Disclaimer: Naruto is not mine, and neither is Final Fantasy. I just own my personal copies of the manga/games :)

Summary: Naruto, after the battle at Wave, reflects on the events of the day, when something happens from the afterlife that would fully explain his role in the sealing. What is White Chakra? What are pyreflyes? Naruto/FFX minor Fusion

Dance of the Pyreflyes, Chapter 1: A voice from afar

by Chronodt

Naruto left Tazuna's home, still sore all over. Just this morning they defeated Zabuza and Haku, driving off the mercenary and freeing the land of Wave from that thieving backstabber Gato. He examined his own hand, that just a few hours ago was about to kill someone, however he stopped abruptly when he felt something wrong in it. His chakra felt.... strange, there was no other term that came to mind. There were lingering traces of the red chakra he used against Haku, but it was... hunted down by his own, somehow. Hunted down, surrounded and then dispersed.

"Weird", he exclaimed, dismissing it almost immediately. After all, for what he knew about chakra, it could very well be normal. He wasn't the dead last just on paper, after all.

Deciding to drown his own gloom with physical activity he decided to climb trees again. Even if he tied with the bastard just a couple days ago, he just had to show him off by saving him from a bad fall in front of Sakura-chan, damn him!

He ran to the tree, sticking his feet to the trunk just as he learned, but the tree exploded under his feet and was propelled away, just like the very first time he tried.

"How?", he asked himself, examining his feet. And again he felt those lingering traces of that red chakra and he realized it was obstructing his hard won control. Angry and unthinking, he molded a large amount of chakra and sent it to his feet, to try to purge that red annoyance away. He succeeded... a little too much, blasting away a good chunk of earth from under his feet and propelling himself a dozen meters off the ground. His fall was also much less than graceful, knocking his wind off, bringing stars in his vision and laboring to get his breath back. He sat down on the ground, waiting for his head to clear and promising himself to be much more careful in the future, when he noticed that the stars in his vision were not going away. Not only that, they were... combining somehow in a sort of multicolored small flame. It was really pretty to watch.

-Naruto!- he heard somewhere in his head. A female voice. An adult female voice with a hint of urgency.

"What? Who?" he jumped on his feet and looked around, kunai ready in his hand. He was still a little woozy, but he could stand.

-Naruto, can you hear me?- the voice sounded even more frantic, now. He became very nervous.

"WHO ARE YOU?" he yelled, panicking because the voice sounded really close and he couldn't pinpoint the direction.

-Naruto, I hope you can hear me, even if I cannot. We are sending you a scroll with your inheritance and I have no more time. Copy all of it in an empty scroll as soon as you can because it will disappear in a few hours. We love you, honey....-

As soon as the voice disappeared, the strange multicolored flame coalesced again and transformed in a medium sized sealed scroll, and dropped into the ground with a soft "splat".

"What the..." he exclaimed, surprised again. Especially by the 'love you' part. Just the old man dared to tell him he loved him, not even Iruka sensei. Well, he could understand Iruka sensei not telling him that.

Still wary, he approached the scroll cautiously and read the writing outside: "Uzumaki family scroll - basic 1"

His heart jumped in his throat reading that.

"Uzumaki family scroll?" he asked aloud and jumped to get the scroll, not even thinking about the possibility of falling into a trap. He grabbed the scroll and tried to open it, but failed. He examined the seal keeping it closed and remembered from a half forgotten lesson (probably he was just listening to facilitate his sleep) about blood seals, to protect family scrolls from outsiders. He bit into his thumb, wincing because in his haste he bit a lot more than was strictly necessary and swept a couple liters of blood (well... it felt like it, really!) on the seal.

And his eyes lit up, because from the very first words, it LOOKED genuine. He started avidly reading it, but then he remembered the little fact about it disappearing in a few hours. He realized he could never be able to remember all of it, especially because there were a lot of hard words and technical stuff about chakra that he didn't have any idea about, but all his stuff was still at Tazuna's.

Thinking quickly, he summoned a clone and sent him to gather an empty scroll and writing utensils from his pack. Good thing that it was Kakashi sensei that compiled the list of things to bring into a mission, else he would have used that space to pack a few more instant ramen cups and he would have been forced to borrow ink and brushes from someone. And they would have asked questions, questions he wasn't ready to answer.

If the scroll was telling the truth, those were HIS family jutsus. HIS! Something from his family, a proof that they existed somewhere, that someone could still be alive to send this scroll to him. Someone who could be happy that he existed, despite the fox, that would be happy with him becoming the Hokage...

Someone who could acknowledge him.

He continued reading the scroll, and became frustrated. It really was too complicated for him, but he didn't dare to ask even Sakura-chan. She would assume he stole it from Sasuke and would give it to him immediately, subdued by the will of the bastard into ignoring the fact that she truly loved Naruto even if she did not realize it yet. But she would realize it someday!

