Even as he sat in the shallow water of his mindscape, Naruto could tell that the Nine Tails wanted to say something but Naruto was no state to talk. 'I killed someone, another boy just like me. Did he want to be here, or was he forced to fight like me? I am the demon that people call me. I'm nothing but a monster,' Naruto had failed everything that he knew the Fourth Hokage stood for. 'Surely he never imagined that I would be such a bad person,"
Kurama could feel Naruto's distress. Although it wasn't pain and didn't affect him, Kurama knew he had to help Naruto through this otherwise he wouldn't be able to fight properly next time which would result in more pain for both of them. He had to say something; the only problem was that he didn't know what to say. Kurama had always enjoyed battle, relished the feeling of power and control. He couldn't really relate to his host's feelings.
"Naruto listen to me, you did nothing wrong. You defended yourself and that boy was going to kill you remember? If you had wanted to kill him that would be different but you didn't. Until I can make you strong enough to escape, this is our life now. Nothing will change that. Now remember you promised to get stronger and to protect us both." Kurama said in a rough approximation of a gentle voice.
Naruto heard the words and thought upon them. 'True, I didn't want to kill him. I did make that promise to help us both. I guess I should stop thinking about all of this.'
Steeling himself, Naruto suppressed his emotions down into a dark corner of his mind. It would do him no good to fall apart every time he was forced to kill someone and needed a way to get rid of this "weakness". Looking back up at the Fox, Naruto said evenly, "Okay, what did you have to explain to me?"
Kurama gazed down at Naruto wondering where to begin as well how much to tell the kid. "Alright Naruto, as you already figured out, I am the reason the village hates you. However; I did not want to attack your village or kill the Fourth but I was controlled by a masked man with a Sharingan. This man is now my sworn enemy and he will die."
Kurama paused for breath before continuing, "All you really need to know now is that I am stuck here. The seal keeping me in place is well designed and I have no chance at breaking it by myself. Therefore, I have decided to make you as strong as possible so that any enemies you face will know that they face the strongest Tailed Beast as well. My chakra will also heal your body when it is injured and prevent sickness. Any questions so far?"
"Yeah, surely when I die, you will be set free. Why would you help me get stronger if you could just ignore me and be released?"
"Kid, I have lived for a long time. I am pure chakra and therefore cannot "die" in the normal sense. What happens instead is if I use too much of my own chakra, my being is dissolved and it takes a few years for my chakra to recharge enough and I am "born" again. This process is extremely painful and I have absolutely no wish to go through that again. Anything to delay that pain is a blessing."
'I still won't tell him how I feel his pain as well. To suffer his pain than his death, as well as the continual suffering for the years as my chakra recharges, no way am I willing to go through that.'
Naruto slowly came to face down on concrete. Pushing himself into a sitting position he looked around and saw he was back in his cell.
Kurama continued, this time talking about his plan for training. "Okay, now chakra is the energy used by ninja's to fuel their jutsus. The most common form of this is the chakra formed inside one's own body. Demon containers like you can use your Tailed Beast's chakra as well which is particularly useful since all Tailed Beasts have large chakra reserves. I want your main focus to be on learning how to use my chakra. It is the easiest place to start since I can provide information you need to know and help regulate the flow. Now you need to understand that Tailed Beasts do not typically fight using ninjutsu. That's not to say we can't just that most of us never bothered to learn any. When we did fight we would simply mould our chakra into elemental form and unleash it with little restrictions. This resulted in lots of power but large amounts of collateral damage."
Naruto had managed to follow everything that Kurama had told him. Frowning in determination, he waited for Kurama to continue.
"Alright now since you are a beginner I will act as a valve for my chakra. I will feed my chakra in small but consistent amounts so that it will be easier for you to control. Now I am going to send some chakra through and I want you to focus on the feeling, follow the way it flows through your body and pay attention to how it appears."
Naruto closed his eyes, breathing deeply. After a short while concentrating, he could sense a small amount 'light' inside of him then the light grew brighter, taking on a red glow. The red light spread throughout his body slowly, in no particular direction. The red light felt warm and Naruto found himself enjoying the way the warmth spread, it was comforting.
"Now you know how my chakra feels, you need to know how to use it. What do you see or feel now?" asked Kurama.
"It's like a red light is inside me, filling me up with warmth," replied Naruto in a slightly serene voice. He really liked this feeling.
"My chakra is red which explains the colour; now focus on that red light. I want you to try and funnel the light into your right hand, don't worry the amount of chakra I was sent through is tiny so you won't suffer chakra burns." Kurama explained.
