Nukenin

When I was little, I always wondered why other villagers hate me so much. Why did they try to avoid me at any cost? Like, I was only a child. I never have done anything bad to them, did I? I maybe did some small things such as some painting on heads of Hokages, but it didn’t hurt anyone. And honestly, the only reason why I was doing these things was that they would notice me. That I would get at least some attention. Even if it was in the form of scolding.

But one day, I got an answer to all my questions. I was nine at the time and as usual I sat on a swing in front of the academy. Close enough to hear a bell and far enough that nobody felt a need to push me away. Then suddenly something weird happened. I wasn't sitting on a swing anymore but stood inside a big dark room or more likely a hall. Right in front of me was a giant gate with bars. From the other side of the gate I could hear growling.

Even though I was scared as never before, I went closer to the gate, so I could see what kind of monster was making such a scary sound. I almost fell backwards when I saw it. Demon looking like a fox with nine tails. So big that it barely fit inside of the cage. “Where am I? What am I doing here?” I asked him, still confused.

Demon laughed but managed to answer me. “You’re inside of your mind, little one.” Wait, inside of my mind? I never knew it was possible. “Then, why are you here?” I had a feeling that I knew the answer, but still needed to hear it loud. “Trust me, If I could be anywhere else, I would be. But unfortunately, I can’t. On the day of your birth, I was sealed in you. So now, I’m stuck with you.” Yeah, he sounded like he really didn’t like it.

It also explained a lot. Why adults hated him so much. Why they didn’t let their kids near him. But still, it wasn’t his fault that Kyuubi attacked the village or that he was the one in whom Kyuubi was sealed. And I was pretty sure that other kids didn’t know anything about it, and they still acted as they did. The only two people that were willing to normally talk to him were Hinata and Shikamaru.

I felt that my legs were shaking from fear, but in the end my curiosity won. I sat down on the ground, not caring about water that I just noticed, looking up straight into red eyes. “Why did you do it? Why did you try to destroy Konoha?” Fox growled again, but now more angrily. He didn’t seem that he want to answer me, but after a while he spoke. “It wasn’t out of my will. One man managed to control me and forced me to do it.” He didn’t look pleased to admit it. It was reasonable. The most dangerous of the tail beasts couldn’t resist some human.

Still, it was a shock for me. I expected that people from my village did something that he didn’t like. That they may have disrupted his territory, or he was sealed in some horrible person before me. Not this. After that I talked with him. He didn’t seem that he was enjoying it, but I was glad for it. It was already some time that I was able to talk with someone like this. And even though it was a demon, I felt less and less afraid.

“What’s even your name?” I asked him. Everyone knew him as Kyuubi, a Nine Tail Beast. But that’s how people named him. He had his own name for sure. This question probably shocked him, because he stopped, eyes wide open. “Why are you asking?” He didn’t look happy. Well, not that he looked like it before, but now he was almost frowning. “I’m just curious.” I didn’t see a reason why to lie to him. “Well, you don’t need to know it.” He grinned. Yeah, I should have seen that coming. 

Since that day, I started to talk with him more. Surprisingly, it didn’t take me long to figure out how to get to that big room in my mind. And Kyuubi sounded like if he was in hell, when I realized that we can talk even when I’m not in that room. But he was slowly warming up and it looked like we could get along very well. At least for human and demon.

One night I was wondering about something. It just wasn’t fair that Kyuubi was closed in the cage all the time. How can people wonder why tail beasts are so angry, when they force them to stay at such a place. I thought about one thing and decided to try it. I focused and soon appeared in the dark room. I wanted to talk with him like that. And it looked like I just woke him up.

But honestly, he was sleeping most of the time. So, it wasn’t some tragedy. “Kyuubi, you said that if Bijuu gets out of the jinchuuriki, the person dies, right?” He looked confused as I was asking him. “Yeah, humans can’t survive this process. Why?” I came closer to him and sat down. “Can I do something, so you won’t have to be in this cage?” And as I thought, he looked at me like at some idiot. “Don’t tell me, you are worrying about me?”

