Naruto: kitsune no yoake
(ナルト: 狐の夜明け)
(Naruto: foxes dawn)
A/N: the prodigal son returns; by that i mean the story not me. I did say i'd repost it at a later date and seeing as i have managed to buy some time on that housing issue, i figured why not throw an old fuck up at you; again talking about the fic not me i'm 21 for fuck sake shame on you for calling me old! Anyway without further self bashing. I give unto you a polished turd.
狐はほかのどの動物よりも狡いと言うことだ。
(Kitsune hahokanodono doubutsu yorimo zurui to iu kotoda .)
(It is said that the fox is more cunning than any other.)
Proverb- unknown origins
The rain pelted it down as he ran through the Forrest, soaking him to the bone. His day had been going swimmingly as well he'd just completed the leaf balancing technique, and then this downpour had ruined the moment. So now he was running to get back to his apartment and out of the rain but it was getting heavier by the second and soon the river he had crossed on the way to the training grounds would burst its banks and he wouldn't be able to jump it and he couldn't swim it because the current was to strong, the six year old lamented.
Naruto spotted a structure out of the corner of his eye and made for post haste; it was an old shrine with two stone kitsune either side of the door, moss covered as if Mother Nature decided that these stone creatures needed their own fur. Naruto quickly rushed inside; glad to be out of the rain.
Looking over the atrium of the shrine he spotted a fire pit along with a wood store and went to work lighting a fire, eventually a bright flame illuminated the small room, Naruto's wet clothes laid out to dry around the hearth. Naruto himself had redressed himself in an old robe he had found in an old closet and had begun to explore the shrine lighting the lanterns with the lighter he had found with the old robe.
The shrine wasn't all that big, apart from the atrium/prayer room there was a small living quarters with a kitchenette and a dojo with an adjacent library everything was covered with a thin layer of dust confirming the boy's suspicion that no one had been there in many years.
Naruto stood in the dojo admiring the finely carved bo-ken that lined the far wall, whoever used to live there used a tanto in their kenjutsu the boy mused. Naruto replaced the bokuto in its rack and continued his self-guided tour of the shrine.
His eyes fell upon a large scroll at the end of the dojo closest to the door he had entered through as dusty as everything else in the shrine sat upon a stand along with a chokuto in a plain wooden sheath and handle sealed together with wax waterproofing the blade.
Naruto reached over to the scroll and opened it; as he peered at it became confused there were only some boxes three of which had names written in them two of which shocked him deeply and read; Uzumaki Mito and Uzumaki Kushina. "Uzumaki! But that's… my name?" He exclaimed wide eyed could one of these women be his mother or some other relation he wondered. He unravelled the scroll further until he reached the end of the boxes and began to read the text he found there. A realisation struck him like a hammer, this is a summoning contract (he remembered Iuka-sensei telling the class about them) but for what he could not discern just yet so he began to read again, eventually he came to the passage he was looking for.
"The Kitsune clan pledge their aide to the signer of this contract under the condition that the contractor come to the aide of the kitsune if needed and to guard the shrines to Oinari till their last breath." Naruto read aloud as hope gripped his heart, perhaps the kitsune could tell him of their previous summoners.
Naruto quickly made up his mind and bit his thumb drawing blood and writing his name next the last and took note of the hand seals.
Performing the correct seals and pushing as much chakra as he could "Summoning jutsu!" He bellowed as he slammed his Hand on to the ground a poof of smoke enveloped his vision and with it came a booming voice.
"Step forth young summoner!"The voice boomed the smoke cleared revealing a man sized fox with six flowing tails; its eyes locked on Naruto instantly. "Are you Namikaze Naruto?" The fox asked him. "I am Uzumaki Naruto." He answered unsurely; the creature seemed amused by this. "I see you have taken your mother's name then?" It asked but did not wait for him to answer. "It matters not. I am Lucas the greeter and I shall be your advisor on your path to sennin hood." The now named Lucas told him.
