Two Months After Naruto becoming a genin:
Naruto knelt alongside the twins, Karin, aunt Rika , and the elders. He gulped. The elders had been gone for almost two months and Honoka had been gone an extra two weeks before she had been allowed to return to the village to rest and refit. Hayate's team, which included Karin, had been sent on another C rank mission escorting supplies to the Fire Temple. So it was him and aunt Rika who had already chewed him out for the stunt with the scroll.
Katuso said, "I am sure, you are wondering about the increased readiness and rapid turn around for missions recently".
Naruto said, "Yeah, what was that about? Everyone was gone and missed me becoming a genin".
Aunt Rika just sighed.
Kautso cleared his throat and said, "It is excellent that you became a genin you did in perhaps the most ludicrous way imaginable and you are lucky it went as well as it did. I would be chewing into you further, but there is a bigger issue".
That got Aunt Rika, Honoka, and his attention. Naruto, "What? What could be so big of a deal that they called you guys out. You guys are so old".
He got hit hard on the back of his head. While his hands covered the injured spot he looked around and saw that it was aunt Rika.
Naruto asked, "What did you do that for"?!
She said, "Naruto, sweetie. Shut up and listen to the elders".
Katuso sighed before saying, " There have been a number of incidents where entire villages have been slaughtered in the middle of the night, along with rumors of criminals looting the ruins of our homeland".
A gasp broke out from aunt Rika and Honoka, but Hayate was silent and just gripped his pant legs harder.
Kautso continued, "Others were dispatched to investigate the massacres. We were sent to investigate the possibility of looting in the ruins of the Hidden Whirlpool after various Uzumaki and Hidden Whirlpool paraphernalia was discovered in the Black Market… The village was being looted. We found several old monuments and shrines that contained seals that housed various demons that were not slain. The seals were crudely broken, the principal fault being a lack of maintenance of the seals as demons don't have chakra so a self sustaining loop cannot be maintained. The most troublesome of the shrines and monuments containing the seals was that of the upper sixth demons, known as the Oiran no Jigoku and Buraddogūru. Though several lower moons were released as well. That isn't even the worst of it. Several graves were plundered".
That evoked a gasp from everyone and then followed by anger.
Kautso held his hand up for silence, and turned to the twins, "The grave of your grandfather and previous Flame Hashira, Kyojuro Rengoku and the graves of your parents".
Naruto saw both of them were angered by this and Hatate said, "Who are the bastards that did this?! I swear I'll kill them".
Katuso said, "Calm down Hayate, I share your anger. Your father was my sensei, and the defilement infuriates me as well. Yet we cannot go rushing off in search of vengeance without a plan. Currently we do not know who defiled their graves or broke the seals. While the seals were degrading from the lack of care, they still required a powerful shinobi to break them. The same could be said for the graves of our kinsmen. They're useless to commoners, only a shinobi would care about the corpses of fallen shinobi. The most likely perpetrators are the Hidden Cloud and Mist or rogue ninja from those villages. While they made off with a considerable sum of wealth and knowledge in the attack, we know they left before they stole everything as Leaf reinforcements finally arrived and the attack itself was so bloody that even the combined force didn't possess the numbers or will to keep fighting against fresh Leaf shinobi. Lord Third, has already promised to assign members of the Anbu Black Ops to investigate, as has Lord Jiraiyia promised to investigate the matter personally".
Hayate said, "That is better than nothing though I wish we could do more".
Old lady Chiyoko said, "Hayate the incident regarding you and your team on the mission has already helped us greatly as it gives us more information for how long these grave robbers have been operating. Your mission was to escort a merchant to the Land of Grass. Demons are normally solitary beasts and aren't particularly prone to roaming the land once they can find a good hunting territory. Meaning the defilement of our homeland must have been going on for some time and the seal holding Muzan had weakened to the point where he could communicate with his underlings. We repaired the seal and placed new barrier tags, but if he is freed it could mean disaster. Marechi is an old term that the demons use to describe those who are descended from the Legendary Sage of the Six Paths. To them feasting on one is comparable to feasting on the bodies of a thousand normal people and even a hundred normal shinobi. Since it is Uzumaki sealing techniques that imprison their kind, perhaps they believe our blood could break the seals or give them the strength to do so".
Hayate asked, "Then why were Karin and I the only ones who were attacked"?
Chiyoko said, "That is because they can smell the strength of a human. Three elder Uzumakis are a daunting collection of foes to all but the strongest demons. Even before accounting for the fact that we were supported by a five man team of Anbu and two of our number were the Hashiras of Wind and Water. Honoka by sheer coincidence managed to run into Lady Tsunade while on patrol. Even if it was an even more tempting target, one of the legendary Sanin would be too strong of a foe, even discounting Honoka's own skills along with those accompanying them. Rika was within the village. Naruto is…"
Genji said, "Chiyoko might as well just be open with it. The boy already knows because of that damned Mizuki and his knowledge of fuinjutsu means it won't be overwhelming if we just come clean".
Chiyoko replied, "What about Karin? We planned to tell her only after she became a chunin".
Katuso said, "Genji is right. There is no point in hiding it from him any longer and Karin is his betrothed anyway. With the awakening of her chakra chains, this information will just cement why her training will get even harder from here on out".
Naruto still not knowing what betrothed meant, looked at Karin, her face perplexed. All he could sense from her was confusion and a little annoyance, probably because of the implication that she wasn't training hard enough.
Chiyoko sighed, "Fine. Naruto is a jinchuriki, and the demons are terrified of the Tailed Beasts".
