Chapter 21   - Meeting Kurama

After a few more minutes, Yuna got back to her home, but as soon as she opened the door, a yellow-orange blur hug-tackled her. Naruto was just about to get loud when Yuna shut his mouth with her hand and pointed in the direction of Hinata's room. Naruto nodded and quietly let go of Yuna. The twins silently moved through the flat and entered Yuna's room and as soon as the door closed, Yuna activated the room's seals to block outsiders from hearing what is being said inside.

"Well then, Naruto, I have decided that I will tell you pretty much everything I have found out so far about the village, our parents, and the two of us."

Naruto's eyes immediately sparkled with excitement, he knew that Yuna is aware of a lot more than things she let on, but Naruto decided for himself, that he would just wait until Yuna decided to tell him about these things. In his opinion, Yuna would never do something to hurt him or conceal information without a reason.

"Here comes the most important question that ties everything together: Why are we hated?"

Naruto immediately drew a blank.

'That is the most important question? At this point, I pretty much don't even care about that anymore.'

He was just about to tell Yuna his doubts when Yuna lifted her hand and pointed her fist at Naruto. She had a mischievous smile on her face and clearly wanted Naruto to fist-bump her.

"Want to find out?"

Naruto didn't understand what Yuna meant, but for now, he just fist-bumped with her to see what would happen. As soon as he did, however, he was sitting in a completely different location. Behind him was a dreary-looking sewer, while in front of him was a vast sprawling forest with huge glaciers as a backdrop.

"Where are we, nee-san?"

"This is a representation of our inner world. People usually call it the mindscape."

Naruto gave a slow nod at the answer, indicating that he more or less understood what Yuna said. A few moments later, however, he widened his eyes in shock and took another look back at the sewers.

"Nee-san, that is…"

"No need to look sad, Naruto. They always look like that at first. I wanted to wait a bit longer until I teach you how to enter and organize your mindscape, but since you have grown up quite a lot, I decided to push all of that forward a few years. Well, that is for later. There are more important things to do right now. Follow me."

Naruto had a happy smile on his face after being praised by Yuna and immediately followed her into the forest. After walking for a short while they reached a huge clearing with a giant lake in the middle of it. Next to the lake was a huge cage, with an equally monstrous orange-red fox inside of it. He was currently laying down on his belly while his chin rested on his two folded front paws. He looked at Naruto with some curiosity in his eyes. He really wondered how Naruto would take the information.

After seeing the giant fox, Naruto became completely gobsmacked and stopped walking forwards. Yuna saw his expression and couldn't help but chuckle a little.

"Hehe, here he is. Let me introduce you: The nine-tailed fox. The Kyuubi. As for his real name, well, he has to tell you himself. Kyuubi, meet my little brother Naruto.

[No real reason to introduce him when I have seen him through your eyes for the last 8 years is there? Oh well, call me Kyuubi for now. Nice to meet you, I guess.]

Kurama has actually significantly calmed down in the last 8 years. All the bantering with Yuna caused Kurama's mood to improve and lessened the hatred he had for most humans. Combine that with the fact, that he has grown slightly fond of the ball of sunshine that is Naruto, Kurama actually managed to give a normal greeting.

Naruto, however, was still frozen in place. His mouth and eyes were still wide open, while his mind went into overdrive. Although Naruto was never much of a thinker, he can still connect some dots if you give him enough clues.

'The Kyuubi is in nee-san's mindscape? Why? Wait, I read about something called Jinchuuriki. Is nee-san the Kyuubi's container? Is that also why people call us demon twins? No, that's stupid. Even if the Kyuubi is sealed inside nee-san, she is just the container, not the Kyuubi herself. No wait, nee-san always wants us to hide our strength. Is someone plotting against us and nee-san doesn't want that person to know our strength? Is that person the one that is spreading false rumors to people so they would hate us? That is possible. Why is it demon twins though? Do I also have something sealed inside me? Maybe we both have part of the Kyuubi inside us? Is that possible? No clue. If it was just sealed into nee-san, however, she would have told me about it earlier. She knows I wouldn't care about that. Whatever, nee-san said she will explain everything to me, so I just have to wait.'

Naruto woke up from his thoughts and noticed 2 pairs of eyes looking at him and waiting for him to finishing.

