A.N. I dont own Naruto, Kenshin, or any other anime or manga used herein – Seijuro Himura is an OC of my creation, The Kitsune Kon-kon is from the doujinshi "Naruto-Tenshi" by Nekoni.

-)::(- Mission to Hi Inari Taisha: His Mother's Son-)::(-

In Konoha, a village bred for conflict and war, it is unsurprising to learn that a good many parables and fables exist to teach young shinobi in training the importance of things such as stealth and disguise. One such parable, written to demonstrate the idea of hiding in plain sight was called "The Candle and the Bonfire."

Once, before the time of ninjas there lived a great king of men. He had all he desired and many warriors under his control, but A seer came to him one day with dark news, "Beware oh great king! By a candle's flame shall an assassin slay thee!" The king called in his guards and told them to keep careful watch for any candle's light in the night, in hopes to catch the one who hunted him. For many years no sign of danger was ever reported, and so one summer, the king called a great night feast to be served on the courtyards. Soon a great bonfire was lit, and a scaffold erected in front of it to overlook the festivities, so that the king might look down upon his subjects. The night went on with the guards keeping watch, but suddenly the revelers screamed in shock, as the scaffold was noted to be somehow ablaze, the ropes of its front supports burning away into ash. Before the king or his guards could leap free it toppled over onto the raging bonfire. The people called out to the Seer, accusing him of lying to the king, for surely a bonfire was no candle. But a lone man stepped forward and held out a half burned candle to the crowd and said, "Nay people of the land, he lies not. By this candle was the great king laid low, alone in darkness the candle is bright, but against greater lights it is a dim thing. With its flame I lit the scaffold's ropes ablaze, for it was impossible for the guards to see such a tiny spark against the fury of such abundant fires as the bonfires of the King".

Hinata walked slowly to the grove that served as team 7's meeting place, her mind heavy with the questions the day had brought to her, both from her own family, and the strange shadow that hung over Naruto's past. She remembered the tale of the candle and the bonfire quite well from her childhood, and in many ways, it seemed that Naruto's past followed this pattern. Once removed from the everyday facts he lived in, the evidence that something was unique about him and his parents became suddenly clear. But within the crowd of people in Konoha, he was just another face, another in a long list of unimportant citizens and low ranking ninja. Now however, it seemed that Naruto wanted to reveal at least a part of his past to his two teammates, and Hinata's instincts told her that this was more important than the infighting of her clan – and might even help her control that infighting. The heiress frowned slightly at that thought, not liking the callousness it implied. She still loved the blode haired ninja deeply, and didn't even want to entertain thoughts that sounded manipulative of him. After all, she thought, he had gotten enough of such things from the rest of Konoha.

From her left Hinata noticed Sakura join her on the road, a medic pack slung over one shoulder. Nodding to the pink haired teammate Hinata picked up the conversation as they walked slowly to the training fields, "Sakura-san, you got the message too?"

the medic nodded, holding out a small scroll in one hand for Hinata to see, "Yeah, delivered by a fox named Kon-Kon. You know, I never realized how cruel the people of Konoha are to Kitsune before tonight." Sakura said saddly, eyes distant.

Hinata cocked her head to the side in confusion, "Oro? What do you mean?"

Sakura narrowed her eyes in memory, "My mother attacked Kon-Kon when she saw her. Hit the poor little thing with a broom and screamed things at her that didn't make sense. It was like she thought that little kitsune was going to attack and eat us. It makes me sick to think my mom would do that to a helpless animal"

The medic punched a lightpost to emphasize her displeasure, and the pole buckled in from her blow.

Hinata nodded in thought, "That is disturbing indeed, especially considering Konoha's guardian kami is Inari."

Sakura turned her head to look at Hinata, "Kitsune are his messengers, right?"

Hinata shook her head, "not all of them, just the clan of Kitsune called the Uzumaki-no-youko, but im fairly sure Kon-kon-chan is one of them."

Sakura eyed Hinata with intrest, "Uzumaki? Do you think they're connected to Naruto's family?"

"Perhaps, It would explain why many of the adults call him "The fox brat" when they think no one can hear them." Hinata supplied with some concern on her face.

"Fox brat? I've never heard him called that." Sakura said with obvious surprise, her eyes wide and face white.

Hinata laughed hollowly, "You forget I used to follow him everywhere. I heard people say things about him that were apalling. I hate myself for that time, Sakura, I could have helped him, but I was too afraid of him rejecting me to do it."

Sakura could see the tears welling up in the girls lavender eyes and so the pink haired kunoichi wrapped her teammate in a comforting hug. "Hey! You did help him! Remember the Chunin exams? He beat Neji because you believed in him when no one else would."

Hinata smiled at her teammate wistfully, "I don't actually remember the fight… I… passed out from overexertion from my injuries from the preleminary round."

They continued on in silence after that, ariving at the team 7 training field to see a very silly and somewhat sad sight, Kakashi Hatake, still bound up in wire, had inched his way across the clearing, and was reading the new Icha-Icha, turning the pages with his teeth. Sitting on the Jonin's back, with Kon-kon in his lap, was Naruto. The Blonde haired Genin had a large map in his hands and was talking to Kakashi as the girls approached. "I don't get it Kakashi-Sensei, the map shows three inner shrines! How are we supposed to know which one to go to! And why does the shrine grounds have to cover three whole montains!"

