Naruto woke up the next morning with a loud yawn. As he got up and stretched he couldn't help smiling as he thought back to the day before, he learned his mom's name and was told she loved him! He also met the Nine-Tailed Fox who was kind of his dad, in a way. That also meant he had more family, two dads and a mom! "My family would have been the best ever, believe it!" He said to himself.
Naruto considered trying to see his fox Dad right away but decided to eat first. Going into his small kitchen Naruto prepared some instant ramen. After the terrible three minute wait he nearly inhaled the ramen. "Alright, time to see fox Dad!" He shouted, once again, to himself.
Quickly going to his couch he plopped down and began to think about being in the sewer that was his mind. For several minutes nothing seemed to happen, as he opened his eyes though he saw the cage.
"It seems you found your way here, very good." The Fox said happily.
"Yeah! I am awesome, believe it!" Naruto exclaimed shooting the Fox a thumbs up.
"So, I take it you want to hear about your mother?" The Fox asked, getting an excited nod from the young boy the Fox spoke on. "Very well, as I said her name was Uzumaki Kushina…" The Fox began to tell Naruto what he knew of Kushina, how he came to be sealed in her, her nicknames, her inhuman love of ramen (which delighted Naruto beyond belief), and of the night she died.
"Wow! Mom was amazing, believe it! Thank you for telling me about her Dad!" Naruto said with tears, both of sadness from never meeting her and joy at hearing about her, flowing down his face.
"You aren't upset? It was me who killed her." The Fox asked, his features unreadable.
"It wasn't your fault, you said someone controlled you. Besides you are my Dad, I love you, believe it!" Naruto explained, shocking the Fox.
"W-well kit, that's about everything I can tell you about her. Now that you know her name ask that old man you mentioned. Surely he must have heard of her, a jinchuuriki is rarely an average ninja." The Fox said, trying to keep his composure. He really wasn't use to this kind of stuff, prior to being sealed he kept to himself, how was he supposed to be a father?
"You're right! The old man is the Hokage he should definitely know about Mom!" Naruto said, jumping with excitement. That news shocked the Fox once again.
'The Hokage should have known who my kit's mom was. He has to have been purposely keeping the truth from Naruto.' The Fox thought. Clearing his throat he spoke, "Kit, go meet with the Hokage. Afterwards tell me what he say, ok?"
"Of course Dad! We can learn more about Mom together, believe it!" Naruto said, waving goodbye as he faded back to the real world.
'I hope that old man had a good reason for lying to my Kit, if not…" The Fox thought menacingly.
Back in the real world Naruto awoke and quickly ran towards the door. He ran towards the Hokage tower at a speed no six year old should be capable of, blurring past everyone in his way. It wasn't long before he arrived at the base of the tower.
Casually Naruto strolled into the first floor of the tower, walking past the genin teams there who were picking up their d-rank missions. He headed up the stairs he went until he reached the top floor. Once there he walked up the the secretary and greeted her. "Hey Miss Yamanaka, is the old man free?"
"Now Naruto, what have I told you about calling me miss? Its Kaya chan." The secretary now identified as Kaya said with a kind smile. She was blonde, like many in her clan, and rather plump. She had retired as a ninja five years ago and had worked as the Hokage's secretary since then.
"Sorry Kaya chan, is the old man free? I need to talk to him." Naruto asked again looking apologetic for a split second.
"The Hokage is working on some paperwork but I doubt he would mind the distraction. Go on in." Kaya said with a smile. As Naruto walked into the Hokage's office Kaya couldn't help but laugh at the little kid's insistence on calling the Hokage "old man", it was sweet in away.
"Hey Old Man!" Naruto all but yelled as he opened the door. The aged Hokage looked up from his paperwork with a smile.
"Well hello, Naruto. What can I do for you this morning?" The Hokage asked, glad for a distraction from his paperwork.
"Well I was wondering if I could ask you about my mom?" Naruto asked, looking at the Hokage with hope filled eyes.
