A/N: I was inspired to write this story because I read a story about Hibari Kyoya (KHR) and Kurama in a story by Sezu-Ni, Kumo. His story is awesome xD
Because of that, I was kinda want to write about Naruto and Kurama. Please enjoy this story as much as I enjoy writing them XD
Thanks to my beta reader, Sengro_Li
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Masashi Kishimoto does.
Warning: Some OOC character.
Summary: Everyone had their own guardian angel. That's why even though Naruto grown up without his parents beside him, he was alright. After all, he was never truly alone his entire life. It's only that his guardian angel was a bit special. He prefer to called him his guardian fox though...
Sometimes Naruto had a dream. He was looking at a blonde man and a red haired lady. And even though he couldn't see their faces, he knew that they were smiling at him. It was supposed to be a nice dream, but no, it was a nightmare. Both that man and that lady were dying. They were leaving him behind.
Most of the times, Naruto dreams about a... fox. A brown fox that was so huge with an angry scowl, two big red eyes, and a lot of tails, nine of them. It was always there, behind those cage like prison, surrounded by smelly water, watching him in his sleep.
At first, that fox looked very scary. It always growled at him. Its red eyes were glowing in the dark, intimidating. Naruto would always cower with fear in his little blanket. He couldn't sleep. Why did that fox looked at him with so much hate?
As the time goes on, that fox started to ignore him. Or so Naruto thought. It was turning his back on him, its eyes closed. Naruto would peek behind his blanket from time to time, looking at its gigantic figure. He's afraid that the fox would attack him when he let his guards down. Why was the fox in his sleep anyway?
From night to night, the fox will always be there in his sleep. Every single night, without fails. Naruto started to sleep with his back to the fox. Sometime between their times together, he accepted the existence of the fox. Its presence became something natural for him.
Naruto was playing in the park. One of these days, he started to realize that no one want to speak to him. Adults ignored him. They looked at him with disgust and something akin to anger. Then, some kids came to play with him. He was very happy. Maybe he could even made some friends. But, those adults came and dragged them away. He never played with them ever again.
It was lonely. That was what little Naruto thought every time he sits at the swing under the sunset. He wasn't careful that one time. He didn't feel any presence until a bad kid suddenly pushed his back and made him fell to the ground. He heard some people laughing. How could them?
It was hurt. He scrapped his knee until it was bleeding. He sat there in the ground with his hands holding his knee. He could feel his tears almost broke out. But he didn't want to cry. His knee was hurting, but his heart ached more painfully. He closed his eyes, willing the tears to stop. He never thought that the fox would be there, waiting for him.
That was the first time Naruto really saw the fox inside the cage. Its red eyes narrowed as it came closer, looking at the bleeding knee. Then its snorted, as if mocking the little boy who cried because of a scraped knee.
"Hei! It huts, you knoo," protested little Naruto, talking to the fox for the first time. He was four years old that time.
"Don't be a weakling. It is just a scraped knee."
"I'm not weak..." murmured the little boy.
"Said someone with waterfall from his eyes."
"I'm not crying..." the little boy pouted, wiping his tears.
"Hmph. Suit yourself," the fox closed its eyes, curled its tail around its body, and started to sleep.
Naruto wanted to protest, but suddenly something red seeped from inside the cage, moving toward him in the water. He almost screamed, but before he could utter a single cry, the red thing rose from the water and circled around him. It was beautiful. Sometimes later he would know that the red thing was the fox's chakra, but for now, it was only a beautiful red water. Weird, but wonderful.
The red water touched his scraped knee. Immediately, the wound closed, the pain went away, and Naruto blinked his eyes in the park again.
From that day onward, Naruto started to talk to the fox. He learned the fox's name. His name is Kurama. They spent more time together, talking every night. Before they knew it, they had become a good friends.
"Nee, Kurama. Why did you stay inside the cage?" Naruto asked in his 6th birthday. The old man Hokage just went home from his house, saying he will start to attend the ninja academy starting tomorrow.
"Your father locked me here," the fox answered absentmindedly.
