Tales of the Fox Clan: Beginnings
By perfesserkai
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, or any of the other characters and places created by Misashi Kishimoto. Kinda sucks, but oh, well.
Part 1: Awakening the Beast
Chapter 1
The tree branches barely moved as Naruto leapt through the forest, his feet touching each branch just long enough to launch him towards the next. He paused every so often to make sure he had not lost track of his quarry. Fortunately for him, the man he was pursuing either did not know he was being followed, or did not care. Naruto thought that the latter was more likely, based on the speed at which the man was moving: he seemed more interested in putting distance between himself and the last settlement he and his cronies had attacked, than in making any attempts to cover his trail. And while Naruto's skills at tracking were hardly the equal of the members of the Inuzuka clan, they were more than adequate for the task at hand.
As Naruto moved through the trees, the whisker-cheeked Leaf-nin spared a moment to wish his squad well. He had already dispatched his teammates in pursuit of his target's henchmen, and while his squad for this mission was comprised of chûnin, except for himself, their targets were little more than common thugs, as far as Naruto was concerned, Rock-nin status or not. He was confident that his squad could handle the flunkies; he himself was after the leader.
At the edge of a clearing in the trees, Naruto stopped on a high branch. In the middle of the clearing, he could see his prey, just standing there like he was waiting for something. The young Leaf-nin scanned the surrounding area, looking for a trace of anything out of the ordinary. Finding nothing more interesting than the local wildlife, Naruto grinned. Whatever reason the Rock-nin had for stopping, he had played right to Naruto's advantage. And he was always one to press the advantage when he had it.
Making sure to keep an eye on his prey, Naruto cautiously made his way down through the trees, to a better spot to launch an attack from. According to the information he had, the man he was about to engage was a former jônin from the Hidden Rock village, and the Hokage had made it very clear she wanted the man captured for questioning. That ruled out most of Naruto's more effective attacks; he'd have to rely on technique more than brute force this time. Not his preferred method, but he'd make due.
As Naruto moved into position, the Rock-nin started pacing back and forth. The man appeared to be growing increasingly annoyed about something; Naruto could hear him cursing under his breath. Good, he thought. An agitated foe is more likely to make mistakes.
Suddenly the Rock-nin stopped his pacing, and cocked his head to one side. Naruto knew he had to act soon; if the Rock-nin had detected his presence, the element of surprise would be lost. Naruto quickly made a series of hand signs, creating two shadow clones, one on either side of himself. He sent the pair in opposite directions around the edge of the clearing. His plan was to use a three-pronged attack and try to overwhelm his opponent's defenses before the Rock-nin could react. If he was lucky, he'd be able to take the man out without much of a fight, and make it back to the village before Ichiraku's ramen stand closed for the night.
Too bad no one told that to the Rock-nin.
Once his shadow clones were in position, Naruto started another series of hand signs. Slowly, a wind started blowing about in the clearing. Focusing his chakra, Naruto started increasing the speed of the wind, and added some spin to it. Eventually, there was a substantial gust swirling through the clearing around the Rock-nin. The jutsu had been taught to Naruto by Temari, older sister of the Kazekage of the Hidden Sand village, as a way of saying 'thanks' to the young Leaf-nin for his part in rescuing her brother years earlier when he had been kidnapped by the Akatsuki organization. He didn't use it very often, usually preferring a more direct approach, but in this case he needed finesse, and this particular jutsu was perfect for the job.
The rogue shinobi, who already looked confused by the sudden wind, now looked like he was struggling to remain upright. He began forming his own series of hand signs, probably in an attempt at some sort of barrier jutsu, Naruto thought. Realizing that he had to act quickly, Naruto signaled his two shadow clones.
From three directions, kunai and shuriken flew towards the middle of the clearing. As they neared their target, the items got caught in the wind, and swirled about like a swarm of angry hornets. The Rock-nin, now clearly caught by surprise, tried to increase the speed of his hand signs, but soon discovered the second part of Naruto's trap as the wires tied to each shuriken and kunai wrapped themselves around his body, binding his arms to his sides, effectively immobilizing him.
Naruto allowed the wind to die down, and moved into the clearing, kunai at the ready; it never hurt to be prepared in case his foe found a way to escape. He looked at the Rock-nin with a smirk on his face. "So, this is all I can expect from a Rock village jônin, huh? I'm disappointed. From what the people around here were saying about you and your friends, I expected more of a fight."
