Naruto demi-god

Kingdark: I've been reading a lot of CYOA stories lately and it occurred to me that the Naruto fandom has a considerable lack of such stories. Since there are already a LOT of powerful Naruto stories out there, some even more ridiculously overpowered then my own… I'll let you make your own conclusions. This is a Naruto story where Naruto gets a powerup based on a cyoa package. I based it on a demi-God cyoa package but I modified it a little to fit better. I also want to make it clear that despite the fact that Naruto is going to be very strong, he still has a LOT to learn. He won't be kicking Kakashi around like nobody's business without considerable practice. Especially he prologue has several beneath the underneath implications, so read it carefully.

Prologue…

Our world is a violent place. It was before chakra was discovered and back then it was simply human's nature. Going from a desire to protect their territory or simply for greed. People had their place. They would be born in a farmer's family and they would die as a farmer. Before chakra was discovered, the roads had been dangerous. But if you stuck together in a big group, knew how to handle a weapon only the stupidest of bandits would try and rob you. Then something happened and people began to disappear.

The only hint that something had gone wrong was considerable evidence of the group fighting. Except that nothing valuable was left behind. There were no corpses, arrows and weapons were nearly always scattered around but that was it. Slowly, over the course of several months the roads had become so dangerous that only heavily armed groups would travel the roads and even then, it wasn't certain if they would reach their destination. The casualty rate became so ridiculous that not even the most stubborn of the warlords could ignore it anymore.

A meeting was setup and it was decided to hold a ceasefire of hostilities all around. They united their armed forces in several larger units and they were sent out to hunt down who or whatever was responsible for the missing people.

The large units stumbled on the cause eventually. Large, powerful mutated animals. Animals ten times stronger, faster and so much more intelligent attacked the armed forces in directed strategies. They used ambush strategies, they pretended to give up to lure their pursuers into a trap, whatever strategy was common in those days was used. If one side used a new strategy, the other side would take it, modify it and try to use it themselves.

The mutated animals were not only stronger faster and smarter but they also showed unique abilities that were thought to be impossible. To make things worse, when prisoners were taken, the animals showed that they could actually talk and claimed that the humans had started it. Of course, none of the human of the time believed such a claim and it is assumed that the prisoners were all executed with extreme prejudice.

It is believed that the fighting spread out all over the continent at one point and eventually a shaky, reluctant cease fire was made. The mutated animals were given a part of the continent. Way to the north. Since then those parts are known as the wastelands and the entire border has been fortified with several high walls and even several fortresses to keep the mutated animals in and anyone else out.

That wasn't the end of it though because other tribes of mutated animals had been living in relative peace. Not all of them wanted conflict and they had managed to stay out of it. Humans tend to destroy what they fear and don't understand. Bounties were given for any information on other tribes and for the next decade, all remaining tribes were hunted down.

It was after ten years of the remaining tribes being hunted that the war chess of the warlords head become dangerously low. It was around that time, roughly fifteen to twenty years later after the initial disappearances that the warlords, all at the same time by coincidence, showed their secret weapon. Humans that were also ten times tougher, stronger and faster.

Unfortunately, any information about what happened after they showed off these powerful humans, the first original version of shinobi is unreliable. What we do know is that these powerful humans united themselves in clans and large families and they eventually rebelled. They killed their old masters and this eventually led to what is now known as the clan war era.

Naruto put the book down and frowned. "Wait, so even if the information is unreliable, why not put it in the book anyway? If the author writes in a disclaimer that the information may be wrong then shouldn't that be the end of it so they can put in the information anyway? Because I still want to know what happened after they revealed those powerful humans and the rebellion. They can't have rebelled for no reason right?" Naruto complained to nobody in particular.

"That, my young friend is a question that is heavily debated. There is a lot of information out there, too much to put in just a few pages, even heavily summarized. The information itself conflicts so much with each other that none of it agrees with each other."

Naruto looked to his left and frowned. The one who had spoken was a man that he had seen in the library before. Always reading, studying and researching. Like Naruto himself.

"How can that be? Why would it conflict so much with each other? Shouldn't some information agree with each other even in parts? Take it with a grain of salt, take in who and when it was written and you could have a whole new interpretation!"

"You have a point." The man agreed kindly. "But it is not that simple unfortunately."

The man shook his head and smiled. "Let me give you a piece of advice, history is written by the victors. Always take your history with a grain of salt. Most of it will assuredly be correct, but the written history will always make the losers seem to be the bad guys."

"You're not convinced are you?" The man asked.

Naruto just shook his head, it was partly because he didn't agree but also because he wasn't sure he understood what the man meant.

"Alright, then let's take a piece of Konoha's history. Do you know about the Yondaime Hokage?"

"Yes." Naruto agreed. "Minato-sama is my favorite Hokage."

"He's considered a hero right by Konoha?" The man asked.

"Yes…?" Naruto answered uncertainly.

"And why is he considered a hero?" The man asked patiently.

"Because the Yondaime won us the third world war." Naruto answered.

"Ah, and there we have it." The man said with a gleam in his eye. "The Yondaime did indeed win the war for Konoha and he did so in the battle that won him his title of golden flash correct?"

"Yes, that's right." Naruto confirmed.

"Okay? So did you know that for the people of Iwa, the Yondaime is considered the worst? A Demon? A Killer? A murderer? Basically every insult in the book and it would be him."

"But why?" Naruto asked with a frown.

"Because good or bad is all a matter of perspective. A mouse will hate the cat for killing it, but is the cat evil? If you kill a random bandit to protect the traders you were paid to protect, the people the bandit will leave behind will most certainly hate you for killing their father, brother or husband. Your own motives for killing this random person doesn't matter because he was committing a crime right? But then, why would he commit a crime? Is it out of desperation? Is it because he's being blackmailed? Because of another reason?"

"So I shouldn't kill anyone on an escort mission then?" Naruto asked in confusion.

"Oh ho! No! Certainly not. You're missing the point."

"No, I think I get it." Naruto said thoughtfully. "I may be doing my job, the traders will thank me and if it happens to be ever important enough to make the history books, even as a single line, it will probably make me look as the good guy doing his job. I as the victor would be mentioned and the bandit I killed would be described as the worst piece of scum even if he had good reason to try and rob the traders I was escorting."

"Exactly!" The man agreed enthusiastically!

"So how is that relevant to my book?" Naruto asked, bringing their conversation back on track.

"Well, it is like I said, there are certainly records remaining that describe what happened. But the records are nearly always prejudiced in such a way that they make their masters out to be the good guy. For example, in one record it was described how a minor warlord attempted to protect his people by leading the defense himself, the record continues to describe the attacker as violent and evil because he attacked with no reason. For the other guy, similar records exist that describe that the first guy ordered several unofficial raids on his farmers. He attempted diplomacy but it continued to fail because the first guy was a power hungry fool. See what I mean? So what is the truth? Is it the first guy, or the second? Did he really authorize raids on his neighbor or is that just an excuse for the second?"

Naruto was nodding thoughtfully as his companion was talking.

"To make it even worse, the time that the book is describing was very violent, castles were burned down, records were destroyed and whole families were slaughtered. That left only mouth to mouth and I'm sure you know that recording history you heard from a guy, who heard it from another guy who happened to overhear it in a bar is extremely unreliable."

"And that would make everything far less accurate.." Naruto observed.

"Precisely!" The man agreed immediately. "That being said… If there are any records of the time period left, chances are they are either classified, held by clans as part of their heritage or they're just gathering dust in some random library. Either way, it's unlikely you will ever be allowed access to them." The man said with a shrug.

"What about the mutated animals? Have there been attempts to make contact with them? Are there any surviving tribes besides the ones that are supposed to be in the wastelands?"

"I honestly don't know if there are still tribes left that are surviving on their own. There are plenty conspiracy theories that they are actually living among humans and that they are partly or completely responsible for the bloodline limits humans have at present. Besides the wastelands that have been sealed off for decades, our continent is really huge. There are plenty of parts that haven't been explored yet. Jungles, swamps, deserts and even a few mountain ranges haven't been explored yet. That doesn't even begin to go into the fact that there are plenty of underground tunnels or even ancient ruins!"

"Some countries send condemned prisoners as an alternative for their execution to explore those places. They are given supplies, weapons and enough food to last them a few weeks. If they manage to return after a year with valuable information then they would live out their lives in luxury and comfort."

