Hello there, and welcome to the first chapter of my first story ! English is not my native language, so except some grammatical errors.

Disclaimer : I do not own Naruto.

It was a beautiful day in the Land of Fire. The sun was shining brigthly in the deep blue sky, with only a few fluffy white clouds floating here and there. And it was during this beautiful day that two people were travelling on the road, heading towards the North, out of the country.

The oldest of the two travellers was a tall man, with a mane of unruly and spiky white hair tied in a long ponytail and kept on the front by a horned hitai-ate made of steel and engraved with the kanji for « oil ». His attire consisted of a green kimono and matching pants, tied by a black belt, with a mesh shirt underneath, a red haori with two yellow circles on each side, traditional red geta, arm guards and a huge scroll that he was carrying on his back. On his face were red markings running down his eyes and a wart on the left side of his nose.

The youngest and, by a large margin, shortest, traveller was a thirteen year old blond boy, with bright blue eyes, three whiskers marks on each cheek, and a deficient fashion sense, as he was wearing a bright orange and blue jumpsuit, with a white collar, a white swirl on his left arm and a red whirlpool insigna on his back, orange pants with a shuriken holster and bandages on his right leg, and blue sandals.

Said boy, whose name was Uzumaki Naruto, was currently babbling about and pestering his travelling companion, Jiraiya of the Sannin, Toad Sage of the legendary Mount Myōboku and self-proclaimed Super Pervert, for a training session.

Currently, the two shinobi were on a two and a half years-long training trip, and they have been on the road for about a week. And, beside walking and camping, they still did nothing. Which was annoying Naruto greatly, resulting in the current situation.

"Dammit, Ero-Sennin! Teach me a justu! It's been a whole week and you still didn't teach me anything! I wanna train, ya know!"

Said Ero-Sennin didn't hear his student's angry demands, as he was deep in thought. One of the reasons Jiraiya took Naruto on this training trip was to help him controlling the power of the beast sealed inside of him.

Naruto was indeed a jinchūriki, a human containing a bijū, a living and conscious mass of chakra of immense power. The blonde boy was the container of the most powerful of them all, the Kyūbi, and because of it he was being hunted by a group of mercenary with unknown motives, composed of dangerous S-rank nukenin, the Akatsuki. If Naruto was able to use the power of the Kyūbi, he would be able to defend himself with more ease.

And thus, Jiraiya, who was the keeper of the key opening the seal that kept the Kyūbi in check, was wondering if, perhaps, opening said seal would make the control of the bijū easier for his blond student.

The risks were high : the little chakra he had felt during the month the Toad Sage trained Naruto before the finals of the Chūnin Exams had told him a lot : the beast's chakra was powerful, extremely so, but it also diffused a sinister feeling and a lot of killing intent in the air, which he suspected was the Fox's influence. Too much chakra and Naruto would probably lose control and become a rampaging berserker. But Jiraiya was confident in his student's ability to keep the Kyūbi in check if he opened the seal a bit : the boy may not be the brightest, but he had an unbreakable will.

Coming to a decision, Jiraiya stopped and turned towards Naruto. The boy, thinking that his master finally submitted to his (not) well thought argument for teaching him something cool, immediatly forgot his angry mood and brightened instantaneously. "Finally! You're going to teach me a kickass justu? I'll have it down in no time Ero-Sennin ! Believe it!" Naruto exclaimed while raising his fist with determination.

"Yes, I'm going to teach you something." said Jiraiya, "But it's not a jutsu."

"Huh? Then what is it? A new cool taijutsu move?" asked the boy with curiosity.

"Nope. Not that either. I'm going to teach you how to control the chakra of the Kyūbi."

Naruto's face turned to confused to somewhat fearful. He had used the chakra of the beast sealed inside of him several times, and, while he had felt the power flowing through his body, he also felt the demonic presence that was it carried, the presence that brought out his darkest emotions, urged him to kill his opponent and increased his animal impulses. He had always managed to keep his control over the Kyūbi, but it had been sometimes difficult, particularly during his fight against Sasuke at the Valley of the End. Trying to hide his nervousness behind a mask of confidence, Naruto flashed a big, toothy, but somewhat uneasy, smile.

"Huh... are you sure? I don't really need it ya know. I'm plenty strong by myself!"

Jiraiya was not fooled by his student's act. It was true that Naruto had a huge potential, but not using the Kyūbi was a huge waste. Besides, even with the most rigorous training in the world, two and a half years were not enough for Naruto to become strong enough to defend himself against the Akatsuki.

He needed this power.

