Naruto Learns His Identity

Qianyu had just caught his breath and was about to check whether the black flames of Amaterasu had burned anything they should not have when a thought suddenly struck him. "Oh no! Sasuke!"

Itachi had appeared in Konoha, and Naruto might not have been his only target! Given his extreme fixation on Sasuke, he might very well have gone after Sasuke amid the chaos!

He immediately called to Jiraiya. The two of them did not have time to thoroughly clean up the battlefield and hurried toward Sasuke's residence.

Sure enough, the door to Sasuke's little house was ajar, and the inside was deathly quiet. Pushing the door open, they found Sasuke collapsed on the floor, pale-faced and unconscious. His right arm was clearly fractured. The furnishings inside were largely intact, with only faint traces of a fight. There was barely even any unfamiliar chakra residue at the scene; whoever had come had cleaned up very thoroughly.

"That bastard..." Qianyu gritted his teeth as he carefully examined Sasuke's injuries. Other than the fracture in his right arm and exhaustion from excessive chakra depletion, there were no serious injuries.

"Take him to Konoha Hospital. Have the best medical team watch over him." Jiraiya's expression was grim. Itachi's actions were becoming increasingly difficult for him to comprehend through ordinary reasoning.

After settling Sasuke in, Qianyu rushed without pause to Karin's hospital room. When he pushed open the door, he saw Naruto sitting on a small stool beside her bed, staring at her without blinking. The tension and worry had yet to fade from his face.

Karin was already awake, leaning against the headboard. Her face was still somewhat pale, but she seemed to be in decent spirits. Seeing Qianyu enter, she gave a slight nod, gratitude showing in her eyes.

"How are you feeling?" Qianyu asked.

"I'm fine. I just used up too much chakra at once." Karin answered softly. Then she looked at Qianyu, apology and lingering fear in her violet eyes. "I'm sorry, Qianyu. I couldn't protect Naruto, and I even held everyone back..."

"No, you did very well." Qianyu cut her off, his tone firm. "You bought enough time for Jiraiya to arrive. You were injured protecting your companion. You don't need to blame yourself."

He paused, his gaze turning serious. "The people who attacked you were from Dawn. Their target was very clear: the Nine-Tails inside Naruto. Karin, you've seen it now. Konoha is not always absolutely safe, and your identity and abilities may also draw you into similar dangers. So, I need you to make a decision."

Both Karin and Naruto looked at him.

"Do you want to begin a new, relatively peaceful life in Konoha as a completely independent person? Or..." Qianyu looked at Naruto, then back at Karin. "Will you choose to be with Naruto, as family?"

Karin froze. She looked at Naruto. During that sudden attack just now, this blond, blue-eyed boy had clearly been terrified himself, yet when that shark-faced monster attacked her, he had stepped in front of her without hesitation.

His trembling yet exceptionally resolute words—"Don't hurt my relative!"—and the warm, scorching chakra that had erupted from him in that instant had both been deeply etched into her heart.

The feeling of being protected, of being cherished, was far too unfamiliar to her—and far too precious.

When Naruto saw Karin looking at him, he became somewhat flustered. His face reddened slightly, but his eyes were clear and sincere.

Karin took a deep breath and slowly spoke. Her voice was quiet, but clear. "Naruto... would you be willing to be my little brother?" She paused, as though gathering her courage. "If you are, then from now on... we'll be family."

Naruto was completely stunned, his blue eyes wide open as if he had not heard clearly—or as if he did not dare believe it. The next second, tears spilled from his eyes faster than any words could.

"I... I'm willing!" His voice choked with sobs, yet was exceptionally loud. "Big sister! I'm willing!"

He practically threw himself forward, tightly hugging Karin's uninjured arm and burying his face against her shoulder. His tears quickly soaked her hospital gown. He had many friends—Teacher Iruka, Teacher Kakashi, Sasuke...—but the word "family" had always been an empty void that stabbed at his heart.