"You know my father? Have you met him?" Suddenly Naruto became excited. He looked at Kurama with expectant eyes.
Kurama turned to face the boy in the eyes. He didn't like to talk about this topic. After all he's the one who killed the kid's parents. The kid doesn't need to know about this. But, there's nothing wrong to tell him about his parents a little, "He's the blonde man in your dream."
"...he is? Then... he died didn't he? That man in my dream was dying..."
"That's when he sealed me inside you. Your mother too..." there is a long silence following that statement.
"Why did they leave me, Kurama? Did they hate me? Just like everybody else?" Naruto asked that question with a straight face. But Kurama knew better. He had been with the kid for six years now, tended his every wounds, and listened to his lonely cry every time. He knew that the kid was scared. Scared that his own parents hated him.
"Nonsense. They died protecting you. They was crying in happiness when you were born, you know? Maybe you don't remember, but I saw it." Before that damn mask man coming.
"They do?" Kurama can feel the fear dissipated from the boy. The boy looked better, he was glad for him.
"Don't you believe me? Anyway... they left me to take care of you. Now, sleep. It's night already."
Kurama can see Naruto's dreams. Unknown to him, that connection going for both way. Naruto can see Kurama's dreams too. Sometimes. He didn't tell Kurama about it though. That's because he knew... he saw it... the day when Kurama killed that blonde man and the red haired lady. The two who supposed to be his parents. The fox is right. They loved him, and they die protecting him.
Naruto should have hated Kurama for killing both of his parents. But he could't. The fox was the only one who talked to him willingly, his only friend. The old man Hokage didn't count, he was only doing his duty. Besides, he could feel that something was wrong with Kurama in that dream. It was as if someone controlled him, and there was nothing Kurama could do about it. The nine tailed fox was always there for him. Naruto thought of him as his family. He couldn't help but to love him.
The life of a ninja is difficult one. As Naruto grew up, he came to respect some great ninjas from the history. His favorite was the fourth Hokage. He was a hero. He was awesome. He rescued the village from a monster that attacked Konoha some years prior. He never gave up, not even when he was dying.
Kurama looked at Naruto with amused eyes when he told the fox about it. Naruto didn't know what kind of monster that was being told in that story though.
The life in academy was harsh. Naruto had to train every single day. But, even after all of that effort, no one ever give him even a simplest of glance. That frustrated him. Then, Naruto remembered about his hero. Surely if he became Hokage, everyone would recognize him, right? But before that, there was something else he could do to make them look at him. First, he just had to find some paint.
Naruto loved to prank. He especially loved to tease one of his teachers, Iruka-sensei. That man never see him with that scornful eyes like everybody else. He even treated him some ramen before, and gave him some advice sometimes. Instead, Iruka-sensei often looked at him with sadness in his eyes. That never stop that man from yelling at him every time he did some of his prank though.
Class was boring. Naruto never really listen what the teachers had to say. He prefer doodling his book, or planning his next prank. His classmates also ignored him. But, not all of them is bad. There were Shikamaru, Chouji, and Kiba. They were just troublemakers, just like him. They often spent their time together with him, punished by Iruka-sensei. They still avoided him though. But, the girls were the worst. They were always saying mean things to him before going kyaaa kyaaa for that Uchiha kid. Only one of them didn't. A blushing stuttering weird girl. And then there was that Uchiha kid. What's with him and his high and mighty attitude? Jerk.
After some chaos, detentions, and minor properties damaged, years had passed. The time for ninja academy graduation exam was getting near. Naruto became very excited. He had practiced his ninjutsu for weeks. He wouldn't fail again this time. He would become a great ninja then realize his dream. It was his first step. Henge no jutsu? Piece of cake.
Naruto's confidence suddenly shattered when Iruka-sensei announced that the test for the graduation exam would be Bunshin no jutsu.
This was Naruto's worst skill. All he could do was form only a clone of himself in that test. Unfortunately, it was a useless one. Could he still pass with this?
