Okay, that's my first NarutoMokuton story. I hope you will enjoy reading it!
I don't have a Beta Reader for this story, if you are interested, please contact me via PM.
Prologue: War is over
Minato was a blonde man in his twenties- handsome, smart, and fast. He was one of the fastest shinobis alive, if not the fastest. So maybe that was the reason why…
But still, he didn't know what to think of Hiruzen anymore. Maybe his wife started torturing him, because their youngest son went to the Daimjo. Or maybe the old Hokage became senile after 56 years of fighting death. He seriously didn't know...
But for what other reason would he send Minato to the border of Hi no Kuni (Fire Country) in the southwest, alone! "Just tell the forest that you are the new Hokage." Great. And then what? Is the sky supposed to break up in the middle of nowhere? Or is the moon supposed to fall from the sky? Or are the trees supposed to start dancing and sing "Seasons of Love"?
During the last war which ended about one month ago, they didn't even need to secure this border at all. Nobody ever used it in fear of mononokes, small little animal spirits who were said to prank everybody they didn't like. And the people who didn't believe in these creatures always complained about the conditions of the streets and other paths. Even Minato, the best shinobi of Hi no Kuni (Fire Country) and Konoha, new Hokage said village had his troubles jumping from branch to branch through the forest. It was like the trees didn't want anybody to get in there!
He would have used his jutsu, but dear Hiruzen Sarutobi prohibited it. And again Minato couldn't stop himself to wonder. Why should he forbid it to let Minato travel at a faster space? The sooner he would arrive at this mysterious destination, the sooner he could come back and do his new job- fighting against a never ending mass of papers…
He stopped his daydreaming, when he noticed, that he couldn't move further into the forest from the branch he was standing on. Swearing, he turned around just to find himself face to face with a red haired lady. She wasn't very tall, only about 5' and wore a beautiful green kimono with a white obi. Her face was covered by a fox-mask, so that he only could make out the green of her eyes. At first he thought his childhood friend Kushina had followed him, but he couldn't deny the fact that the woman in front of him had too long hair.
His kunai was faster in his hand than anybody could see. His eyes watching every movement the woman would make. They may have made a peace treaty with all the big countries, but before that he had killed a lot of shinobis. There could always be people out there who want to kill you for revenge.
But the woman stayed where she was, seemingly looking bored at her claw-like hands.
"Who are you?" Minato asked still watching every move she made.
"Doesn't matter. Just tell me already what the cute little monkey wants"
Minato couldn't help but look at her confused. Cute little… monkey? What was she speaking about? Hiruzen Sarutobi sent him here to…
He stopped dead in his tracks. Saru meant monkey. Did she mean Hiruzen? But there were also other Sarutobis out in Konoha… But none of them could summon monkeys, could they? It was all worth a try…
"Well, I am the new Hokage an-", he was interrupted by her laughing. She looked him up and down, just to laugh again. Minato couldn't place it, but it sounded artificial and somehow it gave him the chills…
"The new Hokage? So our monkey really decided that enough was enough. Does he start a new life as professor now?" she asked and said down on the branch, leaning against the trunk.
"I am not sure. But who are you?"
Even though her face was hidden under her mask, he felt like she looked draggers at him. Then her look seemed to soften. She laughed again, but this time it sounded honest.
"Long story short? I am Kurama, the Kyuubi no Kitsune. I am responsible for your first Hokage's death, for the death of Hashirama Senju. I also happen to be the "monster" that killed some of your shinobis but also a lot from Kiri and Suna, who tried to attack you trough this forest. So you may yell at me or thank me, but don't think I am going to listen or remember it."
The youngest Hokage just watched her with wide eyes. Did he meet one of these mononokes? That woman looked like 20, maybe 25. Hashirama died 50 years ago and it was said, that Kyuubi was a fox demon living since thousands of years, before Konoha was even build!
"I could also receive silence" Kurama said playing with her hair, before she sighed. "Listen little man. I don't care about you humans, so I am only going to ask you if we expand the deal I made with Hiruzen. But that would be with your name if you don't mind"
A deal? Could demons make deals without breaking them? He realized that his mouth was still open from shock and closed it quickly. He could call her a murderer because of everybody she killed… But he killed people in wartime, too. If Hiruzen could trust her… maybe he should trust her as well?
"What kind of deal would it be, Kurama-san?" He could have sworn that she smiled under that mask, before she started playing with her hair again.