"I know you're scared..." at this remark, the blond knucklehead's mask fell and he looked down, "but I have faith in you. And I'm not the only one. The Yondaime Hokage too had faith in you when he sealed the Kyūbi inside of you." Jiraiya said to Naruto.

At the mention of his hero, the blond genin looked up to meet the Sage's confident grin.

"Besides, if you learn to control the Fox's chakra, you will most likely be able to resist its influence easily. And..." a perverted smile crepted its way on Jiraiya's face, "… imagine all the girls you could get when you'll boast about how you can control a demon's power! You'll have your own harem!"

Naruto's eyebrows started to twitch violently, and a vein was starting to pulse on his forehead.

"Stop daydreaming, you perv!" he yelled at his giggling master.

Jiraiya got his perviness under control, wiped his bleeding nose, and put on a serious face in stark contrast with the one he had earlier.

"It won't be easy, and with your current strength you probaby won't be able to use a large amount of demonic chakra, but this training will eventually make you extremely powerful. You may even surpass the Yondaime, if you manage to survive it, one day.", Jiraiya encouraged Naruto.

The Sage's boasting was all it took to erase Naruto's doubts and fears. With a renewed determination, the blond genin stood straight and stared straight into his teacher's eyes.

"I'll do it !" he proclaimed loudly, "I will control the Kyūbi's chakra and I will become strong enough to protect all my precious people and to bring Sasuke back! And then I will become Hokage! Believe it!"

Jiraiya smiled proudly at his student's proclamation. If there was one thing that Jiraiya liked, beside pretty women, it was people who had guts, and Naruto was truly a gutsy shinobi.

'Just like Minato and Kushina...' the Toad Sage thought. But he couldn't tell Naruto about them. Not yet. It pained him to keep the boy's parentage from him, but his father had a lot of enemies that would like nothing more than to make sure that his line end for good. It was better to keep them in the dark, and given Naruto's loud mouth and light head, he didn't trust him to keep it a secret, he might let it slip sometime. The boy would have to mature a bit.

"Alright..." said Jiraiya. He then bit his thumb hard enough to draw blood, went through a series of hand seals so quickly that Naruto didnt caught it despite knowing the jutsu, and slammed his palm on the ground, "Summoning Technique!"

Smoke erupted from underneath Jiraiya's hand, and after it dissipated, a black and orange toad, with strange rings around his abdomen could be seen sitting on the ground, with an annoyed expression on his face.

"What do you want Jiraiya? If you summoned me of all toads, I guess it has to be somehting in relation with the Hakke no Fūin. Whatever it is, I think it's a bad idea." said the summoned toad.

"Hello to you too, Gerotora." responded Jiraiya, ignoring the toad's opinion, "I need you in order to open the seal a little bit. I want to see how much of the Kyūbi's chakra Naruto can handle."

"What?! So you finally lost it after getting beaten into a pulp countless times by the women you peeped on?! That's crazy Jiraiya!" The now named Gerotora croaked loudly. He then noticed Naruto, who had been silently following the exchange between the Sage and his summon with a curious face, "And you even summon me when the boy is right here! This is madness!"

"Calm down." said Jiraiya in an authoritative tone, "I'm sure the shrimp can resist a small dose of the Fox's chakra. But I still need to see where is limit is at. So give me the key."

The toad grumbled and continued to protest for a bit, but Jiraiya's seriousness and faith in his student's strength finally made Gerotora give up.

"Fine, fine... but I still have my doubts! I'm pretty sure something bad will happen, but since you want it so bad... here's your key!"

With that, the toads abdomen opened and, between the metallic rings, a large scroll started to appear and, when it stopped, it opened to reveal a complex sealing matrix, and a blank square above it. Jiraiya quickly took a peek at the formula before placing his right hand in the square, making his finger glow blue with chakra for a short time, before the scroll closed and Gerotora shrank to his normal size.

"There you have it. Now, I'm gone before I'm caught in whatever your experiment with the Fox is."

And, with no other form of goodbye, the toad disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Jiraiya turned towards Naruto, who was starting to get impatient.

"Are you done yet, Ero-Sennin? I wanna start my training someday, ya know!"

"Yeah, I got what I needed." said the Toad Sage, "We won't do that now in the middle of the road. There's an old keep not too far away from here, it'll be good enough to start your training and as a shelter for the night. Let's go."

After quickly setting camp in the ruins of the fortress mentionned by Jiraiya, the Sage and his student were now in the middle of the court, sitting in front of each other.

Jiraiya glanced at the determined face of Naruto. He could still see a small amount of fear in his blue eyes, but it wouldn't be enough to make him back down, the Toad Sage knew it. Nevertheless, he decided to give a few encouraging words before they started.

