The Tailed Beasts and their Jinchuriki living in harmony? Or was the Nine-Tails the most savage of them all?
Hiruzen Sarutobi's tiny pupils had shrunk to almost pinpoints.
He had watched Naruto grow up—in the literal sense. The ANBU submitted regular reports, and he often used the Telescope Technique to observe him through a crystal ball.
He knew Naruto was an honest, straightforward child with a simple way of thinking, someone who couldn't tell a lie.
Hiruzen fell silent, lost in thought. For a moment, he felt this was both good and bad. After all, the village leadership all saw Naruto as nothing more than a vessel for the Nine-Tails.
They had never considered investing even a little in his upbringing.
Seeing Hiruzen fall silent, Naruto's smile grew brighter. He gestured as he said, "The jutsu it taught me is amazing! I'll show you! Heavenly Claw!"
Whoosh!
Orange-yellow Chakra burst from Naruto's five fingers, taking the shape of the Nine-Tails' claws. It gradually condensed, gleaming with the metallic sheen of a blade.
Hiruzen stared at the claw of Chakra, neither flowing nor quite solid, and his suspicions vanished completely.
His thoughts drifted back to those days: the Third Shinobi World War had ended, the Nine-Tails' rampage had followed, and Konoha lay in ruins.
"Hiruzen, you absolutely mustn't go soft. The village is short on money, and its finances are in dire straits."
"Minato and Kushina left behind too much wealth. We can't let it sit there until Naruto grows up."
"Exactly! Contributing it to the village's reconstruction is the best way to put it to use."
"As Minato's son, Naruto should inherit his father's spirit of protecting Konoha!"
Shimura Danzō slapped the table. "This is a decision we've all made together. For the Will of Fire! Sacrifices are necessary!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi sighed. Hiding the fact that Naruto's father was the Fourth Hokage had been a decision made at a leadership meeting, one that served the interests of the Konoha community.
He had planned to wait until Naruto was a little older, old enough to understand the Will of Fire, before telling him.
But now that Naruto had directly connected with the Nine-Tails, the truth seemed close to coming out.
Hiruzen gazed at Kage Rock, shrouded in the night. His eyes rested on the carved faces of himself and the Fourth Hokage, and he murmured with deep affection, "Naruto, do you like Konoha?"
Naruto grinned. "Konoha raised me as an orphan, so I ought to be grateful."
With his hands behind his back, Hiruzen's figure stooped even further. "I like it. I love Konoha, every blade of grass and every tree here, every house and every person. I love you, too."
He made up his mind and reached out to pat Naruto's head. "Do you know who delivered you?"
Naruto shook his head. The only thing he knew about his past was a single phrase—"an abandoned orphan."
The thought always made him feel lonely, so he avoided thinking about it. After a while, he'd simply gotten used to forgetting.
As far as he was concerned, his origins no longer mattered. Those who gave birth to him but never raised him had earned no gratitude.
Hiruzen looked into Naruto's calm eyes, feeling ashamed. Then he nodded sadly. "My wife, Biwako—Konohamaru's grandmother. She was a strict but caring woman."
"Biwako delivered you for your mother, Kushina, the previous Nine-Tails Jinchuriki. Afterward, she stayed inside the barrier to care for you and your mother."
As he spoke, Hiruzen's voice suddenly choked. "But she never came back. Neither did your mother. The one who returned was the Nine-Tails Demon Fox, rampaging through our village."
The more Naruto listened, the more something felt off. The old man had a strange way of telling the story, as if Naruto had been born already owing everyone a debt.
"Then how did I survive?"
Hiruzen said, "Your father, the hero of Konoha, the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, sacrificed himself and used a Sealing Technique to seal the Nine-Tails inside you, a child with Uzumaki blood."
Naruto was stunned.
The old man's story couldn't make him feel even a little moved. It sounded as if someone had tied a whole bundle of debts to him.
"So I'm a hero's son?"
Hiruzen nodded emphatically. "Yes. Both your parents gave up their precious young lives to protect you and our Konoha."