"Are you done thinking, Naruto?"

"*Cough*…yeah, I'm done."

"I am surprised you are not angry."

Naruto only tilted his head in confusion.

"Why would I be angry?"

"Well, there is a lot of nonsense and rumors about the Kyuubi, but he IS the one that killed our parents."

Naruto immediately widened his eyes in surprise. At first, anger flashed through him that, however, was quickly replaced by sadness which, again, was overwhelmed by anger. Yuna had clearly forgiven the Kyuubi, so for now, Naruto wanted to hear the whole story. Yuna had always taught him the importance of looking at something from every perspective. Although he could feel anger bubble up inside of him every time he looked at the Kyuubi, he also wanted to listen to what Yuna taught him. Naruto took a deep breath too, at least somewhat, calm his nerves and then looked at the Kyuubi.

"Are you really the one who killed our parents?"

"Yes."

In Kurama's opinion, there was no need to put flowers on his words. No matter the circumstances, he was definitely the one who killed them. No need to dance around it.

Naruto could already feel the anger in him rise even further, but for now, he pushed it down.

"Why?"

"They tried to seal me away and I would rather not have been imprisoned."

"Didn't they want to seal you because you were rampaging inside Konoha?"

"That is partially correct. I was indeed wreaking havoc in Konoha, but that was because someone controlled me with Genjutsu. After the Genjutsu was broken the sealing process had already started, so I retaliated."

Naruto had a rather conflicted look about that. He was certainly still angry, but he didn't know where he was supposed to put that anger. He felt like pointing it at the Kyuubi would be wrong somehow.

"Well, Naruto, no need to think so hard. You probably aren't sure whom to be angry at, but isn't that rather obvious?"

"Obvious?"

"Yeah, just think about it for a moment."

Naruto went quiet for a while and then realized what Yuna meant.

"I see, the one who controlled the Kyuubi is at fault. Without that person, nothing would have happened. That doesn't mean, however, that I would just forgive you for it, Kyuubi."

[And I don't have any interest in earning your forgiveness, either. If Yuna didn't ask me to, I wouldn't have bothered talking with you, after all.]

"Because nee-san asked you?"

[Yeah, we became friends quite a while ago.]

"F-friends? Nee-san, you are friends with the Kyuubi?"

"Yeah, we clicked pretty well together, so we became friends."

After hearing that Yuna was actually friends with Kurama, Naruto's mind completely shut down. He couldn't even begin to understand how someone could become friends with something like the Kyuubi, a supposed monster, that had roamed the elemental nations for centuries. After a bit more pondering, Naruto quickly concluded: It is nee-san, after all, so it's fine. That's right, he decided to just put it into his "It is nee-san after all" folder and be done with it.

"Well, now that we have the first meeting out of the way, let's arrange the second one."

"Are you talking about the Kyuubi part that is sealed inside me, nee-san?"

"Oh? Well done. You figured out that a part of him is sealed inside you as well. But no, that is the third meeting today. The second one is with our parents."

"WHAT! We can meet them?"

"Yup, while analyzing the seal, I found both of their chakras inside it. Our father will appear just before completely lifting the seal and our mother the moment it gets completely lifted."

"Eh, doesn't that mean you would have to remove the Kyuubi's seal and set him free?"

"Yes and no. I indeed need to completely remove the seal, but he will still have to stay in my body. If he were to leave it, I would die after all."

Naruto immediately started to panic and wanted Yuna to keep the seal, but before he could say anything, Kurama started to speak.

[No need to worry, pipsqueak, unlike you humans, I keep my promises and don't betray those I consider friends.]

Naruto really wanted to argue back, but there really wasn't much ground to argue on. He had at least a rough understanding of history and knew, that betrayal is certainly an integral part of it.

"Haha, don't worry too much, Naruto. He might look intimidating, but he is actually a big softy."

[WHAT! YOU DARE CALL ME A SOFTY?!]

"Sorry, sorry, anyway let's get these seals removed, shall we?"

[Mphf, fine, I will forgive you for that comment.]

Yuna only threw Naruto a knowing glance before starting the unsealing procedure. Naruto, on the other hand, tried to suppress the chuckle that almost left his mouth after seeing the antics of the two before him. Now it was time to meet his parents.