"Couldn't they just sneak back over the border?" Naruto asked logically.

The man shook his head. "Trust me kid, the countries that do that, have made sure that no prisoner can sneak back over the border and if they manage to do so anyway and if they are captured, then their death will be so… Ehm.." The man paused as he remembered who he was talking to.

"Just trust me when I say that it is a worse fate to try and sneak back over the border then to try and survive for a whole year. There have been heavily armed expeditions before but none of them have ever returned. Around those regions, shinobi and soldiers of all countries are stationed because none of us want those animals to return and attack us."

"Why is it assumed they would attack us without reason?" Naruto asked with a frown.

"How would you feel if a country send their worst criminals in your country? Or if you were essentially locked in your country because of events nobody remembers?"

"It would make me angry to be sure." Naruto answered.

"Exactly." The man agreed. "It's a problem that nobody know how to deal with, because there hasn't been any contact with them for centuries so we don't even know if they still exist. Not really at least. But we know that something must have destroyed the expeditions in the past so it is assumed that they still exist."

"Don't worry about it." The man added hastily. He glanced at his watch and cursed under his breath. "Excuse me, I'm late for an important meeting."

That was the last time that Naruto would see the man, never knowing his name or what he was late for. Few people would realize this, but it was then that Naruto made his decision. He would become strong enough to enter those isolated zones and find out what the deal was and what had killed previous expeditions! That would surely be enough to be considered for the Hokage position!

Naruto finished the book an hour later, returned it to its shelve and went home. It was vacation and despite what he let his classmates believe, he did enjoy a good book every now and then. Especially if it was about the origin of chakra and history. Or both. Because if lessons that were learned in history were forgotten then they would simply be repeated. That was why he enjoyed reading history so much. It could prevent him from making big mistakes!

None of that mattered now though, he was tired and was looking forward to a good night's sleep.

Dream sequence

Naruto slowly opened his eyes. "Am I dreaming…? I never dream. Or I can't remember if I have dreamt before… Why am I dreaming?" Naruto's thought processes were slow, which kind of made sense since his brain was in 'low energy mode' for the moment.

Naruto blinked again and then it was like he was waking up. His thought processes sped up and a few seconds later he was fully awake… Even though his real physical body was still asleep.

"W-what's going on? Where am I? It was then that he noticed someone else in the place he was in. Who are you? What are you doing here? Were you the one that brought me here?"

"My dear child, I am here because of you!" Naruto blinked in surprise. There was a person, standing in the shadows. He tried to focus on it, but with the darkness he couldn't tell if it was a woman or a man. He would go with a man's voice for now. It was then that Naruto processed the man's word. The man was here, wherever here was because of him? Why? Why would this man be here for him?

"Did you not wish to go into what you mortals refer to as the wastelands to find out what is happening there and perhaps bring peace between you and…. Them?"

"…Yes…?" Naruto answered hesitantly.

"I am here to make that… Easier for you."

Naruto blinked in surprise and immediately narrowed his eyes. "Why would anyone make something easier for me? I'm a pariah! Nobody likes me and I'm barely tolerated!"

"Because I have been watching you. Because I like you. Because you are the best choice out of many to do it."

"Do? Do what?" Naruto parroted.

"You humans are so… Divided at the moment while, what you refer to as the mutated animals are currently being united under one force. They are given no choice. They know that just breaking out would see them repelled by the border guards and it would leave hundreds dead."

"What does have that to do with me?" Naruto asked.

"You are the best option I have to get stronger, go into the isolated zones and make your allies there to try and prevent it from escalating in its own war. You could also say that I am indirectly responsible for the fact that chakra exists and that you can use it as well as what you know as 'mutated animals' not a very creative name, but I will leave it to you to discover what they really are. I literally can't take any action directly because I am so powerful. Even now, when I have only a little less than two percent of my total power left, I am still powerful enough that if I tried anything directly, it would shatter your world into pieces, wiping all life out instantly… Even if that wasn't true I still wouldn't be able to do anything because I am dying and because I have given up permanent parts of my power to other mortals I deemed worthy."

"The power I have left represents a little less than two percent of my total power and that is not enough to divide under two mortals equally which means you are lucky enough to get more than the other mortals I have given power to."

Naruto stared at the man for several long moments, a conclusion was slowly beginning to form of who or rather what this man actually was. Naruto shook his head because he could barely belief what he was told. A small part of him thought he might be still dreaming, but the bigger part of him knew that was nonsense. He was as awake as he could be.

"Why would you chose me of all people? I'm just a nobody! Surely there are better choices…" Naruto's word came out very reluctant, almost unwillingly but he said it all the same.

"You aren't you know." The man said. "A nobody I mean. You have an incredibly powerful heritage…"

"What is that supposed to mean? I'm just a random orphan!" Naruto protested.

The man stared at Naruto for a long moment and cursed under his breath. Time seemed to slow down and several things happened on another level of reality.

X

The God, for that is what it was, realized only now that the chakra construct within Naruto, commonly known as Kyuubi and only known to a few as Kurama, that he was not complete. He had in fact been cut crudely into two. The Yang halve was sealed within Naruto and the Yin halve was…

The God frowned because of several facts. Naruto's father had been tortured in some punk's Shinigami's stomach along with the over halve of Kurama when the Shinigami should've released Naruto's father into the afterlife and release Kurama so he could be reformed.

Of course that by itself was a problem as well. Releasing the yin halve of Minato back into the real world would cause even more violence… Still, even with less than two percent, he was still more than powerful enough to crush that punk Shinigami with his pinky finger.

Instead of crushing the Shinigami, the God instead beat the ever hell out of him, forcing him to expel all the souls he had in his stomach, releasing them to be judged. The God also realized that he couldn't fuse the two halves together because both had vastly different experiences now.

It occurred to this God that he may as well make Yin Kurama and Yang Kurama, Naruto's advisor's like he had once had a very long time ago. Except that he wouldn't make the same mistake he had made back then. The God focused his power and several things happened immediately, each would have consequences later.

Gerotora, the toad which held the key to Naruto's seal knew immediately that his key was destroyed and that the seal on Naruto's stomach was no longer valid. The God didn't pay much attention to this though so he ignored that part. It left the toads in a panic and Jiraiya of the Sannin was reverse summoned which had all sorts of consequences on its own.

The God had a conversation with Yin and Yang Kurama and eventually convinced them to aid him. After an undetermined amount of time a bargain was made.

X

Time sped up again and the God responded as if nothing else had happened. Yin or Yang Kurama would explain that to him later.

"You are not a random orphan, Uzumaki Naruto!" The God repeated. "Just the opposite. There are some things you need to know about yourself… One explanation about what happened during his birth, who his mum and dad were and about the masked man later…

"I… I don't even know how I'm supposed to respond to that." Naruto said in a dead voice. The thought of his hero being responsible for him being a pariah in Konoha pissed him off. It's suffice to say that the third Hokage took the place of his favorite Hokage instead.

"You know, what, I will deal with… That…. Later. Much, much later. So what is it exactly that you are offering me?" Naruto asked, because damn it, if all the stuff he was just told -and that he was still ignoring to deal with LATER- was true, then he had to prove to himself that he would make everyone swallow their words. He would be Hokage and he would lead an expedition into the isolated regions and hopefully make peace with who or whatever lurked there.

"To put it bluntly, I am offering you a power up."

"…A power up? Seriously? What do you think this is? Some kind of game?" Naruto deadpanned.

"Do you refuse it?" The god asked.

"There's no good way to respond to that, that won't make me look like a power hungry idiot, so I'm just going to say, that yes, I politely accept your offer." Naruto said calmly.

"What am I supposed to do to get it?"

Oddly, despite not being able to see the man's face, Naruto could tell he was smiling. Whether it was at his vague, futile attempts at humor or something else, was anyone's guess.

"You will need to…" The God said slowly, his voice trailing off.

"Yes?" Naruto asked.

"You will need to fill out this paperwork!" The man declared. Pulling up a thick wade of papers out of nowhere.

Naruto nearly felt to the ground, so big was his surprise.

"Paperwork!?" He exclaimed, his earlier thoughts forgotten.

"Well, you don't expect me to sit here and explain everything to you don't you? Even with less than two percent of my power, there's virtually nothing you can't ask for… As long as it doesn't go over a little over a hundred and ninety points."