Naruto's beautiful mood from eating ramen crumbled in an instant. He just couldn't accept this kind of education through guilt.
"Was there anything else?"
"No."
Naruto waved and turned away. "It's late. I should go home and sleep. Good night, Third Grandpa."
Hiruzen remained where he stood, watching Naruto walk away and turn the corner. Beneath his coat, his frame looked frail and forlorn.
In the lifeless room, on the narrow bed,
Naruto lay still, staring up at the paneled ceiling.
There wasn't a single memory of what Hiruzen had just told him in his life. Not one.
It was like a movie playing on-screen, when someone suddenly forced the opening theme into it and told him the whole movie had been made because of that song.
Did it matter? Maybe.
It wasn't that he couldn't understand how someone might feel. Knowing his parents had been heroes who loved him was a happy thing.
But did they really think they could use that to guilt him into doing what they wanted? They were thinking too much.
Besides, that old man's account was far too colored by his personal opinions. There had to be some discrepancies between it and what had really happened.
Still, he probably wasn't making it all up just to stop Naruto from asking the Nine-Tails for confirmation.
In any case—
"Time to sleep."
Clang, clang~
In the deep underground passage, water trickled along.
Naruto rubbed his bleary eyes as he stepped out of the passage again and arrived before the towering bars of the cell. He yawned.
"Don't you know I'm still growing? You're messing with my sleep. If I end up growing more slowly, what are you going to do about it?"
As he spoke, he pulled open his waistband and took a concerned look.
The Nine-Tails lowered its head from the darkness. It wasn't as arrogant as before; instead, it smiled slyly, baring a mouthful of white teeth.
"Your subconscious is calling out to me. You wanted to see me, didn't you?"
Naruto paused. "Maybe. There is something I want to ask you."
The Nine-Tails suddenly raised a paw and pointed at the seal on the gate. "Tear it off, and I'll answer."
"Don't push your luck." Naruto's expression turned ferocious in an instant. "I asked you a question, so answer it."
The Nine-Tails was furious, its teeth grinding audibly, but it didn't chase Naruto away like it had last time.
"Why should I answer you?"
Naruto asked, "You killed my parents, didn't you?"
The Nine-Tails' grin suddenly widened, its expression terribly cruel. Its nine tails shot up to the ceiling like a fan opening, swaying excitedly.
"That's right! I killed them! With one claw—this one. I ran it right through both of them!"
"That damned Uzumaki woman, that damned Fourth! Want revenge? Come on, then! I'm right here!"
Its boundless hatred—a hatred for all of humanity—washed over Naruto like an invisible tide.
But Naruto didn't resist. He let that hatred fill his chest.
The only thing he saw was his adoptive father, dead and turned into fragments of a strong man, drifting across the sea beneath the clouds.
Tears fell from the corners of his eyes for the second time.
The Nine-Tails was delighted. It jeered, "Aw, you're crying? What a useless little brat. Maybe I should think about getting a more spirited Jinchuriki!"
Naruto had been lost in remembrance. At the Nine-Tails' irritating interruption, fury surged into his eyes, and blood-red Chakra blazed around him.
Around his navel, the Eight Trigrams Seal, formed from two Four Symbols Seals, unleashed a torrent of Chakra that covered his body, pulsing in a peculiar rhythm.
"You're a mutt stuck in a cage, unable to get out. I don't know what you're barking about!"
"Chakra-Boosted Hundred Thousand Volts! Hell Piercing Sword!"
A flash of silver lit up the dark spiritual world.
Naruto darted to the cell gate. Using his hand as a sword, he thrust it through the bars and stabbed the back of the Nine-Tails' paw where it rested on the ground. His hand pierced fur and flesh, and blood welled out.
Pain!
The Nine-Tails felt pain!
"Roar!"
It flung Naruto away with a sweep of its arm, then stared at the paw he had stabbed. The bleeding had stopped, but the wound remained.
Clear as day. Impossible to miss.
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