Unshackled: A Naruto Fanfiction

Chapter 4: Facts

"Well, I'm not sure exactly where to start, Hokage-sama," Naruto replied respectfully while scratching his cheek awkwardly. He was sitting in one of the two chairs that were placed in front of the Hokage's desk and Kakashi was standing against the wall on the left side of the room, his arms crossed and his one visible eye closed. 

Naruto wasn't sure if he was sleeping, thinking deeply, or maybe intently listening to whatever he had to say. Hiruzen spoke. "Just try and think back to your first memory and start from there. Like where did you live? Who raised you? Things like that." Hiruzen explained. Naruto formed an o with his mouth before closing it and nodding. 

"Okay then. Uh," He thought for a moment, his eyes scrunching up in concentration before his eyes lit up as a memory hit him. "Oh yeah! I remember living with this small group of shinobi who wore different headbands from different villages with scratches through them! And we lived in a lot of places, I even lived in woods of Fire Country for a while." 

"Do you know the names of these people?" They sounded like a small group of missing-nin to him. Were they the ones who stole Naruto from birth? Naruto shrugged.

"They never bothered to tell me their names." He answered. "And it was like that for a couple of years before they sent me off to live in this really small village in Sacoma. A nice family took me in and I lived there for about a year," He suddenly got sad, his features turning downcast. "But on the day I was supposed to get the food from the nearest town, when I got back, they were all-" He choked off, his hands balling into fists. 

"You don't have to say it, Naruto-kun," Hiruzen said gently. "I'm very sorry for your loss." Naruto let out a small sniffle as he wiped the tears from his eyes, laughing softly.

"Thank you, gramps, but it's not your fault. I'm not sure what got them." His eyes suddenly widened. "I mean Hokage-sama! I apologize for-" He stopped when the elderly Hokage rose a hand, a kind smile gracing his aged lips. 

"It's quite alright, Naruto-kun. I like it when the people of my village address me with familiarity," He said with a small chuckle at the boy's alarm at speaking so casually to the highest-ranking official in the village. "And please continue with your upbringing, I apologize for interrupting." 

"It's fine," Naruto replied with a small smile before continuing. "Well after that, the group of people found me again and I stayed with them up until last month." 

"And did they teach you anything, Naruto-kun?" Hiruzen asked. "I can sense that you have abnormally large chakra levels for an average civilian, in fact," He closed his eyes, enhancing his senses with chakra before a small smile graced his lips. "You have just a bit more chakra than I did in my prime." 

"Wow really?" Naruto gasped in amazement before chuckling. "Well, it's probably because of the furball my father sealed into me." After he said those words it was silent. Neither Kakashi nor the Hokage said a word as Naruto felt a bit of tension enter the room. 

A bead of sweat trailed down the side of his face as Naruto grinned sheepishly. "Oh right, we haven't really got to that part yet, have we?" 

"No we haven't," The Hokage said in a bit of a tired tone. "How do you know that Minato Namikaze was your father?" He asked. Had someone told the raven-haired boy? If so, who? Very few people had the knowledge of Naruto's parentage, most of them had dismissed the fact due to the fact that the Jinchuuriki was stolen from birth.

"The man who stole me told me," Naruto explained as Kakashi's eye flew open as he strained his ears to listen closer. "He wore a mask whenever we interacted and spoke in a super dark and scary voice. He told me that I was the Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi and the son of Minato Namikaze, the Fourth Hokage."