Disclaimer: Naruto and all associated characters are a property of Masashi Kishimoto. Motoko Kusanagi and all associated elements and characters of Ghost in the Shell are properties of Masamune Shirow.
Jutsu: Original (Translation)
Bijū/Summon/Android Speaking
Bijū/Summon/Android Thoughts
Mental Communications
[Chat Box/Text communication]
Edit 7/26
Beta v.1.2
October 10th 2246
Hokage's Office – Hokage Tower
Hiruzen sat behind his desk puffing on his pipe in a leisurely manner that was completely at odds with how the aged Hokage was feeling at the moment. Internally, the wizened shinobi was a bundle of nervousness and anxiety for what he was about to reveal. Not only for the sake of the village but for the sake of his young charge.
While Naruto's temperament had mellowed over the past four years, the young teen was still somewhat brash and emotional about sensitive topics. Despite all the experiences and training the young blond had been through over the past year, Naruto had maintained his high strung and over the top personality.
Considering who the boy's mother was, Hiruzen admitted that he could have been much worse.
There were parts of his father's personality that would break through the loud, and sometimes obnoxious front the boy maintained to protect himself. When the Academy challenges had managed to push the boy beyond his limit, that calm and collected nature emerged until Naruto felt secure in his success. Only then would he allow his audacious nature to re-emerge.
Looking up at the clock as another minute crawled by, the timeworn shinobi took a deep draw of his pipe and let the taste of the mellow tobacco linger in his mouth and lungs before exhaling to expel the smoke and, hopefully, a good amount of the stress that was winding him up at the moment. Considering what was about to take place, he knew that this night would be emotionally charged and stressful at best, with a strong chance that things could go badly.
Very badly.
He wouldn't deny the trepidation he felt at revealing the truth. A truth that had been hidden with the best intentions, but had condemned a young man to a life of misery and pain. Hiruzen couldn't put this off any longer, unfortunately, the situation was at a breaking point and forces outside of his control had forced his hand in revealing truths that should have remained hidden for much longer.
Tonight he would reveal the truth about the Kyūbi to young Naruto and possibly his heritage as well.
While the plan had been to wait until Naruto was older and more emotionally stable, that was no longer a possibility. The Anbu had discovered a plot concocted by one of the Academy instructors who was disgruntled with his position and was being primed as an asset by one of Orochimaru's moles. From what intelligence they had managed to gather, the teacher had planned to sabotage the final graduation exam next year. Since the Academy was very strict on accepting reapplications from students that had failed previously, Naruto would be desperate to do anything to succeed. Even something as desperate as breaking into the Hokage's office to steal the Scroll of Seals.
The instructor would convince Naruto that stealing the scroll and learning a technique from it before sunrise would prove that he was more than capable of becoming a genin and his failure would be overlooked. In order to complete this test, however, he needed to be able to escape outside of the village's walls and demonstrate the jutsu he learned to the instructor after a few hours of study. Once Naruto arrived with the scroll, the traitor planned to reveal a skewed and heavily biased version of the truth about the Kyūbi being sealed inside of him. The stress and volatile emotions from such a revelation would either provide the traitor with an opportunity to claim the scroll and kill the "demon brat" he blamed for the loss of his family or the Kyūbi would take the opportunity to break free in that moment and provide the traitor with a cover for his own escape.
Knowing how intelligent his former student was at manipulating people and their emotions, Hiruzen had no doubt that Orochimaru had more planned for this scenario then simply recruiting a mediocre chūnin, even if said chūnin managed to successfully deliver a scroll as valuable as the Scroll of Seals to him. What was more likely was that Orochimaru sought to use the isolation and hatred that Naruto had been subjected to as a way to drive Naruto away from Konoha and into his clutches or rampage the village after losing control of his emotions.
If Mizuki managed to execute his role in this perfectly, Naruto could react in one of two ways:
Either the blond would feel despondent and hopelessness at his situation, allowing the Kyūbi to take advantage of the situation and seize control of his container. There would be massive damage and loss of life before they finally managed to subdue the beast once more and if Naruto did survive the entire mess, he would never be the same again.
The villagers would call for his head and there wouldn't be much he could do to placate their call for blood. The "best" option at that point would be to hide the boy away in Root where his spirit would be broken and he would become nothing more than an emotionless weapon and stud to spread the Uzumaki bloodline for the benefit of Konoha.
The other potential outcome, which Hiruzen calculated as the most plausible, would have Naruto feeling betrayed and enraged at the village for his situation. Giving into his anger and hatred, the Kyūbi might take advantage of the situation to turn Naruto against the village if Orochimaru didn't do so first. Naruto would no longer be loyal to the village, his sense of injustice fueling his bitterness and hatred which would only fester in the boy as the idiot villagers fanned the flames of his hatred. Then, when the opportunity presented itself, Naruto would enact his revenge on the villagers and would likely generate a massive amount of casualties before he was put down. And that was only if the boy didn't decide to simply unseal the Kyūbi in the center of the village out of spite.
Hiruzen rubbed his temples at his dark thoughts and once again wondered how the Kami seemed to lay one burden after another on the young teen. Naruto's whole existence had been plagued with one injustice after another and Hiruzen feared that this particular knowledge would finally break the boy's spirit.
The last thing he wanted was for the knowledge of the Kyūbi to be revealed by the hateful rantings of a traitor. He hoped that learning the truth about his parents would offset some of the bitterness and resentment that would come from learning that his mistreatment was entirely unjustified. For once, his advisers and the clan heads had agreed with him instead of their usual attempts to delay or block his efforts to make life easier on the boy.
While any decision involving Naruto was typically rife with political machinations, stonewalling, and back alley dealings, it was obvious that such news would not be received positively. The only way to try and counteract the bad news was to provide the boy with something that he had constantly requested to learn about. The clan heads and elders couldn't ignore the fact that the dim-witted, obtuse villagers had been slowly poisoning the boys' loyalty to the village with their ignorance.
It was bad enough that Naruto was beginning to suspect that the villagers despised him for a reason other than his inability to receive implants. Knowing who his father and mother were might be enough to smooth things over for the teen.
