When Naruto arrives home after his first day of training, Kazama is teaching one of her evening violin classes. This particular student is an ex member of the ANBU Black Ops - a young man who is currently doing therapy for his PTSD. The Hokage asked Kazama to teach the young man the violin as music therapy, since it was the only thing he would agree to. Kazama is no trained therapist. She is a trained music teacher. She shows no pity for this emotionally distressed young shinobi.
No pity at all.
And she certainly isn't going easy on him. "Lift your bow higher, you are sliding it across the strings." Kazama nudges the young man's arm up a bit. "Your index finger should be here for F#." She nudges his finger into place.
Naruto wanders into Kazama's music studio and sits down on a chair by the door - the one her youngest students' mothers sit on.
The ex-ANBU turns and looks at him.
"Focus!" snaps Kazama. She is sorely tempted to get one of those short cane switches that some teachers use as pointers when teaching. It would definitely make her look intimidating, but she would be too tempted to whack her students with it instead of gently nudging their hands, arms and fingers into the right place.
The ex-ANBU goes back to stumbling through his fourth violin lesson.
Naruto sits quietly and watches. Naruto knows better than to interrupt a music lesson for anything less than an emergency. Besides, it's Naruto's turn next. Kazama started teaching Naruto to play the violin not long after he stopped floating. He was very reluctant to learn at first.
Seven year old Naruto is sitting quietly listening to Arashi talk a kilometer a minute about his latest history project. Kazama is not sure whether that is a good thing or a sign Naruto is planning something. But then Naruto interrupts and starts asking questions faster than Arashi can answer, and Kazama knows that Naruto was simply fascinated by what he was hearing.
"I'm afraid I'm going to have to steal Naruto for a while," says Kazama.
"Aww," both Arashi and Naruto droop sadly.
"You can have him back in half an hour," says Kazama. "Come Naruto, I am going to start teaching you to play the violin."
"But I don't wanna!" whines Naruto, pouting and crossing his arms.
"Go on, Naruto," Arashi encourages him. "It'll be fun."
"No it won't!" protests Naruto, slouching down in his chair.
"At least try it before deciding that," encourages Arashi.
"At least just try it this once," says Kazama. She did not consider the possibility that Naruto wouldn't want to learn.
"Fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine," Naruto drags out his reply, sliding off his chair on to the floor.
Kazama sighs and pulls Naruto off the floor. He reluctantly allows her to lead him by the hand into her music studio. Once inside, Kazama sits Naruto down pulls out her smallest violin - which was actually hers once - and shows him how to hold it. Naruto very reluctantly cooperates, with much huffing, sighing and refusing to sit properly.
Kazama fights her way through the lesson for about ten minutes, and is about to give up when Iruka wanders into the studio.
"Iruka-nii!" Naruto whines. "I don't wanna learn to play the violin, dattebayo!"
"Why not?" asks Iruka.
"What does THIS" - he holds out the violin and bow - "have to do with being a ninja?"
Iruka considers this question and replies, "When you are a full fledged ninja, sometimes you need to sneak into a village or castle or something without anyone knowing you are a ninja. A travelling musician would be a great cover story - that is, if you could play portable instrument. Like the violin."
Naruto screws up his little face in thought. Finally he smiles and says, "Okay, I'll learn the violin." Then he turns to Kazama and says, "Grandma, you can teach me how if you want. I don't mind."
Naruto didn't instantly decide to like his violin lessons, though. He still put up a fight if he wasn't in the mood, and he 'forgot' to practice on many occasions. However, a few months later, just as Kazama began to wonder if she should just forget about the whole thing, Naruto stopped forgetting to practice, then he stopped complaining about everything he could during his lessons. Then, about half a year after Kazama started teaching Naruto, he showed up in her studio about ten minutes before his lesson, sat down in the corner and waited for the kid whose lesson was before his to finish. Then for the first time, he actually showed some measure of enthusiasm during his weekly lesson.
But what really surprised Kazama was when, a week later, he demanded to have his lesson twice a week.
Kazama snaps herself out of her thoughts and cuffs the ex ANBU on the back of the head. "How many times do I have to tell you to LIFT YOUR BOW ARM?"
"I'm sorry!" the young man apologises meekly.
Kazama glances over at the clock hanging opposite her. It is time for the lesson to finish. "Looks like we are out of time," she says. "You better practice keeping that arm up."
After the ex-ANBU is gone (through the window), Kazama turns her attention to Naruto. "How did your training go?" she asks. Jiraiya is not staying with them, he decided to stay in a hotel nearby. What kind of hotel, Kazama does not want to think about.
"I learned how to walk on water," says Naruto, with only half of his usual post-training enthusiasm.
