He woke up crutching his stomach, willing to do anything to stop his muscles from contracting. There was a thud as he hit the ground, a soft light shone from his window, lighting up his yellow-shock of hair.

“Dammit, another bad dream” he muttered out loud. Not like anyone would care.

He walked over ramen cups and various wrappers piling up for as long as he could remember. The room had an eerie sense of loneliness as usual. As he let out a yawn he still could still feel that empty hole in his heart where his parents should have been.

“Naruto. . .”

His head flung to the side as he searched for the faint female voice. Strangely enough it wasn’t wholly unfamiliar, like it was on an old friend of his.

“Pine-nut. . .”

For some reason that particular word made him feel fuzzy inside. It made him want to find the voice more desperately.
He ricocheted off the walls even searching under his bed, eyes scanning all the while.

It giggled. The strange feminine voice giggled. He froze on the spot. Not because he was scared or anything equally silly. . . There was just something nostalgic about the voice. Like he had heard this song before.

“Mom?” he stammered.

“Yeah it’s me” she admitted, as if she got a kick out of being a ghost.

“If it’s you, then where are you?” he said, his eyebrows were cocked and his hands were up in the fighting position held steadily in front of his chest.

“Inside you” she said plainly like dotting an “I”.

His guard completely dropped as he threw himself against his bed back first. “Inside me!?” he clawed at his stomach, hoping that it was just a cruel joke. It made him forget that she was supposed to be dead but only for a second.

“Wait a sec, why didn’t you say something sooner”

She paused for a long time.

“The seal wasn’t released yet. You see, your father is the fourth Hokage and he died protecting the village from Nine-tails. Long story short, he sealed the Nine-Tailed demon fox in you”

Water seeped from the corner of his eye. He expected his mom to have a grain more consideration for his feelings.

Now there are two things using his body as an apartment. Normally such news would be breaking, but after today it seemed like a footnote. A dreary knowingness washed over Naruto.

“Excellent, now I have two things in me”

“Oh there’s more” said his mom uncannily.

She must have read his expression because she added a “just kidding” right before his heart gave out.