Chapter 2: Revelations
Ryu began his story:
"Hmm where do I begin? I'll start from where I came from. Back in the last great shinobi war. I was an ordinary orphan trying to survive in the orphanage in the midst of war. Since the orphanage was out of Konoha though we had a problem with invading shinobi. Not few times did we have to run away from them after stealing some provisions since ours had ran out. Don't worry they usually repaid us in kind. Life was hard... But we were like a small family there. We had to watch out for each other to survive. It all ended one day though. Some ninjas came inside the orphanage and started killing children. Then they grabbed our caretaker, the only adult we knew that didn't hate us and tried to force themselves on her. I won't lie to you, I was scared. Then again I was a five year old kid. I was so disgusted with myself. I was there cowering in a corner while in front of my eyes someone was trying to hurt the one person in my life that didn't hurt me or look down on me. In the end I chose to act. I grabbed a kunai that was embeded on the wall and attacked. Luckily only two shinobi were in the room. The others were looking for our food. So I charged and stabbed one of the ninjas on the back of his head killing him. Then I turned on the other one and stabbed him in the stomach and spilled his guts out. He had time to scream though so his friends came over. After killing the caretaker, they proceeded to torture me as payment. Suddenly there was a flash of yellow outside and a blonde man with blue eyes appeared. He pretty much tore them apart. After killing them he asked me if I wanted to be stronger. I did. He then told me to call him Minato-sensei. I was saved by Namikaze Minato... Konoha's yellow flash."
"A couple of years later I was called a prodigy. I became especially skilled in Kenjutsu and Ninjutsu. It was a constant war so I kept fighting all the time." *sigh* "A mere gaki and I was a killer. As you can understand it got to me. I began to think like a monster. Kill kill and kill were my thoughts. I won't lie to you; I almost did go mad. Then I met her... The most beautiful woman I ever met. Long red hair and shining green eyes. Half the village loved her and the rest hated her. Well the men loved her and the women envied her. She was the princess of Uzu no Kuni and a most capable warrior. A master of the sword arts. But if you ever saw her smile you'd never know. Such kindness... such joy of simply being alive... Even in the midst of war she had fun, made jokes, pulled pranks and helped others. She met me one day in one of the training grounds as I was venting. She stopped me and started talking to me. Not more than a couple of hours later I was sobbing in her arms. She then offered to teach me how to defend those that I cared for. I met my second sensei there. Her name was Uzumaki Kushina."
"U-uzumaki? My last name is Uzumaki! What-"
"Not yet Naruto. Soon. Let me finish. Anyway neither I nor Kushina-sama knew we were being watched by Minato-sama, but at that moment he fell in love with her. He tried to get to her and after quite a few rather... embarassing situations he managed to date her. She was after all an important ambassador and he was possibly Konoha's next Hokage. Or that's what they told everyone. I knew better. They loved each other and fought like a married couple. Kushina-sama didn't give a rat's arse about do's and don'ts. Minato-sama was a bit of a pervert. They weren't perfect but to me... it was obvious they loved each other. And in the end they married in secret. You see Minato-sama had many enemies. They might strike at him through her so he had to make it secret. Around that time I had surpassed Kushina-sama in Kenjutsu. By far too. I had learned and practiced a lot. I made new jutsus on the fly. I even went so far as to remake jutsus that belonged to clans. During that time I donned a clay mask and an armor and went to solo destroy whole battalions. Yes I'm serious. I'm not a mere combat-type shinobi. I am a siege-type shinobi. I know large area affecting jutsus and I made ninjutsu style of my own. I called it Nigyo Kentai. By combining two elements I was able to unleash destruction on a whole different level. I became known as Konoha's Dragon Rider at that time, because of one of my most powerful jutsus. It literally made a dragon made of molten rock that I rode on the head." *sigh* "I was the perfect killing machine. Noone ever noticed though that I always cried when I killed. That was the real reason I wore my mask. Don't get me wrong. I love fighting. I hate killing though. Anyway at some point the war came to an end. I was about 11 or 12 then. I spent so much time around Minato-sama and Kushina-sama that I saw them as my parents. And they would become my parents by adopting me. Can you understand my happiness? I was thrilled. My own family... My greatest dream. Of course the council objected and delayed the whole adoption but to us it didn't matter. It was only a matter of time. In all this time Minato-sama was selected as Yondaime Hokage. After a a few months Kushina-sama became pregnant with Minato-sama's child. It was some of the best time of my life. No war, no deaths, just wonderful peace and calm. Or well mostly but I'll tell you some other time. Anyway as Kushina-sama was nearing the last months of the pregnancy her health seemed to deteriorate. She had the choice of abortion but she never took it. She said, and I quote ' I've never backed down from anything before and I sure as hell won't back down from giving birth to my own child. I will not kill my child especially not before my son has had the chance to live.' end quote."
