Chapter 1

A Whisper of Truth

Naruto found Kakashi sitting in a tree near the Academy. The place woke up in Naruto a mixture of feelings, some nostalgia and also the desolation from his childhood. He shook his head. There were more important things to think about right now, so he focused on Kakashi. The older man looked up at his approach despite the fact it was from the rear.

"Naruto," was all he said.

Naruto took a breath before appearing in front of him. He wasn't entirely sure this was going to work, but Kakashi was the only person who had the power and, hopefully, the will to help him with this, so he couldn't let himself be dissuaded. This was important, maybe the most important thing he was going to have to do, at least so far. There would be greater decisions, and even greater sacrifices, if they were to win, but Naruto had to think about what was in front of him now.

"I need a favor," he blurted out. He hadn't meant to start from here, but there it was. Kakashi looked up at him. Naruto stood above the Jounin on the same limb, but averted his eyes, finding the swing at the other end of the clearing almost automatically. How many times had he positioned himself there to watch the other kids and their parents? "I need to talk to you about some things," he continued when it was obvious Kakashi wasn't going to respond, "some pretty important things."

This seemed to be interesting enough to Kakashi to react, even if only to shift so he could get a better look at Naruto.

"I need you to get me into the restricted sections of the Ninja library," Naruto said in a rush, stringing the words together to get them out.

Naruto could practically feel Kakashi's curiosity peak along with something else, a tensing of the man's shoulders.

"Why would you want that?" the man asked.

Naruto sighed. "I know I'm not really allowed, except by Hokage order, but I can't see her just yet. I . . ." he stopped, unsure of how to continue. He had to give a reason to Kakashi, or he would never get his help. "I did things during training," From the look Kakashi was giving him, Naruto knew he was practically pleading, asking him to understand. It didn't matter, not as long as he could explain. "Things that would probably anger the council, but it's really the only way."

Kakashi didn't look angry when he asked, "And? How did it go?"

"It went well," Naruto said. For some reason, Kakashi wanted to believe him, even with the next words out of Naruto's mouth. "At least, I think it did. Please, I'll explain everything later, to you and to her, but I need this first."

The look in Naruto's eyes and his attitude, so unsure, had Kakashi worried. He'd never seen the boy like this. What could possibly have him so jumpy, especially if the training had gone well?

And, he could tell it had. The boy carried himself with a new confidence. Tall and unyielding, his muscles had more definition and he moved more fluidly than before. Kakashi knew Naruto would never have the same grace as Sasuke or himself, but he had more potential than the Uchiha at becoming a great leader. Kakashi was proud of the boy, but at the same time he felt a pull of loss at his heart.

This young man may have been assigned as his student, however, Kakashi knew very well how much he had failed Naruto in that regard. He also knew that Naruto didn't see it that way. After all, had Kakashi taken over his training as he had with Sasuke, then he would never have met Jiraiya. It was obvious to anyone with eyes that Naruto considered the old ninja, though deceased, a great man as well as family. Like he might a grandfather, had he been able to articulate that feeling beforehand.

But, maybe he can make up for it now. After all Jiraiya was dead, the closest thing Naruto had had to a family once again gone.

"Alright," Naruto looked up, surprised. He had not expected Kakashi to give in so readily. Kakashi gave him a smile. "But, you're going to be giving me an explanation when you finish, I don't care whether or not you tell the Hokage."

Naruto blinked at this, and Kakashi shook his head.

"You are not just a ninja to me. You are my student, even if you are done with training; you will always be my student, a part of my team." Kakashi said 'team' but it sounded as if he meant family, and he heard it himself, right there, in his own voice. What was wrong with him today? Kakashi had spent the better part of it with Obito and his Sensei only to find himself thinking of Naruto, how his training was going, whether or not they would manage to keep Akatsuki's claws from ruining him. He knew he was fond of Naruto – much more than he should have been as his teacher, but to say it like that? Then again, it was the truth. Kakashi also had no one, so he pushed on, suddenly wanting Naruto to trust him with whatever he was keeping locked away inside himself.