"I am sorry Naruto but I already told you I don't know who she is." The Hokage said sadly, he hated lying to the boy but for his sake it was best he not know.
"That's ok! I know her name I was just hoping you might know more about her." Naruto said. This shocked the old man, who was suddenly missing his paperwork.
"Oh, and what is her name?" He asked, activating a privacy seal under his desk just incase.
"Uzumaki Kushina! Kind of silly of you not to know we were related, I mean we each are Uzumakis." Naruto said with a smile.
"Who told you your mom was Kushina?" The Hokage asked with a forced calm, someone had divulged an S-Class secret he was livid.
"Oh, that was Dad! Though I guess you would know him as the Nine-Tailed Fox, believe it." Naruto said happily, oblivious to the effects his words had on the aged leader.
"D-did you say the Nine-Tailed Fox told you that?" The Hokage asked, signalling to one of his ANBU, in the ANBU sign language, to get Inoichi. If the fox was tampering with his surrogate grandson's mind it would have hell to pay.
"Yep! He knew her name and a little about her but only what she told him, he said you might know more." Naruto said, still oblivious. Tilting his head to the side he asked, "So do you?"
"Naruto, you can't tell anyone who your mother is, ok? She had many enemies outside of the village that may try to hurt you if they knew you were related." The Hokage said seriously, the smile on Naruto's face fell.
"Who would I tell? I mean I don't really have any friends except Kaya chan and noone is really willing to talk to me so." Naruto said, shrugging his shoulders at the end. The Hokage sighed.
"Now what do you mean, your dad is the Nine-Tailed Fox?" The Hokage asked, pushing through his want to comfort the boy.
"Well he is sort of my dad, he said his chakra was why I have my whiskers! And he's orange, believe it! He doesn't know who my other dad is though." Naruto said, happy to talk about his dad and not the fact he is alone.
Before the Hokage could speak a knock on the door is heard, with one last worried look at Naruto the Hokage spoke. "Come in, Inoichi." At this the door opened to reveal Yamanaka Inoichi, a stern looking blonde man with pupiless blue eyes.
"You called, Hokage sama?" Inoichi asked with a respectful bow.
"Yes, I need you to check on Naruto here. It seems his tenet has made contact with him." The Hokage said, his voice laced with concern.
"I see, what would you have me do? I am not a seal master." Inoichi said cautiously.
"Check his mind, see what you can find out." The Hokage said simply.
"Very well." Inoichi said.
"Hey, wait a minute! What are you guys talking about? What is a ten-net? And what do you mean check my mind? Don't talk about me as if I am not here, believe it!" Naruto yelled.
"I will just be looking through your memories to see if anything bad has happened recently. And tenet means someone who is staying with you or living in your house." Inoichi explained calmly.
"That's dumb, nothing bad has happened to me except a guy threw a bottle at me and I fell out of a tree. Other than that I learned about my family and met my dad. What could be bad about that, believe it?" Naruto countered.
"Well then my trip through your mind would be quite boring. But it is still necessary for me to do so, it won't hurt if that is what you are worried about." Inoichi said reassuringly.
"Fine, but you have to tell me more about my mom afterwards Old Man." Naruto conceded with a frown.
"Of course Naruto. You deserve to know about your mother." The Hokage said with a smile. Naruto nodded to indicate he was ready and Inoichi preformed the jutsu.
-Mindscape-
Naruto opened his eyes to see the now familiar sight of the sewer and cage. Inoichi stood a short distance away from Naruto frowning at the state of the boy's mind. 'A sewer is not the best indication of a healthy mind, but that may be due to neglect not the Fox' Inoichi thought clinically.
"Dad! We have a visitor!" Naruto yelled out happily. The Fox's eyes opened, causing a gasp to escape Inoichi.
"What are you doing in my Kit's mind, Yamanaka?" The Fox demanded.