The Rock-nin, who was still struggling against the wires, spat back, "Hah! You think you've beaten me so easily? Fool!" And then, much to Naruto's surprise, the Rock-nin's body seemingly began to melt, flowing through the wires that were wrapped around it. Soon, there was nothing left but a puddle of mud where the captive man had been standing. Naruto could do nothing but stare at where his prisoner had been.
"What the …? Where'd he go?" Naruto wasted little time wondering about how his prisoner had escaped his trap. The man had obviously used some kind of special Earth-style technique to evade the trap the Leaf shinobi had sprung. The question now was where was he? And how would he counter-attack?
The clearing had grown eerily quiet. Naruto couldn't even hear the sounds of the rest of his squad as they fought the Rock-nin's companions; he had moved too far away from them in his pursuit of the rogue. Cursing himself for his stupidity in underestimating his opponent, Naruto again signaled his other two selves, and they quickly started a search of the surrounding area, looking for any sign of the vanished shinobi. As the search progressed, Naruto took a moment to ponder the situation. He didn't really know very much about this particular Rock-nin's abilities, even though Tsunade had given him a brief overview of what he might expect before he and his squad left the village. Most Rock shinobi specialized in Earth-type jutsu, and that was clearly the case with this man. Normally, Naruto might try to use his wind-based chakra to attack the man, but Tsunade had given him strict orders that the rogues were to be captured alive if at all possible. The young Leaf shinobi was going to have to do this the old fashioned way, using his shadow clones and his fists, but first he had to find his target.
Without warning, the Leaf-nin felt the earth around his feet shifting. He tried to jump away, only to discover that something had grabbed his ankles in a firm grip. Before he new what was happening, Naruto found himself being flung face first into the ground. The impact knocked the breath out of him, and he struggled to get up. Unfortunately for him, whatever had grabbed him still had a hold of his ankles. The next thing he knew, he was being picked up and spun around, before finally being slammed into a tree. The young blonde slumped to the ground in a heap.
"Is this the best the Hidden Leaf village can do? I faced stronger opponents when I was a genin than you are!" came a voice Naruto was not familiar with. Presumably it was the voice of the Rock-nin, but Naruto, face down on the ground as he was, couldn't be certain. "Does the Hokage think so little of me that she sends such a pathetic excuse for a shinobi as you after me?"
Naruto was beginning to grow frustrated. His attack plan had not worked at all! In fact, his opponent had somehow managed to turn the situation around and now held the advantage over the whisker-cheeked ninja. Blast it! he thought. This guy's tougher than I thought. But I'm not gonna give up! My squad is depending on me!
Naruto slowly struggled to his feet. The impact with the tree had probably injured his back, but he couldn't worry about that now. He had a mission to complete, and he would be damned if some two-bit Rock shinobi with delusions of grandeur was going to beat him. After all, he was the right arm of the Fifth Hokage herself, one of the most promising jônin of his generation. Many people in the village even said that he was in line to be the next hokage. He couldn't let them down; he had to protect his precious people, and the people of his village. And that included the ones not living within the village walls.
Once he had regained his feet, Naruto raised his head and looked in the direction he thought the voice had been coming from. Before him stood the Rock-nin, looking supremely confident in his chances at defeating what he saw as a mere annoyance. The young Leaf-nin straightened up, ignoring the pain messages his back was sending to his brain, and chuckled. "Heh, is that the best you've got? You should've finished me off when you had the chance, instead of stopping to gloat. Now, I'm not going to go so easy on you!" he spat at his attacker, before disappearing in a cloud of smoke.
What! thought the Rock-nin. A shadow clone! Then where is … He didn't have time to complete his thought before Naruto and the remaining shadow clone were on him. The pair unleashed a flurry of punches and kicks, taxing the Rock-nin's taijutsu skills to the limit as he tried to block or deflect everything the pair threw at him. This continued for several minutes, with neither side making any headway against the other, until finally the Rock-nin managed to dispel the shadow clone and gain some separation between himself and Naruto.
The two shinobi stared at each other across the clearing, each trying to guess the other's next move. In the distance, Naruto picked up a sense of someone approaching, but they were too far away for him to determine anything beyond that. He had confidence in his squad, but this guy had so far managed to surprise him. The safest bet would be to take his opponent out as quickly as possible, and then face whatever was approaching. To do that, he'd have to hit the Rock-nin with overwhelming force. He considered using the Rasengan, but using it required a definite hit on his opponent, and Naruto was uncertain if he had enough time for that, given the rogue's skill level. I don't have a choice, thought the blonde ninja. I've got to use the Fox's chakra. It's the only way I'll be able to take this guy down in time.