Naruto did as instructed and slowly his hand began to feel quite warm. He opened his eyes and saw that his right hand was surrounded by the same red chakra from the before.
Soon, red chakra had enveloped his right hand once again. Recalling how the chakra had made him stronger than normal, Naruto clasped his hands and slowly squeezed. He noticed at once that his right was pressing down more firmly and that he had to squeeze much harder with his left to get the same kind of force. Curious, Naruto began trying to stretch the chakra up his arm but it stopped at his elbow and wouldn't go any higher.
"Okay Naruto, that's all the chakra I've sent through. I want you to get a better handle of that amount before I up the flow. Focus the amount you have back inside your arm and into a ball then move the ball from your hand up through your arm then down to your right foot. After that, back up your right leg than down your left leg and foot than up to your left hand. This will be a good exercise for control." Kurama explained.
Naruto focused once again and slowly but surely the ball moved up his right arm and down his right side to his foot. Pausing for a quick breathe, he moved the ball up to his leg and across to his left foot, finally finishing at his left hand. Concentrating like this was more difficult than he had thought but he did it.
A small part of Naruto wanted to jump up and down and start crying out 'I DID IT!' but he remembered Akari and what she said about annoying sounds. No, quiet was best so Naruto could only afford to give himself a satisfied smile.
Kurama for his part was surprised. For a kid that had no prior experience moulding or controlling chakra to be able to complete that step in the first attempt meant he had to be very smart. 'This brat definitely got some of your brains Minato,' thought Kurama in some amusement.
"Okay kid; keep the ball inside your left hand. I will send through some more chakra and I want you to form a new ball inside your right hand. Then once you have, do the same thing you did before but with both chakra balls. There will be extra step here, from your left hand, move the ball across your chest and back to the start. Move them at the same time since that will be harder but with practice you will get it." Kurama stated. If Naruto had indeed received some of Minato's talent then Kurama could up the difficulty of the training without worrying about burning the kid out.
After two failed attempts, Naruto was frowning. 'Moving one ball was so easy, why was this so much harder?' The main problem arose when the left ball crossed his chest heading back to his right hand. For some reason it became much harder to cross his chest then his arms. It was almost like the ball was moving through water when before it had been air. 'Maybe chakra is located in a person's centre meaning there is more of it there making it tougher to move through,' thought Naruto. 'Wait, didn't the Fox say that I had two types of chakra, mine and his? Maybe my chakra is interfering with his when I move it since it is not my chakra,'
After having that particular thought Naruto sat down again and closed his eyes. He focused again on his inner light but ignored the red for now. He pushed past it and found a new blue light. It was calm and still and Naruto was surprised at the amount there, it was so much more than what the Fox was letting him practice with. Slowly he gathered from of the blue light and opened his eyes. He then gathered a small ball of red chakra and covered it with his blue chakra, then tried moving it across his chest. This proved to be much easier and Naruto grew excited. Pulling up more of both chakras; he soon had both balls moving throughout his body. After ten minutes of practice, Naruto had the balls flowing around his body with such ease that he didn't even really need to think about it.
Kurama was now shocked at the progress. 'I was preparing to give him a hint after those two failed attempts but he figured it out himself. I wasn't really expecting this kind of progress but we still have a long way to go before I will be truly comfortable letting him have free control in a fight. Still though, to intuitively know that he would get the best results by mixing our chakra after this amount of time, this kid is a genius, even if he doesn't realise it yet.'
"Good, for a human. Now for something else, make your right hand a focal point of my chakra and focus all of it there. After that form the chakra into something like a glove, make it surround your skin. This focuses the chakra and makes the effects more potent with only a little more effort. This is the first step in making you stronger. With this chakra "glove", your punches will be many times stronger. Now make a glove on both hands.
As Naruto began the new steps,Kurama was thinking about Naruto's next fight. 'It'll be against another kid but they might have some training after seeing Naruto use my chakra to win his first fight. I don't want to give him too much instruction and distract him with ideas for the future. I need to build his body up and provide him with weapons that he can use now. Make sure he knows the basics first. I will also have to get the training for elemental chakra change in soon, I don't want too many people seeing red chakra, after all Demon Containers are almost universally despised.'
Naruto had now formed gloves around both of his hands and was swinging his arms around wildly fighting an imaginary opponent. 'This doesn't feel right. It takes too long for my fists to hit where I want them to. Joshi- no, don't think of his name. That boy yesterday was fast not slow, so I should use my arms quickly. Swinging them like this gives power but I don't need power with these chakra gloves,' thought Naruto with sudden clarity.