For once, Hiruzen was grateful to the foreigner's technology for helping to avert a disaster in the making. If it weren't for the new surveillance technology that had been installed by the Kyokutō Corporation, they wouldn't have learned about Mizuki's plans or the presence of other moles within Konoha. Ibiki was still working on the former assistant instructor, but the man was proving to be far more resilient than his dossier claimed.
They were able to learn that there were, at least, three more moles present in Konoha that were loyal to Orochimaru. Hiruzen already had the Anbu reviewing TRELLIS data and more surveillance footage to try and root these moles out. Sadly, Hiruzen knew that it was more likely that the moles had already learned of Mizuki's arrest and were likely in the process of enacting their own plans to either sabotage the village, escape undetected, or covering their tracks in order to lay low and wait for another opportunity to strike.
It was due to the knowledge that there were still moles operating within the village that had spurred him into revealing as much of the truth as possible to Naruto. He would start with the Kyūbi itself and see how the blond dealt with that knowledge before moving forward from there. Since the events of that night heavily involved both of his parents, it was highly likely that he would have to reveal the truth about them anyways. He could only hope that he managed to frame everything in a more positive light so Naruto wouldn't take things the wrong way.
Perhaps his trepidation at revealing this news was unfounded and the young blond would be able to process everything without stressing out too badly.
In a caring environment with someone he trusted, it might be easier for him to handle. If Naruto proved himself capable of dealing with then news, then he would also reveal the truth about his heritage. If the boy reacted badly, however, he would avoid revealing the truth as much as he could until Naruto proved he was ready to deal with that knowledge in a logical manner.
There wasn't much that he could do besides misdirecting him with half-truths or blatantly avoiding the subject, but Hiruzen knew that the second thing that would come to Naruto's mind after learning about the events surrounding his birth would be the fate of his parents. That was when the situation would become difficult.
In truth, while Hiruzen knew that Naruto wanted to learn the truth about his parents more than anything else, it was the identity of his father that Hiruzen feared to reveal the most. Even more than he feared to reveal the truth about the Kyūbi.
Naruto's situation in the village and his determination to change the views of all those who hated him would make it nearly impossible for the teen to keep that knowledge a secret. Given the fact that those same idiot villagers often praised his father before and/or after cursing his own existence, it was almost a given that the loud, emotionally charged boy might let the secret slip after losing his temper. And if Naruto did reveal that truth, that was when everything would go downhill for the teen.
It wouldn't take long for such a claim to spread throughout the village, and Hiruzen didn't doubt that most of the idiotic villagers would outright take offense to such a claim. Even if Hiruzen decided to confirm the truth by posting Naruto's birth certificate and DNA test publicly, there were too many people trapped in their misplaced grief to accept that the "demon brat" was actually the son of their most revered hero. Sadly, a great deal of those morons would probably react violently to the boys claims, and would probably make attempts on his life despite the threat of facing execution for such an act.
When Naruto's claim began to spread outside of the village, that was when the real trouble would begin. Both Iwa and Kumo would stop at nothing to confirm the rumors. If the Raikage ever managed to get a picture of the blond, that would be enough confirmation for the muscle-bound leader to make attempts at capturing or killing the boy. It wouldn't take long for the Tsuchikage to follow in the Raikage's footsteps once he had his own confirmation.
After Naruto graduated from the Academy, any team he was placed on would have a giant target painted on their backs from day 1. Any clients that requested that team specifically would have to be screened and vetted by Anbu and that wouldn't guarantee that they wouldn't be approached and bribed to betray the team anyways. Any encounter with foreign shinobi out in the field would likely result in an attack of opportunity while the team would also be forced to endure ambush after ambush every time they left the village walls.
That was not a situation that Hiruzen wanted Naruto (or any genin team) to endure. Having to constantly watch his back inside and outside of the village would put a great deal of strain on the boy's mental health. A strain that should be avoided at all costs when you needed your mental fortitude to keep the most destructive of bijū imprisoned inside of you.
Still, Hiruzen held onto the faith that Naruto's indomitable will would be enough to carry him through this crisis. His situation with the children of his generation had been improving so there was still hope that the cheerful blond would be able to take the news in stride.
Ever since Naruto had established a tentative bond with the youngest Uchiha last year, his situation had slightly improved with the clan heirs in his class. The reduction in his pranking sprees over the past four years had also helped to turn some of the blatant animosity towards him into passive intolerance, but the majority of the village still viewed him as an outright threat instead of a mere nuisance. Naturally, those parents pressured their children to avoid or even mistreat the blond in class since he was a "dangerous troublemaker that couldn't be trusted".
Fortunately, the number of civilian attendees to the Academy dropped exponentially each year as more kids failed to meet the necessary requirements to advance to the next level. After this year's first kill test, over 2/3rds of the civilian attendees had either failed outright or had chosen to drop out completely. While the elders had been displeased with the drastic drop in the number of potential graduates, Danzō, and the clan heads had approved of the results. This year's crop of genin was already proving to be the strongest since Itachi's generation several years prior.
With the focus on teamwork and developing specialized training routines for the last two years of the academy, there were already several prospective Genin who were pushing Chūnin level skills in certain areas. All of the clan heirs had flourished under the new system and were likely to be capable of handling C-ranked missions straight out of the academy.
The costs incurred by the village by extending the length of the Academy were already being offset by the benefits of the changes. Allowing the Academy students to handle the D-ranked missions had not only increased the number of menial tasks completed each week, it also weeded out the students who were only seeking glory and excitement instead of being committed to serving the village in any capacity.
With more D-ranks being completed in a timely fashion and Genin who would be capable of handling the lower level C-ranks immediately after leaving the Academy, the experienced Chūnin could now focus on taking more high C and B-ranked missions or training up to become Jōnin. The Jōnin who had been forced to clear out the backlog of B-ranks were now able to focus on A ranks or deal with the more trivial S-ranked missions that weren't dangerous enough to warrant a full Anbu team. This allowed the Anbu teams to focus on the more dangerous, and higher paying, missions that might have been put hold due to the limited number of Anbu teams capable of completing such missions.
The end result was that Konoha was able to accept more missions of each category, increasing the revenue and prestige of the village overall. The standing forces would grow stronger as they focused on higher tier missions instead of allowing their skills to stagnate with the lower ranked missions, and the mission requests were still completed in a timely fashion ensuring the clients were satisfied.
