Youkai no Bikou (Naruto x DXD)
Disclaimer: This story is fiction. All the characters, names and places belong to their respective owners.
Background: Yasaka is a nine-tailed fox and the mother of Kunou. She is an extremely powerful Youkai, who is on par with an Ultimate-Class Devil. She also is the leader of the Youkai in Kyoto. Yasaka has both a human form and a fox form. In her human form, she appears as a young woman with a voluptuous figure and golden blond hair with matching eyes while dressed in shrine maiden attire. In her real form, she has the appearance of a giant nine-tailed fox with golden fur. Yasaka is shown to be very humble and polite as well as a loving mother and a dedicated leader… on the surface.
=[Prologue]=
"You coward! Get back here!" roared fox with nine-tails. It was chasing another of its kind – with eight tails – throughout the palace halls.
The eight-tails dashed and weaved through the corridor in haste with a dreadful expression. It was running for its life. Even though it was a coward of sort, none could argue that it was very agile on its feet. No one within the palace could match its speed, including its wife.
The creature did a zigzag, avoiding several other youkais that were trying to stop it on her orders. The fox then jumped on top of their heads after gracefully navigating through the space between their extended limbs. It used their heads as a stepping stone before going over the high wall.
The second fox landed on top of the wall a minute later and scanned the area beyond the palace, realizing her husband was long gone.
"Only good at running away," she murmured and sighed before returning back to the central palace again. Her husband would return eventually as he always did. There was nowhere else he could go, and she had a more important matter she must attend like preventing herself from throwing up due to morning sickness.
The escapee kept on running, passing through several the empty streets of Kyoto before finally starting to drop its speed. It felt that it had gotten far enough, thus began the transformation into its human form. While examining the surrounding, he revealed himself to have golden blond hair with matching set of eyes. Three whisker marks adorning both side of his cheek as he puffed up and exhaled.
He leaned forward against the railing that was erected to prevent people from falling into the lake. He watched the undisturbed water silently in the secluded park. It was completely dark out and only the moonlight reflected off the lake's surface.
"Fucking bitch!" He cursed at his own reflection while rubbing the bruises that covered his body. "Just because she has more tails than me, she thinks she owned me. No one tells me what to do. I will show her who the boss is!"
He had a total of eight tails and was still waiting to acquire the last one. His mate's power had exceeded his own, and he didn't like that one bit. As a creature of pride and as well as being male, he wanted to be on top and acquire more mates. A harem of sort, but unfortunately, he could not go against her as she pummeled him around the room for even hinting something like that. Under that humble and polite personality of her, which she displayed for the public, existed a demon. He felt just like a prisoner where she was the warden.
"Then why don't you?" A voice asked from the side.
Startled, his slit eyes snapped towards it. The demonic fox was sure he was completely alone seconds ago. The person he saw was a tall and pale-skinned man with deep wrinkles to show his age.
The elderly man had spiky, shoulder-length, pale-red hair, with a chin-length braid hanging in front of his left ear as well as sporting a goatee which tapered down to his waist. Horn-like protrusions on his forehead with ringed patterns for eyes. He wore a white, full-length kimono with a pattern of six black magatama around a high collar along with a necklace which was also made up of six black magatama. A strange black staff was secured to his back, and he was sitting on a bench with two hands pressed against his knee as if they were to hold his weary body up. He looked very tired. Something appeared to be off about him, giving the youkai pause.
"Who are you?" The fox asked after immediately placing the elderly man as an abnormal being from the appearance alone. He'd never seen such being before, but there was a first time for everything. Could it be a devil as they tend to have numerous abilities and appearances? The fox had no answer to that.
"Shouldn't you introduce yourself first before asking another person's name?" The elderly man replied.
"I am Kurama, the great Kyuubi, so tell me who you are!" Kurama demanded.
"Kyuubi? Ah yes… but you're still missing one more to make it nine," the man said as he analyzed the creature before nodding approvingly. It was as if he had found what he was seeking for. "Hagoromo Otsutsuki, Sage of Six Paths."
