Okay, just to make everything clear, this story was written awhile ago and I ended up taking off this site however I've decided to repost it and many others that I've discontinued or are awaiting a rewrite.
ALL of my active stories are posted on the profile for Fenris187 and none of the fics here will be updated.
Also, I own no IP at all right now and make no money off this free access fanfiction.
Sitting alone in a small clearing around a small shack in the forest surrounding Konoha, a young boy with spiky blond hair and a set of whisker marks adorning his cheeks. He was wearing a bright orange jumpsuit and had a set of green goggles wrapped around his forehead. His name was Uzumaki Naruto, the only student of the ninja academy to fail the graduation exam. Fortunately one of his instructors had told him about a secret way of graduating… by stealing the scroll labelled 'forbidden' in the Hokages office and learning one jutsu from the scroll, which was apparently created solely for the purpose of the exam and every jutsu contained in it was considered difficult enough to ensure the ninja that learned it was at least genin level… at least that's what Mizuki told him.
Naruto had to admit… stealing the forbidden scroll was a lot easier than he thought it would be. Then again he didn't expect his Oiroke no jutsu to take out the Hokage in a single shot.
So here he was, looking through the scroll, when he found something that seemed a little off.
"Huh? This looks familiar…" he muttered to himself when he saw a strange array of symbols on the paper, with a couple of words written under it, 'bloodline orb', "oh that's it! A storage seal!" he shouted out loud when he finally remembered where he had seen the array before.
Quickly deciding that it must contain a special extra credit material, he quickly channelled a small amount of chakra into it. There was a large puff of smoke which slowly cleared to reveal a small black orb.
"What? That's it? I was expecting something a little… cooler," the blond muttered in disappointment before picking up the small ball.
He immediately began to feel strange. Realising that it was the strange orb that was giving him the feeling, he quickly attempted to drop it… only to realise that it was blending with one of his fingers.
Attempting to pry the black object off him, he found it simply continued to merge with him. Panicking, the blond proceeded to pull out a kunai in an attempt to remove the orb, finding it too attached to remove even with the help of the sharp blade.
Noticing the strange feeling spreading through his body, Naruto desperately attempted to remove his finger before it fully merged with him, failing miserably as the orb vanished completely leaving him with no indication of its whereabouts… before he began to feel light headed and promptly passed out.
XXX
"So he wishes for the strength to protect everyone he cares about… and the power to crush anyone that stands in his way… even if he faces a god… and his potential is nearly limitless... it is time to begin the chrysalis stage… so that this worthless caterpillar can become a beautiful butterfly."
XXX
The strange feeling was still there, but it was no longer uncomfortable, Naruto realised as consciousness returned to him.
Opening his eyes, he was greeted by the sight of a dark ceiling… one he was certain he had never seen before.
Looking around, he noticed he was currently in a some kind of boiler room with large pipes running along the walls. Examining the pipes he noticed that they were cracking and falling to pieces right before his eyes, however nothing came from them as they fell into disrepair.
Feeling a small chill course through his body at the strange sight he was witnessing, the blond proceeded to try and find an exit before the rest of the structure collapsed.
"It is alright child," a feminine voice called out to him, but it wasn't the voice itself that shocked Naruto, but rather the sheer amount of power behind the voice… it was more than he had ever heard before, hell it was at least fifty times greater than the old man when he was commanding the ANBU.
"W-who's there?!" he shouted, hoping that the strange voice would reveal itself.
"This corridor is the representation of your mind, with those pipes representing your chakra coils… I am what your people refer to as the bloodline orb," the voice called out, shocking the youth, "however I prefer the name given to me by my creator… Hōgyoku."
Taking a deep breath Naruto asked the main question going through his head, "if those pipe are my chakra coils then why are they falling apart?"
"That would be my influence, I am currently breaking them down because they are too small for the amount of chakra you possess, once I have finished breaking them down, I will rebuild them approximately five times larger than before," Hōgyoku explained to him.
"So… you're saying that I'll be a lot stronger when you're finished?"
"When I am finished with your chakra coils you will be significantly stronger little caterpillar, however once I have finished reconstructing your chakra coils, I will begin the process of shattering the barriers on your power… how long that will take, I am uncertain of."
"Shatter the barriers on my power?"
"That is what I have done with everyone else that has attempted to use me… however their hearts have always desired something simple that has only required one barrier to be broken, as such I have never been required to merge with a still living human before."
"Huh? Why are you saying a still living human?"
"I have been fully merged with one other being in my existence, however he was a shinigami," the voice explained to the blond shocking him speechless, "I do not mean the shinigami as you know it… long ago there were many shinigami with many different levels of power, however after a certain event involving the one that merged with me, the Kami's decided to block off all beings abilities to use that power and place one of Izanami's children as the full time shinigami… however I can break any barrier on a person's potential including the one the Kami's created."