Kakashi didn't turn to look at his student as he answered, "Im not an expert on the Hi Inari Taisha, Naruto, but I would assume it's to protect the Shrines treasures." Naruto frowned but then smiled as he noticed the girls sit down across from him on a log.

"Hey, Sakura-chan, Hinata-chan, you made it!" The boy all but shouted, clearly pleased that they had come. His expression soured though as he looked down at Kon-kon and sighed. It was the moment of truth for him, His future hung on the acceptance of these two girls, and he knew it.

"Hinata, Sakura, you know Im an orphan right? How my parrents died on the night the Kyuubi attacked?" Naruto waited for the nod of two heads before he continued. "Well that's not the whole story, not by a long shot." He looked down at Kon-kon and scratched her ear for a moment before he started again, "The biggest secret of that night is that the Kyuubi wasn't attacking us of her own free will, she was forced to."

Sakura and Hinata gasped at this revelation and the pink haired kunoichi voiced their confusion, "Forced? How?"

Kakashi looked up from his novel to answer for his student, "The Mangekyo Sharingan. We don't know what member of the Uchiha used Tsukiyomi on her, but we know from records of the battle between the Shodaime, Senju Harashima, and the Uchiha Clan leader at that time, Uchiha Madara, that Tsukiyomi can allow an Uchiha to control the Kyuubi. The Kyuubi doesn't remember who forced her to attack us however."

Hinata caught the slip before Sakura, "Doesn't remember? but she was killed by the Yondaime wasn't she?"

Kon-kon barked out a dry laugh at that "Onee-sama Killed by Minato-san? Yeah, right."

Naruto glared down at the small fox, "Kon-kon…" the fox pinned her ears and looked away as Naruto turned to face the girls again, "The Kyuubi isn't dead, the Yondaime knew she was being controlled so he used a forbidden technique to seal the Kitsune in a living host, that way he saved both her and the village – at the cost of his life" Sakura jumped in to comment her eyes wide with shock, "You mean like Garra and Shukaku?"

naruto shook his head, "not quite, the Kyuubi is the leader of the Uzumaki-no-youko, a sacred temple guardian, no normal host would survive the amount of youki the Kyuubi's soul produces, even a newborn baby would be killed, the host had to be related to her, it had to be at least partially a kitsune itself."

Hinata frowned her face white, eyes welling with tears. Sakura looked like she was trying to decide whether she should do so as well or comfort the dark haired girl. Naruto looked away, unable to face them, "My name is Uzumaki Naruto, of the Uzumaki-no-youko. My mother is Kushina Uzumaki, the Kyuubi no Kitsune, I don't know who my father was, but the Yondaime sealed my own mother in me using the hake fuin shiki to save Konoha from her, and to save her from Konoha."

Sakura grit her teeth to keep from screaming in rage, all that hatred towards him, its cause was now obvious to her. He had done nothing more than be born and he was scorned as a monster. How did they justify that behavior? How did she? she realized with disgust that she had been just as guilty of abusing him as the older generations, and she hadn't even had a reason. How had he remained sane? she thought with no small amount of admiration. Garra had suffered a similar fate and had all but lost his mind to the power of the Ichibi, Naruto had the Kyuubi sealed in him, a creature unimaginably more powerful. A sudden noise startled Sakura from her thoughts. Looking up the medic was surprised to see Hinata latched onto the Fox-boy tears streaming down her pale face. She was muttering appologies to the boy with such speed that her speech was a hiccup-filled blur to her teammates who looked at each other with concern.

Sakura eyed Naruto evenly and spoke with a slight smile, "I think what Hinata is trying to say, Naruto, is that we are a team, and we stick together. We wish we could have been there for you earlier, but since we can't change the past, we are just going to stick to the present. Right Hinata?" the dark haired girl nodded into Naruto's chest as he patted her back in concern. Sakura sat down next to him and smiled as Kon-kon leapt into her lap. She eyed the two as they intereacted before asking her next question. "So, Naruto, what's this mission to the Hi Inari Taisha about anyway?"

Naruto looked up from comforting the Hyuuga heiress to answer, his own eyes shining with joy at the acceptance of the two. "Mom thinks she found a loophole in her prison sentence, and she needs me to go to the Hi Inari Taisha to retrieve the Houshi no tama stored there."

Kon-kon continued for him "A houshi no tama stores a portion of a myobu's – that is a guardian Kitsune's power. We give them to the people we are sworn to protect as servents of Inari. Kushina Onee-Sama was the guardian of all of Fire Country so her Houshi no Tama is kept at the Hi Inari Taisha."

Hinata turned to Kon-kon in confusion, "But what do we need it for?"

Naruto answered with a nervous laugh, "We're going to destroy it."

Sakura sputtered, "Destroy a temple relic?"

Kon-kon shook her head, "its worthless as a symbol of protection now, the people of Konoha broke the contract when they attacked Naruto after the sealing, showing that they didn't want the Kitsune's protection any more. By rights Kushina should have her power returned to her."

Naruto nodded at Kon-kon's explanation and continued for her as Hinata sat back down next to him her eyes red from tears. "Mom told me that she intends to use the youki and chakra stored in the Houshi no tama to form a new body she can use outside the seal, with out actually breaking the seal itself."

Hinata's eyes widened in surprise at this, and Sakura looked astonished. "Nani?!"