Oh dear. "What went wrong?" asks Kazama, kneeling down in front of Naruto.
Naruto takes a deep breath and says, "You know all that stuff you told me about stealing and slavery?"
The question catches Kazama off guard. "Yes," she says, cautiously.
"Well, Pervy Sage wants me to learn how to take the Nine Tails' chakra," explains Naruto, looking down. "But if I did, wouldn't that be stealing? And Pervy Sage said that people have been imprisoning all the tailed beasts for a long time to use their power, but isn't that slavery? The Nine Tails is already a prisoner, would using his power make him my slave and me a thief? Are people who seal away tailed beasts bad people?"
Kazama sucks in her breath as she realizes what Naruto is really asking: was Minato a bad person?
Then Naruto adds, "Are jinchuuriki bad people?"
This is no light question that Kazama can make up something that will satisfy Naruto's curiosity until she can come up with a better answer. This is serious, and if Kazama gives Naruto the wrong answer, he will end up either hating himself, or the entire shinobi world.
"Am I the monster everyone says I am?"
Kazama puts her hands on Naruto's shoulders, looks him in the eye and says, "No, you are not a monster, or a bad person. Don't EVER think that for one second. I don't know much about jinchuuriki, tailed beasts or the ways of the shinobi world, but if this is really bothering you, then perhaps we should find out more about this."
"It is bothering me," says Naruto.
"What's bothering you?" asks Iruka, wandering in, as he is prone to do.
"Pervy Sage wants me to use the Nine Tails' power, but I don't think that is right," explains Naruto. "He said other jinchuuriki control their tailed beasts, but isn't that slavery?"
"I've never really thought much about it," admits Iruka. "But when you put it like that, it does sound bad. I suppose you know that the Hidden Whirlpool was far above any other village in terms of sealing?" Naruto nods and Iruka continues. "Your seal is the strongest ever used to seal away a tailed beast. In fact, you actually have two seals: one to hold the fox and one to regulate the chakra that leaks out of the seal and into your chakra networks. Most jinchuuriki have much weaker seals, and no regulator seal. Because of this, the tailed beast's chakra would sometimes overwhelm their jinchuuriki, and the tailed beast would take over, making the jinchuuriki attack everything and anyone close enough to be in the blast zone. Those jinchuuriki have no choice but to constantly divert some of their chakra to suppressing the tailed beast inside them. Those jinchuuriki don't have the luxury of contemplating the ethics behind it, controlling their tailed beast is a matter of life or death."
"But couldn't they make friends with the tailed beast?" asks Naruto. "Are tailed beasts really evil like everyone says?"
"I don't think anyone can really be evil," says Kazama. "Everyone has something good about them - isn't that where the yin and yang comes from?"
"That is a good point," says Iruka, nodding. "But I'll tell you something I heard somewhere - I'm not sure if it is true, but most people think it is. In the Hidden Cloud, there lives what is called a Perfect Jinchuuriki. Her name is Killer B, and rumor has it that after intense training she managed to, not only gain perfect control over her tailed beast's chakra, but also befriended him. Perhaps she is the one you need to speak with about this. But until you get such an opportunity, do whatever feels right to you, Naruto."
Naruto frowns thoughtfully and asks, "So what about the people who seal away the tailed beasts? Are they bad people for doing that?"
Iruka sighs. "I cannot answer that. The Tailed Beasts were sealed away because they were threatening humanity - or at least that is the official story. When the First Hokage hunted down the tailed beasts with Madara Uchiha they sealed them all away except the Nine Tails. The rest Lord First gifted to other shinobi villages in an attempt to develop good cross-village relations. Hashirama also gathered up the various summoning contracts and shared them around the villages as well. The First Hokage did what he thought was right to create an equal balance of power amongst the newly formed shinobi nations. If he had not done what he did, the shinobi world would've been plunged into war before it even got properly established. Whether what he did was good or bad, I do not know. All I can say is that Lord First thought it was right when he did it."
"Why didn't they seal away the Nine Tails?" asks Kazama. "How did he even end up in the Leaf if they never found him?"
"I never said they didn't find the Nine Tails," says Iruka. "Just that they didn't seal him away. Madara entered a summoning contract with the Nine Tails. When Madara defected and fought Lord First, Lord First's wife, Mito Uzumaki, sealed the Nine Tails into herself to prevent Madara from using him as a partner in battle." Iruka places his hand on Naruto's head and finishes his lecture by saying, "The shinobi world is not straightforward enough to see good and bad as clear cut, with a firm line dividing the two. All anyone can do is what they think is right, and stand by their decision for as long as they are sure of it."