Chapter 2
Fox-man guides him inside and sits him down by the fire.
"What is this place?" Naruto feels comfortable enough to ask.
"This is my home. From long ago. I am surprised it is still in one piece. Someone obviously kept an eye on it." The Foxman mutters as his ear twitch.
Naruto can't help but stare at the ears. And the twitching tails.
How cool is this?
He still can't quite believe this is happening to him. Whatever this is.
He still isn't sure what exactly happened.
"So, tell me kid, how did Konoha treat you?" the fox-man asks him.
"What does that have to do with anything?" Naruto mutters, looking away from the fox-man that may or may not be his father.
And how exciting is that thought?
Though, if this is indeed his father, than the last thing Naruto wants to do is talk about the people living in Konoha.
"I can guess. I have seen it before after all. But this time... Right now...?" the man sighs as he sits down next to Naruto. "They treated you like scum, didn't they?"
Naruto freezes, but as the man pats his head gently, he nods quickly.
"Tch, I knew it. Sorry about that. I fear that may have been my fault."
"Are you... are you my dad?"
"The Foxman stills, and Naruto can see the white in his wide eyes.
"You... They haven't even told you about your parents? " the fox-man looks shocked as he asks that. Just for a few seconds, before he sighs again, and looks completely done. "Of curse they haven't told you."
Naruto looks up with wide eyes, not sure where this is going.
"Aren't you? I mean, you have ears like I do. And you came for me, like I always hoped someone would." he says with a small voice.
The man sighs again, scratching the top of Naruto's head gently. Naruto has to fight not to close his eyes in bliss. Why does that feel so good?
"No kid. I am not your father. In fact, I don't like either of your parents much. But that is part of quite the tale, I am afraid. Do you want to hear it? "
Naruto nods quickly, feeling the disappointment weight down on him, making his shoulders sag.
He had hoped, just for a little while, that someone might have come for him, that someone might have missed him, or something.
He looks up, a frown appearing on his face.
Because someone sort of had?
Someone had come for him.
This guy may not be his dad, but... here he is, isn't he?
Somehow, he found Naruto and he took him with him, despite what happened with the dead bodies in the cave and all.
He still isn't sure what had happened. And the not-knowing is starting to bug him.
"Let me just... get some food in here first. You must be hungry."
And indeed, his stomach chooses that moment to start making noise, and Naruto flushes.
The man chuckles, before biting in his finger, and touches his hand to the ground. A whole lot of black lines appear under his hand and a fox appears in a cloud of smoke.
"Kurama-sama!" it squeals in happiness, jumping up and down in excitement.
Naruto watches the white fox with wide eyes. It is smaller than the fox guy had been as a fox, but not by much.
A quick count shows this one has seven tails.
"Yuki, good to see you again."
The white fox becomes a beautiful, white-haired woman and she tackles the man in a hug. The man yelps and falls backwards.
Naruto scoots away from the two with wide eyes.
"Good to see me?!" she yells at the man as she hugs him very tightly.
She sounds… Angry? Sad?
The redhead makes a choking noise.
Naruto is unsure what to make of it all, especially when the man starts pounding with his fist on the girl's back. Hard.
"Oh, sorry." she releases him with a small smile, not looking hurt at all. "Hey, who is this?"
Her bright blue eyes focus in on Naruto and he fidgets under the attention. She looks beautiful! Long white hair, and ears and tails in the exact same colour. She wears some kimono type dress, with very long sleeves and a short skirt.
"This is... actually, I don't think I got your name, kid?" Fox-man says with a frown as he turns his attention back to Naruto.
"Really, you don't know?" Naruto asks shocked.
Everywhere he goes, it seems like everyone always know who he is.
So this is very strange.
Nice, but strange.
"I've been asleep for a good long while." The fox-man admits with a shrug.
"Uzumaki Naruto is the name."
"Right, Uzumaki Naruto. He.. Well, is my jinjuuriki. Kind off. It got really complicated and I still need to explain all that, but we will be staying here for a while. And I wanted to ask the clan for a favor."
"Of course, Kurama-sama. We'll do anything you need of us!" the girl grins, before shooting Naruto an unsure looks. "But, your jinjuuriki, really?"
Naruto flinches back. It isn't a look quite as bad as what he used to getting but still... she doesn't look as happy as before to seen him.
The man growls at the girl, who looks taken aback.
"I didn't mean any offense." she says as she waves her hands awkwardly around.
"Can you just... Warn the clan I am back. And whole again. And could we get some food? I just... We... haven't had time to prepare before coming here."
"I will take care of everything!" She jumps up in excitement and then she is gone again. In exactly the same cloud of smoke.
