Ch. 8

"Naruko! We got some questions for you, you runaway blind!"

Naruko stared at ino with her mouth slightly open and her head tilted to the side a little. The yamanaka was leaning over the black safety rail with her right pointer finger directed at her.

Sakura was standing a few feet behind ino with her head slightly bowed and her cheeks lightly dusted pink.

"Runaway?" Naruko asked softly as she focused back on ino." When did I runaway?" She wondered as she felt amusement rise up within her chest.

"You haven't been to class in two days!" Ino said." And we heard you attacked hokage-sama!" She added, her eyes narrowed and Naruko could hear the accusation in the other girls tone.

"Ino!" Sakura called out as she stepped up next to her friend and looked at her." We don't know if that's true, all we know are some rumors." She chided and ino pouted a little. The pinkette then looked to Naruko." We've been looking for you all day cause we have some questions for you." She explained.

"What do you wanna know?" Naruko asked after a moment of looking between her two classmates.

"Well why haven't you been to school in two days? What happened at the hokages tower? And most importantly! Why does every grown up in the village seem to hate you?" Ino listed off her questions rapidly and Sakura could only deadpan at her friends lack of tact.

"What she said, I guess." Sakura said a moment later as she looked back to Naruko.

Naruko frowned softly as she looked away from the two girls. She turned her back to them and stared out over the village laid out before her.

"When I was younger and still living in the orphanage, the hokage used to come visit me all the time." Sakura and ino looked surprised at that." You see, my parents died the night I was born."

"During the nine tails attack?" Ino asked softly and Sakura elbowed her in the side while shooting her an 'are you serious?' Look." What?" Ino asked with an embarrassed blush.

"Yeah, during the nine tails attack." Naruko confirmed." At first he used to come by the orphanage and greet the rest of the kids but he always spent more time with me then any of the other kids." She smiled softly at the memories." He used to bring me birthday gifts, he never did that for any of the other kids! It made me feel special!" Naruko turned back to face both girls with a small smile on her face.

"The hokage really did that?" Sakura asked in wonder. The hokage was a busy man, even if he did his best to fill that grandfather roll for all of the academy kids, it was never anything more than a simple ' how are you doing today kids?' Or a ' I hope you all grow up to be splendid ninja'. Never had the third given any of the kids any attention like what he seemed to do with Naruko.

Naruko nodded her head." He was my first friend." She admitted." But as I got older, he visited less and less every year and I was fine with that you know? He was the hokage, he had so much to do." She told them.

"He used to tell me that the entire village was his family and I saw the way people treated him when we went out for food. The respect, the admiration and the genuine love that every single villager seemed to give him." She had a far away look in her blue eyes as she continued to speak." He told me that everyone treated him like that because he was the hokage, cause he did his best to protect each one of them, every single day. And that's when I knew I wanted to be the hokage." She admitted softly.

"I'd never had a family and the people around me seemed to hate me so much and I just didn't know why. So I told myself that, if I became the hokage then they would have to love me. They'd have to look at me, they'd have to acknowledge my existence. If I was the hokage then I'd never be forgotten... I'd never not matter."

Both ino and Sakura had wet eyes and whatever they wanted to say seemed to get caught up in their throats. The pure emotion in narukos voice seemed to choke even then.

"I'd be a person." Naruko continued softly." I'd be real." She whispered, sounding as if she was remembering a wonderful dream.

"So I started training and not long after I realized that I wasn't like everyone else. I'm stronger, faster and I was so happy because those traits were mine. No one could take that away from me. But no matter how hard I trained, how hard I tried, the people of the village were determined to hate me, to ignore my existence, to pretend that I wasn't real and it hurt." Naruko suddenly felt tears rolling down her own cheeks but she ignored them, even as her voice wavered.

"I was sad and alone all the time but why was that? Why didn't I have parents? Did they abandon me? Did they hate me? Did they love?" She questioned softly." So I went to the hokage and I asked him if he knew why I didnt have any parents"

                                     (Flashback)

"Jiji?" A three year old Naruko asked as she sat on the thirds lap with her head resting on his chest. He had an arm around her and he smiled down at her.

"Yes Naruko-Chan?" He asked, his aged voice seemed to smooth Naruko even more.

"How come I don't have a mommy or daddy?"

Hiruzen was silent for a few seconds but when he finally spoke, his voice was soft." You parents passed away during the nine tails attack three years ago." He told her as he ran his fingers through her blond hair.

