Author's Note: This is an idea that came to me while I was sitting in class. After thinking it over, I realized that I just had to write it down and make it into a story.
Tell me what you guys think.
Naruto
ONI
Prologue
(Five Years after Kyuubi Attack)
For as long as he could remember Naruto had always been alone. It was a circumstance and sensation that had constantly surrounded him, since his years growing up in the orphanage and all the way up to his first few months at the academy. Though he couldn't remember exactly when it all started, the youngster knew that it was a curse that he'd been branded with before he could even form words in his mouth- a cold, oppressive feeling of invisibility that made every waking hour of his existence a living torment.
Hell, his situation only seemed to get even worse after he was moved into his own apartment on the edge of the suburban districts at the age of four, by which point his isolation from the rest of the world only seemed to grow.
On many occasions Naruto had attempted to fix his situation through various means. First he tried approaching other children to ask them if he could join in on their games and become part of their social circles. Maybe then he would be able to finally do away with the plague that constantly floated around him and made him feel unwanted. But no matter how many times he tried, none of the children wanted to come close to him. It was like he was a bad odor.
Every single one of them were either turned away by their parents or ran off on their own accord, every so often giving up some kind of excuse to soften the blow of excluding the blond from their activities. Initially Naruto went along with it- figuring it was a phase that all children went through in order to get used to one another. But after experiencing the same process of rejection several times in a row, the orphan started to feel more and more dishearten by the day.
He then tried approaching his adults and guardians for help. However, just like it was everywhere else, almost all the villagers either ignored him, kept their distance, or chased him away. What's more they always gave him the same look- one of utter contempt and indifference.
It was that last bit that Naruto hated the most… and it was the same day after day after day…
The idea of being constantly ignored and shunned both upset and irritated the boy something awful. Though he did receive counsel and reassurance from Hiruzen Sarutobi, their current Hokage and beacon of light within the village, Naruto was unable to shake the feelings of dismay weighing on his shoulders. Though he was able to keep a stiff upper lip thanks to the occasional kindness shown to him by Teuchi and Ayame at the ramen noodle shop, the child still had nobody.
No family to return home to and no friends to hang out with.
It was rough for a child his age. However- being the strong-willed and determined boy that he was- Naruto kept marching forward, wading through each day with a false smile, and hoping that somehow things just might turn around for him. He even took to pulling pranks on the villagers, not just to vent out his frustrations, but also to receive some level of acknowledgement from them that he was there and that he was alive.
But while those moments had given him varying levels of momentary enjoyment, they were but fleeting instances of human contact and communication for an otherwise company starved adolescent. Definitely not enough to cheer him up for long.
After one particularly rough day at school, in which Naruto had gotten into a fight with a bunch of boys that'd been picking on a yong pink haired girl from his class, who he'd quickly stepped in to defend and- as usual- gotten the crap kicked out of him, the unlucky blond soon found himself slogging his way to Ichiraku's Ramen.
Nursing the black eye and swollen cheek on the right side of his face, the whisker-marked youngster gave a low grumble as he once again ended up walking a clear and empty path. This was due to the fact that everyone standing in front of him had stepped off the road to make way for him, just like they did every single time he drew near.
This was not a good thing however, as evident by the cold and displeased looks on their faces, which they were either directing or not directing towards the orphan, depending on the angle.
The irate expression Naruto wore only seemed to increase when he passed yet another flock of ignorant adults, the oppressive bubble of complete and utter isolation enclosing around him even further. It was suffocating… gut-wrenching… unbearable…
The sounds of shuffling feet and the clamor of the crowd soon faded to nothing as Naruto chose once more to close himself off from his surroundings, all so that he could better absorb the blow of crushing loneliness. Doing so also allowed the youngster a moment longer to his troubled thoughts, which did little to comfort him.
"Why does everybody hate me?" It was a question Naruto had asked himself over a hundred times already, and for the hundredth time would go on unanswered. As a result, an unpleasant, stomach turning shiver rushed through Naruto's body like a blast of ice, during which time he kept his eyes trained to the floor and his hands sheathed in his pockets. "Why is the world so unfair?"
These were sensible queries, but for some reason were just impossible to resolve. Even the Hokage, the one man Naruto looked up to and respected the most in this village, couldn't give him any straight answers. He would always tactically dodge the issue and word out some pretty response in order to cheer the blond up, like how he should stick to his current path, never let the actions of others get to him, and that with enough patience and hard work, something good would eventually come around.
Though the blond had done his best to stay the course up until this point, with each passing day the adolescent Naruto was finding it more and more difficult to keep going. The further he went, the heavier the bricks of sadness and contempt of the world seemed to rest atop his shoulders.
When the child passed by a young couple and distinctly heard the man's words of 'don't look', Naruto's frown deepened.
"Why…"
He had no clan. No family. No friends. No home. And no respect or byline for his existence given to him in any way.
In simple terms, his entire situation sucked.
"Stupid village, dattebayo."
Exhaling sharply so that he didn't lose his temper, the aimlessly wandering youngster then prepared to make a left turn towards his favorite noodle bar, hoping ahead of time that he would be able to gain some human interaction from the middle-aged store owner and his daughter- the latter of whom was training to become a ramen chef as well. Conversations with them always helped to brighten his usually dreary days, as they didn't seem to mind his company. That was as a regular, favorite customer of course.
But just as he started down the narrow dirt road, with three story buildings lining either side of him and marking his path, Naruto was suddenly shaken from his brood by a loud clutter, followed immediately by a raspy yelp of frustration.
"Confound it all!" the tired yet still incredibly sharp voice of an elderly woman suddenly called out, who'd just seconds ago had just been stepping out from inside the adjacent fruit and vegetable store. Naruto stopped in an instant and turned to see the white-haired lady in the purple shawl bend over to pick up a bunch of potatoes that had spilled out of the bottom of one of her three bags. "Damn, cheap plastic. What kind of idiot thought this was a good idea? Hey! You over there!"
Perking up when he saw the elder looking straight at him, the startled Naruto took a second to glance around before pointing at himself. "M-Me?"
"Yes! You! Don't just stand there gaping at me like a goldfish! Come over and help me pick this up!" the woman barked in an impatient tone, at the same time shakily kneeling down to collect her vegetables and other dropped goods.
Despite being in a miserable state himself- as well as not being one to shirk off good manners- the blond youngster standing in the middle of the road begrudgingly jogged over to promptly help the senior with her things. During which time the youngster, displaying somewhat of a miffed disposition, also couldn't help but grumble under his breath at how he was the one that'd managed to be singled out for this chore.
Now it was like the world was intentionally going out of its way to make his existence difficult by taking advantage of his good nature.