"Points?" Naruto asked confused.

"Look kid, that's the easiest way for me to phrase it in a way your lowly mortal mind can understand. Some things you can get are very expensive, it'll make you tough and powerful but it also could make you a glass cannon. Just… Choose carefully."

Naruto decided to heed the God's advice. He reluctantly put the very big and expensive powers away and focused on other things first. Maybe he could squeeze one tiny powerful power in there, but he couldn't any rash decisions.

Naruto couldn't tell how much time passed as he was reading the papers and for some reason, he could remain focused on it as well. He asked the occasional question to clarify something but eventually he had spent all the points he had left. He signed his name and then signed it again to confirm that he was happy with his choices and that if he signed a second time, he would not be able to reverse anything of it. The paperwork glowed brightly and vanished in a shower of sparkles.

The God nodded as it felt it's remaining power draining away quickly. "Goodbye little mortal. I have only a few more things to say before I go on to my next adventure. I have hidden one hundred stones all around the world. Some will be next to impossible for you to get with the choices you made. Some will be easy. Some will require negotiation. Whenever you find one, you will get a single point after doing specific. You will know when you find one. The more stones you get, the more options you will gain…" The god was ageing rapidly, but it was still holding on.

"The second piece of advice is that you'll have a number of choices to make. Be violent, and you'll gain power from people killing each other. If you get people to believe in you, then you'll gain power from them. If you get people to swear their lives and very being to you, you will get a point outright. There can be no trickery in that last part though."

Naruto could tell that the God was on its last leg and that it was using up every last drop of its power it had left to give him all the advice it could.

"Lastly… If you become experienced enough, you can lead your people into a golden age and eventually there's a chance, a small one mind you, that you will ascend completely and take possession of my throne… Good luck, little one, for you are not the only one competing for my throne…" Then, the God simply ceased to exist and Naruto woke up.

End Prologue

Chapter one

Naruto woke up and immediately sat up in his bed. He noticed that it was a little past eight in the morning.

He also realized he was fully awake and ready for action! "That was one hell of a weird dream." Naruto muttered to himself. Although a small part of him wished desperately that it had been real. But really, the Yondaime Hokage, Minato Namikaze being his dad? The very thought was ridiculous!

"Why would you think it was a dream?" A voice to his left asked him. Naruto answered before he realized what he was doing.

"Because, me, the most disliked orphan in the village being related to the Yondaime Hokage? It's ridiculous!" Naruto answered. "Especially if the rest is true too." Naruto added.

"Really, sealing an intelligent chakra construct in your own child, sealing it away for decades because it seems scary. How could anyone not be angry if they were sealed away in who knows what kind of circumstances!" Naruto complained. It was only after his mini rant that his brain fully kicked in and reminded him that he was the only occupant of the room and that if he were hearing voices it may mean his sanity had finally kicked the bucket.

Naruto froze and then slowly looked to his left and there, on his left shoulder was a miniature version of a fox. Not just any fox though, but a fox with nine tails and red fur and that Naruto could tell was male. Then he looked to his right and there was another fox, also with nine tails except that one had black fur. This one was female, Naruto somehow knew. The first thought that entered Naruto's mind was something he would deny thinking whenever it was brought up, because boys did not squeal and hug something to close to them when they saw something utterly cute.

Faster than the eye could see, Naruto had snatched both foxes off his shoulder and was squeezing them for all it was worth, then the next they were sitting back on his shoulder breathing heavily as if they had the life squeezed out of them. Which didn't make any sense because they weren't really there, so there wasn't any substance for Naruto to squeeze, let alone to actually affect them! But he had anyway.

Naruto continued as if nothing had happened and because he would deny ever having done anything (let alone having squeezed them and squealing like a girl) he looked to his left again. This fox had red fur and Naruto could somehow tell that not only was this the halve that had been sealed within himself but he could also tell that HE was male and that it represented the Yang halve of the original Kurama.

Looking to his left, was an identical fox except this one had black fur, was female, came from the Yondaime who-could-not-be-his-father-because-that-did-not-compute and that SHE represented the Yin halve of the original Kurama.

Naruto then looked to his right a second time and then looked to his left. He continued this several times as he tried to process that there were really two miniature versions of the Kyuubi, using his shoulder as a perch.

"I wonder how I can't feel their weight?" Naruto asked nobody in particular.

"That's because right now, we are immaterial which means only you can see or hear us. You shouldn't be able to touch us either but somehow you did anyway…" Kurama (the one with red fur) explained.

"No I didn't." Naruto denied.

"Yes you did!" Red Kurama said.

"No I didn't." Naruto disagreed firmly.

"Yes. You. Did." Red Kurama repeated.

Naruto growled and opened his mouth again to deny he had ever touched him, when he was interrupted by Black Kurama.

"BOYS! Just drop it. Kurama, it didn't happen. THAT… Did NOT happen. Am I clear?" Black Kurama demanded.

Red Kurama gulped and submitted immediately. Somehow, his new sister scared the hell out of him and the fact that she was technically himself made him wonder if he should be proud of that fact or if he should question his sanity.

"As I was saying, we are invisible to all except for you. Nobody else should be able to hear us either. We can reveal ourselves but we won't because it would freak the civilians out, let alone what it would do to the shinobi and neither of us wants them to do something… Utterly stupid."

"Because you don't want to die?" Naruto guessed.

"No. Because I don't want to be reincarnated and have to grow up all over again nor do I want to risk spending twenty four hours in a void until we are reborn again. Because that shit is entirely random and I would like to avoid that as long as possible."

"… WHAAAT?" Naruto shouted.

"I DIDN'T CHOOSE THAT DID I?"

"Remember the part where the God mentioned something about a gift?"

"…No?" Naruto answered.

"Well, that's part of it." Black Kurama said with a shrug.

"Anyway, Kurama-kun and I discussed it and you may refer to me as Kuro-chan and to my little brother as Kurama-chan."

"DON'T CALL ME Kurama-chan damn it! I'm neither a little boy nor am I a girl! You will refer to me as Kurama-sama!"

Naruto snorted. "I don't even refer to the Hokage with that honorific so why should I refer to you that respectfully?"

"BOYS!" Kuro shouted again. "Don't make me spank your asses, and don't think I won't because I will!"

Kurama submitted immediately because he knew she would because he himself wouldn't hesitate to do it himself. They were one and the same after all.

Naruto decided to just go along with it. It was then that it really hit him. He had just been having a conversation with not one but TWO Kyuubi's and not only that but he had been talking with a REAL god too. So Naruto did the only thing he could. He fainted.

X

"…Do you think he'll be the one?" Kuro asked quietly, looking at Naruto's unconscious form with what appeared to be a fond smile.

"He'll be pissed if we don't say anything and he discovers or realizes it on his own."

"That's not what I asked." Kuro said with narrowed eyes, looking up and giving her brother a glare.

"…I honestly don't know." Kurama admitted. "There's still a part of me that wants to rage and shout and-"

"Throw a tantrum basically then?" Kuro asked with a snort.

Kurama continued as if he hadn't been interrupted. "and basically I want to remind the world why they feared me but that would be counterproductive."

"Wow! I didn't know you could say a hard word like that!"

Again, Kurama ignored her and continued as if nothing had been said. He was used to her taunting him.

"However, I've had my chance to get it out of my system and I can't remember the last time I felt like this."

"Neither can I." Kuro admitted.

"I think the last time I felt like this was before that bastard captured… me? Us? The old me? How the heck do I refer to past me?"

"Just say 'me' when you refer to something that happened before this. Back then we were one and the same after all so we both remember the same thing. And you're right. It was before we were captured for the first time but I remember feeling angry because I heard rumors about our siblings being caught."

"I don't remember that." Kurama answered with a frown.

"You don't?" Kuro asked. "That's weird, I can clearly remember-"

"Ah! Wait, I remember now!" Kurama interrupted her. "You're right though. But I also remember trying my hardest to try and give the humans the benefit of the doubt. But then I encountered him and from that moment onwards my memories are… Vague."

Nothing more needed to be said and both Kurama and Kuro were quiet until their new host would wake up.

X

Naruto groaned as he slowly woke up. For a moment he could remember nothing but then it hit him with the weight of the Hokage mountain. He looked at the clock and he realized it was nearly ten in the morning. "I was out for two hours?" Naruto thought disbelievingly. Naruto shook his head and decided it was not important.

