Chapter 7: Uzumaki
Shinobi Amongst Huntsman
Naruto runs for a while after the realization.
There's no specific purpose to it. Not really, he simply does. His body moves and his mind simply processes it. The Kyuubi tries to speak to him, the burning feeling through out his stomach is a familiar one, but he's ignored. He's in no mood to talk to the fox.
Eventually however, Naruto slows down and stops running.
He finds himself collapsed on his knees on a grassy floor in the middle of a forest. The realization finally hits him then and there, it hits him hard. The thoughts weren't new but they had never been so terrifyingly real until now.
He wouldn't ever see Konoha again and there wasn't anything he could do about it. There wasn't any jutsu he could cast to reverse it or any amount of hard work that could be done to change it. Tears come as his breath hitches. He tries to hold them back, tries to be strong, but they come regardless.
Life had been fucking awful for the first 12 years. Born an orphan, people hating him for having a demon in his stomach, no friends, completely and utterly alone. Then things had finally started to get better. He become a shinobi, a shinobi part of team 7. It wasn't perfect, not by any stretch of the imagination. But things were going well and he was finally feeling happy. Then it all came crumbling down. Gone.
His body trembles, overwhelmed with it all. He wipes his eyes of tears and looks up at the sky. At the broken moon above in some vague search for answers.
"Why?" He whispers, it's small and barely audible but it's the only thing he can ask.
"Why me?" Desperation begins to slip into his voice as it shakes.
Silence is the only thing that greets him. There is no response. His hands quickly ball up into fists as more tears come.
It wasn't fair. It just wasn't fair.
It was then that Naruto thinks something he hasn't thought in a long, long time.
Why was he even alive?
When he had been young, he'd been despised and desperate for any kind of attention. So when he heard that there was some title called 'Hokage', who everyone admired he made that his goal. He'd made that his purpose. He'd tell anyone and everyone that someday he'd be Hokage. They laughed of course which only motivated him further. To prove them all wrong, he wasn't a failure and when he did become Hokage they'd eat there words. Later he'd find other stuff that motivated him, the bonds between friends, protecting Konoha and the people in it. He'd found purpose.
But now, stuck in an entirely different world, the dream of becoming Hokage and protecting the village was worthless now. It felt like his heart had been ripped out of his chest, a wound that even the Kyuubi couldn't hope to heal.
It hurt, it hurt so much.
What was the point of it al-
A noise reverberates throughout the forest. The ears on the top of his head twitch in response and his head turns to look at the source. He feels his heart accelerate.
Monsters. Quite a lot of them, more than he's used too. They're sprawled all over the section of forest in front of him and the trees hide some of them so it's hard to get an exact number. They're are differences in size and appearance but they all share similar qualities. Bodies coated in the darkest black he's ever seen with heads that look like skulls and a red glow that extends from the eye. Foul intent practically leaks from them as they begin to move closer. There's no question what there here for.
Naruto simply stares.
Growling is heard, it's clear some of them haven't eaten in a while. They sound hungry.
Naruto doesn't move, he's not sure if he will.
A few of them begin to close in, the hungry and impatient ones. They move slowly and with purpose as they start to move around him. They're beginning to surround him.
A burning sensation suddenly flares up from his stomach, the Kyuubi. The fox offers him it's chakra, Naruto denies.
The monster in front of him lets out one last growl, it's done waiting. It can't control it's hunger any longer, if begins a charge towards Naruto. The monster opens its mouth to reveal a set of razor sharp teeth. Naruto feels the ground below him shake slightly as the monster hits the floor hard, trying to get to him as fast as possible.
Naruto takes a deep breath before he closes his eyes.
He hears it, the loud stomping of the monsters feet. Letting him know how close it is, how much time he has left. He's scared, how could he not be? His heart beats quicker as the sound gets louder. Naruto tries to find some sort of peace, it's a half hearted attempt at best. He braces himself and hopes it's over quickly.
Then the world shifts.
The sound of the monster disappears, it's replaced by the faintest hum.
"Huh?" Naruto lets out, an undignified sound.
He opens his eyes, it was bright. It was very, very bright. The previous setting of a forest changed to a golden one with what looked like yellow clouds all around. It was a beautiful place, ethereal in nature. It was a place we he wouldn't mind staying in forever. He briefly stops his admiration for his surroundings as a question begins to come to mind.
"Am I... am I dead?" Naruto asks to no one in particular.
Which is why the responds that comes is all the more surprising.
"No, you're still alive silly." A voice calls out from behind.
