Chapter 2.- The Truth Revealed.

Izuki descended from the sky right a second before Kakashi arrived by the ground. They were in a small clearing of the woods in the limits of Konoha. And for the looks of it Naruto had indeed tried to leave the place, provoking a battle (some trees were burnt or even broken), Sasuke stood there panting, Sakura was breathing deeply, and in the center was Naruto, kneeling, his sobs could be heard easily.

"When the hell did you become so powerful?" Sasuke asked still trying to recover his breath.

Just by looking at the three chuunins Izuki could deduce Naruto had tried to run, Sasuke tried fighting him to stop him, but the Uchiha never expected the great power the blonde now possessed, and at the end Sakura had to step in, using her abilities to stop the fight before it got out of control.

"I have this power because I'm a monster." Naruto spat. "A monster like that woman back there said."

"Onegai, don't say that Naruto-kun." Sakura said pleadingly.

"It is the truth!" Naruto spat. "I am a m…"

"Don't you dare say that again Naruto-san, ever." Izuki said seriously.

"But I am Izuki-san." Naruto said sadly. "The kyuubi is sealed inside me."

This confession made Sakura gasp, while Sasuke just stared in shock.

"That doesn't mean you are the kyuubi Naruto-san." Izuki replied with a smile.

"You knew it?" Sasuke asked, it sounded more like: You-knew-and-never-told-me.

"All of us who were old enough to understand things when the battle took place knew the kyuubi'd been sealed inside Naruto." Kakashi intervened. "But Sandaime-sama didn't believe that it would be a good idea for the younger generations to know it. He believed if the younger ones knew this they would push Naruto-san away, believe him to be that demon, and then he would never have any friends."

"But that happened anyway." Sakura said, recalling the way all adults had always treated Naruto, and as a consequence the kids had done the same, even without knowing the reason.

"When I was little, I never understood why nobody liked me." Naruto said sadly. "All the adults whispered behind me, and pulled their children away from me. And then I found out the reason as to why, two years ago, right before the official graduation. Mizuki-sensei tricked me, he wanted me to betray Konoha, Iruka-sensei managed to stop everything. But during the consequential battle Mizuki-sensei yelled in my face that I was a monster, that I had inside the demon that devastated Konoha so long ago, and that was the reason why no one liked me."

"That's not true Naruto-kun." Sakura assured him. "Sasuke-kun, Izuki-sensei, Kakashi-sensei, I, and many more are here; we are your friends. We have never believed you to be a monster, maybe a trickster and a bit irresponsible, but never a monster."

"Sakura-chan is right." Sasuke nodded. "You should have trusted us."

"I didn't know what to do." Naruto confessed. "I feared that when you knew what is inside me you would shun me away, just like many people do, like that woman back there."

"Naoko-baka…" Izuki whispered under her breath.

"Oh Naruto-kun…" Sakura hugged her friend. "I can't believe you had to go through all that. It's so unfair."

"Many times life isn't fair Sakura." Kakashi said seriously.

"Was there never anyone for you?" Sakura asked sadly.

"In the Academy Iruka-sensei always helped me, even when he lost his parents because of kyuubi's fault, he never blamed me." Naruto said with a small smile. "But before that…I remember there was one person who treated me well, a girl who would go visit me once in a while, but shortly after I entered the Academy she too disappeared, so I got to think she had been just a dream."

"She wasn't." Izuki assured him with a small smile.

Naruto was a bit confused at her confidence.

"That girl…" Izuki knelt before him. "It was me. I would visit you every time I got a chance, and when I disappeared, well…it was when I left Konoha so long ago."

"It was you?" Naruto asked, doubtful.

Izuki nodded.

"Why?" Naruto asked.

"Because I've always believed you are the least guilty in this Naruto-san." Izuki explained. "It was never your fault the kyuubi attacked our village. And you weren't given his spirit and power so you would become some kind of monster but because Minato-sama believed you would one day do great good to Konoha using that power."

"You visited Naruto?" Sasuke was as confused as his teammates.

"I always believed it was what Kushina-sensei would have liked me to do." Izuki explained. "So Naruto-san, I don't want you to ever again say you believe yourself to be a monster, and I mean never again, understood? Your mother wouldn't have liked that."

"My mo…" Naruto began, Izuki's words registered slowly in his head. "You mean you knew my mother?"

"Hai." Izuki nodded. "I knew both your mother and father, although I got to know your mom considerably more."

"Honto?" Naruto was suddenly really excited.

"Honto ne." Izuki nodded. "She was in fact the ninja in charge of my team after we became chuunins, when our first sensei was killed: Kushina-sensei, known by many as the Mistress of Illusions."

"Kushina-sensei…" Sakura repeated, suddenly she was in shock. "Kushina-sensei! You mean the woman who created all those jutsus you've been teaching me was Naruto's oka-san?!"

"Most of them, hai." Izuki nodded. "She had a great imagination when it came to creating new jutsus, especially those that involved illusions, she was the best."

Naruto smiled widely now, truly proud of the woman his mother had been.

