Chapter 7: Inheritance

Both the Hokage and Naruto stood in front of his parents' portrait. Naruto spoke, without removing his eyes, "I forgot to ask in the excitement, gramps. What was my mother's name?" Though he asked just that, Hiruzen thought it was better to tell him her story now rather than later. "Her name was Kushina Uzumaki. She was a woman who was fearless, blunt, brash, and one of the most amazing people I've ever met. She was a deadly Kunoichi as well. It is her name that you carry, Naruto", he said in nostalgia.

Naruto was amazed that his mother was so lovely. Beautiful, as well as deadly; Naruto mentally applauded his father for landing such a catch and promised to do the same. "She was from, The Land Hidden in Whirlpools, Uzushiogakure. The Uzumaki's were distant relatives of the Senju clan, the clan of the First and Second Hokage. They were feared for their fuinjutsu skills; they were the undisputed masters of the art. It was your mother who taught your father fuinjutsu. They had immensely dense and large chakra reserves, which gave them a longer life than any other ninja. Some of them had special chakra, which they could physically manifest in the form of chains. Your mother was one of them.", he recalled, with Naruto soaking it all up like a little child hearing stories from his parents. Hearing how powerful his mother's clan and by extension, his mother was in fuinjutsu, his resolve to master it only strengthened. He wanted to ask him why she was made the jinchuriki, but let it go; he could always ask another day.

He turned his attention back to the portrait. He could not find any seals, but given his parents' skills in fuinjutsu, they could have made a seal that hid all other seals. "How do we go about this jiji?" Hiruzen pinched his chin in thought. 'There was a high possibility that the portrait only required Naruto's blood to open. Letters from parents were only meant to be read by family, after all.' "You have to apply a bit of blood on the portrait, Naruto-kun. If something such as letters from your parents is there, Minato would trust no one but his blood to read them." He took out a kunai and silently asked Naruto if he could slice his hand. Naruto gave him his hand without protest. Quickly and efficiently, Hiruzen sliced Naruto's thumb, opening up a small cut. Naruto, knowing his fast healing would seal it within seconds, instantly wiped his thumb on the painting before it closed.

For a second, nothing happened. Naruto and Hiruzen thought that they might have been wrong, but then the whole frame of the painting lit up, showing intricate seals that only an Uzumaki or Minato would have hopes of understanding. There was a small click, and the portrait pushed out a little. Naruto, more eager than he had ever been in his life, opened the portrait; inside the portrait was something unexpected.

Naruto and Hiruzen stared in bewilderment at what met their eyes. There were only two envelopes that were there. Naruto was a bit disappointed that only two envelopes were remaining of his parents' legacy but changed the direction of his thoughts immediately. He was taking something at face value, which he would never do. 'Perhaps it's the feelings I experienced last night. Emotions are clouding my judgment.', he thought. 'Don't worry about it, Naruto. Feelings and thoughts such as those never truly fade away. You just learn to live with them. Besides, it happens to the best of them', Kurama reassured. Naruto noticed how Kurama excluded himself from the 'best of them' and rose an eyebrow mentally, 'It does not happen to you?' Kurama arrogantly puffed up his chest and declared, 'Of course not! I'm the Kyuubi no Kitsune, boy! A being such as I am above such petty things!' Naruto ignored the pompous rambling of the fox and turned his attention back to the envelopes. He quickly took them from their place and checked carefully if there was anything left. Seeing he had taken all there was, he closed the portrait. The seals glowed again, signifying the portrait had been locked back.

A sudden thought struck Hiruzen and he had to resist the urge to smack his forehead for what he was about to do. 'Why didn't I ask this earlier?! Damn the forgetfulness that comes with this age!' Hiruzen felt bad but he had to do this right now. Tentatively, he placed his hand on Naruto's shoulder, knocking the boy out of his trance. He was gazing at the envelopes as if they were the most precious things in the world to him, which they were. "Naruto-kun, why weren't you at your room in the orphanage yesterday in the evening?" he asked slowly, as if afraid to find out the answer to that question. Naruto could not help the flinch that the question brought. When he had told jiji about how he found out his parents' identity last night, he had conveniently forgotten to mention that he had been kicked out by the orphanage. He had hoped that jiji would not ask him about that. In a mumble that Hiruzen barely understood the blonde said, "The matron kicked me out yesterday evening." Hiruzen suspected that the matron would have deliberately kept Naruto out of the orphanage last night because of the festival, but did not expect him to be thrown out of the orphanage. White-hot anger flooded his veins that he barely restrained from letting the anger out as killer intent. 'How dare they?! How dare that woman do such a vile thing, throwing a five-year-old out, knowing he would be killed?! Why is the civilian population of this village so stupid? It's like they don't trust Minato's skills at all!', he raged in his mind.

However, he knew he was equally at fault. He should have never announced Naruto's status as the jinchuriki of the Kyuubi at all. Naruto would have lived comfortably, without experiencing the hatred of the villagers. Naruto watched his jiji's face carefully, for any signs of anger. Fortunately, years of being a shinobi and Hokage allowed Hiruzen to keep a neutral face, but Naruto could tell from the subconscious tightening of jiji's hand on his shoulder that he was angry.

"I see", was all he said before visibly collecting himself. Now to address the main issue. He looked at Naruto with a grave look on his face, "Naruto-kun, now that that is out of the way, we have to find a new place for you to live." The words were out of his mouth before he could stop them, "Not another orphanage, jiji!" Hiruzen stared at the desperate look Naruto was giving him. To be honest, he was scared that one day it would come to this. And surprisingly, he agreed with Naruto. He did not want Naruto to live anywhere he would be hated. Unfortunately, that left only one option.

"Naruto-kun, that means you have to live alone", he said, silently wishing he could take the boy in himself. Unfortunately, he could not. The dratted civilian council was in his way. Naruto crossed his hands over his chest defensively, not hesitating for a moment to answer, "Better than living in someplace where I am treated with bias." He was looking at Hiruzen, chin tilted upwards in a way only children could show their stubbornness. 'Oh Kushina, his stubbornness reminds me so much of you', he recalled with a sad smile. He knew Naruto would not budge from his point.

Sighing, he said, "But are you sure you will be able to take care of yourself? You will have to cook for yourself, bring food for yourself, clean your clothes, keep your home clean, which is very hard considering the size of this house", he explained wisely. However, all that wisdom was thrown out of the window when he noticed the look Naruto was giving him. His face was set in a deadpan stare, an eyebrow raised. He found himself feeling quite stupid when Naruto kept looking at him like that, the deadpan never leaving. He was reminded of another blonde who used to make many people feel stupid with the same look on his face. Naruto spoke seriously as if he had not noticed how uncomfortable the man was at all, "Jiji, when you consider the size of this house, it is clear that no single person could take care of a place such as this by himself. I never said I want to live here; a small apartment would do. Besides", his expression turned a bit sad, "This house is so big that the loneliness will start to bother me, considering whose house was this in the first place."

Hiruzen was surprised at the maturity that Naruto was showing; 'people thrice his age aren't this mature' Considering his options, he said, "Give me one hour, Naruto-kun. I'm positive I can find an apartment big enough just for you. Until then, I assume you would want to read the contents of those letters?" he said giving him a significant glance, complete with chin down and eyebrow raised. Naruto suddenly seemed to remember about the envelopes. His hands shot to his lower's pocket where he had put them somewhere between his talk with jiji. He looked up and replied, "Yes, that will do, jiji."

He left after that, muttering things about a matron and execution.