(A/N) And it's time for a new story! This story is a challenge response to Brown Phantom's Hidden Bloodline challenge. See his profile for details.

The timeline of this story is that Naruto is currently in his final year of the academy. He has already failed the graduation test twice.

General Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Masashi Kishimoto does, and I doubt that he would share it with me anytime soon. Sad face.

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Chapter 1: A New Beginning

The day was October tenth, thirteen years after the attack of the Kyuubi on Konoha. It also happened to be the thirteenth birthday of one Uzumaki Naruto.

Normally, one would be extremely happy that it was their birthday, but that was not the case with Naruto.

It was quite the opposite.

Naruto was currently walking slowly down the streets of Konoha towards his apartment. Usually such an act on his birthday was very dangerous for him, but it was only 2:00, so the annual festival that celebrated the Yondaime's defeat of the Kyuubi hadn't started yet. That meant that the annual drunken "fox hunts" had yet to begin, so Naruto was safe for the time being. Or so he thought.

Usually Naruto walked around with a huge grin on his face, masking his inner emotions to the world, but now Naruto's mask of happiness had shattered. He was walking slowly home with a large frown, and puffy red eyes.

As he walked, he thought to himself "I guess Sakura-chan, no, just Sakura, will never love me. I don't think I will ever be loved. Sure, Jiji treats me well, but it's not the same as being loved by someone. Iruka-sensei also treats me well, and I think he actually respects me a little, even if I goof off and pull pranks all of the time, but it's not love. Do I even know what love is? I've always been alone, and I'm so lonely…"

Naruto's current attitude and thoughts were influenced by a meeting with Sakura just thirty minutes ago.

(Flashback no Jutsu)

Naruto had been taking a walk around the village, contemplating what sort of new pranks he could pull, when he rounded the corner and saw his crush, Haruno Sakura.

He ran towards her and called out, saying "Hey Sakura-chan, would you like to-"

He was stopped short by Sakura's fist slamming harshly into his head, knocking him to the ground.

Sakura stood over the downed Naruto and yelled "FOR THE LAST TIME NO! I WILL NEVER GO ON A DATE WITH YOU, YOU BAKA! NOBODY LIKES YOU! YOU'RE SO WEAK AND PATHETIC, AND YOU'RE NOTHING LIKE SASUKE-KUN!"

Naruto stuttered out "B-but b-but…"

"NO!" screamed the banshee as she stomped away.

Naruto got up and ran away, tears filling his eyes. Little did either of them know, a lavender eyed girl had seen the whole event.

(Flashback no Jutsu KAI!)

Naruto hadn't been paying too much attention to anything other than his thoughts as he walked along. He was around a block from his apartment when he looked up and found himself surrounded by a group of men.

"Well what do we have here, boys? If it isn't the demon. I know that we weren't going to start hunting him until the festival, but let's leave him with a little something to tide him over until the main event." Said one of the men.

Naruto soon found himself being picked up in an extremely strong hold. He tried to struggle, but it didn't work. He was carried into a dark alleyway, where he was thrown to the ground. There was a wall behind him, and the only way out of the alley was blocked by the men.

Apparently, at least one of the men was a ninja, as he went through hand signs and said "Fuinjutsu: Sound Barrier!"

The man smirked and said "Now nobody can hear you scream. Let's have some fun, boys!"

One of the men stepped forwards and punched Naruto harshly in the jaw. Naruto fell to the ground, and looked at the men to see all of them steadily advancing on him, with various sharp instruments. The last thing he remembered was pain.

Naruto awoke in the same alleyway to find that the men had left. His whole body ached with pain, and he groaned as he dragged himself up. His orange jumpsuit was ripped in several places, and stained red from dried blood. He started walking back towards his apartment as fast as he was able too, as he saw that the sun was setting. He knew that if he didn't get home soon, he would be in serious trouble, as the festival began at sundown, as did the fox hunts.

Naruto was able to drag himself into his apartment, and once there, he completely collapsed onto his bed. His weary body drifted off into unconsciousness.

Naruto awoke to find himself in what appeared to be a sewer. There was red water on the ground up to his knees, and there were a large number of pipes that hugged the ceiling.

Wondering where he was, and if he was dead or not, he began wandering.

After around 30 minutes of wandering, he found himself standing in front of a huge gate. Naruto could feel some sort of presence behind the gate, and he wondered what it was.

Suddenly, the location of the presence shifted to right behind him, and he felt a pair of arms wrap around his stomach and two soft objects press into his back.