It probably never happened before that somebody cared about him. I was thinking that with Bijuu it is the same everywhere. People want to suppress them or try to somehow use their power. And they didn’t care if Bijuu agreed with their action, like they most likely never did. “I just think it’s not fair. You have to be in such a small cage for you and I can move freely.” Honestly, I didn’t think he was that bad. People were most likely the cause, why he was so irritated all the time.

“There is one thing that you can do. You can remove the seal, but I should warn you.” Big grin appeared on his face. “If you do it, then I can kill you literally in a second.” He started laughing, almost manically. Someone would say he looked scary, but after the time I spent talking with him, I had a need to ask him if he is mentaly alright.  “Okay… And how can I do it?” With it his laugh stopped. He probably thought I lost my mind. But as a child, that almost no one wanted to interact with, I really wanted to help him.

Kyuubi shook his head, as if he were making himself sure he wasn’t still asleep. “It’s simple. You see the seal you have on your stomach. Just release it.” I dragged my shirt up and it was really there. Black mark on the skin. It’s not normally visible, because I never saw it before, but now I saw it clearly. I put my hand on it and felt something weird. As if I could drag it. I did it and started to twist it. At the same time, I could see how the seal on the gate was disappearing.

When the mark was gone, the gate opened wide. Kyuubi just stood there and stared. Few times he opened and closed mouth before he finally spoke. “You should go to sleep, Naruto.” It was all what he said. Suddenly I felt tired as I was returning to reality. Silently, I heard a few last words from him. “And by the way. My name is Kurama.” I smiled and fell asleep.

From that moment we got closer. I could say that we became good friends. Even though, Kurama would most likely never admit it. He also started to teach me. I was still at the academy and the exams were taking when we were twelve years old, but I didn’t mind it. Before that I was absolutely lost case. I couldn’t do basically anything, but it changed rapidly. But at school, I never show it. It would looked suspiciously, and I didn’t want to make me or Kumara any troubles. I still had to show something at the exams, but it was worrying for another time.

Learning with Kurama was a lot more interesting than at school, but even he made me study boring theory. I still sometimes managed to almost fall asleep, but not that often as if I sat at the desk. Getting woken up by Kurama was worse than by Iruka-sensei, so it wasn't worth it at all. It took me some time to realize that theory really helps me with practises and it’s not just something not good for anything. The feeling that I always had, when Iruka was talking during lessons.

Like this it was going for the following three years. And then it was time for my final exams. I knew that I wouldn’t have a problem with them. With all the help from Kurama, I was on the higher level that was genin in both knowledge and practical skills. But he still just had to tell me that if I mess something up, he will not help me.

Early in the morning, we started with a theoretical test. I wasn’t sure If I would be able to pass it without Kurama, when I remembered how bad my studying was before I met him. In school I just couldn’t force myself to pay attention. But it didn’t have to bother me, because when we got our test back, I could see the red 100% in the corner of the first paper.

It surprised our teacher Iruka a lot. He even thought that I was cheating, but since he couldn’t manage to figure out how I would be able to cheat, he left it like it was. At one point, I thought that he would make me write a second test. Just for sure. I was glad that he didn’t do it.

After that, we had to prove our practical skill. When they told us what we had to do, I had to hold myself back, so I didn’t start laughing. It was the most basic thing, clone technique. I tried to at least look as If I was concentrating. But in reality, after all the training I could do this, like even without really thinking.

In the afternoon, there was ceremony when they gave us our headband with engraved leaf. Symbol of our village. Before they let us leave, they told us, that tomorrow we will be separated to the teams with our new sensei. The rest of the day I spend as any other, training in the woods with Kurama. It was already dark outside when I returned home. All my muscles hurt, and my chakra was on minimum. I was glad that thanks to Kurama it would regenerate quickly. But for the moment I just took shover and fell onto my bed, already asleep as my head hit a pillow.