"Our team, Team 7, is very different from all the others, don't you think? We share a very strong bond because of everything we've been through."

Naruto looked stunned, and then gave one of those fox-like grins that lent innocence to his face, as if he had not seen and done things to make the local populace cringe. Kakashi knew Naruto had understood his message.

I'm here for you. We can do this together.

Naruto said, with that incredible smile still on his face, "I told you before, you don't have to worry. I'm not going to stop until I have that old hag's job, Sasuke has what he needs, and this village has all it needs," he replied.

Kakashi sighed, almost relieved. While he could tell there was still something off about his manner, Naruto had calmed down enough to insult the Hokage. Kakashi stood up and Naruto moved back from the limb to the ground in a single motion that had Kakashi blinking. When had he learned to transport himself with such speed? It was almost like looking at another blonde ninja, the only other one with a thousand faces for a thousand moments and the determination to not only use them but refuse to let anyone tell him what he could or couldn't accomplish. How like that man Naruto had become and in spite of all he had gone through just to get to the point he was at now.

"Meet me in front of the Research Facility in an hour. You know where it is?"

All he got was a nod from the younger ninja and a serious look that relayed the importance of his current mission. Kakashi found himself wondering if the Toad Sage, Fukasaku, knew of this outing. He hurried his steps across the rooftops to the Hokage tower.

Kakashi intended to tell nothing of Naruto's sudden return to Godaime, preferring to see where the information Naruto hoped to gain from the research would lead. Having arrived at the Tower, he surreptitiously made his way up to their leader's office taking care to melt into the background of the office. He wanted to get this over with quickly and didn't want to be reminded that he still had to turn in the mission reports for two Chuunin groups he'd led on a rescue in Grass country.

Knocking on the Hokage's office door, he waited to be invited in.

"What is it now, Kakashi?" cried the irritated voice of Tsunade. He stepped into the room quietly, cleared his throat and raised his hand.

"Yo." He sauntered over to stand in front of her desk as the Hokage grumbled about outside entreaties for aide without the proper payment and reckless ninja taking it upon themselves to offer their services up in advance of her agreeing to it. Aside from it pertaining to the history of certain seals, jutsu or techniques in regard to teaching or for use during battle, access to the entire Research Facility was prohibited. Kakashi felt his lips twitch in a fond imitation of a smile.

"Greetings, Hokage. I came to ask for permission to use the Research facility for a few hours this afternoon." Hoping she wouldn't ask about specifics, Kakashi continued quickly, "I'll need full access, of course, and may need to spend more than one day there."

He added the last bit just in case. He could really kick himself for not asking Naruto at least the subject he intended to look up. Naruto was not really fond or familiar with libraries, but if Kakashi knew about the subject Naruto was interested in, he would be able to determine how much time they needed. As it was, he was unprepared in that area and so decided to err on the side of caution.

The Hokage glanced up at him and narrowed her eyes slightly. Kakashi almost felt like gulping; those eyes had that calculating look he knew could read far more than any other person, even with ninja training. He sometimes wondered if the woman had some sort of hidden talent akin to the Sharingan or Byakugan, but it was probably just intuition, the gift of knowing people that made her a good Hokage.

When the look lingered, Kakashi found himself holding his breath, wondering if she was going to press the issue. When she finally answered, he was relieved.

"Fine, you have it."

She reached across the desk for the necessary paperwork, signed it off and handed it to him. As Kakashi reached for it, however, she caught his arm and pulled him closer, so he could see the murderous expression in her eyes from up close.

"And, you can tell that brat, the next time he tries to enter the village without seeing me, he'll have a lot worse things to fear than megalomaniacs bent on subjugation and death."

She released him with a feral smile, although her eyes held a satisfied gleam to them, and Kakashi knew she meant no real harm, not to Naruto. She was simply worried about him and for him. Kakashi also caught the charged excitement emanating from her. She, too, was curious at how the training had progressed.

"Why, I don't know what you mean, Godaime." Kakashi said playfully, to lighten the atmosphere. Hopefully, she wouldn't push the issue. Kakashi needed time alone with Naruto to weasel out what was troubling the boy. "I simply have a little catching up to do on my Sealing techniques, is all."