While Hiruzen had considered the benefits mentioned above when he made his changes, his main goal had been increasing the strength of the Genin from the start. His sensei had always expressed how Genin were the foundation of the village. Only with strong Genin were you ensured that your Chūnin and Jōnin ranks were strong.
If it hadn't been for the substantial losses after the Kyūbi attack, Hiruzen would have never allowed the standards at the Academy to have been lowered to their previous levels. The pressure to fill their ranks at a vulnerable time had been too strong and with the majority of applicants coming from the civilian sector, there was little he could do but accept the reduction in requirements with the caveat that the Jōnin sensei be allowed to test their assigned teams to ensure that they were capable of surviving in the field.
Now that he had raised standards beyond what even Tobirama had established during his reign, Hiruzen was confident that this particular batch of genin would be able to dominate the next Chūnin exams. Since this would be the first time in 30 years that the Chūnin exams would have all shinobi villages in attendance, Amegakure was chosen to host the exams since they were the only village that was completely neutral in its ties to every other village.
Even with only having six months of mission experience under their belt before the exams would begin, Hiruzen was certain that was more than enough time to meet the necessary requirements to qualify. With the two additional years of training time in the Academy, Konoha's genin would be more than prepared to face any teams from rival villages that were still using the old system of training genin. Even genin teams that were active for a year or two would find themselves hard pressed to deal with the advanced skills of Konoha's rookies, which would only make Konoha look even better to prospective clients.
Best of all, a strong showing in Ame would ensure that world received a powerful message: That not even a force like the Kyūbi was strong enough to weaken Konoha for long and that Konoha's position as the strongest of the big five was firmly secured.
Thinking about the future generation and their potential had always helped cheer the old shinobi up. He couldn't stop the small smile from showing on his typically emotionless face when he began to reminisce over at Naruto's own growth over the past eight years. It was amazing just how fast time had seemed to fly by as he began training the young blond. It seemed like only yesterday that the boy barely reached his waist in height and was an inexhaustible bundle of unfocused energy who was eager to enter the Academy.
If he hadn't been teaching Naruto and watching him grow into a young teen, he wouldn't have believed that the Kyūbi attack had taken place 14 years ago on this very night.
The sound of his office door creaking open drew the old Hokage out of his thoughts and he looked up at the person entering his office with a genuinely caring expression on his wizened face.
With the onset of puberty, Naruto had grown from his scant height of 4' 8", that had plagued him for most of his time at the Academy, to a healthy 5' 2". Just like his father, his hair was stubbornly spiky and wild, but while Minato's hair was long enough to drape over his brows while held back by his hitai-ate and he let the sides grow out, Naruto kept his hair cut shorter overall so that even when unrestrained as it typically was, the spikes never fell further than his brows, ensuring that his vision remained clear.
If Naruto hadn't inherited the large expressive eyes and wider chin of his mother, he would have been a dead ringer for his father. When you included the strange whisker marks from his birth and the golden hair that was just one shade shy of his fathers, it was understandable why the general populace couldn't see the relation in his features.
After a decade, even the most perceptive people's memories faded to a certain extent and given the fact that most of the populace would have looked upon Minato from afar or at the low-quality photos that were common during that time. Only those who were a part of Minato's or Kushina's inner circle of friends would be able to look at Naruto now and see the attributes he shared with his parents.
If they weren't blinded by their grief or their view wasn't colored by their bias, at any rate.
Hiruzen was happy that Naruto had started to take his advice about modifying his attire in favor of more subtle and functional outfits. While he still favored that ludicrous shade of orange above everything else. At least it was tempered down to a single thick stripe that ran down the sides of his dark blue sleeveless shirt. The dark blue, ¾ length pants that he wore were also trimmed with a pair of narrow stripes that ran from hip to hemline.
Instead of the usual bicep-length gloves that were commonly used by shinobi who opted for the Anbu style shirt, the young teen had opted to use dark blue combat wraps on his arms to match the wraps that covered his calves and ankles. Finishing off his look were a pair of black fingerless gloves with metal plating on the back and a pair of black, ankle length combat sandals on his feet.
While Naruto had managed to learn how to stop barging into his office unannounced quite some time ago, he still greeted Hiruzen in his usual loud and somewhat rude manner before gracing him with one of his genuine smiles. A rarity outside of his office or Ichiraku's ramen stand. It made the old Hokage's heart twinge with guilt knowing that he was going to essentially ruin this day for the young man.
Hiruzen always went out of his way to try and make this day somewhat enjoyable for Naruto since he wanted the boy to celebrate the day of his birth. A feat that was always challenging considering the fact that the animosity and tension towards his presence was always strongest on this day of remembrance. In the past, Hiruzen had always dreaded taking Naruto out on this day; expecting the child to be attracted to the colorful decorations and stands that were being set up for the festival and ask to attend. Yet, Naruto never asked him about the festival. Even as he grew older and was more than capable of crashing the festival on his own, Naruto opted to follow the same routine each year.
Stuff his face with ramen at Ichiraku's, open his presents with his usual excitement, and retire to his apartment for the evening before the festival kicked off.
If Hiruzen didn't know any better, he would have suspected that Naruto already knew the truth. Perhaps Naruto was perceptive enough to sense that his presence was unwanted, but a small part of Hiruzen suspected that the villagers most likely lashed out at him with increasing nastiness and hatred as the festival neared, forcing Naruto to become more reclusive and subdued as a result.
Hiruzen inwardly cursed the idiot villagers for their stupidity. It wouldn't be the first time he wished that he could do more to quell the animosity towards Naruto, but with the majority of the village's population being civilians, it was only natural that the Daimyō would put in some restrictions on the laws and punishments he could enact without the feudal lord's permission beforehand.
