Disclaimer-See Chapter 1

-BREAK-

The moment she saw his eyes go blank, Kushina closed the distance between herself and Naruto, catching him just as he started to fall forward. She sent a worried look to the other people in the room, pulling her son close to her chest for what felt like the first time in years, while doing her best not to think about just how light his small body felt against her.

It saddened the redheaded mother that this might have been the longest conversation they had had with Naruto since that night they offered to finally train him, but it also worried her. Something wasn't right, Naruto seemed to go from one extreme mood to another in the blink of an eye, seeming indifferent before bursting into hysteria. The same thing had happened when he fought Mito and Erza, he started off with a cool and calm attitude, but then switched into frantic, before seeming to get depressed for no reason.

Now Kushina would be the first to admit that she knew very little about her son, even less then she thought as they had all found out not long ago with his announcement at the stadium, but this just didn't seem healthy.

Quickly picking him up, Kushina moved to the third bed in the room, the only one not currently being used, and lay him down gently. She hesitated for a moment, her hand on the zipper to his hoodie, before letting out a sigh and slowly opened it so she could get a closer look at him.

Over the last few year, Kushina had notice that Naruto had started to put on a little weight, not much, but when it came to him any was a good thing. But even with that, it still pained her to see him so thin, his skin stretched over his bones and stomach sunk in.

She knew the other people in the room were watching her, knowing exactly what she was doing as her hand moved to his stomach, shaking slightly as she started to slowly channel chakra into it. Deep inside, Kushina had hoped that Naruto had been wrong, but the moment to black ink started to appear on his skin under her hand and glow she could stop the tears that fell from her eyes.

There, on his stomach, was unmistakably a high level seal, designed to hold something like a Tailed Beast inside a living host. It was different than the ones on Mito and Erza's stomach, more complex, but its purpose was still easy to tell. Both Mito and Erza's seals were a large spiral with a circle of symbols and five smaller spirals surrounding it.

The one they were looking at now was a large spiral, with four smaller spirals around it, a large circle of seals around them, then five spirals outside it. The seals then moved up in a straight line, before ending in a medium spiral in the center of his chest.

Bringing her hands to her mouth as she stepped back, barely noticing as Minato pulled her into him from behind, Kushina let out a small sob as the full weight of what they were seeing hit her, along with what might also explain why her son hated them so much.

When he was little and asked, no begged them to train him with his sisters, they had always told him that Mito and Erza needed more training because they were Jinchuuriki. It had seemed like a good excuse at the time so they could avoid telling him about his illness, but now Kushina realized it had backfired more than if they had just told him the truth. Naruto was a Jinchuuriki, worst the first of his kind, and they had brushed him off for his sisters and he knew they had.

How long did he know about what he was, what they had turned him into, and who knew what effect it had on him?

Steeling her resolve, Kushina pulled away from her husband and moved back over to her son, before explaining the seal to everyone. After a moment she frowned, and moved a glowing hand over his body.

"I-it seems to be a mutated version of the Death Reaper Seal, it has the same basic formula, but it's as if something super charged it. If the seals on Mito and Erza are locked doors with chains, with seal is a three foot thick vault, I can't actually see any way it could be broken. However, unlike the Death Reaper Seal, it doesn't actually have any defenses on the inside of the seal, nothing to separate Naruto and the S-Shinigami. Their chakra has actually fused into one…I don't even know if it can be call chakra anymore…"

Frowning at her words, Hiruzen stepped a little closer so he could get a better look at the seal himself.

"What do you mean?"

"Normal Chakra is made up of three things. Physical energy, which is created by training the body, Spiritual energy, created by training the mind and Nature energy which the body absorbs and allows us to use Elemental Jutsu. The normal ratio for the three is Physical energy 50%, Spiritual energy 40% and Nature energy 10%, which creates the chakra we use for Jutsu. While these ratios can change slightly due to Bloodlines, they are essentially always the same."

The room was completely silent as they listened to Kushina explain, watching as she slowly stroked Naruto's hair.

