Unsealing Legacy

Chapter 4: Prodigy and Paranoia

"You're someone who has seen how foolish humans become when consumed by hatred."
Uchiha Itachi

Naruto woke up with cold sweat drenching his whole body. He quickly gathered himself and moaned at his current state. He had to do his laundry twice a week at the rate he was using up his shirts whenever he woke up like this. He once contemplated sleeping naked but that's not an option in autumn, it may not be as cold as winter but it is still cold nonetheless.

He knew he was still a child, and to be haunted by nightmares is normal for children like him. But Naruto wanted to act like a mature boy, since whenever he acted mature the Sandaime would listen to him more, and so does the rest of his ANBU guards. All the times he acted as a brash and loud boy was simply to attract attention of villagers, but he realized that lately he cared more for the attention of the few people who acknowledged him.

So telling them about his nightmare was a big NO-NO! Especially if there is a chance that they might think that he was not mature enough after all and therefore not ready to graduate early... NO way in hell. Not to mention it was not a dream he could simply tell to anyone.

The dream was always the same, amidst the sound of rattling chains he saw a blond baby who he recognized as himself due to the whisker like marks on his face. He was cradled not by one but two pairs of arms, warm and loving. But there was so much blood and he cried as hard as he could to no avail as the warm cradle became colder and colder. He also saw a massive claw, one he knew so well, which belonged to Kurama. He had cried himself hoarse when he realized what he was seeing, or at least what he thought he was seeing. The scene of his parents impaled in Kurama's claw. The scene of his parent's dying from Kurama who was under someone else's control.

"I had parents..." He whispered to himself. Anyone else would feel incredulous hearing him utter those words. Of course everyone had parents who gave birth to them. However to a boy who has been orphaned for so long, the concept of having loving parents was foreign.

Ironically enough, Kurama seemed to understand the concept better than him, since to Kurama, the Sage of Six Paths was a father to the fox and the other bijuus. Thus this dream was something he never told Kurama, and the fox never asked either. Naruto had forgiven Kurama for his parent's death, and that forgiveness was something he didn't have to say out loud. Both of them had come to an unspoken agreement of the forgiveness exchanged between them, it was mutual.

Since then, academy instructors started to leave him alone, which for him was much better than the sabotage he once endured. It seemed that they really wanted him to get out of their hair as soon as possible, and Naruto wanted the same. At least for now the academy was the least of his problems. All he needed to do was do his best to get that apprenticeship right and he'll be out of the academy. So Naruto poured all of his efforts to do his best for the rest of the year to further his studies in every field. He really was not required to be the best in practice in other fields aside from Fuuinjutsu so he could still work on his own pace in theory and focus in his chosen field.

Much to Naruto's delight the Sandaime gave him his full support, and even went as far as to give his old books for Naruto as a birthday present.

Tori warned Naruto about his naturally large chakra reserves and suggested that he start to learn chakra control exercises early on, because if he didn't he would be bound to screw up in chakra sensitive techniques. So Naruto started to squeeze in tree climbing and water walking in his already heavily packed schedule. While life was good for Naruto, he noticeably started to distance himself from his classmates. If before he kept trying to get their attention, now he was too busy with his studies that he completely neglected his already nonexistent social life with his peers.