"I will get my ninth tail! It's only a matter of time! In a few hundred years, nobody would challenge my powers, ahahahaha," Kurama retorted before laughing hysterically, imaging the destruction he would wreck upon those that challenged him. Hagoromo stroke his beard a little with a free hand. He was in thought, allowing the young man to continue in his delusional fantasy.
After Kurama stopped being an idiot, Hagoromo finally spoke up.
"I am looking for a vessel. If you could help me in that regard, I'm sure I can shorten the time you needed to get your final tail. I will also give you something more as a bonus, Kurama," Hagoromo offered as the said person narrowed his menacing eyes at the man.
Kurama was suspicious, but his desire for power overwhelmed his own vigilance.
"You can? Show me!" Kurama demanded.
Hagoromo nodded. He took the strange staff from his back and tapped the air space to his side. The air distorted around the impact point, and black lines appeared before spiraling like a whirlpool into some kind of dark portal.
Kurama stepped back a little after sensing the rift in space. He had seen many strange things in his life, but never something like this. The portal pulsed with strange and unknown energy that seemed to fill the air with malicious intentions.
"If you accept then follow me as you will be the last of the nine. I can say that you will be the strongest and greatest of them. However, you will disappear from here for a little while, and one day you will met a child of prophecy. You will help him accomplish his goal and you will be given a chance to return here again," Hagoromo hinted as Kurama's eyes narrowed more.
It was really like selling your soul for power kind of deal, but Kurama wanted to powers above all else so…
"What are the Nine?"
"The Nine will be known as Bijuu, each have the ability to remodel a country and landscape with just a flick of their tail. I needed them to contain a certain being's energy. They are: Shukaku the Ichibi, Matatabi the Nibi, Isobu the Sanbi, Son Goku the Yonbi, Kokuo the Gobi, Saiken the Rokubi, Chomei the Nanabi, Gyuuki the Hachibi, and finally you, if you choose to accept, will be Kurama the Kyuubi," Hagoromo answered truthfully.
"I will have nine tails? The strongest?" Kurama asked.
Hagoromo nodded to confirm. "However, I will need to seal your memory of this place along with your body until such time an event will come to pass," he added with some thoughts, seeing how Kurama was quite arrogance, and that might be a bad thing if he allowed it to roam freely with that kind of behavior.
"Let's do it then!" Kurama howled decidedly.
The sage stroked his beard and entered the portal first to show that it was safe. It was soon followed by a demon fox without any hesitation.
As the Sage had promised, all nine creatures he collected from different worlds were given a piece of Juubi's, the ten-tails', powers. Their memories were sealed along with their body, and they were giving a new immature one, completely made purely of Chakra. All of the Bijuu would need to grow into it, and after the task was done, Hagoromo's body failed him and he passed away. It was not before he told his creations that they would all be together again even if they went their separate ways. It was as if he knew what was to come far into the future.
The Nine showed themselves from time to time, allowing the humans of the world to witness their might and powers. At first, they were together, having a close relationship with one another, but fragmented pieces of their former personality resurfaced, and they slowly drifted apart from a heated philosophical disagreement.
Eventually, they parted way just like their creator hinted long ago. Kurama, for his own reason, believed that their strength lies in the number of tails they held. He had nine so he was the strongest. Pride and hubris soon followed.
Over the centuries, countless inhabitants of the Elemental Nations failed to regard the tailed beasts as sapient individuals, treating them with great disdain and fear. Because of the immense power each of creatures wielded, the Shinobi sought out the tailed beasts as tools and weapons to be controlled. It was a sentiment they as a whole detested, but knew that it was necessary.
Kurama was the last to be sealed away inside a human sacrifice known as the Jinchuuriki. It was angry, filled with malice, of being imprisoned like some sort of prize.
