Prodigy

Chapter 1

Namikaze Naruto was not stupid by any measure. Nor was he ignorant. As such, it was only inevitable for the young three year old to notice that he was not a normal child. Firstly, unlike other children who played with their families and friends in parks and playgrounds, Naruto was often left alone. That does not mean that Naruto did not have a family, of course, for he was the only son of the Yondaime Hokage of Konoha. However, his father was often busy with his Hokage duties and rarely had time for his son. He was usually out of the Namikaze manor early in the morning, and came back late at night after Naruto went to bed. In fact, it was not rare for Naruto to only see his father once or twice in a whole week. Of course, Namikaze Minato was not irresponsible enough to leave the young child without guardians. An ANBU had been tasked with looking after the boy and ensuring that he was fed. More often than not, the ANBU sent to babysit Naruto was Hatake Kakashi, son of the White Fang, prized student of the Yondaime and infamous Copy-Cat ninja. And it was Kakashi who Naruto was intently staring at right now after the three-year-old had asked the ANBU Captain a question.

“Ne, Kaka-nii, why does everyone seem to hate me?”

And that led to the second reason why Namikaze Naruto was not normal, from whatever perspective. On the day he was born, Naruto had had a demon sealed into him. It was not just any demon either, no, it was the king of the Bijuu, the terrifying nine-tailed fox, Kyuubi.

“Maa, Naruto, not everyone hates you. I don’t hate you at all. And neither does Gai or Crow or Badger or—” Kakashi would have started listing the codenames of all the ANBU who had looked after Naruto at one point or another had he not been interrupted by his sensei’s son.
“Yeah yeah. I get it. Fine so not everyone, but most of the villagers. They’re always glaring at me.”
Kakashi sighed. It was not his place to explain Naruto’s condition. “Why don’t you ask your father? He can probably explain it much better than I can.”
Naruto glared at Kakashi, “But he comes back so late! And then he goes straight to sleep. And he leaves before I wake up!”
“Well, gaki, I’m sure if you ask him he can find some time for you. It is not my place to answer your question.” Kakashi said calmly, trying to placate the small blond.
“Fine. I get it. I’ll ask him.” Naruto huffed before he turned to his training dummy and proceeded to fill it with kunai.

Kakashi sighed internally as he watched the miniature Yondaime fling kunai at the training dummy. He and his sensei had drifted apart these three years. Minato had changed after the death of his beloved wife, Kushina, who died in childbirth the day of the Kyuubi attack. Overcome with grief at losing not only his wife but also his respected predecessor, the Fourth had thrown himself into his work and single-mindedly worked to repair the damage wrought by the demon fox and to bring Konoha back to her previous glory. Because of this, Minato had largely ignored and neglected his son, something which Kakashi disagreed with. However, despite how many times Kakashi tried to bring up the issue, his sensei would simply brush him off. Thus Kakashi could do nothing more but to accompany the kid and play with him as much as he could.

Namikaze Minato stood at the top of the Hokage tower as he surveyed the bustling village below him. He had already finished his paperwork for the day and his last meeting had concluded a few hours ago. However, he could not bring himself to go home. He missed Kushina terribly, and everything in the Namikaze manor did nothing but bring back memories of the times the two spent together. He could not even bear to look at his son, who was a living reminder of what he had lost. His guilt for ruining his son’s life by turning him into a Jinchuriki (a demon vessel) also drove him to stay as far away from Naruto as possible. Nevertheless, Minato knew that it was wrong to neglect his son the way he did. Kakashi had brought up the matter many times, and even though Minato seemed nonchalant, he knew that he had to pull himself together and spend more time with Naruto. However, it would not be today. Soon, Minato promised himself, soon, he will put an end to his grieving. But for now, he could not bring himself to face the pain brought by Kushina’s loss.

Minato returned to the manor around midnight. Naruto would usually be asleep by then. Thus, when Minato returned that night, he was surprised to see the lights in the living room still left on. Naruto was sitting in the sofa reading a scroll that was probably taken from the Namikaze library. The boy looked up when he heard his father enter the room. He swiftly placed the scroll aside as he stood and bowed to his father. “Otou-sama, okaeri.” He greeted.

“What are you still doing awake, Naruto?” The Fourth asked, eyebrows furrowed.

“I was waiting for you, otou-sama. I asked Kaka-nii a question today and he directed me to you.” Naruto replied.

“Kakashi can’t answer you himself? That’s strange.”

“Ah. Kaka-nii felt that it wasn’t his place to give me an answer. He said that you would be able to explain better than he can.” Minato felt his chest constrict. Kakashi thought that it wasn’t his place? That meant that it was probably something personal. Minato wasn’t ready to talk about Kushina yet! As the elder Namikaze desperately thought of ways to misdirect his son’s line of questioning, Naruto continued.

“I asked him why the villagers like to glare at me. Can you please give me an answer, otou-sama? Did I do something wrong?”

Minato was getting frantic. He wasn’t ready to face Kushina’s death himself, let alone explain it to Naruto. Why didn’t Kakashi warn him beforehand? He would have stayed away from home and --- wait, what? He blinked dumbly at his son as his brain slowly processed Naruto’s question. Was that it? Granted, he wasn’t exactly happy to explain about the Kyuubi to Naruto, but it was by far preferable to explaining why Naruto didn’t have a mother.

“We better sit down for this, son. It’s quite a long story. I’m sure you know of the Kyuubi attack 3 years ago?” He asked as both Namikazes made themselves comfortable on the sofas, sitting so they were facing each other.

“Hai” Naruto replied as he recited what he’d learned from the history scrolls. “The Sandaime defeated the demon fox and the cost of his own life.”

“That’s correct,” Minato nodded approvingly, “the Sandaime did defeat Kyuubi. However, the demon was immortal and could not be killed. So Sandaime had no choice but to seal the demon instead.”

“So Kyuubi is still alive?” Naruto asked, the cogs slowly turning in his head as he formed a connection between the current conversation and his question. “The Kyuubi,” he asked slowly, “is it sealed in a person?”

Minato’s eyes widened, he didn’t expect his son to catch on so quickly. “Yes, an inanimate object wouldn’t be able to store the power and chakra that Kyuubi had. So Sandaime had to seal it in a newborn whose chakra coils have yet to mature and thus could adapt to the demon’s presence.”

Naruto was silent as he pondered over this information. So this was why he was hated. He was the Kyuubi, the demon fox. But something didn’t sit right with that answer. If he was the Kyuubi, then why didn’t he have any memories of his life as a fox? Why didn’t he have the great power that the Kyuubi wielded? Unless… He wasn’t the fox, but the jailor. He was like the bowl that contained ramen, and not the ramen itself. “I see. So I am a demon container huh? Arigatou for telling me the truth otou-sama.” With that, Naruto stood and turned to retire to his room. His father calling his name caused him to stop. “You’re a hero, Naruto. Not a demon. Never forget that.”

Naruto turned and stared his father for awhile before a small smile bloomed on his lips. “Hai. Oyasumi, otou-sama.” Naruto said softly before he left the room.