TSoL Chapter 6 - The Beginning

Standing with his mouth open, Naruto looked at the two people who, he guessed, were his parents. In disbelief, he raised his hands abruptly to rub his eyes and look back at his parents, eliciting a laugh from the red-haired woman and a smile from the man next to her.

A lot of emotions flashed across the face of young Naruto, and the parents standing in front of him waited, and did not prevent him from realizing everything. With trembling lips and an equally trembling voice, he tried to speak.

— Y-you are... M... my…

Naruto tried to pronounce these words that were not familiar to him. Words he thought he could never say. Words that previously caused him only envy, sadness and feelings of inferiority.

Gathering all his strength into a fist, Naruto was finally able to say it.

— Are you... my Mom, and Dad?

With a face full of hope and expectation, he anxiously awaited an answer.

Kushina and Minato looked at each other and, returning their gaze to their son, smiled, and Kushina replied.

— Yes, Naruto. We are your Mom and Dad.

Hearing their confirmation, Naruto could no longer hold back the flow of his emotions, and tears began to flow from his eyes, and although he tried to hold them back, all he managed to do was sniff.

Seeing her son in such a state, Kushina could no longer contain herself and finally rushed to her child, hugging him, thereby surprising Naruto even more.

Feeling her warmth, and all her love transmitted through this embrace, he cried even more, saying only one word.

— Mom!

He immediately responded to his mother's hug, squeezing her tightly in his arms, fearing that she might disappear. At this point, a moved Minato approached them, and also hugged his son with Kushina.

Finally calming down a bit, Naruto asked the only question that interested him.

— How?

Smiling proudly, Minato immediately responded.

— All thanks to a small but tricky gift that I left you.

Naruto thought about it, and interrupting the hug, looked at his idol, who turned out to be his father, and asked.

— You mean System-chan?... Um dad...

When Minato heard his son call him Dad, his eyes sparkled and he was filled with a childish joy that couldn't help but make Kushina laugh.

Pulling himself together and clearing his throat into a fist, Minato answered.

— Well… That's right Naruto. Your system is a seal that I created especially for you, and it works due to our mental energy with Kushina. So now, while we are here, it will not be available.

Referring mentally to the system, Naruto confirmed what had been said as nothing had happened. Still holding on to his mother's slightly transparent hand, he asked the next question.

— These are not real bodies, are they? Why can I touch and feel you?

Grinning, Minato answered.

Ah, it's very simple, Naruto. Since the seal is inside you, it immerses you in a special state of genjutsu, in which you can see and feel us. Other people, of course, will not see us, and even less will they feel. This is what I was doing inside the seal while it was synchronizing with your body. Great, isn't it?

— It's just incredible!

Naruto still didn't believe in what was happening, and the feeling of happiness just overwhelmed him. He wanted to learn a lot from them, to ask a lot, but above all, he wanted to know what made his life in the village so unbearable and terrible. Therefore, remembering these moments of his life, he turned his exhausted and tired eyes to his parents, and asked.

— Mom... Dad... Why does everyone in the village hate me?

This question seemed to be very stressful for Naruto's parents. Minato and Kushina could see how much pain their son was holding back when he asked them this question, and although they didn't know yet what was the matter, seeing their son's expression like that caused a heavy and oppressive feeling of pain inside them.

Minato looked at Kushina and she nodded to him, then smiled tenderly and pulled Naruto along onto the sofa, sitting him on her lap and taking him into her embrace, thereby embarrassing the boy and taking him out of this heavy mood.

— Naruto, we're not entirely sure what you asked, but…

Naruto was about to say something, but was stopped by Kushina, who smiled reassuringly at him, and continued to speak.

— But don't worry, Naruto, Mom and Dad will see for themselves now and figure it out, okay?

Not understanding what they were talking about, Naruto just nodded silently, but inside he felt an incredible warm feeling that he lacked so much. The feeling that someone is worried and cares about you.

At that moment, Minato came up to them, and knelt down in front of his son, who was sitting on Kushina's lap, put his right hand on the boy's head, and his left hand on Kushina's shoulder, in order to look into his memory.

Immediately after that, the bodies of Kushina and Minato began to flicker a little, causing slight anxiety in the boy, but literally in a second everything stopped, and Minato removed his hand from Naruto, and stood with his head bowed, hiding his gaze behind his hair.

At this time, Kushina clenched her fists, and she was surrounded by a terrible aura, because of which her hair began to rise slightly. She turned her serious and angry gaze to Minato to see a similar expression on his face.

— Minato... Everything... Absolutely EVERYTHING didn't go as we hoped!...