Mito Uzumaki was the first of its jailer then Kushina Uzumaki after the first reached her end. Its third jailer was one called Naruto Uzumaki. Kurama wondered why the blond boy looked familiar with his bright blond hair and three whisker marks. However, the pair of blue eyes was wrong in its opinion, but it didn't know exactly why. No one truly knew, not even the great Sage, that a Jinchuuriki, who was giving birth, would give her child some of the Bijuu's original traits.
Thus, Naruto was like an incarnation of Kurama's original form. Was that a coincidence?
Watching the orphaned boy being shunned by all in the village of his birth, Kurama decided to use Naruto's dependence on its power to gain control over him and break free from its cage. However, through the seemingly endless struggle, Kurama's attitude toward the blond soon began to change prior to the Fourth Shinobi World War. It was then the fox showed respect to the blond as if it was showing it to itself.
Just like Hagoromo had stated those centuries before, the Nine were united once more in a single body to defeat powerful enemies that sought to erase everyone from existence, and they finally brought forth the much desired peace.
After a great and costly battle, Naruto Uzumaki emerged victorious. It was against all odd, but with the help of the Nine, he did the impossible, and Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki appeared before them once more.
"Thank you… this is how it should be. I'm glad you all have completed the task I foresaw those centuries ago. I saw the end if you were not here to prevent it. As such, you have my deepest gratitude. I will return you back to your home, the place where you belonged originally, like I've promised all those years ago," Hagoromo said and explained that he took them from their home even though they did not remember. He was desperately searching for a way to change the dark future in his vision.
"But isn't thousands of years had already passed?"
"Time is relative and flows differently, Shusaku. You might have experienced thousands years here, but I will sent you back to the same time you left, maybe a year or two later. You will regain your original form along with newfound ability as promise. I can also erase your memory of the Elemental Nations if you desire," Hagoromo offered.
The first eight beasts accepted and wanted to return to the life they would know again. Some of them choose to remove the memory of the Elemental Nations along with all the pain they suffered during their unjust imprisonment.
Kurama was hesitant to leave the blond as if he was now part of his life, however.
"Hey Kurama, we make a great team didn't we?" Naruto asked.
Kurama nodded in agreement. It felt that true powers came from the strength of characters and the will to make the impossible possible. Throughout their struggles, it had its moment of doubt, but Naruto had showed none of that. The boy, who was shunned most of his life, would climb over all the challenges and proved to those that did not believed that he would not back down from his belief.
The Juubi was powerful, exceeding its own power, but still lost to their teamwork in the end. Madara and Kaguya, a God and Goddess possibly, were no different. They were all defeated, one after another, as Hagoromo had foreseen in another possible and grimmer timeline.
"Child of prophecy," Kurama muttered as Naruto grinned proudly.
Ah, so that's how it is, Hagoromo thought, looking at Naruto. The boy's appearance was like the humanoid Kurama, and he knew then that the Kyuubi would have a hand in bringing forth the boy's existence and thus saving the future. Hagoromo simply smiled and returned the rest of the eight beasts back to their own world, allowing Naruto and Kurama some time to discuss where they would go from here onward. The Sage felt completely drained afterwards, but kept his composure. He wasn't sure if there was enough powers in him to send the last one back.
"I think I will stay here for a while," Kurama finally requested.
The Sage nodded, understanding the Kyuubi's reason. Naruto couldn't be happier that it chose to stay behind with him. Kurama was then resealed back into Naruto as it felt much more comfortable in there. Furthermore, as the Sage had also hinted, Kurama still needed to help the blond with the corruptive nature of all the tail-beasts' chakra that were now coursing through his inner pathways. This time, however, Kurama wasn't being tied down or locked in a cage.
"Very well, come back here when you are ready to return," Hagoromo said. He drew up the seal before continuing to speak. "This seal will activate upon your blood, Naruto. It will open a portal, but only one time. You or your children will be the one to send Kurama back to his home one day. It will also return your original memory and body as well, Kurama."