"Did they love me?"

"With all their hearts my dear."

"Do you know who they were?"

"...no Naruko-Chan, I didn't know them..."

                                    (Flashback end)

"I found out recently that he lied to me." Naruko wiped her eyes and looked away from the sniffling girls. She turned away and sat back down, hugging her knees to her chest.

"B-but why?" Sakura sniffled." Why would he lie about that?" She asked as she wiped her eyes.

"Y-yeah, what gives?" Ino asked as she to wiped her eyes.

"He lied for the same reason the villagers seem to hate me so much." Naruko admitted quietly." He saw that I wasn't being treated right and knew that, should I not form any attachments to the village then I would be a flight risk." She frowned."he couldn't allow that to happen." She added softly.

To grunts later, ino and Sakura were over the railing and sitting on the ground on either side of her.

"But why?" Ino asked." You were just a kid, an orphan. No offense Naruko but I don't think the hokage would really care about an orphan running off."

Naruko smiled a little at inos words. She was a bright girl, even if she didn't really flaunt it as much a Sakura did.

"You're right ino-Chan, had I been just a regular orphan then he wouldn't care. But I'm not a regular orphan.. I'm this villages secret weapon. Their war repellent." She admitted softly. She didnt need to look at either girl to know that they were both staring at her curiously.

Naruko closed her eyes and took a small breath." The history books say that the night of the nine tails attack, the fourth hokage managed to kill it before he  succumbed to own wounds. But that's a lie." She shifted awkwardly." The truth is, is that night, the fourth hokage died sealing the nine tails away inside me. A new born baby." She'd just let that sink in.

Sakuras mind was spinning. The fourth hokage died sealing the nine tails away inside of a newborn Naruko? And the third hokage, along with all the grown ups, knew about it and proceeded to lie to their kids? Why would they do that? Why go through all that work just to continue to hate the blond sitting next to her?  Then a sudden and rather sad look crossed her face as her emerald eyes looked to her right and landed on Naruko.

'They lied about what happened just so they could pretend that it never happened but Naruko was the proof that it did happen so they... they ignored her.. pretended that she didn't exist.. how.. how horrible.'

"I'm a jinchuriki." Naruko told them." A human sacrifice. My body is used to imprison the nine tails, im forced, against my will, to protect everyone inside of this village, everyday, for the rest of my life."

Ino could feel the bitterness in narukos voice as she thought about everything that they'd just been told. "I see.." she said softly.

"What do you mean ino?" Sakura asked, looking to her friend.

Ino closed her eyes and let out a soft sight before opening them and staring right at Sakura.

"You came from a civilian family Sakura so you're still kinda new to this whole ninja things." Sakura pouted at that." I'm from a ninja clan so I know more about how these types of things works." There wasn't any smugness nor any teasing within her voice and there wasn't supposed to be. Ino was simply stating facts.

"Growing up apart of a ninja clan is different then growing up in a civilian family. From a young age were trained and taught to become a ninja. We're also taught more about world politics and about other hidden villages and we're always told how important we are to the village, but at the same time, growing up we're taught that no matter what, the village comes first. We're expected to lay down our lives for the village should the need arise."

Inos teal eyes panned over to Naruko." But if what Naruko says is true and she does hold the nine tails, then she's likely the most important person inside of the village, even more important then the hokage himself."

"What do you mean?" Sakura asked with wide eyes. Someone more important then the hokage himself? How could that be?

"I'm assuming that since Naruko isn't a giant fox demon destroying the village right now, that the seal separates Naruko from the kyubi." Seeing Naruko nod, ino continued." So think of it this way Sakura-Chan. If you were an enemy village, why would you dare to even think about attacking the leaf village if you knew that they had someone with the nine tails sealed inside of them?" She questioned rhetorically.

"Inos right." Naruko admitted as Sakura looked at her." The seal the fourth used allows me to access the nine tails chakra, it makes me stronger, faster, better in every way." She explained." Without the foxs chakra, I can still take down a group of anbu with little trouble- I'll explain later." She waved their curious looks off." Anyways, if I accessed the foxs chakra I'd be pretty much unstoppable but I've been face to face with the nine tails, I've asked it questions.." she ignored the twin looks of wonder that was suddenly written on their faces." If I use to much of its chakra, I'll lose my mind.. I'll become a real monster that'd kill anyone, friendlies and enemies alike." She frowned softly.