As soon as all of the fruits and vegetables she'd dropped had been loaded back into one of her other two remaining bags, Naruto stood up, dusted off his knees, and slowly started to back away.
"Well… that's all of it. So long, baachan," the blond bid in a low voice, wanting to make his retreat as smooth and casual as possible.
The elderly woman of short stature and hair done up into a top bun, turned to the child with a disapproving scowl. "And where do you think you're going, gaki?" she asked, prompting the child to stop abruptly in his tracks. "What? Did you think I was done with you, yet? Fat chance, dattebatte." Her little exclamation at the end had Naruto balk a little at how similar it sounded to his own. "The bags I'm holding are twice as heavy now. I can't possibly lug them all the way back to my place on my tired, aching feet. Why not be a good lad and help me carry one?"
Eye twitching, yet his head still managing to see reason behind the crone's pushy request, the exasperated orphan reluctantly walked back to the old lady, upon which the latter unceremoniously dumped BOTH bags on his person. Lurching a little due to the sudden extra weight in his arms, the child hastily corrected himself before starting to stagger alongside the crabby villager- all the while hoping that her place wasn't too far away.
Unfortunately, due to the fact that the person he'd inadvertently became a temporary pack mule for was so old- to the point Naruto swore she'd been around since the time of the Second Hokage- the journey to the woman's ground-floor home took a lot longer than he'd anticipated. Even though it was only a couple of blocks away, by the time they finally made it to her front steps, dusk had already started to settle in. The sight of the darkening sky and the stars beginning to twinkle through the scattered cloud cover had Naruto muster a low groan, as a good portion of his afternoon had just come and gone.
The old woman didn't help matters when he instinctively set her bags inside the threshold to her residence.
"No! No! Not there, gaki. In the kitchen!" the crone barked the second she saw the boy put the plastic bags down prematurely. "Sweet Sage. You want to make life even more difficult for me?"
Exhaling deeply to stop himself from taking a verbal jab at the elderly woman, Naruto picked the bags up a second time and lugged them into the woman's kitchen. Upon carefully dumping the plastic sacks on the desk and making sure nothing was mashed up inside- since the last thing he wanted to do was go out and buy replacement items- the orphan then turned and waited for the elder's next set of instructions.
At this point, after being called out three times in a row, he wanted to make extra certain his services had been fulfilled.
When the old woman entered her dining area and peered across at the kitchen, she saw the attentive yet miserable look her young helper was giving her. This in turn earned a lazy-smile in return as she folded her hands across her stomach and nodded. "Thank you."
The words of gratitude, though spoken with slight amusement, earned a courteous head-nod from the orphan. "Can I go now, baachan?"
"Not just yet," the elder replied, at the same time raising a hand to signal Naruto to remain where he was. "I know what you youth are like these days- always expecting some kind of a reward for doing something or helping someone in need. Though yours is a spoiled generation, I do understand the need to appropriately compensate others for performing good deeds. Wait here a moment." Her piece said, the elderly female turned around and slowly shuffled her way to the back of the house.
After watching the woman disappear down the corridor, Naruto was left alone. Finding a bit of interest in his surroundings, the child began checking out the furniture and ornaments decorating the home. When his eyes fell upon a nearby closet set up against the dining area's far wall, he spotted a family portrait sitting atop it, consisting of a mother, father, and child, all of them well-dressed and looking incredibly happy together. The mother in particular was a young woman with bright red hair holding a hand fan, and wearing a white kimono with purple and pink flowers decorating it.
"Hm. Must be the old lady when she was younger," Naruto thought, tilting his head at the photo before then moving on to look at something else. In all honesty, she'd actually been quite pretty- with a cute face and her long hair tied into a high bun- but it was apparent those days were very far behind her.
Finding nothing else of interest hanging or sitting around his immediate area, the orphan then spared a moment of thought to the kind of treat the woman was getting for him. Personally, old people didn't like him very much. But from what he heard about them after listening to the other kids in his year level, whenever grandfathers and grandmothers gave gifts to their grandkids, it was one of three things: money, disgusting candy, or something old and boring. If he was to cast a die on what he was expecting to receive from this elder in return for helping her, it had to be one of the above.
Sure enough, when the old home-owner in the shawl returned about five minutes later, she shakily handed the patiently waiting child a book.
It wasn't just any book either.
This heavy block of what the blond assumed was some sort of encyclopedia, was a monster of a text, which was faded and worn in several places, and had tiny bits of water damage in the corners. On first glance, the green and moldy-paged item seemed just like any other reader that could be found in the local library. But while most books featured a spine and a title, this one instead came with a large scroll attached to the hinge- similar to those used by shinobi- and was being used to hold the pages together. Though this scroll-slash-tome combo looked impressive and practical, from Naruto's point of view it didn't seem like anything special.
Oh joy. More reading.
"What's this supposed to be?" Naruto asked as he looked over the front cover. It was entitled 'Omni-dimensional Ninjutsu Implementation', with a symbol underneath that resembled a whirlpool. Cool as far as book titles went, but no matter how you dressed it up, it was still a book.
And it seemed like a very, very difficult one.
The old woman scoffed while placing her hands on her hips. "Looking at you, I knew right away that you're not the kind of kid who is interested in books." Her observation had Naruto squint at her suspiciously. "You're more of a… hands-on, outdoorsy kind of brat, who learns better using his hands and being active, rather than sitting around a classroom all day listening to teachers drawl on about stories and theories. If I had to guess, I believe the only things floating around in that thick head of yours are fighting, fame, and friendship. Am I right?"
Naruto gawked at her for a moment, his brain quickly trying to work up some kind of a smart aleck response, and argue against what the elderly woman was saying. But after a minute of staring at her in silence, the child lowered his head and gulped nervously. "Y-Yeah. That's right."
His answer put a victorious smile on the female's wrinkled face. "I thought so." She then craned her head to the side, "Let me guess… you want to become a shinobi when you grow up?" When the boy nodded, she then gestured down to the heavy text sitting in his hands. "Well, this book has been in my family for over three generations… and has been stuck with me ever since I first moved into this village fifty years ago. Though most of my clansmen are long gone, all of the most useful skills ever taught to us back in our homeland can be found in this journal."
Naruto blinked as she stared at the elder. "You were a… ninja?"
"Yes. But not from this village." A faraway look then came upon her as she turned her tired eyes towards one of the room's other walls. When Naruto followed her gaze, he spotted another photo of the same redheaded young female from the family portrait hanging nearby. This time the individual was dressed in a kunoichi uniform with long sleeves and grey plated armor- which certainly did not look like regular Konoha ninja attire. "I was from Uzushiogakure (Village Hidden by Whirling Tides)… serving as 2nd Captain in the Uzukage's personal guard. Since our village had strong ties with the hidden leaf, when our country was wiped out by an unknown enemy, our people scattered, and I ended up here with some of the survivors."