Iruka declared that Naruto failed the test after a very long silence. Mizuki-sensei tried to persuade him to let Naruto pass. Iruka stared hard at Naruto. The other students could make at least three clones. Iruka only shook his head. He couldn't let Naruto pass.
It was Naruto's worst day. He could only watch from distance when his classmates celebrated their graduation. He could even heard some people mock him. They said that they were glad he wouldn't become a ninja, and that he deserved this. He hated them. What did he ever do to them?
"Naruto..." someone called Naruto in his way home. It was Mizuki-sensei. He said he wanted to talk about something.
"Please understand, Naruto. Iruka is a serious person. He just wants you to do this properly. To be a great ninja." Mizuki said. Both of them sat side by side in front of Naruto's house.
"But... I only want to graduate..." Naruto just couldn't hold it anymore. He just want to became a ninja. Is that too much to ask?
"Hm... I don't have any other choice then." Mizuki said after a long silence. "I'll tell you some secret. I'm sure you can make Iruka change his mind with this."
"This plan is absurd. Why did you even listened to that shady person, kid?" Kurama chided Naruto that night, when Naruto was sneaking into the Hokage's office.
"What do you mean, Kurama? I can finally graduate with this. Isn't this great?" Naruto just ignored Kurama's warning. He almost got caught by the Hokage because of that little conversation. In his defense, he used his newly made prank jutsu to that old man. A lot of blood spurred from the Hokage's noose, making him fainted. Awesome, he could even beat the mighty Hokage with this jutsu!
"Kid... remind me to never allow you to read those nasty books ever again." What would this kid's mother tell me if she was to know about this?!
"Eh? Why?" Naruto asked while he was looking for a certain scroll inside the racks. "Ah, found it!"
After Naruto found the scroll, he went to the forest that Mizuki told him before. He opened the scroll excitedly. He ignored all Kurama's warning all the way. What's with the fox today? He had never been this fussy before.
"Tajuu Kagebunshin no jutsu? What's with this scroll?" Naruto read the first ninjutsu written in the scroll. It was a high rank ninjutsu. He scratched his head while thinking. He never thought the very first jutsu would be this difficult. "Ah~ no matter. I'll just learn this jutsu and show it to Iruka-sensei! Yosha!"
Few hours later, Naruto gasped for air with his knee on the ground. The huge scroll strapped in his back. He had trained hard until he lost track of time. It was already dawn before he knew it. That was when someone suddenly called him from afar. "Naaruuuutoooo!"
"Ah, Iruka-sensei! Hehehe, You found me. I've just only learn one jutsu." Naruto answered shepishly.
"Gees Naruto, what were you doing until you looked like that?" Iruka eyed Naruto that looked quite beaten up.
"Never mind that! I'll show you something amazing!" Naruto prepared his stance to perform a jutsu, that's when Iruka saw the huge scroll in Naruto's back.
"Naruto, Do you even know what kind of scroll you just stole?" Iruka asked with exaperated tone.
"Of course! Mizuki-sensei told me that if I can perform a jutsu from this scroll, you would let me pass the graduation exam. He even told me about this place too," Naruto answered easily.
"The exam? It's all because of that?! But, Mizuki? Don't tell me- WATCH OUT NARUTO!" Iruka said with a horror-struck face. Before he could think about it, he grabbed Naruto and rolled him down on the ground. Some flying kunai suddenly struck in the place where Naruto was a few moment ago.
"I-Iruka-sensei? What was that?" Naruto stuttered. Shock evident in his voice. He tried to stand, but Iruka held him still.
"Stay down, Naruto. So that's what happened. It was a trap. Mizuki used you to stole that secret scroll." Iruka said while he looked around looking for Mizuki. From the tree above in their left side, a shadow came out from under the shade of tree.
"Hahahaha! So you found out, Iruka-sensei? Too bad... now I have to kill you too..." Mizuki said while readying his weapon.
Iruka took out his kunai and whispered to Naruto to run. Too bad, Mizuki caught that movement and threw a lot of shuriken, kunai, and whatever the weapon called, at them. They barely dodged. But Naruto couldn't avoid this one huge shuriken. He closed his eyes and prepared for the pain. Yet it never came. When Naruto opened his eyes, Iruka was there, sustained some heavy injuries while protecting Naruto.
