II: Answers and Questions 2

Konoha: Five Years: Nine Months: Five days Ago

Jiraiya woke with a start. Something was wrong with Naruto, he could tell. Shaking his Sensei, awake he turned to see Naruto staring at him with bright red eyes."We need to talk before the Kit wakes up."

"Before the kit…" Jiraiya's eyes widened in panic. He rushed to Naruto's bed and yanked his shirt up. Sighing in relief at what he found, Jiraiya turned to the Hokage. "The seal's fine, but how is the fox talking?"

"I'm right here Ningen, I can hear you."Kurama growled.

"Sensei, have you ever heard of a Jinchūriki's seal acting like this?" Ignoring the Bijuu, Jiraiya turned to the Hokage, "Because I've never even heard a rumor that such a thing was possible."

Kurama used a brief flash of killing intent to catch the attention of the two old men. "Ignoring me is..."

Before he could finish, the widow shattered and a tall silver haired man barreled into the room. The man was dressed in the standard ANBU uniform; black shinobi pants under knee high shinobi sandals, a sleeveless turtleneck under a grey flak-jacket, long black gloves that came up to mid-bicep under grey forearm protectors, and a white porcelain mask, his mask patterned after a wolf. His long handled ANBU sword was held in a reverse grip and his left eye was glowing red in the shadows behind his mask. "I sensed the Kyuubi's killing intent from the building across the street. I came as fast as I could. Is Naruto alright?" The masked ninja sounded bored out of his mind, but the man's tense shoulders gave away his nerves.

"Stand down Inu; we were trying to figure out what had happened to Naruto when you burst through the window like that."

Seemingly forgotten Kurama's eyebrows twitched, "You could just ask me, you know. Iamstill here."

Inu jumped at the deep, almost demonic, voice coming from the seven year old boy. "What's going on, Hokage-sama?"

Palming his face Hiruzen said, "How about we let the fox tell us exactly what's going on, since he seems so eager to share?"

"Finally, if the kit didn't like you so much, and we were actually able to move, I'd have turned you two into grease stains on the walls, and floor…and ceiling, for ignoring me like that!" The fox grumbled, momentarily forgetting why he was even bothering to talk to these two. "You wanted to know what happened last night, right? Well to start, the kit is the either stupidest, or the craziest being ever, followed closely by your villagers."The Kyuubi began to explain how Naruto was thrown out of the orphanage, attacked, and nearly killed over the course of ten hours.

At this point, Inu interrupted, "I told you Naruto should have always had an ANBU bodyguard!"

With his face in his hands the Hokage said, "I'm sorry, Inu, I promise you after this I'll always have an ANBU escorting him were ever he goes. In fact, I'm willing to offer you the mission, long term, and make it S rank."

Now Inu wasn't a greedy person, unless a certain series of orange covered books were involved. He would have taken the mission even if it was only B or C rank, but seeing as the author of his favorite series in the room, he decided to charge a little extra. "I'll do it, but I want an autographed copy of every book in the Icha-Icha Paradise series, and an advance copy of each new book, also autographed!"

Both the Hokage and Jiraiya sweat dropped at this. "You realize," Jiraiya said slowly, in the tone of voice one uses for small children and the mentally challenged, "That with the amount of money you'd get from a long term S rank, you could buy 1,000 sets of my books right?"

"Ah-hem,"The Kyuubi interrupted, "don't you want to actually know what happened? At this rate, the kit's going to wake up long before I finish what I have to say!" Launching back into the story, Kurama continued with how, half dead, Naruto had entered his mindscape, and actually crawled into the seal, and how Kurama kept him alive until the Hokage and Jiraiya showed up."Now that that's over, let's get to the reason I'm actually talking to you. The Kit has a mile long list of questions about his family. Answer them, or I will. I'm giving you this chance to make it up to him, don't waste it." Kurama paused for a second, his eyes glassing over. "Seems the Kit is waking up-remember what I said."

"Morning Jiji. Who are the other two old guys with you?" Naruto yawned and stretched, his eyes still red, showing that the Kyuubi was indeed listening in.

"Oi brat, I'm only 21! Who are you calling old?" Inu grumbled.

Blinking at this new piece of information Naruto replied "Really? Only 21? But your hair's already grey and everything!"

Eyebrows twitching behind his mask Inu said, "I'm going to pretend you didn't call my very clearly silver hair, grey and call me old because of it. It would make a terrible impression to kill my new charge, especially in front of my bosses, less than a minute after I met him."

"Whatever. Jiji, I have a TON of questions for you! Last night you said I had a clan and that I was a direct descendent of the last clan head. Does that mean you know who my parents were? Why didn't you tell me about my parents? What about Kurama, did you know about him too? What was my clan good at? Where were they from? Why does no-one know about them? Was the matron telling the truth when she said that my parents abandoned me because I was a demon? Do I have any family left? Kurama said you knew who my father was, why didn't you ever tell me?" Naruto was babbling with excitement by the end of his mental list.

