[Open] I truly am a dobe

[namikaze_naruto]

Naruto was out at one of the training grounds, working out as he often was. He needed to keep his skills sharp, in case things started going bad. Granted, in a way this place was perfect. He had his parents back, he had a group of little 'brothers.' He even had hopes for someone for the future. Now he just had to stay strong, for his previous people.

However, today was not a good day, because of the piece of paper that dropped to the ground in front of him. Being the curious one he was he picked it up... and his entire world shattered.

'It's your fault.'

Not even Kurama's voice was heard, as his heart fell backwards in memory. Something about those words triggered in him events that started when he earned his forehead protector. Mizuki. The traitor working for Orochimaru. However, it was a fear and doubt that was always at the back of his mind. He thought back to everyone whom had been harmed or died because of their involvement with him. His parents, Iruka-sensei, those who died during the Kyuubi's release before it was sealed... Hinata.

Something happened to him, something that had not happened for a very long time. He no longer could hear Kurama, and his chakra began to go out of balance, creating a bubbling red cloak around him... as he felt nothing but hate and loathing with himself... for the second time ever, Namikaze Naruto was falling into despair.

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[heroscomeback]

He had been gathering nature chakra daily, if only to feel safe should that war he'd heard of be declared to reach them. There was no way he couldn't have felt that, but feeling such a shift when it wasn't happening to him litteraly?

He didn't have any friend in his own Kyuubi, and so he too, was shifting in response. Hell if Naruto was letting this darn fox out though. That doesn't mean it's going to be a kyuubi party over there! Whatever was happening, it was BAD, and Naruto rushed to where his other, slightly older self was, bubbling with angry red chakra.

"Hey bro! Settle down!" he tried to first at least have him hear a voice, unsure of what had even triggered that raection.
No enemies near or anything? Maybe it was bad ramen? Nah, no ramen was bad...

[namikaze_naruto]

The head slowly turned toward his other self, one of the younger ones. His lip twitched slightly, before a voice exited his throat, one that was a mix of two voices: Naruto's on, and a voice that his other wouldn't know as he didn't train with Bee.

"It was us..."

A second tail erupted from behind him as he slowly shifted to a postion of all fours, nostrils flaring as he prepared to strike.

"We were a mistake... they are all dead, because of us."

He dug in now, rearing back, giving the other Naruto a chance to know this was going to be a fight.

"Now it's time to erase that mistake!"

[heroscomeback]

Okay, it might be like himself, but.. he didn't get whatever the hell he was saying.

"Us? Mistake? What're you sayin?" no matter how much the words confused him, however, he could tell a fightw as coming when he saw one, but... against himself?

"Erase?" He did meant erase him.. or himself? Regardless, neither option was good. "Hell if I'll agree with that! No one's gonna be erased! What's happenin to you?" he was uncertain what kind of rampage he would go on into, but...
"Go ahead then! Whatever you're feeling, just take it all out on me!" after all, what he had promised Sasuke... so if he couldn't atke his own self's pain or hatred or whatever this was.....

...even here...

"Come on!" he stood, still as rock.

[namikaze_naruto]

The Kyuubified Naruto launched himself at his Sage Mode self, growling as he extended a chakra clawed arm to strike at him.

"The villagers DIED because of us!! Because we are the demon! They feared our power, and rightfully so!"

As his other self accepted what was coming, he gave a feral grin that had no right to be on his face, and he gave a sick chuckle.

"Then for Hinata... for Iruka-sensei... for Konoha... accept death with me!!"

And from the hand that flew at the Sage, he would see the piece of paper with that single sentence.

[heroscomeback]

Well, that thing sort of hurt. Normally, it was him striking at people like that. He gave a light groan, unsure of whatever gave out, but pretty certain part of his chest had been raked. He was sent backwards with the first strike, and the second....

the second....

He stared at the paper.
....his fault?

Is that why this is going on now? is that why he's... accepting--

"Hell no"! he cried out, rolling away at the last second. "I'm gonna be Rokudaime! You too!" well somehow. "None of us are dying!" he got to his feet, eyes narrowing even as his chest oozed some blood. "I'm NOT going to bear that rage of yours if I gotta die! Besides, Hinata's still alive, and iruka-sensei too!" Konoha might not be still standing where he is from, but... "Not gonna say everyone's fine, but get a grip! Cause I'm not lettin go of my dream, or my way, and I'm NOT lettin you forget those either!"