"Well, I won't let anybody invade your country from this forest. Civilians may pass without being harmed- your shinobis as well if they don't use any chakra in here. And if a country attacks and is within a 10 miles radius to Konoha, I will destroy them. And you, dear Hokage will just leave me alone for the rest of the time being. No attacks from your side, no summons, and no damn fuinjutsu, scratch that, no damn jutsus at all. I don't care what kind of jutsus they are, they will not be allowed within this forest. The penalization is the death of the user." She looked up again and changed her voice to that of a teenage-girl: "Any questions?"
"You won't attack us?" Minato asked, he still wasn't sure if he could trust her or not. But maybe, maybe the deal was the reason, why Hiruzen wanted him here. And so the older man would trust her, wouldn't he? Hiruzen couldn't have told him "Oh, by the way, you will meet the Kyuubi there." Well, the moon didn't fall from the sky… but Kyuubi.
"My new cute little Hokage, why should I attack you? You are some humans piled up in that thing you call village. If you don't annoy me, I won't annoy you, end of story. I don't really care about you humans in general"
Minato wasn't sure if she just wanted to toy around with him. If she didn't care about the humans, why did she want to help them defend Konoha if worst came to worst? He wanted to ask her, but she seemed more likely to just change that line of the deal than to explain herself to him.
"Okay, how do we refresh that deal of yours and Hiruzen-sama?" Again, he had the feeling she was watching him- closely, like she tried to determine his worth.
"Well," she produced a scroll out of a bag, which Minato hadn't noticed till now "please sign the scroll with your blood and full name, Hokage" With that said, Kurama let go of the scroll ad let it fall into the depths of the forest.
In the mass of thoughts which jumped through Minato's head, only three didn't make him freeze in place. First, that scroll was important. Second, it was falling. And third, was that down there a river?
Without letting as much as a second pass by, Minato jumped after the scroll, catching it within 15 meters of falling and landing on a thick branch over the river.
The sound of clapping reached his ears. He wanted to yell at the woman… But no matter what his title was, he didn't want to face the wrath of a woman or, to be precise, the wrath of a monster which could destroy whole forests with the wave of a hand…
"Good job there. You may sign it. Maybe I will even remember your name." Minato wasn't sure if he was supposed to hear the last sentence, so he ignored it.
He read quickly through the scroll, which just stated what the woman said earlier. Minato watched the woman one last time playing with her hair, before sighing, biting his thumb, and writing his name under that of the older Hokage, wishing he was still dreaming…
Minato looked the scroll over for the last time, before jumping up next to her, and handing it to the red haired beauty, a fact he couldn't deny.
"Thank you," she looked the scroll over before signing it with her own blood "Minato Namikaze"
Tsunade felt annoyed. She just lost over three Million Ryo- in only one game. Well, before that she also lost some money, some Millions… But the problem was she lost these three Million too fast! Did her luck receive any kind of boom? Not that she would have been happy if she won. Winning always meant problems or really, really bad luck…
Tsunade was a good looking woman, who promised tortures to everybody who tried to guess her age and estimated it over twenty. Her bust was scarily large and it was said that she nearly killed one of her friends for trying to peak at her in the bath house.
Her apprentice Shizune sat next to her and watched her with a worried face. Shizune may have looked like an adult, but she was only 15 years of age. She sat next to her sensei and tried not to think about the poor depth-collectors who they would run away from again.
Tsunade wanted to try the game again, when she felt a familiar chakra presence. It wasn't too far away and reminded her of her old friend Jiraiya, who visited her time and again to speak about old stuff…
Without saying a word she stood up and nodded to the other guys, before turning to the door. Shizune was right behind her with a relieved face, happy that her sensei didn't want to waste any more money with her gambling.
As soon as the door closed behind them, Shizune looked confused at her sensei, asking the silent question, what they were going to do. But Tsunade just shook her head and followed the chakra signature. If it was a nukenin, she could make him feel her anger about her loses. Maybe she could also erase some of her liabilities if the nukenin caused enough trouble.
Tsunade forgot her anger as she saw Minato Namikaze, the best of Jiraiya's students and present Hokage in the next street. His blonde hair was easy to make out in the dark street and his white cloak with the red flames on it was difficult to miss. Without caring about his new title or reason for being here, she called out to him.
"Hey, Gaki! What the hell do you want here?" Shizune watched her sensei scared. The girl was too well mannered for her own good, Tsunade remembered "If you are here to get me back to Konoha, you better forget it right now!"
"Tsunade-san?" Minato's blue eyes locked hers as his voice gave away his disbelieve and surprise.
Tsunade relaxed a little. If he didn't know, she was here, then he wouldn't try to force her back, would he? Well, that was all she could ask for…
Or was she wrong?
Okay, that's it for now.
So, please review! ^^