"It wasn't a dream was it?" Naruto asked to nobody in particular.

"It wasn't." Kuro agreed.

"Nope." Kurama added.

Naruto sat up quickly and flushed in embarrassment.

"Now that you've recovered from your fainting spell-"

"Passed out." Naruto interrupted her. "Boys don't faint, they pass out in a manly fashion."

"You said it brother!" Kurama agreed immediately.

"Boys…" Kuro groaned in frustration.

"So now that you are awake again, we can get down to business." Kuro repeated.

"Am I really a God now?" Naruto asked hesitantly.

"Goodness no!" Kurama snickered. "You are a demi-god, which is something between a half god and a full god but it isn't that either. It's hard to explain."

"Why do I feel so calm? Heck, why do I have this 'want' to start crafting seals to protect my home because it's a security nightmare? Hell, how do I even know anything about Fūinjutsu in the first place?"

"It's part of your heritage." Kuro answered immediately. "You remember that your mother was Uzumaki Kushina correct?"

"Yes…?" Naruto answered reluctantly.

"Well, she was part of the Uzumaki clan which was feared and respected for its knowledge in seals and Fūinjutsu. This means that it is your heritage to know about seals."

"But I don't remember having picked that!" Naruto protested.

"You didn't. We did." Kuro replied impatiently.

"Because that knowledge is rightfully yours and it will be extremely valuable in the long run." Kurama added.

"I'll say." Naruto muttered. He had over a dozen blueprints that would make his apartment the closest thing to a fortress he could think off. Not only that but he now knew several ninjutsu, genjutsu and Taijutsu styles that were unique to the Uzumaki.

"Kage bunshin." With a puff, a dozen clones were standing in his apartment. They already knew their orders and they immediately began the initial preparations for the seals. The real Naruto on the other hand, was preparing the ink since it required to be mixed with his blood. Any ink could be transformed into the ink you used to place seals.

Once he was done, the dozen or so clones immediately began crafting the seals themselves. Once they were done and the seals were placed, he wouldn't have to worry about cold water anymore. Neither would he have to think about electricity or any of the other essentials.

"Make sure to make the electricity seals just imperfect enough that we still use up a little!"

"Yes boss!" The clones responded obediently.

"Now, I'm beginning to feel more comfortable." Naruto remarked idly.

Naruto closed his eyes and tried to identify everything he could sense now. He could tell who was in the building, where they were, he could sense the water in the pipes and so many other things!

"NARUTO!" a voiced shouted next to his ear.

"What is it?" He asked irritably.

"Look at the clock." Kuro said with a sigh.

Naruto did and he stared. It was noon on the dot.

"…I was out for two hours?! But it seemed like only a few moments to me!" He protested.

"Just take a shower and get something to eat." Kuro instructed with a sigh. Then she and Kurama vanished with a pop. Naruto knew immediately that they had returned to what had been their seal before.

Naruto's stomach chose that moment to inform loudly that it wanted food. Badly.

Naruto walked to the bathroom quickly and washed himself quickly. He wanted to get something to eat but damn it, he had just lost halve a day with doing nothing! It was one thing to let himself sleep in, but it was noon and he was still in his sleeping clothes.

One shower later…

Naruto was moving towards his kitchen in a hurry. He was hungry damn it, he wanted to get something to eat as quickly as possible. As he was moving through his kitchen, he realized that he wasn't preparing ramen at all but something else. Whatever it was, it was smelling very appetizing. The thing was that Naruto wasn't sure what it was he had been making at first. Except that he could identify the stages of what he was doing as soon as he was doing it. For example, he hadn't known what he had been doing at first, but as soon as he was preparing the food itself he knew anyway. He knew what he was doing and what the end result was supposed to be. Not only that but he was preparing the food like he had done it hundreds of times before!

"Worry about that later, food first." Naruto thought to himself. Naruto also realized he had made more food then he alone could eat, so he did the most logical thing.

"Kuro-chan, Kurama-san, please come out if you're hungry. Food is about done." Naruto called.

Two pops informed him that they had come out and Naruto assumed that they were hungry. When he turned to look at them he paused in what he was doing because both Kuro and Kurama were staring at him.

"What is it now?" Naruto demanded.

"You're giving us food?" Kurama said with such disbelief that Naruto realized this was something he had never expected.

"Of course you get food." Naruto said indignantly.

"I made too much for me alone, so it's only natural to offer you food as well." Although Naruto knew that his expenses would grow quickly so that might become a problem later. Still, he had enough money saved up for an emergency so he should be able to manage for a while. If he had to, he would start stealing again like he had when he was younger.

Naruto snorted at the memory how easy it had been to sneak into a civilian's home, look for valuables or money and then get out again.

Ten minutes later, the food was ready and Kurama and Kuro hesitated before they too dug into the food. Naruto firmly ignored the somewhat clumsy way Kuro and Kurama were using the eating tools. They would get better with experience.

After the meal was over with, Naruto busied himself with cleaning up the kitchen and once that chore was done, he decided that now was the time to look at what he could do.

"Does my new… Status for a lack of a better word still make me a jinchuriki or both?" Naruto asked curiously.

"Well, strictly speaking you aren't a jinchuriki anymore because the seal doesn't exist anymore." Kuro answered thoughtfully.

"Actually, it does exist but it has ceased in its function as a prison." Kurama interrupted.

"..True." Kuro acknowledged. "But the definition of a jinchuriki isn't only the seal and the fact it holds one of the tailed beasts."

"I don't like to be referred to as a beast thank you." Kurama growled.

"Then how do you expect me to refer to us then?"

"Chakra constructs. Because that's what we were. Or that's what our brothers and sisters are at least. We are neither demons, animals or beasts."

"Okay, fine then. Like I said, the definition of a jinchuriki isn't only on the fact he or she has a seal with a chakra construct in it, it is also based on the fact that the Jinchuriki can pull on his or her prisoner. Willingly or otherwise. Since Naruto can't access any of our power unless we let him, that technically doesn't make him a jinchuriki anymore because neither of us is locked up anymore."

"Okay fine. But I don't think I'm going to advertise that bit of information until I have to. I'm disliked enough as it is, if people thought for a moment that what they know as the Kyuubi has escaped or could escape…" He shuddered. "It's not something I like to think about."

"That's fair." Kurama acknowledged. "I wasn't in a good place and if I were still the same, I probably wouldn't hesitate to try and trick you in releasing me. I wouldn't have cared if you died or not. Actually, I think it's likely you would have survived because of the fact you are an Uzumaki. Except that even if you survived me escaping the seal, you probably wouldn't live once I was done with you and that doesn't even begin to describe what I would've done to Konoha in my anger." Kurama concluded.

"You're not that angry anymore then?" Naruto asked.

"No." Kurama confirmed. "I've had my chance to get it out of my system. So did Kuro-chan over there." Kurama said with his tails pointing in her direction.

"Okay, I suppose that's interesting and all, but I would like to go to the interesting stuff." Naruto said after a moment.

"I'm surprised you held out this long." Kuro remarked.

"So am I to be honest. I would've thought you would've experimented already."

"I did remember and I lost two hours without even realizing it if it hadn't been for you two." Naruto reminded them.

"I need you two to wake me up on time. Because if I'm going to be out for hours at a time and for me only a few moments will pass then oh man, it will take years before I can get anything done at all!"

A pause followed which was interrupted by Kuro.

"Naruto-kun, let me give you a friendly warning and please don't take this the wrong way. But as of this moment, we are only your advisors. We aren't your friends just yet. There isn't any trust for that to be possible. Again, don't take that the right way, because I'm liking what you have done so far so don't let my words discourage you. That being said, you don't get to order us around. You don't tell us to do anything period."

"…That came out of nowhere." Naruto remarked with a weak smile. He wouldn't admit it, but the words had still hurt emotionally. Even if he understood what Kuro was trying to say.

"How do I get you to trust me then?" Naruto asked with a frown. Kuro just snorted. "Continue to act the way you have and prove your words by acting on them. You are doing a well enough job so far though."

"…Can I tell Oji-sama about you?" Naruto asked after a moment of thinking. He wasn't sure if he even wanted to tell him anything, but he had to ask the question and get it out there.

