Chapter Text
Something stirred in Naruto when Mizuki told him the secret. Told him the Kyuubi sleeps within him. Naruto doesn't know if it's the Kyuubi he's feeling. He hasn't known any different, but he does take notice of the lines on his face. Hokage-jiji had called them a birth mark when he had asked. Shikamaru had drawled that maybe they were clan markings even though Naruto had never drawn them on like Chouji or Kiba. The fact he could be from a clan and never known them stopped being out of the realm of possibility when the Uchiha were wiped out overnight. Still, Shikamaru came back a few days later saying there were no descriptions of Naruto's markings or any whisper of the name Uzumaki buried in the registries. Still Naruto is an orphan, his parents unknown, his true name unknown. He might not even be a child of Konoha. His family could be in any hidden village never knowing what happened to him.
That's what Naruto used to comforted himself with on long nights. He couldn't leave the village now, but one day he'd be a shinobi and he'd get to travel across the lands. One day he'd find blond hair and blue eyes like his. One day he'd find his family. He'd show them how cool and strong he grew up to be and it's okay they never came looking for him because he found them.
Now as a graduate of the academy, Naruto knows the markings on his face for what they truly are. Whisker marks. A sign of the Kyuubi sleeping inside him. A beacon for everyone that he harbors the beast that killed the Yondaime Hokage and destroyed the village. It's the reason why everyone old enough to remember the Kyuubi attack hates him on sight and calls him a monster, and his peers don't like him for maybe another reason. His pranks are necessary for attention and even if his classmates don't like them, they could have not been wary of him to begin with.
Naruto knows he's the vessel of the Kyuubi now, but he doesn't know what the truly means. He's never met the demon fox. There's no voices whispering in his head telling him to kill or destroy. There's no voices telling him anything. He doesn't have any cool powers. He's just someone who struggles with the basic academy tasks but is even better than Iruka-sensei and Kakashi-sensei at the forbidden shadow clone jutsu. Maybe all this is the Kyuubi's fault? He can't do baby jutsus that are beneath the Kyuubi but he can do super cool jutsus. Naruto's not complaining if that's the case.
Kakashi-sensei is really cool because he doesn't care that Naruto can't make a regular clone like Sasuke and Sakura. He lets Naruto make shadow clone after shadow clone which are way cooler than what Sasuke can do anyway because Naruto's clones can punch bad guys in the face.
Kakashi-sensei is never disappointed in what Naruto can't do. He lets Naruto do what he can do and lets him learn stuff that Naruto can do. It's a very important distinction, and one that makes Naruto feel understood even if no one knows who Naruto's parents are or what having a demon fox sealed in him actually means.
Just like something stirred in Naruto when he learned about the Kyuubi inside him, the same something stirs when Naruto plunges the kunai into his hand to remove the poison from the Kiri-nin. Kakashi-sensei had paused ever so slightly while wrapping the bandage around Naruto's hand in that knowing way Kakashi-sensei does while acting like he hasn't noticed anything it's only much later that Naruto realized Kakashi-sensei fell for his eraser prank on purpose and Naruto feels the same warmth as whenever he's hurt himself. If Kakashi-sensei can keep secrets, so can Naruto, and neither of them say anything as Kakashi-sensei finishes bandaging Naruto's hand. It's only when no one is looking does Naruto run his hand over the bandage feeling the unblemished skin underneath and not the gaping puncture from his kunai.
It's not the first time Naruto's noticed this, but it's the first time he's paid attention. Shikamaru had commented in the past that cuts weren't supposed to heal that fast, as Naruto had been boasting that whenever he gets hurt he goes to bed and he's all better in the morning. Sure Shikamaru is smart and Naruto can trust what he says, but at the time Naruto hadn't know any different. It also didn't help that he'd never stayed injured long and no one had cared enough to pay attention to question it. But now Naruto thinks he knows, he thinks it's the Kyuubi healing him because he guesses if he dies the Kyuubi dies. Why else would something that tried to destroy Konoha and is now trapped in Naruto try to help him? Or maybe the Kyuubi is just as clueless as Naruto. Naruto has to assume this is the first time its ever been sealed in someone. That's why everyone hates him on principal because of the unknown.
Still Naruto had freaked out about the poison when Kakashi-sensei had mentioned it and maybe it's good he had. No one needs to know about his super human healing abilities. That just might mean they might try to hurt him more because he can take more. He had freaked out because of the adrenaline and Kakashi-sensei making a big deal about it. Still a wound in his hand that he knows the Kyuubi will heal, is better than poison that he doesn't know if the Kyuubi can neutralize fast enough.
There's a third time Naruto feels something stir in him, but this is different. If the first two times were the Kyuubi then this is something else. Instead of a swirling in his gut, it's a calm that settles over him as they board the boat to take them to the Land of Waves. It's a muffling of his ears even as their boat proceeds forward in silence after Naruto is chided for his boisterous outbreak (to cover up the overwhelming calm washing over him).