"But Naruto's chakra is different, the ratio is completely off…Physical energy 25%, Spiritual energy 30%, Nature Energy 35% and an unknown energy 10%. This shouldn't be possible, his body should be tearing him apart, humans can't handle that much Nature energy, and who knows what the unknown on could be doing to him. This doesn't make any sense…"

Kushina heard Minato as he walked over to stand next to her, catching the small frown on his face as he looked over the seal himself, before pointing to one part of the seal in particular.

"This part here is weird, why is there an energy conversion Seal matrix mixed together with an internal scanning Seal…and here, this is a muscle stimulating formula Seal placed over an inverted external mind protection Seal. And here…oh god...it's some kind energy collection pocket seal, but it's right in the middle of an inner mental dimension seal and an emotion to chakra regulator. These Seals together like this could cause dangerous mood swings, severe paranoia…these Seals would slowly drive someone insane…"

Ignoring the sound of multiple gasps behind him, Minato continued to examine the Seal one part at a time, muttering to himself.

"When you step back and look at it as a whole, the Seal does what it's meant to do, keep the Shinigami Sealed inside Naruto's body and chakra coils. But when you look at it one part at a time, it's a complete mess, Seals counteracting each other, fighting, creating different matrixes that don't belong…it's a mix of genius and chaos, barely holding together without tearing Naruto apart. The only explanation I can find is that because we didn't realise Naruto was a Jinchuuriki, the Death Reaper Sealing Jutsu reacted on its own and compensated itself."

"Can you fix it?"

Turning to look at Shikaku out of the corner of his eye, Minato took a moment to think, before nodding.

"I can rearrange the Seal, clean it up so that the damage is undone, or at least doesn't get worse, but I can't actually remove anything. If we knew about this when he was a baby I could, but his body has grown with them over the years, the best I can do is move them around into a better formation."

It was at this point that Inoichi cleared his throat, getting everyone's attention, before stepping forward.

"Hokage-sama, I assume I was asked here to do a mind scan of Naruto-sama, if so it would probably be best if I did so while he is still unconscious. While I do not like the idea of invading a Leaf-nin's mind in such a way without their permission, considering the current circumstances, I just thought I should warn you…"

Her frown increasing at the thought, Kushina stopped stroking Naruto's hair for a moment, before shaking her head.

"No, Naruto-kun already hates us, if we invade his mind without at least telling him why…there is no going back from that. I know it would be easier to do it now, but I don't think we can risk it."

Nodding in agreement, Minato stood back up and turned to Tenzo, a small frown on his lips.

"Bring me my Sealing supply's, I am going to need to get started straight away, and send a message for Jiraiya to return, but don't go into details. The last thing we need is for someone from another village to intercept it."

"Right away, Hokage-sama!"

XXX

Inside Naruto's head

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Since realizing what he was, Naruto had started reading and researching everything he could about Jinchuriki, from the different Seals used in the past, to personal accounts from the containers themselves. It took years of hard work, but Naruto was confident he had at least a decent understanding on what it meant to be a Jinchuriki.

That was why, when he woke up after passing out, he was only mildly surprised to find himself somewhere different. Naruto was stood on what seemed to be a border between two landscapes, both as different as night and day…literally.

The one on his right looked a lot like the forest that surrounded Konoha, made from tall lush trees and bathed in bright sunlight, he could even see animals moving around in the distance. However, the landscape on his left seemed to be out of some king of horror movie, no colour seeming to exist in it other than black, white and grey. The few trees that he could see were black and little more than dead and blacked shadows of what they should have been, the ground they were growing out of was dry and barren, almost like a desert. There were several rocky outcrops bunched together and a harsh and seemed to be ripping around and carrying sand and dust into the air. Even stranger, was the fact they the forest on his left had a full moon and night sky above it, unlike the forest on his right that was in the middle of the day.

He was stood slightly more on the day forest, and could actually see the line were the two forests met, the contrasting day and night seeming all the more pronounced.

Slowly stepping closer to the line, Naruto slowly held out his hand and reached out over the line, frowning slightly when what little color he had bleached away from his skin, only to return when he pulled it back.