— Yes…

The older blond answered coldly, clenching his fists. Kushina thought for a bit and asked.

— Hiruzen?

— No, I do not think so.

Minato shook his head, which caused Kushina's eyes to narrow and she asked again.

— Then this is definitely the Council. Or rather, it was...

— Danzo.

The man finished for her, evoking an even more oppressive aura in the red-haired woman. Naruto sat a little confused and didn't understand what his parents were talking about. The only thing he understood was that they somehow looked at his memories, and the past feeling of the chakra in his head confirmed this, but he still decided to clarify.

— Um... Mom, Dad. What are you talking about?

As soon as he gave his voice, the oppressive atmosphere immediately disappeared, and Kushina began to squeeze her son with a sweet smile, and said.

— Ah, Naruto, we just looked into your memories, and…

At that moment, her eyes became sad, and she continued.

— We are very sorry... This is all our fault…

But here Minato interrupted her and said.

— No, it's completely my fault.

Naruto still didn't quite understand what he was talking about.

— What is the fault? What are you talking about?

Minato clenched his fists and bowed his head in reply.

— Do you know who jinchūriki are, Naruto?"

— Jinchūriki?...

Lost in thought, Naruto remembered that he had just recently come across this term in one of the books in the library, and therefore replied.

— These are the people who carry the tailed beast inside, right?

With a nod of his head, Minato continued.

— Right. Before you were born, your Mother was one of them.

Hearing something like that, Naruto's eyes widened and he looked in disbelief at his mother, who smiled bitterly at him as she continued to stroke his head.

— So then… The fox demon that attacked Konoha… You were his jinchūriki?

— Yes.

Naruto got even more confused and asked.

— But if you were a nine-tailed fox's jinchūriki, how did it happen that he attacked Konoha and Dad had to fight him?

At this point Minato entered the conversation.

— During your childbirth, an unknown ninja in a mask appeared and kidnapped your weakened mother, using her condition to release the tailed beast out.

For the next five minutes, Minato talked about the events that happened at that time, and when he finished at the moment when he sealed the Kyuubi into Naruto, he lowered his head and said.

— I'm sorry, Naruto. When I was sealing the Kyuubi inside you, I hoped that the villagers would perceive you as the hero of the village holding the monster in a cage within you, but. I didn't take into account that so much information would be hidden, and that a false rumor would be sent into the village that you were the Kyuubi. I am very sorry, and I hope that someday you will forgive me.

Naruto listened to all this with his head tilted, hiding his gaze from his parents, which made them a little nervous. Silently rising from the couch, Naruto stood with his eyes closed and began to speak softly.

— You know... all my life I thought that all the anger of people directed at me was somehow justified, and I just could not understand what and where I did wrong. I thought that due to the fact that I have no family, I do not get the necessary lessons, and I constantly make mistakes. Yes... Mistakes that I began to consider as something normal for myself, and therefore I didn't try to delve too deeply into the cause of all this, and in their correction. Perhaps I was simply afraid that finding the answer would turn out to be even worse than I imagined.

Kushina and Minato stared at their son in dumbfoundedness, and the only feeling they felt was the pain of realizing what their son had to go through in order to have such thoughts. An overwhelming sense of guilt filled them, and tears welled up in Kushina's eyes as she silently listened to her son's words.

After a pause, Naruto continued.

"But now that I found out all this ... I finally realized that it was all a complete misunderstanding, and that I had not done anything wrong.

With a light and relaxed smile, Naruto finished, surprising his parents and giving them a little relief.

— That is... you are not angry with me? Or villagers?

Minato asked hopefully, looking at his son.

Naruto brought his hand to his chin and spoke as if thinking.

— Well... I would be lying if I said that I was not angry at all, but it can be solved.

— Ah! Of course, anything you... argh!

His words were interrupted by Naruto's sharp punch in the stomach. As the former Hokage fell to his knees, holding his stomach, Naruto shouted.

— THINK ABOUT YOUR CHILD'S FEELINGS BEFORE YOU PUT THE TAILED BEAST IN HIM AND DISAPPEAR, DATTEBAYO!!!

— O… of course…

Minato replied quietly, backing away from the blow with a little breathlessness. Kushina, seeing this, couldn't help but laugh.

— Ha-ha-ha-ha!!! Dattebayo then, huh? Now I can see for sure that you are my son. That's right! If someone offends you, let them know that the Uzumaki are not the ones to mess with, dattebane!

A happy Kushina yelled, raising her fist before gripping her baby even harder. Minato, on the other hand, was sweating a bit as he watched the mother and son duet with their strange verbal tics. But still, he finally got up, and smiled too, seeing how the family finally reunited, returned a joyful mood. Naruto, embarrassed by his mother's onslaught of love, spoke up.