Naruto turns around to the source of the sound in a rush. He's not quite prepared to what greets him. It's a woman. She was fair skinned with straight red hair that flowed neatly all the way down to here legs. She also had two stranded of hair that went down to her shoulders on her front. She wore a high-collared, sleeveless blouse under a long, loose-fitting dress. However, all of this didn't really matter to Naruto. Just details that he noticed about her. What caught his attention was her face. It was oddly similar to his and her expression seemed almost sad in a way, her smile soft with violet eyes that held regret as well as something else we couldn't quite put his finger on.
"Where am I? Who are you?" He asks, an accusatory tone slipping into his voice.
The woman's smile stayed but seemed to falter slightly at the second question. She seems to think for a moment before answering, choosing her words. Preparing herself.
"We're in the seal, a part that you haven't seen yet. And to your second question..." she pauses, smiling seems to be an active struggle. "I suppose it's my fault we've never met and for that I'm sorry."
Her voice shakes at the end of her sentence and Naruto's defensiveness drops but his curiosity skyrockets. He asks again, much more softly this time in an attempt to show compassion but still in search for answers.
"Can you tell me who you are?"
She doesn't hesitate to answer this time. Violet eyes meet blue.
"I'm Kushina, Kushina Uzumaki." She says the last word slowly, emphasizing it as she looks at him.
Naruto freezes. His eyes widen as he stares at the woman in front of him, as if really seeing her for the first time. He makes the connection but she says what he was thinking. What he was hoping.
"Hehe, that's right. I'm your mom, Nar-" She's abruptly cut off by the hug Naruto gives her.
She feels her son shake in her arms as her shoulder begins to dampen.
Naruto feels his eyes water, he hates how often that happens these days but he just can't help it. Mom. He, Naruto Uzumaki has a mom. He'd always known he had one, everyone did. But he'd never met them, never even heard their names. Secretly during his childhood, he would dream that they came back. Make fantasies of what it would be like, what they would look like. But he didn't have to imagine anymore. The tears in his eyes were happy ones for the first time in a while. He gathers the strength to speak.
"I've wanted to meet you for so long." He hugs her tighter and Kushina returns it tenfold.
Kushina smiles brightly as a wish of hers since she learned she was pregnant is finally fulfilled.
"Me too, Naruto. Me too."
Naruto feels a weight on his shoulder he didn't know he was carrying drop. Everything he'd been through the past month seemed a bit less heavy, a bit less overwhelming. They both stay like that for a while. Neither keep track of time, just enjoying finally meeting each other, even if it took much longer than either of them would have liked. Eventually however, Naruto breaks the hug and speaks.
"Oh god, where to start? There's so much I gotta ask you!" Naruto says, his voice brimming with excitement.
Kushina smiles warmly, simply happy at the sight of her son.
"You can ask anything you want, Naruto." Her fellow Uzumaki seems to get even more excited which she didn't think really think was possible.
"How are you here, how am I even seeing you?"
Naruto quickly asks, his words practically overlapping as he rushes them out.
"Some of my chakra into the seal so I could meet you someday, even after my death." Kushina responds.
Naruto's excitement is briefly soured by the last part but he doesn't let it stop him. He still had a lot of questions.
"Were you a shinobi?" Naruto asks eagerly.
Kushina doesn't hesitate to let out a full blown grin.
"I was a shinobi, a damn good one at that. I could take down 10 Jonin at once with my hands tied using only chakra chains."
Naruto feels pride at his mother being such a badass shinobi. But his mind latches onto the chakra chains part however.
"Ooo! I have chakra chains too!" Naruto exclaims.
Kushina seems to be pleasantly surprised at the new information.
"When you'd unlock them?" She inquires, curious as to the response.
"Uhmm, about 12 days ago." Naruto answers.
He'd unlocked them when he'd first fell out of the sky and landed into the forrest. He'd practiced them everyday after he regained control of his chakra simply because he thought they were awesome.
"Hm, chakra chains are some of the most versatile things out there. Having access to them in any fight is always a plus and they're virtually indestructible. I've never heard of them breaking."
Naruto takes note of the virtually indestructible part. He knew they were strong, he had felt that whenever he used them but he didn't know they were that strong. However, his mind begins to drift and he starts to think.
Those questions had all been the first ones that came to mind, but it wasn't the one he wanted to know the most. Not the one he was dying to know. He takes a breath. This question was.
"Mom, who was my dad?"
Kushina doesn't answer right away, she seems to be a bit nervous at this one. It's slight however so he doesn't worry too much. He's too busy waiting on her answer to care.
"You might have already heard of him" Naruto perks up at that "Your dad's name is Minato, Minato Namikaze. The Fourth Hokage of the Village Hidden in the Leaves."
