pulled a small prank on him like the 'sit' prank, because it turned out to be a prank when they finally got an answer out of him. They soon figured out that the control had something to do with the purple fox mark, but it only seemed to last as long as the mark was visible.
Yamanaka-san wasn't the only one either to have been given the mark. It seemed to be reserved for those who Naruto had a liking for. The Hokage and Dog both had to deal with the mark from time to time. There was one more ANBU as well, Weasel, but unfortunately he disappeared soon after building a bond with Naruto. Weeks after the incident, Naruto had still been hard to handle, showing way more of his red eye then his blue and it took a lot of effort to get Naruto back to being prominently cheerful.
Unfortunately for Cat, Naruto never truly warmed up to him, despite him putting in a lot of effort to get into Naruto's good graces. Cat somehow seemed to draw out Naruto's sadistic side and it happened more then once that when they were left alone, Dog would walk in on Naruto pretty much torturing poor Cat. Still, Cat was absolutely adamant about being by Naruto's side. So much so the Hokage became worried enough about Cat's intentions to have Cat undergo a session with Yamanaka-san too. It seemed that the barrier, the red and blue chakra and the purple sparks still filled his mind and all he wanted was to see it again, but other then that, his intentions towards Naruto were pure.
The other ANBU often trained with Naruto around. Occasionally, he participated in the trainings, which usually ended in some badly injured ANBU and a very evilly laughing Naruto. But even in Naruto's darkest moments, he never showed any indication about turning on the village, or more specifically, on the Hokage. No matter what personality was at the forefront, he was always loyal to the Hokage and to Dog. The Hokage feared the day either Dog or he would die, because he really didn't know what Naruto would do then. If the disappearance of Weasel was any indication, it would be a dark time for Konoha if that happened.
On a few rare occasions, Naruto would be out and about the village without supervision. This time was a couple of weeks after his tenth birthday. He had spend every day after his birthday asking and begging anyone who had even the slightest say in the matter if he could go into town on his own. He had saves up pocket money and wanted to go spend it on clothing and weapons. Alone. What he actually wanted were weapons that nobody would know about, so he had at least some surprises from even the people closest to him.
The last thing the Hokage saw before Naruto disappeared into thin air was his red eye flashing up and an evil smirk crawling onto his face. The Hokage couldn't help but feel like he just might have made a mistake in letting Naruto go without supervision... Welp, what's done is done. All he could do now was wait for the first reports to come in...
...Just to be sure, though, he sent a few ANBU after the boy...
As soon as Naruto left the building, the hissing and name calling started. He ignore it, as always, since he wasn't supposed to be able to hear them. Well, most of them at least. There were always those who deliberately talked about him within earshot. Brave Souls. Or just ignorant. Probably the latter. Either way, Naruto ignored them and made his way to a clothing shop. He actually needed some new clothing and not just weapons and this would be the first time he went to buy them alone.
As he walked through the village, he started whistling a tune. It was a happy song, but he made it sound sad by slowing it down and lowering the tone. People looked up at him and glared after him, but nobody actually said anything to him so he continued on his way.
When he neared the shop, there were a couples of kids around his age, maybe a year older. He stopped and looked at them. He never really interacted with children his own age before, seeing as there were none in the ANBU training facility.
The kids were kind of blocking the door, but not really. They were just a bit awkwardly situated in front of the door, like they just walked out of the shop and stopped to look around without considering that they were blocking the door. Naruto had noticed similar behaviour in most adults. He guessed it must be something human to forget where you are as soon as you pass through something like a door opening.
Naruto would need to ask them to move to get in, but he decided against it. That wasn't a fun way to get them out of the way. Tilting his head he just kept looking at them until one of them noticed him watching. The girl of the group looked at him before she said something that made the two boys look up at his as well.
Naruto let his head drop a little, not breaking eye contact with the girl and letting a small evil grin spread across his face. She pulled her hand up and took a step back in fright. The boys stepped in front of her defensively, both taking a very different stance and with both boys the stance looked a bit clumsy and unpracticed, but Naruto guessed that they were untrained. It looked better than academy level, but was definitely poorer than Chunin. Those must have been family stances, because they were different from the ones the academy taught.
He took a few steps forward, switching his evil grin to a wide smile so fast he could see the kids second guessing themselves in whether or not the threat they saw in Naruto before was just imaginary. Before they had time to think, Naruto was standing in front of the girl, leaning forward and staring her right in the face. He saw her eyes flash back and forth from his bright red one to his dull blue one and he saw the fear building up in hers. It only made him smile wider to know that kids reacted even stronger to his behaviour than adults did. Or at least were more open in showing their reaction.
When she moved to step back, Naruto grabbed her shirt, holding her in place with ease. He stepped even closer and found that he needed to look up to her to keep eye contact. "What's your name?" He asked, his voice barely more than a whisper, but still clearly audible. She gulped and her eyes flashed to the boys that were now standing behind Naruto, ready to intervene.
Naruto giggled. This was exciting. They didn't know him or what he could do. They went at him without fear of who he was or what he could do... and what he had done before... It was invigorating to see the boys being so fearless to protect the girl. He delighted in the fear in her eyes for seeing what the boys couldn't, murderous intent. Of course, under the Hokage's orders he wasn't allowed to kill again, but to see someone's eyes fill with fear just by the way he looked at them, he could live with just that for the time being.
The girl let out a whimper, but didn't answer his question because she was so scared. That was the trigger for the boys to move. One of the boys stepped towards the girl and the other grabbed Naruto's shoulder. "Hey, let her go. You're scaring her!" His voice was brave, unshaken and Naruto almost admired his bravery. Naruto let go of her and turned around, seamlessly switching from his burning red eye to shining blue. Sad eyes and a genuine sad frown now plastered his face. "I-I'm sorry..." He shifted his weight from one leg to the other and looked down, fidgetting with his hands.
After a few seconds he looked up through his lashes. His small stutter combined with his facial expression disarmed the boys immediately. One scratched the back of his head, blushing slightly and muttering that it was okay and the other just looked from Naruto to the girl and back again. Naruto could practically see him question the girl's fear filled reaction and for a second, Naruto's red eye flared before dimming down again. None of them really noticed, but then again, none of them knew about him. The ANBU were a lot more aware of who he was and what to look out for and Naruto enjoyed the fact that these kids didn't know inmensely.
He turned around again, his sad expression replaced by a sadistic smile once again and his red eyes flaring back to life. "I-I'm Naruto, who are you, onee-chan?" The girl stepped back, pulling her hand up to her chest and looking absolutely terrified. She didn't say anything, but turned around and ran away. The boys ran after her, the one that blushed before called back an apoligy as he ran by and even waved at Naruto. Naruto waved back with a big smile plastered on his face again.