The rest of the problem stood with the bickering and politics of the various clans and his own advisers but nothing short of ordering a string of assassinations (that would likely get him forcibly removed from office) would solve that problem. While the political machinations had blocked most of his attempts at improving Naruto's life (hiring caretakers/tutors, increasing his monthly stipend, allowing a willing family to adopt him), they had also hindered some policies that would have been severely harmful to his well being. (exclusion from shinobi training/Academy, forced into Root, execution)
Next in line for his ire was Mizuki and Orochimaru for forcing his hand. All because they wanted nothing more than to make things difficult for him and the village for their own selfish, underhanded reasons. While Mizuki was nothing more than an insignificant annoyance in the bigger scheme of things he had set these events into motion with his own pathetic mediocrity and failure to accept the reality of his talent. Unable to deal with his feelings of inadequacy or the life of a true shinobi, he lashed out at the village scapegoat to conveniently forget how incompetent he was.
Orochimaru, being the opportunistic manipulator that he was, was the driving factor behind this whole mess and his endless efforts to lash out against the village for his perceived betrayal were getting tiresome. Once again Hiruzen was filled with regret and wondered how he had gone so wrong as a sensei or how he had been so blind to Orochimaru's movements for so long.
Jiraiya was the only one of his students that still had a, somewhat, respectable reputation to the world. If he wasn't known to be such an unabashed pervert, the Toad Sannin would be the ideal replacement for him. As it stood now, however, Jiraiya was more content to wander the lands as a hermit using the excuse of maintaining his spy network and conducting "research" for his books in order to feed his wanderlust. Not someone that would inspire confidence in the village or the Daimyō to keep things running smoothly in the event of his retirement or death.
Tsunade, while highly talented, was too lost in her grief and misery that she was quickly tainting her family legacy with her penchant for getting black out drunk and gambling away what remained of the Senju fortune. She would have long become destitute if it weren't for the fact that her family owned 25% of the land in the merchant district and 30% of the wealthier residential districts. Even then, the leases were just enough to prevent her from going into massive debt.
"Oi, jiji, why did you call me so early today?" Naruto asked, drawing the old shinobi out of his rambling thoughts. Now was not the time for him to be scatterbrained.
"We usually don't go for ramen until we finished with after school training." added with a frown.
"Please take a seat, Naruto. I have something important to tell you." Hiruzen said softly.
Naruto took the seat in front of his desk as requested while his frown grew deeper. The old man, while caring and kind, had never spoken to him in anything less than a clear and confident voice. It was obvious the old man had something important on his mind, so he decided to remain silent instead of hassling the grandfatherly figure like he usually would.
Hiruzen sighed before he decided to delve head first into the issue at hand. "I want you to listen carefully to everything I am about to reveal to you. I know it will be difficult for you the hear, but I want you to try and keep an open mind about what you learn today." Hiruzen emphasized before asking. "Can you do that for me?"
Naruto nodded while grunting in affirmation.
"As you know, tonight is the anniversary of the Kyūbi's attack on our village 14 years ago, the very night that you were born and orphaned," Hiruzen said sadly. "What you don't know, however, is that what you were taught in the Academy about that tragic night isn't an accurate representation of what truly occurred on that night." Hiruzen paused briefly to let that statement set in while he studied Naruto's reaction.
The primary emotion he could see on Naruto's face was confusion, as was expected.
"The reality of what happened that night was classified as an S-ranked secret and was to remain that way until you had matured enough to view those events with a more logical eye. Unfortunately, certain circumstances have forced me to reveal the truth to you earlier than I expected. " Hiruzen said while looking at Naruto with regret prominent on his face. "I just want you to know that the only reason I kept this knowledge from you was because I didn't want to add another burden onto your shoulders when you should be enjoying what little childhood you have left to you," Hiruzen said before he stood up and walked around his desk to look out the window.
Naruto remained seated but he turned his body to the side so he could look over at the aged Hokage. He couldn't ignore the sense of dread that was quickly building inside of him. His mind raced through various different scenarios about what could have happened that night that the village would go to such lengths to cover up, but he was drawing a blank. While he wasn't stupid by any means, he had never been good at picking up on veiled or obscure clues to see the overall picture. Any puzzles or games that required logical deduction or long term strategy had always been difficult for him. While he was slower than average when it came to that form of thinking, he had always excelled when it came to thinking and planning while under pressure.
An exchange that he was more than happy to accept given his chosen career path.
Hiruzen turned his attention back to Naruto before speaking again. "Have you ever noticed that whenever you use kanji to write the word ninja, that you are combining the characters for Endure and Person together?" Hiruzen asked rhetorically.
Naruto simply shook his head with a frown a little thrown off by the sudden change in topics. He had heard this particular lecture once; before he had entered the Academy for the first time. While he was about to ask what this had to do with the truth about the Kyūbi attack, he decided it was best to simply remain silent for now. If it were anyone else, he would have badgered them to get to the point already, but since the Hokage had gone out of his way to help and care for him, Naruto treated him a great deal of deference in the only way that he knew how: by giving the old man his trust and actually listening to his lectures, no matter how boring and long they were. While he might be long winded, Naruto had learned that he never drifted off topic without a reason.
"The reason these characters were selected to form the word "ninja" was because those were the primary attributes necessary to live the life of a shinobi. To walk the path of a shinobi, one must endure hardships and suffering. Unlike civilian children who can enjoy a happy and carefree childhood until they reach adulthood, shinobi children must sacrifice their childhood in order to prepare for the struggles and pain that comes from the life of a shinobi. It is only through this sacrifice that a child becomes prepared to endure the life of a shinobi." Hiruzen walked up to Naruto ruffled his hair affectionately before making his way back to his desk to refill his pipe.
As he packed the bowl with a more fragrant tobacco, he continued with his lecture, hoping to lull Naruto into a calm, bored state of mind so that the initial buildup of emotions wouldn't be as severe. He knew he had given this lecture to the boy before, and he was counting on that memory to help further settle Naruto down from his previous anticipation for ramen and presents. Now he would just need to change the lecture up a bit so that the boy entered a more introspective mood. Hopefully, this would put the blond into the right mood to think about what he learned instead of latching on to his initial reaction which was likely to be a bad one.
"The difference between a civilian's life and a shinobi's life is like comparing a candle with a flare," Hiruzen said after a few puffs on his pipe. "If there is no wind or rain to disturb the candle, its light, while small, is steady and will burn for most of the day until it sputters out in silence," Hiruzen said before taking a deep draw of his pipe and blowing at a few smoke rings. "The light from a flare explodes into existence, a bright and vibrant light that draws everyone's attention to it. Even in a torrential downpour with heavy winds, the flare will continue to illuminate everything around it far brighter than even a dozen candles ever could, but in exchange for the 8 – 12 hours of light you get from a candle, the light from the flare will only last you a few hours, at best."