Naruto blinked in surprise at the woman's brief story. "Wow. That's amazing, dattebayo."
"Hn." With a careless shrug, the former kunoichi looked back at the boy and beamed. "Anyway, that's all in the past. Now that my clan and the rest of my family are gone, I have no one else to pass my knowledge or inheritance too. When I die, most of what I own will be taken by the village to be auctioned off or stored away. Since that is the fate that awaits my legacy, I want to be able to at least hand on a few things before I go… hopefully to someone deserving." She then stepped towards the child and looked him right in his stunned eyes. "I'm hoping you could be that person."
A quick glance back down at the book in his grip then raised another important question from Naruto, who then turned to the old woman standing in front of him. "But… why me? I'm… I'm nobody… a person that no one in this village likes or cares about. Everyone I meet hates me… and treats me like dirt."
"Who you are viewed as and thought of by others doesn't matter one bit. It shouldn't," the old woman stated, lifting up one of her frail hands and ever-so gently placing it against the child's chest. The moment of contact had the blond look down. "What really matters is who you are in here… and what you do in life that defines you." She then slowly removed her palm and steeled herself before the child. "If the world takes a stab at you… hits you to the point that you fall… and then keeps on kicking you while you're down… just get back up, stand your ground, and give it all back a hundredfold, dattebatte."
The words spoken by the woman struck Naruto with such force that had it been an actual physical blow, the boy would've been absolutely floored by it. A swell of hope built up inside his chest, filling his soul and making it seem like he was being lifted off the ground and pulled into the clouds. Even his cheeks warmed at the woman's sincerity, as they not only brought a newfound belief and confidence to him, but also wiped away all the negative emotions swirling about inside him.
For a moment, he almost completely forgot about the horrible day he'd been having.
Seeing that she got exactly what she wanted out of the youngster, the old woman chuckled and stepped away, yet kept her eyes glued to the luminescent child. "Whatever you do… just make it count. Okay, Naruto?"
"O-Okay," the blond replied, too overwhelmed by the woman's pep-talk to even ask how the heck she knew his name. "Thank you."
"Good. Now get," the woman said while nodding him out of her living room. "And don't ever forget what I told you today." She then watched through amused eyes as Naruto, after gathering up his senses, slowly turned and exited her kitchen, before leaving her house entirely a few seconds later. Once the door clicked shut behind her and silence once again perspired over the cozy domicile, the elderly female gave a small nod of approval. After which she then spared one last thought to her young guest as she shuffled her way into the kitchen to start cooking dinner. "You really had an interesting one, Kushina-chan."
OOO
(Later that night)
In hindsight, Naruto's evening hadn't been the most fun or enjoyable of the week. In fact it had been a bit of a drag, mixed in with a smidge of chaos, and topped off with a dash of manual labor. However, all negativity aside, it had definitely been the most interesting and uplifting of his afternoons- at least from what he could recall.
Following his little run-in with the old lady on the street and being shanghaied into her temporary service for the hour, instead of heading out to Ichiraku's Ramen to sulk, the boy grabbed some instant ramen from the convenience store and went straight home. The reason being was so that he could check out the massive, weirdly named ancient book the woman had given him as a present.
Whether it was the boredom, the tediousness, the lack of better things to do, or the fact that his curiosity had been peaked significantly, Naruto did not know. But all the youngster knew that after his little pep talk with the grouchy lady, the child was unable to stop himself from plopping down on his couch and cracking open his gift.
What the orphan soon discovered soon afterwards was that as soon as he started reading, he just could not stop.
Inside the pages were multiple illustrations and pictures detailing taijutsu and ninjutsu techniques used by the clan the old woman came from, all of which were accompanied by small yet brief bodies of texts containing only the most necessary information- pros, cons, dangers, and advantages. What's more, all of the information was listed in an appropriate order, allowing whoever was reading the book to absorb the information and learn from it without issue- with no prior knowledge of ninjutsu required. Everything was covered from A to Z.
Based on the title alone, Naruto had initially assumed that the book would be long, pointless, and way beyond his knowledge and understanding. After all, he had no idea what Omni-dimensional even meant… or what the heck it was. But as it turns out, the family who owned this book had recorded everything down in a way that even a complete novice or a child could understand the words being said, and also provided clear, concise instructions for self-practice and teaching.
In contrast to a lot of other books as well, this one was actually fun to read. The illustrations were vivid and clear, showing one or two people in action, going through the motions, and detailing the exact steps necessary in order to perform each essential technique right down to the last finger movement. This was done in a similar fashion to how the monks of old martial arts temples trained- using scrolls and written works with images in them to copy the actions physically, before then putting them to practice against dummies. It was all part of a self-moderating development process that allowed even lone individuals to train on their own terms. It also helped children from single or broken families to work on skills outside of school, without assistance, supervision, or tutelage from instructors.
In essence, what the old woman had ended up giving Naruto was a first-class introduction to her clan's unique shinobi arts- complete with lessons, notes, and time tables for training in order to incorporate everything that was recorded within the pages. The discovery had the blond practically jumping with joy, as for the first time ever he felt a doorway to the ninja world had just been opened for him. Even better it was with this gem of a codex that was now helping to light the highway. All he had to do was put the information from the first chapter of the book into practice.
"In order to apply Uzushiogakure taijutsu effectively in combat, it is important that the users must first ready their bodies to prepare them for the techniques and skills that will be detailed in the following chapters. Thorough base and strength training is required from youth, as the stress of the martial arts can damage an inexperienced and untrained body. Below you will find a list of exercises that must be completed by the student over the spread of the next three months- which can also be done without the assistance of a peer or instructor," Naruto read to himself, having moved his studying to his bedroom so that he could properly absorb the info being displayed before him. "Be sure to check and record your results in the following boxes."
As he read along, the child made mental notes to himself and set his alarm to wake him up at five. After all, he was going to try putting this stuff to the test the moment he woke up.
XXX
(Over the next three weeks)
It was as the saying went- a word once given can never be broken. Abiding by this core principle and the promise that he made on the very first night, Naruto got right down to trying out the training regimens outlined in the tome that the former kunoichi had given him. Following both the steps and illustrations delineating the processes in which he had to undergo this particular training, the child started a series of rigorous, body-strengthening exercises and sessions that would prepare him for the later stages to come.
His first couple of days were all spent getting a feel for the timetable in the book's first chapter and, on his initial run at it, things were great. The push-ups, sit-ups, squats, leg-exercises, hill sprints, urban gymnastics, and marathons through the village's local woodlands, along with the frequent stretching and taijutsu katas… he managed to do them all one after the other with very few problems.