"W-wow… so how strong will I be when you're finished with me?" Naruto asked after processing what the strange voice had told him.
"Judging by your potential, I would say that you could possibly become stronger than Izanagi himself."
Naruto couldn't help but choke when he heard that, he had the potential to be stronger than one of the two original gods… it was just something that he found almost impossible to process.
Then he thought of something, "hey… Hōgyoku?"
"Yes, little caterpillar?"
"Well two things… one do you have some sort of form I could speak to? It is kinda weird talking to a voice… and why do you keep calling me caterpillar?" he asked the bodiless voice.
"Is this better?" the same voice asked as a form appeared in front of him. It was a woman about six and a half feet tall, with long flowing black hair, a flawless face and eyes that had black sclera and grey iris's. She was wearing a long, dark purple kimono with small specks of white, making it look similar to the night sky, that accentuated her lithe figure.
Naruto could only stare dumbfounded at the woman's unblinking eyes that simply radiated power… it made him feel completely powerless.
"I will take your silence as a yes," Hōgyoku stated calmly, snapping the blond out of his stupor, "and for your second question, I refer to you as caterpillar for two reasons, one, you are currently a caterpillar that I am going to transform into a beautiful butterfly, and two, I don't know your name," the beautiful woman deadpanned the second point.
"Oh… hehehe, sorry, my name's Uzumaki Naruto! Nice ta meet'cha Hōgyoku!" the whiskered blond practically shouted.
Closing her eyes, Hōgyoku let out a small chuckle, at the blonds' declaration.
"Hey! What's so funny?!" he shouted indignantly as the dark haired woman continued to chuckle.
"I'm sorry… I don't mean any offence to you Naruto-san… it is simply that the last being to merge with me treated me like a tool."
"What! Why would someone do that?"
"That man was cruel, he would strike down his own loyal followers simply for being too weak… even if they were strong."
"Damn… that guy sounds like a real bastard," Naruto said as he clenched his fist in anger.
"And yet you have similar potential… though even greater than his… and one of your hearts desires is the same as his," the more powerful being told him calmly.
"W-what! One of my desires is the same as that bastards!"
"Indeed, your heart desires the power to crush all that stand in your way, however unlike that man whose sole desire was that, you also desire the power to protect others."
"…you keep talking about my desires, but you don't know everything about me?"
"The reason for that is simple, I possess the power to read a person's heart, but I cannot read their mind," she informed him.
"That seems a little weird."
"That is simply my nature."
"(sigh)... hey I was just wondering, if you're that dangerous then why didn't the Kami's destroy you?"
"It is simple really… the Kami's power lies in the realm of reason, while I exist outside the realm of reason… basically they have no power when it comes to me."
"…"
"So… do you have anything else to tell me?" the young blond asked the strange woman.
"I do not know if you are aware of this yet or not, however I have found a foreign body within your system."
"Huh?"
"Come… I will show you," the spirit of the orb said, turning around and leading the blond along the corridors of his mind.
After what seemed like hours, they finally arrived in a large room, split in two by a large cage with a small slip of paper with the Kanji for seal written on it.
"So my jailor has finally decided to pay me a visit," a booming voice erupted from the cage. It too held a great amount of power behind it, though it was still not as great as that of the woman next to him.
"Huh? What do you mean jailor?" Naruto asked in confusion, before an enormous set of slitted red eyes snapped open in the darkness, quickly followed by a vicious looking set of teeth.
"So my own prison doesn't even know about me… pathetic ningen," the demonic visage said as it looked down on the blond.
"I would appreciate it if you did not insult my host parasite," the sphere stated calmly as it observed the creatures interaction with its host.
"And who do you think you are entering another's mind?"
"Hey! Who the hell are you!" Naruto shouted at the set of eyes.
"Who am I? You don't even recognise the mighty Kyūbi no Kitsune when you see it?!"
The blond froze. He was currently shouting at the Kyūbi... how the hell is that possible?
"How the hell are you the Kyūbi? The Yondaime was supposed to have killed you!"
"Do you honestly think a mere ningen could possibly kill me? Your pathetic species can do nothing more than temporarily seal me, understand chimp?" the caged beast asked angrily as the shadows obscuring the cage lifted, revealing the beasts gargantuan form to the blond.
"That is quite enough… now to answer your question Kyūbi, I am called the Hōgyoku, I possess the ability to break the barriers on a person's potential and allow them to obtain power far greater than they could normally."
"Let me see if I understand you correctly… you are going to break down EVERY barrier on this child's power."
"That is correct."
"Then that means he won't be human when you're done… at the very least he will be a monster… heheh, well then child, it looks like you have a chance after all," the fox said with a grin as it looked the blond in the eye.
"Huh? What do you mean 'have a chance'?"