Closing his eyes, Naruto searched within himself for the place where the Nine-Tailed Fox was held prisoner. He had visited that place many times over the years, and finding it now was almost instinctual. Lately it had become merely a formality for the whisker-cheeked shinobi, as the seal imprisoning the Fox also served to blend its and Naruto's chakras together. It was an imperfect blending, though, and Naruto had to be careful not to use too much of the foreign chakra at once. To do so would invite a disaster of epic proportions, and the young Leaf-nin didn't want to take that chance.
In his mind's eye, Naruto found himself in a familiar dank corridor. At the far end stood the barred doors imprisoning the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox that had ravaged Konohagakure twenty-six years earlier. "Hey, Fox," called Naruto. When no response came, he called again, "Fox! I'm talking to you!"
A low rumbling emanated from the end of the corridor, growing in volume as the Nine-Tails roused itself. Soon, a pair of gleaming, malicious eyes appeared between the bars in the door. "What do you want, runt?" demanded the Fox, its voice resonating within the corridor.
Naruto chuckled softly. The two of them had played this game many times before, and Naruto had become an expert. He knew the Fox loved nothing more than to cause destruction, and while strictly speaking he did not need the beast's permission to use its chakra, the blonde found it easier for both of them if he at least made it look like he did. After several incidents in his youth resulted in very dangerous situations for his comrades, Naruto had decided that it was far better to make nice with the Nine-Tails than try to impose his will on it.
"Oh, nothing, Fox. I just thought you might want to play with this guy, is all," responded Naruto. He knew that, although the Fox was a prisoner behind the seal the Fourth Hokage had placed on him, it was still aware of what happened in the outside world. "Unless you're afraid he might ne too much for you."
The Fox's eyes narrowed to slits, and the deep voice said, "I fear nothing, runt. Least of all some pathetic insect like him." The Fox paused, and a deep rumbling that almost sounded like laughter came from behind the bars. "All right, I'll help you out. After all," said the Fox, as again the rumbling laughter sounded through the corridor, "if something happens to you, I die too, right?"
Naruto, by now used to the Fox's arrogance, nodded once, and opened himself to the new chakra flowing through him. He briefly wondered at the Fox's easy agreement, but pushed the thought to the back of his mind; there would be time to think about that once his mission was complete.
In the clearing, Naruto opened his eyes and looked at the Rock-nin he had been fighting. The chakra now flowing through him provided quite a rush; he felt like he could take on the whole of the Akatsuki. A smirk appeared on his face as he addressed the man before him. "I said you should have finished me off when you had the chance," said Naruto, his voice slightly distorted, affected as he was by the chakra of the Nine-Tails. "Now, you're gonna pay for your mistake!" As he spoke, the whisker marks on his cheeks became noticeably darker, and his canine teeth grew longer.
The Rock-nin, who had been focusing his own chakra in an attempt to stave of whatever assault the Leaf shinobi had planned, paused in his preparations, and gazed in awe at the sight before him. He had heard rumors that one of the shinobi from the Hidden Leaf village possessed the power of a demon, but had never thought he might actually come face-to-face with the man. He could see the chakra emanating from his opponent, whose eyes had now turned from their normal blue to red slits. The Rock-nin took an involuntary step back, amazed at the sight before him. As Naruto began moving towards him, he pulled himself together just enough to start making a series of hand signs. It was then that Naruto disappeared.
So fast … thought the Rock-nin, as he worked hurriedly to complete his jutsu. He was about to make the final sign, when a voice came from behind him. "Too late, loser," came the distorted voice of the transformed Naruto, and before the Rock-nin could react he found himself flying across through the air across the clearing. He was still reeling from the shock of what had just happened when Naruto appeared before him again, this time kicking him in an entirely different direction. Things continued in this manner for a few moments, with the Rock-nin being bounced around like a pinball, before finally Naruto sent him crashing to the ground with a powerful downwards kick to the chest. The rogue shinobi crashed to the ground with a solid thud. Naruto, using the momentum of his kick, came down on his opponent's chest with both feet, landing with a sickening crunch.
Looking down at his now-helpless foe, Naruto stepped off of the man's chest. Looking down at his enemy, he said, "You should've surrendered when you had the chance." Naruto raised his fist, and was just about to put the rogue out of his misery when he heard a familiar voice call his name.
"Naruto! That's enough!" The blonde Leaf-nin paused, raising his head to see where the voice had come from, only to see Haruno Sakura, his long-time friend and one-time crush, step out from the trees.