"I-Iruka sensei... why?"asked Naruto while he look at his teacher's eyes. It's looked so sad but very determined.
"It's all my faults. I'm sorry, Naruto. I have never thought about your feelings. You must be feeling lonely when your other classmate celebrated their graduation. I'm sorry... I only wish the best for you..." tears started to flow from the corner of Iruka's eyes. Naruto became speechless. He never thought someone would ever... care about him, except Kurama of course. It felt nice. And talk about Kurama, Naruto could feel the fox inside him growled warningly.
"Huh? What is it? Such a drama coming from you, Iruka. After all, you're supposed to be the one who hated this monster the most. Now, give that scroll to me, monster." Mizuki barked while coming closer, step by step, toward Naruto and Iruka. He smiled threateningly.
Naruto hated those smile. It gave him creeps. Kurama also became agitated by that white haired man. He growled low and dangerous.
"What the hell you're talking about, you bastard?!" Naruto asked while holding the injured Iruka and pointing his middle finger at Mizuki.
"Ah... that's right," Mizuki purred. "You never know the truth. Well, I'll tell you the secret then. Afterall, don't you find it weird that everyone hate you?"
"Mizuki you asshole, don't you dare telling Naruto about that!" Iruka became restless, a blood spurred from his wound because of that. Naruto just held him, confused. What kind of secret about him that could make Iruka-sensei this mad. Furthermore, it was not only Iruka-sensei. Somehow Naruto could feel that Kurama became very furious until his stomach felt hurts.
"Twelve years ago, after the fourth Hokage saved the village from the monster that attacked Konoha, a new rule was formed by the third Hokage. But Naruto, this rule was never meant to be told to you."
"Rule...?" Naruto's stomach felt like it was burning. It was really painful. His hand clutched his stomach unconsciously.
Iruka was still shouting at Mizuki to make him shut the hell up. But, Mizuki just continued his story with some eerie laugh. "The third Hokage doesn't want you to know the fact that the demon fox who attacked the village was in fact, you! He was sealed inside you! In other words the monster who killed Iruka parents was you!"
"MIZUKI STOOOOP IIIT!"
"Fox? The monster who attacked Konoha is a fox? Could it be-" Naruto closed his eyes, going deep inside his mindscape where Kurama being held in his prison. The fox was there, but unlike every time Naruto visited him, he was turning his back on him. He looked kind of depressed.
"Kurama?" Naruto asked carefully. Something was definitely wrong if Kurama acted like this.
There was no answer coming from the fox. This made Naruto frown. He called the nine tailed fox a couple more times, but still no answer for him. This made Naruto feel a bit annoyed, "What the hell is wrong with you, Kurama?! What are you angry for? You got me a stomachache you know!"
There was a long silence until Kurama murmured something with a hoarse voice, "What? You still talking to me? Even after you know about all that?"
"Know about what?"
"That I am the one who destroyed your village... and all of that monster stuff."
"Oh, that," Naruto took a few step toward Kurama before he continued, "Actually, that was why I'm here. So is that true?"
"With some unwanted help? That's true."
There was another long silence that was broken by a huff from Naruto, "You know what? It doesn't really matter to me..."
Kurama turned really quickly. He looked at Naruto with disbelieving eyes, "Doesn't matter?! Kid, you do understand that the people I've killed back then include your parents, right?"
"Oh... I know about that actually..."
"YOU WHAT?!"
"Ehehe, actually I've seen it in your dream some years ago." Naruto answered with some sheepish smile. Suddenly, he clasped both his hands in front of his body. "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to peek in your dream like that! It just happened!"
"Why?"
"Eh? I told you that I didn't understand myself-"
"Not that. Why didn't you hate me?" The blood-red eyes stared deep into the blue eyes that stared back without any trace of fear or hesitation. Those blue eyes even looked at him with such determined eyes that make him speechless.
