Chapter 3: Chapter I - The Past (Part 2 - The Discoveries)
"Don't underestimate me. I know more than I say, think more than I speak, and know more than you realize."
---------
Naruto could feel the sunlight hit his face as he slowly regained his consciousness. He was expecting to feel the hard floor of the streets, but instead, he felt the soft coverings underneath him. That's when he opened his eyes in fear. Where was he?! He didn't remember walking away from the alley the day before.
He shot up and opened his eyes abruptly, only to close them again and grab the sheets underneath him when the dizziness hit. After a few seconds, he tried opening them once again and, after a few seconds of confusion, he finally surmised that he was in his bedroom.
He wondered how did he end in his house for a moment until he remembered the ANBU. While they didn't interfere with the beatings, he knew the Council didn't like him, and what the Council didn't like but couldn't remove had to be ignored, so he appreciated their small efforts.
Naruto finally got out of bed and went into the bathroom, once he looked at himself in the mirror, he couldn't help but grimace at his reflection. His hair was all bloody, and Naruto found his clothes torn to shreds.
While he looked healthy at first glance, he remembered the beating on his fifth birthday. The day after it he had awoken without his pinky toe, he had been horrified and couldn't walk correctly for a week. Some people had laughed at him. Others had called him disgusting as they glared.
Since that day, after the beatings, Naruto always checked if he had all his limbs attached.
After stretching his sore body and checking it, he took a good look at his reflection and as he wasn't half asleep anymore, Naruto noticed his left eye was different.
Instead of a crystal blue eye, he now had an aquamarine blue one.
As he tried to find the reason for this change, he saw a barely noticeable scar that went from his temple to his left cheek and across his eye. Naruto realized that someone must have slashed his eye deeply, knowing no threatening wounds didn't leave him scars.
He sighed, Naruto knew pretty well that someone was bound to notice; while for civilians, the difference would be hard to see, to a ninja, his eye stands out like a sore thumb. Suddenly, the thoughts of what the civilians would do came at him without his permission. Flashbacks of last night and the other intruded his mind. Naruto's breath became hard and desperate.
Naruto closed his eyes and fell on the floor shaking, with his head between his knees. His vision became muddled. The memories were merging all together. The panic was making his vision blurry, and he felt as if he couldn't breathe. He could hear the taunts and insults thrown at him, the smell of blood was strong, and his vision was full of it. The feeling of the weapons embedded on his skin was repulsing and even more suffocating.
The tears started to fall silently, knowing pleading at this point is meaningless.
His mind wouldn't stop repeating their hateful words. Naruto tried so hard to stop thinking, to breathe. But he couldn't calm himself, not alone.
And he has always been alone.
Everything went black for him, and he fell to the side unconscious.
---------
The truth is, Kurama hadn't expected his Jinchuriki to come to visit in such a short time. So, when he saw Naruto appear in front of the cage looking panicked, he was shocked.
"Hey, child, are you alright?" Kurama asked, a bit of worry slipping in his voice.
Naruto was startled by Kurama's voice. He felt as if the air wasn't entering his lungs, so he could only look up at Kurama. The panic wasn't gone, as he believed that in any moment, the beatings would start again. His eyes were clouded and fearful, watching Kurama as Naruto shook and cried, and the tears fell uncontrollably from his eyes.
Now Kurama was panicking too. If you wanted him to kill a full village? Sure, no problem. Destroy mountains? Alright. But comforting kids? Nope, no idea. Why was he wasting the effort of thinking this anyway?!
Kurama, too panicked to think about what the hell was he doing, wrapped his chakra around the boy. When he realized what he was doing, he winced and tried to take back the chakra.
Why did he think wrapping a panicking kid in hot chakra was a good idea?
But as he tried to retreat, the boy's chakra hanged onto his as if it was a lifeline. So, Kurama just watched, stunned, as the child slowly calmed down.
Naruto had his eyes closed, calm as if he wasn't hanging to one of the most feared being's chakra like it was a blanket. He groggily opened his eyes and realized what he was doing. He yelped and instantly let go of the chakra.
"S-sorry Kurama-sama, I didn't mean to bother you," Naruto said, a little panicked. Kurama stood there, blinking while he looked at the boy.
"My chakra doesn't hurt you?" He murmured, confused. Naruto looked at him, not understanding why Kurama asked that question.
"Is it supposed to?" Asked a nervous naruto. He was still shaking, but he could finally move from where he was.
"Yes, my chakra should be too agitated and volatile for you to stand it, as it usually burns people. It should be better for you as a pacifier, as your chakra can calm even mine, but pacifiers can't soothe someone's chakra unless they feel threatened by it. And you didn't exactly use your gift, just held onto my chakra." Kurama explained.
Naruto was surprised at Kurama's explanation. For him, Kurama's chakra, while hot, didn't exactly burn; having a warm, welcoming feeling to it.
"What caused your panic, anyway?" Kurama asked suspiciously.
"I-i..." stuttered Naruto "My e-eye" He mumbled.
"What's wrong with it?" Asked Kurama, he couldn't see anything wrong at first glance.
"It's stupid," Naruto said, looking down at his hands, feeling ashamed he had lost his composture over something so minor.
But Kurama wasn't buying it. He looked at the boy with a glare. "Bullshit, if you were so out of it, I don't believe it was anything minor."
Naruto flinched at the reminder but finally explained on a soft voice. "Yesterday, I got here during a beating, one even worse than the others. When I woke up, I realized someone had slashed my left eye. The problem is that now my eyes are different," Naruto started looking panicked again "A-and when someone notices, t-they're going to come for me." He choked back a sob, "A-and when they s-see how much of a monster I've become..." Naruto could finish the sentence. Tears were streaming from his eyes freely, and sobs were starting to come out against his will.
