As The Kyuubi no Yoko in Naruto

Sleep didn't come easily that night. Naruto lay in his bed, staring at the ceiling, hyper-aware of every shadow in his room.

The imprints had finally stopped their frantic pointing, as if satisfied their message had been received. Now they just watched, their presence heavy with something that felt like pity.

He was afraid to close his eyes. Afraid to enter that warm, familiar space where his fa- where the Nine-Tails waited. The comfort he'd always found there now felt like a lie, a manipulation so big it made his heart ache.

In the next room, Sasuke wasn't sleeping either. His mind raced through years of memories, recontexualizing every strange incident, every unexplained moment.

The way Naruto had known to come that night, the mysterious red chakra, the improved control that made no sense for someone with his friend's massive reserves, the enormous reserves themselves...

A soft knock interrupted his thoughts.

"Sasuke?" Naruto's voice was barely audible through the door. "Are you awake?"

"Come in, dobe."

Naruto entered, looking smaller somehow in his pajamas. The moonlight through the window cast strange shadows, and for a moment, Sasuke thought he saw imprints forming in the corners - but they scattered before fully manifesting.

Unknown to him, he was. The Demon was tearing the veil slowly that rested upon his eyes - until he could see those who he called blood, only them, and none the more, for even the mighty Nine Tails, had his limits.

"I can't sleep," Naruto said, sitting on the floor near Sasuke's bed. "Every time I start to drift off, I feel... I feel that warmth. But now I know what it is. Who it is."

Sasuke sat up in his bed, watching his friend carefully. 

"All those times," Sasuke said quietly, "when you talked about your dream-father... about how he taught you things, comforted you..."

"It was him. The Nine-Tails." Naruto's voice cracked slightly. "He's been there all along, pretending to be... to be what I needed most."

An imprint formed near the window - a young Uchiha woman, perhaps a mother, her expression a mixture of fear and sympathy. She pointed not at Naruto's stomach this time, but at his heart, before dissolving away.

"Why?" Sasuke asked. "Why would the Nine-Tails pretend to be your father? Why teach you? Why not just..."

He couldn't finish the thought, but Naruto understood. Why not just try to break free? Why spend years playing the role of a loving parent?

"I don't know," Naruto whispered. "But he's always been gentle with me. Even when I was little, before I could see the imprints, he was there. Warming me when I was cold, healing me when I got hurt." His hands clenched in his lap. "Was it all just manipulation? Was any of it real?"

More imprints gathered in the room's shadows, their presence feeling less frightened now, more solemn.

"The graduation exam is tomorrow," Naruto said suddenly. "How am I supposed to face anyone, knowing what I am? What's inside me?"

"You're still you, dobe," Sasuke replied, but his voice held a note of uncertainty. "Just because we know now doesn't change who you've been all these years."

But they both knew that wasn't entirely true. Everything had changed, even if nothing had actually changed at all.

"Should I..." Naruto hesitated, "should I try to sleep? To face him?"

Sasuke considered this. The Nine-Tails had been manipulating his friend for years, playing the role of a loving father while being the very demon that had orphaned him.

But it had also protected Naruto, taught him, and even saved Sasuke's life during the massacre.

"Be careful," he finally said. "We don't know what it really wants."

An imprint formed between them - an elderly Uchiha with stern features. Unlike the others, this one seemed to be trying to demonstrate something, moving its hands in what looked like seal formations.

"They're still trying to tell us something," Naruto observed, watching the imprint's movements. "But it's different now. Less panicked."

"Maybe because we finally understand what they were warning us about."

"No," Naruto shook his head. "This feels like... like they're trying to teach me something. About seals maybe? About how to..."

He trailed off as more imprints appeared, each performing different hand movements. Their expressions were intense, focused, as if trying to convey crucial information.

"They want to help you," Sasuke realized. "Now that you know what's sealed inside you, they're trying to show you how to protect yourself."

But even as he said it, the warmth in Naruto's mind stirred slightly, reminding him that his dream-father - no, the Nine-Tails - was waiting. Watching. Aware of everything happening around its vessel.

"I think," Naruto said quietly, "I need to talk to him. To understand why."

The imprints' movements became more urgent, as if warning him to be careful. To be prepared.

"Then do it," Sasuke said. "But remember - everything it's told you, everything it's done... it's all been for some purpose we don't understand yet."

Naruto nodded, then settled into a more comfortable position on the floor. "Stay close?" he asked, hating how scared his voice sounded.

"I'm not going anywhere, dobe."

As Naruto closed his eyes, letting himself drift toward that familiar warm space, the imprints gathered closer, their presence a silent vigil over both boys.

-----------------------------

The familiar warmth enveloped him as Naruto slipped into sleep, but this time it felt different. Heavier. The space where his father usually waited seemed darker, more vast.

For a long moment, neither spoke. The warmth simply held him, as it had countless times before, but now Naruto was acutely aware of what that warmth truly was. Who it truly was.