"Is that another thing you saw?" Naruto asked curiously, but Hagoromo shook his head. He felt that he was fading away as he channeled the last of his energy into the time-space seal. It should be good for one being to pass through, and hopefully that was enough.
"I can see nothing now, so I cannot say what is to come, but make it a good one, Naruto and Kurama," Hagoromo said with a wide smile before fading away right before the two.
"Are you crying?" Naruto asked, hearing the whimpering noise in his mindscape.
"SHUT UP, BRAT! I'M NOT CRYING! Just something in my eyes, damn dusts," Kurama growled in denial as Naruto rolled his eyes and chuckled.
"Right, let's return home and start rebuilding!" Naruto roared, jogging back to the devastated hidden village of leafs and meeting up with the rest of the allies' forces along the way. The costly war was over and the future would be something they would make for themselves.
An undisclosed amount of time later…
"Stop breaking things! If you want to help, stay put and don't touch anything!" One of the workers scolded the blond angrily.
Naruto frowned as he sat back down on the wooden bench, watching the busy bodies crowding the street again. They were rebuilding hidden village of the leaf again after all the crap they had to go through. A couple of year had passed since the last battle, and each village started to fight with words rather than swords and jutsus. Diplomacy was the new path, but even so, each Kage still kept their armed forces for the safety of their home. Fortunately, after seeing the devastation the last war had wrecked, they were more incline to sit down and cooperate towards a beneficial and mutual goal.
"I'm so darn useless now!" Naruto shouted in anger as he leaned against the tree further away from town. A few trees around was tore apart in his frustration. Peace… was incredibly boring to him. The blond was only good for one thing, and he could only show it in battle. Now that there were no conflicts going on, he was out of a job and would be for a long time with the ways thing were heading. It wasn't a bad thing, but it was bad for most of the shinobi, who only knew how to kill.
In addition, by absorbing part of each tail-beast into himself had made his own natural physical prowess went beyond normal, demonstrated by shattered ground and boulders around him. He didn't use any chakra in those strikes, but they were incredibly devastating nonetheless. Because of that, whenever he tried to help out in town, it usually ended badly and he had to pay for compensation.
"GET OUT OF HERE! STOP MAKING A MESS!" Tsunade shouted at him for breaking more things on accidents.
Naruto didn't know what to do now. He was kind of lost, not knowing where to go with his life.
"You should settle down and have some kits?" Kurama suggested. The blond rolled his blue eyes at the suggestion. He exhaled afterward with some lamentations. Everyone he knew had moved on, but he remained the same goofy idiot. Of the three young heroes from the last war, Sasuke ran off somewhere as he didn't way to stay in the village that brought him so much pain and suffering. Sakura ran off after the raven-haired boy. Where the duo went, Naruto didn't know, but he hoped they were happier than him.
"Maybe you're right. Peace's kind of suck. Nothing good happening right now, I want to fight again in awesome battle!" Naruto shouted loudly, but no one was around to hear it. Although everyone wanted it after all the struggle, Naruto was born and lived in a rather turbulent time and he felt a bit unneeded now. Acknowledgement he finally got, but it felt hollowed.
"Want me to go out and start destroying the villages so they could ask you for help?" Kurama asked dryly.
"Really? Can you do that?"
"I was joking, baka!"
"Tsk… me too," Naruto said the last part very softly.
"Maybe I should go on a self-searching journey like the teme, but where to?" Naruto asked before remembering something about a promise from a few years back by a certain Sage.
"Oh, I know." Naruto snapped his finger. "Let's go to your home and see what it is like. Maybe they need our help?"
Kurama blinked as it had no memories of that place, and currently had no desire of return. It was totally contended with its lifestyle, sleeping days in and out without a single care in the world while everyone still feared it. It was the only Bijuu left in the whole Elemental Nations, and it liked to stay that way.
"No thanks," Kurama refused flatly.