Naruto began to panic until he heard a female voice say "My poor, poor Naruto-kun. You do not deserve what has happened to you."

The arms released Naruto, who then turned around. He blushed bright red at what he saw.

He saw a thirteen year old girl who was completely naked. She had long, straight red hair that reached her lower back and red eyes with a vertical slit for a pupil. She also had nine red fox tails with white tips, and a pair of matching fox ears. Her breasts were surprisingly developed for a thirteen year old (C cups).

Naruto averted his eyes from the girl, and stuttered out "W-who and w-what are y-you? A-and w-why are y-you n-naked?"

The girl giggled at his reaction, but then frowned and said "Unfortunately, I am the source of all of your troubles, as well as the reason to why almost everybody hates you. I am the reason why you are called a demon. For that, I cannot tell you how sorry I am. As for why I am naked, I prefer it to wearing clothing, as that is what I'm used to."

Naruto, while not being anywhere near the level of Shikamaru in terms of smarts, was actually very intelligent. He was able to put things together in his brain and came up with a plausible hypothesis. He asked "Are you the Kyuubi?"

The girl nodded and Naruto immediately cowered in fear, until the girl came and comfortingly hugged him and said "There, there. I'm not going to hurt you. Not now, not ever. I care for you too much to ever do that."

Naruto was extremely confused, and he asked "But why? I thought that you were a being of destruction that lived only to kill things. That's what we were taught in the academy. Also, where are we? I thought that the Yondaime killed you. Does that mean that I'm dead?"

The girl let out a sad laugh and held Naruto tighter as she said "The academy is dead wrong. While I am extremely powerful, I don't destroy things for the fun of it. The truth of what happened thirteen years ago is very different from what everyone is told. The Yondaime did not kill me. That is impossible for a single human to do. You are not dead, Naruto-kun. We are what is called a mindscape. In other words, we are inside of your mind."

Now Naruto was even more confused, and he asked "If we are in my mind, why are you here, Kyuubi?"

"Please, my name is Kurama. But please call me Kura. Even though I love my father, I still resent that he gave me a masculine name. As for why I am in your mind, I was placed here by your father."

Naruto immediately brightened upon hearing the word father, and he asked "You knew my father? Who was he? What did he do? Was he famous? Why did he place you in me?"

Kura giggled at Naruto's outburst and released him from her hug. She took a step back and said "Yes I knew your father. I knew your mother even better. Your father was an amazing man. But before I tell you about them, I would like you to change the scenery in here. Living in a sewer is not pleasant."

"Okay, how do I do that?" asked Naruto.

"Just imagine a new location, and your mind will change. When you are here, you have complete control." Answered Kura.

Naruto closed his eyes and concentrated, and the sewer around them melted away. It was replaced by a huge, lush grassland, with a large, crystal blue lake next to it. The sky was night with millions of shining stars twinkling in the sky, and a huge full moon that radiated a soft light onto the plains.

Kura immediately sat down on the comfortable grass, and beckoned Naruto to sit next to her. He did so and Kura said "This is quite the beautiful place. Thank you for doing that. I am going to be blunt about who your parents are. Your mother was Uzumaki Kushina, heiress to Uzushiogakure, and your father was Namikaze Minato, the beloved Yellow Flash of Konoha, and Konoha's Yondaime Hokage."

Naruto was completely stunned at this revelation. He was speechless, so Kura continued "Your father sealed me inside of you to save Konoha. His dying wish was for you to be treated like a hero, and that is something that Konoha completely ignored. Very few people know that you are Minato's son, as it was kept a secret in an effort to keep you safe. In doing so, I think that more harm has been done than good."

"My father was the Yondaime…I can't believe it. But why would he place such a burden on me?" asked Naruto.

"I was never meant to be a burden, Naruto-kun." Answered Kura. "Minato sealed me inside of you to save both me and Konoha, and also as a gift to you. Unfortunately, this gift turned into a curse thanks to the civilians. I need to tell you about the truth behind what happened thirteen years ago, but I also wish for the Hokage to hear what I have to say. He needs to know. But to do that, I need to be able to manifest outside of your mind. In order to do that, however, I need you to modify our seal. I already have it planned out, so no worries."

Naruto nodded and said "Okay, what do I have to do?"

Kura snapped her fingers, and a sheet of paper with a seal appeared on it. She then said "I need you to modify the seal on my stomach so that it matches what is on this paper. To do that, just channel chakra into your fingertips and draw on my stomach."