"You know," the voice finally came, still gentle, still caring, but carrying an undercurrent of something ancient and tired.

It wasn't a question. Didn't need to be.

Naruto couldn't find his voice at first. How do you speak to someone who's been both your greatest comfort and the village you've raised been in's deepest nightmare? The demon that you know must have orphaned you, yet who had also been the only parent you'd ever known?

"The imprints," he finally managed. "They've been trying to tell me. All this time..."

"Yes." The warmth shifted slightly, like a sigh. "Though not as I had hoped for you to learn the truth."

Another long silence stretched between them. 

"You're the Nine-Tails," Naruto whispered, the words feeling strange in his mouth. "The demon that attacked..."

"That was controlled into attacking," the voice interrupted, softly but firmly. "By a man wearing a mask, wielding those cursed eyes - Madara Uchiha."

The warmth curled closer, protective rather than threatening. "The same bloodline that has enslaved my kind for generations."

Naruto absorbed this, feeling the genuine bitterness in those words. The pain behind them.

"Enslaved?" Naruto found himself asking, despite everything. Despite the fact that he was talking to the very demon that had devastated his village - who was the source of everyone's blame and hatred for him.

"The Sharingan," the voice explained, a deep weariness in its tone. "Those red eyes that can turn even the mightiest of beings into mere puppets.

That night, when Madara's eyes found me..." The warmth trembled slightly, an ancient rage mixed with something like fear. "I became nothing more than a weapon in his hands."

Naruto remembered the imprints, how they scattered at his gaze, how they feared whatever they sensed within him. "But you've been..." he struggled to find the words. "All these years, you've been..."

"Been what, kit? Been gentle with you? Been teaching you? Been the father you needed?" The voice was soft, almost sad. "Would you have preferred I remain silent? Let you face their hatred alone, never understanding why?"

Naruto felt tears forming, but held them back. "You've been lying to me."

"No." The denial was immediate, but gentle. "I became what you needed, yes. But every moment of comfort, every lesson, every time I held you through your nightmares - that was real. The only lie was in not telling you who I was."

"I had hoped," the voice continued after a long moment, "to tell you myself. When you were ready. When you could understand the full truth of that night. But the imprints..." A soft, resigned sigh. "They forced my hand."

Naruto sat with this, feeling the familiar warmth that had always meant safety, comfort, love - and now knowing its true nature. The contradiction felt impossible to reconcile.

"Why?" he finally asked. "Why be kind to me at all? Why not just..."

The warmth shifted, curling around him more protectively. "Why not just try to break free? Why not hate you, as they expect me to?" The voice held a gentle understanding. "Because you are not your village, kit. You are not the seal that binds me, nor the eyes that controlled me."

He turned silent for a moment, almost, reminiscient.

"When I was first sealed within you," the voice continued carefully, "I was rage incarnate. Hatred given form. But then I watched. I saw how they treated you - a child innocent of any crime save existing. I saw their fear turn to hatred, their hatred to cruelty."

Naruto remembered those early years - the cold stares, the whispered words, the empty apartment.

"And then," the voice grew softer, "I saw your heart. How despite everything, you remained... kind. Pure. Even when you didn't understand why they hated you, you never let that hatred take root in your own heart."

He paused once more, the silence meant to let it sink in.

"How could I not grow to care for such a child? How could I watch you suffer alone, knowing I could offer comfort? Teaching? The guidance they denied you?"

The words rang with sincerity, but something still nagged at Naruto's mind. "But the imprints... they're terrified of you. They see something in you that..."

"They see what Madara made me become," the voice interrupted, an ancient pain coloring its tone. "They remember only the monster he forced me to be, not what I truly am. Not what I've become to you."

"What you've become to me," Naruto repeated slowly. "A father figure. My only family." His voice caught slightly. "Was that... was that planned?"

The warmth withdrew slightly, as if giving him space to think. "Not at first. When you were very young, I simply couldn't bear to watch you suffer alone. The comfort I offered was... instinctive. But as you grew, as you began to respond to my presence, to trust in it..."

The voice trailed off, letting Naruto fill in the implications himself.

"And now?" Naruto asked, his voice small in the vast darkness. "Now that I know what you are, what happens?"

"That depends on you, kit." The warmth remained at a distance, "I am still what I have been these past years - your teacher, your protector. The truth of my nature doesn't change that, unless you wish it to."

Naruto contemplated it. This being before him was the one who had to have killed his parents - he had been orphaned the day of his attack after all. But if he spoke the truth...

"The man in the mask," he said finally. "Madara. Tell me about him."

The darkness around them seemed to deepen at the name. "Are you sure you want to know that story tonight, kit? There's much to process already."

"I need to understand," Naruto insisted. "If you really care about me, if any of this was real... I need to know the whole truth."

He was silent for a moment, considering. When he spoke again, the voice carried years of pain and rage, carefully controlled.

"Very well. But remember - some truths are harder to bear than others..."