Arriving at their home Kaito put his ninja tabi off and walked barefoot towards the kitchen to get himself something to drink.
When he returned and entered the living room he could see Naruto sitting on the couch with his knees close to his body and enveloped with his arms. His head was resting on his arms and a very sad look was placed on his face.
Kaito knew very well what went through the head of his brother at the moment. Taking a clear gulp from his water bottle, he placed it on the table and joined Naruto on the couch.
Actually Kaito didn't really know how to start this conversation. So he started with a question. "Do you want to talk about it?"
Naruto´s gaze wandered up to his brother and stayed there for a while until he dodged his question and stayed silent.
Kaito got a little bit annoyed by that response. It was rather childish from Naruto but Kaito knew what he was thinking so he took it to heart and only sighed softly.
"Are you thinking about the Nine-Tails inside of us?" Kaito let the cat out of the bag.
Naruto made a surprised expression and his eyes became big. "What!?"
"Don't make me repeat it. I know what Mizuki revealed to you. You know it was all just to anger you...right?"
"How do you know? Wait, don't tell me you also knew about it and didn't tell me anything?"
"Whoah there. You are jumping to some weird conclusions" Kaito raised his brows and made a gesture as if he was innocent. Leaning back into the couch he even raised his arms to signal that he was not at fault.
True enough Naruto was spot on but that didn't matter. "I heard it from Iruka when I healed him and asked about your wellbeing. It was a little bit earlier before you ran into Mizuki."
Naruto looked at Kaito somewhat suspiciously but calmed down. Thinking about the truth made him sad again. Then he looked back at Kaito and a weird confused look replaced the sad one after realizing something.
"You...don't feel bad?"
"About what?", asked Kaito back at him.
"The nine-tails...that we were lied to.", answered Naruto.
"You are making such a big deal about it. So what? We got each a part of the Nine-Tails inside of us, who cares?... Well, we do know now why people show us those cold eyes. They fear us, I guess. It is a small relief knowing the reason now."
"Relief?" Naruto frowned. "Kaito, we are the ones at fault for..."
"Stop right there." Kaito interrupted. "We are at fault at nothing. It was not our decision to become the hosts for the nine-tails. And don't even think about putting that blame on yourself. People talk a lot and need someone they can put their blame on for their misery. And we just became that - scapegoats. But we never should acknowledge their wrong words or their hate. Instead, we should work on changing their mindset. Remember our promise, Naruto. It changes nothing now that we know the truth."
Kaito outstretched his fist to him again as he did before and Naruto looked at it for a while. Smiling he bumped it with his own.
"You are right. Just one more reason to become Hokage and show them!" Naruto regained some of his old vigor.
"But there is something else I am also thinking about.", added Naruto.
"What is it?"
"Mizuki mentioned a Jutsu inside the forbidden scroll that could revive people...Revive our parents...Do you think he was lying?" Naruto looked at him while asking that question.
Kaito narrowed his eyes after hearing that question. "Maybe. It could be possible but you also can't be sure if he just plain and simply lied. But nevertheless. I don't want to even think about the cost of such a Jutsu. We are talking about life and death here, Naruto..."
"I am not concerned so much about that but...to see our parents...I really would like that to happen. Even if it isn't possible..." Now Naruto was placing a hand near his chest and grabbed his shirt a bit.
"You know...I nearly ran off with that scroll..." A clear confession on his side came out as well.
Kaito really felt his sadness and even his own heart started to ache a little. Yes, even he longed to use the Edo Tensei. But just as the name implied it was an impure way to bring back souls. And another point would be that their parent's souls were sealed.
"...I know, brother. I know..." With those last words from Kaito, a long time of silence fell and they just sat there on the couch and didn't say anything at all.
Later Kaito bumped his shoulder softly and then stood up from the couch to leave and get some sleep. But he knew very well this talk would give him a rather bad sleep.
-
The next few days passed rather normally for the two.
Just on the day when they had to return back to the academy to receive the information who would be their Jonin sensei it was Naruto who had a sudden change in attitude.
He was rather happy and cheerful. That appearance made even Kaito smile and happy inside.
"You feeling a lot better now?", he asked him when they were about to leave.
"You were right, brother. We should always look forward and not back. There are no shortcuts in life.", answered Naruto with a grin.
"Huh? And whose wise words are those?" Kaito actually chuckled because he had to think about the future Naruto.
Naruto actually blushed a little bit after seeing his brother laughing about his words like that. "Hey..."
"No, you are completely right." Kaito smiled brightly. "So, who did you meet that made you think like that?"
Naruto actually had met with Konohamaru and got a certain boost of confidence through him.
Truly, bonds can come in many forms. Well, in this case, it came in the form of the Harem no Jutsu that would later become one of the most legendary perverted Jutsu that even affected beings like Kaguya.
But until then, Kaito certainly hit Naruto his head ever time he did such embarrassing Jutsu close to him. Maybe it was his modern mind thinking that he should not turn into some sort of transvestite?
Even Jiraiya the perverted hermit didn't come up with such a Jutsu because he valued his masculinity.
Well, actually it could be argued if he was gay or not since he asked Naruto to turn into his female version more than once to get "inspirations". He also never had a child, right?