"Sennin hood, what is that?" The young ninja in training enquired. Lucas smirked. "sennin hood is achieved through the training and utilising senjutsu young one everyone whom signs a contract with an animal clan undergoes senjutsu training to better aide the clans in times of war though it has been almost three century's since the last time but we keep this tradition alive." The fox said its eyes still locked upon Naruto. "but before you can learn senjutsu you must master your own chakra and the under pinning skills that the clan will teach you such as our taijutsu and kenjutsu styles." Lucas finished.
"When do we begin?" Naruto asked after a short pause his eyes alight with the possibilities. The fox seemed to ponder this for a moment before finally answering "when you speak to your Hokage if I remember correctly he does not like to be left in the dark about such matters." Naruto nodded at this knowing this to be true. "I will speak with him when the rain stops." Naruto spoke hearing the storm outside still trying to hammer its way in. "Take the contract with you so he will be able to check the details of our accord." Lucas looked to the scroll a Naruto's feet." Till next time out paths cross kit." With that he disappeared in a puff of smoke.
Naruto spent the next two hours searching the rest of the shrine until he found a Box Containing The tsuba, saya and tsuka of the sealed tanto and set to work remounting the blade in its koshirae state, when finished he was amazed at how a weapon made for death could be so beautiful; the blade had a bluish tint to it instead of the slivered grey he had seen of other blades, the tsuba was a snarling fox rendered in blackened steal wrapping itself around the area where the blade met the tsuka as if was using it body to protect his masters hand, the tsuka itself was red as dried blood wrapped in silk as black as night capped by the same steal as the tsuba with kanji engraved into the butt that read simply as victory though fire.
He gave the blade a few awkward test swings and then sheathed the splendid weapon placing it back on its stand. The rain stopped almost an hour later, already changed back into his own clothes he strapped the contract to his back with some rope he had found and made for the Hokage tower. Going in the opposite direction from the swollen river as it was quicker he made it in just fifteen minutes. Entering the building and bypassing the Hokage's assistant he entered the Sandaime's office and greeted the old man in his own special way.
"Oi old man, I've got something cool to show you!" The eager six year old exclaimed. The old man sighed preparing himself for another stupid prank from his successor's child. "Naruto my boy whatever could be so important that you have to show me now?" The old man enquired as he looked up only to see the young jinjuriki carrying a large that only could be a summoning contract. "Oh dear, I'm getting too old for this shit." The old man thought tiredly when he saw the summoning contract in Naruto's hands; outwardly forming his features into a pleasant smile. "Naruto-kun, whatever is that you have there?" The old man asked playing dumb, while he mused as to where Naruto could have gotten a summoning contract. "It's a summoning contract ji-ji I found it in that old shrine by the river near training ground 14." Naruto answered grinning from ear to ear. "Shit!" The old man thought. "It would be his mother's old contract wouldn't it?" Sarutobi smiled again and said "ah yes the inari okami shrine. So that contract is for the kitsune then? "The young jinjuriki nodded. "Have you signed it yet?" The boy nodded a second time. "Fuck." The old Hokage muttered under his breath his smile never fading.
"Ano ji-San my clan name is Uzumaki isn't it?" Our hero asked tentatively; the old man's eyes widened at this "of course it is Naruto-kun. Why ever would you ask such a thing?" The third replied fearing the answer. "Because when I summoned Lucas; he asked me if I was Namikaze Naruto instead of Uzumaki and when I corrected him he said I must have taken my mother's name not my fathers. Then when I checked my name on the contract it said Namikaze even though I signed as Uzumaki." The six year old replied.
The old man put his head in his hands then ran them through his thinning hair and sighed. After a long pause the Sarutobi patriarch had made his decision and steeled himself he would have to tell Naruto about his parentage before the foxes did.