Of course, there was that one moment when he tried to hurtle over a series of berry bushes by using a tree branch as a swing bar. After sprinting through the forest he'd chosen as his course via the dirt path forged through the undergrowth, he misjudged the distance and timing of one of his jumps. When he vaulted, he ended up missing the branch entirely and crashing into the bushes below.
When he landed in the thicket- which coincidentally was also filled with thorns- he not only impaled himself on a thousand prickers, but also managed to scare away a couple of birds napping in the brush. With only his feet and legs sticking up out of the rosy shrub, the winded and thoroughly stabbed child managed to muster only one word.
"Ow…"
He then had to complete his course while pulling over a dozen twiggy spikes out of his arms, hands and face.
Aside from that one hiccup, everything went pretty well for him. However, on the morning he woke up following his initial outing, mentally prepared to repeat the same session for his second day, the child's muscles were so sore and so tired that when he finally managed to drag himself out of bed to get dressed, he could barely push through the pain to put on his shirt.
However, being the stubborn, gutsy, and persistent child that he was, and not wanting to be beaten by some stupid numbers in a moldy old textbook, Naruto forced himself through sheer willpower to soldier on. Even when he face-planted the floor about twenty times trying to do his first set of pushups because his arms could no-longer support his bodyweight, the kid didn't care.
And so began perhaps one of the most physically painful and trying ordeals he would ever go through in his young life, which involved nothing but a lot of blood, sweat and tears- which mostly happened every time he crashed face-first into something. By the time the first week came and went, and Naruto had managed to pull through the first block, his body had finally managed to adjust to the new routine he was adopting, thereby setting himself on what he hoped was the path to a more holistic and productive way of living.
And hell, he hadn't even started getting into the really nitty-gritty stuff yet. According to the chapters in the tome he managed to glimpse past the first few, things were only going to get much, much harder for him, with even more tougher and physically involved sessions awaiting him at the end of the month.
Of course, with his interests and days occupied by a new hobby of sorts, woven seamlessly into his regular hours at school, the child couldn't help but wonder if there was any more to this book than he could see. If this was only an 'introduction' to a certain branch of the shinobi arts- as in a first volume- then there had to be even more after it, right? Though he hadn't managed to take a good look at the scroll yet due to the fact that it was locked by some kind of seal that prevented him from opening it, there was always a small chance that there were other volumes he had to read afterwards.
Following another uneventful day at the academy, in which Naruto had tried and ultimately failed to make friends with the kids again, the child decided to pass by the old lady's house on his way home. Even though everything was practically outlined for him in the book- as well as the fact that he still needed to finish off his scheduled training for the day- the blond felt that he could at least spare a few minutes speaking with the former kunoichi.
He also needed to thank her properly for giving him the journal in the first place. Since it was something he assumed had been a treasured heirloom passed down through her family, it simply begged the question as to why she would give it to a kid like him to begin with. That in itself deserved some proper gratitude and answers.
Who knows? Maybe if he was lucky she would invite him in for a talk. Kami knows that he was doing everything he could to get some sort of company. Having a former kunoichi as a friend might actually cure some of his isolation sickness.
Using his memory of the streets as well as recalling the path he'd taken from the fruit and vegetable store the first time around, Naruto eventually arrived at the front of the woman's one-story residence. However, the moment he turned the corner and walked up to the building, the young orphan unexpectedly found a Chunin standing outside with a clipboard in hand, and a team of young Genin moving furniture out of the house.
Stopping beside the spiky-haired man with the white bandage taped across his nose, the blond in the white shirt and orange shorts looked up at him and spoke. "Umm. Excuse me. What's going on here?"
Kotetsu, taking notice of the boy beside him, promptly nodded to the house that they were standing beside. "Oh. The council has hired us to move all of the furniture and possessions in this building over to temporary storage. We need to make room for a new tenant to move in."
Looking between the shinobi and the house, the door of which was hanging wide open, the confused Naruto looked back up at the Chunin inquisitively. "Is… Is the old lady who lives here still around? I'd like to speak with her if that's okay."
Turning back to the kid after checking off another item, Kotetsu stared at him quietly for a moment. A look of surprise then framed his gaze. "Wait… you mean you don't-" Upon looking at the child's innocent face, the man's expression suddenly saddened as he faced the child properly. "Haruka-san… the woman who used to live here with her family… she passed away in her sleep about four nights ago. She's gone, kid."
For Naruto, it felt like somebody had just run a spear through his gut. A look of shock crossing his face for the briefest of moments, the blond slowly turned to the old woman's building and, upon seeing another Genin walk out with a box of photographs and books, hung his head. His expression twisted into one of sorrow and gloom, which was accompanied by a strong, sickening sensation in his gut. The combination of feelings caused his cheeks to tighten and his eyes to well up, which in turn left him with in a state of clear dismay.
"So… that means…" Stiffening his jaw to stop the tears from forming, the youngster then looked up at the man and spoke in a firm, albeit shaky voice. "Has she… been buried yet?"
Kotetsu shook his head. "They'll be cremating her at the end of the week. You're welcome to go over to the Hokage Tower and ask to attend her funeral. As far as I know, only a couple of people will be going to it. She didn't have any family left in the village."
Nodding glumly, Naruto sheathed his hands into his pockets, took a deep breath, and turned around. "Thanks." He then proceeded to walk away, dragging his feet as his mind slowly processed the gravity of what he'd just learned.
Seeing the child start to leave, Kotetsu stared after him for a few moments, presumably in thought. When realization blinked through his eyes, the Chunin held his hand up and called out, "Hang on a second, kid. You… wouldn't happen to be Naruto by any chance?"
The blond stopped and looked back at the man. "Y-Yeah? Why?" He then watched the shinobi walk up to him, pull something out of his pocket, and hand it over to him. "What's this?"
"We found this letter sitting on her nightstand. Apparently it's addressed to you," Kotetsu informed, before giving the child a warm smile. "If I were you, I'd read it. Might be something important."
Considering the slip of folded paper now resting in his hands intently, a now noticeably cheered up Naruto motioned a grateful nod to the man. From there he then spun about and headed off, this time with a clear spring in his step.
He didn't return home directly though. Taking a slight detour from his normal route, the child went straight to one of the reserves in his neighborhood to complete his afternoon training block. Once he'd satisfyingly exercised himself to the point of exhaustion and collapse, Naruto then took the long road back to his third-story apartment to take a shower, change, and prepare himself a healthy dinner.
