Chapter 5: Parents

Notations:

"Speaking"

'Thinking'

Naruto stood in front of the fireplace, eyes glued to the portrait, a storm of emotions raging inside of him. He didn't know what to feel; whether to be happy that he finally has found out who his parents are, 'Or were', he thought bitterly. Or whether to feel hurt that his Jiji hid his parents' identity from him, or whether to feel furious at the treatment from the village. His hands were clenched so tightly that his knuckles turned white. Kurama consoled him, "It's okay to feel this way, Naruto. Anyone who would have been in your shoes would have felt the same."

Naruto finally sat down, the energy leaving his legs. He tried to think something, but the thoughts evaded him, only the image of his parents situated in his mind. He was finally with his parents, yet at the same time, he was not. Tears finally fell from his eyes from holding them back for so long. He cried for a long time, finally letting his emotions have an outlet. For the first time in his life, he felt like he was alone in the whole world. Sniffling, he asked inside his head, 'Kurama did you know this?' Kurama remained silent for a few moments, which was enough for Naruto to deduce that he knew. Kurama knew, and he still didn't tell him. 'I did know Naruto. After all, you shared the same space with me for nine months inside your mother', the fox replied softly. Naruto cried even harder after hearing this. It was like a whole new storm colliding with the previous storm that was already raging inside him. On one hand, he was happy that he and Kurama were together even before he came into this world. On the other hand, he felt betrayed that Kurama would hide something like this from him. He was too emotional to make sense of Kurama's statement right now. He felt alone. After he finally stopped crying, he stood up too tired to explore the house right now. Hell, he was too tired to even form a coherent thought. Somehow, he climbed the stairs, opened the first door that was in front of him, and fell onto the bed, asleep before even hitting the soft mattress.

<<<With Hiruzen>>>

Meanwhile, Hiruzen was panicking. He knew what the day was, and he had been wanting to get out of this office to spend time with his surrogate grandson. But fate seemed to have other plans for him as instead of having the normal amount, three stacks of paperwork in front of him, he was buried in paperwork. He assigned two of his ANBU; parrot and ox, to keep an eye on Naruto. Sadly, he didn't know and was unaware that the two ANBU were firmly against the demon-boy. He didn't know that they were the ones who gave the mob directions to where Naruto was in the evening. It was only when they came to report that he found out the truth. The two ANBU appeared in his office and knelt in front of him. "Report!" he ordered. Parrot was the first one to speak, "We lost the de- boy, Hokage-sama. Because today is the Kyuubi festival, crowds were thick and that is where we lost i- him."

Unfortunately for the two, Hiruzen didn't believe them for a second. If not for the seriousness that the situation demanded he would have laughed out loud that a five-year-old was able to lose them in a crowd. The ANBU were specifically trained for such scenarios. Secondly, he caught slip; 'Demon' and 'it'; it was not so hard to infer what happened. Hiruzen rarely felt anger. He rarely found the reason to get angry. Even Danzo could only get a small amount of irritation out of him. But right now, he was past irritated. No, he was downright furious! All the ANBU in the room felt it. The ridiculous amount of killing intent that was coming from the Hokage. 'Shit' both the ANBU thought. "CAT, BEAR!" he shouted. In an instant, the two ANBU was kneeling in front of the Hokage, just behind parrot and ox. "Orders, Hokage-sama?" Hiruzen barked out, "Take these two to Ibiki! Tell him to hold nothing back and find out what they were doing this evening! Also, tell Inoichi that I want to know every face that was there in the mob! "

"Hai, Hokage-sama!" The two ANBU instantly caught the traitorous ANBUs and promptly flickered out. Now that he was somewhat calm, the previous panic returned. Where was Naruto? Was he injured? Worse, was he dead? Was he even in the village? He took out his ball that he used to keep tabs on the village occasionally. Mostly, he used it to ensure whether Naruto was alright or not. He channeled his chakra through the ball, searching for Naruto. However, he was floored when nothing came up. He repeated his search two more times, just to be sure. The result remained the same. He did not like where this was going. It was a strong possibility that Naruto was outside village walls.

"DOG, TIGER!" he called out. In an instant, the mentioned two were before him. "Track him down, no matter what! Even search outside the village if you have to!" "Hai, Hokage-sama!" They flickered out. Hiruzen sat down with a heavy sigh. He was mentally exhausted from the paperwork he had been doing ALL DAMN DAY and then this. 'Where are you, Naruto-kun?' He decided to sleep in his office and wait for them to come back and report, trusting his ANBU.

<---Next Day with Naruto--->

The sun's rays peeked from in between the curtains, falling straight onto Naruto's face. Blearily, he opened his eyes. Although he slept peacefully last night, he was mentally and emotionally exhausted. This type of exhaustion was new to him, having never experienced it before. At first, he had no idea where he was, but then last night's memories came back to him. He viciously fought back the tears that threatened to fall out again. 'NO! I will not cry again! I did enough of that last night!' he reminded himself. It was time, he decided, to think through this logically.

First things first, morning rituals. He got up from the bed and headed to the bathroom. Surprisingly, it was very clean and dust-free, compared to the rest of the house. 'Weird', he thought before closing the door. Second, he needed to get out of here and meet his jiji. He had no desire to meet that man now, but the man had looked after him like his own. He was there for him when no one was. He was probably worried sick. Although he was dying to explore the house, it was best not to worry the old man even more. Besides, the faster he could get this over with, the quicker he could return here to explore. Besides, who knows, maybe his parents left something for him. As soon as he closed the gate behind him, he was surprised to see the seals on the gate glow a bit before the gate locked itself. 'They were not malfunctioning! The seals recognized my chakra, which is why I was able to get in!', he thought in awe. He had read that the Fourth was regarded as a seal master of the highest caliber, but seeing it with his own eyes was entirely different. Sensing his chakra signature when he hadn't even unlocked his chakra? His father was awesome! Right then and there he came to a decision; if his father could do fuinjutsu like this, he will too! And he would be better than him! He then turned to leave, when a thought struck him. He was about to dwell on it but he roughly shook himself out of it, 'I don't have time! I have to meet jiji!'