Naruto pauses. He stares at her for a moment before speaking slowly. Kushina looks on sympathetically as he processes it, fidgeting slightly with her hands.
"But, I thought that the Fourth Hokage was the one who sealed the Nine-Tails in me?" Naruto asks, hoping to be proven otherwise.
Kushina nods in confirmation however. Naruto tries to contain the wave of emotions that flood him, he doesn't want to assume the worst. But his dad shoving a demon into him is hard to rationalize. He had understood the Fourth Hokage doing it once he first found out, but his dad? He asks before speaking his thoughts out loud, a rarity for the blond.
"Why?"
Kushina takes a breath, her smile fading as she begins to explain.
"To understand why your father sealed the Nine-Tails into you I'm going to have to tell you what really happened the night the Kyuubi attacked. You're also need to know about the Uzumaki's, are you ready?"
Naruto prepares himself before he nods and Kushina continues.
"I'm going to give you a simpler version of events since some of the details aren't really important right now and we only have a limited amount of time. To start with, I'm going to tell you who the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki before you was."
Naruto's eyes turn to saucers.
"The Nine-Tails Jinchuriki before me?" He repeats incredulously.
Kushina nods, she smiles a bit in an amused manner before responding.
"Me."
Naruto's mouth drops, he really didn't expect that.
"You were the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki before me! Really?"
She nods before continuing on with her tale.
"We both come a clan, the Uzumaki clan, a very old clan that used to be quite large. Unfortunately, that is no longer true but that's besides the point. There were two things that really set the Uzumaki clan apart from other clans. An incredibly potent life force that shows itself in multiple ways and sealing. Sealing was our clan's specialty, they're the ones who designed the first Jinchuriki seal in fact. As you know, the Nine-Tails is the strongest of the tailed beasts. So for the seal to really hold, it would need someone with an incredibly strong life force and chakra. The First Hokage's wife was the first Jinchuriki of the Nine-Tails and when she passed, she handed down the responsibility to me as my chakra was exceptionally strong, even for an Uzumaki. I moved to Konoha to become the second Jinchuriki. My seal was strong, but it had a flaw. It would weaken during childbirth."
Kushina pauses for Naruto to digest it all and for her to take a breather. He seems to know where it was going. It wasn't pleasant talking about these things but it had to be done and her son deserved to know given he was the one with the Kyuubi now.
"Lots of stuff happen between me becoming the jailor of the Kyuubi so I'll just skip to when I married your father. After I married your father, I got pregnant. That baby being you, Naruto. When the time for you to be born came, we prepared for the seal weakening. Your father, the third Hokage and his wife were all there. Standing by in the case something went wrong. And something did, someone managed to get through all our defense and even your father to weaken the seal keeping the Kyuubi at bay. The bastards plan being to release the fox to cause chaos. It worked. Your father quickly took care of the intruder, he didn't last very long against him."
Kushina seems to smile at the fact but her smile doesn't stay.
"Jinchuriki seals are very special, they're tied directly to a Jinchurik's own chakra. Their life force. So when it is broken a Jinchuriki's own chakra system is damaged beyond repair, the body loses the ability to create any more chakra and we both know what happens when someone runs out of chakra. I didn't have much time left. The Nine-Tails started attacking the village so your father quickly made a plan. Minato would seal half the Nine-Tails into you and take the other half to shinigami, the drawback being him not surviving the sealing process. He really thought that he was doing the best for both you and the village. Thinking that the village would hail you as a hero for keeping the Nine-Tails at bay. His biggest worry between you and the village being that maybe you grew a bit too large of head."
Naruto focuses on the last part of her speech.
"Hail me as hero?"
She smiles sadly, seeing his shock. When Kushina first heard of Minato's plan she wasn't quite sure if the village would treat him as a hero, but she'd never been able to predict the way they really treated him.
"That's what he thought, yeah."
Naruto stays silent for a moment. His father was the the reason he had grown up so isolated but he didn't expect it to happen. He was the Hokage as well, so he saved the village at the end of the day. Did he really do anything wrong other than miscalculate? Naruto looks up at Kushina.
"He loved me right?" He asks, just wanting to hear her say it.
She understands what he's looking for.
"Yeah, just as much as I do."
Naruto takes a deep breath and nods. He seems to accept it and after a while even smiles. Both his parents loved him, something he'd been desperate to hear, to know since he'd found out both of them were gone.
"Naruto." Kushina says, her voice soft and tone gentler.
Something's off. Naruto can easily tell.
"Yeah?" His own tone tentative.
