Another path

A fate that leads to another path

Alone. All alone once again. Naru was standing in a cosy flat, lost in her thoughts. She had a lot of time to think by herself now. No mother to help housekeeping. No father to talk with. No brothers to play tag and get into arguments with.
She would never get to speak with Teyaki and Uruchi ever again. She would never get to play with Izumi nor sneak some snacks from Mikoto ever again.
Her existence had just crashed down in the most brutal way possible and she was back to her miserable life as an orphan. After experiencing warmth and love, it became painfully clear how cold and lonely she had been until then.
The worst with this was how the villagers would accuse her of playing a part in the whole incident. Some just said she had brought bad fortune on the whole clan for fostering a demon but the most extreme civilians thought she had somehow convinced Itachi to slaughter his clan.
In fact, after Shisui's death, even the Uchiha had become wary of her.
She wasn't allowed anywhere near Sasuke, not that she went out much. She had dropped from the Academy three days before graduation. No one noticed but her sensei.

Naru had become very aware of the fact that, no matter how much she tried and struggled, those people would never accept her. If she worked hard, they could put aside the fact she was a "demon" but any mistake would lead them to loathe and curse her existence.

When she went to sleep, she wore a shirt of her late mother to bathe in its smell so it felt like she was still with her. It helped a tad with her terrors.

She talked with Hayase, Koharu and the Sandaime about what she should do next with her education. All agreed for her to keep training and join the exams two years later so she would be placed with kids her age, some being the clan heirs so she might be able to befriend them. Naru accepted this. At this point, she might just accept anything anyway.

*Time skip*

Naru was meditating in the middle of the forest, away from human beings and all their noise. She had graduated hours ago and went here right after picking her hitai-ate as she didn't feel like celebrating with others. Meditation helped her focus for when she had to create intricate seals or train in medical ninjutsu. Since chakra control wasn't her forte, she did this quite often.
She concentrated on her chakra, the way it flowed in her body, how it felt in her veins.
Suddenly, she felt something that seemed a bit foreign. It was a chakra very similar to hers and yet she could say it wasn't exactly the same. She intensified her focus and everything went black.

When the girl opened her eyes, she saw a verdant meadow covered in colourful flowers. There was a river coursing through the meadow and a great tree in the middle of the place.
Naru walked toward the tree and there she noticed how its branches looked like cell bars. She touched the tree, entranced by its beauty.

" - At last, you have arrived.
A voice spoke from the tree.

- I've been waiting for this for so long... Suzuka, I can finally touch you again !

Naru could now see a red-haired woman with wet golden eyes trying to reach out for her. She had no idea who this was but it just felt right. Before she knew it, her body had moved on its own and she was leaning her cheek on the woman's hand. Said woman looked surprised at first but quickly a warm, fond smile made its way on her face. She gently stroke the little girl's face.

- Excuse-me, miss, but who are you ?

- Well, I know it's hard to believe, but I'm your mother.

- My biological mom ?

- Yes, indeed. I am so sorry for everything you had to go through, sweetheart... It is my fault people shun you away all the time.

- Why ?... Oh, are you the Kyūbi ?

- That is correct. My name is Kurama, also known as the Kyūbi no Kitsune and twelve years ago, I went on a rampage and destroyed the village."

Naru - or rather Suzuka - looked at her mother with curiosity and innocently asked what happened.
So Kurama told her how she used to be contained by Uzumaki Kushina and how she fell in love with Minato. It wasn't rare for Kurama to switch places with Kushina so quickly, her parents fell in love. However, the night Suzuka was born, a masked stranger took advantage of the seal's weakened state to put Kurama under a genjutsu. In a blind rage, she attacked the village and many lives were lost before Minato, the Yondaime Hokage, could stop her. As a bijū, her soul can survive without a body so Minato undid the genjutsu on Kurama's spirit while her body kept trying to kill everything within its reach. Minato then sealed Kurama's soul and body inside their daughter, forfeiting his own soul in the process.
After learning about this, Suzuka cried a lot. Both of sadness and joy. Knowing her parents had loved her was such a relief to her. Kurama hugged her through the bars of her cage and they stayed like this for hours.
At one point, Suzuka had to leave though so she said goodbye to her mother, saying she would visit her at least once a day. Kurama assured her they could still talk once she was awake now that Suzuka was aware of her presence.

When Suzuka opened her eyes, she was still in the forest but Iruka-sensei was facing her. He had been waiting for her to be done with her meditation to propose they went to Ichiraku to celebrate Naru's graduation.
The blond happily nodded and followed him with a smile that had been missing for two years from then.
She felt ready to keep going. Naru would always love and morn her family, but now she knew she had people who truly loved and cared for her and wanted to protect them at any cost.
That was her dream.

________

<It's about to get interesting ! I still won't linger on the first part of Naruto but it will be quite more developed than the last two chapters.
Also, there is Sakura bashing. I've been debating whether or not I should do it and in the end, it felt more logical to do so. So if you like Sakura, just know I don't have much good things to say about her. Anyway, have a nice day and thanks for reading !>