NaruHina: Duty

Chapter 20: Ideology

A low rumble. Distinct and unmistakable.

Then Kurama's voice, "Naruto?"

And Naruto gasped.

Deep inside him, another person, another being treated as a weapon.

Kurama, has it always been like this with you?

Silence.

Then, "Yes."

Naruto went to meet Kurama in their plane.

Kurama was looking at him, eyes filled with concern.

Naruto smiled, feeling the fierce heat of this beast, a chakra being once filled with hate, wrapping him in his affection.

"But unlike you, Naruto, I was very much used."

And they both remembered.

Twenty years ago, the night he'd been born. The night that Danzo and Orochimaru had forcefully used Kurama to wreak destruction against Konoha.

"But you have no reason to feel that it's the same for you as it had been for me. It's different for you."

How do you deal with this, Kurama?

"You choose."

Choose?

"Yes," Kurama answered. "You can let yourself be eaten up with hate and resentment. Or, you can choose to believe that your life was not a lie."

Naruto kept his gaze on Kurama, thinking, reflecting on what the beast was saying.

"In my lifetime, men have fought each other, waged war in order to control me many times. I have been hunted for my power. It is the very truth of my existence. I've been used as a weapon by people in the past. But that is not me. That is a role I can choose to play. I am not a mere weapon. I am Kurama. I am a Fox Spirit. I was created by the original Sage, who loved me. And I am also your friend."

Naruto swallowed as he felt again Kurama's trust and love. Calmness was settling into his spirit. Because things were making sense, truth and clarity were becoming easy to see.

Kurama bared his feral smile at his vessel, recognizing the irony, remembering a similar conversation with a sage at Mount Myouboku all those years ago. He just hadn't predicted that he would be the one doing some consoling for this poor boy. "Do you feel like a weapon?"

Naruto paused, looked deep into Kurama's eyes, then shook his head.

Kurama nodded with satisfaction then continued speaking. "Choice, Naruto. I chose to share with you my power. I chose to treat you with kindness. I chose to help people in need."

Naruto sighed.

Kurama smiled. "Now, how will you choose to deal with what your godfather has said. Jiraiya might have been harsh with his parting words, but what now, brat?"

Jiraiya's words were true. Spoken maybe while he'd been frustrated and angry, but true nonetheless.

Naruto was shinobi. He'd never given up the life despite his doubts about his job when he'd been younger. But as Kurama had said, he'd chosen to stay on this path. He'd loved feeling accomplished for the work he'd done. He'd loved helping people, loved hearing from everyone when they came to him to talk.

Had loved, too, that this job had brought him into Hinata's orbit. That they shared this link together.

And when his godfather was right, he was right.