"What do you think his reaction is going to be?" Kuro asked calmly.

"He's going to freak out. Badly." Naruto answered immediately. He then followed that up with a sigh. "I suppose that answers my question doesn't it?" He said with a sigh.

"And what will he do once he's done freaking out?" Kurama asked calmly.

"I… I don't know?" Naruto half asked, half stated. "He might want to do some tests. See if I'm still me. If I told him everything that happened, then he may want to talk to you two or he may decide that I'm a threat and…" Naruto stopped talking because that thought hurt him even more. More so because the Hokage was supposed to put the village before his own desires. That meant that the Hokage attacking him was a likely scenario.

"I think you're over reacting." Kuro said after a moment. "It all depends on how you tell him. If you tell him everything in one go, without giving him time to process it then he may act before he has time to think about it. I actually have a plan about that."

"Oh?" Naruto asked curiously.

"You will give a few hints that you have a secret but that you aren't sure how to tell him. You will leave deliberate hints that you are taking care of two small fox cubs. You will continue to hint that these might be special because of some reason."

"Special how? Naruto asked.

"Do you know the difference between a Kitsune and a fox?" Kuro asked.

"…Aren't they the same?"

"Nope." Kuro answered.

"A Kitsune refers to a mythical creature with special abilities. A fox on the other hand is just a regular animal of flesh and blood. You will on the other hand, hint that the cubs you found might be real Kitsune."

"Why…?" Naruto asked in confusion.

"To prepare him." Kurama answered.

"Wait, you're okay with this?" Naruto asked in disbelief.

"…I'm not okay with it, but I know what my sister is planning and it is the best solution either of us can think of."

"You know what, fine, it's your decision after all." Naruto said after a moment of trying to decide how he should respond to this.

"With all that being said though, I think that with the right preparations, you could prepare your Oji-sama and slowly tell him the full truth."

"Okay, so can we now get to the power testing?" Naruto asked eagerly.

Kurama and Kuro winced because they still had a number of things to talk about. Important things.

"…Do you have a name to refer to Him, because referring to Him makes me uncomfortable as just a God or just making vague references."

"Joe?" Naruto offered.

"WHAT?!" Kuro asked incredulously.

"Well, it's a name you wouldn't associate with a God right?" Naruto defended.

Kuro opened her mouth to argue before she realized he was right.

"Fine. Let's call him Joe then." Kuro said after a moment.

"Okay, I know this is getting boring, but you need to understand more about Kurama and myself." Kuro said after a long moment.

"…Okay I guess. Explain away."

Kuro winced again but she promised herself that she would try and make this as brief and to the point as possible.

"When… Joe was young, he didn't know who or what he was. He didn't know where he came from or why he had such power available to him. Even after he first woke up, he probably had enough power to make a planet crumble if he wasn't careful. It was because of this that he created two constructs. You ever heard about a devil on your shoulder?" Kuro asked.

"…Yes." Naruto agreed. "It's a reference to a conscience whispering in your ear. Something about temptation and conscience." Naruto answered.

"Very good." Kuro agreed. "You could compare those constructs to that except taken to an extreme. They gave Joe advice as if the world could only be divided into white and black. Good or Bad. There was no in between. No room for compromise." Kuro explained.

"So, no room for middle ground then?" Naruto asked.

"None whatsoever." Kuro confirmed.

"Anyway, the Joe we interacted with had long left those constructs behind but he knew that you needed something similar. Joe made sure not to make the same mistake in 'making' those constructs and that led him to us." Kuro explained.

"It was sometime during your conversation that he studied you more carefully and where he discovered Kurama in the seal on your stomach. He followed that connection, discovered what your father did, realized that Kurama and myself could be acceptable replacements for what he was looking for. Joe knew that you wouldn't know how to make these constructs yourself both because you lacked the power that would force you to try and do something to control it and because you lacked the instinctive knowledge." Kuro continued.

"Are you following me so far?" She asked after a moment.

"Yes." Naruto agreed. "Please continue."

"…Like I said, Joe investigated and found myself within your father's soul which was being tormented in the Shinigami's stomach."

"Yhea, let me tell you, the beat down that Joe gave that creature was painful to say the least." Kurama added helpfully.

"But Joe also realized that Kurama and myself were damaged. We had once been one being and had been torn into two pieces very crudely. It damaged us to say the least and Joe knew that as we were, we would be unable to be reasonable. If Joe had been at full power, he probably could have fused us back together into one healed being but that would've gone against the point of wanting to use us as replacements for the constructs he had himself when he was younger. He placed Kurama and I into another dimension where time passed differently and after we calmed down, he explained this to us and followed that up by an offer. He wanted us to be your version of constructs. We know how to compromise and you could say that we represent the more traditional way of 'good or bad' but Kurama and I can switch in position at will if you follow me."

Naruto was quiet for several long moments before he nodded slowly. "I think I understand what you mean." He said slowly. "You're saying that sometimes, Kurama may 'tempt' me with something and you will point out the morality of whatever it is, or it could be the other way around." Naruto said out loud.

"Or both." Kurama added helpfully.

"…Wait what?" Naruto asked confused.

"Neither of us has the morality of a human, so you can't base your decisions on our advice alone. It's always possible for there to be a third option you could take." Kurama explained.

"And that brings me to the whole point of this. You don't have to fear that by making a decision that neither of us agrees, or by agreeing with one of us several times will damage the trust I mentioned before. I mean sure, it'll piss one of us off if you continue to listen to either Kurama or myself, but that by itself won't be something that will damage trust between us. Well, not unless it's taken to an extreme if you follow me."

"I think I do." Naruto muttered. "I think." He repeated.

"So what happened to that punk Shinigami?" Naruto asked after a moment.

"After he got his ass kicked?" Kurama asked. "He learned that he shouldn't have pulled several fast ones when he might have gotten away with one. He got greedy which is never good for a mythical being like a Shinigami."

"A fast one?" Naruto asked.

"A Shinigami is a powerful mythical being. Traditionally, it's a Shinigami that ferries the soul to its next destination. However, the power of a Shinigami is also static unless it consumes something."

"..And since it has a lot to do with souls, that leaves only one obvious answer..?" Naruto half stated half asked in a horrified tone.

"That's right." Kurama confirmed.

"That being said, you shouldn't worry, I got a bit off track, but I just wanted to make sure you know about what Kurama and I represent so to speak." Kuro reassured.

"But now that you understand the position of Kurama and myself, you should know that your own position is something of a boss toward us. You will make decisions based on your human morality. Every decision will influence you and through you it will influence us."

"What does that even mean?" Naruto demanded.

"It means that if you make too many 'bad or evil' decisions, that we will eventually turn back into our original angry self."

"…I don't want that to happen!" Naruto replied immediately.

"And it won't, unless you make a lot of bad, aggressive or outright evil decisions. You shouldn't worry about it."

"I disagree, I really should worry about it, because I like the way you are now and I don't want to make you the way you were." Naruto said hotly

"Really, you shouldn't worry about it." Kuro repeated. "Because you'll know if we are changing. It's a long process and we'll be there to help you along the way." She tried to reassure him.

"Okay. I understand I think." Naruto said, after having calmed down.

"So now that you have explained all of that…" Naruto said after a moment.

"That leaves us only one more important issue you should know about." Kurama replied, hiding a wince at the same time. Even he was getting bored from information overload.

"So you now understand that Kurama and I are different compared to the original constructs right? Neither of us can be classified as good or evil. Kurama represents the Yang part of the original Kurama and I represent the Yin part of the original Kurama. Both of us are but a shadow of the original's Kurama's power. We are, in other words crippled when we are apart. We have access to our power, but it is very limited all the same. Don't get me wrong, we are tough and it will take a powerful enemy to defeat either of us but we will only be capable of reaching our full potential when we reach a point where we trust each other completely."

"Then that means you could return to the original Kurama… But wouldn't that kill both of you?"

"It isn't that simple." Kuro said with a shake of her head.

"If we ever fused back apart after having healed, we would still be the same person…. Except that you would only have one Kurama to deal with."

"But it would mean killing both of you." Naruto protested.

"You're missing the point." Kuro said with a sigh.

"No! I don't think I am." Naruto disagreed hotly. "You said that both you and Kurama would disappear if we ever trusted each other well enough to fuse into one being. That means that you and Kurama would vanish permanently. It doesn't matter if you are replaced with another!"