"I don't really know what you will go through when I open the seal, but I will repeat myself. I have faith in you. I am sure you have in you what is needed to keep the Kyūbi in check."

Hearing his teacher's compliment made Naruto grinned. "Don't worry Ero-Sennin! I won't disappoint you!"

Jiraiya could not help but smile. The blond midget in front of him would never back down from a challenge when he was motivated.

"I know that. Now show me your seal."

Obeying his master's command, Naruto lifted his jumpsuit and the shirt underneath to expose his bare stomach. Closing his eyes in focus, he started to mold chakra, making the Eight Trigrams Seal appear.

Furrowing his eyebrows in concentration, Jiraiya carefully placed his right hand, which carried the key, on the seal, and slowly opened it.

Now let it be noted that, being a Sannin, Jiraiya was an extremely powerful shinobi. His experience with seals was unrivaled, ever since the death of his late student, Namikaze Minato. Even such an intricate seal as the Eight Trigrams Seal wouldn't be too much of a challenge to modify slightly. But, he was human, and like every human, he wasn't perfect. Sometimes Jiraiya would make a mistake. In another timeline, maybe he wouldn't have made such a big one. Or perhaps none at all. But here, Jiraiya made a tragic one.

He sneezed.

When he was opening the seal.

The seal containing the Kyūbi.

And when he sneezed, Jiraiya's hand slipped. Which resulted in making a gap in said seal.

A big gap.

Way bigger than what he originally intended to do.

That was all he had the time to think before he was blasted away by a wave of pure demonic chakra.

Pain.

Pain like he never felt before.

He was feeling like he was boiled alive and skinned at the same time, which was not really that far from the truth, given the effect the Kyūbi's chakra had on his body with the current quantity being released brutally.

He first wondered if Ero-Sennin's snot was an acid of some sort, as the Sage had sneezed right on his bare skin. Then, he was forcefully pulled into his mindscape, where something quite ugly was happening.

Well, uglier than usual, as neither the sewer that apparently was his mind or the Kyūbi were really pretty.

The water on the floor had turned blood red, and was quickly rising. Naruto was already knee-deep inside it. The bars of the cage representing the seal were corroded. And, the most alarming thing, the Kyūbi was smiling like a mad man. Or a mad fox, rather.

"Well, well, look what we have here." the demon said in his deep and threatening voice, "A little worm who thought he could control my power. I should thank your idiotic teacher, ningen."

"What... what have you done... stupid fox? What's... happening?" Naruto asked his tenant between laboured breath. He was feeling even worse here, his body was still in pain, despite being a projection of his mind, and he felt like he was restrained : his movements felt heavy, like something wanted his limbs to move in another way. He was also feeling a pressure in the back of his head, like something was forcefully imposing its will directly through his skull.

Overall, he felt powerless facing the rebelling bijū.

Hearing the weak question of his container, the Kyūbi started to chuckle darkly, and his smile grew larger.

"But I did nothing, ningen. It was your pervert of a master that slipped when he opened this wretched seal. Now that more than half of my power has passed through, it will crumble very soon, and you are not even wearing your cursed necklace to hinder my full liberation!" the demon answered with clear mirth.

Indeed, Naruto wasn't wearing the necklace that he had won from Tsunade after he mastered the Rasengan. This necklace, who had belonged to the Shodai Hokage, Senju Hashirama, a long time ago, was still containing a bit of his chakra, which, thanks to his unique Wood Style kekkei genkai, allowed him to subdue the bijū. Jiraiya, suspecting that the necklace would prevent the Kyūbi from possessing Naruto, had wanted to first make a test without, to have a peek at the real limits of the young Jinchūriki's hold over his tenant.

And, when Naruto thought things couldn't get worse, his own mindscape started to battle him. The water representing the chakra leaking through the bars of the cage pushed him towards the seal itself, and, as if it was alive, lifted him at the right height.

"Now... I know that you are going through inimaginable pain because of my power", the Kyūbi growled maliciously, "We both know that you won't be able to contain me for ever, so why not end your torment now? Free me, and I'll give you a swift death..."

Naruto's arm, disobeying his will, slowly started to raise and his fingers were reaching for the paper that held the Kyūbi prisoner. The blond ninja was powerless as his own body, or its manifestation inside his mind, was moving under the command of the demon fox.

What he was sure were his last thought went to his teachers, who he had failed, his friends, who he would never see again, Sakura, who he could not keep his promise to, and Sasuke, who he couldn't save from Orochimaru.

But then, he felt a hand catch his arm before he could open the seal, and felt something cut through the air and speed past him towards the Kyūbi. The next thing he knew, Naruto was on his back, in the water on the floor, which had returned to its nomal state, and he was observed by two people that he didn't know.

