Greetings, my loyal readers! As I promised, this story has been reworked. I haven't changed much, but it flows much easier than it did before. Enjoy!
LET THE READING COMMENCE!
It was just a normal day for Naruto. The villagers yelled at him, refused him food, some even hit him. It had been a week since he had been kicked out of the orphanage for defending himself against one of the workers. Since then, he had been living on the streets. And when night came, the villagers went on the nightly "Fox hunts". Naruto had long since given up trying to fight back against the villagers. They were hitting him harder than normal, using weapons, dealing mortal blows. They were trying to kill him.
"PLEASE STOP!" He shouted, begging for them to stop.
"Shut up you demon! This is payback! This is justice!" one of them shouted.
'Someone please stop them!'Naruto thought.
There was a bright flash of red. The next thing Naruto knew, the villagers were sent flying back. Naruto looked up to see his savior, and was shocked at what he saw. The man was over six feet tall, had short crimson red hair, blood red slitted eyes, was wearing blood red armor, like the Shodaime's, and he had a blood red Odachi stuck to his back via chakra. Behind him were 9 flowing tails, the same color as his hair, with fox ears of the same shade on his head. He glared at the villagers darkly and pulled the odachi off of his back.
"Why don't you try killing the real Kyuubi instead of using him for a scapegoat? Well? Come on!" he shouted, hefting the long blade onto his shoulders. The villagers only now realized that Naruto and the Kyuubi were not one and the same, and that they had somehow managed to piss off the Kyuubi by attacking Naruto. They remembered the absolute destruction that the Kyuubi unleashed upon their village, and realized that if he was back, they were, for lack of a better word, fucked. So they began to slowly back away, some even flat out running away. Kyuubi seemed even angrier when they began to run.
"Oh, no. You don't get to run away. Naruto didn't, so there's no way in hell I'm going to let you!" he shouted before he bolted towards them and began to massacre every single one of them. None of them were spared. When Kyuubi was finished, the street was covered in one enormous blood stain. There were no remains of the offenders, Kyuubi's ferocious onslaught having annihilated everything of their bodies. Kyuubi flicked the blood off of his odachi and, placing it back on his back, knelt down to tend to Naruto, who was now thoroughly terrified. Kyuubi, seeing him shaking from having to view the massacre, gently placed his hand on Naruto's shoulder.
"Are you alright, Naruto?" Kyuubi asked. Naruto was still shaking. "I'm not going to hurt you, I promise. If you die, I die."
"R-Really?" Naruto asked, still scared.
"Yes, Naruto. They attacked you because, on the day I attacked Konoha, I was sealed within you by your father, the savior of the village. He knew I wouldn't harm you."
"Why?"
"I knew your parents quite well, Naruto. Your mother named me your godfather."
"Really? Who were my parents?" Naruto asked, forgetting his fear. Kyuubi smiled lightly.
"Your father was the one who sealed me within you, Minato Namikaze." before he could continue, Naruto interrupted.
"My father was the Yondaime?" Naruto blurted in shock. Kyuubi nodded.
"Yes. Your mother was Kushina Uzumaki. She was one of the most powerful Kitsune I have ever met." Kyuubi continued.
"My mother was a Kitsune?" Naruto asked in shock.
"Yes. A Rokubi if I remember correctly."
"So I really am a demon." Naruto said sadly, hanging his head. Kyuubi brought it back up to eye level, a serious look
"Yes. You are a demon, Naruto, but not in the way they mean it. They mean it as an insult. I mean it as a species. You are a Kitsune hanyo. You're half human, too, and that's the part that's flawed."
"Flawed?" Naruto asked, confused.
"Yes, flawed. Humans hate anything different from them. A person can be smart, but people are dumb, panicky monsters. Your father was the only human I have ever respected." Kyuubi clarified. Naruto nodded, smiling with pride at the mention of his father. "I made a promise to your mother that if I ever got out, I would do anything I could to help you. I am going to raise you Naruto. I will help you learn what you should have been learning since you could walk."
"What's that?"
"How to use your Kitsune powers."
"Will it make me strong?"
"Yes." Kyuubi stated.
"Then let's do it!" Naruto shouted. Kyuubi chuckled.
"Alright, squirt, but I've gotta talk to your Hokage first."
"Okay." Kyuubi lifted Naruto up and held him as he slowly made his way to the Hokage tower. As he walked, Naruto spoke up. "Hey, Kyuubi-san, is Kyuubi your real name?" Kyuubi chuckled.
"Kyuubi is a title. The name given to me by my parents is Nero. Never had a last name. Call me what you wish."
"Hai, Nero-san." they approached the Hokage tower. Seeing Nero's tails, they attempted to stop him, only to be batted aside by his tails. He used his tails to dexterously disarm and disable anyone who attempted to stop him. Nero set Naruto down when they finally made it to the Hokage's office. "You're not going to hurt the old man, right?" Naruto asked, a concerned look on his face. Even if he had lied to him about his parents, Sarutobi was still the only person who had ever actually cared about him other than the ANBU with the weasel mask and now Nero.
"I won't do anything to him that won't heal." Nero said. Seeing Naruto's concerned look, Nero sighed. "He's going to live, but I have a severe amount of frustration from dealing with these idiots. It's not my fault if he continues to antagonize me."
"Just don't hurt him." Naruto pleaded. Nero sighed again.
"I'll try." Nero forced open the doors with his tails and walked in, immediately disarming two ANBU by the door, pinning them to the wall by stabbing their ninjato through their shoulders into the wall. Nero glared at the old man behind the desk, who was covertly holding a kunai underneath the desk. Naruto, oblivious to the tension in the room, bolted in with a large grin on his face.