"I thank you for caring about our individuality, but you are wrong." Kuro insisted.

"Let's agree to disagree then." Naruto said stubbornly.

"Let's." Kuro agreed after a moment. "It's a decision for the distant future anyway." She added after a moment.

"Getting back on track, Joe called in a few favors he had left to give Kurama and myself a few boons for ourselves. One of those will allow us to help you in controlling your power. Additionally, we know everything there is to know about the things you chose and we will help you to the best of our ability."

"Thank you." Naruto said sincerely. "I have a feeling there's a lot that's not being said and I'm too stupid to get the stuff underneath, but I'm glad that you agreed to help me."

"You're welcome." Kuro said after a moment. "Now, let us get to the good stuff!" She declared enthusiastically!

"Yhea!" Naruto agreed immediately.

"Now, the first thing you should know is that there should be a measure of instinct with everything you can do…"

X Several hours later X

Naruto was fast asleep in his bed, having tired himself out despite the fact that he should be able to stay away for days on end.

"I suppose that even though he's a demi-god now, he's still a human child." Kurama observed.

"…You really think we should've told him the rest? About us?" Kuro asked.

Kurama and Kuro were within the seal, which guaranteed them a measure of privacy. The seal itself could appear to be whatever they liked. Right now, they were preparing to get some rest themselves.

"He deserves to know." Kurama said slowly. "It will make him angry at first. No doubt he'll be particularly angry with me."

"You saw how he reacted!" Kuro argued quietly. "Trust goes both ways if you remember."

"Trust me, I know." Kurama agreed.

"We could always tell him that there is something we want to tell him, but that it might make him angry and that he should be older before having to deal with it…" Kuro said slowly.

"By then there could be a lot of trust but it could just as easily backfire on us." Kurama answered.

"…I know." Kuro replied. Then there was silence since they both had fallen asleep.

X
The next day (Sunday)
X

Naruto woke up at eight in the morning sharp. He showered, got dressed and went through his usual morning things. Once all the basic stuff was out of the way, he went outside and went for a slow but steady jog. He wanted to break his record today!

"Actually, I may want to take this as my base, because me being a demi-god may have increased my stamina by a lot." Naruto thought to himself.

"You would be right." Kuro whispered in his ear. "Don't worry, nobody can see me but if you want to answer me, you will probably have to wait until your jog is over."

"No such thing like talking through our minds huh?" Naruto quipped. He was still in his apartment, so nobody could see it anyway.

"Actually, we'll get there eventually. You don't need to hear our thoughts, because we can communicate with you verbally, but for us to communicate with you would require us to hear your thought process and that requires a large amount of trust as well, because you think stuff faster than you would say something. It would make it much easier to put your foot in your mouth so to speak." Kuro explained.

"Uhuh." Naruto grunted. He got that. He would have to give that some thought.

"Now, as you run, you should try and focus on your senses. It is the winter break, so your connection with water would be cheapest and strongest." Kuro explained. Naruto was done warming up by now and started his usual route. Hopefully he could see it through this time.

"It isn't necessarily right to say that your water control will be strongest in winter and weakest in summer because that would be too simplified. It's right and wrong at the same time." Kuro continued.

"In winter and depending on the phrase of the moon, your water control would be so strong and cheap it would be easy to do something without even meaning too. But at the same time, in the middle of the summer, at the hottest region you could think off, you could still pull of the same thing as in mid-winter except it would be chakra expensive, even for you."

"Why do I have the feeling that's an understatement?" Naruto wondered to himself.

"What do you mean, when you say, it will be chakra expensive even more me?" Naruto asked under his breath. But he knew that Kuro would hear him.

"Because of your maternal heritage and because of my brother and myself you have unusual large chakra reserves even for a typical Uzumaki. Hell, I think it would be safe to say that you probably have enough chakra to rival our youngest brother Shukaku."

Naruto whistled in response. "That's impressive…" He mumbled quietly.

"But thankfully for you, but you have a slight advantage when it comes to chakra control. You probably will never be able to use light weight techniques without seriously overpowering them but for techniques of a certain level, you will not overpower them unless you do so on purpose."

Naruto 'hm'ed' in response and realized that even though he had reached the point where he would've been tired before, he felt like he had barely started.

"Let's see how long I can keep up at full sprint." Naruto said quietly.

He began speeding up until he was what he thought was a normal sprinting speed but he felt like he hadn't reached his maximum just yet. Naruto had been steadily moving towards Konoha's walls where there was enough room. He had never been able to make it around Konoha without being forced to stop halfway, so he decided to see if he could manage it today.

Naruto ran and ran and then ran even more.

Naruto had completed his first round and stopped. "I'm barely breathing hard!" Naruto said out loud.

"You should still do some cool down exercise's so you won't be in pain tomorrow." Kuro said. She was standing to his left on the ground and was about the size of a small horse.

"How come you're so big?" Naruto asked quietly.

"Because I wanted to stretch my legs and I wouldn't be able to keep up in my smaller form." Kuro responded sharply. "Why? Do you have a problem with me running with you?"

"No." Naruto responded immediately. "Not at all, I'm just surprised I suppose."

"Cool down exercises completed!" Naruto said to nobody in particular.

Now that Naruto was walking home, a thought occurred to him.

"I wonder what Sakuya-sensei will do when she finds out I am talking to voices in my head or that I am seeing things that literally aren't there.." Sakuya-sensei was the child's psychologist that was stationed permanently in the ninja academy. She was supposed to catch the sociopath's and the psychopaths that would join the academy to satisfy their desire for blood and violence.

Naruto remembered one boy that had been acting weirdly. He had talked to Sakuya-sensei and had then stopped attending. Sakuya-sensei had said she couldn't say much but that the boy had needed special attention to make sure he wouldn't hurt Konoha by accident.

Naruto had done some research after that and had made the conclusion that the boy, whose name he couldn't remember must've been a sociopath or even a psychopath!

"At least Sakuya-sensei is someone who has never been intentionally mean to me." Naruto thought idly. At least, he thought that she had never been intentionally mean to him. Deciding that it was pointless to think about that, since it was still the winter vacation, Naruto decided to make a detour to one of the training ground that academy students were authorized to use.

"You are going to try water first then?" Kuro asked absently.

Naruto jumped in surprise when she suddenly appeared next to him. "Yhea, I think I am." Naruto confirmed.

As he reached the training grounds, he could tell that the air here was much warmer than it should be.

"Someone is or has been practicing fire techniques." Kurama observed.

Naruto just shrugged. It didn't matter to him.

Naruto cleared a small space and frowned. "I'm going to see if I can get the wetness out of the ground where I'm sitting." Naruto said quietly. Maybe it was vain of him, since he would have to go out in worse weather when he graduates, but he didn't need to now so he didn't see a reason why he would have to let his pants get wet from the ground.

"Kuro, Kurama, why don't you make yourself visible and come out from the underbrush? We might as well get it started." Naruto said as quietly as he could.

They didn't respond verbally, but he noticed two foxes coming out of the bushes.

"If I stare at the water for longer than an hour drop some water on me. Not much though, I don't want to get sick." Naruto ordered verbally.

"You don't become sick." Kuro told him. It was weird this time, because the foxes made sounds as well. Oh! That reminded him!

"Wait, I can understand all animals, including foxes… That's actually very clever!" Naruto realized.

"Focus Naruto!" Kuro scolded him.

"Right." Naruto agreed. "Step one, get the water out of the ground, so I can sit down without getting my clothes wet."

Naruto cautiously connected his chakra to the dew on the grass. Immediately, he knew just how much water he had available to him. Ignoring the fact he was near a small lake, there was a huge amount of water in the ground itself. Which made sense because it was winter and it rained a lot in that season. Still, Naruto focused on the area he wanted to sit on and pushed the water to the side in the direction of the lake.

The result was immediate, the ground which had been muddy, dried up in seconds. Except something happened that he hadn't foreseen. Moving a large amount of water that was soaked in the ground to the side, didn't mean it wouldn't take the dirt itself with it. So the whole thing dried up first before it was rapidly turning into a huge mud pool instead.