"That is so awesome! Can you disappear like that?! " Naruto asks with a grin, feeling a bit more at ease now that the pretty stranger is gone.
The man blinks at him, before a grin spreads on his face. "I did. At one time, and yeah, it is a bit awesome.
"Can you teach me?"
"Maybe later on. We'll see."
"Yes!" Naruto cheers, making the man's grin become even wider. Because while it is not a promise to teach him, it also doesn't mean no. And that is more than Naruto has ever gotten form anyone.
"So, kid come here." The man gestures towards himself and Naruto hurries towards him on all fours. "So, what do you know about Biju?"
"Biju?"
"Right, it would have been too much to hope they'd tell you even that." The fox-man sounds about done, before he takes a deep breath and speaks again, his tone more gentle than before. "I am talking about beings like the Kyuubi."
"Oh, I know about him. People call the Kyuubi a demon and a monster and he destroyed a big part of Konoha and people are still scared of it. But they call me all that too, so... I don't know." Naruto shrugs. "I mean, I just thought that meant I am the Kyuubi, you know. That would make sense."
"Well, that is honest." the man replies with a shake of his head. "But, no, you are not Kyuubi. While the situation is complicated, in no way have you ever been the Kyuubi."
That is a relief. Though that statement does bring more questions than it answers.
"Wait! What's your name? The girl said so, I think, but I didn't hear it. What is it?"
The man stares at him as if he has never seen anyone before.
"Come on, I can't keep calling you fox-man, can I?" Naruto tilts his head with a frown. "And you know my name, so it is only fair that you tell me yours."
"No need to pout, kit, honestly." The fox-man sighs again, but with a smile and Naruto perks up again. "My name is Kurama."
"Kurama" Naruto repeats the name. "It's nice to meet you, Kurama! Thanks for saving me from whatever happened earlier."
Kurama shakes his head with a wry smile. "Unbelievable. I don't think I have ever met a human like you."
"Am not." Naruto immediately rebuffs.
"What?"
"Human. I am not human. Humans don't have tails." Why does he need to explain this? He may not always have had a tail, but come one. It can't be more obvious now. And it does make a lot of sense. It explains a lot about his life so far, even if he is not the Kyuubi. The village must have known he is some kind of fox creature and …
Oh, maybe he is somehow related to the Kyuubi?
"Can't agree with logic like that." Kurama shoots him another wry smile, and Naruto allows a small smile to slip through.
"Well, you were never completely human. Not really. You were, are still, a jinjuuriki. Meaning a demon is locked inside of you. One of the Biju. The Kyuubi, to be exact."
Naruto stays still, unsure what to think of all this. "Sealed? So... I am not the Kyuubi?" he asks again, just to be sure.
"No, you never could be. I was the Kyuubi."
What?
Naruto leans back, away from the man, and he stares at him with furrowed brows.
He thinks over what he heard.
Honestly, this guy doesn't strike him as a demon big enough to crush parts of Konoha just by stepping on it. Also, he seems nice? And very non aggressive ?
Then again, when Naruto had been convinced he himself was the Kyuubi, he hadn't seen himself as aggressive either.
Wait.. Did Kurama say he was the Kyuubi? As in, past tense? Not anymore?
"What does that mean? Are you not anymore?" Naruto asks.
"Clever little kit, aren't you? No, I am not anymore. Do you know how demons like the Kyuubi were created?"
Naruto shakes his head, eagerly leaning forward to hear more.
It is easier to keep focused, somehow. He doesn't get distracted by anything that moves, and that helps him think. Thinking itself is easier as well.
"Well, long ago, before shinobi were a thing, there was a Sage who taught humans how to use Chakra. Unsurprisingly, chakra wasn't used for fighting, at that time. I wasn't there for all of it, but I know the rabbit goddess grew jealous after a while of humanity's control over Chakra, and as humans started using chakra to hurt each other, she decided that humanity was unworthy of such a gift. So, to take the chakra back and probably to kill all unworthily humans, she made a demon unlike any the world had ever seen. A demon meant to wipe out every human on this earth. You still with me there?"
Naruto nods eagerly, and Kurama continues speaking. "Two brothers stepped forward, sons of the goddess, and teamed up to deal protect humanity. They dealt with the goddess and the demon. But they could not kill either of them. They could only seal them both away. After dealing with their mother, the brothers were drained, and weak and the demon was still at large. It was way too powerful and so, they reached out to the Yokai. The Kitsune, the Tanuki, the Nekomata,... Many came and in the end, nine were chosen as a sacrifice. Much like you were chosen, later on. "
"Like you?"