"Not what you were expecting I imagine, but you already know that the mindscape is hardly ever what a person would expect, after all it's not easy to see your own soul in a physical form."

Naruto quickly turned in the direction the voice had come from, only for his eyes to widen in shock, and take a step back without realising it.

Sat on a large white rock about ten feet away from the border between the two separated lands, was a boy. He had the same face and whisker marks as Naruto, but with shoulder length white hair, grey skin and black eyes. Sticking out of the top of his head, was a pair of small black horns, and unlike Naruto he was wearing a traditional white kimono with a black roped tied around his waist to hold it in place.

He was staring at Naruto with an uncaring expression, one eyebrow raised as he saw the fear in the blonde's eyes, before letting out a small chuckle at his reaction.

"Relax Naruto, I'm not going to hurt you, not even sure I can to be honest. After all, we are technically brothers…"

Taking a deep, Naruto steeled himself and stepped forward again, standing just in front of the line.

"You're the Shinigami…"

It wasn't a question, the only reason this strange boy would be in his mindscape would be if he was the Death God, though Naruto had not been expecting…this…

"Call me Shin, Shinigami is a bit of a mouthful, ya know?"

Jumping down from the rock, the newly named Shin stretched for a moment before walking over to stand right in front of Naruto on the other side of the line. If anyone else saw the two, they might think Naruto was standing in front of a demonic mirror, because despite their clear differences, they could easily pass as brothers.

"You're…not what I was expecting…"

"Let me guess, you thought I would be a giant floating man with a blade in my mouth, wondering around looking for souls to eat?"

"Honestly…yes."

"Well, I am only 13 years old…"

"What!"

The shock on Naruto's face seemed to bring a smile to Shin's, his sharp teeth showing slightly, as the embodiment of death released a chuckle.

"Before that night 13 years ago, I was merely a force of nature, like gravity. I existed without a consciousness, and did the job Kami created me for, until I was forced into a solid form to Seal the Kyuubi. If it was normal Death Reaper Seal, I would have taken your Father's Soul before returning to what I was meant to be, and everything would have been fine. I was never meant to be self-aware, Death needs to be unbiased, unable to feel guilt so it can make the hard decisions that it needs to every day. The seal was changed, and I was sucked into the nearest and best host, you. 13 years of having an actual form, even if only in your mind, I slowly gained self-awareness, learned about the world from your memories and became my own person. Your Parents never even realised I was here…"

As Shin was talking, Naruto had been getting paler, than at the last sentence fell to his knees.

"They really didn't know?"

"They didn't."

"But, then why did they ignore me?"

"You are not like the other Jinchuriki, they are two separate beings in one body, with two separate Souls. We are two separate beings in one body and soul. We are the same, you are body, I am the soul, two half's of a whole."

"…how is that possible?"

"The Seal that sucked me into you, it was a side effect of the Jutsu, created with no real order or knowledge in Sealing. The line that separates Jinchuriki from their hosts was blurred for us, and will only get more so as the years go by and we get stronger.

His eyes fixed on the ground, Naruto let tears fall from his eyes and onto the grassy ground, his shoulders shaking with suppressed sobs.

"You still didn't tell me, why did they forget me?"

"I am not human, I do not eat human food, and we are one. Your body need a mix of human food and, what you have called, Souls. The animals in the forest behind you the Souls you have eaten over the last few years. When you were a baby, they realised something was wrong, and you were diagnosed with a genetic disorder. The doctors didn't know about me, they gave you only a few years to live, and from what I can tell your parents distanced themselves so it wouldn't hurt so much when you died. It is hard for me to see the memories from that part of your life, you were too young to remember it yourself and everything is a little jumbled up."

Seeing that Naruto was lost in thought, Shin decided to continue.

"Your mindscape is the afterlife for the Souls you eat, storing them here, their energy feeding both of us while they continue to live on. That is why it is split in half, the light is the Heaven, and the dark is the Hell. While animals do not have the same awareness as a human, meaning they cannot be good or evil, humans are responsible for their actions. I can see the life of the Souls when they come, and when you eat a human Soul I will judge their lives and Souls, and place them accordingly. The border between the two lands is a barrier, one that only we can cross."