[namikaze_naruto]

Oh that just pissed him off even more, a third tail sprouting instantly when he said not everyone's fine.

"Hinata-chan would not nearly have died if we had just died when we were supposed to!! Nor would Iruka-sensei have taken a shuriken to the spine for us!! Nor would Pein have attacked Konoha!!"

Every sentence was followed up with a chakra claw strike, raking through the defense of the sage. But he'd put things together fast enough. Namikaze Naruto was accepting the 'truth' - that everyone's deaths are his fault, and if he had died, they'd still be alive.

"The Fourth Shinobi War wouldn't HAPPEN if Baa-chan had thrown us out and given us to Akatsuki!!!"

[heroscomeback]

He was holding up, even if he -was- getting partially shredded back there. if he only had time to pepare... but no, this was unforeseen, and besides he NEVER had plans when heading into stuff, they just came up as he went.

"What don't you get in 'still alive'? They both got through! Iruka-sensei's even the best ramen pal ever!" except, yeah..well... hearing that? "If it wasn't for us, wouldn't it have been for someone else!?" he cried over the protests even as he found himself rolling and not quite dodging the strikes.

The last claw strike, however...?
"Fourth Shinobi--waaugh!" he,d frozen when he heard that, unable to believe such a thing. No one had told him that! The result was that he had ended up struck, and sent against a nearby building, coughing. The Sage Mode wasn't going to hold for long.

He was about to throww some really great thing that had come to himd, but... no... "H-how... how'd a WAR happen!?"

[namikaze_naruto]

He rolls his eyes but decides to play with his other self before finishing the job on them both.

"Yes they are 'still alive', but they would never have been hurt in the first place!!! It's our fault she nearly died at Pain's hands! Our fault Ero-sennin died finding out about Pain! Hell if we hadn't been so stupid as to steal the Forbidden Scroll Iruka-sensei wouldn't have been hurt!"

While he ranted, and stalked the Sage, it gave him time to set up some sort of defense. At the question of the war his look turned darker.

"Baa-chan decided to send us away to learn how to control the Kyuubi once and for all, but in reality she was hiding us from Akatsuki while organizing all the shinobi nations to fight Akatsuki. Hundreds of shinobi DIED for us! Lives that deserved to live more than we did!!

[minatosthebest]

Kushina had felt the out of balance chakra, knowing it was Naruto. Which one, she couldn't tell, but it didn't matter. She was running as fast as she could to find her baby. And when she found him, she took a minute to absorb the sight of a Naruto surrounded by red, bubbling chakra.

"Naruto-kun," she shouted as she walked closer to him slowly. "What's the matter?"

[namikaze_naruto]

The Naruto she found was clutching his head, one of those slips of paper barely noticeable slowly burning due to the youki that was emanating from her son. Looking up, the vulpine pupils saw her and she saw hate and pain within them, but neither were directed at her.

"The specters of the dead... too good for us"

The second tail grew from him as he almost wanted to curl up into himself, shaking.

"The shinigami should have taken us... not the villagers... not our parents..."

[minatosthebest]

It was then that she noticed the tails sprouting from his body and she ran the rest of the way and put her hands on his shoulders, ignoring the way that the youki attacked her. "Naruto-kun, stop this right now," she said forcefully. "Please, listen to me."

[namikaze_naruto]

The eyes were near vacant, that paper sizzling even slower away.

"The dead can't influence the living."

He gripped his head again with another growl, trying to resist the growing pain as he thought of everyone who died due to Akatsuki's 'bounty hunting' during his three years of training, that would never have died if he'd given himself up sooner.

[minatosthebest]

She growled in anger. She'd heard about Kurama trying to influence her baby. "Shut up, you stupid fox! You don't control my son and I'll make sure that Minato doesn't kick your ass again. I can still chain you down, you stupid thing! You let him go, NOW!"

[namikaze_naruto]

A dark chuckle passed his throat, as he grinned.

"Oh, but kaa-san..." The term of endearment twisted to taunting glee "...we ARE your son! We are the son who doesn't hide from the truth that we are the demon! We are what the village feared! And we should have died!!!"

The sick glee turned to righteous anger and hate. "You should have let us die!!!! Then you would be alive!!!"