"Yes, like me. I was the most powerful of us all, having reached my ninth tail, and becoming head of the Kitsune clan. I volunteered, unlike you who were given no choice. And the Chakra that got sealed inside me was so corrupt, and the merging seal was badly done, that the Chakra changed me. Corrupted me. Shouldering that much hatred? Of course it changed me. It changed all of us. "
"But you did it anyway. You helped save the humans, right?" Naruto asks as Kurama trails of, deep in thought.
"We did. And as thanks, we got hunted down generations later by those very humans, and used as puppets in their fights between themselves. We were handed out like candy, to supposedly create a power balance between shinobi villages, as to prevent any more wars and fighting. Which is stupid and didn't work. There have been three wars since, I believe, with immeasurable amounts of violence and deaths. "
"But why would people do that? You helped save them!"
"Humans are petty, little kit. And they scare easily. And when humans are scared, they lash out. You know this as well as I do. You know it for the same reasons."
Naruto nods reluctantly.
"The day you were born, someone ripped me from your mother's body, and set me loose on the village."
"Set you... loose? Wait? My mom?"
"I have been locked up in a seal for three generations now. Your mother was my jailer before you."
His mom was… the same as him?
"Can you tell me about her?" he asks in a soft voice.
'If you are sure you want to hear what I have to say? We didn't have a good relationship, being Biju and jinjuuriki. I know her, but … I may not have too many nice stories to tell?" Kurama shrugs with a uneasy look on his face.
"Better than nothing." Naruto leans forward eagerly.
"Fine, I'll tell you later though. For now, do you have any questions?"
He shakes his head, focusing back on everything he's been told.
"SO, you were the Kyuubi?"
Kurama nods.
"And you were somehow sealed inside of me?"
Another nod.
"You don't seem... violent.
"I can be. When and if I want." The fox-man smirks at him.
"And you look… Human? Now? You were a very big fox before?"
"I can choose what I look like. Kitsune are shapeshifters, after all." Kurama says with another grin.
Kitsune, huh? He'll need to remember that to ask about later.
"If you really are a demon, then why would you... I mean, you don't sound too fond of humans, so why..?"
"Opposable thumps. And the walking upright. It's handy." Kurama shrugs at him, his smile turning mischievous.
Naruto can't stop the snort that escapes him. "Seriously?"
Kurama shoots him a little glare and Naruto ducks his head back down, making the an sigh.
"So, long story short, you once were the Kyuubi and after being in my mom, you get sealed in me?"
Kurama nods again.
"So, … what happened? I mean, how did you attack Konoha, if you were sealed away?" Naruto asks, trying to get a grasp on some sort of timeline.
"Someone let me out that night, and used me to attack Konoha. Though, to be honest, after everything, I would have done that anyway. I had been locked up for almost 80 years at that point. I was very angry, to say the least." Kurama replies with an angry look on his face.
It is scary.
"I get that. I might have done the same, maybe, if I was ever strong enough to do that. I am not though." Naruto admits quietly, only partially in hopes of calming the fox-man back down.
"And there is nothing wrong with that. Nothing at all." Kurama pats his hair again and Naruto smiles. "And you can always get stronger, if that bothers you."
"So, what happened? You were inside me, right? Somehow? So, how are you here now?"
"Those people, who somehow got you outside of the village, who basically kidnapped you, tried to break the seal bonding us together. Meaning they would have gotten me out, and seeing as the man who made me attack Konoha all those years ago was there as well, I can only imagine what he would have had me do. You would have died in the process either way. No jinjuuiki lives long after their Biju gets taken."
Naruto gulps as fear suddenly crawls up his throat and he grips his shirt. The man pats his head again.
"Something went wrong though. That damned Uchiha must have messed something up, or there was some sort of failsafe in the seal, I don't know. We were separated as a result, and Kyuubi's chakra lashed out, destroying that place and killed them all in the process. I am not sure what happened exactly, but, the chakra… changed? It is difficult to explain? I think that statue that they used to extract me, when it came in contact with the toxic chakra, it somehow changed it? It removed the toxicity? I am back to my normal self, pre-Biju, but … I think I have a lot more chakra then before? And you? When you got that chakra back into your body, it physically changed you to fit me? Get it?"
"No, not at all?"
"Well, long story short, we both have physical forms now, we are still linked together by what remains of that seal, and it changed us both it gave us both a power boost, changed me back into my old self, and made you a kitsune. Well, a hanyou, I think. Got that?"
"I think so." Naruto says, as his thoughts are racing. "What's a hanyou?"
"Half Yokai. There are a lot of names for beings like us. You, little kit, are now half Kitsune." Kurama explains.