"It's simple… if you're human, I will hate you by default, however since you won't be remaining human, you have the chance to get me to like you… however you could easily just get put back on my hate list if you prove yourself to be a pain in the ass."
Naruto blinked. And blinked again. The Kyūbi had pretty much just told him that it hates humans simply for being human, but was prepared to NOT hate him simply because he wasn't going to stay human.
"Naruto-san, there appears to be someone approaching us… I believe it would be wise to continue this discussion at a later date," the black haired woman told him, before he suddenly found himself ejected from his mindscape, "so what is the real reason you are prepared to give him a chance?"
"That is the real reason… as I said, I hate humans… I have had far too many bad experiences with them to trust them… now leave so I can catch up on some beauty sleep," the great fox said before resting it's head on its paws, before proceeding to fall into a deep sleep.
XXX
Naruto slowly opened his eyes, letting the light filter in… even if it seemed a little off. Looking around, he quickly saw one of his academy sensei's slowly creeping up to him, a cold look adorning his scarred face.
"Um… Iruka sensei, why are you looking at me like that?" Naruto asked from his laying position.
"N-Naruto? Is that you?" the Chūnin, asked all traces of coldness gone from his features.
"Of course it's me! Who else could it be?"
"To be perfectly honest with you… it could've been anyone."
"Huh? How the hell could it have been anyone, who else has this… hair?" the words slowly dried up in his mouth as he suddenly realised that he was covered by a strange white substance that somehow managed to cover him completely without blocking any of his senses.
He was about to start panicking when a soothing voice called out to him from within his head, "calm down Naruto-san… you are currently undergoing what is known as the chrysalis stage, it is simply a protective casing that lasts until I have finished major body alterations… like I am currently doing with your chakra coils."
"Heheh… sorry Iruka-sensei, I kinda didn't realise I was in a cocoon."
"Naruto, that isn't a cocoon."
"Yes it is."
"No it's not."
"Yes it is."
"(sigh) Naruto… a cocoon indicates that the creature inside it is changing quickly."
"And I am…well at least my chakra coils are."
Just as Iruka was about to say something else, Naruto was suddenly pierced by several sharp implements, knocking him towards the Chūnin instructor, who quickly caught him before looking at the assailant.
"Mizuki! What do you think you're doing?!" Iruka shouted at his white haired assistant that had arrived on the scene.
"Isn't it obvious Iruka? I'm here to kill the demon, kill you and take the scroll like I planned," the armed stranger shouted before throwing an extra large fuma shuriken at the duo, which Iruka was more than capable of dodging, even with the blond in his arms.
"Mizuki-sensei lied? But I thought he was my friend…" Naruto thought to himself as his eyes began to water within the mask that covered his face.
"It would appear as though it is people like this that caused Kyūbi to hate humans, he certainly is an immoral creature."
"Mizuki lied to me, and then he tries to kill me, Hōgyoku, what can I do like this?"
"During the chrysalis stage your raw strength and durability are greatly enhanced, I would estimate that at the moment you are approximately 10 to 15 times stronger than normal."
"What about those kunai he threw at me? Why can't a I feel them?"
"They are currently embedded in your shell, they have not even made it close to your flesh."
Upon hearing this, Naruto proceeded to jump from the scarred Chūnin's grip, before charging at the traitor with speed neither of them had expected.
Successfully landing a right hook to the unprepared Chūnin's face, Naruto easily knocked him back a couple of feet before the white haired Chūnin tossed a kunai at the white spectre's face. With just a slight twist of his head, Naruto simply let the weapon ricochet off his masked face, before kicking the shocked traitor in the side.
"I trusted you Mizuki, I thought you were my friend… was all of it a lie?" the blond asked before sending a vicious left to the white haired teachers face.
Regaining his balance, the traitor decided that it was time to play his trump card, "of course it was, didn't you even realise that EVERYONE hates you? And do you want to know why?"
"No Mizuki! It's forbidden!"
"It's because people like you can't see past the Kyūbi," the cocooned child said coldly, shocking both Chūnin present.
"H-how do you already know?" Mizuki asked, shocked that his trump card was useless.
"Because just before Iruka-sensei arrived, I met it," Naruto informed them as he sent a powerful right to the speechless Chūnin's stomach.
Snapping out of his shock at his students strength, Iruka proceeded to take advantage of his former colleagues state and using a basic kunai, proceeded to slice the traitors tendons, immobilizing him completely… before Naruto kicked the man in stomach one more time.
"Naruto, we need to take Mizuki in for questioning, then we really should go and see Hokage-sama about what's happening to you, alright?" the scarred Chūnin said as he looked at the chrysalis state of his student, the white spectre with no features except for one small black orb located in the centre of his chest with a single vertical and a single horizontal line that travelled around his entire body, before ending where it began.
"Hai Iruka sensei."