Naruto then brought his hands up close to his body. 'If swinging them is too slow I guess I should just hit straight, right?' and he did just that. Jabbing his right hand out straight Naruto felt the difference immediately. This was definitely the way to go. Naruto then spend the next ten minutes alternating between left and right punches.
A sudden noise to near his door made Naruto look around, a man he had not seen before was unlocking it. "Time for dinner maggot," said the man in gravelly tones. "Follow me."
Naruto did so and was lead back to the large area with tables near the Pit gate. Naruto hadn't taken the time before to observe this room in detail but he did so now. Naruto counted four long tables with seven or eight stools on either side of them. About thirty kids were sitting down, all eating. The tables and stools were bolted into the stone floor with two bulbs hanging from the ceiling providing the only light. All in all, it was a dreary room, poorly lit and with cold stone making up the walls, floor and ceiling.
Naruto was led towards a serving bench were a stern looking women waited. Soon, a small steel bowl of rice and fish was placed in front of him. He also got a plastic cup of water but no cutlery.
"Eat quickly, or it will get taken from you by the larger kids," advised the women.
Naruto found a space that didn't have many other kids around and started wolfing down his food as fast as he could. It was the same here, just like the orphanage. The small bowl didn't last very long and Naruto made sure to eat every last grain. Washing it down with his water Naruto did not feel full in the slightest.
"Hey runt, don't you know it's rude to eat your food without giving me any?" a hostile voice cut through Naruto's thoughts. He looked left and saw a teenage boy glowering at him. "All new guys have to pay me tribute; I'm the strongest fighter here."
Naruto frowned, this was clearly not true, and since the serving women had told him others might try to steal his food he didn't believe those words. "Sorry, I ate all my food," he replied, hoping that this wouldn't end in violence.
"Fuck you, if I don't get to eat your food, then you don't either!" he then grabbed Naruto and threw him to the ground, following it up with a downwards stomp aimed at his stomach.
Naruto had his chakra gloves activated and caught the boy's foot, surprising both of them. Naruto than gripped the ankle with his left hand while wrenching the foot away from him with his right hand with all his strength. A sickening crack was heard and the older boy fell onto his rear in pain, clutching at his now broken ankle. Naruto rolled away from his opponent and got to his feet quickly, racing back towards him he jabbed forward with his right hand into the boys chin, knocking him out. All the other fighters were watching with interest. Some were murmuring to each other while sizing up this newest threat.
"That's enough!" Akari's sharp call cut through all conversation. A sudden silence fell in the eatery. "While fighting is permitted, serious injuries are not. You brat, broke the rules. You get the brand."
Hands roughly grabbed onto Naruto before he knew what was happening. His dirty shirt was pulled up and he heard Akari say "Fire Release: Rapid Torch," which was followed by a burst of heat somewhere behind him. Without warning the burning brand was pressed against his back and Naruto's world exploded into agony. The smell of burning flesh filled his nostrils as his vocal chords tore from the volume of his screaming. Thankfully the pain was far too much for him to handle and he passed out quickly.
Back inside Naruto's mindscape, Kurama was rigid, trying to prevent himself from writhing around in torment. Even in his tortured state of mind, Kurama had enough presence of mind to try and hide the truth from Naruto. 'Still, they used a brand? A god damned fucking brand! Who uses that on a six year old kid!? I could sense that Akari had a malicious nature but I didn't that it would go this far. This pain is nothing compared to the fight earlier!'
Kurama gnashed his teeth in pain. He suddenly felt his fur being rubbed near his left front paw. Kurama looked down and saw Naruto looking up at him. Although Naruto didn't have to suffer more pain while being inside his mindscape, the sheer scale of what he had suffered had already deeply affected him; Kurama could see it in the boy's eyes.
"I'm sorry Fox, I didn't know about the rules. I broke our promise. I didn't want this to happen!"
Kurama growled "We are going to kill them all, you hear me Naruto? For causing you this pain they will suffer. Are you with me in this?"
Naruto nodded, "We will make them pay, believe it,"
Naruto then curled himself on top of Kurama's left front paw and fell asleep. Kurama lowered his head until it rested on the floor next to Naruto. 'This kid is something else. He entered my space without a second thought to try and comfort me. Even though he is still suspicious of me and my motivations, he is far too kind for this life.' Knowing that the kid was there with him seemed to ease the pain somehow. Kurama also closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep, dreaming of all the many ways he was going to make Akari suffer.