Behind the Waterfall

#3 Treason

Naruto made his way through the night, the fake scroll on his back. As he found the two chunin at the gates sleeping, Naruto chuckled, walking past them into the forest.

The shack looked like it always did; dark, run down and abandoned. There had been times where Naruto had seen similarities between the building and himself, since both had been abandoned. But that had changed when Kurama had told him about his parents.

"What do you want to talk about Kurama?" Naruto asked, sitting down in front of the large orange fox. The fox looked at him with serious eyes as it laid it's body down in front of the boy.

"Listen, I appreciate what you have done to this place. And I wanted to give you something in return. You may ask me two questions and if I am able I shall answer." The Biju offered, his tails slowly gliding over the grass they were sitting on.

Naruto thought for a second. He knew that any question he voices would immediately count towards the two granted so he wanted to make the most of this opportunity.

Several things shot into his mind, but one thing stayed there while he thought. It was a long shot but he needed to know, better now than never.

"How old are you?" He asked, earning a confused look from the beast.

"You have two questions and are wasting one just to know how old I am? Alright, to each their own I guess. I am 993 years old." Kurama answered a bit amused.

"What do you know about my parents?" Naruto asked after a short pause. The blonde had hoped that the beast somehow knew his parents and by the reaction of the orange being he had been right. He was hoping that the fox didn't go back on his word, as he waited for an answer.

"Well, for one thing I know, that your suspicions are entirely wrong, they loved you very much right up until their last breath." The fox started, after Naruto had almost thought he wouldn't honor his word.

"I met your mother when she was just a genin. She was my previous Jinchuuriki." Naruto gasped at that, surprised and confused. He didn't really know what to reply to that piece of information, so he stayed otherwise quiet, waiting for the bijuu to continue.

"For ten years I hated her. I couldn't see or hear anything, I was trapped in the dark with nothing but my thoughts. As it turns out, that had nothing to do with her but with the seal she had gotten. It was very different to the one you have and the one my first Jinchuuriki had, it's matrix had been forged by combining a storage seal with a torture seal, since the person doing your mother's seal was an interogation specialist. However, after ten years your father altered the seal, since he wanted your mother to have better control of my chakra. This meant also, that I finally got some sense of reality back, as they had weakened the seal, giving me access to her senses. It also meant that I was able to communicate with her, similar to the way we are now." Naruto held up his hand, interrupting the red fox.

"Do you mean to tell me that my mother was Kushina Uzumaki?" He exclaimed, his eyes wide. He had just started at the academy and one of the first things they had been forced to learn was the names of the Hokages and their families. With Mito Uzumaki and Kushina Uzumaki it had been noted that they were jinchuurikis of the Kyuubi. Kurama only smiled a bit at that, as he saw the cogs in the boy's head turn.

"But that would mean that my father was her husband, the fourth Hokage." He almost whispered, as he tried to wrap his head around that information.

"That is correct. I know what you are going to say next. Yes it was I that killed them." The fox stated, as he looked down a bit, almost as if ashamed.