"Hi Jiji!" he shouted, causing the old man to soften his gaze slightly. "This is Nero! He's my godfather!" he introduced, causing the old man to look confused.
"Godfather?"
"That's right, Sarutobi. Nero, current Kyuubi, godfather to Naruto Uzumaki, surrogate brother to Kushina Uzumaki. Surely you can't have forgotten me?" Nero said, a small grin forming at the end of his lips.
"O-Of course not, Nero. But how did you get free?"
"Thank the villagers. They almost killed Naruto, which activated a failsafe in the seal. That failsafe enabled me to get loose so that I could make sure he was safe. That failsafe should never have been activated, Sarutobi. Are you really so crippled that you cannot even protect a four year old boy?" when Sarutobi failed to respond, Nero scowled. "So this is how far the so-called 'God of Shinobi' has fallen. Pathetic." Nero said, his tails beginning to sway erratically. "The longer I'm here, the more I want to destroy this village."
"Nero, you promised!" Naruto reminded. Nero sighed.
"I know, I know. So, Sarutobi, I have a few options to give you, Sarutobi. Option one, you tell Naruto everything about his family, give him his inheritance, and let his heritage be known. No pain. Option two, I break every bone in your body. Then I will take all of Naruto's inheritance and leave the village after destroying a fair amount of it. Option three, I'd like to vary the details a bit, but the short version is, you die and the village is destroyed." Nero warned. "Choose quickly, Sarutobi, I'm sure you remember that I am not a patient man." Sarutobi sighed.
"Very well, Nero. ANBU, leave." Sarutobi ordered. Several chakras flared out before vanishing, including the two that Nero pinned to the wall. Sarutobi moved around his desk, stowing the kunai in his robes. He knelt in front of Naruto.
"Naruto, your father was the Yondaime…" he began, only to be cut off by Nero.
"I already told him who his parents were. What I want you to tell him is everything that you kept from him. Tell him about his inheritance." Nero instructed.
"Naruto, your father and mother had a clan compound here. Upon their deaths, it was to be given to you."
"Then why wasn't it?" Naruto asked.
"To give it to you, I would have to announce your true heritage. That would bring Iwa right to your doorstep. It was to protect you, Naruto."
"Did you seriously think that Iwa would risk another war with Konoha just to get back at Minato and Kushina?" Nero asked angrily. Sarutobi gulped. "The more you speak, the more convinced I get that you really have gone senile… continue."
"You were also supposed to gain the monetary assets of both the Namikaze and the Uzumaki clans."
"And he didn't because?"
"It would have shown who his parents were…"
"Bullshit. You could just have pulled a certain amount from the accounts every month or so and given it to him. With the power the Hokage has, there's no excuse for letting him be treated the way he was. Don't try to mask this as anything except your own lack of actual concern." Nero responded. "Stop lying, old man. The only reason you're still alive is Naruto likes you for some reason, so at least have the balls to tell him the truth."
"A-Alright. Naruto, the truth is that the council hates you. They think that anything not human is beneath them, even though you are half human. I am sorry to say that, in their eyes, you are nothing but a-"
"Monster…" Naruto finished. Sarutobi nodded sadly.
"I'm sorry, Naruto. Is there anything I can do to make it up to you?" he asked, desperate to help this defeated little boy. Nero spoke up.
"Let me take him out of the village."
"What?"
"I swore to Kushina that if anything happened to her I would help Naruto learn to use his powers in her place, and I can't do that here. The villagers would be constantly trying to attack him, and unless you want me to slaughter everyone in this village, us leaving is our only option."
"That is our only option, really." Sarutobi agreed. "Very well, Nero. But please, bring him back in time to graduate from the academy. It's what his father would have wanted." he asked. Nero nodded.
"Finally, something we agree on. What do you say, Naruto?" Nero asked. Naruto nodded excitedly.
"I'm gonna be the strongest Kitsune ever!" Nero and Sarutobi smiled. Nero walked over and placed his hand on Naruto's shoulder.
"See you in 8 years, Sarutobi." a ripping sound filled the air, and they were gone. Sarutobi sat back down behind his desk.
"Naruto, I am so sorry. It's past time I lived up to my old name. I'm going to reclaim the power of the Hokage." he said to himself. He flared his chakra and two ANBU appeared in his office, one with a cat mask, the other with a bear mask.
"Neko, Kuma, gather the councils. It's time I made them remember why I was once called the 'God of Shinobi'." he ordered. He could tell the ANBU were smiling beneath their masks.
"Hai, Hokage-sama!" they said, vanishing to carry out their tasks.
'You've started something here, Nero. I hope you know what you're doing.' Sarutobi thought as he gazed out at the Hokage mountain.
"He's loose." a gravely voice stated angrily.
"It was inevitable. He wasn't going to be locked up forever." a velvety voice obviously belonging to a woman stated happily.
"Shut up!"
"It's your own fault, really. I told you he wouldn't stay sealed. And he'll be coming after you now."
"What makes you so sure?" he asked, fury evident in his voice.
"He's always been a vengeful person. He'll come here to annihilate you, and free me."
"You think he'll come here for you?" the man asked mockingly.
"I know he will. He loves me, and he will never abandon me." the woman stated with absolute certainty.
"We'll see…" the man stated before vanishing.
'You'll come. I know you will. You promised. Nero…' she thought before vanishing as well.
And done!
As I'm sure you noticed, this is different from the first chapter of Fox Avatar, but I think, with my current skills, this will be much more interesting. I will not be continuing the four chapters of Fox Avatar that are already up, but I will leave them up for those of you that like reading for nostalgia. Tell me what you think!
Forever in the Sky,
The Red Star