However, he would not give up. He would not give the scroll up, either, not even to Kakashi-sensei or the old man. This was the first step to becoming Hokage and be recognized as a human being from the village. After all, having a family would mean that he was a human, wasn't it?

The clone returned, slightly tired from running all the way from the house, and prepared to write. Naruto started dictating it, but not before creating a hundred clones as sentries. Nobody would listen in on his family jutsu!

Six hours later he finished copying the scroll. It was a lengthy process, especially because he didn't know the meaning of most kanji and had to copy them exactly as they were written, however he could get the most important thing: he had a bloodline. At least the scroll said so, but he couldn't understand what the scroll said about it, just that it was something about healing. Well, considering that he healed pretty fast it could be considered proof. "Take that, Sasuke bastard!" He literally had to restrain himself from yelling aloud from excitement (4 clones had to tie him down and gag him so the bastard would not hear him) and despite wanting to brag to Sakura about it, he would wait until he could read, understand and use what was in the scroll. After all, it would be even MORE impressive if he could show her, right?

He was about to close the original scroll when from its back fell a letter, addressed to Uzumaki Naruto. He jumped to it immediately and read:

Dear Naruto, I'm sorry about how your life has been until now, and I still cannot forgive myself for having to leave you alone all this time. However, it could not be avoided, because even now, I am dead. My name is Uzumaki Kushina, mother of Uzumaki Naruto.

Naruto stopped reading abruptly. From... his mother? And... she was dead?

The little hope he had about meeting his long lost mother died then and there. He did not realize the strange wording of the "dead" part, though.

"At least I know she hadn't abandoned me. She even arranged for this to come to me." he said,

looking at the family scroll.

I know that by now you are dying to know your father's name, but we asked the Third to hide it and letting you have my last name to protect you from his enemies.

"DAMN!" exclaimed Naruto.

I can tell you that even by knowing my full name it won't be easy to find his name. Consider it a challenge to your information gathering skills.

Naruto smiled, even if he didn't have much interest in the less showy aspect of the ninja life. Just to get to know who his father was he was willing to rise to the challenge.

However, for your protection, you'll have to keep my name for yourself. After all, if you have a chance to know your father by knowing it, your enemies may do it too.

Naruto nodded, thinking that his mother was really smart.

Now, since I don't have much time, I'll have to give you the introductory information to fully utilize the scroll that came with this letter. Even if it's the very first scroll of the Uzumaki clan, it still relies on previous knowledge that would have been taught to you by me.

Naruto exhaled a relieved breath. "So that's why I couldn't understand most of it", forgetting that not only he couldn't understand most of the scroll, but couldn't read most of the kanji as well.

To understand the scroll, you'll have to borrow from the Konoha Library these books: Understanding Chakra, The Chakra Pathways, Basic guide to the elements, A basic guide to the human body for the dedicated ninja, and the restricted book: the Celestial Gates

"Five more books!" cried Naruto, his resolve wavering, before he reminded himself that this would help him become Hokage. After all, enduring boredom made a great ninja, didn't it?

I can tell you that getting the last book will be hard. Only jonin and above may borrow it, but I know that you will be able to get it somehow.

"A jonin only book... it must be awesome!" exclaimed Naruto, imagining all the incredible jutsu it must contain.

Now we must come to the most critical point. In the scroll you'll read about our bloodline, the White Chakra, however you probably won't be able to access it until you put a lot of hard work into it.

"Eeh? Why?" cried Naruto, not caring that he was complaining to a letter.

The reason stems from the day you were born. You have to know that the Dead Demon Consuming Seal the Fourth Hokage used to seal the demon fox into you, is the ultimate Uzumaki Demon Seal. It was designed with our bloodline in mind; if the Fourth used any child but you in the sealing, he or she would have died almost instantly and the fox would now be free.

Naruto was shocked. Soon the shock transformed into pride, however, because now he had THE answer that plagued him since he could remember: "Why me?". "Why they hate me?" became easier to accept after the traitor Mizuki spilled the beans about the fox, but then the question became "Why the Fourth chose me?".

And now he had an answer.

Konoha was saved by his family jutsu, and the only possible container able to live though it was Naruto himself.

He could understand now why the Fourth wanted him to be seen as the hero who saved the village. (even if they blatantly ignored that request)

Eager to know more, he continued reading.

Our bloodline normally makes our chakra so attuned to life that it destroys youki on contact, purifying it. However the Dead Demon Consuming Seal redirects that ability toward the seal, to kill the imprisoned demon. While that seal is on you, your chakra is perfectly ordinary, as if you didn't possess our bloodline.

"STUPID FOX!" yelled Naruto. "Not only he kills everyone and probably my parents, but he also is stealing away my bloodline!"

However, the seal has a failsafe built in it. When you are injured the seal will partially release its control and both youki and White Chakra would flow to the injury. While the youki does increase the damage to the area, your bloodline will both heal it and purify the youki. Unfortunately it means that it is a rather painful process. I hope you can see it as a pain endurance training, because it was inevitable.