"Namikaze was your father's clan name." The old man began as Naruto's head shot up in rapt attention. "And I shall tell you more about him in a moment, but before that I will speak of your mother; her name was Uzumaki Kushina and she was from a land to the east of here called Uzu no kuni which was destroyed at the start of the third shinobi world war by the Iwa-Kumo alliance, but that is a long and dark tale not suited for this time. As I was saying Kushina was a lot like you; always passionate about life she lit up any place she was and had a temper that made the hottest fire seem cold in comparison. She also held a special position she was the inari guardian priestess for that shrine where you found that contract; we feared that we would never see that contract again as we could never find the shrine due to the seals guarding it only the rightful heir would be able to find it and only in a summer storm." The old man paused to take a drink from the cup on his desk. "I had wanted you to be a chunin before I told you about the shrine but it seems inari-sama wants you now; Any how I digress." The third went on to tell our young hero more about his mother and the young boy couldn't be happier he felt the sting of tears upon his cheeks but they felt different somehow not the bitter coldness of loneliness but the bright warmth of joy and not for the last time he hoped silently.
The old man smiled slightly seeing the boys happiness at finding out that he wasn't abandoned but was loved at least at the start but now came the harder part of the boys parentage Sarutobi hope he didn't ask the question that he knew the boy would. "Your father was a great man, a shinobi without peer and a hero whom single handed won many battles during the war and even defeated a terrifying monster at the cost of his life saving the entire village." Naruto's eyes widened with shock. "What monster?" He asked tentatively his young mind already
had guessed but wanted clarification.
"The Kyubi no kitsune Naruto your father was the yondaime Hokage Namikaze Minato." The old man replied. Naruto looked to the third with awe, he was the son of the greatest shinobi of Konoha's history; a stray thought slipped into his mind and formed a question with his tongue "ji-ji how did he defeat the fox?" The old man was taken aback but answered all the same the answer would come out sooner or later anyhow weather he told the boy or he found out during the training by the kitsune. "He sealed it." He answered his will wavering hoping that the boy wouldn't ask into what. "He sealed it into what? " The dreaded question was asked no escape now.
"The yondaime sealed the fox into an infant only an hour old." Naruto put two and two together. "No!" The old man's voice cracked as he spoke on. "Yes Naruto-kun that infant was you, you see Minato couldn't ask anyone else Naruto he faced a terrible choice sacrifice himself and his family or let Konoha be destroyed so he used you to seal the fox away and saved us all." It was too much for Naruto as he collapsed into blissful unconsciousness.
Naruto's eyes shot open as he sat up with a jerk, surveying his surroundings he quickly realised that he wasn't in the old man's office he seemed to be in some kind of sewer, "where am I? He wondered. After a moment he spotted a corridor with light shining from it and got to his feet and made for it.
He trudged down the tunnel for what felt like hours, the light he had seen when he had awoken was slowly creeping forwards until it surrounded him its dim glow felt oppressive. Eventually he came to the end of the tunnel; stepping out he came to a great chamber with a ceiling so high it was lost in inky blackness and at the far end a great wrought iron gate
Black as night with a small off white patch in the centre.
Almost from nowhere a dark chuckle spread across the chamber filling him with dread his young mind finally working out where he was and what was behind that gate. Slowly he made for the gate his heart pounding in his Chest hoping his suspicions were wrong, the temperature rose with every step; by the time Naruto had reached the gate the heat had him sweating like a pedophile in a toy store. He reached out and touched the bars they were as cold as death which was strange given the heat around them.
Suddenly something didn't feel right and the boy leapt back from the bars as far as he could as a giant set of claws came thundering through the bars missing him by millimetres; two great red orbs appeared behind the claws and bore in to his very soul a deep growl followed after. "I'd eat you if it wasn't for these bars." The beast spoke in a booming voice. "But I suppose the warden has to check on the prisoner sometimes does he not?" Now Naruto's suspicions were confirmed behind that gate was "Kyubi no Yoko!"