It was upon completing this segment of his daily routine that he finally managed to sit down and open up the letter that the old lady- Haruka- had given him. As he sat there on the couch in his partially tidy living room, the blond youngster tilted his head as his eyes took in the few words left to him by the grouchy old kunoichi he'd helped at the beginning of the month.
In short, the letter said this:
"Gaki. The road to becoming a true ninja will be a long and difficult one, with many twists and turns you will not be expecting. If you want to live long enough to see your dreams come true- and if you don't want to end up dying like an idiot- remember these words carefully. One: don't underestimate anyone. Two: always expect the unexpected. Three: think before you act. Four: protect your friends and anyone close to you. And five: never stop being the good you. Trust me. It'll be worth it."
It was as if he was hearing her voice inside his head. Even though Haruka's words were blunt and to the point, Naruto still managed to give a slight sniffle at the end, as these felt like the last words she would ever speak to him. After mulling them over a moment, his gaze trailed a little further down, where he saw another note had been left by her.
"P.S – Don't worry. The time will come when you'll be able to open the scroll. Also, be careful when you get to the chapters halfway through the book. The last thing you want to do is transport yourself to the moon."
"Haruka U"
Raising an eyebrow at the woman's warning, Naruto then set the letter down and looked around thoughtfully. When he then considered the tome she'd given him sitting on top of his lounge-room table, the child put on a smile, hopped off his couch, picked up his book, and ran back into his room.
Time for some serious studying.
XXX
(Half a year later)
As life around the village chugged forward with absolutely zero conflicts or upheavals to speak of, save for some political issues involving the Uchiha Clan's segregation from the rest of the leaf's business, Naruto's training continued to advance. It wasn't long after his first month of muscle-tearing physical workouts that he was now entering the chakra controlling phases of his development, which came immediately after he started learning the art of shinobi combat.
While at this time the instructors at the academy were beginning to teach the students from Naruto's grade the theoretical fundamentals of the shinobi arts- chakra techniques, combat, mannerisms and what not- the blond was already pushing forward into the application of the abovementioned techniques, and putting them to incredibly good use. Through the utilization of ink guidelines, meditation, and object balancing, Naruto learned how to feel and manipulate the chakra inside his body, and use it to enhance several of his preexisting capabilities.
This was pretty standard for children training to be a ninja to learn. But instead of stopping there, the ONI tome took it a few steps further.
The following chapters talked about focusing the chakra into the limbs of the body to multiply the strength and speed of the user to completely different levels, augmenting the user's physical prowess. In order to accomplish this, it also emphasized the need for the users themselves to exercise their bodies in order to apply the skills and keep up with the strain of performing such incredible feats. After all, a sheet of paper alone couldn't hold back a torrent of water. It needed to be cultivated, stacked with multiple layers, and lacquered over in various places to even have a hope in hell of stopping such a tide.
This information was something that Naruto found incredibly compelling and encouraged him to begin adding more stuff to his training in order to achieve this new goal. That meant lifting greater weights, running longer distances, and hitting the training stumps several times harder.
This then led into the next part of this phase of his training- taijutsu. While he'd initially touched on the subject during his strength and fitness training, the book was now starting to go into greater detail about it.
Naruto knew that the teachers at the academy set the students up with a basic understanding of the katas, stances and techniques practiced with the standard form of martial arts. It was the main one used by most of the militaries in the world and was something that all shinobi knew to an extent. They also gave the kids multiple lessons during school time to practice them, with some classes even being held personally by the Hokage. Furthermore, there were also advanced forms of taijutsu that were studied and used by the Hyuuga, the Uchiha, the Akimichi, and the Inuzuka, with the former clan said to possess the most lethal style practiced on the continent.
The taijutsu illustrated in Naruto's book however was of a completely different brand. Unlike the external Goken (Strong Fist) form and the internal Juken (Gentle Fist), this "new" style- aptly named Uzuken (Vortex Fist) - incorporated the use of circular, spiraling movements in the martial arts, with key emphasis on acrobatics and angular blows.
The style itself is described as one that didn't rely on brute strength, but rather on agility and outsmarting the opponent instead. The power of the style derived from its aggressive speed and movement, focusing on spinning elbows, knees, kicks, and leopard punches. It was a hit, damage, and run style designed to overwhelm superior forces with limited resources, with counter attacks being sudden, indirect, and short, and the aim of landing debilitating damage. The goals for learning this taijutsu included: developing muscle speed for external strength, patience and razor sharp timing, and attacks for precision, penetration, and cutting power.
It also had another interesting feature that the other styles did not have.
OOO
Standing out in the middle of an open meadow- one of many that dotted Konohagakure's unique and beautiful landscape- the young Naruto, wearing only a pair of orange shorts and sandals, could be found performing a series of katas and manouvers across the open area. Like a man dancing on the wind, the young boy moved and leapt over the grass, unleashing a series of strikes and blows in a graceful and controlled display of skill.
Performing a swing hand and hammer fist combo, the child stepped back into a low stance, his fists curled into those of the leopard hand form. Breathing heavily as sweat trickled down his face and body, Naruto then threw himself into a backflip, landed softly, and performed a reverse step and push palm- thrusting both arms out in a deflecting motion. He then moved forward and performed a textbook outside slap kick, managing to swing his foot at a height above his own head, before dashing forward with multiple wide strides. Picking up speed, the young Naruto threw himself through the air and performed a butterfly kick. When he landed, he threw another one, and then a third one.
His last kick was accompanied by a blast of dust kicking up off the floor, forming a trail through the air that followed the motion of his kicking leg. The impressive arcs his attacks traveled matched the ferocity on which Naruto unleashed the blows. Upon touching down, he then slid back into a dragon posture before adopting a tiger stance, thrusting both clawed hands upwards and lifting his left knee. After the defensive maneuver, he then followed up with a whip kick and a heel kick, each blow swinging out in rapid succession, and sending a blast of air shooting across the field.
Upon which the child curled up: dropping into a wide and low crouching stance, at the same time positioning his hands beside him over one another. Inhaling deeply, Naruto then finished his combo with a forward double palm thrust, which he performed while rotating his arms at high speed.
What followed next was what many would call remarkable.
"Uzuken: Tetsu Senpu!" (Vortex Fist: Iron Whirlwind) Naruto shouted, the circular motion of his hands causing a blast of rotating wind to rip across the field.
The spiraling attack of pressurized air shot towards a distant tree standing about a hundred yards from Naruto's position, kicking up leaves and dust as it traveled across the meadow like a bullet. When it eventually struck the large oak standing at the edge of the grove, the wind didn't just rush past the trunk… it tore straight through it. As if a series of invisible, monofilament blades had been launched from the boy's fingertips, the attack managed to cut the tree so fast that for about six whole seconds, the oak remained standing.