With that, he ran out of the area, picking up speed when he realized he was quite far from the Hokage tower. En route, he mentally nudged his friend. 'Hey, Kurama! You awake right now?', for a few seconds he heard nothing, then he heard a yawn in his head, almost making him do the same before he viciously squashed the urge. 'What's up, Naruto?' Naruto faltered in his running, almost falling flat on his face. He couldn't help the grin that came on his face. Hearing Kurama, an ancient demon, using the slang that kids his age do was hilarious. A stray thought from last night's conversation with Kurama, 'About last night, what did you mean when you said that we shared the same space for nine months inside my mother?', he asked curiously, turning serious once more. Kurama replied, 'I meant what I said, Naruto. You are smart enough to figure out the answer to your question.' Naruto's expression turned grim at that. It meant he and his mother were the same, host of the Kyuubi no Kitsune. But why was his mother…..? 'Jinjuriki', Kurama interrupted his thoughts. Naruto blinked at that,' Jinchuriki is the term that you are looking for. It means ' human sacrifice'. They are humans who have a tailed beast sealed inside them." Naruto did not falter even for a second after this revelation. He was almost halfway to the tower, which means he could learn a little more. 'I get what you mean. What I don't understand is why my mother was a Jinchuriki before me? Also, what is my mother's name? Why was I made into one?', questions were coming one after the other like water running from a tap (faucet). Kurama raised his eyebrows at the onslaught of questions, 'Whoa, whoa! Slow down, Naruto. You have to understand that I cannot answer all of your questions.' Naruto was a little peeved at that, 'Why not?' Kurama simply shrugged at that, acting as if he didn't even notice Naruto's anger, 'Because there is an old man who can answer these questions better than I can.' Naruto calmed down at that statement. Kurama was right; he had no idea why he was sealed. Jiji was the Hokage, he was the one who probably knew more about these matters. Another thought struck him, but the tower was within his sight now. Better make this fast, he mused. 'Hey, Kurama! What was that you gave me last night as a gift?' he asked. He could see Kurama grin in his mindscape, 'I'm surprised you could pick up on that. The fact that you unintentionally used it is even more impressive.' Naruto scowled a little, 'Stop beating around the bush, Kurama! Just tell me!' Kurama however, did not budge, 'Don't tell me you can't figure it out, Naruto. You may not know, but I can feel how close you are to figuring it out.'

Naruto was slowly getting irritated with the game of riddles that Kurama was deliberately dragging on. He was about to give him a mental scar to remember when he suddenly figured it out. He had felt the mob approaching. 'Did you…..did you give me a sensory ability?' Kurama shrugged. Naruto mentally whooped, 'Thank you so much, Kurama! Secondly', his tone turned menacing, causing Kurama to lift an eyebrow, 'This is for annoying me with riddles!' With that, he turned his mindscape ORANGE. He would cherish and remember Kurama's yell of horror forever.

He reached the Hokage tower, panting only lightly. Standing in front of the tower, he felt a little anxiety creeping up inside him. He faced the sky, 'What is the time, Kurama?' 'Observing the position of the sun, it should be around six in the morning', he deduced. Naruto idly questioned himself, 'Would jiji be even awake at this hour?' He shook his head; he would not back down now. He steeled himself and entered the tower. Seeing almost no one in the corridors, he almost turned back, but resolutely thought to himself that he would wait for him. He arrived in front of the Hokage's office; seeing the absence of the secretary he knew was supposed to be here, he sat on the bench outside the office. This was his first time in the Hokage tower, so he decided to look around. But there was not much to look around, 'All the important stuff must be someplace where only authorized people could access it'; he assumed. Sighing he closed his eyes, figuring he could talk to Kurama about his newly acquired sensory abilities. 'Kurama, how could I sense the mob before when I haven't even unlocked my chakra?' Kurama thought about it a bit and then answered. He had nothing else to do anyway, ''Good observation, Naruto. It is simple; it was a newly awakened ability. Naturally, it would require time before it stabilizes. But before that happens, it is unstable for a little while. It was in that period that you could sense the mob. If you were to try it now, you won't be able to use it", he explained, keeping it simple so Naruto could understand it.

After hearing Kurama's explanation, Naruto concluded that the ability Kurama had given was a chakra-dependent ability. He could only use it as long as he infused chakra, that too, in a specific way so that he could sense. 'Damn, that means I have to first unlock my chakra', he pouted. Kurama again spoke up, 'Before I forget, I did something else as well. Sensor ability was not the only thing I gave you.' Naruto rose an eyebrow in confusion. Now that he thought about it, not many kids his age could do that, 'What do you mean?' Kurama expanded on his statement, 'I tweaked your ability to sense danger as well.' Naruto nodded, 'I noticed that.' Kurama's grin became sly, 'Then did you also notice that when your danger sense activated, your surroundings seemed to slow down?' Naruto froze. Did that happen? He thought back to the events of last night, specifically when he avoided the knives that were about to skewer him. He did remember seeing the knives coming in a sort of slow motion. Damn….. He mentally whistled, 'Holy shit, you are right! I remember that! How is that possible anyway?! This ability would be so useful in the future!' Kurama shrugged, 'It was my way of saying thanks for what you did for me last night, Naruto.' Naruto debated on whether to try and unlock his chakra right now or to wait to enter the academy and then unlock it. So deep he was in his thoughts, he did not notice the Hokage coming his way.