Strongest Shinobi

Izana waited until it was evening before he returned. He had contacted Jiraiya to ask for a hideout near Konoha. Jiraiya didn't know why Izana would need one, but had still prepared a simple house inside the civilian section of Konoha.

Izana dropped of Shisui in that house, leaving after preparing many daily nessecaties for Shisui. Izana had also introduced Ryuujin to Shisui.

Shisui had been quite surpised to meet Ryuujin, especially after Izana told him what Ryuujin looked like. Ryuujin had been quite nice to Shisui and had even thought him a special sensory ability that made him able to slightly sense his surroundings through sound and vibrations. It would make it easier for Shisui to move around a bit. Not enough to resume being a Shinobi, but enough to move about.

Izana arrived at the Uchiha residence late in the evening, where he was greeted by an angry and worried Mikoto.

Izana was lectured for an hour by Mikoto. She had been very worried and lectured Izana about the importance of notifying her of his whereabouts.

"I even had to ask Jiraiya-sama if he had a clue of where you might be. Really, you need to notify someone when you plan to disappear somewhere. Do you know how worried is was?" Mikoto said, ending her lecture by hugging Izana tightly.

Izana hugged her back as he knew how much he had worried her.

"Umu. I will tell you next time." Izana said resulting in a smile from Mikoto.

"Get some dinner. We left you some, so heat it up and get to bed when you're ready. You look exhausted."

Izana nodded again and suppressed the yawn he felt coming. The last two days had been quite a surprise and gave him quite a scare. It was completely normal to be a bit tired after a tense situation.

After finishing dinner, Izana quickly went to bed.

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The next day, Izana went to find Naruto. If he was right, Naruto was supposed to have a free day today. It was a good time to talk with Naruto about Kurama.

Though the Third might not like it that Izana told Naruto about the tailed beast, Izana couldn't give a damn about what the Third thought. He should care more about Naruto if he really cared so much.

And seeing as he didn't honestly care about Naruto, then Izana wasn't going to be polite and was resolute to tell Naruto about it.

Izana looked around to search for Naruto and he didn't have to search for long. Izana had just passed by a corner when he spotted multiple store fronts and homes covered in paint.

Even the Hokage wall in the distance had received a nice new colour. The villagers were complaining again as they grabbed a few buckets with soap and began to clean their walls.

They had become accustomed to these occurrences and had grown slightly numb to them. They still cursed when it happened and would yell at Naruto when they saw him.

When a villager would get too hands on, Izana would kindly 'remind' them to keep their hands off. This time however, Naruto was safely above the crowd and was heartily laughing at them.

"Hahahaha, Uzumaki Naruto, a your service!" Naruto yelled as he stuck his tongue out and mocked the people below him before he ran away. Izana couldn't help but laugh at the display and the miserable faces the villagers made.

It earned him a lot of scornfull gazes, but Izana didn't care. It took only one look from Izana to shut their mouths, so they weren't really that harmful.

Izana quickly followed Naruto, quickly catching up to him. Naruto was being chased by other shinobi, but he managed to shake them off.

When Naruto though he was alone, he was suddenly grabbed from behind.

"Woahh!"

Naruto vigilantly turned his head around to see who it was.

He happily laughed when he saw it was Izana.

"Well, little troublemaker. Why don't we scram before that pesky teacher of yours discovers us?" Izana said and he Shunshined away towards the forest, just in time to avoid Iruka, Naruto's teacher.

Unlike the other times, Izana went to a more deserted and less known clearing in the forest near Konoha. It had few good hiding spots, while Izana and Naruto were completely hidden from view.

Naruto looked curiously around him. He had never been here before and it was a nice place to hide when he was chased.

Izana sat down crosslegged in front of Naruto, patting the ground beside him. Naruto sat down and Izana began to talk.

"Naruto, do you know why the villagers hate you?"

Naruto shook his head as a miserable look appeared on his face.

"You know about the kyuubi, Right?"

"The Kyuubi is a monster fox that attacked the village six years ago. Many villagers died including my parents." Naruto said gravely.

"Then Naruto, do you know what a jinchuriki is?"

Again Naruto shook his head.

"To simplify it, a Jinchuriki is a person who has a tailed beast sealed inside his body. There are nine in total, the monster fox being the kyuubi and the strongest of the nine. You have the kyuubi sealed inside your body. That is why the villagers hate you. They only see the fox when they see you." Izana said, gouging Naruto's reaction.

As he had suspected, Naruto became a bit angry and sad.

"But I'm not the Kyuubi! I'm Naruto!" Naruto angrily yelled.

"I know that, so do others, but they can't help it but only see the kyuubi when they look at you. But Naruto, know that as you have not chosen to be a jinchuriki, so did the kyuubi not chose to be sealed inside of you. Both of you are angry. Can you hear him? Listen carefully an focus your mind. Can you hear him cursing and grumbling?"