Hiruzen saw Naruto nod in response to his little anecdote. He could tell that the blond's exuberance had been tempered by his little story, and the hint of anxiety and confusion that had begun to take hold in him earlier appeared to have vanished. He let the silence build between them for a few moments before clearing his throat in preparation for the big reveal.
"Now, I am sure you are wondering what that little lecture had to do with the truth behind the Kyūbi attack," Hiruzen said with a small smirk on his face. "I just wanted to remind you that you have chosen the path of a shinobi. You have chosen to endure a life of hardship and that you, Naruto, have already walked further down this path than anyone else in this village." Hiruzen said solemnly.
Hiruzen saw a bit of disbelief and confusion begin to play out on Naruto's face but didn't let him dwell on his statement before delving into the heart of the issue.
"The truth behind the events surrounding that night are the primary reason why your life has been so difficult, Naruto. The reason the villagers treat you with such hatred, the reason why you were unable to undergo the process of cyberization, both of these are tied directly into what happened to you on that terrible night." The Hokage answered calmly before elaborating further when he saw the question in Naruto's eyes. "In an attempt to give you the chance to live a normal life, I forbid anyone from revealing the truth to you and any other children born since the Kyūbi attack, but the villagers couldn't forget those tragic events so easily. While they couldn't reveal the true reason for their animosity towards you without being punished, they used any and every excuse to make life miserable for you in the hopes that the true target of their grief would suffer along with you." Hiruzen stated.
"I don't understand..." Naruto started but Hiruzen held his hand up to stop Naruto from continuing.
"That is what I am about to explain to you right now," Hiruzen replied in a soothing tone before clearing his throat once more. "The truth about that night was that the Yondaime was unable to defeat the Kyūbi and send him back to Yomi (land of the dead), like the stories claim. In truth, the Kyūbi was not a demon but a bijū. A creature that is made up of nothing more than a mass of chakra and sentience. No one knows where the bijū originated from, but even the earliest records and legends mention just how powerful and destructive the bijū are. Because the bijū are nothing more than chakra in a condensed form, it is impossible to permanently defeat or kill a bijū. When injured or forced to use up their chakra reserves, they simply disperse and reform their bodies later on." Hiruzen explained.
"If the Yondaime didn't sacrifice himself to the Shinigami to send the Kyūbi back to Yomi, then what really happened to the Kyūbi?" Naruto asked quietly.
"The part about the Yondaime sacrificing himself to the Shinigami is actually true, but what happened to the Kyūbi itself is where the truth has been concealed," Hiruzen answered. "In order to ensure that the Kyūbi couldn't simply reform and attack the village later on the Yondaime called upon the Shinigami to imprison the Kyūbi within a seal at the cost of his life and soul," Hiruzen said with a weary sigh. "Unfortunately for us, the Kyūbi is far too powerful to seal away into a simple scroll or object, even with the Shinigami's help. Without a proper vessel, the Kyūbi would simply use its power to break free and wreak havoc once more."
Hiruzen took a few more puffs on his pipe before disposing of the ash in his ashtray and setting the pipe down. This part would require his full attention and he needed to be ready for any reaction or outburst Naruto might have from this point on.
"In order to keep the Kyūbi contained, the seal it was placed in needed to have a steady supply of chakra to keep the seal strong. The only way this could be accomplished was to seal the Kyūbi inside of a person, but not any person could be chosen for this task." Hiruzen stated bluntly. "Only a newborn child could safely contain the volatile and corrosive chakra of the Kyūbi without suffering the side effects. Since the child's chakra network is underdeveloped, it is able to accept and adapt to having both regular chakra and the Kyūbi's chakra without any issues. This allows the seal to not only be powered by the child's chakra but it also helps to make the seal more resistant to the Kyūbi's chakra as well." Hiruzen stated as he studied Naruto carefully.
He could see that Naruto had put the pieces together on his own and was beginning to realize the truth. Judging from the way that Naruto was avoiding his gaze by looking down at the ground with his fists clenched and his shoulders tensed made it obvious that he was not taking the news well. Still, he had to press forward with all the details around the sealing or else someone might use that against him in the future.
"While the Yondaime needed a newborn child to seal the Kyūbi, another special circumstance had to be taken into account when trying to seal a bijū as powerful as the Kyūbi." Seeing Naruto partially raise his head, Hiruzen knew he was still listening and continued. "Only a child that was guaranteed to have a large and powerful chakra network could successfully house the Kyūbi without dying. Throughout history, many people have tried and failed to seal the Kyūbi away. The only clan who had managed to keep the Kyūbi sealed away successfully and still live long, healthy lives were all members of the Uzumaki clan." Hiruzen stepped closer to Naruto and adopted a more caring tone as he continued with the explanation. "For some reason, the bloodline traits and chakra natures of the Uzumaki clan seem to be extra powerful against all the bijū, allowing them to even subdue and control the Kyūbi who many people thought was too powerful to contain. It was one of the reasons why Kumo and Kiri teamed up with each other to wipe out the Uzumaki clan despite their hatred for each other. They feared the abilities of your clan would be used to contain and control their jinchūriki, people who are chosen to bear the burden of a bijū. Since Kumo and Kiri both relied heavily on their jinchūriki to augment the strength of their forces at that time, they considered the Uzumaki clan too great of a threat to ignore. Despite what the history books claim, Iwa's involvement in the downfall of Uzushio was really only an opportunistic assault to try and strike directly at Konoha while we were distracted." Hiruzen stated solemnly. "By the time we pushed Iwa back and were able to send reinforcements to our allies, it was already too late and the Uzumaki clan was all but eliminated."
Naruto remained silent as he digested that bit of information. Before the old man had told him about the need for an Uzumaki to contain the Kyūbi he had wondered why the Yondaime had chosen him of all people. Was it because his parents had died and they couldn't protest? Did the Yondaime just carelessly grab the first kid he laid eyes on or did something more sinister happen.