"I still remember her." Izuki said. "I met her the day Itachi-nii-san and I were promoted to chuunin level, she introduced herself as our new leader. She had sparkling sky-blue eyes, long fire-red hair that fell down in waves, and she always smiled, it was almost impossible not to see her smiling. She used to wear a sleeveless cream kimono that reached to her feet, with openings two in the front of her legs and two in the back and light-pink pants. Always beautiful, many men liked her, but she just accepted one near her."

"My otou-san?" Naruto guessed.

"Hai." Izuki nodded. "Minato-sama was a wonderful shinobi, the best Konoha had seen in a very long time; he used to say he had fallen in love with Kushina-sensei the moment he saw her for the first time, which happened the day she became a jounin, at age sixteen. You have to understand their relationship was complicated, because Minato-sama was eleven years older than Kushina-sensei, many said she seemed more like his student than his girlfriend."

"But even then they never cared." Kakashi added. "They truly loved each other, and what others could say didn't matter to them."

"Kushina-sensei's family didn't approve of the relationship, but as Kakashi-kun already said they didn't care." Izuki continued. "Her clan, they were refuges from the ravaged Whirlpool Country and they kept to themselves a lot. For what I know Kushina-sensei ran away from her house to marry Minato-sama; that was when I was eight, one year after I first met her. Then two years later you were born."

Sakura was sighing dreamily already, the thought of everything Izuki had just said, it just seemed like the perfect love story, but there was something missing.

"What happened to them?" Sasuke asked.

Izuki just sighed, her sigh was sad, compared to Sakura's previous one.

"They died in the battle against the kyuubi." Kakashi was the one to finally answer.

"What?!" they all asked in shock.

"Hai." Kakashi nodded. "A day after Naruto had been born, the kyuubi was already too close to Konoha, so they called all the ninjas in the village to fight before it was too late."

"I was there." Izuki added. "Even when I'd quitted the ANBU just a couple of months before to help my mother take care of Sasuke-nii-chan, when they told me Kushina-sensei had gone to fight, I went there too, I wanted to get to her, to convince her of going back with her son, to the refuge, but I never reached her…"

***Flashback (Narrated by Izuki)***

Naruto had just been born the day before. Kushina-sensei's recovery from giving birth was remarkable, although not that unexpected in a woman like her. Minato-sama went to fight, it was his duty to do so, and he left his wife and son in their house, which should be refuge enough being it apart from the main entrance of Konoha.

I was at home, helping my mother prepare dinner when suddenly Shizune-san entered the place, she was the nurse appointed to check on Kushina-sensei's recovery. When she entered the place she was in hysterics, it took a while for mother and me to calm her down, and when she finally did, what she said sent us into hysterics.

"Oh Izuki-chan this is awful." She said still distressed.

"What is it?" I asked. "Something happened to the baby or to Minato-sama?"

"Iie." She replied with a sob. "The baby is fine I left him with the maid, but Kushina-sensei has gone totally crazy."

"Well, we all now Kushina-sensei likes to do some rather crazy things but…"

"She's gone out to fight the kyuubi!"

"Nani?! How is that possible? Why did you let her?"

"She was very insistent about the matter, she said she needed to go protect the one she loved, and you know as much as I that there's no way to stop her once she has set her mind onto something, she's to powerful…"

"…and too stubborn, I know Shizune-san. But still, she just gave birth to a boy yesterday for Kami's sake!"

"I know that too. That's why I came. You're the only one who can make her see things straight. Onegai, Izuki-chan."

"If you haven't noticed, my dear Shizune-san, I'm barely ten."

"But you're a jounin, and everyone knows you're a wonderful kunoichi, and intelligent too. I'm sure that if there's someone capable of convincing Kushina-sensei to return, it is you."

"Thanks for the compliment. I still don't think I'm that good at convincing someone, but I can't let her out there either. Minato-sama will sure have our heads if anything happens to her." I turned to the kitchen. "Oka-san, I gotta go."

So I got ready in record time, and ran as fast as I could to the place of the battle. It was a complete disaster out there if you ask me. All the ninjas fighting at the best of their abilities, and still the kyuubi wiped them away as if they were nothing but mere toys.

And then I saw them: Minato-sama was preparing some jutsu, and Kushina-sensei fought hard near her husband, protecting him from any attack that may come. I tried to yell at them, but in the uproar of the battle my voice drowned. So I tried running to them, so concentrated I was in reaching them, that I didn't see what happened to one side of me…

The kyuubi had just hit some more ninjas with one of his tails, but the hit not only killed about half a dozen of good shinobi in an instant, but it also sent a good number of rocks flying in every direction. One of them made me trip, and before I had a chance to recover, a second one fell over my foot, crushing my ankle completely.

I tried to call someone's attention, but it seemed impossible, and then I got in panic one of the kyuubi's attacks had just been thrown straight to Minato-sama.

"Abunai!!!"

I yelled as loud as I could manage, and still it wasn't loud enough.