Qianyu watched this scene with a gratified smile on his face. Turning to the emotional Naruto, he said, "From now on, Karin will be a registered shinobi of Konoha: Uzumaki Karin, a special Konoha Chunin who retired from ANBU due to injury and transferred to the regular ranks. I'll explain things to Teacher Tsunade."

Upon hearing this formal recognition of her identity, Karin smiled in relief.

After crying for a while, Naruto finally let go awkwardly and wiped his tears. Then he suddenly seemed to think of something and looked at Qianyu hesitantly. "Qianyu... um, where will Big Sister Karin live from now on? My apartment... seems to have been damaged in the fight just now, and it only has one bedroom..."

The more he spoke, the quieter his voice became. He wanted his sister to live well, but he was also embarrassed by his own circumstances.

Qianyu smiled faintly, having expected this question. "Not that temporary apartment you're living in now, Naruto. I mean... the home your parents lived in."

Naruto instantly went blank, even forgetting to sniffle. "My... parents' home?"

"Yes." Qianyu nodded, his gaze gentle but resolute. "Karin has mostly recovered from her injuries as well, so I'll take you there. And... before coming to the hospital, I already had Shikamaru notify the others. They should all be waiting there by now."

Through Jiraiya, Qianyu had long since found out the location of Minato's former residence in the village. After Minato and his wife's sacrifice, the house had remained sealed and maintained by the village. It had never been assigned to anyone else, and while people regularly tended to its interior, no one lived there.

He led Naruto and Karin, both full of unease, excitement, and confusion, across more than half of Konoha. Before them stood a two-story traditional Japanese-style house with its own courtyard, neat and quiet, blending harmoniously into its surroundings.

As expected, a group of people had already gathered in front of the house—Shikamaru, Hinata, Kiba... nearly all of Konoha's outstanding younger generation had come. When they saw Qianyu arrive with Naruto and a red-haired girl, everyone looked at them with concern and encouragement.

"Naruto, welcome home!" Ino called out with a smile, and the others spoke up as well, their voices sincere.

Naruto looked at the familiar faces before him, then at the unfamiliar door. His heart pounded wildly. Under everyone's gaze and their silent encouragement, he reached out and pushed open the long-sealed door with trembling hands.

Creak—

The door opened.

The interior was clean and bright, clearly having been carefully cleaned in advance by Shikamaru and the others. It had a traditional Japanese layout, simple yet warm. Sunlight streamed in through the spotless paper sliding doors, filling the air with the scent of sunshine and wood.

Naruto's gaze was instantly drawn to a photograph hanging on the living room wall.

In the photograph, a handsome young man with brilliant short blond hair and a sunny, warm smile held a beautiful woman with long red hair and a bright, bold smile close to him. Their heads leaned together as they faced the camera, their eyes filled with happiness and love, as though they possessed the entire world.

Naruto stared blankly at it. His feet moved closer of their own accord as he lifted his head and looked without blinking.

"Are these... my parents?" His voice was soft, trembling with disbelief.

"Yes." Qianyu walked to his side, his voice reaching everyone's ears. "Your mother was the princess of the Uzumaki Clan, Kushina Uzumaki. Your father was Konoha's Fourth Hokage, known as the Yellow Flash—Minato Namikaze."

Although well-informed people such as Shikamaru and Neji had long held their suspicions, hearing Qianyu formally announce it now still left the others deeply shocked and incredulous.

Naruto Uzumaki—the boy called a "demon fox," isolated by most of the village's children, living in a shabby apartment and drinking expired milk... was actually the son of the Fourth Hokage and his wife? The orphaned child of Konoha's heroes?

Hinata Hyuga was already crying. She tightly covered her mouth with both hands, looking painfully at Naruto's rigid back. More than anyone, she understood the loneliness and malice Naruto had endured over the years.

Naruto seemed to have turned to stone, standing where he was and staring fixedly at the photograph. Countless images and pieces of information collided and exploded wildly in his mind—the villagers' hateful stares, the children's mockery, Teacher Iruka's boxed lunches, the occasional visits from the Third Hokage, the fox's roars within him, the teachings of the Pervy Sage, his companions' smiles, the appearance of Big Sister Karin... until finally, everything froze on this warmly dazzling photograph.