The darker part of himself wondered if the reason he was an orphan was because they had to eliminate his parents in order to secure him to seal away the Kyūbi, but he shook that thought from his head. The old man had always spoken of the Yondaime with a great deal of admiration and respect and all the stories that he was told involving the Yondaime painted the man as a selfless, kind, and noble man who was caring towards his friends, and respectful to his enemies.
Either his parents had died in the attack like the old man had told him, or they had abandoned him because of his burden and the old man was trying to spare him the pain of knowing the truth. Since the old man seemed to be intent on coming clean to him, perhaps he could pressure the man into revealing the truth about his parents.
As he was growing up, Naruto had noticed that his stamina, chakra reserves, and powerful healing rate were unusual and had wondered if he had been born with a bloodline inherited from his unidentified parents. Then he had learned about the Uzumaki clan and the fall of Uzushio in the Academy. There had been a brief period of hope on his part that he was a part of the long lost clan and that he might have relatives hiding out in the world, but the books had stated that one of the trademark characteristics of an Uzumaki was the blood red hair they were famous for. And while the books acknowledged the fact that the Uzumaki clan had significantly larger chakra reserves and longer lifespans, those traits weren't considered as being due to the bloodline. Only their ability to manifest chakra in a physical form like the forming of chains or the creations of seals without using blood, ink, or paper were considered part of the bloodline, a trait that Naruto hadn't inherited to his knowledge.
While one of his parents might have been an Uzumaki, the clan was pretty much extinct and no one knew of any surviving Uzumaki so he was on his own, as usual. Without any of the distinctive traits of the Uzumaki, anyone could dispute his claim so the only thing he had to show for his relationship to that famous clan was the name he was given. A name that might not even be his own, considering his status as an orphan. If they were keeping the truth about what he was a secret, it was completely possible they were keeping his real name a secret as well.
At least it now made sense as to why the villagers had an unreasonable hatred towards him no matter how he behaved. When they looked at him, they saw the very demon who had killed and destroyed so much of the village on that night.
It explained why he had the strange whisker marks on his face, why every cut or minor wound he had sustained healed in a matter of minutes or hours, and why his chakra was so different and unruly to control in comparison to all the other kids in his class.
While everyone else in his class had light blue or white chakra, his chakra had always displayed as a purplish red color, something that had caused the instructors to look at him with disgust and suspicion. Even Iruka had been put off by his chakra at the beginning.
The more he thought over what he had learned, the more that his fragile control over the riot of emotions storming inside of him began to break. Warring for dominance in his mind were several different emotions that began to give way to each other as everything that he had been forced to endure in his short life was replayed in his mind.
The first and foremost emotion had, naturally, been shock, followed closely by a sense of injustice. Next were anger and hatred as his mind took a darker turn before he managed to calm himself a bit before slumping into resignation about his situation. Following shortly after that resignation, however, was despair.
The shock was obvious. Anyone would feel this way after learning that a nine-tailed fox of mass destruction was sealed away inside of you. Just trying to comprehend such a thing was a difficult process. Knowing how large and powerful the bijū had been only made it easier to deny the truth, but Naruto didn't bother with the denial for long. Everything the old man had told him had fit in with what he had experienced in his life.
That was when the feeling of injustice had taken prominence. This emotion was fed mainly by the belief that he was being treated unfairly for something he had no possible way of preventing. He was the only Uzumaki, that he knew of, in Konoha and the Hokage had explicitly stated that only an Uzumaki child could have contained the Kyūbi. It seemed extremely unfair that the villagers had treated him so terribly for circumstances that were completely beyond his control. It wasn't like he had a choice about containing the bijū given the fact that he had just been born on that very night.
This thought naturally led him to the anger and hatred.
Anger because those stupid bastards had made him suffer for no reason. Their unjustified scorn and hatred had made him miserable all because they needed a scapegoat to deal with their grief and anger. There was no way that those idiots could have forgotten that he was nothing but a baby when the incident occurred, but they chose to ignore that fact and unleash all their misery and pain on him because they were incapable of dealing with their feelings in a constructive manner. And since he had no choice but to bear this burden and suffer their hatred for it, it only felt natural for him to return that hatred.
If they were too stupid to realize that nothing that happened that night was his fault then he could care less about how they felt. If anything, he should make their lives even more miserable in retaliation for making him suffer unjustly. Naruto's mind began to drift down the dark path of vengeance as he imagined returning the hatred heaped upon him in the form of pranks and retaliatory measures that continued to get more damaging and destructive. When he began to envision using the more fatal traps he had learned of in the Academy, that was when he forced himself to reign in those dark thoughts.
That was when resignation began to take priority. Naruto knew, deep down, that lashing out at those idiots would only make things harder for him in the long run. Not only would those people feel justified in taking out their anger on him, but the rest of the village would continue to support their efforts and even join in on making his life miserable. Not only that but taking such actions would only make things difficult for the very few people who actually cared for him and tried to make his life better.
That was when the despair began to kick in.
Naruto had been working hard to prove himself because he thought their reasoning behind treating him with scorn was due to something that was trivial in his mind. The fact that he was unaugmented and couldn't receive cybernetics seemed like such a foolish reason to look down on him, but if he could maintain and even surpass his peers the people would recognize his efforts and give him the acknowledgment he craved.
Now that he knew the truth, he couldn't help but feel that his goals of being accepted and recognized as a person might actually be impossible. How could he expect them to treat him as a person when they saw nothing but the "demon" when they looked at him? For years, they had seen nothing but the Kyūbi when they looked at him and that hatred for what he contained had festered inside of them the entire time.
Was he doomed to an existence of constantly being seen only as the demon inside of him? He still couldn't get implants of any kind so the newer generation would always view him as a naturalist freak and loser while their parents encouraged them to look down on him and treat him like trash because they only saw him as a demon. It seemed like his dream of becoming Hokage and gaining the acceptance of the village was nothing more than a foolish impossibility for someone like him.
As long as he held the Kyūbi inside of him, no one would ever recognize him for who he truly was and as long as he held the Kyūbi inside of him, he couldn't embrace the technology that everyone in his generation relied on. How could he ever relate to anyone and run the village as a respected leader if they all viewed him with distrust, hatred, contempt, and even mockery?