"But back to the point." Naruko said." I hold the strongest tails beast out there. The kyubi alone could take out just about anything by itself, even other tails beasts, other jinchurikis." She explained.

"Others? You're saying there's more then just you?" Ino asked in surprise.

Narukos lips thinned." Besides me there are eight other jinchuriki out there. I don't know their exact locations but I know that they exist." She answered.

"But enough about that, if you have more questions then I suggest you ask your parents about it." She told them." Back to the point of this entire conversation." She waved her hand." I've come to the conclusion that the hokage got close to me as a kid, simply to negate me as a flight risk. He manipulated me into devoting myself to the village despite them hating me. He lied to me about who my parents were and he would of continued to lie to me had I not found out that he was, in fact, lying in the first place."

Sakura and ino sat silently as they took narukos words in. To think that the hokage would do something like that, to a child no less, was... was believable.

Ino sighed sadly as she rubbed her eyes with her right hand." I think a part of him truly dose care about you Naruko but at the end of the day, he's still the hokage."

"He has to put the village first." Naruko replied with a small understanding nod." That doesn't mean that I have to continue playing along though."

"What are you gonna do then?" Sakura asked as she brought her knees up to her chest and rested her head on them.

"I've decided that I don't wanna be a ninja anymore." She told them." I don't wanna spend my life trying to protect people that hate me." She said with a small nod.

"That's why you haven't been to school?" Ino asked, getting another nod from the girl." I.. I don't blame you." She added.

Sakura nodded in agreement." But what about the stuff that happened at the hokages tower the other night?" She wondered softly.

"I found out who my mother was, she was someone that the hokage definitely knew." Naruko didn't feel like bringing up the fact that her mother was the nine tails previous jailer because that would bring up a lot of questions that she, herself, didn't have answers for." I was so angry, to learn that the one person I trusted the most, was lying to me my entire life." She explained softly." So I went to the tower and broke into the archive room, knocked out a few anbu and then proceeded to tear the place apart in search of her." She chuckled awkwardly.

"Jeez." Ino muttered out in shock. To just plain out attack the hokages tower like that was... was pretty damn cool!

"Yeah, not my finest moment." Naruko chuckled while she sheepishly scratched the back of her head.

The three sat in an almost comfortable silence for a bit. Each of them relaxed back against the safety railing and stared out at the village before them, framed by a beautiful sunset.

"Why did you tell us all this?" Sakura suddenly asked, her voice was soft but curious all the same.

Naruto, with her almost ever present smile, looked at her with sparkling blue eyes." I'm not sure." She admitted. She then looked back towards the village and closed her eyes. Her head tilted to the left slight and she basked in the sunset." I think I just needed to finally tell someone how I was feeling and you two just gave me the opportunity... plus." She added." You'll both grow up to be ninja and after this talk, you guys will most likely question a lot of things about the village and its people.. consider it a little pay back against the third."

"Great." Ino rolled her eyes." She's trying to corrupt us Sakura, to turn us against konoha." Both she and Sakura giggled a little at that.

                                             ***

Inochi sat worriedly at his dinning room table. It was almost eleven at night and ino still hadn't come home from school. He had started worrying but his wife, bless her sweet soul, simply waved his concern off and told him to relax and that she was probably at sakuras house doing homework or something before she went off to bed.

But he was her dad damnit! She was his spoiled little princess and he had every right to stay up all night worrying about her if he so desired!

He perked up when he heard the front door open and close. He stood up and walked into the living room to see ino sitting on the hardwood floors taking her sandals off.

"And where have you been young lady?" His tone was stern as he leaned against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest.

"Sorry I'm so late papa, I was hanging out with some friends." She answered as she neatly set her sandals to the side and stood up." But I'm happy you're up!" She said, smiling up at him.

Inochi blinked in surprise." Y-you are?" He asked. Was this supposed to work like that? From the books he read on parenting, no where did it say that the kid breaking the rules by staying out to late was ever happy to be caught by a parent.

"Yup!" Ino replied, popping her 'P'." Since you're up, you can answer some of my questions."

"Questions?" He asked with a tilt of his head.

"Yeah papa, you can start with this." She suddenly glared up at him." How about you tell me why you and the rest of the village hates Naruko for protecting us all from the nine tails."

Inochis fainted.