Chapter 2

Ever since that day, Naruto studied even more rigorously and beginning physical training as well. Granted, a four year old such as him could not do much, but he did his best. He ran 4 rounds around the village, did every exercise he could think of and practiced his kunai and shurikenjutsu. He took those weapons by sneaking into the practice grounds and collecting them.

To his surprise, the art of throwing shuriken and kunai came very naturally to him. He started throwing after taking a book about weapons left behind on a training ground. He had shaken his head at the disrespect shown to the book, but took it with him anyway. Just two weeks of practice and he was throwing all bullseyes.

That was not the only surprising thing. He had found that he could recover very quickly from physical exhaustion and wear and tear on his muscles. He recalled that he recovered surprisingly quickly after the beating from the villagers. 'A bloodline perhaps?' He didn't dwell on it further, but filed it away for later.

But today was special. So special that he would have to take extra measures in staying safe. Because today was his birthday, and he was just kicked out of the orphanage. Roaming in the streets, he suspected what would happen in the evening.

Today was the day the villagers celebrated as the Kyuubi festival, the day the Yondaime defeated the Kyuubi and the day he would be beaten within an inch of his life or hunted and possibly killed.

An epiphany struck him like lightning, causing him to suddenly stop in middle of the street.

Yondaime…. Kyuubi's defeat…treatment of the villagers…..demon boy….jiji's avoidance of the topic

No, he wouldn't…..

Naruto ran from the street, meandering between people with the grace of a seasoned dancer or flowing water. He ran like it was no one's business, reaching his favorite spot, the head of the Yondaime, in record time. Anyone who saw him, had flashbacks of another blonde running like a man possessed.

'I need to confirm whether it's true or not', he thought grimly, afraid of what he would find. He sat down on the head of the famed Hokage in a meditative posture and reached within or rather, spoke within.

'Kyuubi, if you are inside me, I want to meet you, please', for a full five minutes there was no reply and Naruto was beginning to relax when something pulled on his mind.

Naruto opened his eyes to find himself in a dark corridor. He narrowed his eyes. 'Is this my mindscape?', he thought in disgust as he walked forward. He kept walking for a few minutes and stopped seeing some light at the end of the corridor. It seemed to pull him towards it. 'Time to find out what is at the end', with that thought, he walked again, stopping only until the end.

It was a huge room, so large and vast it was that the ceiling was impossible to find. He looked around, his eyes seeing black stone and nothing more. But the elephant in the room was a large iron barred door, with a paper on it that said seal.

He gazed at the piece of paper, resignation written in his eyes. His azure eyes looked past the cage, looking for what he knew was in the cage. He was just waiting for the Kyuubi to open his eyes.

Based on what he had read, Kyuubi was a being of pure hatred and evil. A mindless beast capable of destruction on a scale hitherto undreamt of. But Naruto was skeptical when he read that. He might get to see it for himself now.

A growl sounded from the cage, sending a breath of hot air in Naruto's face.

Naruto steeled himself, in spite of the cage separating him from the beast within. An enormous red eye opened, causing Naruto to tense up. They eye looked at him, as if evaluating him. The eye then started to rise, causing Naruto to look up at the massive form.

The Kyuubi had orange, silky looking fur, with black markings around his eyes connected to his, funnily enough, rabbit like ears. The upper body was humanoid, including the hands. The lower body was just like a fox, barring the nine, long swaying tails in the back. Fire was the closest thing they looked like.

The red, slitted eyes looked him closely with a hint of malice. Naruto spoke first.

"Thank you for answering my call, Kyuubi", he said with a nod.

If Kyuubi was surprised, he didn't show it. Inside however, he was mighty shocked. This was not the first thing he expected his jailor to say. He expected him to look at him with fear, asking whether he really was the Kyuubi, following with the denial of the possibility. He did expect him to thank him at all.

He replied, "Think nothing of it. I'm surprised though, that you were able to figure it out so quickly. Why aren't you surprised?", he asked with curiosity.

Naruto sat down in front of the cage, which surprised the great bijuu further. Naruto was showing that he was willing to relax in front of him.

"Well, I was, for a few moments at least. But it wasn't that difficult to figure out. It is easy to create a plausible theory once you have all the relevant facts", he said, never breaking eye contact with the Kyuubi.

Kyuubi raised a massive eyebrow, silently impressed with his host. His thought processes were very intelligent for someone who was only five-years old. He was bold as well, bold enough to maintain eye contact with him. He also could not sense any fear from the boy.

"Why aren't you afraid of me?", he asked him.

Without a moment of hesitance Naruto answered, "Because you are misunderstood."

This time surprise was visible on Kyuubi's face, which was quickly followed by anger.

"What did you just say? Chose your next words very carefully", he growled out.

Naruto wasted no time in answering, "In all the books I have read, they described you as a being of pure hatred. But that is only a one sided understanding, isn't it?", he asked with a sad smile.

Before Kyuubi could answer, Naruto continued, "Humans fear what they can't understand. The foremost aspect of your personality that they have seen is hatred, which, while a big part of you, conceals the being underneath that can feel emotions just like us. Isn't that right Kyuubi?"

Kyuubi was astounded at the amount of understanding his host showed towards him. Perhaps he could….

"What do you want?"

Naruto looked at him with his azure blues, reminding Kyuubi of another set of blues that looked at him fearlessly before sealing him.

"If you wouldn't mind", a hesitant smile appeared on Naruto's face, "Would you be my friend?"

Kyuubi was truly stupefied at the request. For the first time, in centuries of his existence, someone had asked if they could be his friend. Naruto saw that the Kyuubi was surprised and for the Kyuubi, if Naruto's request was not surprising enough, he was totally blown away by what Naruto did next.

Naruto got up from his spot and walked, into the cage. He walked up close and offered a hand for him to take.

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki, and it is nice to meet you."

Kyuubi had abandoned all signs of remaining composed and was openly gaping at Naruto. But he composed himself quickly and gave a sincere smile to Naruto. Seeing Naruto was too small to even shake his finger, he extended his index nail to him.

"My name is Kurama. Nice to meet you too, Naruto."