"Common, furball! Stop being lazy and let's go!" Naruto insisted and disappeared in an orange flash before Kurama could reply. He re-emerged back to the spot where Hagoromo last stood. The seal was still there as Naruto examined over it to make sure. He was getting very good at Fuuinjutsu, the sealing arts, but this was another level all together. He would not be able to reproduce it without some more extensive training, but he believed he could do it eventually.
"I'm not going! Leave me alone!" Kurama growled angrily. It didn't care what it was before and had no allusion of returning to that.
Naruto ignored Kurama and slashed one of his fingers before rubbing the lifeblood onto the seal. The black marking glowed and twirled on the surface of the rock, forming a spiraling portal.
"AH! YOU IDIOT! HE SAID IT WILL ONLY OPEN ONE TIME ONLY!" The fox roared furiously, seeing how its only way home was used up by the idiot. True, it didn't want to return home right now, but this was the only chance and it never knows when it would change its mind.
"Oh…" Naruto mumbled apologetically. He'd forgotten about that part.
"Damn it, we have no choice now! Nice one, Baka! Baka!..."
"Alright, calm down. I'm sorry, so stop insulting me," Naruto said, feeling like there was nothing here for him to do. He would return one day again once he figured out how the seal work to replicate it. Without any further thoughts, Naruto walked into the portal with Kurama still was within him.
Naruto had made another assumption that the seal could differentiate between the two entities. It did not as Hagoromo never thought that Naruto would enter it along with Kurama. The Youkai's original memory as added to the blond's instead. He held his head in pain as he continued to drift along the spiraling path of the portal. Visions and flashes were not his own invaded his mind before he emerged out from the other side. He thrashed around the ground, trying to get rid of the painful headache in whatever way he could.
"Ahhh, shit! My head! It hurts! FUCK!" Naruto shouted/cursed, rolling around on the pavement. After more thrashings about, he stood up and leaned over the nearby railing, coughing and huffing heavily. He noticed one of his blue eyes was golden from the water surface. Heterochromia. His right eye was golden in color while the left was bluish, but other than that, everything seemed normal.
Kurama's original form and his own had merged during the transition.
"Hey, brat, how are you feeling? Didn't know it hurts that much. I'm glad it wasn't me," Kurama called out from the mindscape. Kurama felt exactly the same as before with no extra memory or limbs so he assumed they went to Naruto instead. The theory was solidified as he saw the blond's eyes in the reflection.
"Who are you calling a brat? I'm the great Kyuubi… oh wait…" Naruto said, but stopped abruptly. He face-palmed and tried to clear his mind from the conflicting set of memories. He remembered everything up the point he accepted Hagoromo's offer. Was that him? He assumed so, but he still distinctively remembered himself as Naruto as that particular set of memory was newer.
"Who am I?" He mumbled a little before nodding, clearing his mind from all doubts. His blue and golden eyes blinked. "I am Naruto. Now, where's that fucking bitch. I'm going to smack her around to show which one of us is stronger, mwhahahahah," he called out and ran back home while laughing hysterically as if it was the most normal thing to do.
The ground cracked on each of his step as he was far stronger than he ever was.
Where are we? What is this place? Kurama thought, seeing through Naruto's eyes. He also noticed the blond was swearing a lot as well. He simply shrugged and started dozing off. He didn't seem to care one way or another.
Author Note:
Youkai no Bikou meant Shadow of a Youkai (Youkai's Shadow), or Youkai's Tail. I prefer the first one, but the second one made sense as well. The timeline currently set in when Issei and gang were at Kyoto, so volume 9? Kunou currently in charge as her mother was kidnapped. The pairing is NarutoxYasaka. It's a bit complicated than that as Kurama has no clue what's going on.
Naruto's own personality shifted a little after the merger. He's a hell lots ruder, prideful, arrogance right now. He just a reincarnation due to being born from Jinchuuriki holding Kyuubi so it will be fine. This is post-shinobi war Naruto… so you can expect him to slap most people around. How long the story goes on for depending on interests I guess. Atraxia Dragon gave me the spark of inspiration for this, and was originally a one-shot, but I expanded it a little. Let's see how we go.