Naruto: Cautious Ninja

Blinking and looking around, Naruto then quickly glanced back at the enormous beast with a questioning gaze, "How the heck am I talking to the Kyuubi? Where the heck am I?"

The fox growled to himself, "You really are a stupid one. We're inside your head."

"Inside… my head- ooohhh, wait. Now I get it," Naruto laughed and snapped his fingers, tapping his temple a few times before pointing back at the cage, "This whole thing is a dream. Yeah! That's it! It's just a really, really, REALLY bad dream. Damn. It must have been that omelet jiji put into the last bowl of ramen I had today. Man. I tell yah, that egg just didn't taste right. Uh-uh. I remember falling asleep and…" He babbled on.

As he listened in to the ramblings of the blonde standing underneath the veil of his shadow, the Kyuubi simply could not believe that his current container and jailer, the one he was sealed into by the Fourth Hokage himself, could be this dull witted. This complete ignorance and lack of understanding of his current situation could only be attributed to a couple of plausible things; either irreparable brain damage from being hit over the head one too many times or being terribly uninformed. Damn villagers.

Either way, of all the Uzumakis he'd encountered in his entire life and of all the remaining ones in the world, he had to be sealed into the most airheaded one.

Life was just one cruel, sick joke.

As Naruto drawled on, the fox groaned in annoyance before, after several minutes of nothing but drone noise, snapped, "Shut your mouth you pathetic human!" Stopping immediately on command, the jinchuriki looked back up at the demon in surprise. "Weak. Blind. Ignorant. You want to know the truth? I'll be more than happy to tell you. Just so that you understand the situation, yes; you are asleep. But this isn't some fairytale wonderland that your mind managed to concoct all on its own. No. This is real. Where we are… right now… we're inside your subconscious, inside your mind and body." He saw the kid blink in a deadpanned fashion, getting his scowl to tighten. "Hmph… figure it out for yourself."

Looking around a second time, Naruto wheeled back around and began pointing between himself, the fox, and then the chamber they were currently inside. "Okay. So… what you're saying is… we… you and I… we're inside my mind? Inside me. This…" He pointed around the tacky basement boiler room, "This place… all of this is inside my subconscious?" Nothing but silence emanated off of the large fox as its tails swished behind him impatiently. Blinking a few more times, Naruto thought on the new information for a little bit longer until his eyes widened to that of saucers and he pointed in disbelief at the entity once more, "No way… are you…?"

The fox grunted, "Have you finally caught up?"

"Whoa," Naruto breathed, staggering back while slapping the side of his head.

Shit. Now it all made sense. At the exact moment the penny dropped, the metaphorical projector inside his cranium started to play.

Everything in his young life leading up to this point, the villagers' unpleasantness towards him, the glares, the whispering behind his back, the segregation, the discontent at his presence, the loneliness… all of it started to come back to him all at once in one whopping big eye opener. With all of his memories from his earlier days being processed at light speed, Naruto was simply overwhelmed in a sea of information, revelations, and emotions.

It was then, after several moments of mind-numbing contemplation and close to collapsing at the full realization of his position, the boy then remembered the gate and its lock and looked straight up at it in alarm. Stumbling forward, he then lifted up his stomach, where he could see the tattoo he knew that he had there as clear as day. "So this is…" He turned his attention to the fox and pointed at his naval, "You're in here, aren't you? This is what this weird seal is for! It's for you!"

The fox growled unpleasantly, "That's a powerful fuinjutsu unlike any other. It's not some stupid summoning formula like you thought it was when you first laid eyes on it and tried to open it." Naruto blushed when he remembered that particular incident, yet remained quiet. "That seal across your stomach is what keeps me inside of your body and behind these bars, locked away from the rest of the world. It's a tight fit yes and it's a miserable place to be, but at least it beats my previous prison where I was bound and crucified on a ball of chakra suspended in a bottomless void."

Lowering his jacket, Naruto returned his arms to his sides and looked up at the fox strangely. "So… then… if you're sealed inside me… then that makes me your jinchuriki, doesn't it?"

"Yes…"

Falling silent for a bit, Naruto clicked his tongue, "Is this permanent?"

"If you want to continue living, yes," the fox replied, being graciously honest for the boy's benefit for once.

The blonde then frowned, "And this whole being brought into my subconscious-thing," He pointed around the room again, "What does this mean?"

"It just means that your mind tends to wander into places that you just don't expect it to," the Kyuubi said, a small smirk of anticipation growing on his face. "Oh, but this intrigues me greatly. You were able to enter this level of your subconscious without prior knowledge of any of this; information that both the Hokage and your entire village worked so hard to keep hidden from you. I wouldn't be surprised if you were to suddenly become upset over all of this secrecy, especially since it explains why you're hated so…"

Oh this was rich. What a perfect opportunity for some influence. If he could get this kid to throw a fit and rampage on the lowly mortals of his hometown, then maybe he could get some additional entertainment out of this boring world, and perhaps, if he was lucky…

"Meh," Naruto suddenly interrupted the fox's thoughts with a shrug, "It's no big deal."

The Kyuubi's jaw visibly dropped. "What?"

The blonde picked at his ear and flicked the wax off of his finger, "I'm sure Hokage-jiji had a good reason for not telling me. Maybe it was for my own good, to protect me or something, I don't know. If he didn't tell me, then he didn't tell me, so I'm not fussed."

Sure it was a pragmatic response, but what good would him throwing a tantrum in the middle of a sewer in his own mind do? He could beat up the walls and kick at the water, but all that would do was give him a pair of bloody knuckles and wet pants. It wouldn't solve anything in the long run.

The fox growled, "How can you take this so much in stride?"

"The old man said to me ages ago that he was going to tell me about the seal on my stomach eventually, so what's wrong with finding out earlier ahead of time?" Dropping his hands back down, Naruto smiled up at the blank stare of the demon and tilted his head. "It sure as hell answers a lot of questions though. Now I know why all of the adults are so skittish around me."

Eyebrow raising a bit, the Kyuubi then gave the boy a puzzled stare. "So you're not upset?"

"Not a bit," Naruto shook his head, "Why would I be upset? Do you know how terrible being upset feels; it's bloody awful." He shrugged his shoulders slightly and breathed out a sigh, "Sure I can get upset, but I feel more liberated than anything else. Now that I know the truth about why people stay away from me… well… it feels pretty damn good. Nice doing business with you."

Oh sure, he was just hit with the biggest news of his generation and all he could do was smile and shrug it off like it didn't matter.

Was this normal? Probably not. Either he was suppressing his real emotions right down to the core or he had expected this the entire time and was honestly not surprised. Whatever the case, the young jinchuriki was doing exceedingly well in holding it all together.

It certainly had the Kyuubi's head in a spin.

After staring at the kid for a little while longer, the nine-tailed fox then frowned and lowered his head back onto his arms. "You really are a stupid fool."

"Hey. I act stupid because it's fun. I hate being ordinary like everybody else. Ordinary is boring," Naruto replied. He gazed curiously up at the demon, "Anyway, you seem like a nice enough guy so I'll keep in touch."

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