Naruto sweatdropped. He never noticed that his injuries hurt him more than other people. After all it's hard to quantify pain to others. Another reason to hate the fox.

The reason any other child would have died lies there: the seal forces your chakra and the demon's to mingle. Youki would easily infect the child and corrode his body, stopping the chakra that powers the seal and freeing the demon before the host died. With our bloodline the reverse happens: our White Chakra purifies the youki that is slowly released from the demon in a controlled way, and with the scroll's help you will be able to willingly force more of your chakra into the seal, slowly killing the beast. Another way is losing control of your emotions: when you are experiencing a strong anger, your instinct will take control of your bloodline from the seal and the youki would flood your body, being consumed at an incredible pace by your White Chakra that would work frantically to keep you alive. It is doubly dangerous because youki not only damages your body, but influence the human mind as well, making you feral, a berserker. And remember that even with its enhanced strength and speed, a high level jonin would use your almost mindless state to run circles around you and afterward, when you are calmed down, youki residual will linger for a couple days, temporarily worsening your chakra control.

Naruto nodded, having noticed it on his skin a few hours ago. He still had an evil grin at the thought of killing the damn fox with his own "hands" and in the mean time to be "rewarded" for it by having back his bloodline. The thought of having that task entrusted to him by the Fourth himself was making him so happy he had rivers of tears on his cheeks and his smile was threatening to split his face in half. To be trusted to do something of that magnitude eclipsed anything he could think of (except becoming Hokage himself, naturally)

He almost exploded right then and there from happiness, resisting the urge of parade through Wave screaming his joy to the winds only because he wanted to keep his secret.

It took him half an hour to calm himself down enough to continue reading.

Unfortunately, I'm almost out of time. If you want to know more, you'll have to summon a pyrefly as explained in the scroll.

"Really?" he checked the scroll again. It must have been one of the unrecognizable kanji.

"Sigh... I'll have to study.." he cried in dismay.

Farewell, my dear Naruto-chan. I hope you'll be happy from now on.

With Love,

Uzumaki Kushina

"Bye, mom...I love you too" said Naruto, before deciding that he wanted a copy of this letter, too.

A copy as faithful to the original as he could manage.

Since it was almost dinnertime (having skipped lunch in his excitement) he left to the clones this task, with the order of making a PERFECT copy of the letter, even if it took them all the night to do it.

Walking to Tazuna's house, now, there was another problem. The original scroll had a blood seal on it, and he copied it faithfully, but he had no idea on how to activate the seal on the copy. He mentally added to check out a beginning book on seals from the library, as first priority. He could not let this scroll end up in the hand of Sasuke or an enemy without at least that protection.

He summoned another clone to bring secretly both scrolls in his pack, while he ate with his team. Obviously as soon as he entered he was greeted by a screaming Sakura: "Where have you been, Naruto? Because you went away I had to guard Tazuna while they finished the bridge instead of looking at Sasuke-kun!"

"But.... but... Sakura-chan!"

"It was only right, after all! If it wasn't for you, Sasuke-kun would have won!"

"Chaaa, right!" thought Inner Sakura.

Naruto felt a stab in his heart... she was right, mostly. If he hadn't entered the mirrors maybe Sasuke wouldn't have become a pincushion, or at least not as much. But to assume so instantly that he had completely hampered Sasuke, instead of helping him...

Memories of himself and Sasuke fighting together to defeat Haku flooded his brain. Sasuke's sacrifice came to mind and he realized that he really has been as much an hindrance as a help. He tried to dismiss it as usual, by trying to think that without him and his awesome skills Sasuke would have been reduced to a pincushion even faster, but his previous roller coaster of emotions reading his mum's letter made impossible for him to delude himself as he usually did.

He had been dead weight in that fight before Sasuke "died".

He unthinkingly put himself in a death trap and forced his hated teammate to save him from death, even if Haku had been too softhearted to kill them.

His only help to Sasuke has been as additional targets for Haku to concentrate on while Sasuke did the hard work.

And he had to rely on the power leaked from the seal to defeat Haku, a power he didn't want to rely upon, because the fox would die soon, if not naturally, because HE would kill it. And he would learn his family jutsu to become a ninja worthy of the Fourth, who put his faith on his newborn self.

That would be his goal from now on.

Sakura continued her tirade, not even noticing that Naruto was no longer paying attention. Kakashi however did and even though he didn't know exactly what he was thinking, he could guess it from his body language and smiled inside.

Sakura, winded from her lecture, finally stopped when Sasuke came to the table to eat and she immediately tried to mother him, telling him of her boring day because of Naruto's laziness and asking for dates all in a single breath. Even Kakashi was impressed.

Upstairs, a clone finished packing the scrolls and transformed himself into a third scroll to guard them further against thieving Uchiha teammates. Better paranoid than scrolless.

Later in the night, a clone, bringing the letters from his mother, silently slipped them inside that same pack and left the room to dispel itself silently.