Blind (Discontinued)

15

"Old man, you know about the real fate of the famed Nine Tailed Fox, right?"

"Naruto..."

"You do, don't you? And you know who he's sealed into, too?"

"I... He?"

"Yeah, the Nine Tailed Fox is a guy. His name is Kurama."

"When did you meet... Him?"

Naruto shrugged. "I think it was right before I woke up at the hospital after my accident."

"That long?"

"Yeah, so? He's not so bad. In fact, he's the one who grew my eyes back, although from what I hear the color of my eye are slowly changing."

"From what you hear? You can't tell?"

"Nope. I may have my eyes back, but I can't see color. All I see is black and white. At first, I could barely see at all. I was limited to just seeing what looked like faint, dark shadows. But I slowly trained my eyes to the point that now I probably have 20/20 vision, I just can't see colors," Naruto explained to the flabbergasted Hokage.

"20/20 vision in black and white... So you're completely colorblind..."

Suddenly, Naruto's face scrunched up in distant confusion. "Kurama says he'd like to talk with you..."

Hiruzen's eyebrows shot up. "Really? I wouldn't mind speaking with him."

Naruto nodded his head, and his eyes got a really distant look. Suddenly, his eyes got redder, his whisker-like birthmarks on his cheeks became more defined, and his canines grew slightly so that their tips peeked out of his mouth.

"Hello Hiruzen. It's nice to finally talk to you after these rather long 13 years." came Naruto's voice, although it had been Kuramafied.

"I take it you're Kurama, the Nine Tailed Fox?" asked the Hokage.

Naru-ma (A/N for clarifying reasons, this is what Kuramafied Naruto and Kurama when he's in control will be called) nodded. "That's technically right. I'm not the complete Nine Tails, thanks to the Fourth and his wife, but it's for the kit's best interest."

"Thanks to Minato and Kushina? What do you mean?"

"You've heard of Yin and Yang, right? Dark and Light? Somehow, when Minato and Kushina sealed me into Minato and Naruto, they managed to split me into my Yin and Yang sides. They sealed Dark Kurama into Minato and me, Light Kurama into Naruto.

"Before our attack on the village, I was mostly in control. But then someone who had a Sharingan took control of Dark Kurama and brought me into submission, forcing us out of Kushina, and told us to attack the Leaf Village.

"While I did my best to refuse, the Sharingan user kept feeding negative emotions into my Dark counterpart, giving him the strength he needed to remain in control, which led to the attack. I managed to keep most of the destruction aimed mainly at empty buildings, but that was all I could do until Minato came along and used one of his Jutsus to split me cleanly from my companion, whom Minato then sealed inside himself with Kushina's help. But by then, the two of them had already been skewered by my claw and had already lost too much blood to be saved, though I still tried to help them as much as I could. I managed to prolong their lives just long enough that they could seal me inside their newborn son before they died.

"The seal was such that even with my massive chakra reserves, the most I could do to the young boy was give him a pounding headache, which I did, occasionally, when he did something stupid or that his parents wouldn't approve of. And the first time I met Naruto, I find that he's gone and blinded himself. I couldn't let him stay blind, so I told him what to say and do to make it so that I wasn't restricted by the seal anymore, but couldn't take him over without his consent or be forced out of him, which would inevitably kill him. Questions?"

Hiruzen was shocked at what he'd heard. Not only was Kurama split in half, but his Lighter half was sealed into Naruto by his parents the day he was born. But there was one thing...

"So you're no longer sealed inside him? Is that even possible?"

"Completely. Since I was never taken out of Naruto in the first place, I'm still inside him. The seal may have been the thing that put me in him, but now it's our contact that will keep me here."

Hiruzen nodded. He may not know as much about seals as Minato, but he knew that forming a contract is extremely bounding as no one or thing can break it but those who formed it.

"Is there anything else you need answered before you will accept the kit's Will of Fire? It's as strong anyone's, if not stronger. I wouldn't have been able to help him as much as I have if it wasn't at least that strong," Naru-ma stated bluntly.

"Yes... There is one more thing... What is your motivation behind helping Naruto bounce back so drastically from his accident? Do you harbor any alternative motives that could potentially put this village and its inhabitants at risk?"

Naru-ma chuckled softly. "You really don't hold back, do you? No, I do not. Besides, even if I did, it's not like I'd be able to. That's part of what's in our contract. If it goes against Naruto's goals, it can't be done. Not by me, not by him. If one of us tries to do something in stark contrast to his goals, the other has complete access to all the chakra needed to stop them. One of the perks of a jinchuriki is that when you're on good terms with your tailed beast, you can potentially have access to all their chakra. Let me tell you, that game of chakra tug-of-war was intense."

'Chakra tug-of-war? I don't want to know...' Hiruzen thought to himself. "And what are Naruto's goals, might I ask?"

Naru-ma smirked. "That you'll have to ask for yourself. If that's all, I'll take my leave. See you around!" And with that, Naruto's features went back to their normal states.

"Woah... That felt weird..." Naruto said, stumbling just a bit, holding the side of his head with one hand.

Hiruzen stared at Naruto for a second before snapping back to reality. "Naruto, how much did you hear of mine and Kurama's conversation?"

Naruto shrugged. "Not much, really. Kurama just said that he'll tell me later. He does that a lot."

"Very well. I just have one more question before everyone can come back in. Naruto, what are your goals? What do you hope to accomplish someday?"

Hearing those words reminded Naruto of when he first met Kurama. Looking down, Naruto smiled as he repeated exactly what he had said to Kurama that day in his mindscape.

"I want to get stronger. I want to get stronger to be able to protect the ones I care about, and so Sasuke won't have to worry about me. I don't want to have to depend on others. I want to stand on my own two feet so others won't have to constantly go out of their way to help me." Naruto paused for a second and looked deep into the Hokage's eyes. "Can you help me do that?"

The effects were instantaneous. If it weren't for the fact that Lord Third was currently sitting down, there was a good chance that he would have collapsed under the pressure Naruto was emitting when he said that. It took a few seconds for the effects of Naruto's words to subside, and when they did, Hiruzen had to get resituated in his chair.

"Yes, Naruto, I think I can. Would you be opposed to telling Sasuke and Takumi about Kurama?"

Naruto shook his head. "No, not at all. I was actually planning to tell them after we became ANBU, so it doesn't matter."

Hiruzen nodded and released the soundproofing jutsu, calling the others back in.

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Yo! How's it going? XD yep, another chapter! Hope all that Naru-ma wasn't too confusing for ya... Also, what do you think? Should I give Naruto a bloodline, maybe a forgotten one from his dad's side? Let me know, okay?

This chapter is dedicated to LilDWrites! Why? Because they're awesome! And because I drew a picture of Naruto for them XD

What's the total word count at the close of this chapter? Well let me tell you. It's somewhere around 23450!