Naruto nodded, and Kura laid flat on the grass. The seal appeared on her stomach, and Naruto crouched over her. He placed the sheet of paper over Kura's seal as a template, and began tracing the new lines onto Kura with his chakra through the paper.

When he finished, he suddenly felt something change within his body. He couldn't explain it exactly.

Kura sat up and examained her new seal and said "Excellent work, Naruto-kun. That is exactly what I want. As a side bonus to this new seal, you will be able to access my chakra far easier than before, as well as having your senses receive a boost. You will be stronger and faster than before, and your innate Uzumaki trait of minor regeneration will receive a huge boost. Also, there is a small chance that you will receive a Kekkai Genkai. Now it is time for you to wake up. I'll see you in the real world."

With that said, Naruto felt everything go black.

Naruto woke up groggily and muttered "That was a weird dream…"

He suddenly heard a giggle and he whirled around to see Kura standing beside his bed, still naked. His eyes widened and he averted his eyes once more from the naked girl and he asked "So that wasn't a dream then?"

Kura giggled again and said "Nope, that all happened. And why do you continue to avert your eyes? Don't you like seeing me naked?"

Still not looking at Kura, Naruto said "It's not like I don't like seeing you naked, it's just that I don't want to be a pervert."

Kura giggled again and said "You have my permission to see me naked whenever you want, Naruto-kun. I don't mind, and I won't consider you a pervert for it."

Naruto looked back at Kura and his eyes traveled up and down her body, causing Kura to giggle. Suddenly, there was a knock on Naruto's door.

Naruto said to Kura "I'll get it. Hopefully it's not anybody bad. You might want to stay hidden, Kura-chan."

Kura nodded and smiled at the affectionate "chan" suffix and walked around a corner as Naruto headed to the door. He opened it just a crack and peeked out. To his surprise, he didn't see anyone. He opened the door fully and looked around. He looked down and saw a wrapped gift, with a card tied to it. He picked it up and headed back inside, closing the door behind him.

Naruto sat down on the bed and Kura sat next to him. She said "You should read the card first. That's the proper thing to do."

Naruto nodded and opened the card. He began reading out loud:

"Dear Naruto-kun,

I witnessed what happened to you with Sakura, and I just want to say that you should not listen to her. You are not weak or pathetic, and you are the strongest person that I know. There are people who care about you. It is a good thing that you are not like Sasuke, as he is the worst boy that I have ever met.

Please enjoy the gift that I'm giving you, and have a happy birthday. I am the one who has given you gifts on your birthday the last three years. The nightcap, frog wallet, and Hokage costume were all from me.

I hope you enjoy this year's gift, and I wish you safety and happiness.

With love,

Somebody who cares deeply about you.

When Naruto finished reading the letter, he had tears streaming from his eyes. Kura hugged him comfortingly, and said "See Naruto-kun, there are people out there who care and love you. You just have to go find them. Now let's see what your mystery friend gave you this year."

Naruto nodded and wiped the tears away from his eyes, and unwrapped the gift. Inside he found thirty coupons that allowed infinite bowls at Ichiraku Ramen for one meal.

Tears started streaming down Naruto's face once again, and Kura hugged him tight and said "Your mystery friend is truly a good person to get you these. From the handwriting I would guess that it's a she, and she must know that you love ramen more than any other food. She also is apparently quite wealthy, as we both know that those coupons cost quite a lot. Anyways, it's getting late, so let's call it a night. We'll chat with the Hokage tomorrow. Don't worry about anybody getting in to hurt you tonight, Naruto-kun. I'll make sure that nobody is able to get in."

"Okay, Kura-chan. Thank you. I think today marks a new beginning in my life. Good night." Said Naruto as he took off his bloody jumpsuit before laying down in his bed and quickly falling asleep.

Kura walked over to the door and made a few hand signs and whispered "Fuinjutsu: Door Seal!" Glowing marking appeared on the door for a moment before they vanished. Satisfied, Kura walked over to the bed. She picked up the letter, which had fallen to the floor, and sniffed it. "Hmm…lavender. There is only one person that Naruto-kun knows that smells like lavender, and that is the pale eyed girl in the academy. I need to get them to get together. She meshes quite well with Naruto-kun, and is kind enough that she would accept me. But that is something to do tomorrow at the academy."

With those thoughts, Kura slipped into the bed next to Naruto and fell asleep holding him tight.

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And that's a wrap. I hope you guys like it!

I might try and get another chapter done for this story later today, so keep your eyes peeled.

Anyways, until next time,

Slice N Dicer