Disclaimer:
Dialogue
'Thoughts'
-Author notes-
Chapter 19: The Demon Boy
"The Kyubi?!" Ino spoke too loudly. The shopkeeper and the civilians waiting at the door trembled at the mere mention of that name.
"Get out of here, you demon!" the old man yelled.
"Silence!" Inoichi shouted with authority, letting some of his chakra spill out.
The civilians felt the pressure and were almost brought to their knees.
"That's enough!" He pointed at the shopkeeper. "Go close that door and be quiet. We have some important things to discuss. With my authority as a Konoha Jonin, I'm borrowing your shop."
The old shopkeeper had wanted to complain and deny his request, but when he saw the look on the Yamanaka Clan Leader's face…he changed his mind and immediately went to shoo everyone away and closed the doors of the shop.
"Dad, is this true? Didn't the Kyubi die?" Ino's eyes moved constantly between Naruto and her father.
Inoichi sighed. "Naruto…you just broke an S-rank secret. Some would spend the rest of their life in prison for something like that."
"I'm not the one who broke it in the first place since the entire village knows about it," Naruto pointed out. "And besides, the secret is about me. I can tell it to whoever I choose."
Ino got closer and looked him up and down. "Is it really in there?..." She found the whole thing hard to believe.
"Yes, Ino…it is true. Since the times of the First Hokage, the nine Chakra Beasts have been sealed inside people. We call these people…Jinchuriki…the human sacrifices. During the catastrophe that occurred fifteen years ago, the Fourth Hokage gave everything he had to reseal the Kyubi inside a new container…that was Naruto."
Ino gasped and glanced at Naruto. "But how?..." She only knew the basics of Fuuinjutsu, so it was hard to understand how a massive demon like that could fit inside a human body.
"With a very advanced jutsu…I can't explain it to you since I don't understand it myself. There are few who do…" Inoichi answered.
"Say, Mister Yamanaka…who was the previous container of the Kyubi? The one who died fifteen years ago." Naruto had dedicated some time to research the events from that day. The information was very limited. It was obvious that the Hokage and the Konoha higher-ups had contained the flow of information about what happened that day.
But he had started to develop a theory…
Inoichi frowned. "I cannot tell you that. Information about the village Jinchuriki has always been kept a secret only known to the highest rank ninjas in the village. Your case was an exception caused by some unknown individual who decided to spread the secret around."
"Then…something else then. Am I related to the Fourth Hokage?" Naruto asked.
He saw the face of Jonin become a shade paler even if he did a good job at hiding his reaction
"Why are you asking this?" The Jonin looked worried.
"Naruto, you are an orphan, there is no way you are related to the Fourth Hokage," Ino said with a hint of disdain.
Ignoring the girl, Naruto just looked at Inoichi. "It's just a logical conclusion. For the things people wrote about Namikaze Minato, he was a very kind man who loved the village. Would a man like that pick up a random baby from the streets and put a demon inside him? I don't think so…also from the few pictures I have seen of him…you can't deny that we share a few physical similarities. Spiky blond hair, blue eyes, similar eyebrows…if anything, and if it wasn't so ridiculous, I would say I could be his son."
"Pfft, that's so funny." Ino smiled. "Right, Dad?" The smile went away when she saw the worried expression her father was making.
"This is not something we should be talking about in an unsafe location…we should go see the Hokage, right now." Inoichi talked.
"Dad?...you don't mean…" Ino moved her eyes to look at Naruto. Now that he had mentioned it…his face did look kind of similar to the Fourth. "That can't be…"
"Ino!" The Jonin glared at her. "Go home right now. You will not speak a word about what you heard here."
"What? But Papa! What about my new dress?" Ino just remembered their original reason for being here.
"Not now, Ino! This is serious." Her father was in no mood for nonsense right now.
The girl was surprised to see her father talk to her like that. He always spoiled her.
"And you." He turned to the old shopkeeper. The man trembled when the blonde Jonin approached him. "Do you understand what will happen to you if you reveal anything that you heard here today? We are talking about high-rank Konoha secrets."
"I-I understand, Mister! I-I won't speak a word!" the panicked man said.
"Well, let's get out of here then," Inoichi said to Naruto.
"I'm not very presentable to see the Hokage." He assumed that was where the Jonin wanted to go.
"He won't mind, considering the circumstances," Inoichi said.
Naruto could not have predicted this outcome when he went shopping this afternoon. But this may not be a terrible thing.
Ino said goodbye to her father after they left the shop, and then…under the eyes of the curious onlookers, Naruto followed the Yamanaka Patriarch towards the Kage building.
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