— Heh-heh, come on, Mom, stop it. I feel awkward. I'm not used to all this yet. By the way, Dad, although I have forgiven you, you still have to make up for the time that you were not there and teach me a bunch of cool things and techniques!

— This is exactly what I created this seal for.

Minato replied with satisfaction. Kushina, meanwhile, was thinking about something, and then her eyes lit up, and she turned to Naruto.

— Hey Naruto, show your mommy about your fuinjutsu success!" I'm sure you've reached even greater heights than Minato at your age. After all, without my training, his ceiling was basic essential seals. Right, dear?

— Yes. If not for your mother, then I certainly would not have become who I am remembered in the world of shinobi. So I'm also interested to see your progress in this matter. Yet, unlike me, you are Uzumaki.

Listening to their words, Naruto felt somehow embarrassed and ashamed, since he does not know a single seal at all, and will not be able to live up to the expectations of his parents. Looking fearfully at the expectant faces of his parents, he clenched his fists and answered honestly.

— I... Actually, I don't know a single seal...

— What?

Kushina was very shocked, and Minato frowned a little in suspicion.

Seeing their reaction, Naruto said.

— Not that I would not like to learn this, but until recently, I thought that I was a simple clanless orphan. I didn't know that the Uzumaki were a clan and that their descendants were good at Fuinjutsu.

Hearing another sad news from Naruto, Kushina was outraged.

— What? They didn't even tell you that? Is it Danzo again?

Kushina asked, turning to Minato, to which he just shook his head and expressed his opinion.

— No, this time I think it was Sarutobi. I can understand the cover-ups of his legacy as Namikaze, since I had many enemies that I annoyed. But I don't quite understand the hiding of his legacy as Uzumaki.

Hearing this, Naruto decided to add.

— Even more, as I recently realized, most of the teachers at the academy deliberately sabotaged my studies so that I could not do my assignments normally and advance in the shinobi craft. They... had the same look as the villagers. I think they also blame me for the incident twelve years ago.

Seeing Naruto's frown, Minato put a hand on Naruto's shoulder and said.

— Naruto, listen to me. You no longer need to think or worry about someone looking askance at you or not providing you with the proper training. Now that your mom and I are with you, we will take care of your training personally.

— That's right, dattebane! Just rely on your amazing parents and we'll make sure everyone in the village regrets they underestimated and treated my little angel badly!

Seeing how his parents worried and supported him, moisture began to appear in Naruto's eyes again, but he quickly wiped it off with his sleeve, and said with a joyful smile.

— Thank you, Mom, Dad. I will do my best and I will not let you down. I will make people see that Uzumaki Naruto is not who they think he is, Dattebayo!

Nodding happily, Kushina said.

— That's the spirit! And don't forget to find yourself some brides so that mom can quickly see her grandchildren, as well as the revival of the Uzumaki clan.

Hearing this, Naruto immediately became embarrassed and blushed, and Minato looked strangely at Kushina, and said carefully.

— K… Kushina, I don't think it will be that easy, and besides, where did that Jealous Kushina that I knew go?

— Hmff! It's one thing you, whom a lot of girls ran after in the past, and another thing is my lovely son, who has been deprived of attention all his life and has suffered enough. Everything is allowed to my little angel! Right, dear?

Once again starting to squeeze her blushing and embarrassed child, Kushina asked. Naruto didn't know how to react to this, so he decided not to argue with his mom, and just go with the flow, answering.

— I... yes mom...

— Sweet! Hee-hee-hee!

Seeing how embarrassed his son was, Minato thought it would be funny to watch him trying to find a bride. But then he remembered his sensei Jiraiya, and thought about how he would react if he found out that Kushina wants to collect a harem for his son.

«Most likely, he would have directed half of his intelligence network to spy on Naruto in his romantic affairs, for his 'research' on the new book.»

Sighing, Minato looked at Naruto and said.

— Okay, Naruto. In fact, there is a time limit on how long we can be out of the Seal per day. So I think we shouldn't waste any more time and start preparing for your training as early as possible, what do you think?

Getting out of his mom's grip, making her pout in resentment, Naruto responded.

— Y... yes! I'm ready, dad!

Nodding contentedly, Minato said.

— Then, I want you to prepare some necessary things for the training, which I will compose for you, and also, it would be nice if you could find a place hidden from prying eyes with a pond in which you could train without attracting prying eyes. Remember everything?