Naruto tried to fight back the tears as the despair ripped through him, but he failed miserably. His shoulders began to shudder as he tried to choke back the sobs, but the tears continued to flow freely. Like a crushing weight bearing down on him, he felt his hopes and dreams get demolished by the cruel reality of his situation.
As Naruto collapsed onto his hands and knees the darkness seemed to close in around him. So lost in his storm of emotions he failed to notice that his surroundings had changed completely. Instead of the wooden floor of the Hokage's office, he was now kneeling in ankle-deep water inside of a dank sewer-like tunnel. Not even the massive cage in front of him or the giant fox that was peering down at him could draw him out of his shock and misery, at least not until the massive beast spoke.
"How pathetic. After all that barking about determination and proving your worth, you give up so easily." The Kyūbi rumbled out.
Naruto shot his head up and stared in shock at the massive cage and the Kyūbi that was staring down at him like an insect.
"W-what? H-how-" Naruto sputtered but the Kyūbi cut him off before he could continue.
"Isn't it obvious you fool?" The Kyūbi snorted. "That old ape just told you about my presence within you just a few short moments ago. Are you truly so simple minded that you still can't connect the dots or has your feeble brain reached the limit of knowledge it can contain?"
"That's not what I am confused about you overgrown furball!" Naruto shouted. If he was in his right mind, he might have reconsidered shouting at the strongest of the bijū but his self-control was long gone in light of everything he had learned.
"Where am I? How did I get here? And why do you care if I give up or not, huh?" Naruto spat. "You don't have to deal with all the bullshit those bastards put me through even though all of it is your fault in the first place!"
"Insolent little brat." The Kyūbi growled out in anger. "You think I wanted to be trapped inside of someone as pathetic as you? You think I want to listen to your foolish rants about the unfairness of life while you are free to move about and do whatever you desire? You know nothing about injustice!" The Kyūbi roared.
"Oh, and you do? Forgive us for trying to protect our village from your rampage oh mighty Kyūbi!" Naruto shouted in a sarcastic tone. "At least I am smart enough to know that if I start laying waste to a village they might, I don't know, seal me away or imprison me in an attempt to stop me from killing everyone!"
"Fool! You know nothing!" The Kyūbi snarled as it slammed into the cage trying to reach Naruto and tear him apart with his claws. "You shout and scream about recognition and respect while acting like a total idiot and you wonder why people view you as a joke?"
"All they see when they look at me is you! So, who is it that they really think is a joke?" Naruto retorted.
"Hah! If you had a modicum of talent or strength then you could force those idiots to recognize you." The Kyūbi said with a mocking laugh. "As you are now, you are nothing! Weak! Pathetic! Useless! Continue to wallow in your despair, it only makes the seal holding me weaken faster and eventually I will break out and destroy the very few things you hold dear." The Kyūbi's sneer turned into a vicious grin. "I know! Why not simply end your miserable existence since the number of people who care for you can be counted on a single paw! I doubt they will truly miss your presence for long considering how loud and obnoxious you are. They might even be relieved that you are no longer around to bother them. Your suffering will finally come to an end, and I can reform and continue with my goal of burning this filthy village to the ground!
Naruto glared at the Kyūbi and clenched his fists in rage at the kitsune's words. All his life he had heard similar statements from the more vicious villagers and it awoke the resolve that had been squelched by the overwhelming storm of emotions that had swept through him earlier.
"Fuck you, furball! I am not weak, pathetic, useless or obnoxious!" Naruto shouted at the fox as he shook in anger. "If giving into despair or giving up on my dreams is the only way for you to break free, then get ready to stay here for a very long time you bastard. I'll show you and the rest of those fucking villagers that all of you are wrong about me!" Naruto growled.
"I worked my ass off and made it into one of the top spots in my class despite the disadvantage you left me with, and I won't stop there! I'll make you and all those idiot villagers eat their words when I become the strongest shinobi in the village and they have no choice but to bow to me as Hokage." Naruto said with vehemence.
"Bah. Like someone as loud and uncouth as you would be capable of such greatness. Don't make me laugh." The Kyūbi said with a huff. "Now get out of my sight you miserable cretin. I grow tired of your useless barking."
Before Naruto could respond a wave of malevolent red chakra slammed into him as his vision began to go black, he heard the Kyūbi say something before he lost consciousness.
"I do not often tolerate such weakness, brat, but you have earned my interest with the determination and resolve you had shown before this day. Prove to me that my interest is not misplaced and I may lend you my strength instead of making things difficult for you." The Kyūbi mumbled before settling back down in a relaxed position and closing its eyes.
When Naruto came to, he briefly opened his eyes to find himself looking up at a stark white ceiling with the heavy scent of antiseptic surrounding him. Fighting back the groan that threatened to escape him when he realized that he had likely been admitted to the mental hospital by the old man, Naruto snapped his eyes shut as he ran through his memories and tried to process everything that he had been revealed to him.
Not only was his life hell because the Yondaime had no choice but to seal the Kyūbi inside of him, but it was likely that his life would only continue to suck because most of the village was too lost in their grief to recognize him as a human being. At first, this knowledge had sent him spiraling into a vicious circle of hatred and despair that had tested the limits of his sanity. Then the Kyūbi had berated and insulted him to the point that his temper finally snapped, when he unleashed all his pent up frustration and anger, determined to put the bastard fox in his place, the fur ball decided to give him a backhanded compliment that could be misconstrued as a form of encouragement.
Naruto didn't know what to think about that if he was honest with himself.
Taking a deep breath to calm himself from the emotions that were threatening to overwhelm him again, he tried to look at his current situation in a more logical manner.
First was the fact that the villagers hated him for something beyond his control. The only thing that had changed about this situation was that he finally knew why they hated him so much. Knowing that the Kyūbi was inside of him didn't change the fact that he had made some progress in changing their opinions of him. While most of the people still held disdain for him, a good amount had begun to simply ignore his existence or treat him with mild intolerance.
The only change in this situation is that he finally realized that instead of having to metaphorically struggle up a hill in order to prove himself, he was now staring down a massive, vertical mountain face that he had to overcome before he could gain the acceptance of the villagers. While he might never earn the praise and adoration of those who had lost family and friends to the Kyūbi, there was nothing wrong with simply earning their respect.