Whatever this is, it sings in his blood. He feels far more at home on the water then he has surrounded by Konoha's green forests. There's salt on the air even as Sakura comments on the petrichor hanging in the air. (Naruto doesn't know what petrichor means but he knows it's wrong. He knows it's not of the sea even if he doesn't know why he's focused on the sea now)
Kakashi-sensei's eye doesn't turn to him and neither does Sasuke's judging stare. There's relief that no one else takes notice of this unknown thing as Naruto tries desperately to push it down. He wants to savor it, but he can't afford to. Their mission is dangerous, and he's already frozen once. They've almost turned back once because of him, and Naruto's is not going to fail his first C-rank mission which might actually be an even higher ranked mission by the time it's all over. He's going to be Hokage, and this is his first real mission. This is the mission that will define him. He can't be distracted by whatever this is.
He can't be distracted but a distraction is exactly what he needs. Meeting Zabuza in the damp woods of the Land of Waves pushes everything from Naruto's mind. There's no strange feeling in him. The sea doesn't call to him asking him to step foot in its domain. He's focused on the mission. He's focused on helping Kakashi-sensei.
Then he's focused on learning to walk up trees with his chakra and trying to master something before Sasuke can. There's finally something they both don't know and Naruto can finally beat him at something. As he repeatedly tries to walk up and repeatedly falls, the sea is vaguely in the distance, but the wood of the trees is grounding like Konoha. He's a child of the forest, not a child of the sea. His blood quiets even as he sleeps above the waves and the only thing Naruto feels is the brushing of the Kyuubi against his skin as it shifts in its slumber until suddenly the Kyuubi isn't asleep and red hot chakra is exploding out and coursing through Naruto in his need to avenge Sasuke
Then it's over, and Naruto guesses his Kyuubi secret is safe with him. Sasuke's alive but doesn't know what happened. Sakura couldn't see him, and Kakashi-sensei never says anything so Naruto hopes that means he didn't notice. Naruto just became a genin. He just got to go on a C-rank mission. He doesn't want to lose all of that (or get in trouble) for something no one told him about anyway.
With the threat gone, it starts to creep back into his blood. The Kyuubi has quieted but the sea only builds. The bridge is done in the next few day's, and with it they have one last night at Tazuna's. The village is enthusiastic about throwing them a celebration feast even with their meager rations. Meager rations that Sakura had berated Naruto and Sasuke over for wasting when demanding seconds even as their stomachs protested and forced everything back up from how hastily they consumed their food nights earlier. This time they restrain themselves as the threat of Sakura looms.
It's in the quiet of the room, perched over the sea, that the wave breaks, finally crashing over Naruto. He doesn't fight it, he doesn't try to push it back down. He lets it crash over him as there is salt in the air and a song in his blood. Behind closed eyes he sees glittery streets and opalescent houses. Everything shimmers off the reflection of the sun and all the colors of the city are sun touched.
“Go to bed and shut the window,” Sasuke huffs, and Naruto turns his head to see Sasuke laying on his side, back to Naruto, and covers pulled up around him like it's the middle of winter.
Naruto doesn't need to humor him, Sasuke wouldn't humor him, but he crosses back into the room, pulling the window closed. It's only for a moment. Sasuke will fall asleep and then Naruto can go back to tasting salt on the breeze.
It's like there's magic on the air for Sasuke's breathing evens out immediately and deepens. Naruto nudges him with his foot and there is no response. It's a sign. A sign Naruto has been ignoring but can now finally investigate. He can now fully surrender himself to the song on the air.
Naruto, the wind calls, the wind that shouldn't be in this room, but ruffles his hair anyway.
Come back to me, my child.
His pack is easy to grab, packed neatly like Sakura had insisted and ready to go at any moment. His bedding was provided by Tazuna's daughter and Sasuke can easily fold it if Naruto is not back by morning. He's out the window and shutting it before salt and a cool breeze can wake anyone up. Sasuke's not waking up anytime soon, held under by the mysterious trance that swirls around Naruto, but Kakashi-sensei is above all. Kakashi-sensei always has a way of knowing when Naruto is up to something.
Luckily it's not far to the sea for the house is built above the peaceful waters of the harbor. It's only a few short steps and Naruto is standing on the rail overlooking calm water. He doesn't hesitate, he can't hesitate. Kakashi-sensei is fast, but Naruto will be faster. He takes a step off the railing and he doesn't fall crashing into the sea. Instead the sea greets him, cradling his feet on top of a wave. He's just mastered using chakra to walk up trees, and hes doesn't know how to walk on water like Kakashi-sensei. It doesn't matter though because the sea does everything for him. It holds him aloft on a wave as the wave propels itself out of the harbor and into the sea proper. There's barely the sound of the waves breaking against the shore and the wave pushing everything out of its way on the way to its destination.
Naruto leaves the Land of Waves unseen by anyone. His eyes are dull as if lulled by a genjustu, but it's not a genjutsu meant to harm. Uzushio has slumbered, and Uzushio has woken up. She's been patient, waiting for one of her children to come within reach. She'll guide them home, back to their land, back to their birthright.
Uzushiogakure slumbers, but soon Uzushiogakure will awaken.