"Easy Naruto, one thing at a time. Technically, you're the sole surviving member of two clans, I only told them about you being a member of the Uzumaki clan last night because that's not a secret. And yes I know who your parents are. I'm sorry I haven't told you yet, but it's an S ranked secret. I had planned on telling you when you became a Chunin or turned 18-whichever came first-but I will tell you today. Your father founded a clan two years before you were born. Unfortunately, he died the night you were born, as did your mother, so your clan never really got past one member. Your father was known for his ability to create new techniques, and his love of experimenting with existing Jutsu, so I guess you could say that it's your father's clan specialty. Now the Uzumaki were known for three things: their incredible longevity-members living to see their 200th birthday was commonplace. Another thing they were well known for was their skill in fuinjutsu, the art of sealing-an Uzumaki Sealmaster with time to prepare was one of the most feared things in the Elemental Nations. There seemed to be nothing they couldn't do. In fact, their fearsome reputation was one of the main reasons Uzu no Kuni was wiped off of the map during the Third Great Shinobi War. The final thing they were known for was their high levels of Yang Chakra, which they used to create physical chains of Chakra to attack and bind things. Your father's clan was from Konohagakure, and your mother's was from Uzushiogakure, The Village Hidden in the Whirling Tides, the hidden village of Uzu no Kuni, The Land of Whirlpools. Now I have no idea who or what Kurama is but your parents neverabandoned you. They both died the night the Kyuubi was sealed inside you. Did that answer all of your questions?"

"No, you never told me if I have any family left, or why no one remembers such a famous sounding place like Uzu no Kuni! Oh, and Kurama's mad at me. Apparently you don't deserve to know his name, and he's sulk-I AM NOT SULKING BRAT!"

Temporarily stunned by the Kyuubi's interruption, Inu was the first to react. "The Kyuubi has a name? Why doesn't anyone know it?" he asked, perplexed.

"Blegh- that was weird, it felt like my tongue tied itself in a knot." Naruto complained, making weird noises with his tongue, like he was trying to get peanut butter off the roof of his mouth.

"Technically all of Konoha remembers Uzu no Kuni. Our Chunin and Jonin, wear the Uzumaki clan symbol on the back of their flak jackets. None of the ninjas talk about it because we are ashamed that we failed our longtime allies in their hour of need. By the time our ninja forces got to Uzushiogakure, it was already destroyed. Now to answer your last question, before I move on to your parents, yes you have one known relative on each side of your family. Oddly enough, it's the same person, Senju Tsunade, granddaughter of Senju Hashirama, the Shodai Hokage. She is your first cousin once removed on your mother's side of the family. Your great-grandfather's sister on your mother's side was Uzumaki Mito, wife of the Shodai Hokage. Your father's side of the family is a little more complicated. Technically, he was an orphan, but we did some research into his family before he started a clan. His family was distantly related to the Senju as well, which makes Tsunade your third or fourth cousin, I can't remember which."

Jiraiya frowned at this, "Wait, this brat's related to Tsunade-hime twice? Does she even know? Why are you letting his closest relative run around Hi no Kuni drunk off her ass?"

"Yes, no, and because currently she's mentally unfit to raise a child. The loss of Dan and Nawaki extinguished her Will of Fire. Now Naruto before I tell you your parents' names you must know that this is an SS class secret, and you may not tell anyone without my direct approval before you reach the rank of Jonin. Swear this to me now and then I will tell you your parents' names."

Naruto was upset. "Why should I have to promise not to tell anyone my parents' names? Did they do something bad?"

The Hokage shook his head, "No, Naruto your parents were heroes, but they made many enemies. If word got out ,to say Iwa or Kumo, you would have S ranked ninjas trying to kill you on a regular basis. It was for your own safety that we did not tell you who your parents were. So, promise me Naruto, that you won't tell anyone."

"I promise Jiji." Naruto swore as solemnly as he could, "Please, who are my parents?"

The third stroked his beard for a moment, "That's good enough for me. Your mother was Uzumaki Kushina, the Akai Chishio no Habanero (red hot-blooded habanero) and former Jinchuriki of the Kyuubi no Kitsune. Your father was Namikaze Minato, Konoha's Kiiroi Senkō (yellow flash), the Yondaime Hokage, and the man who sealed the Kyuubi in you after it escaped its prison."

Naruto's eyes were as wide as saucers-his parents were heroes! Famous ones! His biggest hero, the man he dreamed of surpassing, was his father! He'd never been so happy! So he did the one thing his brain was capable of handling.

He fainted.

Jiraiya stood up and walked over to the unconscious boy. "I wonder…" he muttered, pulling Naruto's eye open to see if his eyes were still red and silted like the fox's. What he saw was definitely not what he expected. Instead of the bright cerulean blue Naruto's eyes were normally, there was now a band of light purple around a contracted pupil. 'That color looks familiar, if I could only remember where I saw it last…' he wondered.

A/N

This Chapter is dedicated to Prince, the best cat anyone could ask for. I'll miss you buddy, have fun in the great sandbox in the sky.

Ciao

Xahn777

A/N 2.0 8/30/2012

Not much to say. New chapter is almost done, I wanted the land of sea arc to be over in two chapters but it looks like it's going to be three.