"In the last days of her pregnancy it became clear to us that one of the two wouldn't survive. Either Kushina-sama or her son would have to die. I begged kushina-sama to kill her son so she could live and try again but she'd have none of this. She stood by her decision and decided to give birth. Then we received just as bad news. The Kyubi was coming. I spent the last days trying to help Minato-sama find a way to defeat it. We never found a way but one. A seal master would have to give up his life to summon the Shinigami. And even then it wouldn't die. You see its impossible to kill a bijuu... they are mostly chakra after all. The best thing you can do is... seal it inside a newborn baby. I asked to be given either of these burdens. Either to give my life up for the shinigami and suffer a fate worse than death, inside the shinigami's belly, or to have the kyubi sealed in me. I however was not eligible for either. I was too old to have the kyubi sealed in me and I was no seal master. I had dedicated my life to mastering the way of the sword not the fuuinjutsu. I felt like I was back then at the orphanage... A small scared child. Through all this war and bloodshed nothing had changed... I was still weak. Worse of all I knew what would happen... Kushina-sama gave birth to a son. A blond haired, blue eyed boy. I am still haunted by her smile while she held her only son... Then Minato-sama came in and took the boy away for the sealing. It was the only boy born that day and ironically enough it was Minato's own son. Even if there was another child Minato-sama would rather have his own son hate him rather than seal a demon inside someone else's child. I went with him crying all the while. It was the first time I cried without my mask... I went behind the kyubi to attack its legs in an attempt to slow it down while Minato-sama would take care of the sealing. When it all ended... kyubi was gone, its soul sealed inside the belly of a newborn orphan. I was there for Minato-sama's last words... He said: 'Goodbye my son... I am so sorry I'll never see you grow up to be the best person you can be. I'm sorry for what I've done to you and I hope you'll forgive me. Live good my son. You'll always make me proud. After all you're the only one I could trust with keeping everyone safe. Sarutobi... My son's name... Is Naruto. Uzumaki Naruto. He won't know his real name until he's jounin or 18 years old. Farewell sochi... be strong.' And thus Minato... Yondaime Hokage of Konohagakure died with his arms around his only child... You Naruto. You are his child. His legacy. Both their legacy. Your true name is Uzumaki-Namikaze Naruto."
"No... NO. This... this is a lie! YOU LIE! He... he can't be... he can't my dad... WHY? WHY DIDN'T ANYONE TELL ME! AM I THE DEMON? IS THAT WHY?" screamed Naruto, tears welling from his eyes.
"NO! You're no demon. You're UZUMAKI NARUTO. You're the ONLY THING keeping EVERYONE ALIVE. The other bastards in this village see only the kyubi. I see the little brother I never had. That day Naruto... that day I threw away my name. The name your father gave me because I failed him. The name he gave me was Arashi because there was a storm brewing when I met him. You and maybe five others know my real name. To everyone else I'm just my ANBU mask. Now get out of your head that you're a demon. If anyone I am the demon. You haven't killed anyone. I have."
"But how... How can you be so sure I'm not the kyubi... How? How can you smile at me knowing I killed these people?"
"Because you are like your mother. If you were a monster would you be crying? If you were a monster would you be doubting your own innocence? No. If you were a monster you'd have laughed. You'd have enjoyed it. You'd have hurt others. Instead the only 'traits' you have from the kyubi you have is a prankster's personality and the whisker marks. Besides I trust the person that would be my father. I trust your father. I trust in Minato-sama and in you. And most of all I believe in you. I believe you'll keep the damned fox away from everyone. Besides didn't you hear? You are the one Minato-sama could ever trust with keeping the kyubi down. He couldn't trust me. He couldn't trust anyone else. He trusted YOU. You are no demon. You are a hero. A born hero. A hero that has kept everyone safe for 11 years."
"I... am a hero? Yondaime... my dad... trusted me with this. If... if dad and you trust me with this... I'll have to make you proud. And I'll make mom proud too. I'll... I'll protect everyone. Thanks Arashi-niisan..."
Naruto, still crying hugged his sensei, who after being called a nii-san could only smile at the still crying blond. After Naruto fell asleep, he carefully picked him up and tucked him to bed.
Ryu got outside and watched at the moon.
"It tired him a lot. And hurt him. But I'll be here for him. Do you hear me Kushina-okaa-sama? I'll be here for your son. I'll bring your smile back to the world. And I'll be damned if I allow another inbred bastard lay a finger on him. They have forsaken him for far too long. I'll train him and make him better than me. He'll make you proud. He... my little brother will make you both proud. This I swear." With that last vow Ryu, who once would have been called Namikaze Arashi, went to sleep, his thoughts lingering on his little brother and student. He'd take care of him. Noone would ever take separate them if he had a say in it. Noone.
A/N: Quite an emotional chapter eh? Naruto found out about his past. Now its time to put all that energy into training. Let's see how much Naruto can improve in a year with a serious teacher for a change.
Today, on this 9/6/2012, I, Soulblazer87, do hereby leave this site, possibly forever.
I shall not update this, or any other story.
I shall leave them on, however. Should you desire to follow my stories, do so in my new site of residence: www dot yourfanfiction dot com.