When those seconds passed, the trunk and the branches cascaded to the ground into literal pieces; the attack having sliced the entire edifice in an outward moving ripple pattern.
In a single stroke, Naruto had transformed a once glorious tree into nothing but a pile of firewood.
Inhaling once more as his arms remained extended, Naruto then stepped out of his attack stance and brought his hands down in front of him. This slow, graceful movement of his arms reverting to an at-rest position signified the end of his round, which then allowed him to move off the field and collect a drink from the bottle of water he had sitting nearby.
Upon popping open the cap and taking a big gulp, the boy gasped in relief before turning to glare at the tree he'd so handily diced up.
"Not enough. It has to be faster… stronger! I have to keep going!"
Shutting the bottle and dumping it on the ground, the blond orphan flexed his arms and flicked his wrists. Once he'd rid them of the numbness that'd resulted from his successful execution of his attack, Naruto then moved on to his third round, and reset his stance.
OOO
Aside from the remarkable taijutsu he was slowly learning, he also started to learn the unusual ninjutsu recorded in the ONI tome as well.
Getting the basics of the hand seals wasn't a problem at all. After working on the flexibility in his fingers and copying the illustrations from the charts in the academy's library, figuring out the names and differences between each individual sign, opened the way for him to begin conquering the numerous jutsu there was to learn out there in the world… at least that's what he hoped. However, for the sake of consistency, Naruto first chose to focus his efforts on learning the techniques from his journal.
It was after moving past the first taijutsu and chakra portion of the book, and accessing the next section that the child happened upon another unexpected twist. Instead of the Bunshin no Jutsu (Clone Technique), Henge no Jutsu (Transformation Technique), or some other common skills that other shinobi would customarily use and start training with, the ones detailed in this work involved strange ink and seal patterns, arranged into various clusters, spirals, circles, squares and many other shapes.
At first Naruto was taken back by the opening set of illustrations. But after studying the opening paragraphs of the new section and learning the meaning of the drawings, the young shinobi-in-training quickly realized that this wasn't ninjutsu at all. It was fuinjutsu (Sealing Techniques).
This quickly had the child backtrack on what he'd been covering so far and, in studying the last couple of chapters, he realized that all of these sections were linked together. The whirlpool themes, the fighting styles, and the way he was mastering control over his chakra, were all setting him up and preparing him to learn how to use these seals, and apply them in combat.
Knowing that this was an area that he'd never even considered before and was something that was rarely touched on at the academy, Naruto's interest in the future chapters of this book were quickly elevated to new heights. His young mind was almost immediately flooded with inspiration and enthusiasm, as he couldn't help but imagine the many unique possibilities this foreign area of shinobi practice held for him.
Skimming through the pages ahead of the introductory segments of the journal, Naruto noticed that there were seals and patterns similar to the kanji that he knew from reading, which allowed the youngster to immediately make some connections between what he already knew and what was being presented to him. Unfortunately, after glimpsing further ahead towards the end of the book, the seals and techniques that started to emerge in the subsequent pages were completely different to any symbols or lettering he recognized. Heck, he could barely tell what many of them were supposed to mean.
So, instead of jumping ahead and trying to learn the complicated ones right away, Naruto aimed to decipher them little by little through reading the book's preparatory chapters, and slowly make his way up. After all, there was no telling what these seals were supposed to be used for.
Just like in school, to gain a better understanding of what he was doing, Naruto started out small. As instructed in the practice pages, the blond began his tutelage by using ink to paint seals on surfaces, through which he would then run his chakra through. This formed the basis for the training in fuinjutsu to follow, allowing him to give shape and form to the seals using his own energy, and not have to paint them out every time he needed to perform a technique.
The very first move he ended up practicing was sealing a small bag of salt inside of a wooden plank, before eventually releasing it from its pocket dimension and materializing it back to the same spot he had placed it.
From there the lessons progressed at a reasonable pace. Naruto gradually learned how to seal and summon larger objects one after the other. He started with one at a time, then two at once, and then later different objects simultaneously on separate sealing circles. It even got to one very difficult segment where he had to try and trap moving targets, either on the ground or in mid-flight. He spent an entire month trying to get this right, even taking time out of his combat training to try and catch a rock that he launched from an automatic catapult, and locking it inside a scroll of paper.
Though he managed to get it in the end after over a hundred tries, the technique was still a pain in the ass to master.
From his point of view, his work outs were coming along nicely. Hell, he was even managing to learn field material ahead of the other kids at the academy, which in turn inspired him to take a closer look at the other abilities they were planning on learning in future year levels, including the Henge, the Kawarimi, and the Bunshin no Jutsu. He was going to need those for the exams.
However, amongst all of this- between his eight hour total training regiments, his long periods spent wasting away in the academy classroom, and taking care of his affairs at his assigned independent home program apartment- Naruto never stopped trying his damndest to make friends. For all his accomplishments thus far, for all the hours he spent grinding, strengthening his mind and body, and transforming himself into a better person, the one thing he still struggled to achieve was forming a bond with a group of kids his age.
At this point he would even take one. Just one person to become his friend, who he could swap stories, share ideas, and spend time with in the afternoons when he didn't have anything else to do. He just really wanted to have that dark spot in his life filled and for once in his life be acknowledged for being him, without that cold, hateful ire he constantly saw on the faces of everybody else around him.
It was this one particular aspect of his still young existence he wanted to change most of all- to be accepted and recognized by another person. Hell, it didn't even have to be someone from the village or even a human villager for that matter. But as things currently stood, finding friends and companions amongst the tens of hundreds of individuals he met and passed by on the street, was not going to be an easy task.
Like Haruka said, he just had to keep marching on… and hope for the best.
XXX
(A month later)
On one particularly cool night of the year, during a time when the village was at its most peaceful and quiet, Naruto had laid himself down for a good night of rest. After a long day of hard training, mediocre schooling, and chakra burning fuinjutsu practice, the young shinobi-in-training knew he was deserving of a few winks. With the weather being so pleasant this long after dusk, there was no way he was going to pass on the opportunity to enjoy a decent rest.
His thoughts on what awaited him after closing his eyes all revolved around a world of soft dreams and white clouds, upon which he would be able to experience the most delightful of slumbers. Being the hardworking and energetic kid that he was, it would come as a surprise to anyone to learn that Naruto actually had the innate ability to fall asleep on command. It certainly served as a big advantage for him during his bloated and incredibly busy schedule.
When his eyes closed and his consciousness faded from the light, the child willingly slipped away, and fell gracefully into the sweet, soothing arms of Morpheus.
