"Weren't my parents killed by the demon.. No, by Kurama?" Naruto asked. This point was something he had understood. Though he was supposed to harbor huge hatred for the fox that resided inside his body, for some reason he had never asked Kurama. He had always heard about the hatred a tailed beast had experienced in their lives.
He had been seeing Chomei for such a long time and over time he met Kurama. For this reason alone he never talked about his parents.
"Yes, technically speaking, they were killed by Kurama...."
"Don't use my names so casually..." Kurama shouted from inside the body of Naruto but he just shut him off. "How dare you ignore me.. I will kill you.."
"....But the rebel of Kurama was initiated by a man. A man who thought he knew better." Aoto said. This made Naruto stiffen up more. He wasn't expecting that it was actually a conspiracy by a human and not just a mindless beast's attack. All this time he had been harboring a bit of hatred for Kurama. Now he understood why Aoto never talked about his parents. It was because one would be consumed by hatred and would go down a mindless path. Naruto could understand Sasuke's hatred now. If he had known who was the person behind the death of his parents he himself would go down this path and maybe slowly lose himself.
The books of library often had stories of how someone consumed by hatred would go to demons and how they themselves would become demons at the end. They were just pawns by the demons to use. And those were some of the forbidden rituals.
"I understand brother. I will wait for you to tell more about my parents." Naruto said.
Aoto smiled and said. "From tomorrow, your ninjutsu training would be looked over by Jiraya sama."
"What? That pervy sage? That bastard teaches me nothing." Naruto threw a tantrum and Aoto just allowed Naruto to act like a kid. He knew that this innocence of Naruto wouldn't last long and soon the times would change. Naruto soon went to sleep. But Aoto was awake even at this late hour.
It was because Shikuro wanted to talk to him.
"What is it?" Aoto asked as he sat at the roof looking at the clear moon in the night sky. Shikuro had just appeared silently on the roof.
"There is a problem with the Kazekage?"
"Problem? He isn't Orochimaru. That much I can tell."
"No.." Shikuro shook his head in denial and then said. "I feel like the person isn't human." This made Aoto turn his head and look at him. Shikuro over time, being with Corazon had learnt a lot about sensing things around and at the moment Shikuro was one of the best ninjas at scouting and sensing around, thanks to his magic and ninjutsu.
"Make it clear." Aoto said.
"I feel like he is Rasa and then again not Rasa." Shikuro said. Aoto had his eyebrows scrunched as he heard that. Not because he didn't believe the words of Shikuro but he couldn't think of why Shikuri had sensed that from Rasa.
"Covey this feelings of your to Hokage." Aoto said.
"As you wish." Shikuro replied and then vanished from his place. Aoto continued to look at the moon and nobody knew what he was thinking.
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The next day.
It was quite noisy at the morning unlike the silent mornings that Aoto preferred. Karin and Naruto were already at each other's throats. Karin asked him what he knew about Uzumaki and Naruto couldn't reply which made Karin insult him and thus making Naruto angry.
Thus the arguments. Aoto could only sigh at these two children and make breakfast.
"Karin, Corazon will come to take you to register as a refugee and give you a place to stay which will be under your name and have a monthly allowance." Aoto said. Karin, who had been harping to Naruto could only stop the argument and just be silent hearing that. After that she and Naruto stopped arguing and just had their breakfast in silence.
By silence, I mean, Naruto was still being the chirping bird that he was. But at the end, they finished their food. Corazon soon came to take Karin away while Jiraya came an hour later to take Naruto to training.
But Aoto didn't find solace with himself because now he had more guests. It was Hinata. But she wasn't alone. She had come with head of the clan and Neji. Neji didn't have any emotions in his face but one could tell he hated being around them. But the two others didn't feel burdened by his emotions at all.
"Aye Hinata.. You look as shining as ever." Aoto said with a big smile.
"Thank you Aoto nii-san."
"It's a pleasure to meet you again. Aoto-san." The clan head said.
"Hmph..." Neji didn't have any particular feeling for this man. If it all there was hatred against this man. The one who stopped the fight. He knew in his heart that at the end he couldn't defeat the monsters that Hinata had summoned but he refused to give up without a fight.
"I guess he has many questions. But before that let us meet the other person." Aoto said as he waved his hands. Almost immediately, the attire of the three changed. It turned from smooth and comfortable Japanese style clothing to coarse styled western clothing.
"What is this?" Neji was surprised that somebody could even change his attire without even touching him. This made him more vigilant against Aoto. He had heard rumors about this rich man before but he never bothered since he wasn't a ninja to begin with. Now he knew how narrow his vision was. Was that what the clan head was telling him about?
The faces of Hinata and the clan head lit up when they saw the attire change, because they knew what was going to happen next. What followed immediately was the change of scenery.
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