"Oh crap." Naruto muttered. Naruto stopped what he was doing immediately and instead, began pushing the water downwards. That solved the problem pretty quick. The mud started to dry up as the groundwater was being pushed deeper underground. What Naruto didn't know was the fact that there were a large amounts of underground tunnels that were meant to be used if Konoha was ever captured by an enemy. The tunnels were meant to be used by rebels for hit and run techniques.

Nobody remembered this except for the unofficial commander of the unofficial organization that didn't exist officially. The water was pushed into the tunnels and considering it was a fair amount, it caused a lot of chaos when unofficial operatives investigated where all the water was coming from.

Naruto didn't know any of this though, he only care that he had apparently solved the problem so he could now sit down without a problem.

Naruto looked up and realized that it was getting late because the sun was going down already. Shrugging, Naruto decided to ignore it. It wouldn't be the first time he kept practicing after dark. Besides, the dark could give him a good cover to work in relative secrecy. Not that anything remained secret in a village full of ninja and shinobi but it was the thought that counted.

Naruto closed his eyes again and connected with the water again. Suddenly, information was bombarding him. He knew precisely how much water he had available to him. He knew that he could turn it into ice and he knew that he had very precise control over it. With just a thought, Naruto froze the water and then created several sculptures. He followed that up by pushing more chakra in them in an effort to control them like puppets. It took some doing, and Naruto had to do some quick adjustments because his ice puppets were making a lot of noise at first. But after some effort, he managed to work in joints of unfrozen liquid that was held together with his chakra and he had some puppets to play with.

A grin was forming slowly. With a thought, the puppets changed in appearance and Naruto decided that he couldn't ignore the potential of a prank that would hopefully make people smile at least. Naruto created halve a dozen more statues and then had them follow him.

The statues represented a bunch of important figures, like the Hokage's of the past. Naruto wanted to place them around Hokage tower in the form of an honor guard. Then, in the morning he would hide and have them salute whenever someone approached. The joke was that they would give random civilians an escort while they would be rude to 'important' people of Konoha. Except for Oji-sama.

X

Naruto didn't know that he had been shadowed the whole time. They had noticed Naruto talking to what appeared to be two fox cubs and then they had seen him experimenting with water. The shadowy people observed as Naruto changed the ice puppets in such a way that they could be used stealthily. When Naruto then changed the appearance of the ice sculpture figures to give it a Christmas-ish feel, they couldn't resist a smile.

Still, they watched carefully as Naruto placed them in an honor guard around Hokage tower. They watched as Naruto gave the foxes an order to fetch him a blanket so he could stick around until morning.

"Hey, Bear, do you think we should give Naruto-san some official support?" Owl asked.

"What kind of support?" Bear asked.

"The kind where he won't end up with hypothermia." Owl answered.

"Good point." Bear answered.

"Suppose for a moment that you go and fetch a winter graded blanket and brought one for me, but you lost it on the way…" Bear said quietly, as if to himself.

"Got'cha boss." Owl responded promptly and then he vanished in a body flicker.

X

Naruto was caught off guard when a blanket appeared out of nowhere and nearly fell on his head. A closer examination told him that this was one of those winter graded blankets. A simple note was attached.

If you happened to find this blanket to get you through the night and avoid hypothermia and then happened to lose it yourself, then nobody would be the wiser…

Naruto was smart enough to realize that one, the AnBu had noticed his experiments and two, they would allow his prank but he had to keep himself from getting hypothermia.

"I might as well, practice as long as I can." Naruto muttered. Naruto immediately took active control over the ice sculptures and had them saluting or marching around Hokage tower. Naruto then focused on the water on the ground to modify the land around the Hokage tower temporarily.

Then, loud enough to be surely heard by the AnBu who were surely watching him he said, "If all this does is making people smile, then surely there is no reason for anyone except the Hokage to know who is responsible… After all, AnBu represent the Hokage's personal forces…"

Naruto looked around to see if his watchers would respond but since nothing responded, he decided to hope for the best.

X

"It's a reasonable request..." Owl observed.

"But he won't be able to stay hidden if those sculptures start moving around unless he happened to wear an AnBu temporary mask… But I wouldn't be able to authorize that…" Bear said quietly.

"I'll go and report to the Hokage then." Owl agreed and again, he vanished in a body flicker.

X
The home of the Sandaime Hokage

"Is Hokage-sama still awake?" AnBu Owl asked the guard after having identified himself.

The AnBu guard did not respond except to summon another guard to escort Owl to where the Hokage was.

"… And that is why I am requesting a temporary AnBu mask Hokage-sama." Owl concluded.

"You're sure it is Naruto-kun?" The Hokage asked thoughtfully.

"Without a doubt sir." Owl responded immediately.

"He never mentioned having two pet foxes before."

"Actually, I think it's a pretty recent additional because they seemed very young still."

"Alright. Drop a mask off, but make sure it includes a note that warns him that any abuse of the mask will not be taken kindly."

"Does that mean he may keep the mask?" Owl asked.

"It depends how he acts with the authority the mask gives him. If it is just an innocent prank to make people smile, then you can let him keep it. Make sure to keep a sharp eye on him though, I don't want anyone to jump to conclusions. If something happens, I want to know exactly who started it."

"As you wish Hokage-sama." Owl agreed.

The Hokage followed that up by writing a note of authorization to release a new temporary AnBu masked code named Uzu.

"Owl!"

"Hokage-sama?" Owl responded.

"Watch very carefully. You know how tense current politics are. Make sure that it doesn't get out of hand. Your partner is bear correct?"

"Yes Hokage-sama." Owl confirmed.

"I'm giving him temporary authorization for a larger AnBu escort. The whole idea is to make people smile, but we both know how quickly it could get out of hand."

"Should you let it continue then, Hokage-sama?" Owl asked reasonably.

"I will because Naruto will want to tell me all about it afterwards. I wonder where his water affinity comes from or where he learned how to do any of it…"

"I may have an idea, Hokage-sama but it is just a… Thought. I do not have any evidence and it is very shaky."

"Go ahead." The Hokage instructed.

"I told you about the foxes and I told you that Naruto seemed to understand them perfectly. He was communicating with them as if they were talking our language."

"Yes, continue." The Hokage instructed.

"But what I didn't mention yet, is the fact that one fox has black fur and the other has red fur."

"Your point?" Hiruzen asked impatiently.

"They may be Kitsune." Owl said.

"Kitsune? You mean the mythical kind?"

"That's right. Because I think that it is very odd for any fox cubs to be born during winter. The cubs looked very young, probably a month, maybe two at best. It should be against the instincts of wild foxes to reproduce during that time."

"So why did you jump to the conclusion that they may be Kitsune?"

"Because these foxes showed themselves to be very intelligent. They knew how to obey verbal orders like when Naruto instructed them to fetch him a blanket. Even if Naruto happened to imprint on them and they think he's their parent, they are still acting with far too much intelligence."

"Just continue to observe." The Hokage said with a sigh. The AnBu with the owl mask, saluted and used the body flicker to leave immediately.

X
The next morning…

Naruto had been impressed when he 'happened' to stumble on an AnBu mask with an Uzu swirl on it. The note itself was interesting, but Naruto fully intended to keep the prank as innocent as possible. He had said so, loudly enough to be heard that he would attempt to deconstruct the sculptures immediately if things went out of hand.

Naruto had continued to make ice sculptures of important shinobi of all villages. Naruto had continued to practice with the sculptures and had shown no sign of being tired, not even after several hours of non-stop practice.

Finally, after having constructed several dozen sculptures and having them spread around, Naruto stopped making more, because it occurred to him that the amount of sculptures he had could be interpreted as a threat. Still, as soon as Naruto sensed the Hokage, he had a dozen or so march towards the side of the street. They remained there and saluted.

The Hokage was approaching slowly and showed no sign that the sculptures were a threat. As soon as the Hokage had reached the ice sculptures, they began marching with the Hokage as an honorable guard.

This continued for the rest of the day, Naruto had his puppets escorting random people to wherever they were going. It came to the point where other academy students were giving the sculptures orders. But since Naruto stayed around the Hokage tower and his ice sculptures could only follow basic orders. Like escort that person until they went inside somewhere or a generic order like that.

By the end of the day, Naruto had his ice sculptures fight each other and when one died they would shatter and drop snowflakes onto the ground.

"Uzu-san, the Hokage wishes to see you." Naruto looked up and dropped the blanket.

The AnBu operative grabbed Naruto by the shoulder and a moment later, Naruto found himself in the Hokage's office.