"I have parents... I'm not a demon fox... My father was the Fourth Hokage... My mother was an Uzumaki princess..." he muttered, as though confirming it, or trying to process a truth that overturned everything he had believed for more than a decade.

Then an immense torrent of grievance, anger, confusion, and even deeper pain surged into his heart!

"Then how did my parents die?!" He suddenly turned around, his blue eyes locked onto Qianyu. His voice abruptly rose, hoarse as though torn apart. "Tell me! How did they die?!"

The chakra within him began to surge violently out of control, faintly taking on a trace of orange-red.

Qianyu stared straight into his eyes, which were nearly spitting fire. "Don't you know yet, Naruto? You learned it in Ninja Academy history class—Konoha Year 51, when the Nine-Tailed Fox attacked Konoha. The Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, and his wife, Kushina Uzumaki, joined forces to seal the rampaging Nine-Tails."

"Why..." Naruto's body began to tremble. His chakra fluctuations grew even more violent, and fine cracks even appeared in the ground beneath his feet. "Why?! Why seal something like that... inside their own child's body?! Why me?! Did they not want me anymore?! Why did they leave me all alone..." His words dissolved into incoherence. Enormous pain and long-suppressed emotions seemed to have found an outlet, surging forth in a torrent.

"Because they had no other choice. And because they believed in you."

A deep, solemn voice came from the doorway.

Jiraiya had finished dealing with the reports from the hospital and ANBU and had arrived. He entered the room, looking at Naruto, who was on the verge of losing control, his eyes filled with complicated emotions.

"Naruto, I was your father's teacher." Jiraiya's voice was unbearably heavy. "Minato and Kushina loved you more than anyone. The Nine-Tails incident happened suddenly. As the previous Nine-Tails jinchuriki, Kushina's seal had already been at its weakest during childbirth, and a mysterious man took the chance to break it. By the time Minato arrived, the Nine-Tails had already gone berserk, and Konoha was on the brink of destruction."

He walked up to Naruto and crouched down, bringing his gaze level with Naruto's. "With Minato's abilities, he could have used other methods to temporarily restrain or relocate the Nine-Tails. He might even have had a chance to survive. But the identity of the mysterious person controlling the Nine-Tails was unknown, and his power was strange. Minato sensed that the ninja world was about to face enormous turmoil and crisis. He made an incomparably difficult, and incomparably cruel, decision..."

Jiraiya's voice caught. "He sealed half of the Nine-Tails' chakra, along with his own soul, inside the Reaper. And the life-filled Yang chakra of the Nine-Tails, along with the last of his and Kushina's chakra and their blessings... he sealed inside you, who had only just been born.

"They hoped that you would inherit the Nine-Tails' power and possess the strength to protect yourself in the coming crisis—perhaps even the power to change the ninja world. They believed that their son, Naruto Uzumaki, would definitely be able to master this power."

"They... didn't abandon you, Naruto." Jiraiya pressed heavily on Naruto's shoulder. "They entrusted the future, their hope, and all of Konoha... to you."

Naruto listened blankly, the anger and madness in his eyes gradually replaced by overwhelming shock and confusion. Entrusted... the future... hope... me?

"But," Jiraiya's tone abruptly turned cold, filled with suppressed fury, "what Minato and Kushina never expected was that the village they sacrificed their lives to protect would let you live such a... miserable life afterward. Rejected, feared, treated as a monster and a tool..."

He looked at the other shaken youths around him and raised his voice. "Hiding your origins may have been for your protection, but allowing that discrimination and isolation to spread was nothing less than a complete dereliction of duty and betrayal! This wasn't your parents' fault, Naruto. It was the fault of Konoha's higher-ups, of those adults! They failed the orphan of heroes!"

The room fell deathly silent. Only Naruto's ragged breathing remained, along with the quiet sobbing of Hinata and the others.

The truth was so heavy, so cruel, and so steeped in tragedy.