Kurama was speechless. He was feeling too much at the same time. Even with his internal battle, one detail stood out.
"Shhh, little one, let me see your eye so I can help you." Said Kurama in the most soothing voice he could manage.
Naruto spent several minutes trying to calm down. When he finally managed, he moved and stood in front of the gates imprisoning Kurama.
Kurama was at first surprised by the blind trust that the boy was giving him, but then he cleared his thoughts and lowered his head to see the child.
As Naruto had indicated, Kurama now saw the difference. While Naruto's right eye was a crystal blue, the left one was an aquamarine colour.
Kurama slowly approached Naruto's figure with his chakra, waiting for any sign of discomfort from the boy. With his chakra close enough, he could feel the chakra coming out from Naruto's body. He then focused on his eyes.
When he felt the residue of Nature's chakra, his breath hitched.
The last person Kurama knew was born with a connection with elemental chakra in this way had died decades ago, and he didn't even have the real power. The only person he had felt Nature's chakra on someone at this level was his father.
Suiton, Futon, Raiton, Doton and Katon. Yin and Yang.
All on perfect balance.
"You really are something else, brat." Murmured Kurama. "Okay, I'll explain, but first, what do you know about chakra?" asked Kurama.
Naruto looked a bit surprised at the question but answered it anyway, "Well, chakra is the result of both Yin and Yang energy combined in perfect balance. Every living being has chakra, along with chakra pathways. People use it with hand seals to make techniques. Oh!, it's also divided depending on the element you are attuned to." Naruto got explained a bit about chakra on the orphanage before they kicked him out on his fifth birthday.
"You are right, but there's a little bit more to it. You see, when people use elemental chakra, they are trying to create harmony with the purest form of chakra their body has. Some people also take the natural chakra around them and connect with Nature." Kurama waited to see if Naruto was following
"This is the way humans manipulate chakra. But with Tailed Beasts, summons, and in some cases humans, they are born attuned to a small part of Nature. That is what you call a Kekkei Genkai, like the Uchiha's Sharingan or the Hyuga's Byakugan, and to an even more elemental extent, the Uzumaki's Chakra Chains and the Senju's Mokuton." He explained.
"Now, the Uchiha's chakra is closer to Yin, and even so, their Yang part is so powerful it influences the Yin one. The Uchiha are fierce lovers, but when something takes that person away, they close off totally and don't love again. They're in tune to Katon and Raiton. The Sharingan awakens when an Uchiha or their loved ones are in anguish. It was born to protect and defend." Although these days it's used to cause unnecessary pain.
But Kurama didn't dare to go deeper into those thoughts, so he continued with the other Kekkei Genkai. "The Hyuga's chakra is like the Uchihas, but the energy is in reverse. The Yin part is smaller than the Yang part but is more potent in the end. The Yang part is influenced by the Yin one, so they become possessive of everything that belongs to them, sometimes their loyalty is in the wrong place. They get their Kekkei Genkai when they have found something precious to them. They're in tune to Futon and Raiton."
"The Senju, contrary to the Uchihas, almost balance the Yin and Yang but have more Yin. The two have the same strength in this case." Kurama did a small pause and then continued again. "Their Kekkei Genkai is born when they learn to love not just themselves, but others. They're in tune to Suiton and Doton."
"The Uzumaki, a complete opposite of the Hyuga. They had an even better balance than the Hyuga, but there was a bit more Yang than Yin. Both were at the same strength in the end. They are a different case. Powerful and connected to the Whirpools so intensely. You and your mother have a connection with them. The Ocean loved the Uzumaki at it's fullest." Kurama remembered how the tides moved just for them. The warm feeling chakra gave off when he was on Uzushio was so intense. "The other nations killed them for it, for their power and mastery of seals. That's how your mother and father knew how to seal me into you" He finished.
Naruto froze at the last sentence.
If his father and mother sealed Kurama into him, then that means, "You... Kurama-sama, are you suggesting what I think you are suggesting?" Asked Naruto, voice trembling.
"Yes, child. Your mother and father were amongst the most powerful of Konoha. Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki. The fourth Hokage, The Yellow Flash and the daughter of the last Uzukage, The Red Hot Habanero." confirmed Kurama.
Naruto, who was sitting on the sewer's floor, started to cry.
He had suspicions. It is an obvious assumption with his hair and eyes.
But he didn't dare hope. Hope his parents hadn't abandoned him.
"Do you... Do you know if they loved me?" Asked Naruto in a small voice.
"They did, so much indeed that they gave their lives for you." Said Kurama as softly as he could manage, trying to hide his rage at remembering that horrible night. He didn't feel guilty, that didn't mean he hadn't lost something or that Kurama was happy with what he'd done.
Naruto couldn't help it and started crying. He felt so alone on that moment, knowing he could have had a family.
He could have been happy.
Naruto has known about the unfairness of life since the day he was born. He has accepted it and made peace with it. It doesn't make it easier to let go of those unfair moments, no matter how much time passes.
Naruto also knows that crying isn't going to fix anything, so he pulls himself together, not forgetting that his parents loved him. That he has goals and dreams, and that he still has hope.
So Naruto smiles softly at Kurama and waits for him to continue.
Naruto may not be happy, but he will fight. For his happiness, his precious people, and even for those lost on their hatred and fear.
He knows he has so much love and happiness to give.
If Naruto can't be happy right now, that doesn't matter. He'll make others happy. If he can't get, he'll give.
And hopefully, someone will give him in return.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone