As The Kyuubi no Yoko in Naruto

The academy classroom buzzed with pre-graduation excitement, but Naruto found it hard to focus. The morning's conversation with Sasuke had left him unsettled, and the imprints' strange behavior continued to nag at his thoughts.

"Pay attention, Naruto!" Iruka's voice cut through his distraction. "The graduation exam is tomorrow, and your clone technique still needs work."

"Sorry, Iruka-sensei," Naruto mumbled, forcing himself to concentrate on the lesson. But his eyes kept drifting to the classroom's corners, where unfamiliar imprints had started appearing.

That was new. Usually, he only saw them clearly in the compound. But lately, faint traces had been showing up throughout the village - wisps of chakra memory that seemed to follow him and Sasuke.

"The clone technique," Iruka continued, "requires precise chakra control. Remember, too much chakra will result in a defective clone, while too little-"

Naruto's attention snapped back as one of the corner imprints suddenly solidified - an Uchiha he didn't recognize, performing hand seals that definitely weren't for the clone technique. The imprint locked eyes with him for a moment before dissolving, its expression a mixture of fear and urgency.

They were trying to tell him something. But what?

Next to him, Sasuke had noticed his tension. Since their morning conversation, his friend had been watching him more closely, trying to catch glimpses of what Naruto saw.

"Another one?" he whispered.

Naruto gave a slight nod, not wanting to draw attention. But inside, his mind raced. Why were the imprints becoming more active? Why were they appearing outside the compound? And why did they suddenly seem so desperate to communicate?

The rest of the class passed in a blur of lectures and practice exercises. Naruto went through the motions, but his attention remained split between the lesson and the increasingly frequent appearances of imprints around the classroom.

During taijutsu practice in the academy yard, things got worse.

"Naruto! Your stance is completely wrong!" Iruka called out as Naruto faced his sparring partner. But Naruto barely heard him - he was too distracted by the three Uchiha imprints that had formed around the training area, all performing the same urgent sequence of movements.

"Focus, dobe," Sasuke muttered from nearby, where he was easily handling his own opponent. But even he noticed how Naruto's eyes kept tracking invisible movements.

The imprints were clearer now, more substantial than they'd been in years. Their movements seemed deliberate, repetitive - like they were trying to demonstrate something specific. But every time Naruto tried to focus on the details, they would blur and scatter, only to reform and start again.

"I don't understand," he whispered to himself. "What are you trying to show me?"

"Naruto!" Iruka's voice snapped just as his sparring partner landed a solid hit, sending him stumbling backward. "That's enough. See me after class."

As the other students headed inside, Iruka pulled Naruto aside. Sasuke lingered nearby, pretending to practice shuriken throws.

"Your performance has been erratic lately," Iruka said, concern evident in his voice. "Some days your control is perfect, other days like this... Is something bothering you?"

Naruto opened his mouth to respond, but froze as an imprint formed directly behind Iruka-sensei. This one was different - instead of demonstrating techniques or daily activities, it simply stood there, staring at him with an expression of absolute terror.

"Naruto?" Iruka prompted.

"I'm fine, sensei," Naruto managed, unable to look away from the frightened imprint. "Just nervous about graduation."

The imprint raised a trembling hand, pointing not at Naruto, but at something behind him. Then it scattered, leaving only a lingering sense of dread.

After class, Naruto and Sasuke walked home in silence. The usual whispers and stares from villagers seemed distant compared to the growing number of imprints that flickered at the edges of Naruto's vision.

"They're everywhere now," Naruto said quietly, keeping his voice low enough that only Sasuke could hear. "Not just in the compound. And they keep... looking at me weird."

Sasuke frowned. "Weird how?"

"Like they're trying to tell me something." Naruto unconsciously placed a hand on his stomach. "They keep pointing, but..."

As they passed the village gates, an imprint formed so clearly that Naruto stopped walking. It was an Uchiha police officer, fully uniformed, pointing directly at Naruto's midsection with a trembling hand. Its face showed not just fear, but recognition - as if it knew something about him that he didn't.

"What is it?" Sasuke asked, noting his friend's sudden stillness.

"I don't understand," Naruto whispered, watching as more imprints appeared - not just Uchiha this time, but others too. All pointing at the same spot on his body, all wearing expressions of terror mixed with a horrible kind of understanding.

That night, in his dreams, Naruto found his father figure waiting as usual. But something felt different about their warm, familiar space.

"The veil is thinning," the man said, running gentle fingers through Naruto's hair, like always. "What was hidden is becoming visible."

"They're all pointing at me," Naruto said, curling closer to the comforting presence. "Like they're afraid of something... inside me. Why? What's wrong with me?"

His dream-father was silent for a long moment, his embrace tightening slightly. "Some truths," he finally said, voice soft but careful, "reveal themselves when the time is right. For now, focus on your training. On growing stronger."

But even in the safety of his dreams, Naruto couldn't shake the memory of those pointing fingers, or the look of recognition in their terrified eyes.

----------------------------------

The next morning brought no relief. During breakfast, Naruto caught three different imprints forming in the kitchen, all pointing at his stomach before scattering. He'd stopped mentioning them to Sasuke - how could he explain something he didn't understand himself?

"You're quieter than usual," Sasuke observed, picking at his rice. "Nervous about the graduation exam?"

"Yeah, that's it," Naruto lied, trying to ignore the latest imprint forming in the doorway. This one was of a young Uchiha woman, her hand shaking as she pointed, mouthing words he couldn't quite make out.

The academy wasn't any better. During the written portion of the exam, the imprints became more deliberate. One appeared beside his desk, pointing to a character in his test paper - 封. Before Naruto could process it, another formed, pointing to a different word containing 印.

The patterns felt intentional, but Naruto couldn't focus on both the exam and the increasingly urgent imprints.

"Time's up," Iruka announced. "Everyone prepare for the practical examination. We'll be testing the clone technique."

As Naruto stood, an elderly Uchiha imprint appeared, clearer than any before. It pointed deliberately at the classroom's wall scroll, where the character 術 was written. The imprint's face showed not just fear now, but a desperate need to communicate.

"Naruto?" Iruka's voice cut through his concentration. "Are you ready?"

The imprint dissolved, but the characters lingered in Naruto's mind. He'd seen them before, in his textbooks - together they formed 'Fuinjutsu'.

Sealing technique.

The clone technique was a disaster. Naruto's concentration kept breaking as imprints appeared around the classroom, each pointing to different characters on the walls, in books, on scrolls. His clone emerged malformed, pale and sickly-looking.

"Fail," Iruka said, his disappointment evident. "Naruto, you know this technique is essential for graduation."

But Naruto barely heard him. An imprint had formed behind Iruka-sensei, frantically pointing between a scroll on the wall and Naruto's stomach. More appeared, creating a circle of pointing figures, all trying to piece together some message he couldn't quite grasp.

"Can... can I try again?" Naruto asked, desperate to focus on anything but the increasingly frantic imprints.

"Tomorrow," Iruka sighed. "You're clearly not yourself today, that's why I'll make the exception. Take tonight to practice. You're the only one who hasn't passed yet."

Walking home with Sasuke was silent and tense. The imprints followed them through the village streets, their pointing becoming more urgent with each step.

"You're not usually this bad at the clone technique anymore," Sasuke finally said. "What happened?"

Naruto's hand unconsciously went to his stomach. "They won't stop," he whispered. "The imprints. They keep trying to tell me something about... about sealing techniques, I think. They point to different characters, like they're spelling something out."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed. "What exactly are they spelling?"

"I don't know. It's all scattered. But they keep pointing at me too, right here." Naruto patted his midsection. "Like there's something... something sealed..."

He trailed off as another imprint appeared, this one pointing deliberately to a shop sign containing the character for 'demon' before dissolving away.

Sasuke stopped walking. "Demon?"

"That's what that last one pointed to," Naruto confirmed, his voice uncertain. "But that doesn't make sense. Why would they..." He froze as another imprint formed, pointing to a poster with the character for 'fox'.

The pieces were starting to form a pattern he wasn't sure he wanted to understand.

"We should go to the library," Sasuke said suddenly. "Look up sealing techniques."

"The librarian won't let me in, you know that." Naruto had been banned years ago after one too many pranks. "Besides, I need to practice the clone technique for tomorrow."

But Sasuke was already changing direction, heading toward the library. "Then I'll go in and you wait outside. Something's not right about this. The imprints have never been this persistent before, have they?"

"No," Naruto admitted, following his friend. "And they've never tried to spell things out like this. Usually they just show techniques or daily stuff, or run away."

At the library entrance, another imprint appeared - this one of a young Uchiha scholar, gesturing urgently toward the restricted section visible through the windows. More formed behind it, all pointing between Naruto's stomach and various written characters around them.

"Wait here," Sasuke ordered. "I'll look up what I can about sealing techniques."

As Sasuke disappeared into the library, Naruto leaned against the wall outside, trying to ignore the growing crowd of imprints. Their silent pointing was becoming more frantic, more desperate - as if time was running out.

"What are you trying to tell me?" he whispered to them. "What's sealed inside me?"

But the imprints only continued their urgent gesturing, their faces showing a mixture of terror and desperate evergrowing need to communicate something that seemed to be just beyond his understanding.

That night's dream was different. The usual warm space felt charged with tension, and his dream-father's embrace seemed tighter than normal.

"You're getting closer to understanding," the man said softly, running fingers through Naruto's hair. "But are you ready for what that means?"

"The imprints," Naruto began, "they keep pointing to characters. Seal. Demon. Fox. But that doesn't make sense. Why would..."

"Some truths are sealed away for a reason, kit." The voice was gentle but held an edge of something Naruto couldn't identify. "Sometimes, the knowing hurts more than the not knowing."

Meanwhile, Sasuke sat in his room, surrounded by scrolls borrowed from the library. Most contained only basic information about sealing techniques, nothing that explained the imprints' desperate messages. The restricted section had been locked, and even his status as the last Uchiha hadn't granted him access.

But one scroll mentioned something interesting - a note about the Nine-Tails attack, and how the Fourth Hokage had defeated the demon fox. The details were vague, deliberately so, but the word 'sealed' appeared several times.

A soft knock at his door interrupted his reading. "Sasuke?" Naruto's voice came through. "Can I come in?"

"Yeah."

Naruto entered, looking more tired than usual. "They won't stop," he said quietly. "Even now, there's one in the corner, pointing at these scrolls. What did you find?"

Sasuke hesitated, then held up the scroll about the Nine-Tails. "Nothing specific. Just some history about the attack twelve years ago. About your birth date."

An imprint formed suddenly between them, pointing frantically at the scroll, then at Naruto's stomach. More appeared, their gestures becoming almost violent in their urgency.

"Naruto," Sasuke said slowly, "when exactly did you start seeing these imprints?"

"After the massacre," Naruto replied. "The night I somehow knew to come here. The night I used that red chakra..."

The imprints' pointing became even more frenzied, as if they were trying to tell him he was close, so close, to understanding.

"Red chakra," Sasuke repeated, his mind working through the connections. "Like the Nine-Tails' chakra from the stories."

The imprints were practically swarming now, their pointing becoming almost desperate as they gestured between the scroll, Naruto's stomach, and various characters written in the texts scattered around them.

"Sasuke," Naruto's voice was barely a whisper, "why can't I know anything about my parents? Why do the villagers hate me? Why did the Nine-Tails attack on my birthday?"

Before Sasuke could respond, the most solid imprint yet formed in the center of the room - a clear image of an Uchiha elder, his face stern but determined. Unlike the others, this one moved with deliberate slowness, pointing first to the character for 'seal' in one scroll, then to 'demon' in another, then to 'fox' in the history text, and finally to Naruto's stomach.

The message couldn't have been clearer.

"No," Naruto shook his head, backing away. "No, that's not... that can't be..."

More imprints appeared, all confirming the elder's message with their own pointing. Some seemed to be trying to show hand seals - sealing techniques, Naruto realized with growing horror.

"The Fourth Hokage," Sasuke said quietly, looking at the scroll again. "He didn't kill the Nine-Tails, did he? He sealed it. In..."

He couldn't finish the sentence. Didn't need to. The imprints' frantic pointing had already told them everything.

Suddenly all of it hit him at once.

The red chakra he felt that day. That warmth. That comfort.

the Hokage's concern about his dreams...

Dreams of a father figure who taught him about chakra.

Dreams that started after the massacre.

Dreams that no one wanted him to talk about.

He finally understood, why the man never let him see his face.

For it wasn't his face.

His face, was that of a demon.