Minato-sama seemed to be able to notice the attack, but he just couldn't break the jutsu he had already begun. And the Kushina-sensei noticed what was about to happen, there was no time for a shielding jutsu, not that it would have done much good with an attack of that size, the kunoichi did the only thing she could think of in that moment: she threw herself between her husband and the attack.

"Iie!!" I cried out in panic, but it was useless now. "Kushina-sensei!"

Just then Kenji seemed to notice my presence, he helped me get the rock off me and carried me seeing as I couldn't stand by myself.

And then when we turned we could see Minato-sama doing his ultimate jutsu. There was a giant roar, like the greatest thunder I had ever heard, the ground seemed to shake along, and a moment later…nothing.

***End of Flashback***

"I never really got to understand what happened in that moment. Some days later I got to know that as the kyuubi was too strong to be truly vanquished, his essence and power were sealed inside a newborn child, Kushina-sensei's and Minato-sama's child." Izuki finished.

By then Sakura was already crying silent tears; Sasuke had unconsciously put a hand around her shoulders, trying to calm her down; and even when his face showed the same indifference as always, his eyes demonstrated he had been really touched by that story too.

Kakashi didn't say a thing, he had been in that battle, but not as near to those two as Izuki, and in a way he'd blamed himself for that. Maybe if he had been closer he would have been able to help in some way, to help Izuki, and Kushina, and Minato; he would have been able to prevent that terrible destiny from falling upon those two wonderful ninjas he so admired, and whom he had gotten to know so well in the past.

Naruto looked so sad, and it was to be expected, but in the other hand he was also proud, he now knew who his parents had been, and what had they done with their lives; they had been great ninjas, who gave their lives for love and for the welfare of Konoha. He would honor their memories, follow their example.

Izuki didn't know what to say anymore, she never imagined Naruto to be so ignorant about his family, his past. The Sandaime had believed it to be for the best, that of Naruto didn't know about it, it wouldn't affect him, he would have a chance to be happy, and at first Izuki had agreed with him; now she wasn't so sure.

"It's late already." Kakashi said. "Why don't we go get something for dinner?"

"Even better, let's go to my house." Izuki said. "There we'll eat something, talk a bit more and I have something you may like to have Naruto-san."

"Really?" Naruto answered, he seemed a bit excited, but most of his mind was still on what Izuki had just told them. "What is it?"

"You'll see once we get there." Izuki replied.

Naruto nodded.

Finally they decided to get on their way, it was a long road back to the Uchiha residence.

"Stop." Sakura said suddenly. "I sense someone is near."

"Hai." Izuki nodded. "I've had the feeling for a while, but wasn't too sure of it. It's almost as if someone were spying upon us."

They all immediately got their hands to their pouches.

"Get out!" Sasuke called, being the first to draw a kunai out from his pouch. "Whoever you are, come out now!"

"I'm here, I'm here." A keen and shy voice said from between the shadows. "Please don't hurt me Sasuke-san, I never meant any ill-will toward you."

"Hinata-chan?" Naruto asked recognizing her voice.

"Hai." The Hyuuga heiress finally came out from between the shadows.

"What are you doing here in the middle of the night?" Kakashi asked.

It was, in fact, almost ten o'clock.

"The Hyuuga Compound is near." Hinata explained. "I heard what I believed to be a serious battle some hours ago and decided to investigate, and then I saw you."

"She must have heard Sasuke-kun's and Naruto-kun's battle." Sakura guessed.

"How much did you hear?" Izuki asked, unsure of what to do or say next.

"Everything." Hinata answered, and when seeing the looks of complete shock and mid-panic in everyone she immediately added. "But you don't have to worry about anything, I won't tell it to anybody. In fact…in fact I have known the truth for some time now."

"The truth?" Izuki asked. "How? There was a rule…"

"I know." Hinata nodded. "The rule talked about the adults not being able to tell the children that Naruto-kun had the kyuubi, but it didn't say anything about the files. I have access to every file and registry in the Hyuuga Library, there I read what happened that day, and that Naruto-kun had the kyuubi sealed inside him."

"And you didn't see me as a mo…" Naruto began.

"There you go again." Izuki said with faked anger.

"Gomen ne." Naruto apologized.

"Iie, never." Hinata answered honestly. "I've always believed Naruto-kun to be one being, and the kyuubi another, even if they both share the same body, Naruto-kun is Naruto-kun, and the kyubi is the kyuubi."

"Arigato Hinata-chan." Naruto said with a big smile.

Hinata just blushed.

"Hey Hinata-chan, why don't you join us for dinner?" Sakura proposed.

"I would love to." Hinata replied.

"Then lets go." Izuki said.

And so they began walking again.

There it is, the second chapter of this fic is here. Hope you'll like the way they all reacted, things aren't over yet, some secrets have yet to be revealed.

And while I know that Kushina's past may not exactly fit with cannon, like I said before, I wrote this before anything was known about her, even her name, and while that last part I could easily correct, the rest not so much.

Hope you still like this fic.

And please, leave me some reviews!