Naruto said, "Oh, was that jinchuriki were made? I figured I must have been chosen by the Fourth Hokage because we were just so badass that we could imprison that damn fox".
A silence fell on everyone. Followed by a simultaneous facepalm from the adults.
Katuso said, "No, Naruto. The Tailed Beasts are beings of pure chakra and can unleash unspeakable levels of devastation. Thus many have sought to control them or use them for their own ends. There are only four ways to control or suppress the power of the Tailed Beasts. The Sharingan of the Uchiha Clan, the Wood Style of the First Hokage Hashirama Senju, the Adamantine Sealing Chain of our Clan, and to seal them within a human host with a powerful sealing jutsu".
Naruto asked, "Then why was it sealed in me if the Leaf had two ways to control or stop the Nine tails"?
Genji said, "Everything went wrong that night".
Naruto asked, "How?", he paused before asking, "Was I born too early and my mom died"?
Chiyoko said, "No, child. The time of your birth played no part in her death or the attack of the Nine Tails".
Katuso said, "Before we tell you what happened that night you must understand why the Uzumaki first started settling in the Leaf before the attack on the Hidden Whirlpool. The Leaf was founded by two rival clans making an alliance, the Uchiha and the Senju. At the time the clans were led by Madara Uchiha and Hashirama Senju respectively .Lady Mito wrote in her diaries that they were once friends before they learned that the other hailed from a rival clan. They laid the foundations for the village and influenced many clans to join them and submit to them for protection as the Uchiha and Senju were the strongest clans on the continent and thus it would be foolish to oppose them even if a contract demanded that they do. Eventually though they had a falling out and Madara left the village. For what reason Lady Mito never wrote down nor did Lord Hashirama ever tell anyone. But Madara knew that Hashirama was stronger than he was even if they were considered equals in strength by many. So he sought out the Nine Tails Fox to give him the upper hand and took control with his sharingan. He would later battle against the First Hokage and Lady Mito at the battle of the Final Valley. Hashirama attempted to face Madara alone, but Mito, being a typical woman of our clan, refused to let him fight Madara and the Nine Tails alone. She was a remarkable woman. Together not only did they break Madara's control of the Nine Tails, but to ensure that Madara could never gain control over it again should he escape, Lady Mito sealed the Nine Tails within herself becoming its first jinchuriki. Madara would die in that battle".
Naruto was surprised that not only was the Nine Tails sealed within him, but he was also not the first jinchuriki of the Nine Tails.
Naruto asked, "Was I chosen because I was like her in some way"?
Genji said, "No, in fact you would not have been our choice to be the jinchuriki but you were the one who was the most available to the Fourth Hokage".
Naruto asked, "What does that mean"?
Chiyoko said, "Wait and we will tell you more, though some details must remain hidden until you are older".
Naruto crossed his arms and pouted before saying, "Fine".
Katuso continued, " Lady Mito had a special chakra and the kekkei genkai of our clan was expressed the most within her, which is why she made herself a jinchuriki. The Tailed Beasts are still extremely difficult to control even within a jinchuriki. Most villages have gone through dozens of shinobi attempting to find one who could handle the power. Even then most of them suffer in one form or another from the beast's corrosive influence on them. The One Tails of the Sand is the most obvious as it is said its host can never sleep lest the beast gain control. Eventually she became advanced in her years and when she died the beast would be released back into the world. So she sent word to her kinsmen in the Hidden Whirlpool that the clan must keep an eye open for one who inherited the same strength as she did".
Chiyoko said, "My dear, your mother was the one to inherit such a strength".
He was shocked, his mother was also the jinchuriki for the Nine Tails. Tears fell from his eyes thinking about all the pain he had suffered and how his mom must have felt and without all the family that he had.
Naruto asked, tears running down his face, "Then what happened when I was born?! Why did the Nine Tails attack the Village"?!
Genji said, "A jinchuriki's seal is at its weakest when a female jinchuriki becomes pregnant and gives birth. Someone attacked the secret location where you were being born. Killing the Anbu assigned to protect you and your mother, the medical staff delivering you, the wife of Lord Third who was overseeing the delivery, and my wife who was in charge of maintaining the seal along with the help of your father, and the Fourth Hokage. We do not know all the details, but we know they were attacked by humans as everyone but the Fourth and your mother were slain at the site. Eventually Lord Fourth forced the attacker to flee and with the help of your mother restrained and sealed the beast within you. The seal they used is the Eight Trigrams Seal. Derived from our clan's Four Trigram seal which had been used to seal the Nine Tails within your mother and lady Mito. The Eight Trigrams is a stronger seal and allows the chakra of the nine tails to better interact with your own. Adapting your body to it over time and making you stronger, though that link may also weaken the seal over time, but we have the key to strengthen the seal and you do not seem to have even used its power directly so as of now it is a non issue".
Naruto didn't know what to say, the tears still wet his face and stung his eyes.
Katuso said, "We know this is hard to hear and maybe even accept, but there is one more thing that I want you to know".
Naruto asked, "What is it"?
Kautso said, "Lady Mito told your mother that the secret to overcoming the loneliness of being a jinchuriki and the hatred of the Nine Tailed Fox is love. Lady Mito loved Lord Hashirama and their children and grandchildren. Your mother had your father and eventually us. Though I doubt she appreciated having to deal with four newborns. Though she loved you more than anything".
Naruto wiped the tears from his eyes and said, "Thank you Uncle Katuso, Aunt Chiyoko, and Uncle Genji. Thank you for everything".
Chiyoko said, "You do not have to thank us, you are our blood and the Uzumaki clan takes care of their own".