"I'm beginning to run out of chakra."
They both understand what that means. The only reasons she's here is because of chakra. Kushina takes a deep breath.
"From the seal I get glimpses of your life. There often short but I still get to see parts and bits. The seal wasn't supposed to activate until much later, ya know. But I saw those monsters coming at you, and you didn't move. So I forced the seal. I don't know entirely what's happened, I wish I did. God do I wish even more that I could be there to help."
Kushina's voice really begins to shake as she continues and for the first time since meeting her eyes dampen.
"But please don't give up, okay?" The last parts barely a whisper but it's audible all the same.
Naruto feels a burst of shame and guilt and nods rapidly. He begins to call back on words he's said at least a dozen times. A very small smile starts to form at the corner of his mouth.
"I promise I won't give up mom, and I never go back on my word. It's my ninja way. Believe it, mom."
Kushina lets out a small laugh and begins to smile as well.
"Had a feeling you'd say that." He can tell there's pride in her voice and it fills Naruto with a warm feeling he's never felt before.
Kushina begins to speak again.
"From the seal I've seen some of the stuff you've done. I want you know that I couldn't be prouder of the person and Shinobi you've become. You've helped so many people and endured so much. And I really do believe that if fate wasn't so cruel you really would have become Hokage someday."
If the feeling before was warm then there's no words to describe this one. But then it happens. Kushina's form begins to waves as golden chakra emanates from her body.
This time, it's Kushina who hugs Naruto.
"Thank you Naruto, thank you for letting me become a mother, thank you for being born. I just want to tell you something that I'll never be able to say enough. Even if I was still alive."
She tightens her grip on him and Naruto shuts his eyes.
"I love you, ya know."
Slowly, the hug loosens before it vanishes completely. He hears the chakra fly away as if of being pushed by the wind. A single tear flows from his eye and he begins to open them. Naruto lets out a deep breath.
He looks at his hands briefly and prepares himself. He returns to the real world.
Naruto doesn't think, he doesn't even have the time to open his eyes, he just acts. He shifts his feet in an instance and jumps as high as he can to avoid the charging monster, he's successful and for that he's unbelievably grateful.
The monster below comes to a halt as Naruto disappears from its views
He brings his two hands together and forms a cross symbol with his fingers.
"Kage Bushin no Jutsu!"
A clone forms in the air with him and the original hold out his right hand as the begin to fall. The familiar hum of a Rasengan sounds and hundreds of chakra spirals rotate rapidly to form a sphere. The clone takes his left hand and throws the original towards the monster below. Naruto pushes his right hand toward and the monster looks up at him right before contact.
"Rasengan!"
It drills clear into the bone before it explodes pushing everything back. The monster is absolutely destroyed, even its remains being scattered around.
He looks at the others, around two dozem red eyes stare at him while he only grins. He flys through the hand signs for molding chakra and simply prepares for a moment.
A couple take there chance given his lack of movement. He waits for them to get a bit closer before summoning chakra chains from wherever he can and launching them straight towards them. The speed and unexpectedness of the chains allow for them to pierce right through the monsters without giving them a chance to dodge.
Naruto continues to do this, falling into it like a rhythm of attacking and dodging. He moves with precision and strikes hard when he attacks. Like he was taught, like a shinobi. He improvises and launches chains where he would normally use kunai.
The advantage the monsters have is the ability to blend in with there surroundings. Naruto doesn't quite have that luxury, never really did given what he wore. But it doesn't matter, he fights all the same.
The sheer number of them all is more than a bit annoying but he chips away at there total. With Rasengans, chains, and clones.
They almost get him at times, some come close to crushing him, others come close ripping him to shreds, but none hit. It takes him 15 minutes to take them all out and by the end he's pretty tired.
He doesn't even bother to look for a decent place to rest, just takes off his dirty jacket to use as a pillow and lies down. He's out like a damn light.
But just before he goes into a deep sleep a question came to mind. A very, very important one.
'Wonder if mom likes ramen?'
A/N
wow, I wrote smth that wasn't garbage!!! No way! Gonna be honest, the ending was a bit lazy but I'll change it later.
Maybe.
Anyway, next chapter will probably come during mid April cuz I got some cool stuff planned and I really wanna write them. This chapter was also really fun to write, decided to add Kushina and felt like it turned out pretty good. Naruto is still sad just not absolutely miserable. Still naruto tho, anyways. Hope you enjoyed, if not. rip
Also edited the chapter 'Arival' cuz original was not ver good lol
GOODBYE THANKS FOR READING UR COOL
I'm not sleep deprived you are