Kakashi smiled at the annoyed look that crossed the old woman's unlined face. She had started it, after all. In a whoosh of air and leaves, Kakashi disappeared to head over to the Facility before Naruto showed up. With any luck, he could catch the boy early enough to gauge his current state of mind. He was in no mood to try to pull it out of him, but this was one time when he wished patience had not become a valued asset.

Naruto was waiting when Kakashi arrived. He used some of the time Kakashi gave him to go home and check up on things, do some grocery shopping. But, mostly he'd simply been waiting. He had gotten to the library and waited as patiently as he could, afraid Kakashi hadn't taken him seriously enough to actually be there on time.

Naruto was almost surprised when he felt Kakashi approaching rapidly, but relieved as well. The bad feeling that was following him ever since he met Itachi in the woods was not leaving him, not even after the successful training; it seemed almost as if the blood inside him was buzzing, telling him to hurry, that time was running out.

"She knows it's for you." Kakashi spoke first.

"You told her?" Naruto asked, feeling his heart sinking. He really believed it when Kakashi had told him he would help. Now, the old hag was going to demand he go to her and explain himself, and he really, really wanted to do this first. He felt as though he had to.

Kakashi gave him a tiny shake of his head. "No. She is the Hokage, you know. She has a way of knowing things."

"But, she's going to . . ." Naruto started, too upset to keep his voice low. Kakashi interrupted.

"She gave me the permission. Are we going inside?"

She gave permission even though she knew it was for him? Naruto felt pleased that she had that much faith in him, but then he remembered that he had done things she would not approve of. It sobered him.

"Yeah," he answered, and followed Kakashi as he approached the guard, flashed the signed release, and went inside.

The sheer amount of scrolls and books made Naruto blink several times at the shelves. How was he supposed to find out more about what he was looking for in all that? What was it that he was looking for, anyway? He came to the library because the fox said he should, but he never took time to think about it.

Kyuubi said that the one who sealed him left him more than just a key. The one who sealed him was the Fourth Hokage, but if he left something to Naruto, why would that be in the library? Maybe the fox was lying?

Kakashi was waiting patiently next to him, but Naruto could feel the worry and the curiosity in the look that he was giving him, as heavy as a sack of sand on his back. He cleared his throat. Thinking he should start somewhere, he began to peruse the nearest shelf.

"I need to know more about Kyuubi." He almost whispered, and the words and his voice felt weird and weak.

Kakashi didn't even move a muscle under his mask, as if he had expected Naruto to say exactly that. He, then, led the way down one of the aisles without a word.

"This section," Kakashi showed him with his hand two or three shelves filled with books and scrolls, "is about the tailed demons. There is a lot of material, but most of the books say the same things."

Naruto picked one book at random, and flicked through it. The long, high wall of texts did not look promising, but Naruto knew he had to do it.

"You knew exactly where it was." He said, looking questionably up at Kakashi, noticing in the back of his mind that they were almost the same height now.

Kakashi took a book from a shelf before he answered.

"The Third allowed me a little research after you passed the bell test."

Naruto didn't know exactly why he felt insulted by those words, but he did. Kakashi was probably trying to keep them all safe learning about Kyuubi, and Naruto should be grateful about that. But, wasn't he the one who should have known more about his own . . . . condition? They never thought he was old enough or reliable enough to know about those kinds of things, and whenever he found a way around them, they acted as if he had done something wrong.

Kakashi probably noticed that he was upset, so he placed the book he had picked up on top of the one already in his hands.

"This one is good, I remember it. Why don't you take a couple and bring them over to the tables? We can look at them there."

Yes, that sounded much better than to stand and read. Naruto picked the nearest table and took the books there, and Kakashi brought a few more and some scrolls, as well.

Naruto started reading. Kakashi was right, all the books were saying the same thing - the tailed beasts were massive concentrations of chakra transformed into beast-like entities, demons – the greater number of tails, the greater the power, and the more vicious they were. People had been trying to find a way to control them for centuries, and the only efficient way was to seal the chakra of the demons inside a human. There were several different types of sealing. Every hidden village seemed to invent their own, obviously not in willing to share such an enormous power.