"The old man wanted to check if anything bad had happened recently, so this guy is here to check. I don't see the point though." Naruto said with a pout before Inoichi could speak.
"Yes, I am here to insure no one has tampered with young Naruto's mind. Human or otherwise." Inoichi said seriously as he moved to inspect the room that made up Naruto's mind, his chakra already at work copying memories.
"Unlike you humans I do not tamper with the minds of others." The Fox said gruffly.
"Wait! They think you are messing with my mind? But why?" Naruto yelled out.
"They think of me as a beast, nothing more. Isn't that right, Yamanaka?" The Fox asked, turning its gaze on to the mind walker.
"I can not speak for others but I see you as a dangerous adversary who could manipulate a child. Though I see no signs of any genjutsu on the boy's mind, lies can be just as effective especially on a small child." Inoichi said, looking up from his examination of Naruto's mind and staring at the fox. "Though I will need time to fully sort through young Naruto's memories, I can only say it is better to be cautious. I would most definitely prefer you as an ally."
"My my, you change your tune so quickly, are you sure I won't simply lie? We foxes are known to be mischievous and untrustworthy." The Fox said with a toothy grin.
"You aren't lying, are you dad?" Naruto interjects, tears forming in his eyes. "You wouldn't do that, would you?"
"Of course not Kit. I am just trying to, uh, prank the Yamanaka. I told you the truth, I wouldn't lie to my Kit." The Fox said reassuringly, reaching one of his tails out through the bars to comfort the distraught child.
"I think I have enough information now, we can go back to the Hokage Naruto, it will take some time to properly shift through the memories anyway." Inoichi said, motioning for the boy to come closer to him.
"Yamanaka, if you hurt my Kit I will kill you. Remember that." The Fox growled.
"I have no intention of hurting young Naruto. I am not so cruel as to attack a child." Inoichi said as he ended the jutsu that brought him into Naruto's mind.
-The Hokage's Office-
The two began to stir after five minutes in Naruto's mind. "Well, Inoichi, what did you find?" The Hokage asked worriedly.
Inoichi shook himself before he responded, "I found no evidence of any genjutsu or memory alteration. Beyond what I observed between the two, I am afraid anything else will take time. I will have an initial report by tomorrow, and a more indepth one by the end of the week."
"I see, do you trust it?" The Hokage asked.
"It seems protective of Naruto, whether that was part of its deception is hard to say." Inoichi said, "From what I saw there seems to be genuine affection for young Naruto but I don't feel confident in stating anything conclusive."
"See that your first report is here by midday tomorrow, dismissed." The Hokage said as he turned to Naruto who was being unusually silent. "Well Naruto, I agreed to tell you more about your mother so what would you like to know?" That brought Naruto out of his silence.
"Well Dad only knew stuff she told him, so what was she like? What was our clan like? Do you have pictures of her?" Naruto began asking questions as quick as he could.
"Settle down Naruto, settle down. Now lets see, I have her a few of her things stored in my office. I planned on giving you these when you made chunin but I suppose now there is no point in waiting." The Hokage said standing up and walking towards the picture of the Fourth Hokage. He made some hand signs and the picture swung outwards revealing a safe, which he opened.
The Hokage pulled out two scrolls, one had a red tag and the other had an orange tag. "These here are storage scrolls; the red one has her swords and ninja equipment, don't open it until you graduate the academy ok? The orange has what is left of her personal effects, photos, clothes, and her books. Here I will show you how to open a storage scroll."
After that the Hokage sat down and told Naruto about his mother. About her love of ramen, her verbal tic, her squad mates, and her habit of pranking people. Naruto was delighted to learn just how much he and his mother had in common, when it was time for him to leave he felt light. The whole walk to his house he continued to feel light, the villagers' glares completely ignored.
Once home he hurriedly opened the orange storage scroll. Inside he found pictures of his mom with her friends and with the Fourth Hokage. "Wow! My mom knew the Fourth, I knew she was awesome, believe it!"