Izana said, placing his hand over Naruto's eyes. Like Izana had said, Naruto focused and he could faintly hear another voice inside him. It cursed a lot and Naruto could only feel the hate it held for everything around him.

When Naruto focussed more, he could see a wide dark space. In front of him were bars streching from one side to the other. High up in the middle of the bars, Naruto could see a sealing paper.

"Hoh, the brat came to have a look?"

Followed by the voice, big red eyes appeared behind the bars.

"Kyuubi." Naruto whispered in awe. It was much bigger than he had thought. He felt a little scared when those hatefilled eyes stared at him.

Naruto slowly moved backwards but quickly bummped into something behind him.

"Naruto, look closely. The one you see before you is the Kyuubi. Most see him as a terrible monster, but he is also a person with feeling and more importantly, a name. You know how it feels to be called a moster, right?" Izana said as he had appeared in Naruto's mind space. He ruffled Naruto's head and brought him back in front of the bars.

"I know. I too have a name. But they only call me a monster." Naruto sniffled slightly.

"Then why don't you call this big fox by his name too. Unlike being called kyuubi, he has a name. You want to know it?"

Naruto nodded.

"His name is Kurama."

A voice that wasn't Kurama's, Naruto's or Izana's responded to Naruto. Naruto looked around him and could see another being lounging behind Izana. It was huge, the same size as the Kyuubi, Kurama.

"Naruto, this is Ryuujin, my tailed beast. It isn't a normal one and not one belonging to the other nine." Izana said, while Ryuujin just looked at Kurama.

Kurama stared back at Ryuujin, but unlike before, there wasn't any hate inside his eyes.

"Ryuujin. You have a pretty good brat to live in." Kurama said, not glancing at Izana and only keeping his eyes on Ryuujin.

"Umu, I know. You have a pretty nice one too, Kurama. He's as mischievous as you." Ryuujin replied as he chuckled

Naruto looked from one to the other and thought the conversation was a bit strange.

"Don't bother with those two, they have a lot to catch up on. Aren't you glad, Naruto? Finally knowing the why. Also knowing you aren't alone. If you ever have any problems, you can talk to me, Ryuujin or with your grumpy Kurama. After Ryuujin talks with Kurama, he should be less hostile and talk with you a bit." Izana said, though he wasn't really sure about the last part.

"Well, try to be a bit nice to Kurama. From what I've heard, he has been through a lot and doesn't trust humans a lot. Why don't you try to be friends with him and see what happens."

Naruto nodded, a slight smile on his face. It was nice to know about this. He had wondered about this a lot. At least now he knew it wasn't him they hated, it was the Kyu-.. not Kurama. Though they still only saw him. That was probably why they hated him, as they only saw him as Kurama.

Before Naruto could get a little mored depressed, Izana placed his hand on Naruto's head again.

"Naruto, I can only manage this once in year, but, do you want to meet your mom?" Izana said, dropping a bomb in Naruto's head.

Naruto stared with his mouth agape at Izana. Izana hadn't thought it would be different, as it would be the first time Naruto saw Kushina.

It had took him a while. During the three years he was gone, Jiraiya had helped him with coming up with ideas in making this happen. It was a lot of trial and error, but Izana had finally succeeded in making a pathway between the mind and the sealed charm.

Now, Naruto or Izana could talk with Kushina once a year. It would take a considerable amount of chakra to steady the seals and they had to be strenghtened again after the conversation. This didn't take away the happiness Izana could give Naruto once a year.

Naruto fervently nodded. Izana glanced slightly at the two bickering giants, and left the mind scape with Naruto. While the two tailed beast were talking, Izana handed Naruto the charm and explained how it worked.

"You have around ten minutes, afterwards the chakra in the charm will weaken and the connection will be broken." Izana smiled at Naruto, as tears were streaming down Naruto's face. "Talk a lot with Kushina. Make sure it will be memorable."

Naruto nodded and closed his eyes again.

While he was focussed on the charm, a bright smile and fresh tears appeared on his face. Izana ruffled Naruto's head again and decided to keep quiet and let Naruto enjoy his talk with Kushina. The only thing Izana did in the meantime was sit beside Ryuujin as he and Kurama were catching up on what Ryuujin had missed.

Afterwards, Kurama had grumbled but promised Ryuujin that he would help Naruto and would try to get along with the kid. Then they all waited for Naruto to finish his short reunion with Kushina. It was only a bit sad that Izana couldn't reunite him with Minato, but as Izana looked at the seal on Kurama's cage, he could slighlty feel Minato's chakra and a faint smile was on his lips.

Minato always had his ways to still leave an impression, even if it might take a while.