Naruto put his hands behind his head and smiled, "That's because you're my frien- no, you're my family. You care about me. And didn't you say it yourself that my parents put me in your care? I'm sure they weren't angry with you either. Don't blame yourself, Kurama!"
Kurama saw it. A figure of a kind red haired woman who smiled at him that overlapped with Naruto. He really is his mother's son. They have the same smile, those stubbornness too. He almost couldn't suppress his smile thinking about it, "You're weird, kid. So, what will you do to that white haired trash?"
"Hmm... what do you think? He's very annoying." Naruto thought with his hands folded.
"That's understatement! If what he says is right, and that's how those scumbag called villagers think about you in this village, I'm gladly destroy this village again." Kurama said with annoyed tone.
"Oi, I'm also a villager you know... don't ever think about it..."
"Hmph. Come here, kid." Kurama titled his head a little.
"But you won't destroy the village, right?" Naruto eyed the fox suspiciously.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Come here."
Naruto looked at Kurama once more before he shrugged and took a few step closer.
In front of the cage, Kurama lowered his head so that he became parallel to Naruto. Once he did, he pressed the tip of his nose, the only part of his body that could slip out the cage, to Naruto's forehead, and closed his eyes, "Thank you, Naruto."
Naruto felt so warm. Slowly, he closed his eyes and enjoyed the warm feeling that began to fill him started from his stomach. Somehow, he felt a surge of power overflowing from all over his body. With Kurama's last words still ringing in his mind, he opened his eyes. He was back in the forest.
Only a few minutes had passed. Naruto talked with Kurama for just a few minutes. But, by the time he opened his eyes, Iruka-sensei and Mizuki had been engaged in combat. Iruka-sensei was losing. Mizuki has thrown him into a tree and prepared his finishing blow.
"At first, I want to kill you later. Seems like you want to die that badly. Eat this!" With huge shuriken circling in his hand, Mizuki marched forward.
Naruto was enraged. How dare Mizuki did that to Iruka-sensei! Without wasting anymore time, Naruto charged in and kicked Mizuki in his chin. Mizuki flew a couple of meters before his face landing on the dirt.
"Don't touch Iruka-sensei. I'll kill you," with a hand on the scroll beside him, Naruto stood between Iruka and Mizuki.
"SHUT UP! Punk like you, I can kill you in one shot!" Mizuki growled.
"Try it, trash. I'll return the pain a thousand times over," Naruto snarled furiously while his hand formed a seal to perform a jutsu he just learnt a moment ago, "Tajuu Kagebunshin no Jutsu!" and a thousand of his clones, stood beside him.
Kurama purred. He always knew that his kid was not just any ordinary kid. After all, both of his parents were extraordinary ninja. He was so very proud of him. All he need to do was to lend him a little bit of his power. He was sure his kid can impress his little village on his own in the near future. But for now, seeing the disbelieving face of a trash who insulted his kid was enough for him.
"W-what? WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING?!" Mizuki shouted while looking everywhere. But, no matter where he look, all he saw were Narutos.
"What's wrong? Aren't you going to kill me with one shoot?" all of the Narutos taunted Mizuki with a playful smirk on their face. Mizuki was trembling in terror. A cold sweat poured down from his temple. Weren't the demon fox supposed to be a useless brat?
"Well then, I'll start things off!" with that said, the Narutos started to attack Mizuki from all over the place. A painful scream could be heard between the beating.
Iruka was speechless. Just a day before, Naruto couldn't even make a single clone properly. But now, not only he could make a thousand clone, all of them were actual bodies created from high level ninjutsu, the kage bunshin-shadow clones. He smiled a little when he remembered about the time Naruto told him of his dream to become Hokage. Maybe he really could surpass the previous Hokages, after all.
"Hehe, I went a little too far," Naruto smiled sheepishly while he looked down at unconscious and beaten Mizuki. His clones disappeared.
"Naruto, come over here. There's something I want to give you," Iruka called Naruto over. He had made his decision. He asked Naruto to close his eyes and took off his own Konoha headband and Naruto's google.
"Sensei, now?"
"Ok. You can open your eyes. Congratulations... on graduating."