Deciding save the information about his parents for later, when he could confront them himself, Naruto got back to his feet and wiped the tears from his eyes.

"So, I guess that means we are going to be working together from now on…"

"Yeah, should be interesting."

"…anything else I need to know?"

-BREAK-

When Naruto woke up, it was to the sight of his mother stroking his hair, and his father leaning over his bare chest and stomach taking notes on a scroll next to him. He also saw Mito and Erza still on their hospital beds, both the Nara and Yamanaka clan heads stood to one side talking, and Kakashi with his back against the only door in or out of the room.

No one seemed to have notice he was awake yet, which was odd for a room full of ninja, so when he spoke it made both his parents jump.

"Get your hands off of me, right now, or lose them…"

They both stepped away, the eyes of everyone else in the room moving to look at the blonde teen as he sat up and closed his hoodie, before clicking his neck. He was about to get up a leave, but stopped when his mum started talking to him, her voice dripping with concern.

"Naruto-kun, are you alright, we were so worried when you fainted-"

"I'm fine, learned a lot too, so were you ever going to tell me about thinking I was dying?"

The looks on the faces of all the people in the room were enough to tell Naruto that they all knew exactly what he was talking about.

"Really, is there anyone in the village that didn't know you thought I was dying other then me?"

"Naruto-kun-"

"Whatever, I have another question, why the hell was tall and blonde over there poking my stomach, do I need to get in touch with child services or something. Because I have to admit the thought of people thinking the Hokage is a pedo sounds hilarious to me, I could even take pictures and make a scrapbook."

Seeming to ignore most of what he said, Minato moved closer and rolled up the scroll he had been taking notes on.

"I was checking your Seal…Naruto I need to make a few changes, it is a mess and-"

"I know, you really are an idiot and didn't know about Shin, so how much is it messed up and how long until I don't have to talk to you anymore."

"Did you say Shin?"

Letting out a sigh, Naruto jumped off the bed and walked over to the window, turning to look at his mum over his shoulder.

"When and where is our first team meeting?"

"Wha- tomorrow morning at 6am, but-"

"Later losers!"

Before anyone could stop him, Naruto slid the window open and jumped out, falling and hitting the ground running.

-BREAK-

By the time Naruto stopped, the sky was dark and he was standing in a clearing inside the forest of death, the sounds of the mutant animals moving about in the trees bringing a small smile to his lips.

"You sure about this Shin, if your wrong the animals in this place could tear me apart."

"I'm sure, and how many times do I have to tell you, I can hear your thoughts inside your head."

"Yes, but I feel more comfortable talking aloud."

"It looks like you're talking to yourself, people will think you're insane…"

"They already think I'm insane."

"…fair point"

Chuckling, Naruto turned to look in the direction of a large shadow that was moving to the edge of the clearing, just in time to see it step into the light and release itself to be a gorilla. The animal was glaring at him with large, angry white eyes, its teeth bared as it pounded its chest at him in an attempt to intimidate him.

"Perfect"

Smirking, Naruto crouched slightly and turned to his body was facing sideways to the gorilla, his right first in his hand and elbow pointed at it. The gorilla snarled, not happy he didn't run away, and charged forward at the same time Naruto started to channel chakra to his elbow. He waited until it was in front of him, before thrusting his arm forward and into its chest, right where he could see its Soul inside the gorilla's chest.

There was a loud 'popping' sound, and the Soul shot out of its back and landed about ten foot away, the gorilla falling to the ground at his feet. Smiling, Naruto bent down and checked it's pule, finding it a moment later, confirming it was still alive.

"Ha! It actually worked!"

"Of course it worked, I told it would, where is the faith?"

"I tried it didn't I, so shut up, I'll Seal the body for now and we can do the next part later."

Pulling out a Sealing scroll, Naruto quickly used it to store the gorilla before walking over to the Soul and swallowing it whole.

"Well that's one, now to find some more, hopefully I can get a decent snack tonight before moving on."

XXX