The first one was a tall and handsome man, with shoulder length spiky blond hair and cerulean eyes. He was wearing a standard Konoha jounin outfit, with the addition of a long white haori with red flames adorning its edges and closed on the front by a thin red rope.

The second was a beautiful woman with long red hair, dark blue eyes and a slender, but feminine build. She was wearing a white sleeveless blouse under a green dress, with a black wristband on her left arm and lavender sandals. The most outstanding thing about this woman, however, were the numerous chakra chain coming out of her back. Said chain were currently restraining the Kyūbi and keeping his chakra behind the seal, allowing the rest of Naruto's mindscape to regain its normal peaceful state.

The blond genin, however, was currently freaking out. There were people in his mindscape! People that he never met before! And yet...

Yet there was something about this man and this woman that made him feel strange. Made him feel... calm and safe, like everything would be okay.

They made him feel... appreciated, wanted.

Loved.

Perhaps it was the way they were looking at him. He was not used to this kind of looks. When he was young, people would look at him with disdain, hate, or indifference. While growing up, those looks were slowly disappearing, but they were still there. Ever since the Chūnin Exams and his fight against Hyūga Neji, people finally started to look at him with affection, pride, and, sometimes, admiration, even more so when the rumors stated that he was the one who had defeated the bloodthirsty Sabaku no Gaara. There were still a few angry or hateful faces here and there, but way less than before.

But the man and the woman in front of him, their eyes held so much care and love, it actually scared Naruto. Nobody had ever looked at him that way before.

Before he could think more about this, the woman started to talk in a warm and soothing voice, that instantly drawn Naruto to her.

"I'm so happy to finally meet you... Naruto..."

He had to fight down the urge to run towards this woman and to hug her as hard as he could. He didn't know her... he couldn't afford to let his guard slip now.

"Who are you? What are you two doing in my mind?" Naruto asked. To his dismay, the two strangers started to chuckle, but not as if they were mocking him. It was a sad laugh. He could recognize it easily, he had often heard the same coming from his own mouth.

Taking a closer look at the man, Naruto had the sudden impression that his face was familiar. Very familiar. Like something he had seen everyday of his young life.

Something sculpted in a cliff, above Konoha.

With a bewildered expression and a shaking finger pointed at the man in question, the blond genin couldn't help but state in a disbelieving tone, "You... you're... the Yondaime Hokage!"

The now identified shinobi couldn't help but chuckle, this time with amusement at the face Naruto was making, a mixture of surprise, awe, fear and confusion.

"Yep, that's me." he confirmed, "But it feels kind of weird being called by your title by your son like that."

"What?... Your son?..." Naruto asked. If there was a picture next to "disbelief" in the dictionary, it would be the face the blond boy was making right now, "It's... no, it's not real! You can't be real! You're dead!"

Both adults flinched after hearing Naruto's outburst, and their expressions changed to one of profound caring to one of distress : they looked both sad and fearful.

The red-haired woman took an hesitant step forward and glanced at Naruto with such longing that, once again, he had to restrain himself, otherwise he would hug her and never let go. He didn't know where this urge came from, and it started to make him curious and, at the same time, worried. Who were this two people that he felt so connected to?

His curiosity was short lived, as the woman answered his silent question in an hesitant, yet loving and hopeful voice.

"It's true Naruto... He is your father. And I..." she then took a deep breath, like what she was going to say would change the blonde boy's life.

And it would, indeed.

She then seemed to resolved herself, and, with more confidence, a small, yet beautiful smile, and a hand over her heart, she finished : "I am your mother..."

Naruto's eyes widened, hope and tears were starting to gather in his heart and eyes respectively. Was it true? Could this two people, one being the Yondaime Hokage no less, be...

"We are your parents."

Done ! I don't really know how long this story will be, but I have it already planned to a certain extent. It will follow the canon storyline, with some twists of course, up until the Sanbi arc. After that, it will derive from the original plot. The whole universe will also be darker, with more mature theme mentioned besides murder and death.

This story will also feature a stronger and smarter Naruto, but not completely OOC. His abilities will also be closer to Menma, from the Road To Ninja movie. While I like his powers in canon, I feel like he didn't really have his own style besides the Shadow Clones : everything Naruto knows was also used by Jiraiya and/or Minato. Even his Kyūbi Chakra Mode was something that was not unique to him, since Minato could use it as well.

For the pairings, it will be mainly NaruHina, with a tiny tipsy bit of ShikaTema, and another one that I won't reveal for now. There might be other pairings, maybe not, I don't know.

I hope you enjoyed this first chapter! Please review!