[minatosthebest]

She sneered as that voice came out of her son. "You don't know a damn thing about anything. And I thought you were the smart one. A parent doesn't just let their child die. What kind of life would I have had if you had? You think your father would have been able to look at me if I'd killed you? You think I would have been able to look at me?"

"The fault of this is the person who attacked me while I was giving birth, the person who released Kurama and made it so that your father and I left you an orphan to save you and the village." She put both of her hands on her hips to show her displeasure. "So, don't you give me any of this crap."

[namikaze_naruto]

"You would have been hailed by Konoha as the slayer of the Kyuubi! You would be ALIVE! It was OUR fault so many died..." He started growing angry at her as the third tail sprouted and started lashing about. "Your life was more important than ours... so you've got a second chance now. Kill us now, and avenge the souls of all those we killed... or we can do the job ourselves."

[withoutareason]

He'd spotted the older him, the quiet one, and picked his way closer, trying to determine exactly what was going on. He didn't like it, but... he was well within sight by the time the other blond actually looked up, having stopped just beyond reach.

[namikaze_naruto]

The nose would flare, picking up the scent of a kit. Even in this state, there were things that could not be done, and so with fully empowered limbs, he pushed off from the ground, the flight instinct kicking in.

[withoutareason]

He took two steps after him, holding out a hand. "Wait!"

[one_without_wings]

The boy was strolling through, humming a happy song under his breath. He'd finished some training, and even though he learned nothing new lately, he -was- getting really good at what he did know.

He shouted happily as he spied a familiar face nearby. "Oldest-Naruto! Good day!"
...but he was staring at a paper, and apparently had not heard him. He took a step back as visible chakra started to bubble, still a distance away. "...Oldest-Naruto? Y'okay?" he asked, voice half a whimper as he turned on his sharingan.

Never before had he witnessed a chakra like this. He was pretty new to the whole sharingan thing, but...well.. that chakra was pulsating! Even the naked eye could see it!

[namikaze_naruto]

The being looked up, and locked eyes with the sharingan. Right there, painful memories of control and torture echoed through. Even in this state however, he could not bring himself to harm a child. As he could not fight, he did the only thing he could do, run as far away from Sasuke and the village as possible.

[one_without_wings]

"Ah! Oldest-Naru--- wait!" he cried out, running off after him. "Why're you runnin away?" was it because somehow he scared him? Maybe it was the sharingan? No, Naruto probably saw it so many times.. it just couldn't be that.

"Stop! How'm I supposed t'help if you run!?" he cried at the top of his lungs, the other running quite faster than he himself could.

[hiraishin_no_namikaze]

The conversation with Kushina had been enlightening, and it explained why he'd met a child version of his son who was so much older than the infant Minato had been forced to seal a demon into. But it had also been a lot to take in, and while he was pretty damn smart most of the time, he also needed time to think - which has wasn't going to get if he stayed at Mikoto-san's house while Kushina was there. She...had a way with distracting him.

So a walk was in order, and he needed to familiarize himself with the terrain anyway. But halfway through a leap from one tree to the next, he felt the abrupt swell of that too-familiar chakra and instantly changed directions. He had no hiraishin tags set up here yet, aside from the one at Mikoto-san's house, so it took him a few minutes before he landed a few yards away from that bubbling mass of chakra.

Instantly, he felt a hand squeeze painfully at his heart. Even under that boiling chakra, he recognized Naruto's features. It wasn't the one he'd met earlier - the young-ish child. This one seemed a lot older; and he was clearly in trouble.

[namikaze_naruto]

The jinchuriki slowly looked up, eyes slitted in rage as he gazed on the one who had done this to him. "Ahhhh Yondaime-sama... how good of you to join us." He slowly shifted in his hunched over form to get a better look at the man. "How does it feel, to know this is what you turned us into?"

[hiraishin_no_namikaze]

It took a moment for him to swallow past the lump in his throat; that hand was just squeezing his heart tighter and tighter. But the words - those snapped him out of it.

"They say 'never trust a demon fox, for all it spouts are lies'," was his cool retort. Minato could flip between casual jounin and Yondaime at the drop of a hat. Obviously he'd just done so. Chakra spiked, swirling languidly in his palm in preparation of a fight. "I say, let my son go." Despite the emphasis, his words were mild; blue eyes, however, had gone electric and icy.