Things seemed to settle down after that. But then, the moment Naruto's physical body closed down all motor functions and set itself for the extended haul, his eyes suddenly opened again- this time to an entirely new and unknown sensation.
Actually, it wasn't so much an unknown sensation as it was a surprising one. The reason Naruto's eyes opened up almost immediately after closing them, was because he felt something like a sheet of water pressing up against his face.
Blinking away the haze of sleep, the child slowly pushed himself up from the floor and looked around, discovering to his surprise that he was no longer lying in his own bed. Rather, he was actually lying in what could only be described as an enormous sewer tunnel, with the concrete walls reaching well over a hundred meters. It was also illuminated by a dim light, the source of which he was unable to identify. Looking down at where he was sitting and expecting to find muddy water surrounding him, he instead saw that the water was clear and deep, and that he was in fact sitting on top of it like it was a solid surface. This baffled him to no end, as his understanding of water was that because it was a liquid, anything placed on top of it would inevitably end up sinking.
Shaking his head at the strangeness of it all, the child stood up, regained his balance, and began venturing down the large sewer to find out exactly where he was.
It was only after a couple minutes of walking that he suddenly came across a wall of metal bars, which appeared out of the darkness. Standing before before him like a glorified monolith, the child's eyes trailed up the steel pillars, his gaze reflecting a sense of wonder and amazement at the sheer size of the barrier blocking his route. It was only after inspecting them a little more closely that he saw the bars were actually part of a large gate, which was locked shut and kept closed by what appeared to be a large slip of paper with a seal on it.
Curious as to what the design of the marking actually was, since he was now studying them as part of his training, the boy moved in to take a closer look. Immediately upon coming within arm's reach of the print, he saw that the formation was that of an eight point suppression seal with a chakra lock in the center, which could be loosened or tightened by the user. The structure of the seal was understandably elaborate- way too advanced for someone of his level to access or create. However, Naruto could still hazard a guess as to what its purpose was.
This seal was meant to keep someone or something in.
But what?
Tilting his head, the boy then attempted to glimpse beyond the threshold of the gate, his eyes squinting through the darkness of the chamber to see if anything was inside. It was only after doing so that he became aware of an enormous mass sitting behind the large barrier, and filling up the entire height and width of the tunnel. When Naruto tried to identify the shifting mass of blackness, he then jumped back with a start when he saw a pair of monstrous red eyes suddenly open just a few feet rom the bars and fix squarely on him.
The blond almost fell over with how quickly he retreated.
A few seconds after the eyes appeared, a deep, low voice suddenly spoke, which reverberated throughout the entire tunnel. "Hmm… well isn't this a pleasant surprise? My caretaker has decided to come pay me a visit."
At first Naruto was caught completely off guard by the appearance of the eyes and the booming voice. But after taking a moment to breathe, the child then chanced a few tentative steps forward, as his curiosity in the the titanic creature started to grow. When he ventured closer to the bars and saw the light in the chamber brighten on the other side, he then saw for himself the beast that was resting safely and secured behind the metal.
Its body assumed in a prone position and its head lying comfortably on its arms, Naruto saw the unmistakable form of a giant orange fox slowly emerge from the shadows. As intimidating as it was big, the giant creature had black sclera around its eyes- the markings of which stretched all the way up its long ears- a mouth filled with sharp teeth capable of crushing rock, and claws the size of tree trunks protruding from its digits. Unlike its smaller canine counterparts, this beast didn't have paws but human-like hands, and instead of one tail, it had nine of them- each one capable of felling an entire forest with a single swipe.
To describe this kitsune as big was nothing short of an understatement. This creature was absolutely gigantic, with a body that effortlessly towered over several city blocks or a small mountain. Even the Hokage Monument, were it a conscious, thinking entity, would quiver at the sight of this beast standing on the horizon.
Naruto was so overwhelmed by the sight and appearance of the fox that he scarcely registered to the fact that it'd started speaking again. Oh yeah, and it could talk.
"I have to admit, I wasn't expecting you to appear to me so soon. After all, you're still just a pup, with barely five to six winters resting behind you," the titan of a kitsune remarked, his voice clearly dripping with amusement as he gazed down at the child gaping up at him. "So tell me, boy… what inner compulsion has shepherded your pitiful soul into my domain tonight? What useful insight or knowledge do you wish to gain from the aura of my presence?"
At first Naruto said nothing. He just stood there staring at the massive beast that was staring back at him from the apex of his forearm. When a full two minutes passed and the blond didn't say anything, the giant fox's smile vanished. Its movements being slow and lumbering, the colossal animal sat up into a more comfortable position, upon which he then glared down at the child with an annoyed glint in his glowing red eyes.
When the child failed to answer, the kitsune- figuring he didn't understand him, exhaled in annoyance. "Well? Speak up, brat. What the hell do you want?"
About a few seconds after the giant fox had asked his irate question, the previously silent Naruto blinked a couple more times, raised his hand, gave a nervous smile, and waved meekly. "Hello."
The fox, appearing taken aback, replied in kind. "H-Hello?"
Naruto then lowered his hand and continued in a soft voice… one more receptive than what he normally used. "Umm… if it isn't too much trouble, could you tell me where I am, please? Sorry. I've had a lot of crazy dreams before, but I don't remember ever coming to a place like this. Is this some kind of cave or…?"
The boy's question had the kitsune's jaw drop a little. "A-Are you serious? You're telling me you don't know where you are right now?"
A nod was Naruto's immediate response. "I remember falling asleep and waking up here. Am I still in bed? Is this a nightmare?"
Eyes narrowing, the fox growled. "No."
After hearing this answer, the blond haired child then looked over the giant gates in front of him once again. Deducing that it was this barrier keeping the fox at bay, Naruto then broached his next curious question, "Why are you locked away down here anyway? Did you do something bad?" He then shrugged. "I know whenever I get into trouble, the teacher always sends me to the office to think about what I did. Even when I didn't do anything, I always end up getting blamed for something... especially by this teacher named Suzume." He then glanced around the place he was standing in once more, his expression reflecting intrigue and interest. "It's funny… even though I'm sure I've never been to this place, it still feels very familiar to me…"
Rolling his eyes, the giant fox then gave a low and frustrated growl. "You really are as dense as you look. We're inside you." His statement had Naruto look back up at him in surprise. "In a place where our minds and souls manifested in physical form can meet- a pocket dimension inside your body that's been moulded into the perfect prison." Not wanting to beat around the bush for too long, the fox decided to cut to the heart of his explanation. "For the past five to six years, I've been trapped inside of this wretched chamber, awaiting the day that I will finally be free to ravage the land once more. I am the Kyuubi no Yoko (Nine-Tailed Demon Fox)… and you are my jinchuriki."