Konoha was the last one to get their hands on a tailed beast. But, from what Naruto read, they were the only village to have so few casualties.

Naruto read the chapter on Kyuubi. It started with:

'The Kyuubi no Yoko (Nine-Tailed Demon Fox) is one of the Nine Tailed Demon Beasts that roam the world. The Kyuubi is the strongest tailed beast. It is said that with a single swipe of one of its tails it could create tsunamis or flatten mountains. The Nine Tails is considered a natural disaster that appears where ever human malice collects and festers.'

So, Konoha was the last, but it got the strongest one. Naruto wondered if he was supposed to be happy or flattered, but the only thing he felt was ill. He and Kyuubi were meant to be just pawns, like all the other demons used to create Jinchuuriki.

Under the text was a footnote, in a small, nearly illegible scrawl. It looked hand-written. Naruto tried to decipher it, but met with very little success. That is, until he thought back to his time with Jiraiya. He went back through the text, realizing the person had handwriting very much like the Toad Sage's.

Kakashi was watching the boy carefully, pretending to read. He had never seen Naruto this focused, not on anything aside from physical training or learning jutsus. He must be either in trouble or on to something big to act like this.

He crept as silently as possible behind Naruto, who was frowning down on the book, and glanced over his shoulder. What got so much of Naruto's attention was, apparently, a footnote low on the page. The hand writing looked familiar, but it took Kakashi a second to recognize it.

That little, barely legible line was written by his sensei. Minato wrote it, and now his son was sitting there, trying to read it, not even knowing what it was. Or, maybe . . .

Was that what Naruto was looking for, the truth about his family? Kakashi knew Sarutobi told Naruto some sort of lie when he was young, but maybe Naruto had somehow found out about it and wanted to know the truth? But if so, was it possible Naruto could be so calm about it?

No, he said he wanted to know more about Kyuubi, and that made perfect sense. If it was anyone else who had the nine tailed beast sealed in them, they would have done this research years ago. Naruto was not very fond of spending time indoors when he could be outside getting stronger. And then, there was the fact that he had been very busy for years now, always on the move, always trying to save someone, make a difference.

Kakashi was the one who should have done a detailed research before this. When he was in here the last time, his research was mostly about the sealing and any possible way to stop Kyuubi from breaking free. But, maybe it was not too late. The footnote gave him an idea.

If Minato left proof of the research he had conducted before the sealing here in the library, then he might have left more – maybe at the Hokage's personal library, or at his home.

Kakashi stepped back just as quietly as he had approached; Naruto was too engrossed in trying to read the note to pay him any attention, anyway. When he gained some distance, he said loud enough to make sure Naruto would hear it.

"I have to go now, Naruto. You stay." Naruto mumbled something in response, and that was enough for Kakashi. He walked out quickly.

The footnote was too small so all Naruto could decipher of it said something about chakra and Kyuubi. He was interested in what it said, but he couldn't afford to waste more time, so he left the book to look at the others.

There was nothing of any use, as far as Naruto could see. He stood up to stretch and go over to explore the section Kakashi showed him again, steps echoing in the empty hall. Scrolls were on the upper shelves, but they said nothing new, either, so Naruto got down on his knees to take a better look at the lowest portion. The books there were dustier and older; it seemed like a good place to find something useful.

Naruto took a couple of books out. Behind them, he could see a scroll tucked in a corner and another, smaller book. They were really dusty, so Naruto blew on the book cover to clean it up a bit, and a big cloud of dust arose around him. The leather, though old, looked hand-tooled rather than the standard commercial covers he'd seen used on the others. Naruto stood up, carefully trying not to breathe in all the dust, with the little book still in hand.

Back at the table, he saw that what he had in his hands was actually a journal. The first page was covered in text written in longhand, and it looked like the same person that had made the footnote in the previous book he'd been reading.

Now really curious, Naruto sat back at the table and started reading.