Oddly enough this realization allowed him to breathe easier. Before he had learned about the Kyūbi, he had been aiming to earn more than just simple respect, but at the same time, the situation had been more optimistic because he was blind to the reality of his circumstances.
Now that he knew the truth, it no longer seemed worth his time to gain adoration from the masses. It was highly unlikely that he would ever succeed. Even if he had managed to save each of these idiots lives individually, there was too much of a history with the fox inside of him for those simple minded people to accept him for who he was. If they were too stupid to see the fact that a young blond child wasn't a giant nine tailed kitsune of destruction, how could he expect them to see the truth?
Before such thoughts were considered anathema to him, and he would adamantly refuse to stop working towards gaining complete acceptance from every last person that had shown animosity towards him. Now, however, he could accept that fact that not everyone would like him. Not only that, but he didn't need to work so hard to please people who couldn't be bothered to expend any effort to try and learn the truth about him as a person.
After the final exams last year, he had earned Sasuke's respect by matching him blow for blow during their spar. At the end, it probably helped that Sasuke had managed to take 1st place overall, but instead of berating him and insulting his lack of family, Sasuke had recognized him.
Just that act alone had made things so much better for him this year. The remaining fangirls and civilians students that had survived the exams and first kill test no longer treated him with blatant contempt or insulted him simply because he lacked augmentation. Sasuke actively sought him out for practice and training whenever the class had free training, and while he wouldn't consider them friends, he could say that they were comrades in arms.
Once before he had claimed to get serious and, if necessary, beat the sense into the villagers one person at a time. If he could win over the arrogant Uchiha heir, then it was possible for him to win anyone else over. He would just have to work harder and take things even more seriously from now on. He also didn't need to gain anything more than the respect. Even if it was begrudging respect, that alone was enough to improve his status in the village to a degree that he could accomplish his dream.
The second thing he had learned was that he still fostered a great deal of resentment for the people who treated him poorly. While he had tried to bury such feelings in the past in his quest to gain the approval of everyone, now he had to face those feelings head on. Knowing why they had hated him didn't change the fact that he felt their treatment of him had been grossly unfair but it helped alleviate some of that resentment.
Now he could at least understand their hatred and while it was still unwarranted, at least there was a logical reason behind it. Even if that logic was faulty and twisted. When he believed their bias and mistreatment was a symptom of something so trivial as being unaugmented, their curses and scorn had left him so confused and desperate to understand why they treated him so badly because of something so minor.
As he grew older, it became obvious that the villagers hated him for some other reason, and not knowing or understanding why had made dealing with that hatred even more of a struggle. It had been painful to deal with such unrelenting hatred without a tangible reason behind it and he couldn't help but wonder if he was somehow at fault for causing such pain in people that they would despise him for it. He couldn't help but wonder if he actually deserved their animosity and scorn, even if he didn't know why.
Now that he was able to understand the why, he was surprised to find that he felt lighter than he had in years. Not even the fact that their primary excuse for hating him wouldn't ever go away could dampen this feeling that a huge weight had been lifted off of his shoulders, even if his goal seemed almost insurmountable because of it, the burden seemed easier.
At least there was no more confusion.
At least he didn't have to lie awake at night wondering what was wrong with him.
After his breakdown in the Hokage's office, that storm of emotions had almost been too much for him and for a moment he had thought that his tentative grip on sanity had finally failed. Now he could kind of understand what the villagers were going through when they saw him. The hatred and despair had been so strong that it had overwhelmed any logic or rationality in his mind in that moment.
Given the fact that it was common knowledge that civilians typically had weaker minds and fortitude when it came to tragedy and hardship due to their lack of training, it only made sense that they had no experience dealing with such emotions. Shinobi were conditioned for witnessing destruction and death and there were lessons and councilors on hand to help them learn how to cope with such emotions. While such resources were also available to the civilians, the costs weren't paid for by the village. If a civilian needed that type of help they had to pay for it out of their own pocket and make free time out of their work schedule to speak with the counselor.
In fact, Naruto suspected that the civilians preferred to rely on their family and friends to support them. Family and friends that probably no longer exist because the Kyūbi had wiped them all out in one night.
In his mind's eye, Naruto pictured the Old Village area he used to frequent often in his youth. Back then his interest had been more on exploration and discovering things that he didn't really pay much attention to just how much damage the area had sustained. Now, with a more focused eye on the details, he could see the massive amount of destruction that the Kyūbi had wrought. The Old village was almost a quarter of the entire village, a stark realization of just how much of the population had been affected by the rampaging bijū. That wasn't even considering all the areas that had been repaired or rebuilt since that night.
That raised the question of how the villagers knew he was the one the Kyūbi had been sealed into in the first place. Since the old man had gone through so much effort to conceal the truth, why wasn't his status as a "jinchūriki" kept hidden as well?
Was it because of his name? That seemed unlikely since the Hokage could have easily given him a false name from the get go with his parents dead or abandoning him.
That was the second question that came to the young blond's mind. Did his parents really die or did they abandon him because of the Kyūbi inside of him? Had his parents truly loved him or did they view him as the hated demon like everyone else?
Naruto's heart clenched at the thought of his parents despising him and abandoning him to face the hatred of the entire village. Did his parents curse his presence like the rest of the village? Had they been one of the ones to run him off or throw things at him? Did they leave the village in disgrace or did they flee in order to forget his existence?
It was pretty sad that the best outcome he could hope for was that his parents had died the night of the attack. Naruto couldn't stop the bitter chuckle from escaping his lips when he had that thought. He had promised to himself that he wouldn't cry or show weakness in front of anyone since that day he broke down in front of the Hokage eight years ago, now he might have to stop laughing at his own thoughts or they would really believe he had lost his mind.
Naruto swiped his forearm over his misty eyes. Crying wouldn't solve anything and he needed answers from the old man. Regardless of knowing the truth to those question, nothing about his situation had really changed. He had just gained knowledge and a new perspective of things.
He would force all the idiots in the village to recognize him as Naruto Uzumaki; not the Kyūbi.
He would become the strongest shinobi in the village, even without the advantage of augmentation or cybernetics.
He would become the Hokage and everyone in the village would have to look up to him with the respect he deserved.