A stunned look then appeared on Naruto's face, his eyes widening slowly in horror at the revelation of who exactly he was speaking to. Feeling as though his words had finally resonated with the child, the giant fox allowed a small grin to tug at his lips, as he knew that with the shock of this revelation, he'd be able to capitalize on the child's moment of weakness by manipulating his grief and anger in his favor. Through this he aimed to take control of him and, in turn, use the child's body as a vessel to go on a rampage across the village.
He was just seconds away from making all of that happen. Just seconds away from being able to accomplish something.
But then, just when it looked like Naruto was going to lose it, the boy shut his mouth and gave the kitsune another confused look. "Uhh… what's a jinchuriki?" He'd learned a few different, complicated words before and had heard about the giant demon fox known as the Kyuubi- the very creature that'd terrorized his village all those years ago. But he hadn't heard that one before.
His question had the Kyuubi groan and bang his head against the gate, causing a loud clang to echo down the tunnel. "Oh, Kami, I can't believe this." He then opened his eyes and glared down at the child, a little bit more angrily this time. "A jinchuriki is a… huh?" The fox stopped abruptly when he realized his young guest was no longer standing in front of him. Rather, he saw that the blond youngster had snuck in through the gap in the bars and was now walking right up to him. When the fox noticed this, he lurched away. "Hey! What are you doing?"
Not at all put off by the kitsune's shouting, the six year old child casually walked up to the enormous animal. When it tried to lean out of reach, the giant fox ended up bumping into the back corner of its chamber with a loud thud. Realizing he couldn't retreat any further due to the confines of its cell, the Kyuubi growled and took a swat at the child with one of its nine enormous tails, only to watch his appendage bounce off of the boy when a golden shell of light surrounded him, and deflected his attack.
"Agh! That stupid seal!" He couldn't even hurt the boy, even if he really wanted to. Though all he did was try to smack him away with a light bat of his appendage, thanks to the fuinjutsu binding him to the child, the yokai just couldn't touch him.
Paying no heed to the demon's obvious aggression and attempts to keep him away, the intrigued Naruto slowly closed in on the giant fox and stopped by its forward paw. Ignoring the demon's growls and the fact that he was bearing his teeth at him, the blond reached up and gave its fur a gentle pet- like he was greeting a small cat or a dog on the street. The act of doing so fascinated the youngster, whose expression conveyed a great interest in the scenario and the enormous yokai he was now talking with.
"Wow… this is so cool." After a moment of scratching the giant fox's leg and feeling its powerful muscles twitch, Naruto stepped back and once again looked up at the demon, who seemed a little bit unnerved at how unafraid the boy was in his presence. Heck, even the mightiest and most powerful shinobi in history had been wary of his strength, and took extra measures to ensure he was kept under a strong leash.
Maybe it was because the kid was still so young and didn't fully understand what was going on that he was acting so brave.
Eventually, after another minute of staring at the colossal animal and seeing its snarl, Naruto broke out one of the warmest and sincerest smiles he could muster. Upon which he then clenched his fists and steeled his resolve. "You know… you may be big and scary looking, but I like you a lot. Do you think you and I could be friends?"
Jaw dropping a little more in disbelief, the enormous nine-tailed demon gave a frustrated growl and snapped down at the kid- dropping his head low enough that his snout was practically right in front of the child. "Ha! You're nothing but a pathetic human child. Why do you think I'd want to be friends with you?!"
Naruto shrugged and rubbed his arm. "I… don't really have any friends. Every time I try to make some, the kids just run away from me." He then looked the giant fox in the eye to see his anger falter slightly and his expression change. "And you seem pretty lonely in here… locked up in this tunnel. I figured that since we both don't have anyone to talk to, you and I could hang out with each other."
After gawking at the youngster for a long, silent moment, the previously startled Kyuubi then frowned. With a low grumble leaving his throat at the senselessness of all this, the fox stood up, turned around, and lay down, giving the waiting Naruto what many would call the 'peace out' canine gesture.
"Get lost, brat."
Since the giant beast didn't have anywhere to go and because he didn't have anything better to do in his not-really-a-dream, the still determined Naruto smiled and ran up to the demon's back. The moment he reached the cliff that was the fox's side, he grabbed hold of the fur and clambered up the enormous animal like he was a mountain. Once he arrived at the peak of the demon's prone form, where the kitsune's spine had curved into a hunch, the child then lay down on top of the yokai and grinned at where his head was lying.
Even though his eyes were closed, the Kyuubi was still quite obviously awake and aware of his presence.
"Hey, hey. What's your name?" Naruto asked as he lay there on the giant's back, smiling down at the grouchy old animal. "My name is Naruto."
"And I don't care," the giant, malevolent creature replied with an irritable grunt. "Go away."
"Aww, come on. Don't be like that, dattebayo," Naruto chirped in a friendly and cheerful tone typical of his character. With his feet kicking about in the air behind him, the completely at-ease youngster continued to press the fox, hoping for a response. Obviously the beast couldn't hurt him in this world- whatever it was, so even if the animal got angry at him, there wasn't really anything he could do about it. So the orphan persisted. "I bet you've got a really awesome name. Come on. You can tell me it."
"No."
"Plee~ease. I promise I won't tell anyone."
"No. Get lost."
"Alright. How about this? You can just tell me the first kanji. I'll try and guess what it is."
"No."
"Come on. It'll be fun, dattebayo."
"No."
"Hey. Be nice. I really don't want to have to call you Kyuubi (Nine-Tails) all the time. I mean, that can't be your real name. It'll almost be like… calling me Whiskers because I have these marks on my cheeks or Blondie because my hair is yellow," Naruto said, using the most basic of logic to try and get a response from the kitsune. From the way the fox's expression tightened up, it was clear he couldn't argue against the blond. "Unless you want me to call you furball instead?"
"If you ever call me that for real, I will eat you," the demon growled agitatedly.
"Ha. No you won't," Naruto laughed.
As the blond continued to pester the giant fox who, for the next couple of hours continued to lie there and take, Naruto made a mental reminder to himself to find out more about this situation when he woke up. Obviously this giant fox told him that he was sealed inside of his body. That much was clear. But as troublesome as the whole thing seemed, the blond wanted to learn more about this and why exactly he had the demon stuck inside his stomach to begin with. Out of professional curiosity of course.
Irregardless of the reasons, Naruto wasn't upset at all. Sure, it explained a lot about why a lot of people were afraid of him and pushed him away. All in all, the blond was just happy to finally have someone to talk to and play with, even if it was a giant, talking, grumpy old fox the size of a mountain that didn't want him there. Call it glass half-full, more or less.
Naruto will win him over. He was sure.
TO BE CONTINUED…