"What are you going to do now?" Kuro asked him.

"Yhea, while the prank was nice, I think you didn't think that through." Kurama added.

"Then again, I didn't think of this either." Kuro said with a shrug.

So that answered the question why they hadn't warned him it wasn't a good idea. Oh well.

"Don't worry pals, I'm sure that Oji-sama won't hurt you." Naruto murmured to the foxes on his left and right.

"Just the Hokage that we're Kitsune. That you helped us when we got injured and that you won our trust that way." Kuro instructed.

X
Hokage tower
Office of the Hokage.

"Do you have anything to tell me Naruto-kun?" Hiruzen asked.

"This is Kuro-chan and that is Kurama-kun." Naruto answered. "They're Kitsune and I stumbled on them when they were injured. I helped them heal and they decided to stick around."

"And the lake?" Hiruzen asked.

"It's easy." Naruto answered with a shrug. "I can control water as easy as I breath and I know somehow that I can control any form of liquid as well. I could change it into mist, I could probably have some control over steam as well but I'm not too certain about that."

"How do you know this?" Hiruzen asked.

"I just do." Naruto answered.

Hiruzen was nodding slowly. "Do you know the significance of an AnBu mask?"

"AnBu represent the personal agents of the Hokage. They will obey any order he gives no matter what it would be. They are essentially his personal army and secret police all rolled in one package. At the same time, an AnBu agent outranks your typical shinobi and can in certain circumstances give them orders." Naruto summarized from a book he had read.

"That's right." The Hokage agreed. "Having an AnBu mask is a privilege and a responsibility. If operative AnBu Uzu were to continue with harmless pranks like the one today, nobody would do anything… If operative AnBu Uzu were to abuse his authority, then the Hokage would show operative AnBu Uzu that he won't hesitate that he isn't too old for a public spanking… Am I making myself clear?"

Naruto gulped. "Crystal Hokage-sama." Naruto responded for this was not a time he could get away with informality.

"How would operative AnBu Uzu know if something was not acceptable or if something got out of hand?" Naruto asked cautiously.

"I heard that a certain AnBu operative called bear has happened to lose a handbook with a number of techniques in it. I hear that he happened to lose it in some orphans apartment. I also hear that the information in this handbook is to be memorized and then the handbook will happen, entirely by coincidence I'm sure to show up here on my desk…"

"You won't regret this Oji-sama." Naruto said sincerely.

"Dismissed." The Hokage said simply.

Naruto got out of there.

X
The following day

"I still can't believe that the Hokage did that." Naruto said to Kuro. Kuro and Kurama had realized that they had to be seen regularly. They couldn't disappear and reappear at random.

"Just practice your water control." Kuro said with a yawn.

X
Later…

"Now that you have some mastery over your water, let's move to something different. Try and think of a uniform you want to wear, you should be able to- Yes! Just like that. Good. Now, think about a weapon, yes a sword is acceptable. Now try and summon two large knives so you can double wield them. Yes, good, very good." Kurama praised.

"Try shuriken this time. Throw as many as you can to the target, it doesn't matter if they hit the center, just keep throwing. Good. Very good. Dismiss them, and yes, just like that they will vanish. Now do the same for kunai." Kurama instructed.

"Good! Yes, exactly like that, now you need to make it instinctive. You need to be able to switch armor and weapons with just a thought…."

X
Sometime during spring season…

"Now, you have to catch an animal. Don't hurt it, just catch it and touch it. Try and connect with it but don't control it just yet. That's for later."

"What's the point of this?" Naruto asked with a frown.

"You'll see." Kurama responded.

An hour and several failed attempts later…

Naruto finally managed to catch a rabbit. He tried to calm it down so he could touch it without it trying to bite him. As soon as he did, Naruto suddenly knew everything about the rabbit. He knew it -SHE- was pregnant and that while it had calmed down somewhat, it was still very scared. Naruto released the rabbit immediately and it fled as quickly as it could.

"The information that Naruto now had implied that he could…" However, Naruto did not wish to transform into a rabbit, let alone a pregnant rabbit. Instead of trying to hunt for another rabbit, Naruto decided to visit the pet shop instead. Naruto had used his AnBu mask for groceries before and while it was unusual, nobody ever said anything about it.

Naruto played his part as a gruff AnBu operative to perfect who was looking for an appropriate pet. Naruto touched the various animals and every time he got more information. An hour after he entered the shop he left again with a promise to return shortly.

"You should practice this only with a human that's in the know though." Kurama remarked from his usual perch on his left shoulder.

"They wouldn't be able to do anything." Naruto replied with a roll of his eyes.

"Do you want to be used as somebodies food? Or as a pet for breeding purposes? Then go ahead without telling someone anything."

Naruto froze mid step and shuddered at that horrible fate.

"I will, I promise." Naruto said sincerely.

X
Yet another time-skip with a random lecture

"…As you know, you can sense anybody and anything with liquid in their bodies. When you are in a pool, you'll need to adjust your senses to take the water life into account, but it has a lot of options." Kuro lectured.

"I know that." Naruto said with a roll of the eyes.

"However, what you don't know yet is the fact that every element has something similar. That being said, every element also has a corresponding weakness." Kuro continued undisturbed.

"For example, with the earth element you can sense anyone that walks on or through the ground. Well, eventually, you can't do this yet of course. The problem is that you need to be on the ground for it to work. If you are in the air, you need to rely on your other senses to protect yourself."

A pause.

"With fire you can sense body heat and with air you can hear the beat of one's heart."

"So basically, ever element has a way to sense or feel the life around me in some way but it also has a weakness at the same time. I wouldn't be able to sense air born enemies with my earth sense and if I were in the water no enemy could catch you off guard except for airborne enemies because they could still catch you. At the same time, I would still sense anyone or anything with liquid of some kind so it would be much harder to catch me off-guard. I could still be caught off guard in a thick forest because trees and plants have a lot of water in them so any enemy would still be capable of hiding. Fire would let me sense warm blooded enemies but cold blooded enemies could still catch me. If I combine all of those together though, virtually nothing could catch me off guard." Naruto concluded.

"Unless they are faster than you can respond." Kuro said sternly.

"That, and your range is pathetic at the moment."

Graduation time!

For the last few years, Naruto had slowly been improving himself. He was no longer at the bottom of class rankings but neither was he at the top either. He was firmly in the middle, just the way he liked it. Kuro and Kurama had grown into adults and everyone now knew about them. In fact, when people began to make noise about them, the Inuzuka were quick to intervene because they too used animals as their partners.

X End X

Fox with red fur is Naruto's Kurama with the Yang halve and is male.
Fox with black fur is originally Minato's part with the Yin halve and is female.

Oji-sama: As far as I know this is a very respectful way to refer to one's grandfather. If I'm wrong about this please tell me and refer me to the source. My knowledge of Japanese is limited to anime.

Joe: The name for the God, because there's no way anyone would think this would be a God's name.

Unidentified game I've been referring to: the one that guesses it first, can ask for a scene or something to happen. Note, you have to ASK for it, for me to actually write it. Guess it first, but ask for nothing, and you'll get nothing. I've practically spoon fed it, so it should be really easy to find out.

Unidentified fandom: I realized near the end that this story has the potential of another crossover. I didn't even realize it at first myself, it only occurred to me when I was rereading my chapter to go over the details and make sure everything still fit. When I'm editing, I tend to change things that means I have to change other things I wrote before to reflect the changes I made. So… Yhea. Anyway, the one that guesses it, gets to ask for a scene as well. If you get both right, you can ask for something specific to happen in the next chapter, as long as it's reasonable to happen. If not, I'll write an Omake to make up for it.

Last but not least… This chapter is absolutely MASSIVE, at least to me. Roughly fourteen thousand (14.000 + -) give or take a few hundred words. That translates to roughly twenty four (24!) pages. I'm really excited about this story and about the potential reaction I will get.

I've decided against posting the cyoa build because I would prefer to show it in story instead. Seeing the complete build would reveal all of it and ruin the surprise. Also, it will make Naruto seem far too powerful.

1/05/2017:

I've done some additional small editing for spelling mistakes but no major stuff otherwise I would have to redo the whole thing and that would cause my muse to rebel. Also, don't get used to huge 14K (give or take) chapter words in the future.

Kingdark