— Yes! After the system-chan worked, my memory became very good! I can memorize everything very easily, and no problem, cool, right?

A little surprised, Minato answered.

— Wow, I didn't know about such an effect, yes, this is a really pleasant surprise, then remember everything I say.

For the next few minutes, Minato dictated and explained all the things and subjects needed for his future training. When Naruto remembered everything and was about to run away in search of them, he was stopped by Kushina.

— Not so fast! Did you think Minato would be the only one training you?

Surprised, Naruto answered.

— Will my mom train me too?

Smiling, Minato decided to open his son's eyes.

— Actually, Naruto. Your mom was one of the strongest ninja in the village, and in some ways, she was even cooler than me.

— Damn right, dattebane! Even the dumb fox was no problem for me.

Hearing this, Naruto's eyes widened in shock, but then lit up with childish joy, and Naruto himself ran to his mother and spoke.

— Wow, I didn't know that my mother was not only beautiful, but also damn strong!

Hearing her son praising her, she happily fidgeted in place, again pulling her son into her arms, and could not stand it, said.

— Oh, Naruto, you shouldn't... Oh, what's the most beautiful thing about your mom?

Without even thinking, Naruto answered almost immediately.

— Hair! You have very beautiful hair mom.

Hearing his words, Kushina even froze for a moment, and then was even more delighted and said.

— Aaaa, my angel definitely understands true beauty! You are the second person to say that my hair is beautiful.

— Who was the first?

— Well, your father, of course!

Minato scratched the back of his head awkwardly as he listened to their conversation. Glancing at his father, Naruto happily responded.

— Well, I suppose, like a father, so is a son. We both have great taste.

This time, Minato's eyes lit up and he walked over and happily ruffled his son's hair.

When they finished with the praise, Kushina said.

— So, Naruto. I will leave the beginning of physical training to Minato, since I want to teach you the Uzumaki family jutsu. But for this, you need to have good control over your chakra, and be physically strong and resilient enough, and precisely by the standards of our clan, and not other people. And until you achieve that, you and I will begin by teaching Fuinjutsu. Agree?

Naruto's eyes lit up with anticipation and he spoke quickly.

— Yes! It will be amazing, finally I will really learn cool things, and not what they tried to "Teach" me at the academy.

After receiving a satisfied answer from her son, Kushina quickly dictated to him all the supplies for practicing Fuinjutsu, but then remembering something, she asked.

"By the way, Naruto, do you even have the money to buy whatever Minato and I asked of you?"

As soon as the question touched the money, Naruto stood rooted to the spot, and slowly turned his head to his parents, said.

— Well... I always have problems with money. My orphan's allowance will not arrive until seven days later, and not that there are many.

Saying that, it seemed like he was very upset, but Minato and Kushina only smiled, and Minato said.

— Naruto, have you forgotten who your parents were?"

Looking at them blankly, he said.

— Hokage, and Uzumaki, why?

Shaking his head, the older blond answered.

— Me and your mom, had a decent amount of money, which we put aside for your maintenance, and not only. Just move our painting aside and you will see a safe with a Fuin seal stamped on it. Put your blood on it, and the safe will open immediately.

Nodding, Naruto immediately removed the portrait of his parents and saw a safe with a seal. Poking his finger with a kunai, he put it to the seal, which immediately flashed and disappeared, opening the safe, in which Naruto found a whole pile of sealed scrolls and money.

Seeing all this goodness, his eyes lit up with joy, and pointing at all this with his finger, he looked at his parents, as if asking, "May I?" To which he received only a nod from them, with a slight smile.

Satisfied blond, took some money, and closed the safe, said.

— You should have been stricter and dealt with the Council and Danzo while still alive.

With a fist clenched, Minato answered.

— I know. But now it's too late to regret the past. At the moment, we must concentrate on the future of our son, so that at least he does not repeat our mistakes and walk into a happy future with a firm gait.

With these words, they both returned to the Seal, waiting for their son to do everything that they told him. On this day, Naruto will begin his training, which will turn his life completely and irrevocably.

* * * * * * * * * *

Author's Note:

I finally finished new chapter on my Boosty, and posting previous one here.

It came out a little longer than the previous one, and hopefully not too boring.

And such a long release is justified by the fact that I am currently developing a game, so most of the time is spent on it. I apologize for this.

If you want to support me as an author, or get access to new chapters a little earlier than others, then you can subscribe to my Boosty (russian analogue of Раtrеоn) and read it right now.

My Boosty profile link: (site name) dot (to) /silentdudestory

Or you can just find the link in my Webnovell profile, or in the fanfic description.

Thanks to everyone who is still with me!